Seven ways I’m retrofitting my house for energy efficiency in a changing climate

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Where I live, it’s getting hotter. This summer we’ve just seen a record-breaking heatwave of six days above 40°C. There’s been a few other records broken, too. Including, the highest number of days over 40°C between December and February – and we are not yet even through January.

Every year we seem to be* (*we are) breaking records.

The climate is changing. And even if we stop global warming in its tracks, the changes that have happened are here to stay, at least in our lifetimes. Zero net zero emissions isn’t going to reverse anything, just slow change down.

Yes, we can write to politicians and march and protest, and we can boycott and change our habits.

But we also need to adapt.

You might have heard talk about “climate resilience”, which is the ability to prepare for and recover from climate-related events such as extreme weather.

Climate resilience needs to happen at all levels, from international treaties to national policy, to local government laws and neighbourhoods and communities working together.

And on a micro level, we need to adapt to become more resilient, too. (Although what that looks like will be different for all of us.)

Retrofitting a 1970s house for energy efficiency (heating and cooling)

I don’t have the option to move to a different climate, and I don’t have the funds to build a Grand Designs style solar passive house. (Not that I’d want to, and anyways, new houses might be energy efficient but building them has a big carbon footprint.)

But I own where I live (well technically the bank does, until I repay the mortgage) which means I can make modifications that make my home more energy-efficient and more comfortable to live in.

The changes I’m talking about here are to the building itself, but if you’re a renter, don’t despair. You could ask your landlord if they’d consider making some improvements. If they say no, it’s worth keeping these in mind for your next move so you know what to look out for. Importantly, there are still modifications possible for renters too – I’ll talk about these in another post.

How houses lose and gain heat

Put simply, this is where an average home with no insulation gains/loses heat:

  • Ceiling: 25 – 35%
  • Floor: 10 – 20%
  • Air leaks and draughts: 5 – 15%
  • Walls: 10 – 20% loss in winter; 15 – 25% gain in summer
  • Windows: 10 – 20% loss in winter; 25 – 35% gain in summer

(Source: yourhome.gov.au )

West Australian houses are particularly leaky. They have little insulation, there are gaps in the door and window frames, they are rarely double or triple-glazed, and are not oriented or designed in a way that suits the climate. Which means they are freezing cold in winter and boiling in summer.

They tend not to have a central heating or cooling system either either. Many houses install split-systems, but usually where its easiest to install rather than where it would be most effective.

Plus, when a house is leaky, you’re paying to heat or cool air that just leaves as soon as it can. Which makes running them inefficient and expensive.

Retrofitting a 1970s house: where I started

This is my home, as I bought it in 2019 (these are the real estate photos – the lawn is long gone!). The house faces north-west. In Perth, the hottest part of the the day is the afternoon (when the sun is to the west), and any windows and walls on the west side will get the hottest.

My house is a duplex (semi-detached) which means the western side is mostly insulated by the other dwelling – and this was a deliberate choice on my part. The one window I have on the north-west side is next to the front door, and is shaded by the garage and other house.

The less windows on the western side, the better.

The three on the south-west side (pictured above) are the kitchen window, which is protected by the patio roof, and the bathroom and toilet windows, which are both small (the less glass, the better).

All of the windows were single-glazed, and the brown frames are aluminium, which is a terrible material for window frames as it conducts heat. The metal gets hot in summer and cold in winter, and allows the heat to enter or leave.

You can’t tell from the picture, but the glass pane of the toilet window was only 3/4. Meaning, there was a gap of a few inches along the top with no glass at all. It’s fairly common in older houses here. This made the toilet freezing in winter and boiling in summer. In fact, that whole half of the house was pretty unbearable on the hottest and coldest days.

You can just make out in the first picture an old metal evaporative air conditioner on the roof. It had been disconnected from the electricity, but the ducting from the roof to the three rooms (living room and two bedrooms) remained.

In hot weather you could stand underneath the vents and feel the heat funnelling in from outside.

And in winter, the heat disappeared through these vents in the ceiling.

1. Installing solar panels

The very first thing I did when I moved in was install solar panels. And I mean literally: I got the keys on the Friday, and I was getting quotes on Monday morning. One month after I moved in, there were solar panels on the roof.

I’ve talked about installing solar before, so I won’t go into it again in detail, but I now have a 3kW system that faces north-west. My roof is too small for anything bigger, but I don’t really need anything bigger.

Although it’s not strictly retrofitting, I knew that my old house would be leaky (leaking heat) and I wanted solar as soon as possible, so I felt less guilty about using the air con and heating.

Solar panels also help insulate the roof by covering the tiles. It’s probably less useful with metal roofs as metal conducts heat, so the whole thing will heat up, but my tiles are concrete. They absorb heat during the day when exposed to the sun, and radiate it out at night. With solar panels, the tiles under the panels are shaded and protected.

2. Installing ceiling fans

The second thing I did was install ceiling fans in the living room and two bedrooms. My previous house had ceiling fans and they are such an underrated addition to a house – the air movement makes everything feel cooler even without any cooling. And when the windows are open at night or the air con is on, it helps spread the cool air throughout the house.

It’s also a fairly cheap thing to do. I had to pay an electrician to install them, and because there weren’t fans there originally he had to install supports in the roof, but it was a straightforward job. I opted for fans with lights, and just replaced the existing light fittings with the fans/lights so I didn’t end up with holes in the ceiling.

If you don’t have high ceilings (I don’t), just make sure you choose a fan with a shorter drop, as they vary and those few cm will make a difference.

And if you choose fans with lights, make sure you can replace the globes, as some have unchangeable globes – meaning if the bulb blows you need to replace the whole unit, and you will need an electrician to replace it for you. This is both wasteful and expensive!

Ceiling fans are also incredibly cheap to run, because they don’t actually heat or cool. A ceiling fan typically costs the same to run as a single light bulb.

3. Installing double glazing

This was the big one, both in terms of cost and the difference it made to the house. It was installed one year after we moved in, so I had one summer and one winter with the existing windows before the change.

