Inaugural WHEN meeting - Sunday 25 May 2008

It was great having so many people turn up who were concerned about the issues of community and climate change and who were also eager to start taking action on them.

In our discussion on Sunday, we identified a number of areas for possible group action. They are listed below. The numbers in brackets indicate how many green dots each item received as a measure of its popularity with the group.

There were three main areas of interest:
. making our homes more sustainable
. gardens and food
. improving local transport
Additionally, there were a number of suggestions associated with other community-related issues.

Making our homes more sustainable (28)
. rainwater tanks (10)
. solar hot water (7)
. photovoltaic panels (4)
. retrofitting (4)
. grey water recycling (3)
. composting toilets
. a demonstration house to show the potential for sustainable living

Gardens and food (16)
. community gardens (5)
. a register of garden tools (3)
. community composting(2)
. "retrofitting" gardens with native plants (2)
. bulk buying of garden supplies (1)
. information on growing your own food (1)
. information on keeping chickens (1)
. street trees (1)
. beekeeping
. distributing surplus food
. information on "permablitzing"
. utilization of Council green space for gardens

Improving local transport (14)
. better local transport (5)
. transport that is more sustainable (3)
. bike racks on buses (3)
. development of a light rail system (2)
. street calming (1)
. car sharing

Other issues raised (8)
. sharing knowledge and skill-sharing workshops (3)
. establishing a local walking club (2)
. acting to create change by influencing others in the community (1)
. building community resilience in the face of changing conditions (1)
. information on Transition Towns (1)
. creating safety in the community
. banning toxic substances in West Hobart
. sharing general resources - tools, equipment, etc.
. organisation of the Group and a venue for meetings