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HUME CITY COUNCILLIVE GREEN TEACHERS' NETWORK NEWS
Live Green Teachers’ Network News | 1
WELCOMEWelcome to the Live Green Teachers’ Environment Network (TEN). This edition marks the half-way point for the TEN for 2012 and is a good time of year to take stock and think about sustainability achievements, challenges, obstacles and future direction. This is also a prime opportunity to inform us of what information you need more of and what resources you need better access to.
Please let us know what you’re thinking via the CERES Sustainability Hub. The Hub provides a format whereby ideas can be shared, conversations initiated and networks expanded. We would like to encourage your conversations to continue and have created a place where we can post news items and events without an influx of emails being sent to your accounts. Please log on (details about how to do this are on page 2) and have a look around. You can “friend” other teachers and send private messages about projects. It can also be a place to share documents and photos, and we will place a list of schools that have completed Resource Smart modules and various projects so that you can contact them and share ideas.
This second half of the year is shaping up to be a busy one with the Rubbish Free Lunch Challenge, National Tree Day, Keep Australia Beautiful Week and Biodiversity Month. With so much happening across the school year it may be a good idea to pick one or two events now that you will focus on and prepare for. If there’s anything you would like help with please let us know!
We look forward to seeing you all at our next meeting on August 23 from 4-6pm, at Coolaroo South Primary School.
Happy Reading!
Live Green Teachers' Network
IN THIS EDITION Page 1
WELCOME
Page 2
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
ADOPT A PARK
CERES SUSTAINABILITY HUB GOES LIVE
Page 3
HUME IN FOCUS - PHOTO COMP
Page 4
UNITED NATIONS AWARD FOR HUMESCHOOLS PLANT DONATION
SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2010-11
Page 5
DUNCAN IN ARNHEM
TREEPROJECT: VOLUNTEER SUCCESS
Page 6
VAEE EVENTS & CONFERENCE INFO
ISSUE 10 - JULY 2012
2 | Live Green Teachers’ Network News
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
JULYNational World Whale Day 2 July 2012
School Tree Day 27 July 2012
National Tree Day 29 July 2012
AUGUSTKeep Australia Beautiful Week 22-28 Aug 2012
SEPTEMBERBiodiversity Month Sep 2012
Save the Koala Month Sep 2012
National Landcare Week 5-11 Sep 2012
National Threatened Species Day 7 Sep 2012
Sustainable House Day 9 Sep 2012
ADOPT A PARKCouncil is launching an ‘Adopt a Park’ program to encourage communities to get back into their local parks. Broadmeadows Special Development School (BSDS) was the first group to officially ‘adopt a park’ and launch the program in June. Room 13 have adopted Broadmeadows Valley Park and have been helping to keep it clean of litter and graffiti. BSDS invited Council to the school assembly on World Environment Day – 5 June. The school was presented with their own Adopt a Park sign, in recognition of their efforts. It was also a way of thanking and encouraging the students.
The aim of the Adopt a Park program is to increase passive surveillance of our parks, increasing community pride and ownership in local areas. Litter and graffiti can cause an area to look uncared for and affect perceptions of safety in an area. By adopting a park, the group will be supported to take action on smaller incidents of litter and graffiti and assist Council by reporting larger incidents so Council can respond more quickly. After all, clean = clean, so the quicker we can respond, the less likely it will attract more pollution.
Hopefully, many more schools or community groups will follow, and get involved in the program. To adopt a park, simply register your interest with our Waste and Litter Education Officer, Katie Nuthall, on 9205 2456 or [email protected]
FREE ENVIRONMENTAL WORKSHOPS
Dont forget Hume's calendar of FREE environmental workshops is available online at:www.hume.vic.gov.au/Waste_Environment/
CERES SUSTAINABILITY HUB - GOES LIVEThe Hume Live Green Teachers Environment Network page is now live on the Sustainability Hub. Visit http://sustainability.ceres.org.au/humeten
It’s as simple as clicking on the ‘Sign Up’ tab and completing the details form. Schools and organisations can join the network by clicking on the 'join' button, to sign up to the Hub. You can also private message each other and 'befriend' each other.
