The ISTP/School of Sustainability Seminar Series

Thursday mornings 11:30-12:30

If you would like to present or nominate a speaker please contact Sally Paulin 9360 2889

12 November Sue Graham-Taylor (WA Museum)

"Sustainability as a theme in WA history".

Dr Graham-Taylor has a PhD in History from Murdoch University and has worked as a professional historian and researcher for many years.  Sue was appointed the inaugural Battye Fellow at the State Library of Western Australia in 2007 to work on the history of the Swan River. Prior to accepting her Fellowship Sue was employed at the Western Australian Museum as a History Curator for 6 years. She has recently returned to the Museum to curate exhibitions to open next year in Albany and Kalgoorlie. Sue has undertaken historical research for government and industry and  has published on aspects of Western Australian history and politics.  Sue is president of the History Council of WA.

Please note, this will be our last official seminar for 2009 - we hope to see you there.

Previous seminars included...

5 November Sally Talbot (WA Shadow Minister for the Environment)

"Environmental and sustainability issues in the WA political context".

Dr Talbot lectured at Murdoch University and has worked in the ALP for many years, rising to the positions of Assistant State Secretary and most recently state Shadow Minister. She is also an adjunct professor at the ISTP. Dr Talbot, as a highly trained academic and experienced political insider, brings a unique perspective to policy making at state level. As Shadow Environment Minister she is charged with responsibility for myriad issues of importance in this increasingly controversial field.

As a philosopher, Dr Talbot has been turning her attention to just why issues like sustainability are not gaining more traction in public debate. Specifically, she says “What I’m interested in at the moment is the apparent failure of prevailing ethical systems to provide a language in which to address contemporary political issues like sustainability, poverty and justice.” 

Oct 22 Tony Petersen (Domgas)

“Australia’s Gas Reserves – Export Commodity or Strategic Resource?”

Western Australia faces serious challenges to energy security.  The State is experiencing gas shortages, with gas prices rising by up to 500 per cent.  This is impacting investment and development, as well as the State’s response on climate change.

At the same time, major producers continue to focus on exporting the State’s gas reserves.  95 per cent of gas from the Gorgon Project will be exported overseas.  Just 5 per cent has been set aside to meet Australia’s own energy needs.

Tony Petersen will speak on the challenge of gas security and the economic and environmental importance of gas supply.  He will discuss ways to meet this vital challenge, such as through a national gas reservation policy.

Tony is Chairman of the DomGas Alliance, the State’s peak energy user group.  Alliance members include: Alcoa of Australia, Alinta, Burrup Fertilisers, DBP, ERM Power / NewGen Power, Fortescue Metals Group, Horizon Power, Murphy Oil, Newmont Australia, Synergy and Verve Energy.

Tony has almost 30 years experience in the mining and energy sector.  He is also WA Director for ERM Power and NewGen Power.

Oct 15: James Duggie or Steve Waller from the WA Office of Climate Change. “Climate Change Adaptation: Issues for Western Australia, Practices from Elsewhere”

This presentation will discuss some of the broad climate change adaptation issues for Western Australia and the general climate change adaptation practices and approaches that are being taken elsewhere.

Oct 8: Glen Head (HAC Consulting) ‘Where the buck stops: energy and carbon in WA’.

HAC Consulting was set up only a few years ago by Murdoch alumni to help manage the transition to a low-carbon economy. The fast-moving firm has dealt with government departments, local authorities and various commercial firms in regard to energy conservation, carbon trading and other related matters.

Sept 24: Gareth McCrae (Department of Transport) ‘Behavioural change for sustainability in WA: the Toll/IPEC experience’.

Toll/Ipec is major transport company operating in WA. The Toll/Ipec project run by the Department of Transport was very successful in changing the behaviour of drivers to cut engine use time, and thus CO2 emissions. The project involved a sustained learning process to get the drivers onside and to cooperate fully, and contains significant lessons in how to effect meaningful behavioural change to improve sustainability.

Sept 17: WA2020 seminars begin with John Barker (researcher and writer) ‘A Conceptual Model for Transition to a Sustainable WA’.

