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"Melbourne public bike share scheme Melbourne is home to Australia's first large-scale public bikes hire scheme. Simon Vincett takes an exclusive look at what it may mean for you"

"Get out and about in the city to discover some of the best Green Star-rated icons. The Sustainable Melbourne Walking Tour is a self-guided, street-level exploration of some of Melbourne's greenest buildings. Walk the city while learning how green buildings are contributing to the sustainability of the inner-city community and leading by green example in the design and construction of our built environment."

We have selected a cohort of research higher degree students from across the University of Melbourne to share ideas on the meaning of sustainability and to develop strategies for better researching and practising it. This creates a critical mass of future leaders, each of whom will then take the interdisciplinary experience and spread it more widely across our society's sustainability endeavours.

"Over 15 years ago, Melbourne mounted a long-term campaign to change the way it uses energy and has attracted international acclaim for its commitment to sustainability. This has included encouraging bike riding and public transport and improving building efficiency. One notable example of this is the Council House 2 building, Australia's first six-star green star new office design building. Completed in 2006, some of the building's features include recycled water use, automatic windows, sun-tracking facades for shade and roof-mounted wind turbines to draw out hot air."

"Australia is on the cusp of a solar energy revolution. First, a recent study suggests that the country could power its entire national domestic infrastructure using only solar (while slashing the price of home electricity by 70 percent). Now, the University of Melbourne has introduced a new organic PV cell printer that rolls out a functional binder page-sized sheet of solar panel every two seconds, making the production of all those cells cheaper and a whole lot faster."

"The technical solutions needed to reduce greenhouse gases at a speed capable of preventing catastrophic climate change are now well known. The recently launched University of Melbourne research report, Post Carbon Pathways shows the key features of the post-carbon economy road map are now widely understood. We need rapid replacement of fossil fuels by renewable energy; rapid reductions in energy consumption and improvements in energy efficiency; and the drawdown and sequestration of carbon into sustainable carbon sinks."

"Beach Patrol is a chain of FEP community groups each defined by suburb, post code and t-shirt colour.Starting in 2009 with 3206 Beach Patrol - Middle Park , it quickly became evident that many 3206 residents cared greatly about the condition of their local beaches and were in fact willing to donate one hour of their time each month to help keep the beaches cleaner and safer for the greater enjoyment of all. Beach Patrol - Port Melbourne was soon up and running and following on 3182 Beach Patrol - St Kilda and 3186 Beach Patrol are now also going strong."

It's a youth climate summit. This July, 2,000 young people will come together to shift Australia away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy. Together we can change the game on climate. WHEN, WHERE? Melbourne.  July 13-15th. 

Sustainability Victoria and the Metropolitan Waste Management Group have developed an education program to increase household recycling rates across metropolitan Melbourne.

Australian politicians are displaying a discernible lack of courage in dealing with the threats of climate change, University of Melbourne researchers are warning. 

"From his own patch of turf in Coburg, Emilio Fuscaldo can see south all the way to the skyscrapers. The grass is on his roof. It's one of only a few residential green roofs in Melbourne. Mr Fuscaldo is the founder of Nest Architects; his motives were both private and public. ''It's incumbent on architects to practise what we preach. I wanted to show that you can devote a large percentage of your budget to sustainability,'' he says. ''You can compromise on other things, such as kitchens, cupboards and tiles, and still achieve a beautiful result.''"

This story investigates claims of how Citipower and SP Ausnet used the electricity rules and bureaucracy to turn what should have been a $107 million public investment on an enhancement to the Melbourne CBD electricity network into a $271 million spend.

I'm a freelance journalist in Melbourne, Australia. I write about environmental, social and community issues. I am often inspired by the people I write about, so I hope you will be too. You can find most of my published articles on this website. I write a weekly column called Greener Homes in the Domain lift-out of the Sunday Age.  

"Australian restaurants generate a huge amount of food waste, a large proportion of which currently goes to landfill. But a local company is hoping to convert that waste into compost for city vegie patches. Closed Loop sells machines that turn food waste into useable compost within 24 hours. Managing director Rob Pascoe is on a mission to lease out as many as 20 of the units to Melbourne restaurants within the next month. He says the machines not only turn organic waste into a useful resource, but can save restaurants money by drastically reducing the amount they spend on waste collection."

"Ignorance has just become much harder, for citizens, industry and policymakers alike: CSIRO has released the damning results of a three-year study of marine debris around Australia's coastline and seas. Three-quarters of all the refuse is plastic, and almost all of that comes in small pieces. In Australian waters, it found up to 40,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometre."

"We should all start noticing rubbish on the street and pick it up. If I walk past it, I accept it. See it, Bin it. Witness it, Report it! Everyday"

"As Australia's leading home show promising an inspiring array of fresh ideas and products, the Master Builders' Building & Home Improvement Expo promises to provide you with all you need to get started on your new build or home improvement project. "