In the summer prior, with both air con units running, it was manageable at the front, and unbearably hot at the back of the house (where the hot western sun beats in the afternoon, and where the toilet window with 3/4 glass and 1/4 gap was located).

In the winter, I had to use a portable heater in the bedroom at the back (the office).

The double glazing replaced all the existing windows except the one in the kitchen (which one day I’d like to knock through into a door – it is very frustrating having to walk through the laundry and around half the building to get to the patio in front of the kitchen window).

Both the external doors (the front door and the laundry door, which was rotten) were also replaced.

There is a door onto the patio from the garage, which has also been left for now.

Whilst I’d have loved wooden frames, they don’t seem to be an option in Perth, so the frames I have are PVC. (There is no point choosing aluminium if you want energy efficiency as the frames conduct heat very well – either into or out of the house depending on what you don’t want.)

The glass is Low-E, meaning it’s coated to reduce the amount of infrared and ultraviolet light that enters and performs better than regular glass.

I was planning on triple glazing for the toilet and bathroom because they get so hot, but was talked out of it by the salesperson who said it makes more difference for noise and I wouldn’t need it.

She was right – the double glazing is enough.

With the double glazing installed, the change is amazing. Before, on a 40°C day I’d need the air con running for most of the day. Now, the cool (or in winter, the heat) doesn’t escape, so I can mostly restrict their use to when the solar panels are cranking.

4. Blocking up the ceiling vents

The double glazing stopped a lot of air leaks, which made those that were left all the more noticeable. In particular, the three ceiling vents from the disconnected evaporative cooling system were literal tunnels from the roof, and if you stood underneath them you would feel a blast of hot air coming down.

And of course in winter they let all the heat up and out into the sky.

Did I mention they were also broken, rusted and ugly?

A temporary fix would have been to put cardboard (or something more solid) inside the vents to block them up. The permanent solution was to block them with gyprock and remove the ducting.

And then repaint the ceilings.

It’s hard to measure the difference this made, but for a fairly inexpensive job it was worth it.

5. Insulating the roof space

The first winter it was so cold in the house I assumed we didn’t actually have any insulation at all. Turns out we did, but it was old (probably 50 years old), and very thin and tired.

When I first moved in, insulation was on my to-do list, but I couldn’t find anyone willing to quote. It was 18 months later when I called some pest people in because I thought we had possums in the roof, that they suggested changing the insulation because it was soiled and to deter future rodents (by using a less nest-friendly material).

It was a service they offered, so I went with them.

The main decision with insulation is the R value rating, which is a measure of the ability to resist heat flow. (You also see it referenced with double glazing and window materials.) R values for insulation range from 1.5 to 7, with the higher number being better.

In Perth, Brisbane and NSW it’s recommended to use a minimum R4.0 in the ceiling.

In Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide it’s recommended to use a minimum R6.0 in the ceiling.

The more Rs you use, the more material you use and the more expensive it is.

I went with R5.0. (I got a quote for 4.1 and 5.0, and the difference in price was smaller than I expected. I didn’t get a quote for R6.0, but I half wish I had.)

The installers did a great job, removing all the old stuff (and the old air con ducts), vacuuming the roof space and laying the new insulation. I have to say though, I was expecting a more noticeable difference in winter. However, it’s hard to compare as the first winter (with no double glazing or insulation) was fairly mild, and the recent winter (with double glazing and replaced insulation) was much colder and for much longer, so comparing bills isn’t especially useful.

I do wonder if I should have gone with R6.0….

Although I didn’t use the plug-in heater in the office the second year, despite the colder outside temperature, so there was definitely some benefit.

6. Painting the roof white

Both the colour and the material of a roof can affect the energy efficiency of a house.

My home had dark concrete roof tiles. Concrete absorbs heat, and the dark colour increases this. (Studies have shown that dark tiles can increase the air temperature of a roof space by 9°C compared to light tiles.) This means my roof space got very hot, particularly in the early evening as the heat is released into the house.

I can’t change the material the roof is made from (aside from the huge cost, my house is a duplex/semi-detached, so my neighbour would have to want to change her roof too).

But I can change the colour.

You can buy reflective paints for roofs, which are meant to reflect heat. My painter – who definitely had a few opinions on things – ranted that these were a big con and didn’t work and wouldn’t use them.

So I used regular external paint. I wanted to paint the roof white, but the painter suggested an off-white colour. I went with Taubmans ‘martini’, which in the brochure looked kind of beige, but on my roof appears pretty much white.

7. Installing a whirlybird

A whirlybird, also known as a turbine vent, is a cyclindrical dome that spins in the wind, which creates a vacuum that extracts warm air from the roof cavity. They don’t need a lot of wind to spin; even when it appears still outside, the whirlybird still whirls.

Because I have concrete roof tiles that absorb heat during the hot days and release it into my roof space in the evening, the house gets hotter even as the air outside cools. The whirlybird releases this heat outside. If I had a metal roof it would possibly be less effective than with tiles, as metal doesn’t hold heat in the same way.

They are best for hot climates as they also release heat from the roof space in winter. (With good insulation, hopefully the heat from the house is not escaping into the roof space, though.)

They are not expensive to buy (around $100 AUD) and are installed by just placing under the tiles, no special tools required.

When I painted my roof, the painter also installed the whirlybird for me or no extra charge.

What’s next?

There are a few improvements still to be made, when I have the time and money:

Curtains. I have blinds on most of the windows, but I want to replace them with proper curtains that will do a much better job of keeping the heat in during the winter months.

The kitchen window. This is still the original single glazed glass with an aluminium frame. Knocking through a door into the garden (and renovating the original 1970s kitchen) will be a big and expensive job, so it’s not happening any time soon. But once it’s done it will really make a difference.

The kitchen skylight. The kitchen also has an original skylight that funnels heat in from outside, and it’s placed where the afternoon sun hits for extra heat.

The floors. Something I’m still thinking about, is changing the kitchen floor from laminate to tiles. Tiles have good thermal mass, so absorb heat, whereas laminate does nothing to assist with the room temperature. Thar’s why floors in hot countries are often finished with tiles.

Kitchen benchtop. I have a laminate benchtop, but switching this to stone or concrete will add more thermal mass to the room and help absorb the extra heat.

