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'Transition Darebin' in the pub

The event ‘Transition in the Pub Social Meetup’ on the 30 th of April at The Thornbury Local was organised and run by ‘Transition Darebin’ who are part of the global group ‘Transition Network.org’ (Transition Darebin, 2019a). According to ‘Transition Network’ (2016), they are a growing campaign in over 50 countries which brings local communities together to support and create practical local solutions on big issues. Therefore, ‘Transition Darebin’ has the vision of “a relocalised and resilient Darebin that is liveable for current and future generations’ (Transition Darebin, 2019a). This comprises of providing locals with sustainable, practical actions through regular pub meetups and hands-on projects that all aim to bring the community together (Transition Darebin, 2019a; Transition Darebin, 2019b). Two other projects by ‘Transition Darebin’ are weekly food swaps and the bi-monthly ‘Repair Café’. The ‘Repair Café’ normally occurs in northern suburbs including Reservoir to t...
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Boroondara's Urban Planning Committee

On the 1 st of April 2019 at 6:30pm the ‘Urban Planning Special Committee’ of the Boroondara Local Council took place in the Council Chamber at 8 Inglesby Road, Camberwell. The Committee meets fortnightly alternating with the Council and ‘Services Special Committee’ (City of Boroondara, 2019a). During these nights, the Local Council are using the power given to them by the State Government to make practical day-to-day decisions including planning and development (Hurley,2019; Schatz & Rogers, 2016, pp.38-39). All meetings regard the Boroondara City Council which is 60km-squared located 5-10km east of the Melbourne CBD (.id, 2019). In 2018, 181,289 people lived in Boroondara and the median age was 38 years which is similar to 37 years in Victoria (ABS, 2018;.id,2019). In contrast, two differences are the Chinese population and the housing prices. In 2016, 11.2% of the population spoke Mandarin or Cantonese at home compared only 4.5% of Victoria’s population and the median wee...

Young Heart leads the straw debate for Cairns Regional Council

Floating plastic in the ocean (ShutterStock via Viswanathan, 2018) It’s not every day a ten-year-old girl is invited to her local council and demands change. That is exactly what happened when Molly Steer presented her idea to the Cairns Regional Council ‘Planning & Environment Committee’ on the 11 th of April 2018 ( Cairns Regional Council, 2018a, p.9). Both representing herself and on behalf of marine biologist Nicole Nash, Molly aimed to persuade the Council to reduce the use of single-use plastics including straws within the region ( Cairns Regional Council, 2018a, p.9; The Last Straw on the Great Barrier Reef, n.d. ). This wave of change started in February 2017 when nine-year-old Molly Steer saw the movie ‘A Plastic Ocean’, and instead of only acknowledging the impact of plastic pollution and especially straws on marine life including being eaten by turtles, Molly knew she needed to do something ( strawnomore, 2018) . Straight away, she convinced her S...