SEAD (Scottish Education and Action for Development)

The Sustainability Street project was conceived and developed by environmental educators Vox Bandicoot, who partnered up with local councils to get communities interested and active in saving the environment and tackling climate change. It starts off with a training program and can become as much as the imagination of a group of people would like to create. Vox Bandicoot focus on informal and entertaining communication to get people thinking about environmental issues of concern.

Sustainability Streets are spreading…..

Since 2001, nearly 100 local groups of people, or Sustainability Street Villages have formed. All under went the basic training program and since then have invented the most amazing range of local projects.

These communities now act as Beacon communities for others who want to tackle environmental issues but are unsure where to begin. Often, people only need to learn that something is possible to be prepared to give it a go. Beacon communities are out there proving every day that it is possible to get together and work on history’s greatest challenge, climate change. Beacon communities are the spearhead of a whole new form of “keeping up with the Jones”.

Community action project

In the City of Willoughby, Sydney, the Council and the community have richly embraced the Sustainability Street Approach. As is well known, the golden purpose of the SSA is the “Sow” phase, where “Streeters” work to teach, inspire or otherwise influence others.

One particular SSA Village in Willoughby undertook an indigenous planting re-vegetation project opposite the local coffee shop. The proprietors of the shop were delighted with the new plantings. Coffee shop patrons also admired the work. Indeed they wanted to know more. In a beautiful example of how the “Sow” phase can snowball, the coffee shop proprietors began to give out plant lists and planting guidelines to interested customers. This is a great example of local people shifting culture and understanding – on a peer to peer level, The power of the so called “Coles Car Park” conversation Willoughby Çafe Chat effect.

Community action to tackle climate change

Sustainable Streets demonstrates that once communities are engaged with the issues and know that big changes are possible, they feel empowered and can come up with many excellent projects to enable change. The communities taking part in locally decided actions have reported many indirect benefits from taking part. As well as taking action to tackle climate change the dynamics of a community improve very quickly. One community member said “I’ve made a couple of great friends and you definitely feel safer about your kids when you know the people around you”.

Initiatives like this demonstrate the will that exists for change, which can be lost if not supported and enabled. Community action can flag up barriers for the changes required to tackle climate change and as a result should act to influence policy decisions. Listening carefully to communities who want to make changes but feel blocked and then supporting them and enabling them to come up with creative means of achieving their aims is the way forward.