The garage. This was semi-converted to a room by the previous owners (by which I mean, they painted the walls and laid carpet). But it still has a single glazed glass door with an inch gap at the bottom, and the original metal garage door which incinerates the space in summer (and also has an inch gap at the bottom). I’m not sure what to do with the garage yet – whether to convert it properly into a room (which would be expensive and need planning approval), or simply change all the doors. But because there is an internal door from the garage into the house, the temperature of the garage influences the temperature of the house, so it will definitely need modifying in some way.

…

As for the costs, and the savings? That’s another whole conversation, which I’m saving for another day sometime soon. Plus I’ll talk about what you can do if you rent or are on a tight budget that doesn’t allow for big changes like double glazing. Trust me, you still have options!

As I said at the start, adapting will look different for all of us.

Now I’d love to hear from you! Is the climate changing where you live, and have you been able to make adaptions to better ‘weather’ it? Or do you have plans to do so? Perhaps you’d like to but not sure where to start? Any tips you’d like to add to this? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

5 ways you can give back to your community (even under lockdown)

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Something I’m working to do more of this year is contribute more to my local community and those with less. If 2020 taught me anything, it was that local resilient communities are so important for those that live in them, and the support networks that a good community can offer are priceless.

The other lesson was that, no matter how hard you think you’ve got it, someone else has got it worse, and almost all of us have privilege that we can use to benefit those with less.

(Privilege, incidentally, doesn’t just mean the more obvious things like time or money or power. It can mean white privilege, male privilege, cisgender privilege, able-bodied privilege, educational privilege, mental health privilege, and so on. We might not have them all, but even having one or two makes life easier for us than those who lack them.)

What this ‘contributing’ looks like will vary from person to person – it depends on our privilege, after all. But there are lots of ways we can benefit others and support our community. It doesn’t need to be big or grandiose. Small actions are just as important.

Something so small it only makes a difference to one person still makes a difference to that person.

Here are five ways I’m trying to give back to my community, and contribute more.

Picking up litter

It might seem small, but litter (or lack of it) has such an impact on a community. Rubbish strewn across a park or in waterways is unsightly and harms wildlife but it also gives the impression that no-one cares about the area. And if somewhere is already covered in trash, it almost gives the go-ahead for more trash to be added.

If you want to instantly improve your local community, commit to picking up litter.

It might be that you just try to pick up three items every time you leave the house. Or you might join an organised clean-up event once a month, or even just once a year, where you collect rubbish as part of a group. Or you might decide to ‘adopt a spot’ and keep that one area trash-free.

In Western Australia our container deposit scheme launched at the end of 2020. This means most beverage containers can be returned to receive a 10c refund. Whenever I’m out on my bike, I pledge to pick up every container I see. I’d say on most trips I find 2-3 containers. The funds are going towards a community replanting project in the local area.

And yes, I feel guilty about all the other litter I see and leave when I’m out on my bike. But the reality is, if I stopped to pick up everything, I’d never reach my destination. So I focus on the containers (which is more than I used to do) and accept that I can’t do everything.

In March every year there is a national ‘Clean Up Australia Day’ event. So this year I got together with some like-minded neighbours and we organised a Clean Up Carlisle event, picking up litter along the train line. It’s the first time I’ve ever organised a clean-up like this myself – so it was pretty exciting that people outside of our group turned up!

When I was talking to my neighbours about the event afterwards, they were annoyed that we hadn’t decided to choose one of the main roads in the area, which also has a litter problem. And so I suggested another event, to come soon. When people take pride in their community, these things start to happen…

Donating what you no longer need

I’m a huge fan of donating stuff we no longer need – or more accurately, finding new owners and homes for our old things. It’s one of the things I talk about in a lot of detail in my book Less Stuff.

I have mixed feelings about donating to the charity shop. Too many people use charity shops as a dumping ground for stuff they feel guilty about throwing away. Charity shops are overwhelmed with stuff, only selling about 15% of everything that gets donated.

If you’re going to donate to the charity shop, ensure it’s your best stuff, its clean and not broken, and it’s appropriate for the time of year (charity shops don’t want Christmas decorations in January, or ski ware in summer). You can even call before you drop off to check it’s stuff they actually need right now.

Charity shops are an easier option, but there are lots of other places to donate items to people who need them.

Try your local Buy Nothing group.

Ask on a local community Facebook group for ideas of local places to drop things off (such as homeless shelters or refuges, community projects, schools or playgroups).

If you have excess food (even if it’s open or past its expiry) try Olio. They’ve recently expanded into non-food items, too.

Givit is an online Australian platform which lists items needed by individuals or organisations.

Supporting a local food bank

Food banks often have specific needs and won’t accept items that are open or past their use-by (use Olio for these things). You might have items in your cupboard to donate, or you might decide to make a donation by buying extra groceries.

I found a local food bank run by church just two streets away from me, and I started the habit of making a monthly donation box at the end of last year. Being local I like that it benefits people in my area. Every time I got to the shops I’ll buy a few things to add to the box, and then once a month I make a delivery.

It felt strange to me to buy items in packaging at first, but I feel better about supporting the food bank than I would if I avoided the groceries and didn’t contribute. I still try to keep to my values where I can – buying Fairtrade coffee and locally grown tinned vegetables.

Something else I’ve been able to do, and this might work for you if you don’t have the budget to contribute financially, is take food that’s been offered up on the Buy Nothing group to the food bank on behalf of others.

(The drop off hours are quite specific, being Wednesday and Friday mornings only, so not everyone can get there. I have flexible working hours and can pick things up and drop them off.)

I want to add, that the very fact that food banks need to exist at all is quite outrageous. In a world where 1/3 of all food grown is thrown away, the fact that millions of people go hungry in countries like the UK, Australia and the USA (so called ‘developed’ countries) every day is quite unbelievable.

Our food system is in crisis, and there is a lot of work to be done by corporations and governments to stop allowing this waste on this scale and to redistribute resources more fairly. In the meantime, people need to eat and donating to food banks is one way to share our resources with others.