14 May Renowned deep ecologist, John Seed discussed “Deep Ecology and the Conservation of Nature”

Deep ecology is a philosophy of nature that sees that underlying the environmental crisis is a psychological or spiritual disease stemming from the illusion of separation between humans and the rest of the natural world. This blight of separation plagues modern humanity and is the underlying root of the ecological crisis or our times; the culturally-conditioned, competitive, isolated self is the engine of the 6th extinction spasm currently unfolding around us. Arne Naess, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy of Oslo University who coined the term "deep ecology", said that "ecological ideas are not enough"; we need "ecological identity, ecological self". Naess says that this is to be brought about through community therapies, "healing our relations to a widest community, that of all living beings".

Thursday 4 June 2009 Sustainability Internships (STP332/632(1) and Sustainable Development Project (STP325)
Tom Griffiths: Sustainable Economic Development Strategies: Investing in people through soft infrastructure projects (City of Perth)
Remy Malet: Evaluation of Students’ Environmental attitudes and perceptions of the place and importance of sustainability at Murdoch University (SD Project)
Tewin Siripatanakulkajorn: Web-based directory for materials re-use –EMRC
Matt Bowdler: Government rebates to encourage sustainability and Fleet Management for the City of Gosnells
Sara Lynch: Facilitating the incorporation of Sustainability into CBH at policy and planning level
Ian Forbes: Sustainable Residence programs for socially different language speakers – Multicultural Services Centre of WA.
Andreia Anthony: Sustainable Gardens Competition Fremantle (City of Fremantle)
Amanda Para: Managing Urban Bushland Remnants (Western Suburbs Region Organisation of Councils –WESROC)

28 May Greg Simpson, “WESROC: Implementing Environmental Improvements on a Regional Scale”.

WESROC is a voluntary collaboration of Perth's western suburbs Councils that has been delivering sustainability enhancing programs across local government boundaries since 1995.
In this presentation Greg shared his experiences as the Regional Environmental Project Officer facilitating urban water management and indigenous vegetation programs under one of six 'Key Result Areas' addressed in WESROC's Strategic Plan. Greg is currently pursuing an MA in Sustainable Development

14 May Marleen Buizer: The innovative potential of local groups and their interactions with mainstream policies

Marleen Buizer presented a case from her PhD-dissertation, which was analyzed by means of a discursive-institutional approach. How did a group of Dutch and Belgian citizens living in a border-area redefine their area, establish new boundaries and try to impress on decision-makers their way of looking at things? She will posit the question: What WA-cases deserve to be at the core of research on the innovative potential of local groups and on their interactions with mainstream policies in particular?

Her continuing puzzle: is about the place-based and sustainability-oriented, innovative potential of citizens, private enterprise, NGO's or coalitions of these. If governments are really looking for participation, deliberation, collaboration (etcetera), why then does this innovative potential often remain sidelined? (Why) is it too simple to state that being more responsive to the place-based initiatives of local groups and businesses could greatly enhance the opportunities of a sustainable society? Is a form of deliberative democracy, which is initiated 'from below', realistic? Should this be added to the deliberative formats and events which we know of today?

Marleen has 15 years of work in practice and research in Europe, the Philippines and Vietnam: in the European Parliament, 'in the field' as a contracted Action Researcher and 'from a little greater distance' in the academia.

Download slides (7Mb) and an audio recording (19Mb).

7 May Gérard Sierro, Environmental Architect: Designing Sustainable Passive Solar Buildings

Ecological Architect Gérard Siero brings 39 years of study, consideration, practical experience and teaching to his holistic, personal, collaborative and passionate approach to the design and construction of architecture, landscape and environments, deriving from, and honouring, people, place and nature. Gérard enjoys working closely with community and individual clients, builders and tradespeople, to draw out needs, functions, ideals and aspirations for projects ranging from private dwellings to civic and regional projects, to create beautiful, functional, well-made, enduring, ecologically and culturally appropriate architectures, landscapes and environments. Current events present opportunities to (re)design sustainable, equitable communities and civilisations based on stewardship and respect... -Design for Life.

30 AprilSenator Scott Ludlam : "The next industrial revolution"

Senator Scott Ludlam will present a locally relevant, graphical preview of the next industrial revolution, in a presentation designed to challenge, motivate and inspire

No-one has ever taken a whole country to net carbon zero. But people have figured it out at the scale of households, office buildings, factories and neighbourhoods. Our task is to demonstrate how to scale up these efforts while improving quality of life, the liveability of our communities, and the resilience of our economy.

