The UK Government recently convened a Sustainable Consumption Roundtable to advise the government on how to create consumer choices that say within environmental limits. Its final report, called "I will if you will - Towards sustainable consumption" is a ground breaking, thoughtful and easy to read document full of great policy and practical recommendation for more sustainable consumption in developed countries.

You can download the report from the following link: www.sd-commission.org.uk/publications.php?id=367.

The primary emphasis of the report - as reflected in the I Will If You Will title - is that sustainable consumption is everyone's business and it will take collective action on the part of government, business and the community to make significant progress. Individual business doesn't want to be the first to adopt new potentially risky innovations that threaten their profits if other companies are not doing anything. Consumers and home owners want to feel as though they are part of something big, that others are doing it too, that they are not fighting an unwinnable battle against the major trends. Government has a clear role for creating the right regulatory environment to facilitate collective action on the part of business and the community - and they need to act fast.

Interestingly, the report benefits from a 'host-positive' government environment. Blair has been an outspoken supporter of Kyoto and they have set individual emmissions targets for each person in the UK. The Roundtable's report is an important part of the overall approach to finding ways to reduce emissions across the country to achieve these targets, involving a combination of production and demand side processes, and driving rapid change towards more sustainability - in fact, as the UK Government policy framework puts it, "from a 3 planet economy to one".

The core of the report is built around discussion and recommendations on 4 areas - how we run our homes, the food we eat, how we get around, and how we travel on our holidays. These four areas generate 80% of an individuals' overall environmental impact. The report believes that "a mass of people are ready and willing to see new policies introduced that will help them change their behaviour in the face of climate change and global poverty".

Download the report and post your comments:
www.sd-commission.org.uk/publications.php?id=367.

COMMUNITY EDUCATION & TRAINING

YOUTH SUSTAINABILITY COALITION POSITION DESCRIPTION

Expressions Of Interest are sought by Friday August 18 for a casual Project Officer to work 12-20 hours per week for 4-6 months. Salary is $28 per hour.

The ACT Youth for Sustainability Coalition is a group of community and government organisations that is committed to supporting young people to become sustainability ambassadors in their local communities. This project, consisting of workshops and post-workshop action support, will support youth in the ACT to develop the action competence they need to make changes in their own resource consumption and to become catalysts for change in the wider community, helping to lead society in more sustainable lifestyle choices.

Key Duties:
1. Assist in the design and delivery of an 8 week community education program
2. Resource the Coalition group to convene meetings - send emails, write minutes, send correspondence, write letters, prepare training resources
3. Conduct research on the Internet and in libraries to search for teaching resources, games, service information about the delivery
4. Assist in recruiting young people to participate in training programs
5. Participate in the evaluation process to review the effectiveness of the Youth Leadership for Sustainability Program

The successful applicant will have the following essential skills and experience:
· a background in the youth, environment and/or sustainability sectors
· skills in event management, and some experience in coordinating a network.
· skills in working with young people

The successful applicant may also meet the following criteria:
· Aged under 25
· Secretariat experience- running meetings, taking minutes, contacting members
· Able to be self-directed, autonomous and a team player

Your expression of interest should include:
1. a covering letter outlining your interest in the role and your skills and experience relevant to the key duties and criteria outlined above
2. a brief CV

Send your expression of interest to Kim Sattler via email director@cet.org.au or post it to:

The Director
GPO Box 2656
Canberra ACT 2601

Any enquires on the role can be addressed to director@cet.org.au or cameronneil@iypf.org.

This project is funded by a 2006 ACT Environment Grant and is a collaborative project between a coalition of stakeholders in the ACT, the International Young Professionals Foundation (www.iypf.org), and RMIT University (www.rmit.edu.au). For more information see http://www.tigblog.org/group/otherwise.

The Working Group worked with a coalition of individuals and organisations in the ACT who are going to implement the OTHERWISE project - community capacity building for youth leadership on sustainable consumption - to apply for a small grant to get the project started. It was announced last week that the grant, for approximately AU$15000, was successful!

These funds will be used to run a train the trainer workshop, develop localised materials, run 2 youth workshops, implement an action support program for all youth workshop participants, and evaluate the project.

We also recently met with a new potential partner - Manningham City Council in Melbourne ... so we could be getting going down there soon too!!

Cameron