Making a monetary donation

The obvious one, possibly. But making monetary donations to organizations you believe in and/or whose work you value – whether it’s a regular donation or a one-off, whether it’s a small or large amount, whether it’s a big organisation or a small community project – is always going to be of value to them.

I want to get better at this. It’s easy to get stuck the rabbithole of where’s best to donate, which type of organisation, how do I know my donation will be effective, am I making the best choice etc etc.

To get unstuck, I’m learning to let this whole idea of ‘best’ go. Donations are more than money, anyway. They are a show of support and belief in the work.

My new rule is, don’t fixate on what’s ‘best’. If a donation drive crosses your path and it’s something you believe in and you can spare a few (or many) dollars, make a donation.

You might not be able to spend that money on cupcakes any more, but that wasn’t going to make the world a better place either.

I make a monthly donation to IndigenousX, who fund and give a platform to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices across Australia. I’ve learned so much through their writing.

Because I’m self-employed and my income isn’t regular, I don’t commit to regular monthly donations other than this – although I have plans to when I can. I made a donation to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation on my birthday, I made a donation to Boorloo Justice (Boorloo is the Whadjuk name for Perth) for their Decolonise Pride fundraiser, I supported the Learn Our Truth crowdfunding campaign organised by the National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition and In My Blood It Runs.

I also purchased a photo print that was a fundraiser for the National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project. (Does that count?)

And at the other end of the scale, I supported a local community garden in their fundraiser to get new chickens.

Making an in-kind donation

You might not have money to donate, but you might have a product or service you can donate. I’ve donated copies of my books to the Hilton Harvest community garden, and Free the Hounds (a greyhound charity) simply because they reached out to ask me – and I like gardening and greyhounds!

If you’re a writer, needleworker, an artist or some other creator, maybe you can offer your creations to organisations to help them with their fundraising efforts.

Volunteering your time

If you don’t have money but you do have time, maybe volunteering is for you. Volunteering can mean so many things, from getting out and about and hands-on to helping with social media. It can be a regular commitment, or one-off jobs as required.

It can be helping an established organisation, an informal local group or even helping one person (for example, with their weekly shopping).

In the past I’ve volunteered for not-for-profit organizations, but currently my focus is on much more local activities – such as hosting the community Grow Free cart and helping get our new community Street Activators group up and running.

I also admin a couple of zero waste Facebook groups.

My energy, enthusiasm and time for volunteering ebbs and flows, and right now this is all I have the capacity to do. But I’d love to volunteer at the Food Rescue place sometime in the future.

…

2020 (and 2021) have left me feeling a little bit ‘stuck’. Unsure where I want to concentrate my focus, and unsettled by all of the change. Simple acts like picking up litter, buying some (plastic-free) teabags at the grocery store to give to the food bank or making a donation to a group whose request popped up in my feed are tangible things that I can do, today, in the moment, to help make things a little bit better.

As Anne Frank said, no-one has ever become poor by giving.

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5 simple (and free) things you can do to have a more sustainable 2021

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2020, I think we can all agree, has been a year unlike no other. The best-laid plans (no… wait… all the plans) went out of the window, and for many of us it was tumultuous and unsettling and a bit (or a lot) of a struggle. But if you’re reading this, you survived the year that was (hurrah!), and maybe – just maybe – you’re starting to think about the new year ahead, and making plans.

I think the New Year is always a great time for a reset, even if most of us are not making big, bold plans for next year. (If you are, go you! But I’m sitting the big bold plans out for next year. I’m tiptoeing into the new year, in fact.)

Anyways, I think a lot of sustainable habits went out of the window along with those plans in 2020, and I think a lot of us want to at least try to pick a few of them back up again. Honestly, there are probably a million and one great habits that we could adopt for 2021.

But to list a million and one great ideas would be completely overwhelming.

Instead, I spent some time thinking about which habits I’ve adopted over the past few years that have had a big impact in reducing my waste and living more sustainably, have been relatively easy to start and continue to do, and have been free.

If we are going to ease into the new year gently, we don’t need an overwhelming to-do list. We just need a few simple, easy and effective ideas to get started. Here are 5 of my favourite simple (and free) things that you can do, starting today, to have a more sustainable 2021.

Carry a KeepCup with you.

A KeepCup (but you can choose another branded or non-branded reusable travel cup, or even a sturdy jam jar with a silicone band or a few elastic bands around it), is something I recommend to carry in your bag, bike rack or glove box. It is probably the most useful thing in mine.

And I rarely get a takeaway coffee.

Obviously they are great for takeaway coffee (or tea, or other hot drinks). They can be used to dine-in if the place you’re drinking at only has disposables. They also work as a water glass, and to hold food scraps such as apple cores or banana peels that you want to take home and compost. They can be used as a container when bringing a snack from home, or buying small bakery items, or ice-cream, or when you didn’t bring enough BYO containers to the bulk store. And, you can pack a surprising amount of leftovers in them if you eat out and over-order.

In short, they are practical and useful – and easy enough to carry around.

And I think that carrying around reusables (and using them, obviously) is important for shifting the way that society sees disposables. We need to normalise reducing waste if we want more people to do the same.

If we can change the culture, then we are on the way to shifting policy.

These days, there are so many reusable cups about, you probably don’t need to buy one. (Reusables are almost the new disposables, it seems…) Ask friends and family if they have spares, look on giveaway sites, see if there are any abandoned ones at work.

Or you can buy one, if you really want to. But you don’t have to.

(You’ll often find them in second-hand and charity shops, too.)

Whether you rescue or buy, it can be helpful to think about what would be the most useful for you, as there are plenty of different options. And the best reusable is the one you actually use, so choose one that meets your needs.

Glass is more breakable than plastic or stainless steel, but easy to clean and doesn’t absorb flavours.

Some cups are fully leakproof, others leak-resistant, and others not leakproof at all.

You can choose a tall cup, a small cup, a collapsible cup that fits in your pocket, a cup that fits in the drink holder in your car or on your bicycle. Or a jam jar. Whatever it is that will be most practical for you.

