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COUNCIL INITIATIVE OF THE MONTHBallina and Byron Shire Councils and Lismore City Council: Santa Goes GreenThis Christmas Go Sustainable and $ave….
BackgroundThe neighbouring councils of Ballina and Byron Shires and Lismore City are located along the far north coast of New South Wales. These local government areas incorporate a range of towns, villages and small settlements in a predominantly rural setting. They have a combined population of approximately 115,000 people. The economy of the area is based largely on service and retail industry, agriculture and tourism. AimThe "Santa Goes Green" initiative seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the region by providing residents and visitors with simple but effective ways to reduce energy, water and waste in their households, with a focus on activities during the Christmas period. "Green Santa" has provided a light-hearted yet effective approach for Ballina, Lismore and Byron Councils to engage 60 households traditionally involved in Christmas ‘Light Up’ activities. The Project encourages the take up of practical and measurable actions for saving energy, water, waste and money over the 12 week Christmas period. A further aim of this initiative is to build awareness in the wider community about climate change and global warming through a media campaign and cross promotion with the Christmas 'Light Up' events for each local government area. ProcessThe participating Councils identified that the Christmas period, as a time of peak consumption (i.e. energy consumption for decorative lights), has an impact on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. The Councils also identified an opportunity to leverage a greenhouse reduction program off an existing well-known and wide scale program: the region’s Christmas 'Light Up'. The Christmas 'Light Up' involves the participation of a significant number of households and attracts thousands of visitors. The Councils saw an opportunity to take a lighthearted, but effective approach to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the Christmas period and secured a Community Abatement Grant from the Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO) to undertake the project. The three Councils set out a project plan and established evaluation strategies to measure its success. Some of the steps that these Councils undertook in the lead-up to the project implementation included compiling an incentive package for project participants, securing project partners and recruiting households. Free street BBQ’s were held in each participating street to recruit participants and distribute educational materials. This event was followed up with reminder leaflets to residents of the targeted street featuring a photo of residents already signed up to the project. A display board with posters on the Greenhouse Effect and hints to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the home were set up at the Street BBQ’s and at the ‘Ballina Christmas Street Party’ event. Information on each participating household's energy and water use has been collected at the start of the Project and will be collected again upon its completion in order to track greenhouse gas emissions. These results will be distributed to participants at the end of the Project, and will be used as the basis for evaluating the Project's success. "Santa Goes Green" ImplementationThe picture to the left is of 'Green Santa', the icon for the "Santa Goes Green" Project. Participating households are required to display the 'Green Santa' on their letterboxes as a show of commitment to the Project. This is used as the basis for the "Have you seen Green Santa?" competition and the "Green Santa Tip of the Week” that has been running in local papers in the weeks leading up to Christmas. ‘Green Santa’ has also made appearances at public events to help bring attention to the messages of the project. Ballina and Byron Shire and Lismore City Councils have ensured that the "Santa Goes Green" Project is well advertised through hosting promotional events and organising media releases and stories to be taken up by local media. Promotional material includes a free 'Green Santa' gift bag filled with greenhouse gas reducing items such as free energy and water audits, a subscription to Green Power for the duration of the Project, LED Christmas lights, light timers, biodegradable plates, cups and cutlery, thermometers, an efficiency calculator and lots of handy hints on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the home. BenefitsAs previously mentioned, energy and water useage of participating households is being measured for the duration of this Project. Once the project is complete, these numbers will be collated and included on this site. However, the three Councils have identified a number of benefits beyond water and energy savings that they anticipate as outcomes of "Santa Goes Green," such as:
Challenges, Barriers and Success FactorsChallenges and Barriers Recruitment of participants requires dedicated planning with time and resources and is an important factor to consider when developing the timeline for such projects. This was addressed by increasing the recruitment effort through doorknocks, repeated letterbox drops, follow up reminders and an extended participant response period. More centralised project coordination across participating councils could streamline hours spent on some components of the project and ensure a well-timed and planned approach to the community engagement element of the project. Engaging sponsors for the Project was initially difficult but became easier once the project and its intended benefits to sponsors were clearly defined. Success Factors A strength of "Santa Goes Green" lies in the partnerships that have been developed between community, business and local government. Further InformationTo learn more about "Santa Goes Green," contact: Skye McNamara |
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