The New England Sustainability Strategy is a whole of region approach to sustainability. Work began on the Strategy in 2008 with a major public Forum which was the final event of the Sustainable Living Expo '08.
In just a little over one year several major initiatives have been commenced to start work addressing regional priorities for sustainability. While work on the Strategy itself will continue through 2010 action has been taken to make advantage of clear strategic opportunities that have arisen. The Strategy is coordinated by NESSiE - the New England Sustainability Strategy Executive.
The major current initiatives are:
Youth Leading Australia - New England Congress
Solar Farming
Solar Hot Water
Sustainable Home Assessments
Solar New England Region Project
Solar Hot Water Stage II Offer Launched
100 highly affordable, high quality, fully installed solar hot water systems are now available.
Most experts agree that solar hot water is the most effective action a household can take to make their home more sustainable, reduce their power bills and greenhouse emissions.
Community interest to date has been very strong with more than 150 residents have already signed up for the Pre-Launch and Stage I solar hot water offers.
Click here to sign up or get more information.
See Solar New England Region for details and conditions.
CONGRATULATIONS!! to New England residents who successfully applied for their solar power $8,000 rebate before it ended on Tuesday 9 June 2009.
This Website is a self organising and self governing Wiki-Community,
As a public forum there are a few basic protocols we need to follow;
- no inflammatory language;
- no flaming of other members;
- no us and them positioning;
- recognition that all views and opinions can be aired for discussion;
- blatantly racist, sexist or provocatively violent views will be moderated by the community;
- non-conflict based dialogue, non-combatative debate to be encouraged;
- actively promote the idea that every one's say is valid;
- promote the basic courtesies - respect, tolerance, and compassion.
NESS forum - A resounding success!
Photo: Opening Session of the Forum held at NERAM Sept 22
Photo By : David Doyle
Stop Press!
The forum video is now up, fed to this site from Google Video - the full 30 minute digital video story has been broken down into 7 sections for your convenience & ease of download - you can see it at The Forum Video
With the forum over and the NESS Executive furiously processing all your inputs & the media gathered on the day,
The next phase of ness.wikidot.com is underway.
The day has been documented on The Forum page - more of the media content created on the day of the forum is found on the Media and the Forum Photo Galleries pages.
Video is fed from Google Video and the photos feed from Picasa - both to be found at Google.
The reports from some of the members of the Visioning group who worked with Tex Skuthorpe and Anne Morrill can be found here....
Join Us
Part 1 - NESS Forum Introduction 2:50mins
A sample of the video documentation of the forum - the rest can be seen here....
Consider joining so you can add a page to the site - Go to How To Join This Site link at the right
Please browse the site as new content appears - we'll roll out the rest of the wikidot features over the next little while to make this your one-stop continuation of the forum.
Monitor the changes and you might get some ideas for what this site might do - what your page might have to offer the community
And explore the help links at the top right of this page - if this is all new to you - DON'T PANIC or BE PUT OFF.
A wiki is the best way to learn. If you can compose and send an email, then you can do it!
Be patient and enjoy the new skills you will learn,
DO help each other - the wiki can accomodate many ways members can help each other learn how to use it. It has great potential as a Learning Community. And certainly create other kinds of social connections to encourage the idea that we are in it together
DON'T abuse the tools you have here - they are communal, to be shared by all, equally.
DO avoid conflict, especially knowing that others see things differently, believe different things, come from somewhere else, hold other views……
DO "Show and Tell", inform, share and discuss.
Do start by asking other people questions - be measured in your opinion giving.
Any other media - video, photos and audio you want to include in your page should be linked to your own accounts at a media hosting site -
links from your page to these or embed these in your page - YouTube, Google Video, Picasa and PodBean are services you can subscribe to - storing your own media content for your ness.wikidot page.
If you have your own website - create a link from your wiki page and invite others to view it.
Do promote your ideas, cause, organisation, business - keeping in mind that your commitment to a sustainable New England is the reason you are here!
Do find out about Creative Commons Attribution
While the foundations of the site are being laid out by us - it is intended that daily the site shifts into the hands of the community that uses it.
Remember that ness.wikidot.com is a self organising knowledge and learning community.
Welcome to your forum
Evolveris
Sustainability Strategy Forum
Armidale Dumaresq Council contracted a new consortium of leading professionals and organisations – the New England Sustainability Strategy Executive, nicknamed NESSiE – to develop a whole of community New England Sustainability Strategy.
The Strategy work was funded by the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change and addresses sustainability for the Region covered by the New England Strategic Alliance of Councils (NESAC).
Sustainability Scorecards
The first phase of analysis of the sustainability of the New England Region has been completed. The global summary of this analysis can be downloaded here...(.pdf 99kB)
For more detailed sustainability analysis from the following points of focus…..
youth
government
environment
social and cultural
economic-business
global
Progressing sustainability in the New England…
Requires building capacity and capital – social, environmental and economic.
The New England Community Sustainability Strategy can provide the basis to strategically position the Region as a leader in sustainability,
and assist in attracting people, business and investment interested in this pursuit.
So too, the Strategy, by articulating priority directions and objectives, could provide the basis for negotiations with
State, Federal and International bodies also working on sustainable development, including applications for funding, programs and services.
The Public Forum
A Public Forum facilitated by Ken McLeod held on Monday 22 September 2008 ( The New England Sustainability Strategy Forum) at NERAM(New England regional Art Museum) in Armidale,
is the first major step in creating the Sustainability Strategy, and a strategic analysis of sustainability of the New England Region was undertaken before the Forum to be provided as an information briefing to participants.
The major objectives for this first phase of work are establishing agreement between key stakeholders, analyse sustainability issues and opportunities, and establishing the necessary support and resources for the Strategy.
This initiative is being documented as a model for other regions to use, adapt and learn from. Read More... (.pdf 500kb)
Supported by the New England Strategic Alliance of Councils (NESAC). Download... (.doc kB)
Would you like to contribute to one of the forum groups online via your email? Click Here...
Building the on-line forum
Evolveris along with its partners has initiated this Wiki space to help our communities across the New England Region of NSW, Australia, promote their initiatives and ideas about moving towards a sustainable region.
This enterprise is a partnership initiative between NESSiE (The NESS Consortium), Paradigm Play and Evolveris.
It's intended as a virtual network of people coming together via the web to engage in consultation, discussion, knowledge sharing and community action. Read More