In Western Australia we've taken the first tentative steps toward the transition to a renewable community, but the fact remains we're among the highest per-capita greenhouse polluters on earth, and Perth is one of the most car-dependent cities on the planet. We've got a big task in front of us. This transition isn't something we're leaving for our children to figure out - it's upon us now.

Around the world, the transition is well under way. Wind and solar photovoltaic are now the fastest growing energy technologies in the world, with capacity doubling roughly every three years. Many cities are rediscovering sustainable urban planning principles, a model based around high and medium density pedestrianised urban village developments, linked by rapid transit systems.

23 April Piers Verstegen Conservation Council : The role of civil society groups and universities in the politics of a local and global sustainability emergency

Piers discussed some of the key policy challenges facing the environment in WA and the critical failure of political leadership in addressing the climate and sustainability emergency at a local and global scale.

The discussion covered the role and future of non-government environment (eNGO) sector and strategies for more effective environmental advocacy and community action around environmental issues.

Piers explored opportunities for partnership between eNGO sector and universities to support innovative and transformative policy approaches to the most critical challenges of our time.

16 April Nicola Young : Alliancing

Nicola Young is a consultant with Maunsell AECOM and leads the sustainability program on Access Alliance, a program alliance currently upgrading parts of Great Northern Highway between Muchea and Wubin. The Alliance members are Main Roads WA, Brierty Ltd and Maunsell AECOM.

Alliancing is a newer form of contracting used in major infrastructure projects. It provides for a different way of operating that may allow for more innovation to occur, including embedding sustainability into the program. This can include having a set of performance-payment linked Key Performance Indictors that drive behaviour, including sustainability KPIs.

Nicola explained the Access Alliance Sustainability Framework and KPIs, and their Carbon Response Plan, which includes a sponsored program of research with Murdoch University's School of Engineering and Energy.

9 April Peter McMahon : "Information Flows and Global Development".

If we are to deal with the current global crisis we need to better understand the way the global system has evolved. Information flows are not only the best way of analysing core social and material changes during modern times, they also provide a ready-made answer to the crisis.

3 April Remy Malet : Climate Change: Responding to an Emergency

Download an audio recording (30Mb).

2 April Andrew Outhwaite : Steps, stumbles and leaps in search of strategic frameworks, appropriate technologies and transformational experiences for sustainability.

Andrew will share conceptual, social and practical tools he has used while working, studying and experimenting in Australia, Canada, Sweden and the UK. He will also share a some of the stories and personal shifts from the journey. Following four years of sustainability learning, experimentation and consulting, Andrew Outhwaite recently returned to Western Australia the low-carbon way to lead bioregional sustainability initiatives in the mid-West.

26 March Rob Grove, Manager Road & Traffic Engineering, Main Roads Western Australia : Sustainability Initiatives of Main Roads WA

Sustainability is important to Main Roads. By adopting a novel approach to raising awareness, Main Roads has achieved a wide range of exciting and innovative sustainability outcomes. In this seminar, Rob Grove will discuss the reasons that sustainability is so important to Main Roads, explain how they are going about raising awareness of sustainability with all staff, how well the concept has been embraced and how enthusiasm for it is maintained.

26 March SPECIAL SEMINAR 12:30-1:30 Steve Hatfield Dodds "Climate Change and The New Green Economy"

Dr Steve Hatfield Dodds leads a branch in the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change dealing with policy analysis, emerging technologies and national emissions accounts. Previously he was the Research Director of the Social and Economic Integration initiative, one of CSIRO’s Emerging Science Areas. While at CSIRO, Steve was the lead author of reports on setting an Australian emissions trajectory, the energy price and affordability impacts of emissions reductions, and "Growing the Green Collar Economy".

