Bellingen Chamber of Commerce

Bellingen Shire Council Sustainability Happenings

Ride To Work Day – 14 October

Plant 350 Plants – 24 October

Community Emission Reduction Target – Call for comments

1. Ride to Work Day

What: Ride to work

When: 14 October. Community breakfast at 8:00am

Where: Ride from home to work – Community Breakfast at the park outside Council offices

Contact: Nic Denshire ndenshire@bellingen.nsw.gov.au

If you haven’t ridden to work before, this coming weekend is a good opportunity to pump up your tyres and get ready for the day. Maybe you could go for a ride with friends or family or do a trial run into work. For more suggestions on preparation and resources to help you plan your ride visit the Ride to Work Day website.

A community breakfast will be held out the front of the Council offices from 8:00 to 8:30. The Mayor will be there after his ride from Boggy Creek to congratulate everyone and we will share in a muesli breakfast in celebration of our cycling achievements. Please approach your work colleagues and friends to invite them to join the cycling revolution.

2. Plant 350 Plants

Take the pledge to help plant 350 plants around Bellingen

What: Help plant 350 plants as part of the Global Day of Action

When: Saturday, 24 October check-in and organising will be from 10:00-11:00 At 11:00, we will take a huge group photo of people holding 350 plants.

Where: Bellingen Showground.

Contact: info@bellingeneye.com or 0423 362 844 to register.

Bellingen EYE with support from Bellingen Urban Landcare, Bellingen Shire Council, Bellingen Chamber of Commerce, Bellingen Environment Centre and Bellingen Showground Trust invite you to participate in the Global Day of Action on Saturday 24 October 2009.

The world has now exceeded the upper limit of carbon that many scientists say is safe for our atmosphere: 350ppm. We are at 388ppm and rising fast. If we can’t reduce the carbon in our atmosphere quickly, it will become very difficult or impossible to reverse the effects of it on our planet. Plants and animals, including humans, are all at risk. The only way to reduce carbon emissions fast enough is for the world to come to a global agreement on legally binding carbon reduction targets. Later this year, in Copenhagen, the world will negotiate a new global agreement on carbon emissions. The agreement will cover the next 5 years, which are crucial.

This day of Global Action is about small, local, community events to support the global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration target of 350ppm and will involve planting 350 plants around Bellingen, and sending photos to our Federal politicians, to tell them we care.

Go to www.350.org for more information.

3. Community Emission Reduction Target

Council is still requesting comments on the community emission reduction target, please see below for more information

Bellingen Shire Council is calling for suggestions or comments on a proposed community emission reduction target. A community meeting was held at Bellingen Uniting Church on Saturday 29 August 2009 to provide a recommendation to the Bellingen Shire Council on a Community Emission Reduction Target. The key outcome of the meeting was the recommendation that Council adopts a community goal of One Earth Living by 2015. The current Australian average ecological footprint (how much land we need overall to sustain our lifestyle) is four earths! So to get to the target of one earth living, Bellingen Shire residents would need to contribute to a reduction in ecological footprint of around 75%.

This target is proposed to be part of the Bellingen Shire Emission Reduction Program (BERP) which is aimed at reducing Council and the community’s greenhouse gas emissions through a five phase implementation process. Adoption of emission reduction targets is Phase 2 of the BERP.

Further information on the target is available on Councils website at http://www.bellingen.nsw.gov.au/environment/3151.html. Council is keen to receive further input from the community on the community emission reduction target of ‘One Earth Living by 2015’ or alternative recommendations and viewpoints on what Community Emission Reduction Target should be adopted. Please send your comments, either supportive or constructive to ndenshire@bellingen.nsw.gov.au.