Today I attended a conference about sustainable energy, water and waste management in Melbourne and couldn’t resist the temptation to publish a few of my favourite quotes. Tap into water data ‘We need to tap into big data to facilitate smarter… Read More ›
When I visit buildings and developments that claim to be ‘green’, I like to ask the building owners and facility managers about the details. Not details like ‘What type of corner joint did you use here?’ or ‘Did you use recycled PVC… Read More ›
Someone commented recently that property managers are the unsung heroes of many organisations. Most people don’t think about these quiet achievers until something isn’t working or a utility bill hasn’t been paid. In promoting energy and water efficiency, we encourage… Read More ›
The original design of Canberra drew heavily on ‘City Beautiful’, ‘Garden City’ and other aspirational town planning movements that placed a high priority on the landscape. But have the ideals and vision of Canberra’s founding and subsequent ‘parents’ and designers resulted in a… Read More ›
The world celebrates its first UN-sanctioned World Toilet Day on 19 November. The Day aims to raise global awareness of the serious health, privacy and other challenges faced by the 2.5 billion people living without access to clean safe toilets. Check out this animated promo encouraging people… Read More ›
A fantastic water conservation project at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne proves that reservoirs and tanks, not just ponds and lakes, can be things of beauty and landscape features in their own right. Over the past few years, ‘Guilfoyle’s… Read More ›
A recent article* posted on The Conversation suggested that we should ban the word ‘sustainability’ due to the common practice of using a small number of performance indicators to compare companies or products while ignoring the real issues.** The article also… Read More ›
When I used to talk about supporting a water project in Africa, I always pictured a modest and fairly unremarkable structure (such as the hand-dug and drilled wells built by organisations like Well Wishers and charity: water). Something not very sexy but… Read More ›
Do you care about the environment? If not, do you at least care about energy prices, food security and natural disasters? Participants at a recent workshop in Australia did not think that climate change and green buildings were important issues… Read More ›
Sustainability soapbox 