Steve’s research interests focus on: integrated approaches to human motivation, well-being and social values; adaptive governance and the design of institutions and policy tools; impact and performance assessment for socially contested decisions; integration methods for understanding nested complex systems

19 March Bryce Bunny and Sarah Gautrey from the Department of Planning and Infrastructure in Western Australia : Embedding Sustainability Principles in the Planning Process - The Sustainable Development Planner Decision Making Tool

The process of transforming abstract theoretical concepts of sustainability into praxis is challenging and complex. Urban and regional planners attempting to embed principles of sustainability in development plans must assess whether they have covered all relevant sustainability issues, whether there are weaknesses or gaps, and whether the elements in their designs combine effectively to support sustainability. The Western Australian Department of Planning and Infrastructure is currently developing a Sustainable Development Planner Decision Making Tool to assist this process. The tool is intended to support planners by providing the opportunity to identify, score and compare performance on a number of sustainability fronts. This seminar examined the need for a decision making tool and described the tool that is being developed and outline next steps in the development process.

12 March Joey Hester : " In case Australia forgETS: an exploration of the CPRS scheme”

Joey Hester was awarded his MA in Sustainable Development last week.
This presentation explored the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), Australia's proposed emissions trading regime. Following analysis of the international policy context which has led to climate mitigation scenarios both within Australia and abroad, the nature of Australia's iron and steel industry is examined, as is its dynamic trade relationship with Chinese steel makers. Since Chinese participation is a critical component of post-Kyoto climate change mitigation, I analyse the role of China thus far in international negotiations. Within the context of iron and steel trade flows, the operation of the CPRS and its likely effects on this industry's international competitiveness are discussed. Common critiques of the proposed emissions trading scheme (including but not limited to carbon leakage, emissions capture, and emissions-intensive, trade-exposed industry assistance thresholds) are identified and subsequently contextualised against the backdrop of iron ore mining and steel manufacture. On the one hand, carbon leakage can act as a disincentive for net emissions reduction if trading partners are not forced to play by the same rules. On the other hand, inappropriate cost burdens could disadvantage Australian industries. If the CPRS is to be effective in the long run, it must address the tensions between comprehensive emissions control and administrative viability. I found that the focus of critics on the tradeoffs between environmental effectiveness and economic efficiency sacrifices the ability of the proposed scheme to achieve maximum buy-in from industry interests and ignores the foreign policy implications of early climate policy action by Australia.

5 March Rachel Armstrong : Sustainable futures for indigenous people

Rachel's presentation based on findings of her recently completed PhD can be downloaded here.

Sustainability in north Australia is intimately connected with the future of Indigenous peoples and their lands. However, the current context on Indigenous lands more frequently features political marginalisation, welfare economies and poor health and well-being, which detract from sustainability. This seminar will discuss the political and practical context for creating sustainable futures in north Australia through recognition of the current and potential value of Indigenous land and sea management. It also explores the potential to create sustainable economies based on this recognition.

26 February Helen Ferrara from the Faculty of Arts and Education at Murdoch. "Creativity" and the effect of boundaries imposed by self and society on our ability to be creative.

19 February Glenn Albrecht, Professor of Sustainability and Director of ISTP on “Radical Hope in a Time of Radical Change”

The title of this talk comes not from the recent speeches of Barack Obama, but a book by the philosopher Jonathon Lear called, Radical Hope: ethics in the face of cultural devastation (2006). The book is about the story of Plenty Coups, the last great chief of the Crow Nation in America. His world and culture was almost completely desolated by the invasion of white settlers and the loss of the bison on traditional hunting lands. Right now, in the middle of a fiscal, ecological and climate crisis all of us are in the position of the Crow and all other Indigenous people who, despite having the norms of their culture and place utterly changed, have been able to find the courage to imagine and work for a viable future. The Crow lost their bison and with them, for a while, everything else. However, with great ethical leadership, Plenty Coups was able to reconnect elements of his culture’s past with a vision of a future containing hope.

What is needed now in this period of global collapse is an ethical commitment to a sustainable future that we cannot yet fully see and that transcends almost everything that is comfortable and familiar to us now. What we need right now is radical faith and hope in a future that is both desirable and possible. We must, as the Indigenous people of the world have had to do, endure the pain of the collapse of our past, yet build on its best elements and work towards a new way of life for the future. The talk explores our non-sustainable past, our current crises the role of radical hope for a radically different but sustainable future. Download slides here.(pdf, 825 kb)

27 November John Seed and Patsy Hallen

Well regarded deep ecologist, John Seed on Deep ecology, a philosophy which critiques the illusion of separation between human beings and nature and explores how we may free ourselves from this error which lies at the root of the environmental crisis.
Arne Naess (the Norwegian Professor of Philosophy who coined the term "deep ecology") said that it is not enough to have ecological ideas, we need ecological identity, ecological self. It is not from a sense of responsibility or guilt that we will make it through what Joanna Macy calls "The Great Turning" (from the industrial growth society to a life affirming one): rather it will take an underlying shift in values and beliefs, a transformation of consciousness in which "The Environment" is deeply experienced as our very Selves. This presentation will explore the rituals whereby indigenous peoples remembered their interconnectedness with all of life and where we might find the modern equivalents to these practices.

