Contents:
NSF's activites are what it does to achieve its mission
NSF's current major projects
NSF's past projects and continuing activities
• conferences
• publications
• our journal
• NSF occasional papers
• books
NSF works to achieve its mission by:
NSF has currently around 130 members, mostly living in the Australian Capital Territory, with others elsewhere in Australia and also overseas. Members are encouraged to participate in the activities of the Forum, and to propose, initiate and become involved in projects, workshops, courses and other activities of the Forum.
ANB - The Australian National Biocentre was established as an NSF project to look at the feasibility of establishing a high profile national centre to address NSF themes. It sought funds from government and private sources to undertake the feasibility work and gauge the levels of interest for such a centre and both in both the public and private arenas. Work is progressing on this potentially major project as part of the Australian National Sustainability Initiative.
Biosphere Reserve Nomination is a proposal arising from NSF for the entire ACT to be designated one of over 500 UNESCO Biosphere Reserves. NSF held public meetings and consultations and now the proposal is being inquired into by the ACT House of Assembly’s Standing Committee on Planning and the Environment and the Conservation Council received a grant to carry out the formal community consultation to gauge the degree of interest in the proposal across the ACT. More details here.
E-mail interest groups are, like NSF's journal, a service to our members. We pass on selected information relevant to 'healthy people on a healthy planet' from the day's news from around the world. There are 24 categories from which members select to ensure the information is targeted to their needs and stimulates thought, debate and action. More information here.
Biosensitive Futures -
This program brings together relevant information from the sciences and makes it available in a form that is readily understandable by non-scientists, and then encourages discussion and dialogue among interested members of the public on the policy implications of this information. It aims to play a catalytic role in the shift towards a new biosensitive society – that is, a society that is ecologically sustainable, healthy and equitable.
A major component of this program is the Biosensitive Futures website.
Another project, the Biosensitive Futures Workshops, provides information kits for use by community groups interested in playing a part in the transition to a biosensitive society. The kits are a starting point for an ongoing process of learning, discussing, communicating and taking positive action.
SEE-Change Centres began with a community roundtable held in the NSF rooms in June 2006. 36 leaders from across the ACT (including MLAs, teachers, youth leaders and students) held a stimulating day of discussion of a proposal by NSF members Stephen Boyden and Bob Douglas for a local trial of “Life Centres” – local-level groups where individuals provide mutual help with the practicalities of living healthily and sustainably. The Life Centres were renamed SEE-Change centres and the project is continuing with the publication (and sale across Australia) of a book outlining the proposal and the formation of seven fledgling SEE-Change groups in Canberra, with keen interest from interstate. Private donors enabled the employment of an intern for first half of 2007, and an ACT government grant has enabled the employment of a full-time coordinator in 2008. A SEE-Change website has been established.
Sustainability and Health is a continuing NSF project which aims to inject practical sustainability into projects funded by the ACT Department of Health (formerly through its Healthpact program). The project used facilitators to workshop grant applications with the people drafting the applications and designing the projects to create sustainable outcomes for their client groups. Projects successfully funded as a result of the workshops included a website to foster a sustainability and health action network (proposed by ANU Green), an Indigenous wellness centre in the ACT, (proposed by the ACT Indigenous Project Team), "The Art of Moving" which is producing works of art that focus on the health implications of our transport choices (Canberra Environment and Sustainability Resource Centre, ANU School of Art and Canberra's public bus network, ACTION), "Scinema" workshops for young filmmakers (CSIRO Land and Water), a suburban "Learning From Our Land" project (Concerned Residents of West Kambah), a plan for the use of land between a wetlands and urban Kingston identifying opportunities for activity, education programs and exploring the human and the natural world (NSF). The project also provides for ongoing support in aspects of program design as required.
