Alyssa
Hi everyone, my name is Alyssa and I am interning with Michael while taking classes at the University of Sydney this semester.
• Sharing my love for Earth on Sydney’s streets
I’m from the United States, and grew up in Massachusetts. I am majoring in Environmental Science and minoring in Environmental Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Rochester in upstate New York. I enjoy spending lots of time outside and am excited to explore and see all the beautiful sights that Australia has to offer!
I have been in Sydney for about a month now and absolutely love it. I’m really looking forward to learning from Michael during my time here. There has, however, been a bit of adjusting to do, mainly the sixteen hour time difference and Aussie slang. Although I was expecting some things to be different, I was surprised at how easy it has been to get accustomed to living here.
One of the most pleasant surprises I’ve had so far is the approach to sustainability and attitude surrounding climate change.
Recently, under the current presidency in the United States, climate policy has been taking leaps backwards instead of forwards. After watching Australia’s catastrophic wildfires through the world news, I wasn’t sure what to expect coming to a country that is experiencing similar issues in leadership when it comes to climate change. However, I am impressed with how Australians have chosen to move forward in the fight against climate change in their own lives and communities.
Although I’ve only been here for a short time, I’ve been able to see and experience many of the ways that people here are working towards a sustainable future. Many of these steps forward require making just small changes in everyday life; and Aussies seem much more willing to make these changes than Americans. It was apparent that there is a growing movement of Australians that want change when I attended the Climate Crisis: National Day of Action protests in Sydney. Here, surrounded by people of all ages and backgrounds, it was apparent that although there is a long way to go, together and with a good attitude, change can happen.
To give an example of a small everyday life change I’ll use single-use plastic bags.
In America, only eight states have banned single use plastic bags, all other bans have come on a town-by-town basis. At the beginning of 2020, a few years after town citizens voted against it, my hometown banned plastic bags. This was met with serious backlash. Instead of people doing the logical thing of buying a few reusable bags to take back and forth with them to stores, they complained that the paper bags, which businesses supplied as an alternative to plastic, were harder to carry, break often and are just as bad for the environment. Although that argument is somewhat valid, they ignored the easy solution and resorted to complaining on Facebook and shopping out of town.
However, there is a very different approach in Australia to this issue. New South Wales is the only state in Australia to have not banned single use plastic bags, and has announced that it will do so in the coming year. Despite plastic bags not being banned, the majority of people bring their own reusable bags shopping, and stores make you pay for a plastic bag made of mostly recycled material if you do not have one of your own.
There are quite a few other things that stand out when comparing sustainability in Australia and the United States.
To make a power outlet work here I have to turn on the switch above it. I also can’t turn any lights on in my apartment bedroom without my keycard in the slot, making it impossible to waste electricity while I’m not in my room.
In America it is not often that you come across a toilet with the option of choosing how much water to use when flushing, but in Australia it’s very uncommon to not have the option.
It’s also apparent that garbage is sorted differently in Australia, both by the consumer and waste management. In the United States oftentimes what does get recycled by the consumer is contaminated with food or non-recyclables, therefore making the entire batch unable to be recycled. There are also few waste management programs that make it easy for consumers to compost or even tackle food waste. These are just some of the differences that I’ve noticed in my time here so far, and I’m sure as the semester goes on I will discover more.
• Model of Sydney’s Sustainable House in the Ecologic exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum, Ultimo, NSW
My trip to the Powerhouse Museum was eye-opening in a different way. There you can find the ecological exhibit which focuses on teaching sustainability and contains a mini model of Michael’s sustainable house.
The exhibit tackled climate change while exposing and offering solutions to many shortcomings in sustainability in today's society. I consider myself to be very conscious of the waste I produce and my carbon footprint, but even I had things to learn from the ecological exhibit. The main part of the exhibit was a model house with a breakdown of each room, which gave a visualisation of how sustainable everyday items were. This was a great way to represent things such as water and power conservation differently.
One thing that stood out to me was all the recycled materials used in the house. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that there are sustainable options for chairs, flooring, and tiles. Reducing waste in appliances by making parts repairable and replaceable is often neglected because companies prioritise profit and consumers prioritise convenience. However, the ecological exhibit does a good job of reminding everyone that a little more research and care can go a long way when it comes to sustainability.
• Chooks at Sustainable House know there is no such things as ‘waste’
Overall, my time so far here in Sydney and with Michael has shown me that there is no such thing as waste when it comes to mother nature, and we need to do better. As you can see, even when it comes to old bread, the chickens see no reason to waste. I can’t wait to continue exploring and encouraging different avenues of sustainability in my future.
