Wollondilly Shire Council

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• Install efficient appliances and fixtures

  When investing in large household appliances and fixtures, use the government's Energy and Water Ratings (stars) to guide you to the most efficient products to save money.
  
  The cost of energy and water is rising and the effect is increasing. Large household appliances (including fridges, clothes dryers and dishwashing machines) and toilets, taps and showers consume the bulk of our household energy and water.
  
  The Federal Government's Water Rating site notes that replacing a single-flus…

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• 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,…

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• 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…

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• Adopt a Vegetarian Diet

  Join the mung bean nation! Prevent the sizzling death of a thousand innocent animals, improve your health, and hit the jackpot in terms of reducing your ecological impact.
  
  On a per capita basis, Australia is one of the largest meat consumers in the world; we consume approximately 118kg of meat per annum per capita (1998 ABS). Meat products contribute almost half of our entire ecological footprint (or impact on the environment).
  
  There are three compelling reasons to stop eating meat:
  
  1. To he…

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• Buy Fair-trade Food and Products

  To stop the degradation of the global environment we have to deal with the failings of global trade, namely its tendency to increase poverty and its exploitation of the weak. Buying products labelled 'Fairtrade' is a good start.
  
  The Fairtrade collection of organisations has developed a Fairtrade Certification Mark. When you find a product that bears this mark, you know that it has been procured through a process that has helped deliver better trading conditions to marginalised produce…

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• Avoid Excessive Packaging

  Give priority to purchasing unpackaged products and save the earth's precious resources.
  
  The average Australian consumes 90 kilograms of resources in packaging each year. This is almost double the amount of many European nations. Along with this consumption comes the generation of huge amounts of waste - so it's not surprising that Australia is one of the worst waste generators in the developed world. Reducing the amount of packaging we purchase can help to significantly reduce our us…

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• Choose Green Service Providers

  Wading through the ‘green wash’ to find service providers whose pro-environmental behaviour goes deeper than their marketing department can be a challenge.
  
  As services consume a greater portion of our dollars we want to identify and engage businesses that are making efforts to operate sustainably.
  
  How to do it now!
  The following criteria can be useful in informing your decisions, as to the merit or otherwise of a business with regard to their sustainability performance.
  
  They are an efficient…

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• Help Protect Our Coast

  Keeping our fragile coastal ecosystems healthy and vibrant preserves the unique natural beauty of Australia.
  
  Since the 1970’s, many coastal regions of this country have been regenerated from bare rock walls and flat sand to the diverse sand dunes and functioning ecosystems of today. Healthy meadows of sea grass reach out from the coast supporting further vibrant ecosystems under the water.
  
  These natural assets and features of our local environment make Australian coastal areas a great place to…

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• Join a Bushcare / Landcare Group

  Community groups are helping to rehabilitate weed choked native vegetation, enabling it to regenerate and thus, restoring native biodiversity. Find your local group and lend a hand.
  
  Years of neglect have stripped our urban creeks, parks and roadways of vibrant indigenous vegetation. It's time for us to remedy this erosion of our natural heritage. We can bring a diverse range of birds and creatures into our daily lives and would be creating a sustainable living space in step with Australian…

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• 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.
  
  Often we pass through a country without ever sitting down with a local, understanding their life and lending a hand. Spending time to assist the local people in the developing world, to survive, rebuild or protect their natural wilderness is a precious gift and can be an unforgettable experience.
  
  How to do it now!
  Volunte…

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• Slow and Local Travel

  Holidays are a break from the normal routine, yet you can break your routine at home or in your local area, it just requires a new perspective.
  
  Ask your friends for their favourite local attractions, hidden pleasures, fabulous festivals and cosmic adventures. Map a slow journey along roads, rivers and coasts that you've never travelled and see sights you've never seen. If you throw in the cash you save not flying to the other side of the planet, you can even indulge yourself, guilt fr…

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• 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!…

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• Transport

  Most of us still use the car as our primary mode of transport. However, one-quarter of all car journeys are less than three kilometres.
  
  Car travel has a very significant environmental cost and impacts negatively on our health and wellbeing.
  
  To ride a bike the same distance uses less than one-fiftieth of the energy required to drive. 
  
  Explore sustainable transport options.
  
  Reduce and Offset Car Emissions
  A litre of petrol produces about 2.3 kilograms of greenhouse gases and vehicles produce m…

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• Reduce and Offset Car Emissions

  A litre of petrol produces about 2.3 kilograms of greenhouse gases and vehicles produce more than half our air pollution. So let's use less to offset the emissions we can't avoid.
  
  Our cities and society are built around car travel, yet the cars we drive require a lot of resources to produce and maintain, and the fuels we use are destroying the environment. As responsible, informed people we must "own" our personal contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and work to address…

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• 10/50 Vegetation Clearing Scheme

  The 10/50 Scheme gives people living near bush an additional way to prepare for bushfires.
  
  The scheme allows people in a designated area to:
  
  Clear trees on their property within 10 metres of a home, without seeking approval; and
  Clear underlying vegetation such as shrubs (but not trees) on their property within 50 metres of a home, without seeking approval.
   
  
  Image: RFS
  
  Is Your House in a 10/50 Vegetation Clearing Area?It is the responsibility of the property owner to check if their property…

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