President's March Report

The catastrophic flooding on Australia's east coast in southern Queensland and northern NSW has brought home once more the horrendous cost - human/emotional, financial, and environmental – that we will all pay for governmental failure to act on climate change. Even as the window of opportunity for effective climate action is closing, reactive short-termism prevails. 

Particularly disconcerting is that as the cost of petrol has risen – exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine –  rather than noting this as a sign that we must end reliance on fossil fuels and cut GHG emissions, media focus is fixed only on fuel excise cuts. The opportunity to discuss EVs as the solution, to look at what is being done in Norway which leads the world on EV take-up, or to press governments for charging networks and incentives to drive EV take-up, is ignored. Our eyeball hungry mainstream media instead encourage consumers to think through their wallets – not their brains. While several national public opinion surveys have indicated growing public awareness of the urgency for climate action – suggesting an openness to doing things differently – media organisations, driven by search engine optimisation (SEO) and digital analytics, are more inclined to chase eyeballs. And so our impulsive and absent minded clicks incrementally dictate media reporting hierarchies, reinforcing the stale destructive trends of the past.

Of course it is hard to know how much the mainstream media does influence how the public thinks. Given the amount spent on advertising in the media we should probably assume that some influence does persist. It remains, however, a good argument for diversifying one's media consumption - and fortunately small independent media organisations now abound. There is really no reason to keep supporting mainstream media organisations that persist in obfuscating what is happening to our climate and the environment, and what we can do to fight it. 

The mainstream media was complicit in the three-decade-long faux climate debate in which celebrity deniers were given equal time with climate scientists, all in the name of 'balance' – a spurious journalism ethic that equates impartiality and journalistic independence with giving equal time to all sides no matter how well qualified they are to speak, or which vested interests might be funding them. Fortunately we have moved on from that – in no small part thanks to Greta Thunburg's School Strike for Cimate movement. Now, however, we also need the media to proactively support the interests of all life on this planet, in sharing/discussing/debating how best to reduce greenhouse emissions and stabilise climate.

Grampians Community Power Hub (G-CPH)

On 24 March from 7-8 the G-CPH is holding its 4th community energy forum:  Microgrids: A Community Energy Webinar The Microgrids webinar is free but you do need to register via the Trybooking link which can be found above, on the BREAZE website and on our Facebook and Twitter sites.

BREAZE Inc. volunteers and G-CPH staff are continuing to discuss projects across the region within the not-for-profit sector. The projects identified to date range in scale from  4kW-900kW  and vary in type from community batteries to solar systems and energy audits. We are pleased to be working with a number of social housing providers and regional health services, partners in Grampians Health.  If you know of any organisations that might be potential clients for the G-CPH please register your interest via the G-CPH website - or email us at 

Smart Living Ballarat

This month's SLB talk on 16 March at 12:30 is Your Guide to Cloth Nappies and Reusable Sanitary Products  - Liz Wade from the Ballarat Cloth Nappy Library will discuss what cloth nappies are available, how to choose a type and how to use cloth nappies. We will also be talking about other reusable sanitary items such as menstrual pads, breast pads and menstrual cups.This talk coincides with the City of Ballarat’s recent decision to offer Ballarat residents a rebate on cloth nappies and reusable sanitary items.

This event will be presented via Zoom and streamed live onto the Smart Living Ballarat Facebook page. A recording of the event will be available on the Smart Living Ballarat Facebook page instantly after the event. Register via the link above.

Board Business

BREAZE Board members, Pat Hockey (BREAZE Inc. Secretary) and Sally Missing will be representing BREAZE Inc. at the upcoming Buninyong Smart Building and Living Expo on Sunday 20th March. If you are going, and we do urge you to, please take the opportunity to chat with Sally and Pat and let us know what you like about BREAZE and what you think we should be doing. It's also a good opportunity to join BREAZE if you haven't already, and to learn about our various activities.

Board Meetings

If you have a passion for climate action and ideas about how you can help BREAZE achieve its mission, please note BREAZE members are welcome to attend monthly Board meetings. Any member interested in attending should email me – 

All the best

Mary