Sustainable Neighbourhoods in Lake Macquarie

Sustainable Neighbourhoods is a unique, Council-supported but independent community network which has been operating since 2010. Council provides Secretariat and funding support.

The Sustainable Neighbourhood Alliance provides governance and supports local Sustainable Neighbourhood groups (SNGs) across the City. This includes:

• supporting the network and mentoring new groups;
• communicating between groups and sharing information, tools, case studies, connections, project plans etc; and
• providing advice and advocacy on sustainability-related issues and making submissions on strategies and plans to all three levels of government.

A key initiative of the Alliance has been to foster City-wide projects. One of these is ‘ReLeaf Lake Mac’ which aims to promote urban greening for mitigating climate change and to educate the public on the multiple benefits of trees. Another is ‘Repair cafes’ which aim to teach residents how to reuse goods and recycle materials (clothing etc.). A third is the promotion of alternatives to the use of plastics, especially single-use bags.

There are 12 active SNGs across the City. They take actions to:

• reduce our resource consumption (energy, water and waste);
• increase community involvement in protecting and caring for environment and place;
• increase our capacity to respond effectively to environmental threats, and;
• increase community wellbeing and pride in our local areas.

Our local group is the Toronto Area Sustainable Neighbourhood Group (TASNG). The TASNG has a close working relationship with the CPPA, the Five Bays SNG and the community garden at the HUB, Toronto. The Chronicle regularly features TASNG updates.

Current projects include: promotion of bamboo take away cups for cafes and coffee vans, maintenance of the small native garden on Awaba Road, phasing out single-use plastics in Toronto, rehabilitation of the foreshore near Fennel Bay bridge, advocacy for better cycling and walking infrastructure and monitoring improvements to Toronto’s foreshore.

More information can be found at
http://www.sustainableneighbourhoods.org.au/

We invite you to consider becoming a member of TASNG. We are always looking for new ideas. If you would like more information please email torontoareasng@gmail.com or phone 0418 967 158 or http://www.sustainableneighbourhoods.org.au/toronto-area.html

Nico Marcar- Alliance Chairperson and TASNG Secretary.