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WASTE: REDUCE, REUSE & RECYCLE
It’s not too late. We can all make a difference
Living sustainably means living within the Earth’s capacity to provide not only our own needs, but those of other people and other species, without depriving future generations.
Currently, we are living way beyond the Earth’s means which means that our lifestyle is unsustainable.
Australians use too much energy and water, and create too much waste. The industries that support our lifestyle emit large quantities of greenhouse gases that cause global warming.
As a nation we have failed to protect our environment, with the result that in little more than two centuries of non-indigenous occupancy, millions of hectares of rainforest have been destroyed, river systems polluted, and many native species have been made extinct.
Our environmental footprint—the amount of land that is required to meet our individual needs for food, shelter, clothing, transport and so on—is simply too big for the planet. In fact to maintain our current affluent lifestyle without depriving others, now or in the future, would require the resources of about five Planet Earths.
Every individual Australian is responsible, on a per capita basis, for the emission of 28 tonnes of harmful greenhouse gases a year. And if you want to visualise what that looks like, just one tonne of carbon dioxide would fill an average family home.
Fortunately, its not too late to turn things around. The past two decades have seen a great awakening of environmental consciousness and we have begun to repair some of the damage of the past two centuries.
There is a lot more to be done—by governments, by industries, by communities, and by each and every one of us as individuals.
But we can do it.
Every action we take to make our lifestyle more sustainable, no matter how small it might seem, is a positive step towards solving Earth's environmental problems.
If everyone takes a step, and then another, and then another, then soon it will become a stampede, and Mother Earth will be healed.
Check out the links on the left of this page for advice about the things we can all do to make our lives more sustainable.
It’s about finding
better alternatives
Sustainability doesn’t mean going without. It means moderating our lifestyle by doing away with excessive consumption, and finding alternatives to meet our everyday needs without harming the environment.
It means thinking about our actions and making conscious decisions to do the right thing.
When you bite into a hamburger, think of the thousands of hectares of rainforest that are felled every year to create grazing land for cattle.
Could you be eating something that is kinder to the environment (and probably a lot healthier for you)?
When you drive the car one kilometre down the road to the shops consider that it would be better for the environment—and healthier for you—if you walked or cycled.
When you turn on a radiator on a cool evening wouldn’t it be preferable just to put on a sweater?
It is often the simplest things that can be the most effective.
These pages are about helping you to identify the numerous things you can do, big and small, to help heal the environment and improve your lifestyle in the process.