The Sustainability Hub is a great way to share knowledge, skills, understanding and experience, so get started!
Katie Nuthall, Peter Jolly from Hume and Ashan from the Broadmeadows Special School
Live Green Teachers’ Network News | 3
HUME IN FOCUS PHOTO COMPETITION 2013
THE FIVE CATEGORIES:
Waterways & Landscapes
Hume in Focus 2011 entrant: R Kissel
Community Interaction
with the Environment
Spring Planting Day 2012
Bucchan St Community Centre
students
Sustainable Living: at home, school, work or on the land
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Native Animals in Hume
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Do you share a passion for the environment and have an interest in photography?
After a hugely successful competition in 2011, Hume is pleased to be running the Hume In Focus Photo Competition in 2013.
In 2011, the competition saw nearly 50 entrants submit well over 300 images.
The images were of an impressive standard considering many of our entrants just went out and had a go with little or no previous experience. It was wonderful to see so many aspects of Hume included and to see some of the efforts people make towards sustainability at home and on their land.
Many of these beautiful images have been depicted in our environmental newsletters, i.e. Live Green and Re-Source, fact sheets and website so our thanks to everyone who contributed.
Be Inspired Visit some of Hume’s conservation reserves, stop at a rural roadside or look in your own home and backyard for photographic inspiration. Visit our website to view the winning and runner up images from the 2011 competition.
Free Photography WorkshopsCouncil will be offering free photography walk and talk workshops over the coming months as part of the Live Green Free Environmental program.
Visit www.hume.vic.gov.au to download a copy of our free Live Green Environmental Workshops program.
PrizesThe winner and runners up in each category will receive a fun-packed environmental hamper including the latest gadgets to help you reduce your environmental impact at home. Total prize value is $1,500.
How To EnterYou can enter up to five photos in to each category. You must be the photographer and owner of the images and the images must be taken within Hume. Please read the entry guidelines and terms and conditions on our website.
For category definitions or further information on the Hume in Focus 2013 Competition, visit www.hume.vic.gov.au or contact the Sustainable Environment Department on 9205 2473.
Awards Night and Travelling ExhibitionTen finalists will be selected from each of the five categories and from these, one runner up and one winner will be selected per category. The 50 finalist photos will be displayed at an exhibition which will be launched on the Awards night in March 2013 (date to be advised).
The exhibition will then be on display at the Hume Global Learning Centres in Broadmeadows and Craigieburn and at a site yet to be determined in Sunbury, for one week at each location. Photos will also be available on Council’s website.
Stay tuned for more information on Council’s website and newsletters.
4 | Live Green Teachers’ Network News
SCHOOLS PLANT DONATIONThis year Council is offering schools involved in the Teacher's Environment Network an opportunity to apply for a free allocation of indigenous plants. Each applicant will be able to apply for up to 100 plants to create indigenous landscapes in their school grounds. Keep an eye out for the application form, which will be distributed through the network in July 2012.
For further information, or to request assistance in scoping a suitable project for your school grounds, please contact Council’s Greening Officer on 9205 2200.
HUME SUCCESS!United Nations - World Environment Day 2012 Awards
Hume City Council is proud to announce that on Friday 8th June 2012 we were named the winners of the Biodiversity Award for our Caring For Our Plains program. This program has assisted many of Hume’s rural landowners preserve and regenerate critically endangered grasslands and woodlands by providing over $200,000 worth of small grants to help manage threats to these important vegetation communities.
Hume was also announced as a Finalist in the United Nations World Environment Day Awards 2012 for the Natural Heritage Strategy 2011 - 2015 for the Local Government Best Specific Environmental Initiative.
Congratulations to the community participants and Hume staff whose hard work and commitment to our environment have created these successes.
