Is the Morisset and Peninsula area sustainable?

Originally published in the Morisset and Peninsula Bulletin, June 2018.
Submitted by Morisset and Peninsula Sustainable Neighbourhood Group (MAPS). Photos and article by Lindi Bowen.

If we all continue to live as we are now, will everything be able to stay the same so that our grandchildren can enjoy the same lifestyle we do? Are we making or planning changes now that will make things worse? And are there ways we could improve how we live now so that our  grandchildren and environment could benefit from the improvements?

These are the questions we need to ask to see if we are living sustainably. So is the Morisset and Peninsula area sustainable?
Although day to day we mostly feel “pretty comfortable, thanks” except during extreme weather, we all — if we stop for a minute — know that the way we are living now is NOT sustainable. For example:

• Our cars and energy: Driving our cars using coal-derived electricity and using up natural gas is all increasing carbon dioxide in the air. This has created climate change which is rapidly worsening. We are already experiencing record hot and record cold changes. We have wilder weather and more extreme and sudden weather changes. Our plants die from the heat, so we lose food, shelter and ecosystems, and some people die too from heat stroke.

• Our food and drink: Our food and drink are grown, manufactured and shipped around Australia and imported from all over the world, using lots of coal-based and petroleum-based resources. Coal and petroleum are going to run out. If we don’t do everything we can to reserve petroleum and coal for essential uses, our children will run out and have no replacement. The less we use, the less carbon dioxide we emit to the atmosphere.

• Our rubbish: We are dropping tonnes of rubbish into landfill every year and wasting resources by doing so. We are making some wins here, but there is more to do. So far we have done a lot of good in diverting garden — and soon also food scrap — wastes from landfill to be used as fertiliser and in sending our recyclable containers to recycling. We need to make sure there are markets for the recyclable material to be used and avoid anything that cannot be recycled. We can recycle electronic waste (e-waste) to get some of the valuable rare metals out that are used for mobile phones and computers. Did you know there is gold in your computer?

• Our natural ecosystems: We have had in Morisset and the peninsula area the best quality ecological bushland and wetlands of Lake Macquarie. We have had large blocks of undisturbed animal and native plant habitat with broad linking native vegetation between the big blocks allowing animals and plant seeds to travel safely. Most of the internal area has not yet been penetrated and swamped by weed infestations.

We have very special populations of threatened species and uniquely wonderful plants and animals. However, we will lose them unless we control weed and feral pest infestations, avoid damaging vehicle- and pedestrian-induced erosion and extreme bushfires, reverse climate change to ensure that the plants and animals get the rainfall and weather patterns they are adapted for, and ensure our cats, dogs and cars don’t kill the animals. We are also clearing away great swathes of bushland to put in dense blocks of asphalt roads and concrete, brick and tile dwellings. We could be putting in roof gardens, vertical gardens and courtyard gardens with locally indigenous vegetation (instead of paving) to keep some habitat, but we haven’t.

• Our community: A sustainable, resilient community is one where you know you can get help when you need it, and you can help others who need it. That help includes emotional support, and opportunities to contribute in a worthwhile way to the community, as well as the basics such as enough healthy food to eat, sufficient resources to be connected, decent clothes, functional furniture and sheltering housing with heating, cooling, lighting and hot water. Does everyone in the community have these basics?

Not everyone, so we need to do more. And many of us struggle when things go wrong because there is nobody locally to turn to for help. When things are going well, we need to build those bridges, help others in need, earn social capital (if you help others they will more likely help you) and make friends who will help. The only way to establish trust is to get to know someone, prove your trustworthiness and determine theirs. Get involved in local community groups and make local friends.

Around the world there are people creating, testing and demonstrating innovative and effective solutions for how to live more sustainably. We need to take these ideas that will work for us and create our own ideas for our unique situations.
Locally, Morisset and Peninsula Sustainable (MAPS) Neighbourhood Group is a way for our community to work together to learn about, plan and implement beneficial changes for the improvement of our place where we live.
When a community works together they can achieve so much more. We can combine our knowledge, learn together and create amazing ideas and solutions. The group is supported with insurance, advice, ideas-sharing and governance by the Lake Macquarie Sustainable Neighbourhood Alliance (Inc) and Lake Macquarie City Council.

The group meets monthly on the second Monday of the month except January (even on public holiday Mondays such as June long weekend) at 5:30pm. The Uniting Church Among the Trees (corner of Stockton, Kahibah and Awaba Streets) kindly provides a free meeting room. If you have ideas to improve our environmental, social or economic sustainability, projects you want to implement, or if you want to learn more about sustainability, you are very welcome.
On June 11th there will be a workshop on Critical Thinking: Sustainable Problem Solving, to be run by Kurt Tillett.