Wollondilly Shire Council

We found 158 search results

• Install solar hot water

   Sunlight converts cold water into hot water. No gases are emitted and no one gets hurt. Life is rarely this simple!
  
  The cost of energy is rising and the effect of pollution increasing. Water heating accounts for approximately 30 per cent of an average household's total greenhouse gas emissions and about the same proportion of total household energy use. Visit Climate Change for more information.
  
  Solar hot water systems are highly efficient in their use of solar energy (sunlight) to heat…

  Read more about "Install solar hot water"...

• Insulate, shade and weather proof your house

  Insulating, shading and weatherproofing your house can save you up to 45 per cent on your current energy bills while increasing the comfort and value of your home.
  
  Minimising the need to heat and cool your home from the extremes of our summer and winter weather will also reduce your household's contribution to global warming.
  
  Strategically placed trees that provide shade to your house in summer will cut electricity use, saving you hundreds of dollars over the life of your home. Similarly,…

  Read more about "Insulate, shade and weather proof your house"...

• Make your renovations green

  Renovations are the ideal opportunity to make your house more efficient and sustainable. Try these tips and feel good about your home.
  
  From the design through to the construction of your renovation, opportunities exist to lighten your environmental footprint. These changes can range from short-term aspects (e.g. safely managing and recycling building waste) to long-term improvements in the energy efficiency of your home.
  
  If you're renovating, explore good design: it can save energy, water…

  Read more about "Make your renovations green"...

• Eat Less Meat

  Replace at least one meat meal per week with a vegetarian option. Land used for beans and vegetables produces 10 times as much protein as land used for raising beef.
  
  Meat is the sleeping giant of a sustainable lifestyle. The Australian National Dietary Guidelines (published by the Federal Government's National Health and Medical Research Council) recommends one to one-and-a-half serves of meat, fish, poultry or meat alternatives each day. A serve constitutes 65-100g of cooked meat. Therefo…

  Read more about "Eat Less Meat"...

• Avoid Genetically Modified (GM) Food

  Avoid eating Genetically Modified (GM) Food and demand more thorough testing and mandatory labelling of genetic crops and foods.
  
  Scientists are altering and augmenting the genetic make up of our food crops to increase crop yields by making the plants pest resistant, herbicide tolerant, disease resistant, cold, drought, salinity tolerant, etc and to improve the nutrition of the crop and/or to provide pharmaceutical properties via the crop to the end consumer. These crops are producing what is no…

  Read more about "Avoid Genetically Modified (GM) Food"...

• Reduce Dairy in Your Diet

  Bovine breast milk goes great with your cereal, but its production contributes 4 per cent to global greenhouse gas emissions. Halve your dairy consumption, explore the alternatives and help the environment.
  
  The main benefit in reducing the amount of dairy in your diet and shifting to non-dairy alternatives (for example soya) may not be to save money, but rather your wellbeing and impact on the environment.
  
  The environmental impact of shifting half your dairy consumption to non-dairy alternativ…

  Read more about "Reduce Dairy in Your Diet"...

• Buy Paper and Wood Responsibly

  Help make the harvesting of the world's forests environmentally, socially and economically sustainable. Buy Forest Stewardship Council certified timber and wood products.
  
  The clear-felling of the forests of the Amazon or Borneo is done to supply wood and wood products for markets such as Australia. We stop buying it; they stop cutting it. The Forest Stewardship Council is a global certification organisation that allows its label to be used on wood and wood products that have come from fore…

  Read more about "Buy Paper and Wood Responsibly"...

• Buy Secondhand Goods

  By purchasing second-hand goods from an opportunity shop, you are supporting a charity, getting a bargain and reducing the resources required to satisfy your consumption needs.
  
  From eBay to the trading post, garage sales to the local op shop, there are a host of ways to grab a second-hand bargain. The common adage that a new car loses 20 per cent of its value when you drive it off the lot applies even more so to most other goods. By getting into second-hand gear you'll save thousands of do…

  Read more about "Buy Secondhand Goods"...

• Community

  Progress is being made as we nurture and deepen our relationships with others and fire up our compassion toward those in need, the young and future generations of living creatures on this planet. Through these relationships, we will learn together, act together and kick environmental goals together. The sense of common purpose and achievement we will gain will provide essential fuel for the journey. So how can we nurture our compassion and engagement so as to contribute?
  
  Community actions
  
  Help…

  Read more about "Community"...

• Promote Sustainable Living

  Help spread the word about actions we can all take to reduce our impact on the environment.
  
  It is easy to feel that you're the only one trying to live sustainably, but as you talk to more people, you’ll find that many of us are on the same path. We are all teachers and we are all learners, so share what you know with others and you might just be rewarded by discovering something new yourself!
  
  The more we promote sustainable living, the easier it will be to build sustainable communities.…

  Read more about "Promote Sustainable Living"...

• Recreation

  Recreation is how we relax, reward and inspire ourselves. Careful choices about travel, luxury holidays
  and recreational toys can ensure we play sustainably too. With a bit of extra thought,
  we can make sure our recreational choices don't cost the earth!
  
  Eco Aid and Travel
  Travel and work with local communities to protect endangered species, enhance the local environment and support the social and economic wellbeing of the communities we visit.
  
   
  
  Immerse Yourself in Nature
  Go hiking, b…

  Read more about "Recreation"...

• Waste

  The existence of waste is an indicator of inefficiency in the human economy. We extract from nature to create billions of tonnes of things which we use once, then bury or pump them out to sea & pay money for each of these stages! As individuals we can learn to avoid, reduce, reuse and recycle, with the journey ending with zero waste... nature's finest.
  
  Recycle Technical Waste
  Replicating nature's nutrient cycle by creating closed loops for the recycling and reuse of those man-made…

  Read more about "Waste"...

• Recycle Organic Waste

  Nutrient recycling is the foundation of life. Today's organic waste is tomorrow's lunch, so look after those worms and compost piles.
  
  Much of the journey toward sustainability involves us learning how to replenish nature as effectively as we have plundered her. Hence, establishing and maintaining the "food waste to compost to soil to food to food waste" cycle is both an efficient practice and a glimpse of the cycles we must learn to respect all around us.
  
  How to do it now!…

  Read more about "Recycle Organic Waste"...

• Recycle Building Waste

  Renovating or demolishing a house to build a new one generates up to 200 tonnes of 'waste', but around 80 per cent of this material could be re-used or recycled, saving vast quantities of energy, water, resources and money.
  
  Australians produce more than one-and-a-half tonnes of what we call waste per person per year, with 40 per cent of Australia's waste resulting from construction and demolition activities. However up to 80 per cent of this construction waste is actually made up…

  Read more about "Recycle Building Waste"...

• No Junk Mail or Spam

  Time and paper are precious resources. Junk mail, email spam and unsolicited phone calls waste both time and paper, so let's get rid of them!
  
  Globally, it is estimated that 100 million trees are harvested to produce junk mail each year. In Australia, 8.2 billion articles of junk mail are produced every year, along with over 650 million articles of addressed promotional mail.
  
  Most of this mail is never read.
  
  In addition, a recent study by Nucleus Research estimates that spam costs Austral…

  Read more about "No Junk Mail or Spam"...