The first ‘swap’ I made when I went plastic-free back in 2012 was getting a (plastic) KeepCup. I switched to a glass one when they were launched in 2014, and I still have that same one now. Whilst there are plenty of reusables you can carry around with you (cutlery, a napkin, reusable shopping and produce bags, a water bottle), the KeepCup remains one of my favourite zero waste swaps, ever.

If you switch to one reusable, start here.

Stop throwing away food scraps.

Food waste makes up 40 per cent of the average household bin in the UK, USA and Australia. Stop throwing away food scraps and you’ll reduce your waste by almost half, and you’ll be able to turn those scraps, which are actually nutrients, into compost, to go back into the soil.

And you’ll reduce your carbon emissions, because food waste in landfill creates methane – a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Plus, you’ll no longer have a stinky kitchen bin. Wins all round!

Finding alternatives for your food scraps is not as hard as you think. There are plenty of options.

You might be lucky enough to have a council food scraps collection service (it’s sometimes called FO or FOGO – FO means food organics and GO means garden organics). If you have this option, make sure you’re using it to its full potential. Check what’s accepted and make sure everything that can go in this bin is going in this bin.

If you don’t have this service, there are a few ways you can process your food scraps at home.

You can set up a compost bin. There are two main options – the Dalek-style in-ground bins, that have an open base that you dig into the ground; or the rotary bins that sit on a frame and are great for patios. Sizes vary so you can pick one for a small space or a large family.

Composting is easy and low fuss – if you’re new to composting, this composting guide has more details on how to get started.

You could establish a worm farm. Worm farms can be kept indoors or outdoors: an indoor one is great if you live in a cold climate, as worms will die if they freeze. They are also excellent for apartments. The worms eat your food scraps and make an amazing nutrient rich product called ‘worm castings’ that is fantastic for gardens.

They take a little (but not much) more effort than a compost bin to maintain – mainly because you have to keep the worms alive. Which means feeding occasionally, and keeping them out of extreme temperatures.

Worm farms come in a variety of shapes and sizes: from plastic ‘worm cafes’ to the large capacity bin-shaped ‘Hungry Bin’ to ceramic and wooden designs (I’ve only seen these available in Europe). And there are in-ground versions too, where a tube drilled with holes is dug directly into the ground or a garden bed.

And there’s the option to DIY – in ground worm farms can be made out of old PVC tube, and worm farm ‘cafes’ can be made using two old polystyrene boxes.

You could set up a bokashi system. These are slightly different from composting and worm farming in that they ferment the food scraps rather than breaking them down. The scraps are placed in a sealed bucket with a tap, and a bokashi bran inoculated with microbes is sprinkled on top.

Fill, sprinkle, fill, sprinkle, until the bucket is full.

Eventually the bokashi waste will need to be buried or composted. Some people add to a compost bin, others add to a pot, top with soil and plant it out.

Bokashi systems are popular with apartment dwellers. They don’t smell, and once full the buckets can be stored for months until a place for burying is found. Plus they are a great way to process meat and fish scraps, cooked food and other items not recommended for compost bins.

If you’d like to know more about bokashi systems, this post explains the ‘what’, the ‘why’ and the ‘how’.

And finally, if you really like the idea of not throwing away your food scraps, but you’re not in a place to start composting or setting up a worm farm just yet, you can piggyback off of other people’s food waste systems. For free.

Simply find someone or somewhere convenient to you (maybe a school, or a community garden, or a cafe, or a neighbour), and drop your food scraps to them. Finding them isn’t that hard, either – check out the resources sharewaste.com or makesoil.org.

Download (and start using) the OLIO app

Still on the subject of food waste, but now we are not talking food scraps, we are talking edible food – food that isn’t wanted. Food we bought and didn’t like the taste of, food we bought and then plans changed, food that stores or cafes produced and couldn’t sell, that sort of thing. Well, OLIO is the app that allows people (and businesses) to connect food that isn’t wanted with people that want it. For free.

The OLIO app is free, the food is free. There is no catch, just food to be shared and people who want to help. OLIO has been around in the UK since 2015, and now has over 2 million users in more than 46 countries. Best of all, the app has helped save almost 10 million portions of food since it started.

In fact, because it has been so successful, OLIO has recently expanded into non-food items too.

You can read more about OLIO via their website www.olioex.com, and the app is available on Apple and Android.

Buy less stuff from billionaires (and their companies)

Billionaires really don’t need any more money, and they definitely don’t need their coffers lined further by us. I don’t believe anyone becomes a billionaire ethically and sustainably – but even if you did, hoarding all of that wealth is unethical.

(If you have $999 million dollars, then you are not a billionaire. So we are talking about people who have upwards of this.)

I can’t imagine what you can possibly need all that money for. The biggest houses, private jets, buying up entire islands – surely that’s small change when you’re a billionaire?

Oh, and for context: if you worked every single day, making $5,000 a day, from the year 1500 until the year 2020, you would still not be a billionaire. You’d have to work for 548 years, not spending a penny of what you earned, and earning $5000 a day, every day, to be a billionaire.

And yet billionaires own companies like Amazon and H & M, companies which became notorious during Covid-19 for not protecting their workers (who mostly earn minimum wage – or less), trying to avoid paying suppliers and rent, all in order to maximise profits for themselves and shareholders.

This type of business (and wealth hoarding) only benefits the few.

It’s often argued that poor people and those on tight budgets need to shop at these types of stores, where prices are low, in order to survive. But let’s be totally clear – people on tight budgets shopping for essentials do not create multi-million dollar businesses and billionaires. That comes from the middle and upper classes, and people buying more than they need.

Boycotting billionaire-owned businesses might not be an option for you, and that’s okay. But wherever possible, try to shop at these businesses less. Perhaps by choosing to buy nothing, make do, fix what you have, repurpose something else, borrow something rather than buy it, or shopping second-hand.

Or perhaps by choosing to support a small business or independent retailer instead.

When things are cheap, often the true costs are externalised. We (and definitely not the company) don’t pay for them. Perhaps the resources were taken from land that is being degraded or exploited for profit, perhaps the person who made the item didn’t get paid a fair wage, perhaps the employee who sold or packed the item doesn’t have fair employment conditions or access to healthcare.

