Every day we shape our planet's future when we make small life decisions - what we buy, what we eat, how we travel. The future of the planet is in our hands; the future is man-made. And we are all "Futuremakers". If we choose to live sustainably, we can assure a future for all living things. And we can have some fun doing it too!
This site, created by WWF-Australia, is a place where you can share ideas with other Futuremakers so that we can live more sustainably. We hope the tips and stories here will be useful for you. (More about this site)
What can I do?
To browse the ideas on this site by category or difficulty, click on the icons below.
It’s that time of year again - we’re launching Earth Hour! This year we’re aiming for one billion people worldwide. Over 93 councils in Australia have already committed to taking part. It’s a crucial time for Australia and the world to put pressure on leaders to commit to good emissions targets.
World leaders will meet in Copenhagen in December 2009 to commit to emission reduction targets to replace the Kyoto Protocol. Preliminary meetings are taking place in Poznan, Poland, right now. We need to put as much pressure on our leaders between now and then as possible. There are a few ways you can do this -
Earth Hour Australia is a project of WWF-Australia, and this year we are asking for your help to make it the biggest one yet. If you are able to, please consider donating to the WWF Earth Hour Appeal
FutureMakers reader Simon has written a great post on relative poverty and ways he is changing his life to reduce his impact on the environment; he kindly allowed us to share his post with you.
poverty is a strange concept for a lot us growing up in Australia these days. for the majority of us, we live in relative comfort. we have access to jobs to earn money, if we can’t work we have access to a (relatively) good welfare system. if we get sick, we have a (relatively) good health care system to get us better. we have access to clean water, electricity, & telephone / internet services.
so when we hear the word poverty mentioned, its pretty hard to imagine a life without all those luxuries and relate to the hardships that the majority of the world’s people are going through.
even harder is trying to fathom that almost 50% of the world’s population live on less than $2.50 a day.
and 80% live on less than $10 a day. 80%!!!
Are you cutting down your carbon emissions? How are you doing it? If you want to be featured on the blog here, drop us a line with a story or a link to your Youtube video (it doesn’t have to be fancy, use your webcam!).
Also, if you’re on Twitter you can add us here: @wwf_australia and @earthhour. Tag your posts with #earthhour so we can see what you’re up to! You can also tag your Flickr photos with ‘earthhour’ or ‘WWF’ and they’ll show up here too.
Keen to take action on climate change, but worried about being tagged ‘carborexic’? Well there’s a few things you can do! For starters, check out the Climate Change Action page here. We’ve set up the page so you can email Senator Steve Fielding, Senator Nick Xenophon, Minister for Climate Change and Water Senator Penny Wong, Greg Hunt MP, Andrew Robb MP, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Treasurer Wayne Swan and Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Turnbull in only a few minutes! Let our leaders know how you feel about international climate change.
Secondly, check out the list of ways you can lower your emissions here.
Lastly, tell your friends! Leading by example is one of the most effective ways to convince others. There’s plenty you can do without having to visit your family doctor!
WWF now has a screensaver that demonstrates a powerful message that we can all help stop global warming and the effects can be seen in some of the most beautiful places in the world.
The next edition of Sanctuary magazine, which covers “sustainable homes, providing inspiration and practical solutions”, is out now.
I’m a big fan of this mag - it’s provided me with heaps of ideas, as well as covering off the basics of sustainable home design. It also covers renovations. Definitely inspiring reading if you’re interested in having a sustainable home.
At the moment only one of our Australian projects is listed, but more will come soon. If anyone’s familiar with how to convert longitude and latitude into Google Earth’s decimal-based format, we may be able to use your help, so let us know in the comments…
The Alternative Technology Association (ATA), publishers of ReNew magazine, have just released the second edition of Sanctuary magazine. From the blurb on ATA’s site:
Issue 2 features include: water saving apartments, sustainable kit homes, eco-friendly flooring options, recycle water in your garden and the latest sustainable products.
I picked up a copy of the first edition some time ago, and it’s an excellent resource for ideas and learning about sustainability in the home. It highlights what can be done when renovating, as well as building from scratch.
Having just moved into a new apartment where it takes an enormous amount of time for the hot water to kick in (we’re currently using buckets to recycle the excess water for plants, cleaning and toilet flushing), I’m particularly keen to read the article on water saving apartments.