To find out more please visit theUN World Environment Day Awardswebsite.
SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2010-11Council has been reporting to the Hume community on sustainability issues through its annual report since 2003. This has traditionally been done in an annual printed report, but this year for the first time the Sustainability Report is available online!
This means that useful information will be accessible year round. It is based on Council’s main environmental policy, Pathways to Sustainability, and focusses on how well we are progressing towards the targets in the policy, as well as through key areas of interest.
The reporting is split across five pathways:
■ Sustainable Places - showcasing what has been done to make community spaces more sustainable in Hume;
■ Sustainable Communities - the achievements made by the Hume community towards environmental sustainability;
■ Sustainability Learning & Action - environmental education programs and their outcomes;
■ Sustainability Leadership - what Council has been doing to meet its targets;
■ Environmental Stewardship - covering land management and biodiversity issues.
Council’s greenhouse gas emissions, water use and waste recycling, native habitat management and waterway health, community greenhouse gas and water use, sustainable transport and education initiatives are all reported on. This will be updated annually to track progress so look out for updates on our website.
For more information, visit www.hume.vic.gov.au or call Council’s Sustainable Environment Officer on 9205 2200.
Connecting with the environment Photography Workshop at Woodlands
Hume Biodiversity Project Officer, Karen Borton (centre), with landowner reps
Ian Taylor and Denise Zalewski
From Left: Bernadette Thomas, Damien Harrison, Kelvin Walsh and Karen Borton,
Hume City Council
Solar Panels installed at Dobell Street Preschool, Sunbury
Live Green Teachers’ Network News | 5
DUNCAN IN ARNHEM!Duncan Sadler is a science teacher at Aitken College and recently visited Arnhem Land and participated in ‘Bush Blitz’.
I received a trip to Arnhem Land from BHP. They send a few of their staff off on ecological surveys with resident experts as a part of an awards and enhancement program. Earthwatch organise the connection of the BHP staff with the scientists who are doing the field research. I was given the trip for winning the "Environment" prize for the BHP Billiton Science Teacher Awards. The survey we were sent on was called the Bush Blitz. Twenty of Australia's best zoologists and botanists are sent to a location to look for undiscovered species. We spent a week living on a 200,000 hectare wildlife reserve in Arnhem Land, Wongalara, five hours east of Katherine. We got to spend each day working alongside a different group of scientists. I looked for scorpions, spiders, fish, turtles, yabbies, dragonflies and snails.
TREEPROJECT – VOLUNTEERS PUTTING TREES BACK ON THE LANDTreeProject, a non-profit organisation, has been playing an active role in bringing the rural and urban communities together to repair some of Victoria’s environmental problems. Our organisation works to provide training and build a support network for volunteers who grow low-cost indigenous seedlings for rural landholders and Landcare groups.
Since 1989, TreeProject has made revegetation affordable for landholders and Landcare groups by providing low-cost provenance based indigenous seedlings by coordinating the activities of hundreds of urban volunteers in propagating indigenous trees and grasses in their backyards to be used for rural revegetation projects. As TreeProject Project Manager, De Grebner says, “the role of TreeProject is to assist with revegetation Victoria-wide to help put trees back on the land”.
TreeProject would like to expand its network of enthusiastic and dedicated volunteer growers to propagate native seedlings that will be used to put endemic trees back on the land. These seedlings will be used to establish wildlife corridors, lower the water table and improve our water quality, help tackle salinity and soil erosion and provide shelter for stock on rural land.
Volunteers receive training, a growers’ manual and a growing kit that has everything needed to grow healthy seedlings. This includes native, provenance sourced seed provided by Victorian Landholders or Seedbanks.
This is a fantastic and important way for the urban community to help our rural neighbours that need to revegetate their properties, as many who would not otherwise revegetate their properties can now do so. Having access to low-cost seedlings means that landholders, can now engage in one or in some cases, multiple revegetation projects!