And our much loved ex-ISTP eco-philosopher, Patsy Hallen on "Falling in love"
With the quixotic combination of Lao-Tzu, Spinoza, Hegel and Eisner as our shamans, I wish to explore the promise and the power of falling in love, both inwards and outwards. I also want to investigate the importance of time spent outdoors and the role of ritual in sustaining love. And I cite the epigraph for the enchanting book by Thomas Eisner "For love of Insects": "What makes things baffling is their degree of complexity, not their sheer size ... a star is simpler than an insect."

20 November Mr. Fabrice Gregoire, PhD Candidate Trade Related Technical Assistance and Climate Change Mitigation in Developing Countries

Aid for trade is an important aspect of development assistance strategies deployed by Major International Donors. It aims at supporting the integration of a developing country into the international trade system in order to stimulate export revenues and thus economic development. By enhancing trade flows from developing countries, aid for trade is having a mixed impact on climate change mitigation. On the one hand, it increases greenhouse gas emission by increasing trade volumes and economic activities. On the other hand, it facilitates technology transfer and international cooperation, inducing a positive technology effect on climate change mitigation. Mr. Fabrice Gregoire will present his PhD thesis proposal to examine the interaction between aid for trade and climate-friendly technology transfer.

13 November Glenn Albrecht PhD, Associate Professor: Environmental Studies,The University of Newcastle and incoming Professor of Sustainability, Murdoch University on Psychoterratic Distress : From Eco-anxiety to Solastalgia

As humans directly experience or anticipate changing climes and ecosystems due to anthropogenic global warming or massive resource developments, they are responding by exhibiting a range of mental health reactions. I have described these state-of-the-earth forms of psychic disturbance as psychoterratic syndromes. Eco-anxiety is a generalised sense of distress about anticipated biophysical change that would be unwelcome (sea level rise, wilder weather, desolated landscapes). Solastalgia, I have defined as the lived experience of actual change to an environment as it is altered in ways beyond our control. Mining and climate change transform landscapes and ecoclimatic zones as they are literally moved or migrate away from where they once 'belonged'. Climate, landscape and people then become mismatched or strangers to one another. For example, the Inuit of the Arctic have applied a word; 'uggianaqtuq' which has connotations of a 'friend acting strangely' to the way climate change is now impacting on their environment and culture. This presentation will reflect (conceptually and visually) on the way two places; coal mining areas of the Hunter Valley, NSW and the ice bound areas of the Arctic are united in a nexus of fossil fuel driven warming. In the Hunter, drought and heat desiccate life ... while in the Arctic a great melting is under way. With new concepts and photographic images we can see a circle of connection between two very different places and cultures.

6 November Tim Kurz, School of Psychology, Murdoch University The Social Psychology of Climate Change in Australia

The release of the fourth UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report in February 2007 prompted a flood of responses from political leaders around the globe. Perhaps nowhere was this more apparent than in Australia, which (under the incumbent conservative government) had remained one of only two developed nations not to have ratified the Kyoto Protocol. The release of the IPCC report also coincided with the first sitting week of the Australian Parliament, in an election year. This election would be ultimately won by the opposition Labor Party, with ‘action on climate change’ as one of their key platforms. In this seminar I wish to review two pieces of psychological research relating to the issue of climate change in the Australian context. Firstly, I will give an overview of a study conducted in 2007 that involved a (qualitative) discursive analysis of climate change rhetoric produced by politicians from the major Australian political parties in the period between the release of the IPCC report and the November 2007 Federal Election. My analysis focuses on the various ways in which the issue of climate change was invoked and rhetorically managed by each of the two parties within this ‘electioneering’ context and some of the potential post-election implications of the ways in which the debate was framed. I will then discuss some ‘hot off the press’ quantitative community survey data that we are currently collecting from a sample of residents across Perth regarding their levels of support for different types of hypothetical government policies to reduce carbon emissions. In this research, we compare reactions to market-based measures, regulatory measures, and various mixtures of the two across a number of domains (e.g., car travel, air travel, meat production etc.). We also compared high, medium and low SES areas in terms of respondents’ levels of support for the different potential carbon reduction policies. I will discuss some of the potential implications arising from these findings in relation to ongoing efforts to reduce carbon emissions at a national and global level.

