Tag Archives: Sustainability

  In an era that is being defined by adversarial politics and short term thinking, the Blackheath community is demonstrating another approach –and one that’s proving to be extraordinarily effective. By working collaboratively, with the long game in mind, they’re proving that their strategy is clearly worth emulating. Ten years ago, when a Federal election led to the announcement of a $250 million upgrade of the Great Western Highway between …

Mark Liebman, Sarah Laborde and Harry Twenty seven years ago, a young auditor at Ernst & Young in Sydney, one of the “Big 4” accounting firms, came across a newly published report, “Blueprint for a Green Economy.” Prepared for the UK Environment Department, the report claimed that environmental problems had their roots in “economic failures.” This struck such a chord …

  Children see things differently. Not only are they a little closer to the ground than your average adult, but so many of the things they encounter are being experienced for the first time. With eyes wide open, their minds absorb every little detail. So when Jacqueline Reid, from the National Parks and Wildlife Service, began working with schoolchildren to …

Blackheath, in the World Heritage listed Blue Mountains, Australia, has become the world’s first town in which all the shopfront businesses have agreed to phase out plastic straws. Thirty businesses – all the cafes, restaurants, bakeries, grocery shops, delicatessens, takeaways, service stations and pubs – now display signage indicating that they will only offer straws on request. Some businesses, like The Piedmont Inn, have …

FRONT: Carole Petrie, Murray Reid, Octavia O’Brien, David O’Brien, Gary   BACK: Leah Godfrey, Kelly McMahon, Ron Lyons It’s a bustling Thursday morning at the Blackheath Community Op-shop (BCOS). Volunteers are happily accepting donations of furniture, clothes and boxes of books, and satisfied customers are loading up the same. Passing by the racks of clothes to a large sorting table in the rear, I …

  “There’s a lot of great people doing amazing things in the world and you can be one of them” – Emma Magenta If you’re not sure if you’re powerful enough to change the world, just look at the fact that you’re still alive in a system designed to kill you. You’ve survived this far and congratulations. This is no …

Popes Glen Creek rises in Memorial Park, close to the town centre of Blackheath, then flows east for about 4km through Popes Glen Bushland Reserve and into the Grose River. Over decades this beautiful interface between the town and the Blue Mountains National Park had suffered the effects of polluted urban stormwater inundating a natural system, and had become a …

When The Big Fix approached local businesses to see if they’d agree to help Blackheath phase out plastic straws, one common remark was that men rarely use straws … it’s mostly women and children. This triggered an idea that local artist and designer Ian Dalkin developed into a cartoon. It has since become the basis of the Blackheath Gets Real Campaign … …

Photo by Graham McCarter OK I admit it, I’ve got shed envy! I’ve now been to the Blackheath Area Men’s Shed four times and each time I’ve found it more difficult to leave than the last. I’m not sure what I envy the most … the beautiful, neatly organised walls of tools and various workshops with projects underway …  like the second time …

Ten years ago, Graeme Roth and his partner Suzanne Kowalski-Roth, took the plunge and left Sydney with their two young children – keen to forge a future in Blackheath. Today they run Bike Storage, an innovative national design and manufacturing business employing eight, and revolutionising bike infrastructure in Australia. As keen cyclists, who’d spent a number of years overseas, they …