We often hear the phrase “when we spend money, we vote with our dollars about the kind of world we want to live in”.

Do we really want to live in a world where a few billionaires hoard wealth at the expense of millions of others?

Join your local Buy Nothing group

Whether you’d like to buy less from billionaires, buy less generally or simply help keep resources in use for longer (and therefore reduce waste), the Buy Nothing project is going to help you – in more ways than you can imagine. It’s a network of hyper-local communities engaging in the true gift economy: giving, sharing, borrowing, lending and placing unwanted and unused items back in circulation for use by others.

The groups operate on Facebook. You can only join one group – the one where you live – and what this means is everyone is close by, so it’s easy to collect an old unwanted table, request a cup of sugar, or ask to borrow some glasses for a party, or a lawnmower, or whatever you need to use (but don’t really need to buy).

The great thing about the group is that generosity breeds generosity. People love to give, people love to receive useful things, and everyone loves to save stuff from landfill.

It also means you get to know your neighbours, and build connections.

My Buy Nothing group is the first place I go if I need something that is the kind of thing someone else might have lying around. It’s the first place I go if I’m wanting to pass on something I no longer need. It makes you realise just how much stuff is already in the world, and how willing others are to share it.

It’s hard to articulate just how great the Buy Nothing project is. If you use Facebook, I’d recommend joining your local Buy Nothing group. And if there is no local Buy Nothing group near you, you can start your own.

The year that has gone has definitely made some sustainable habits harder to keep up with, whether it’s because laws have been changed and legislation brought in, businesses have shifted policy, or life just became too hectic and some things just needed to be dropped.

Whilst we can’t just forget about 2020, and a new year doesn’t magic away all the chaos, there is the chance to reset, even just a little. Hopefully these ideas make your 2021 not only a little more sustainable, but easier and more enjoyable for you too.

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Now I’d love to hear from you! Are you feeling ready to start getting back on track in 2021? Or are you sitting things out a little longer? Are you going big, or keeping things small? What’s the first thing you want to tackle? Any other thoughts? Please share your ideas in the comments below!

Caring for Country: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations working in the sustainability space

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Something I often think about, when it comes to reducing waste and sustainable living, is ‘what else can I do?’ Not in a fitting-my-trash-in-a-mason-jar kind of way – I find this way too simplistic and too focused on the individual at the expense of the broader community.

If I can fit my waste in a jam jar but the rest of my street (or suburb, or town, or country) are filling their bins to the top each week, that’s not really a reason to celebrate. Clearly there is still work to be done!

To me, ‘what else can I do’ means thinking about how can I spread the message, influence my friends, family and those in my community, and help others to take action.

The place where it’s easiest for me to take action, outside of my own home, is in my local community. But – thinking about the jam jar analogy again – it’s a hollow victory if my community does a fantastic job, whilst other communities are struggling, and don’t have access to the resources to create change.

The good news is, there are plenty of people working in their local communities to create positive change. Those of us with more resources can offer support to those with less.

We don’t need to live in or travel to those communities to support them and assist them to do their work.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have lived sustainably on the land that is now called Australia for 60,000 years, and they have knowledge and experience of caring for Country that 250 years of white occupation can’t even begin to comprehend.

If we want to live sustainably, we have to listen to the voices of Indigenous peoples, trust their knowledge, and learn from their experiences.

In Australia, there are a number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations focused on sustainability, and sharing knowledge and stories in their own voices. If you’re wondering how you can support Indigenous voices and experiences in this space, I’ve put together a list of the ones I know about – you might find it useful.

Support might mean sharing their work, making a donation, volunteering time, making a purchase, asking your local library or school to stock a book, or something else.

(I have no doubt that this list is incomplete, and if you know of any other Indigenous-owned or Indigenous-led organisations working in this space in Australia, let me know and I will add them to the list.)

Aboriginal / Torres Strait Islander led organisations working in the sustainability space

Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network

A branch of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC), Seed is Australia’s first Indigenous youth climate network. Their vision is for a just and sustainable future with strong cultures and communities, powered by renewable energy. Climate change is one of the greatest threats facing humanity, and it is also an opportunity to create a more just and sustainable world.

W: seedmob.org.au

Firesticks

Firesticks Alliance Indigenous Corporation is an Indigenous-led network and aims to re-invigorate the use of cultural burning by facilitating cultural learning pathways to fire and land management. It is an initiative for Indigenous and non- Indigenous people to look after Country, share their experiences and collectively explore ways to achieve their goals.

W: firesticks.org.au

Victor Steffensen is a co-founder of the Firesticks Alliance Indigenous Corporation, and sits on the Board of Directors. His book, Fire Country – how Indigenous fire management could help save Australia was published in February 2020. $1 from each purchase goes to the Firesticks Alliance.

Community First Development (formerly Indigenous Community Volunteers)

Working with First Nations communities is based on the principle of self-determination; creating partnerships with them so that they can achieve great things for their communities. Projects are always determined and led by community. Driven by the need for a better world for all First Nations people; to work with all cultures for recognition, respect, and the right to be treated and valued with equality.

W: communityfirstvolunteers.org.au

Deadly Science

An initiative that aims to provide science books and easy reading material to remote schools in Australia. (It is also helping restocking books and resources to schools destroyed in the 2020 bush fires). It was started when founder Corey Tutt, a Kamilaroi man who is the 2020 NSW Young Australian of the Year, discovered that an Australian school he was talking to had just 15 books in their entire library.

W: deadlyscience.icu

Common Ground

Founded by Kaytetye woman Rona Glynn-McDonald to build a foundational level of knowledge for all Australians, and be a go to resource for those wanting to learn more and connect with our First Peoples. To help Australians see the value of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures through providing access to engaging and authentic content that will help bridge gaps in knowledge.

W: www.commonground.org.au

First Nations publishing houses – publishing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories and voices

Magaala books (based in Broome, WA)

They published the award-winning Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe, which looks at the historical evidence to challenge the commonly-held views of pre-colonial Australia and “Terra Nullius”.