30 October Melissa Parke, Federal ALP Member for Fremantle

Melissa will discuss sustainability and environment issues from a government perspective and what she is doing in her role as the Federal Member for Fremantle to create a more sustainable future.

Before entering parliament, she worked as a senior lawyer in the United Nations for 8 years, beginning her employment with the UN peacekeeping mission in Kosovo within the Office of Legal Affairs in 1999, followed by two and a half years working in Gaza for the international legal division of UNRWA, the UN agency that works to assist Palestinian refugees. Prior to joining the UN. Melissa was also a lecturer in the law school at Murdoch University (WA) and has served as WA representative on the national council of the Australian Conservation Foundation.

23 October Subas Dakal : Adoption of Information and Communication Technologies amongst Environmental Community Organizations in Western Australia

Environmental Community Organizations, such as, ‘Catchment Groups’, ‘Care Groups’, and ‘Friends of Groups’ have become an integral component of environmental stewardship initiatives in Australia. These Non Profit Organizations are often dependent upon their capability to maintain and build social capital to sustain their missions. Social capital, a resource embedded in a network of social ties is a residual or side effect of social interactions and an enabler of future interactions. In recent years, Not for Profit Organisations have been increasingly spurred to adopt Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), at least partially, to enhance their interactions abilities. However, the extent of ICTs adoption, especially, amongst environmental communtiy organisations in Western Australia remains virtually unexplored. Based on the survey responses from 79 ECOs within Swan Catchment Region of WA, this presentation of work-in-progress will focus on
a) the trend of ICTs adoption, b) benefits of and barriers to ICTs adoption, and c) association between ICTs adoption and social capital.

Subas is a PhD candidate in ISTP.

16 October Seminar and Book-launch : The Clash of Conceptual Languages Around Australia's Mabo Decision.
by Stephen Robson, Principal Policy Officer Policy Unit Office of Native Title

The Australian High Court's 1992 Mabo decision was hailed as a turning point in relations with its Indigenous peoples as this was the first occasion when a claim to traditional connections to lands or waters was recognised by its legal system. Intense debate and activity ensued with Federal Parliament adopting a legislative framework to recognise native title and the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation considering its broader constitutional implications. Dr Robson's work examines the conflicting conceptual languages that were voiced about relations with its Indigenous peoples. While the claims were articulated in a language that sought to protect the human and cultural rights of Indigenous people when considered by the High Court and Federal Parliament significant aspects were interpreted through a modern conceptual language that has its origins in the Western constitutional tradition. While the former language is guided by the conventions of mutual recognition, continuity and consent, the latter language is associated with the nation-state model and has struggled to give more than superficial recognition to cultural difference.

11 September An African story on climate change by Charmaine Consul Gonslaves

4 September Dr Martin Anda : Technical advice waste management livelihoods in TSUNAMI AFFECTED AREAS of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and Nias

After almost three years after the tsunami and earthquake in 2005 in Nias and Aceh, most rehabilitation efforts from international organizations are now addressing longer term economic development and livelihood improvements. As a part of UNDP project “Organisations/Firms to manage Tsunami Recovery Waste Management Program” (TRWMP) managed by Austcare, Murdoch University staff provided technical advice for local NGOs to implement waste management resource recovery projects. Pre-training visit in affected areas of Banda Aceh occurred in June 2007 to identify the potential project opportunity. The visit with local NGOs and Austcare, identified 3 activities requiring technical support: biogas, coconut processing, and plastic recycling processing. The two-day training workshops for each of these were conducted in February 2008 for NGOs and community representatives. These workshops have provided information to beneficiaries and NGOs staff to implement further activities to enable sustainable livelihood opportunities.

