Happy Friday friends,
We hope that you’re ready for a relaxing weekend whether it be in rainy Sydney, sunny Melbourne, or elsewhere in Australia and abroad.
It’s been another rollercoaster week in the sustainability news world.
Must-reads
Is the future here? Researchers at RMIT have developed an innovative self-cleaning bioplastic that repels liquids and dirt, is affordable to manufacture and breaks down quickly once composted. The bioplastic is ideal for fresh food and takeaway packaging. Read here.
There are “pockets of gold” within even the most staunchly climate-skeptic councils, so says Alexi Lynch, business manager of Ironbark Sustainability. We caught up with him to talk about what’s been going on at the local government sustainability consultancy and his top tips for local governments. Read here.
Here’s something to keep in mind as you head into the weekend. Select BWS and Dan Murphy’s stores in South Australia and Western Australia are implementing a recycling/reuse scheme in-store for the clips used in their beer cans (those plastic rings that hold a 6 pack together). Find how and which stores are participating. Read here.
Who doesn’t love eating mushrooms? But I bet you never thought that you can use fungi as a design material! Check out this pop-up shop in Byron Bay kitted-out with structures solely made from mycelium – the root of a mushroom. Get the scoop on mycelium as a design material, including interviews from experts. Read here.
Welcome
Rose Mary Petrass has joined The Green List as a journalist and content manager (that’s me!).
If you have any news or would like to list your sustainable-impact business in our directory please email me.
What’s on
Transitions Film Festival: Visions for a Better World returns February 18th to March 13 with a collection of documentaries featuring themes such as environmental activism, social and economic justice, climate change, biodiversity, plastics, and creative innovation. Read here.
More news
In some shocking breaking news today, that should have us all immediately quaking in our boots for the future of our beloved native wildlife, koalas have today officially been bumped up the list from “vulnerable” to “endangered” in NSW, QLD, and the ACT (hence the cuddle koala feature image). The Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) has responded by saying this does nothing legally to stop land clearing, which is the key reason for population loss.
To lighten the blow comes the recent good news that the battle to protect Bylong Valley from a “massive” coal mine is over after a hard-fought court case by South Korean mining company KEPCO. Pat on the back for trying, but we don’t need any more GHG. Read here.
And find out why hydrogen promises a near 0% emissions in this article on our sister site. Read here. More energy news is Powershop has plunged in Greenpeace’s Green Electricity Guide and lost at least 6,000 customers, following acquisition of fossil fuel goliath Shell. Read here.
And a global news snapshot:
In the UK plants are now flowering an entire month earlier. In Italy a historic vote has made ecosystems and biodiversity part of its constitution “in the interest of future generations”. Environmental activist group Greenpeace has been cleared of environmental breaches after dropping boulders into the sea to protect marine habitats from bottom trawling fishing nets.