Sarah
• In the Blue Mountains, about 2 hours west of Sydney
Hi, my name is Sarah and I am one of Michael’s interns for his company, Sustainable House. I have recently arrived in Sydney from the Seattle area, and I am excited to get acquainted with the city and become involved in the local sustainability efforts of the Chippendale suburb.
Coming to a new continent, I knew there were many new things that I would need to grow accustomed to - understanding that referring to a ‘Barbie’ did not actually mean a doll, that rubbish is in fact trash, and of course the horrendous bugs. What I didn’t necessarily anticipate was all the differences in how sustainability is enacted both over here compared to back in America.
While I have only been in Sydney for a few weeks, many differences stood out to me right away. One thing that I had not anticipated was the lack of air conditioning in both residential and public buildings. In the States most people have air conditioning in their homes, and it is certainly expected in public buildings and restaurants, whereas here in Sydney both my residence and the surrounding cafes I frequent are un-air conditioned. From an environmental standpoint, I appreciate this greatly, although I will admit the Seattleite in me was melting for the first week. The amount of energy devoted to cooling buildings that don’t really need it is a horrendous waste, and the US could learn a lot from Sydney in this area.
Another thing I have noticed in the weeks I have being here is that people seem to waste less in their everyday lives.
This past winter I worked at a ski resort owned by Vail Resorts, a company that prides itself for its sustainability efforts by only using products that are commercially compostable or recyclable. Us lucky employees got to sort the trash to ensure everything was properly composted or recycled. I found it interesting, however, that while they prided themselves for reducing trash in this way they still did not offer any reusable mugs or dishes in the cafe where I worked. The vast majority of customers ate their food in the lodge, so much less overall waste would have been accumulated by using reusable dishes, but instead they simply generated lots of ‘better’ waste.
This is starkly different to the majority of restaurants and cafes I have been to here in Sydney, where you are given reusable dishes and mugs unless you request otherwise.
Even UberEats is more eco friendly here - the deliveries come on bikes rather than by car, and your food comes in a tupperware container that can be saved and reused, rather than a single use cardboard that goes straight in the garbage. America could stand to follow Sydney’s example in this area too; while we focus on eliminating the use of straws and plastic bags, we tend to ignore the shear amount of single use materials we use in our daily lives.
Upon the start of my classes in Sydney, the first assignment Michael gave me was to visit the Powerhouse Museum to see its EcoLogic exhibit. I went in with no idea of what to expect, and I was very impressed by what I saw there.
Oddly enough, the first thing I noticed regarding sustainability when I got there was not a part of the exhibit itself, but the building. When taking the escalator down to reach the exhibit, I noticed that it had motion detectors that caused it to speed up when I approached. The escalator only moved quickly when it was being used, saving energy by crawling along when it was not in use- such a simple way to save energy, yet I had never seen something like it in America.
• Pollution comparisons from our daily living at the Ecologic exhibition were useful - and surprising
Once I arrived at the actual exhibit, there was a lot of useful information to take in. The exhibit clearly displayed where the city’s water came from and how filtering occurred, discussed both overarching causes and effects of climate change, and even featured a mockup of Michael’s house. It also displayed a myriad of ways in which individuals could make a difference to their own ecological footprint, going through the energy use of each room in your average home, and showing the impact of the foods we eat everyday.
Of this, my favourite part of the Ecologic exhibit was the section showing how much water and energy was used in the growing and shipping of the foods we eat.
While I personally am relatively conscious of the trash I generate and energy I see myself using, I often forget the impact that the out of season fruit or meat I am consuming has on the planet. Seeing these amounts on a scale rather than just hearing they are bad allows one to more fully understand the impact that sticking to locally sourced and vegetable based diets can have on the environment.
This exhibit really got me to reflect on the importance of my own actions, and realise that my own footprint far extends the energy I can visually see myself using.
Meghan
First Impression Sustainability Blog
• An American in Sydney
Hello, my name is Meghan Selip and I am currently on exchange for the semester at the University of Sydney and am a new intern at Sustainable House. I am from Chicago, USA and attend the University of Illinois. I’m studying Agricultural and Consumer Economics with a focus on Environmental Economics and Policy and am passionate about solving environmental issues with policies and collective citizen action. I am impressed with the efforts that I have seen in the Chippendale neighbourhood with the compost bins, community cleanup days, and the passion residents have for sustainability. It has been very uplifting to experience and I look forward to engaging in these efforts throughout the semester!