14 August : 1.30-3.30pm Dr Gernot Stoeglehner : Decision making for sustainability using the ecological footprint and “ecological risk analysis” Two special seminar sessions.

Gernot Stoeglehner is educated as landscape planner and environmental engineer. Since 1999 he has worked as a lecturer at the Institute of Spatial Planning and Rural Development in the Department of Spatial, Landscape and Infrastructure Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna, Austria. His research interests include sustainable spatial planning and development, sustainability assessment and indicators as well as environmental planning. He is a visiting academic at Murdoch University, Environmental Sciences.

Topic 1. Decision making for sustainability using the ecological footprint

In the lecture he will outline how ecological footprints are calculated and which sustainability judgements can be expected by an ecological footprint analysis. The role of ecological footprint the overall context of decision making for a sustainable development will be explored for awareness rising, evaluation and monitoring. How values are included in the footprint concept will also be discussed. As an example, the lecture will apply ecological footprint to planning for sustainable regional energy supply.

Topic 2. Decision making with “ecological risk analysis”

The seminar introduces an Austrian approach to local (and regional) Agenda 21 based on the Rio Earth Summit's Chapter 28. First, it will outline what an Agenda 21 process should include according to the Rio Declaration: environmental, social and economic matters as well as public participation. Second, a quite successful Austrian model is explained as an example of how to support local communities in elaborating an Agenda 21. The process, the role of visions and community self-organisation are discussed from the example of the “Steinbach way” – a role model community development process which has been undertaken since the mid 1980s in the small village of “Steinbach an der Steyr” (2000 inhabitants) in Upper Austria . The role of professional consultants in these processes is described.

14 August 2008 Careers Seminar

Slides on careers in sustainability (pdf) and how to address selection criteria (pdf)

7 August Managing social adjustment to Peak Oil : Dr Carmen Lawrence

“In moving to a world in which the unfettered consumption of oil is not longer possible, policymakers need to consider how they can change values, attitudes and behaviours to minimise the disruption that would otherwise flow,” Dr Lawrence said.

“At the same time, they need to ensure that such policies never lose sight of the needs of those on low disposable incomes or with limited access to alternative services.

“We can no longer afford a psychology of denial, which projects the future as no more than repeated instances of the present; where things might change, but I will not.”

Dr Lawrence said proposed UK carbon “credit cards” would give residents a free annual carbon allowance (based on country level greenhouse gas emissions quotas).

“Every time a purchase was made for goods such as food, petrol, electricity and air travel, consumers would have the carbon associated with the item debited on their card.

“A carbon exchange could be created, so that someone with a lean carbon budget could sell his or her unused credits to someone with a more carbon rich lifestyle.”

Download the talk here (very large mp3 file- 56 mb) or notes provided by Dr Lawrence here (pdf)

15 May 2008 High-Rise On Perth's Coast: Is It Sustainable?
Dr Ian Alexander - Community Activist and Adjunct Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Curtin University

High-rise development is an integral part of most cities, and even in a low-density spread city like Perth, it dominates the CBD and some suburban centres. The impact of high-rise on the skyline and building stock of central Perth has been dramatic over the past 50 years. And judging from the latest Government plan for the Swan River foreshore, it will be equally dramatic in the decades ahead.

There is some community acceptance of high-rise in the CBD, but in other parts of the metropolitan area, notably along the coast, high-rise is vociferously opposed in many local communities. The State Government’s political response in 2006 was the designation of a state-wide WAPC policy that limits the height of coastal high-rise to between 5 and 8 storeys. But the policy is fraught with limitations and inconsistencies and is unpopular with local action groups, local authorities and developers, albeit for different reasons. The policy is something of a political time bomb for the Government.

After outlining some of the development and political history of the high-rise on Perth’s coast, the lecture raised questions about the sustainability (environmental, social, economic and political) of coastal high-rise and the Government’s official policy position.

Download the talk here (large 56mb mp3 file) or the slide presentation here (pdf).

1 May 2008 Sven Silburn : Strengthening the capacity of Aboriginal children, families and communities

Sven heads the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research Institute's Division for Psychosocial Research and the Centre for Developmental Health at Curtin and is a vigorous exponent of how crucial health is in achieving goals of sustainable development. Download presentation (pdf 1.3mb)