Category: Other Projects

Join JCJ and BZE supporters over a drink
to wish Stephen well on his trip

6pm Wednesday 2^nd September

Naked for Satan bar, 285 Brunswick St, Fitzroy
Come to their top floor with views to the city

What is this trip about?

We are building links with people and groups here in Australia and in Asia to promote 100% renewables.

Through these links, we can all work against exporting Australian coal.

JCJ is funding the first of Stephen’s trips to Asia. On 13^th September, Stephen leaves for a week in Sri Lanka. JCJ is paying for the airfare and expenses in Sri Lanka.

Stephen is ideally placed for this initiative. He has worked on grassroots energy initiatives in the Pacific Islands and on national climate policy in Australia. As CEO of Beyond Zero Emissions, he knows the technical story on how countries can achieve 100% renewables.

JCJ is linking him with ECO-Friendly Volunteers and the Federation of Environmental Organisations in Sri Lanka. They will set up meetings with the grassroots and with influential people in business, government and NGOs.

The aim is to empower Asian countries with information to help them bring about alternatives to coal. Trips to other countries in the Asia Pacific will follow.

More

Please bring a small donation, or contribute in advance. We are only $800 from our target of $3,400.

See more on our website for more details about the trip.

Why not email us in advance indicating your interest in attending, or in joining JCJ’s mailing list?

For more information, ring Jim on 0488 956 506.

Help us send a technical expert to Sri Lanka in September 2015 to link with environmentalists, experts, NGOs, government and industry leaders to empower them to bring about alternatives to coal. Our project aims to contribute to the wave of interest in clean energy that is building across Asia, and help to neutralise Australian attempts to expand coal markets.

For full project details, go to Asia and Australia against coal, and see our presentation Engaging with climate change by connecting with Asia.

Donate here. We’ve raised over $2,000 already, thanks to many individual donors and our successful Sri Lankan buffet. Our next fund-raiser is a tea and cheese tasting on 24th June – limited to 17 people, so get in quickly.

As CEO of Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE), Stephen Bygrave

is looking forward to this trip to Sri Lanka. BZE has developed technical plans for Australia to be 100% renewable. Now BZE can take that experience internationally, and work with enthusiastic people in Sri Lanka.

As we raise more funds, similar trips will be organised to other countries in the Asia Pacific. Charlie Wood from 350.org and Cam Walker from Friends of the Earth are also great supporters of this plan.

Donate here

JCJ supported The BGreen Project conference in Bangladesh in January 2015 after the success of the conference in 2014. We were delighted that Kanchana Weerakoon, then JCJ Vice President and ECO-V President, could attend from Sri Lanka to give a presentation. Similar to the 2014 conference, it brought experts, professionals, climate-concerned citizens, and youth together to address current environmental issues at hand in their communities, brainstorm and propose solutions.

JCJ is calling for financial support for the BGreen Conference in January 2015.

The 2014 conference was a massive success and was attended by 150 people, and successfully built community partnerships among organizations in Bangladesh.

Organisor Fadia Hasan says “Youth is our biggest resource in Bangladesh today and mobilizing them in the direction of responsible environmentalism may be one of the answers for a country that is plagued with acute environmental challenges.”

BGreen is committed to using the youth’s power and vision to the fullest, by providing them the support to carry the project out with dedication and efficacy.

Check out the BGreen Project  Facebook page and website.

This is a really worthwhile project to support.

On a lovely sunny Sunday recently, we held our very first expedition with international students studying in Australia. We travelled in a convoy of cars to Daylesford, 110 kilometres from Melbourne.

The aim was to give the students some interesting educational experiences, introduce them to local students, have a good time, and test our approach to running such journeys.

The students came from China, New Zealand, Canada and Latin America – and we also joined by a high school teacher originally from China.

First stop was Hepburn Wind Farm, where we learnt so much about community-based energy projects. Debate over wind turbines was initially polarised, but with much explanation and encouraged to invest financially in the community project, 99 per cent of people swung behind it.

Second stop was a free-range piggery based on heritage-breed Large Black pigs. The pigs roam outside all year, and are fed on brewery by-products. The animals are slaughtered on-site, and the meat sold direct to people nearby and in Melbourne – delivered in a vehicle running on cooking oil and fats collected locally. They have just introduced a Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) membership model.

Third stop was Daylesford neighbourhood house, where we met two local people very knowledgeable about the local environmental issues and their history. We learnt much about the highs and lows of various initiatives.

JCJ is exploring models for how to run these trips with Students 4 Sustainability, who ran this trip – thanks to Cath, John and Liz.

JCJ helped fund a part of the BGreen conference in Bangladesh. Over 150 environmental experts, professionals, climate-concerned citizens, and 100 urban youth united to address current environmental issues at hand in their communities, brainstorm and propose solutions. The conference included speakers, educational activities, exercises, and generating action plans. The conference was a resounding success, receiving intense media attention, kick-starting several environmental projects, and successfully building community partnerships among organisations in Bangladesh and beyond.

This project was run by JCJ via our volunteer Pat Kirkby in Bangladesh. It aimed to empower and inspire the local grass-roots community to respond to the challenges of climate change. Pat worked tirelessly in Dhaka to provide free training activities on climate change, sustainability and environmental leadership for youth, NGOs, professionals and grass-roots communities. Amongst these activities were a JCJ ‘Climate Solutions Conference’, numerous youth environmental leadership workshops, and Bangladesh’s biggest ever Earth Hour event, which brought together hundreds of bike riders and concerned climate activists. These events generated mass media attention and overwhelming local support. JCJ also selected 3 aspiring youth climate activists to visit climatically vulnerable areas of rural Bangladesh, where the team worked with local grass-root organisations to develop initiatives that are driving long-lasting change in these climatically-devastated poor rural villages.

In 2013, JCJ supported teacher-training workshops on climate change and environmental education. Teacher training manuals were produced and widely distributed across the Mekong, and flyers were put up throughout local schools and universities. Daniel Bladh, an environmental professional from Sweden who JCJ met through our Mekong Climate Action Project, was the key driver in leading these initiatives. JCJ also sponsored an exhibition of sculptures made from plastic waste, aiming to raise awareness for environmental conservation.

The Mekong Climate Action Project aimed to raise awareness and promote adaptation/ mitigation responses to climate change, as well as to encourage transitions to sustainable lifestyles in Long Xuyen, Vietnam. The project was a collaboration between a leading climate change expert from a Vietnamese university and JCJ volunteers. A large conference, workshops, campaigns, and meetings were held around climate action with over 200 people in attendance. Two academic papers were produced after this project and widely disseminated. This project was at the forefront of climate action in the Mekong at the time and received a high level of media attention. JCJ helped plan and provide logistical support, and Pat Kirkby, the project leader, self-funded the project.