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Project:

Ethnic Communities Sustainable Living Project (ECSLP)

Background 

Ethnic Communities Sustainable Living project is a partnership project between the Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW (DECC) and the Ethnic Communities Council of NSW (ECC).

New South Wales is rich in people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.  This project encourages Chinese, Greek, Arabic, Italian, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean and Macedonian communities to care for the environment and live more sustainably at home, work and play.

In collaboration with local councils and the Ethnic Communities Council of NSW, the project also helps build the capacity of councils to bring environmental education to their own ethnic communities.

Project activities 

A team of bilingual community educators run workshops in their communities on the following topics:

• Sustainable living – find out how you can live sustainably, prevent pollution and help to protect your local environment for our future generations
• Water conservation – save money on your water bill, find out about water restrictions, get some handy hints for saving water around the house and garden
• Composting and worm farming – nourish your garden by learning to compost or building a worm farm and reduce your organic household waste at the same time
• Recycling and reducing waste – learn to 'reduce, reuse and recycle', find out about waste and what you can do about reducing it
• Stormwater – keep our waterways clean for out future, find out how to stop stormwater pollution and protect our rivers and oceans
• 'Green cleaning' – clean your home without chemicals, find out about non-toxic alternatives and how to dispose of unwanted chemical products
• Protecting biodiversity – find out about native plants and animals, learn how to attract birds and butterflies to your garden, discuss tips for more sustainable gardening
• Saving energy – find out how to save money on your electricity bill and reduce greenhouse gases with our simple energy saving tips

Workshops run for 1-2 hours, depending on the group requirements. The bilingual educators also design workshops to suit needs.

In addition, the program and educators work with local government to provide assistance with language translation, workshop facilitation and community stalls, and specialist advice on Community access, publication and editorial development, and content delivery.

Outcomes and successes 

Around 475 workshops have been conducted between 2004 and 2005, involving approximately 7,000 people from a range of cultural backgrounds.

Through workshops, field trips, cultural events, community festivals, and arts projects, they learn simple and practical ways to live more sustainably.

Here's a taste of what is happening:

• Bankstown and Holroyd Councils
  – produced a sustainable living guide "Save money and our environment" in five community languages – Arabic, Chinese, Italian, Greek and Vietnamese.
• Bankstown council
  – provides training in biodiversity and has produced a kit for use as a resource.  The 'Backyard Buddies' brochures have also been translated into community languages; Arabic, Vietnamese and Chinese and are distributed at face-to-face sessions facilitated by bilingual educators.  Moreover, waste seminars are also held in several languages encouraging people to recycle more.
• Canterbury Council
  – runs workshops and gives information sessions for groups on recycling, sustainable gardening, new waste services and other environmental issues with the help of interpreters or bilingual educators. Information about the new waste service is now available in multiple languages on a video and can be obtained by contacting Canterbury Council.
• Willoughby Council
  – Willoughby's award-winning project, Towering Towards Sustainability, attracted Chinese and Korean communities to bushwalks, recycling depot tours, competitions, and stalls at the Spring Fair and Chinese New Year celebrations. Fortune cookies were used to distribute waste and recycling tips. For more information or to get involved contact Willoughby Council.

Resource materials 

A range of resources have been produced by project participants – contact them directly for more information. Resources available include:

• Read the "Working with Ethnic Communities to Sustain our Environment" brochure
• Contact or visit the websites of Bankstown, Holroyd, Canterbury and Willoughby Councils to find out about bilingual community resources
• Read the "Save money and our environment" Multilingual guides
• Find out more about the Towering Towards Sustainability project

How to get involved and find out more 

Contact the Ethnic Communities Project Officer at the Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW on phone (02) 8837 6000 or email sustainability@environment.nsw.gov.au.

Project partner 

Ethnic Communities Council of NSW

The Ethnic Communities' Council of NSW is a non-government body representing many organisations and people from the multicultural community in NSW.

The ECC of NSW's primary roles are advocacy, education and community development. The council actively promotes the principles of multiculturalism, and lobbies for the development of culturally inclusive society.  The Council is also involved in the development of strategies addressing the issues that touch ethnic communities.

Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW

The Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW works towards achieving a clean and healthy environment through its administration of environment protection legislation. This legislation covers air, water quality, contaminated land, noise control, pesticides, hazardous chemicals, dangerous goods, radiation and waste as well as national parks and reserves, biodiversity and threatened species, Aboriginal and cultural heritage, historic sites and pest management.

The DECC uses a range of means to achieve compliance including economic incentive schemes, regulation, enforcement, education, and monitoring and reporting.

A further role for the Department is to promote environmentally sustainable practices, resource use and waste management. This involves the development, coordination and implementation of a range of strategies and programs, including education for industry and the community, and market development for recovered resources and recycled materials.

Participants

 

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