• Hmmm, what have we here? An American, I think
As an animal lover, the wildlife has been my favorite part of living in Australia which is drastically different from what I'm used to in the United States. I’ve seen and learned about so many species I’d never previously heard of such as the cassowary and the kiwi in New Zealand. Upon first seeing the White Australian Ibis or ‘bin chicken’ I was marvelling in its beauty because I’d never seen such a creature!
I have been impressed with conservation efforts with native species which is something I believe the U.S. lacks. I assume this may be in part due to the wide variety of unique species found in Australia and the well-known species such as kangaroos and koalas that tie into an emotional appeal for their protection. In the United States, we have protection for endangered and threatened species, but many of these do not include a plan on how to recover species. After working on the Endangered Species Act last summer and doing research about various species in the United States, the efforts to protect populations of species are nowhere near as advanced as those in Australia. Many species that are listed for assistance in recovering their population have little success in bringing up the numbers.
• Hmm. It wants me to look at a little thing it’s holding up for me to see. Let’s go with that.
For example, visiting Rottnest Island in Perth, I was astonished at the conservation efforts on the island to preserve the natural landscape and the wild quokka population. As a profitable tourist destination, the government could have easily allowed large hotels and businesses to be built which would completely alter the natural landscape of the island and pose harm to the quokka population. Instead, they have kept it to only a few parts of the island and have limited man-made structures.
• Central Park, beside the central business district of Sydney
Additionally, in my first few days in Sydney, I noticed the high number of wild cockatoos and bats dwelling in the city and was amazed that they could flourish in such an urban environment. In the U.S. we do have native species in cities, but far fewer which I think can be attributed to the higher amount of green spaces throughout Australian cities.
When I first arrived in Australia, I was immediately struck by how much “greenery” there was. The botanic gardens in Sydney and King’s Park in Perth makes you feel like you're outside of a city entirely without the visibility of skyscrapers and the isolation from the loud sounds of the city streets. I was also impressed by the amount of parks and trees in residential areas and how tall they were able to grow. The efforts to provide sufficient urban green spaces where native flora and fauna can flourish are a very distinct difference between cities in the U.S. compared to Australia. Central Park Mall is also another example of how green building is utilised with designs to help reduce air pollution in Sydney and provide an ample amount of space for wildlife.
• The Botanic Gardens beside the Sydney Opera House
Another thing I took note of in my first impressions was waste. I completed another study abroad program in the Netherlands last year and in my apartment building, there were 6 different garbage bins with the waste collection for recycling materials. In the United States, we only have a general waste and recycling bin, so I was hoping that Sydney would have a system similar system to the Netherlands. When I arrived, I was surprised when I saw only two bins in my apartment building. Furthermore, I noticed that in Sydney restaurants are more conscious of their single-use plastic usage. Many have biodegradable cups and paper straws which is an environmental concern businesses in the United States are not taking initiative on.
I’ve also found public transportation in Australia cities to be very useful and quite popular. In Sydney, the light rail, busses, and trains help citizens move across the city and through the surrounding areas in a convenient, cost-efficient manner. I also had the opportunity to visit Canberra for my birthday and was surprised that the bus system was entirely free! The low cost and frequency of times transportation runs make it more available to users and worthwhile. In the U.S there are only a few cities with quality public transportation. In most places (minus the major cities) you need a car to get around whereas in Australia if you are living in any of the cities I’ve been to (Perth, Sydney, or Canberra) it would be easy to survive without a car and only use public transportation.
The United States and Australia possess many similarities with environmental issues due to their size. Overall, I think the United States and Australia are quite comparable, especially when looking at other countries in Europe like the Netherlands. Everyone in the Netherlands rides bikes as their main form of transportation even in small towns that are quite spread apart. Many families do not even own a car because their public trains and busses throughout the country are efficient with getting people to where they need to go. The Netherlands is less than 30% of the size of just my state at home which made it easier to implement sustainability efforts such as bike riding, implementing public transportation programs, and waste collection. I think many sustainability efforts are more difficult to implement in the United States and Australia due to their extremely large size and sparse population in some areas.
I am looking forward to working at Sustainable House for the next few months and delving deeper into sustainability efforts in Sydney and across Australia to gain a wider perspective on what efforts the government and people are taking.
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(If you’re interested in some of my short videos about ‘how to’ build and live sustainably, they are here, Michael)