W: magabala.com

Keeaira press

Established in 1996 with the purpose of recording Aboriginal history and culture.

W: kpress.com.au

Black Inc Press (Condon, QLD)

An Indigenous community-based publishing venture based in North Queensland, and specialising in illustrated books for young readers.

W: blackinkpress.wixsite.com/blackinkpress

Aboriginal Studies press

Publishing arm of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) and publisher of Australian Indigenous studies. They publish scholarly works, children’s books, biographies, research papers and monographs across a broad range of topics.

W: aiatsis.gov.au/aboriginal-studies-press

Indij readers (Fountaindale, NSW)

An Aboriginal charity registered as a not-for-profit organisation, selling Indigenous children’s books.

W: indijreaders.com.au

Batchelor press (NT)

The publishing arm of Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, Northern Territory, Australia. The teaching and learning resources are produced primarily for Indigenous students living in remote communities, the majority of whom have English as a second or third language.

W: batchelorpress.com

…

There are also non-Indigenous publishers who are putting out great work by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers and illustrators, and those books definitely still need reading too.

Non-Indigenous Not-for-Profit Organisations

Two non-Indigenous not-for-profit organizations worth mentioning for their work in Aboriginal and Torres Strait island communities.

Indigenous Literacy Foundation

A national not-for-profit charity focused on improving literacy levels in very remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, with Aboriginal board and staff members.

W: indigenousliteracyfoundation.org.au

Waste Aid

Waste Aid Australia works with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities to create long-term sustainable solutions to address inadequate waste management. Waste Aid works alongside communities to leverage their own skills and expertise to co-design and deliver waste solutions on their own land.

W: wasteaid.org.au

…

Sometimes it feels hard to know what to do to support others who aren’t in our immediate circle of friends, or our local community. I hope this list has given you some inspiration.

Now I’d love to hear from you! Do you know of any other Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people or organisations doing great work in the sustainability space? Any books you’ve read that you recommend? Any other thoughts? Please share in the comments below!

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The Australian Bushfire Crisis and How You Can Help

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I’m sure this wasn’t how most of us imagined the new year would begin. There’s been a lot of talk of the climate crisis over the last 12 months, and of a climate emergency about to unfold, but I don’t think many of us expected it to arrive so soon and with so much intensity. Australia is on fire.

This is what the climate emergency looks like. And it’s not pretty.

10.3 million hectares have reportedly already burned (that’s an area bigger than Scotland), an estimated 1 billion animals killed, 25 people have been killed (including three volunteer firefighters, all with young families) and thousands of homes have been destroyed.

The fires may not have reached the cities, but the smoke has. Sydney and Canberra have been suffering for months. For context: air quality index readings over 200 are considered hazardous to health. Canberra’s air quality was reported to hit 7,700. That’s worse than Beijing and Delhi – notoriously polluted cities.

Remember the Amazon fires of 2019? These fires have burned 46% more land than those. And this is the start of a fire season that may continue for another 3 months.

You’re probably thinking that the government should step in and do something about it. You’d expect them to, right? However our Prime Minister has been lacking in any leadership in these issues.

And in the absence of any empathy, support or leadership from government, it has fallen to us to do something about it. Australia might seem far away, but the planet is our collective home. We might not be powerful, but there are many of us who care, who are angry, and who want to do something positive – turn our anger into action.

I put this together to help you choose how.

Let’s turn our heartache and pain and frustration into action.

Donating to the firefighters

The majority of firefighters in Australia are volunteers. The New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS), which covers 95% of NSW, is the largest volunteer fire service in the world, with more than 70,000 volunteers.

These volunteers are unpaid and they are exhausted. (In most cases they also don’t get paid time off to fight fires and have to use annual leave.)

New South Wales: donate to the NSW Rural Fire Service website (with details for credit card donations, direct deposits and international bank transfers)

The Australian comedian Celeste Barber set up a Facebook fundraising page for the NSW Rural Fire Service and Brigades Donation Fund, and has currently raised $48 million in donations (yes, you read that right: forty-eight million dollars). Facebook fundraisers make it easy for those overseas to donate and this one has been super successful, which is great! Just bear in mind that this fundraiser only covers NSW and there are other fire services (Australia has six states and two territories) that also need support.

South Australia: donate to the South Australia (SA) CFA via cfsfoundation.org.au/donate (donations are made by bank or credit card).

Victoria: The Country Fire Authority has options to donate to either specific CFA brigade of your choice, or to the CFA general public fund via their website: payments can be made by bank transfer, or cheques and money orders can be sent by post.

A Facebook fundraiser has also been set up for the CFA Brigades Donation Fund.

The Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria (VFBV) also has a Volunteer Welfare Fund which makes small grants on a needs basis to CFA volunteers and their families – designed to alleviate stresses that can affect an individual’s ability to continue as a volunteer. These donations can be made by credit card via the GiveNow platform (unlike the CFA donations, these are not tax deductible).

Donating to affected communities

South Australia: The State Emergency Relief Fund directs funds directly to those affected by bushfires in South Australia. It’s possible to donate by electronic funds transfer, credit card or cheque via the SA Bushfire Appeal.

Donations to the Kangaroo Island community can be made directly (by bank transfer only, international donations accepted) to the Kangaroo Island Mayoral Relief and Recovery Bushfire Fund.

Victoria: if you heard the stories of 4,000 people in Mallacoota being evacuated to the beach and rescued by the navy, that was East Gippsland. It’s possible to donate to the Gippsland Emergency Relief Fund by bank deposit (via any branch of NAB) or via credit card (Paypal) via gerf.com.au/donate.

The Victorian government has partnered with Bendigo Bank and the Salvation Army to establish the Victorian Bushfire Appeal, with 100% of donated funds going directly to communities in need. It is possible to donate from overseas. Due to a glitch in the system it does not allow overseas addresses, so please use the Foundation address –  PO Box 480 BENDIGO VICTORIA 3555 – to override the system and allow your donation to be made. Website: vic.gov.au/bushfireappeal

First Nations Communities: if you would like to donate to fire-affected First Nations communities (including those in Gippsland and the south coast of NSW) , this Fire Relief Fund GoFundMe page has been set up by a Yorta Yorta man. The fundraiser offers culturally sensitive, specific direct support to those affected.

