Community Action Network

Thank you to the enthusiastic crew who attended our October gathering and shared passion projects, feedback on opportunities and challenges, and we took an inventory of community groups and resources to partner with in taking projects forward.

Read the notes here.

We also discussed the progress made by the team behind the 'Grow and Share Murbah' initiative. This idea came out of our Sustainable Food workshop and a group of community members are developing this program to help those in need of fresh fruit and veges. Read more here. We look forward to hearing more over time.

And we shared ideas about the upcoming Climate Summit - now scheduled for February - as an important opportunity to bring community members together to commit to community led action for climate solutions.

Photo courtesy Salvador Cantellano.

(Click on the news headline to read the full article including photos)

A happy group of participants gathered at the Murwillumbah Community Garden to discuss topics such as growing your own food, composting, avoiding food waste, food networks and food security.

We also enjoyed an afternoon tea with home baked goodies using locally grown produce, as well as learning from Sue at the Community Garden on how to do worm farming at home.

Check out the project ideas here.

Download the worm farming fact sheet.

Here's some of the other topics we discussed:

• Front fence free food share https://www.facebook.com/groups/465197087823803 (Michael)
• Networking with like-minded people to get food to those in need (Rob)
• Eat a carbon friendly diet, every day, the equivalent of 2 suburbs are cleared for meat grazing (Gerrard)
• Lowering impact on environment from sustainable gardening (Karen)
• Tips on composting (Lee)
• Veggie garden and how to get started
• Getting good soil from scratch
• Growing food for me, attracting birds and insects (Michaela)
• Library seed bank
• Success tips for growing fruit (Sarah)
• Weed maintenance
• Getting school children engaged in gardening, sustainability etc. (Andrew)

The Climate Ready Tweed project completed in 2023, revealed that members of our community would like to grow their own food, throw away less food and eat less red meat as important climate actions. The recent Imagine 2484 project also showed strong community preferences for increasing food security and local production as key elements for a regenerative future that is resilient and adaptive to future climate change impacts.

In February, our theme is sustainable transport. What might it look like for us to reduce our emissions from transport?

Bike repair workshop with Northern Rivers Cycles

Sustainable transport presentation slides

Sustainable transport could be:

• more public transport use
• active travel, walking and cycling
• carpooling
• electric vehicles
• community transport solutions

Read and comment on the ideas we came up with; what do you think? What could you add or contribute?

And these are some of the next steps that participants volunteered to take following the workshop:

• More bike to shop in town. Just ride baby! – Belinda
• Reinstate the Northern Rivers Rail with a light rail system (not freight trains) – Peter
• Encourage and participate in more RIDE SHARING – Steve
• Raise awareness for sustainable travel leaving the car at home, using public transport, bikes, lowering carbon footprint by carbon offsetting – James
• Work on safe cycling routes from Rail Trail to coastal bike path; liaison with TSC reps - Cam
  1. Southern route e.g. Wooyung Rd / Tweed Coast Rd
  2. Middle route – Cudgera Creek Rd etc.
  3. Northern route – Reserve Creek Rd etc.
• Cycleway safety and promotion and expansion – David
• Cycling or walking instead of driving when practical – Glenn
• Investigate how we can buy affordable electric vehicles – Kirsten
• Lobby NSW State Government again to ask the Transport Minister to legalise PEVs - Mark
• Try to get my primary work vehicle converted to EV - Chris
• Investigate cycling advocacy groups in the local area - Tamsin

November 2023

Our November 2023 gathering was focused on energy: exploring the actions we can take as individuals to reduce our electricity use (and bills), as well as supporting our friends and communities in steps towards sustainable, renewable energy and how we might influence the broader community and leaders for climate action. We discussed:

• Key levers for energy efficiency in the home. More energy efficient = reduced electricity consumption = reduced greenhouse gas emissions
• Challenges, obstacles and opportunities for energy sources: solar energy, wind farms, nuclear energy

Actions pledged:

• Community member to make enquiry with Essential Energy into a community battery in Kunghur
• Exploring solar in business precinct
• 4 individuals/groups interested in home energy assessment
• 1 group to provide peer reviewed research articles on nuclear energy for Council information.
• Energy Access Poverty Plan
  • Deb to review Northern Rivers Community Foundation Vital Signs report from Kyla (Alison to help) to gather baseline energy poverty figures.
• Solar on Social Housing
  • Deb to contact social housing providers about their interest in putting solar on social housing, and find out the location and number of properties in the NC region that may be suitable.
  • Deb to contact local solar installer and find out how much it would cost to assess the suitability of sites and write up a report of their assessment.

Follow up questions answered by Seb Crangle, Home Energy Advisor.

• We noted your questions on the day and Seb has kindly answered these in this document.

Links to useful information requested in conversation:

• Northern Rivers Joint Organisation Renewable Energy Blueprint
• Suitable areas for wind energy development, map on p21 of the draft Wind Energy Guideline
• Find a local accredited provider to install or service you solar or battery storage system Clean Energy Council.
• Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme accreditors for new dwellings: https://www.nathers.gov.au/assessors or https://www.basixcertificates.com.au/thermal-assessment/
• Green Building Guide - lowest cost green rebuilding techniques, focusing on energy efficiency, water savings and indoor air quality.

August 2023

Jo Taranto, Good for the Hood

Our first session focused on the importance of placemaking and building momentum from small wins. Jo Taranto from Good for the Hood shared

inspirations from around Australia of what other community groups, councils and individuals are doing.

• View Jo’s presentation slides

Other placemaking resources

• Place based approaches for community change – great resources, models and how-to guide from QCOSS
• 101 small ways you can improve your city – ideas and inspiration from Curbed
• Book of doing: 100 Town Teams in Action – examples of actions taking place across Australia
• Palette of Possibilities – how to plus examples of change making from Australian Association for Environmental Education (NSW)

What's happening in the Tweed

• Climate Ready Tweed final report – first comprehensive baseline study of community perspectives, delivered by Griffith University
• Climate Change in the Tweed – check out the projected impacts on our Climate Change page
• Co-design project outputs – some of the ideas mapped out in community co-design sessions

Local inspiration feature: Together Pottsville doing some inspiring things in their village:

• Simply Cups coffee cup recycling program – partnering with St Ambrose Primary and Black Drop Café to recycle takeaway cups
• Victorious Veggies workshop – September 9 – partnership with Pottsville Community Garden to help people grow their own produce
• Community Recycling Centre – in partnership with Pottsville Community Garden, the group will facilitate recycling of items that can’t go in the yellow bin
• If you want to get in touch with them, email them here: togetherpottsville@gmail.com