Sustainable Spaces: Transform Your Home and Community
This post is all about space - not just the four walls around us, but our community, the systems we shape, and the mindsets we carry. Creating a climate-friendly space isn’t only about smart insulation and better appliances, it is about how we live, connect and care. Whether it’s setting up a compost bin for kitchen scraps, contributing to a shared community garden, or opening your home for community conversations, the spaces we create can become powerful sites for climate action and collective wellbeing.
🏘️ Why Sustainable Spaces matter
So far, we have looked at a massive number of things that you can do for the environment, whether it be catching public transport, buying sustainable fashion, supporting Indigenous communities, or investing your super into a planet friendly fun. But none of these actions exist in isolation. They all take place within the spaces we move through, whether it be our homes, workplaces, neighbourhoods, and community.
The average household produces approximately 14 tonnes of greenhouse gas each year. By understanding what you can do to reduce this figure, and helping other households reduce their footprint, you can make a massive impact!
🌎What you can do:
Fighting against climate change does not have to be something that you do alone! In fact, joining together can be more productive whilst boosting morale!!! Here are some ways that you can make your spaces more sustainable - together.
👩🌾 1. Start a community garden
A community garden is more than just a place to grow herbs and vegetables, it’s a place for connection, skill sharing, and collective care. By growing food locally, we can reduce food waste, cut down on transport emissions (the average total distance of road transportation for a Melbourne food basket was 21,000 km - just under the length of Australia’s coast line). As such, community gardens can transform unused land into hubs of climate action.
🍃 2. Help increase the biodiversity in your neighbourhood
Australia has one of the world’s highest rates of extinction in the world, and much of that is due to habitat destruction and fragmentation. Planting native species in front yards, veggie gardens, balconies, and schoolyards can make a difference. Native plants can survive on just rainfall alone and save you time and money, all while providing habitat, shelter and food for local wildlife. So next time you’re thinking about laying down some lawn in your backyard, consider going native instead.
♻️ 3. Do your best to recycle properly
Recycling properly might seem like a small act, but it has a great impact when we do it all together. In 2020-21, Australia generated 75.8 million tones of waste, and while 60% is recovered, the rest still ends up in landfill, releasing harmful greenhouse gasses. Contamination, like putting soft plastics or greasy pizza boxes into your recycling bin can wreak havoc with the machinery at recycling plants, wasting both time and money. That’s why it’s so important to understand your local council’s recycling guidelines and stick to them.