Firesticks Alliance: are delivering an Indigenous led Cultural Fire program to support affected communities and countries to heal after the devastating fire crisis. Currently fundraising via Chuffed (a for-purpose crowdfunding platform.

The Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR) make grants to local not-for-profit groups for community-led projects that address the most pressing needs that emerge 12-18 months after a disaster event. Donations can be made to their Disaster Resilience and Recovery Fund (you can find the donation page here).

Donating to humanitarian charities

Australian Red Cross: supporting people in evacuation centres and recovery hubs across Australia. Donations: fundraise.redcross.org.au/drr (donations by credit card)

Salvation Army: providing meals to evacuees and frontline responders, and other support. Donations within Australia: salvationarmy.org.au (donations by bank transfer, credit card or Paypal). Donations from overseas: donate.everydayhero.com

Save the Children: are raising funds to help support children affected by the bushfires crisis. If in Australia, it is possible to donate via their website savethechildren.org.au If outside Australia, you can donate via their Facebook Fundraiser.

St Vincent de Paul Society (Vinnies): providing bushfire relief efforts across all states. Donations here: donate.vinnies.org.au

Donating to wildlife organisations

Adelaide Koala Rescue (SA): helping koalas affected by the fires in South Australia. Donations can be made via their website: akr.org.au

Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park (SA): raising funds to help koalas and other wildlife via a GoFundMe page.

Koala Hospital Port Macquarie (NSW): rescuing and rehabilitating koalas injured and made homeless by the bushfires. Their website koalahospital.org.au is struggling to deal with the surge in traffic but donations can also be made via their GoFundMe page.

NSW Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service (WIRES): provide wildlife education, rescue and care for animals in NSW. Donations can be made via their website wires.org.au or via their Facebook Fundraiser page.

The Rescue Collective (Queensland): based in Brisbane but supporting wildlife organisations throughout the east coast. Their bushfire appeal is raising funds to provide food, water and medication to wildlife in need. Donations via the website mkc.org.au.

Wildlife Victoria: a not-for-profit organisation rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming Victorian wildlife. Donations can be made via their website wildlifevictoria.org.au, and they also have a Facebook Fundraiser page and a GoFundMe page.

WWF Australia: are running an appeal to replant trees to restore habitat for extinction-threatened koalas in NSW and southern Queensland. Donations can be made via their website: donate.wwf.org.au

Donating things that aren’t money

Money is really the best thing you can donate, if you’re able. It means organisations can spend the money on exactly what they need in that moment. If you don’t want to give cash, donations of fuel cards or supermarket vouchers are most useful.

A lot of organisations have been overwhelmed with donations and are now respectfully declining offers due to the issues with storage and logistics with distribution. If you’ve been told second-hand about a request by an organisation for items, please check that the request is still current.

If you’re overseas, please also take into account the length of delivery time between sending your items and them arriving – they may no longer be required by then, so check with the organisation before sending.

If you’re not able to donate money, here are some ways to donate.

Donating accommodation: if you have extra space in NSW, you can offer it for free (to people who’ve been impacted by the fires, or to relief workers) via Airbnb’s Open Homes Disaster Relief (click the link and scroll half way down the page).

Other options include registering with findabed.info , which is supporting people across the east coast; or signing up with helpinghomes.com.au (as well as for humans, “room” can also be for pets and livestock).

Giving blood: the Red Cross’s blood donation service Lifeblood says they will need more donations in the coming weeks. You can find out if you’re eligible and find out how and where to give blood via donateblood.com.au.

Giving ‘stuff’: GIVIT – Goods for Good Causes is coordinating donations of items – you can either browse the list of items required, or submit what you have via the form on their website givit.org.au/give-items

Knitting and sewing pouches for orphaned joeys (baby kangaroos) and other marsupials: Young wombats, kangaroos, wallabies, bandicoots, gliders and possums all need pouches. Different animals need different sizes. WIRES has written an excellent guide if you’re keen to contribute in this way.

The Animal Rescue Collective Craft Guild has an even more comprehensive guide for stitchers, knitters and crocheters with all kinds of patterns for pouches, wraps and other needs. You can find them on Facebook – the pinned post has their current most needed items.

Writing a Letter

If you’ve been meaning to write to your local politician urging action on climate change, now is that time. If you’re in Australia, great, but even if you are overseas, the climate emergency is a worldwide issue.

In Australia I’m told that the most effective way to communicate is by email rather than post.

First, you need to find your local MP and their contact details – just ask the internet. (In Australia you will have both a State and Federal MP and I would suggest writing to both.)

Next, you’ll need to know what you’re going to say.

I came across a letter by Anna Richards (via Instagram) which she sent to her local MP and I think it is a good template (it’s downloadable) if you’d like to write but are at a loss for what to say.

Joining a Protest

Protests are happening across Australia on Friday afternoon (January 10th). You might not be a protester. I’m not a protester, either. The September climate strike of 2019 was my second march ever… and my first was in 2001 (for student tuition fees).

I’m not a protester, but I’ll be there. Because it’s important. And I’m furious that it’s come to this. And I want our government to know. I want to be counted.

Hopefully you’ll be there too.

Sydney: 5.30pm Town Hall

Melbourne: 6pm State Library

Brisbane: 5pm King George Square

Canberra: 530pm Garema Place

Adelaide: 5pm Parliament

Perth: 5.30pm Forrest Place

Newcastle: 5.30pm City Hall

Geelong: Little Mallop Street Mall

Woolongong: 6pm Arts Precinct

If there’s one good* thing (* well, sorta) that has come out of the bushfire crisis, it’s the way that people have banded together, supported one another, donated and volunteered and taken action. Whilst I’d love you to share this, what I’d love you to do even more is to do something on this list. Take action, in whatever way you can. No matter how small. We’re in this together.

Now I’d love to hear from you! If there’s any good fundraising drives, interesting ways to donate or volunteer or anything else you think we need to know about, please share. And if you take an action, let us know what you did. As always, please share any other thoughts in the comments!