Climate Friendly Housing - Based on Derek Wrigley's booklet "Climate Change Needs Housing Change", this project centres on bringing to the notice of housing estate planners, government regulators and the building industry, issues related to the present criteria used for the design of both building estates and houses. Present estate design does not allow the vast majority of houses to take advantage of a proper solar aspect, effective passive solar design, the ability to install solar hot water or solar photovoltaics and water saving measures. Further there is perpetuation of the use of the car for transport. While initially concentrating on the ACT region, Derek's booklet, house-buyer's checklist and suggested plans apply to all southern temperate regions of Australia. By ignoring these essential design aspects we are locking ourselves into a high energy use cycle which will be unsustainable as the average yearly temperature continues to rise and the accompanying rainfall continues to fall (as predicted by CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology - October 2007) with the increasing effects of climate change. NSF intends to widen the scope of the project nationally depending on the ACT success.
Our record of other activities 1992 to 2007
Courses and study groups - The Forum has organised a number of courses and study groups on important nature-society themes. The approach has been integrative and cross-disciplinary. They included the following:
Monthly discussion meetings (Convener: Jenny Wanless) - Regular meetings have been held at which speakers from different areas of specialisation in academia, government, the community etc. have led discussions on a wide range of nature-society issues. Over a hundred such discussion meetings have been held and reports on these meetings are circulated in our journal Nature and Society.
(Details of these monthly meetings over the past 15 years are available on request. Most have been reported in our journal Nature and Society)
Public meetings - NSF has initiated and organised a number of public meetings often in association with other bodies such as the ANU, the University of Canberra, Questacon, the Australian Academy of Science and Sustainable Population Australia (SPA). Examples include Robert Theobald on Learning Communities and Mary White who spoke about her book Listen Our Land is Crying.
Other projects
Website
No.1 The Human situation in the biosphere by Stephen Boyden
No.2 Cultural change by John Schooneveldt
No.3 Can lemmings change their course? by Gosta Lynga
No.4 Maladaptation or creativity? A challenge for ecologists and designers by John Harris
No.5 The ethics of peace: why sustainability must be the basis by John Ward
No.6 History of conflict resolution by John Burton
No.7 Inequality, sustainability and revolution by Colin Butler
No.8 Salt and vinegar: education for sustainability in the Murray-Darling Basin, 1983-1998 by David Eastburn
No.9 Salinity by John Schooneveldt
No.10 A biorenaissance – the hope for the future by Stephen Boyden
Bad Bugs: people and infectious diseases - a Panperspective book (eds. Bryan Furnass and Stephanie Haygarth)
Good Grub: food for healthy people and a healthy planet - a Panperspective book (eds. Bryan Furnass, Jenny Goldie, Bob Douglas
People and Nature: the big picture - a Panperspective book by Stephen Boyden
SEE-Change Centres, Grey Power and Hope by Bob Douglas
Climate Change Needs Housing Change by Derek Wrigley
Good energy management - the GEM Kit (1995) by the GEM study group.
SST - The Sustainability Science Team Pty Ltd was established in 2000. Among the NSF membership are a number of highly skilled researchers, business advisers and community consultants who are available to undertake consultancy work. The Sustainability Science Team was established by NSF members as a separate legal entity for this purpose.
Projects undertaken by SST include:
ACT Sustainability Audit: A Material Flows Analysis of the Residential Sector of Canberra for ACT Planning and Land Management.
Mapping Regional Metabolism: A Decision Support Tool for Natural Resource Management for Land and Water Australia.
Systems Mapping and Redesign Strategies for the Construction Sector funded by the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources and a eco-innovation consortium of commercial and community interests.
Technologies for Converting Biowastes to Building Products funded by the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources.
A Resource Recovery Strategy for Palerang Council (with other members of a consortium).
Bio-remediation and Conversion Technologies (with Zero Waste Australia and other groups): under development.
Autonomous Water Systems (with Queanbeyan Council, the Canberra Investment Corp and others) under development.
Healthy Soils Australia Ltd: a group established in August 2005 to provide a vehicle for farmers and commercial interests to get together to work for soil health.
The Design of a Community Learning Centre, St Joseph’s Mount, Bathurst (in progress) for the Sisters of Mercy, Bathurst.
Page updated 2 June 2008