Safe and sustainable rebuilding is increasingly in the news as it becomes a priority in the minds of ordinary Australians. The following selection of good news stories are about sustainability, resilience and rebuilding green.
A new website has been designed to help Victorian communities recovering from the Black Saturday bushfires to build their homes back in an affordable and sustainable manner. The goal of Build It Back Green is to increase awareness of the lowest cost green rebuilding techniques, focusing on energy efficiency, water savings and indoor air quality.
In the chaos and suffering caused by natural disasters, the environmental impacts of relief and reconstruction efforts may not seem a priority. But in recent years, there has been a significant push to 'Build it Back Green'. ECOS Magazine's Michele Sabto reports.
The massive rebuild facing Christchurch in the wake of the earthquake presents a unique opportunity for the city to lead New Zealand in sustainable building practices, says the New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC). "The recovery effort following a disaster is a crucial time; it's a chance for communities to be at the heart of planning, creating homes and buildings that meet social, environmental and economic needs," says Alex Cutler, CEO of the NZGBC. "This is a great opportunity for Christchurch to think long term and build the city back sustainably through great design, sustainable materials, efficient appliances and renewable energy sources."
Apricus Australia is offering $15 million worth of replacement solar hot water units to Queensland residential property-owners affected by the floods, at little or no purchase cost. This equates to 3,500 units. Find out if you are eligable and how to make the most of this offer.
Garage doors blown off during Cyclone Yasi are the "Achilles heel" of cyclone-proof housing, damage investigators warned yesterday. Engineers from James Cook University's cyclone testing station have discovered the cyclone blew away garage doors that had not been braced in line with building requirements.
Queensland's twin disasters, the floods and tropical cyclone Yasi, drew attention to the link between climate change and extreme whether events. Scientific research expects these disasters to get much more frequent and intense over time if no action is taken to rein in our carbon emissions. While we must plan and rebuild our communities to withstand extreme weather threats, we must also address those practices that have helped allow these threats arrive in the first place. As the adage states: every disaster brings with it opportunity. In Queensland there is the opportunity to rebuild homes to minimise energy use and climate-changing carbon emissions.
Michael Green, The Age, interviewed Anthony Smith about rebuilding his Kinglake home post Black Saturday.
The Build It Back Green website, built for Green Cross Australia by Zeroseven, has won a Best In Class Interactive Media Award in the Natural Environment/Green Category - the highest honour awarded by the international judging panel.
Hollywood superstar Daryl Hannah was moved to tears by the stories of local people. Daryl, who owns a property outside of Los Angeles, spoke of being forced to evacuate and abandon her property during wildfires in California. She emphasised the importance of making the most of the many unique opportunities that present themselves throughout recovery, including building community gardens and increasing local food production and building greener infrastructure. Daryl encouraged everyone to come together to develop and share their vision for a sustainable and regenerative community economic and environmental recovery. Kinglake Ranges News reports.
Green Cross Australia was funded by a grant from the Victorian Government Sustainability Fund to launch the Build It Back Green website for the bushfire affected communities.
The Build It Back Green team get a tour of Flowerdale and the rebuilding progress that has been made since Black Saturday, February 9th 2009.
Billy talks about things that are important in Flowerdale.
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