I suspect I am not alone in finding the traditional Happy New Year greeting rather challenging this year. Now that we are over a week into January 2021 it is clear that the Covid pandemic and its human costs, along with the social constraints of 2020 will remain with us for some time yet. And so we begin the year with bad news and yet more bad news – for despite the traumas and frustrations of Covid, climate action cannot wait.
As Tim Flannery writes in his latest book, The Climate Cure:
By 2030 the average increase in global temperatures will reach 1.5ºC, and Earth’s climate system is likely to begin to unravel. If we fail to act, dramatic destabilisation will be felt when the temperature rise reaches 2ºC, sometime before 2050. Despair is not an option. Nor is selfish complacency. Instead this is the moment to ask what you will do.
What will BREAZE do?
The BREAZE Board will continue to administer the BREAZE Social Solar Program, to run the Smart Living Ballarat and Ballarat Green Drinks monthly discussions on living sustainably and responding to climate change, and to advocate for action on climate change via various channels.
The BREAZE mission has long been to achieve zero emissions across the greater Ballarat region by 2030. A relatively distant goal when BREAZE was incorporated back in 2007, it is now in 2021 an urgent imperative. The City of Ballarat’s Carbon Neutrality and 100% Renewables Action passed in 2019, committed the City to achieving net zero emissions in Council operations by 2025, and also via Action 5.4a ‘Empowered Communities,’ to setting aspirational targets for the whole of the city and monitoring progress.
What can you do?
Readers moved by Tim Flannery’s final question above, might consider giving feedback to Council re setting a community-wide goal of zero emissions by 2030, and by detailing actions the community could be taking to reduce emissions and how Council could assist? With Council still meeting virtually via Zoom it is now easier than ever for residents to make submissions and ask questions at Council meetings. Councillors need to know what the community’s priorities are. To find out more about how to make your voice heard visit https://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/city/about-us/council-meetings
As noted in the BREAZE December Report, the City of Ballarat will soon be inviting community engagement – initially involving responding to a shortish survey – on the upcoming Council Plan via the Council’s MySay webpage - https://mysay.ballarat.vic.gov.au/ and will end with release of a draft Plan for further consultation around July 2021.
In keeping with our mission, BREAZE continues to endorse a target of net zero by 2030 and will be advocating for a community-wide campaign for a Carbon Neutral Ballarat, throughout 2021. Situated in one of Victoria’s renewable energy zones, Ballarat is well positioned to show how this can be done. As Committee for Ballarat CEO, Michael Poulton, said last month in an opinion piece in The Courier titled, This is the way of the future and Ballarat needs to get on board :
Let's be bold, curious, innovative and progressive in ways that maximise our opportunity and builds our capacity as a regional leader in renewable energy and the circular economy. So much has been and continues to be done. The GNet Roadmap to Zero Emissions, BREAZE's Social Solar program, Hepburn Wind, the Central Highlands Greenhouse Alliance, the Regional Sustainability Alliance are just a few of the examples of great community led initiatives. Business, too, is playing its role. McCain, Mars, Federation University, Central Highlands Water, Sovereign Hill, Selkirk and Gekko are just a few of Ballarat's major industries investing in energy efficiency and new technologies …Ballarat can be a city where sustainable development, renewable energy and the circular economy is positioned at the core of our decision-making, as collectively we plan for our inevitable future growth.
Upcoming Member Activities
Smart Living Ballarat will hold its first lunchtime talk for 2021 in February. Please check the Smart Living Ballarat Facebook site for details closer to the third Wednesday of the month – 17th February. https://www.facebook.com/smartlivingballarat/
Ballarat Green Drinks will also continue online via Zoom during 2021. Please keep an eye open for announcements re the next evening talk on the BGD Facebook site - https://www.facebook.com/BallaratGreenDrinks/
2021 Events
This year, pending Covid constraints, BREAZE will be hosting a Climate Adaptation Forum on Biodiversity, a Symposium on Ecologically Sustainable Design, the World Environment Day Children’s Writing Competition and supporting Sustainable House Day.
2021 Planning Meeting
The BREAZE Board will be holding a planning meeting for 2021 on Sunday 24 January. If you have any suggestions of what we should be doing please forward them by 18 January 2021 to
To all BREAZE friends and members, please consider supporting the work of BREAZE with a donation to One Dollar, One Watt
Wishing you all a happy and safe new year.
All the best
Mary
Mary Debrett, President, January 2021