TreeProject can assist Landholders with revegetation projects on their property by providing them with advice, support, direction and cost-price seedlings - $175.00 for 500 seedlings + cost of the seed sourced from the provenance.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer grower in Summer 2012/2013, or you would like to purchase provenance sourced seedlings to plant in winter 2013, please register now with TreeProject at www.treeproject.asn.au to receive your growing kit or place an order.
For more information contact De Grebner, TreeProject Project Manager on 9650 9477or email [email protected]
Arnhem Land is beautiful, full of amazing geology, plants and animals. The people are pretty special too. Some areas were amazingly diverse, with small pockets of monsoon rainforest protecting their inhabitants for thousands of years, whilst all around is dry and sandy. You need to avoid the feral buffalo, pigs, cats and donkeys, as they seem to outnumber the native animals. There was no shortage of crocodiles to keep us company; we saw a nice big one from the helicopter one day.
I really had the time of my life and would like to thank BHP, Earthwatch and the entire Bush Blitz team. By the way anyone can sign up to be a part of an Earthwatch program. The next one I intend to go on is called Project Manta. You get to help the scientists collect data on manta rays, by swimming with them!
Story by Duncan Sadler, Aitken College
Duncan Sadler, recipient of the BHP Billiton Science Teacher Awards
6 | Live Green Teachers’ Network News
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Katie NuthallWaste & Litter Education Officer 9205 2456 [email protected]
Simon FinniganSustainability Education Officer 9205 2845 [email protected]
VICTORIAN ASSOCIATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
POWER UP - ENERGY MADE EASY WORKSHOPWHEN: Wednesday 15th August
WHAT: Explore how you and your school can implement energy into your school curriculum and operations. Explore the many resources available to your school and learn from best practice case studies from other schools!
WHERE: Statewide Resource Centre, Carlton
COST: $100 (VAEE member) $120 (VAEE non-member) - Download registration flyer from the VAEE website.
GETTING READY FOR THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM: SUSTAINABILITY AS A CROSS-CURRICULUM PRIORITYWHEN: Wednesday 1st August (9am-3pm)
WHAT: For teachers who are planning or ready to explore the structure of the National Curriculum, focusing on how to develop and enhance curriculum through the cross-curriculum priority Sustainability.
WHERE: Statewide Resource Centre, Carlton
COST: $120 (VAEE members) $150 (non-members) - Download registration flyer from the VAEE website.
VCE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE - UNDERSTANDING AND PREPARING YOUR STUDENTS FOR UNIT 2 & 4 WORKSHOPWHEN: Wednesday 25th July (9am-2pm)
WHAT: Specifically tailored to explore Unit 2 and 4, this session is designed to help you develop a meaningful VCE Environmental Science course that will allow you to more effectively cater your course around the study guide.
WHERE: Statewide Resource Centre, Carlton
COST: $90 VAEE (member) $120 (non-member) - Download registration flyer from the VAEE website.
COURSE IN RESOURCESMART AUSSI VIC FACILITATIONJune Facilitation Course now full. Next Course August 2012
WHAT: The following three units of competency will be delivered: ■ VU20014 Apply ResourceSmart AuSSI Vic methodology for environmental sustainability in schools ■ VU20015: Lead evaluation of ResourceSmart AuSSI Vic project opportunities ■ VU20016: Oversee project compliance with ResourceSmart AuSSI Vic program methodology
CONTACT: Expressions of interest for August are being taken now. Dates to be confirmed. Please contact [email protected]
CONFERENCESKIDS TEACHING KIDS CONFERENCE – ALBURY WODONGAWHEN: 16 – 17 August
WHAT: Inspire Future Environmental Leaders!
WHERE: Albury, Wodonga.
COST: $55 includes entry to the 2 day program, all meals, conference gala dinner, bus travel during the event and studentworkshops. Includes access to education officer and mentors to assist presenting schools in the lead up to the Conference. Michelle Pipino at Firestarter on 03 9329 3736 or email [email protected]
