GreenTown | Environment Victoria

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Environment Victoria's Green Town program participants graduate

GreenTown

Speaking another language shouldn’t be a barrier to doing something for the environment. Unfortunately, many of our culturally diverse communities miss out on the help and support they need to make a difference.

That’s where we come in.

Our GreenTown program is working with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities to help them make changes in their homes, businesses, schools and everyday lives, to safeguard our environment.

We train a small group of people from each community we work with in sustainability. They then carry out free sustainability audits in the homes and businesses of others in their community. The project includes community and school workshops, and making sure the message gets into community language newspapers.

We’re working with people from all over the world – the Arabic-speaking and Assyrian Chaldean communities in Moreland, the Turkish-speaking community in Hume, the East African community in Flemington and the Indigenous Australian community in Darebin. In 2011 we started two new community projects: working with newly-arrived people from Burma living in Ringwood and the multicultural community in the Collingwood housing estate.

No matter what their cultural background, however, all these Victorians have something in common – they are all keen to do their bit for the environment.

So far, the response has been enthusiastic. We've been doing evaluation follow-up with participants and found out that, on average each GreenTown Assessor is talking to another 74 people - in their language - about sustainable living: that means that by training 39 people to deliver assessments and workshops, GreenTown has had a reach to more than 13,000 Victorians! More evaluation details are coming soon...

The key to our success

The key to our success is the time and energy we put into to building trust and good relationships with the communities we work with. We get to know and understand their culture, day-to-day lives and how they can best adopt sustainable behaviours. We connect with members from within the communities and they branch out further and become the ‘face’ of our program.

Ultimately, we find we have as much to learn from them as they do from us. The process leaves us all richer and our environment healthier.

GreenTown is run in partnership with many organisations, and is funded by the Sustainability Fund

Our Flemington Green program has brought new communities together. Read all about it

The A-to-Z of sustainability: from Arabic to Zomi, we’ve got info in (almost) every language

Check out our Sustainability for Diverse Communities Resource Hub

Hear about a visit by Arabic-speaking participants to Melbourne’s own sustainable village

Find out what all the buzz is about, below.

 

Speaking up about switching off

Sunday, 4 March 2012
Michael Green, The Age

Lina Hassan is very enthusiastic about household sustainability. “Everywhere I go, this is my message,” she says, leaning forward on her couch, in her Thomastown home...

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Shoukry Sidrak: It’s easy being green

Monday, 4 April 2011
Northern Weekly

Shoukry Sidrak’s garden is a bounty for any food lover. An assortment of fruit, vegetables and herbs are thriving in the carefully manicured Mill Park yard.

...

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Local community centre goes green

Wednesday, 9 February 2011

The Alevi Community Council of Australia in North Coburg will have two 5,000 litre rainwater tanks installed  next week, as part of a project to lead the Turkish speaking and Alevi communities of...

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Flemington estate residents find more ways to go green

From the Minister for Environment & Climate Change
Thursday, 21 October 2010

Culturally and linguistically diverse communities from the Flemington public housing estate will be helped to reduce...

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Speaking the Language of Climate Change

2010 Winner
Advancement of Climate Change Knowledge
Sustainable Living

Wednesday, 18 August 2010
...
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Hume's Turkish businesses going green

Tuesday, 17 November 2009

Turkish‐speaking businesses in the City of Hume have jumped at the opportunity to sign up for free green business assessments.

The audits are being carried out by local community members who have been...

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Green groups welcome Bracks' climate change announcement

Saturday, 4 November 2006

Environment groups today welcomed the Labor Party’s announcement of a new scheme to help families reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Environment Victoria Executive Director...

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From Twitter Twitter

Sarah

This Mother’s Day, stand up

posted by Sarah on Tuesday, May 8, 2012 - 12:36

for a Safe Climate future for our kids

We love Mother’s Day because at heart, it’s a big ol’ celebration of love and life. We celebrate our mothers who brought us into this world. And we also celebrate our grannies, aunts, sisters and carers who have...

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Sarah

The government won’t cut our emissions by 20%

posted by Sarah on Thursday, April 12, 2012 - 11:07

But you can!

You may have heard, the state government has dumped the target to reduce Victoria’s greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020. We’re pretty bummed about it because it means clean energy investment and employment opportunities will be sent elsewhere...

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Sarah

Choose your own (eco) adventure

posted by Sarah on Thursday, March 8, 2012 - 13:10

Handy tips for travelling green

Holidays are a time to stop, unwind, indulge and explore, but that doesn’t mean our responsibility to the earth goes on hiatus too. With our much loved Easter break just a little while away, we thought you’d enjoy this handy...

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Sarah

How to have a great green barbie

posted by Sarah on Friday, January 20, 2012 - 10:03

And eat it too

Nothing says Summer like the smell of a sizzling barbie and the sounds of a coldie being opened, friends and family cackling away and 6’s being hit over the fence. This fun-loving Aussie pastime is a little slice of heaven, and it’s something...

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charlie.davie

Naked old houses swelter in summer, freeze in winter

posted by charlie.davie on Thursday, January 19, 2012 - 10:15

How can we reduce energy costs at home and energy demand across the state? Insulate, insulate, insulate.

When I am running community events to help people reduce their energy use and environmental impact, one of the most basic and effective measures we talk about is...

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From Flickr Flickr

Changing the world, one person at a time - the teaser The one minute teaser to our digital story telling project, which features six participants from Environment Victoria's Sustainable Living Program talking about how environmental issues have changed them, and how they are changing the world.
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Changing the world, one person at a time Six participants from Environment Victoria's Sustainable Living Program talk about how environmental issues have changed them, and how they are changing the world.
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© 2009 Environment Victoria