Applications for this year’s Big Green Idea will open on Monday 21 March 2011.
All entries are to be made online, using the web forms supplied on this site. All applications will require a project plan, timeline and budget. We will expect fully realisable projects with agreed outcomes delivered by the acquittal date.
For help in completing your application, or for any enquiries regarding Big Green Idea, email: amrit.gill@britishcouncil.org.au or view our FAQs.
Looking to her immediate surroundings in inner city Sydney, Amelia Tovey seeks to address the issue of sustainability in the food industry, specifically within cafes. Her project, Leave No Trace, is aimed at creating practical change in the catering industry by empowering cafés, restaurants and businesses to operate more sustainably. Amelia has been working with Café Giulia in Sydney, which has formed a case study for Leave No Trace. The sustainability measures taken by the café have been itemised and recorded on the project’s website. The website also looks at sustainability in the areas of commercial production and community welfare, case studies for which include the Aerobin compost system and NSW TAFE, which offers a ‘Living Sustainability’ outreach programme.
Jeanette Martin has established a number of community gardens, including the Mullumbimby Community Garden in the far north coast of NSW. Jeanette’s Big Green Idea project is an on-site integrated green waste management facility, utilising a bio-char kiln, fuelled on camphor laurel trees – a virulent local pest. Jeanette raised additional funds and sought in-kind support in order to have the bio-char kiln constructed. Jeanette has also developed plans for an integrated waste facility, which is currently under construction. With this system, Jeanette will oversee a composting programme for food waste from local restaurants and garden waste from local households.
Leyla Acaroglu has set herself the task of educating a range of audiences – businesses, designers, academics, students and the general public – about the issues surrounding sustainability, with a particular focus on eco-design. Leyla’s Big Green Idea project is The Secret Life of Things, a website which focuses specifically on the life-cycle of products. Aiming to educate in a fun and engaging manner, the website features a suite of animated short films written that humorously chart the lives of everyday objects. Leyla continues to work on the series, and will release the remaining animated videos later this year. Leyla is also working on a Secret Life of Things iPhone application, which will be available in the coming months.
Lish Fejer is a science and sustainability communicator, presenter, educator and energy efficiency expert. She was formerly a co-host of ABC TV’s eco-home-renovation show, Carbon Cops – a six-part series looking at building sustainability and energy efficiency. Lish’s Big Green Idea project is Do it Together, a series of free web videos that show viewers how to execute simple, inexpensive and effective energy efficiency improvements to their home, whether they own or rent. Delivered via e-mail with online links, the videos offer subscribers a DIY demonstration, along with a fact sheet, shopping list, costing estimates and online support. Lish’s goal is to equip people living in poorly-designed houses with the knowledge that will allow them to take small, achievable steps towards making their homes more efficient without breaking the bank. The videos will be uploaded to the Do it Together website (TBC) in March 2011.
Miyuki Jokiranta is concerned with the point where art and environmental issues meet, and has used her Big Green Idea seed funding grant to further expand the work of her company, seven thousand oaks (7KO), the website of which stands as a great resource for artists, educating them on the environmental impact of their materials, giving them a place to discuss issues with other practitioners, and providing information on artists whose practice reflects sustainability concerns. With 7KO, Miyuki piloted the “seven thousand oaks festival” in June-July 2010, which rolled out in a series of events and activities – including a public art programme, a tree-planting day and a day-long concert – that took place across Melbourne. At the festival, Miyuki gave away free copies of her “toolkit” – the main outcome of her Big Green Idea application.
Big Green Idea is part of E-idea, the British Council’s first major multi-lateral climate change initiative encompassing seven countries in the East Asian region.
In 2011, competitions like Australia’s Big Green Idea will be held in Japan, Korea, China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand. Within each country, E-idea will offer funding to develop projects pitched by young eco-entrepreneurs.
E-idea/Big Green Idea participants in each country will also be given the opportunity to join a regional network, through which they’ll access professional development with global sustainability experts from the UK and East Asia.
E-idea marks a unique new partnership between the British Council and Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance [LRQA] that will see both organisations jointly promoting and running E-idea. LRQA has shown their commitment by making a substantial financial contribution to the programme across all seven countries involved.
“This is a major opportunity for LRQA as a responsible company to make a proactive, creative and dynamic contribution to climate change,” says Simon Batters, LRQA Project Director for E-idea Competition. “In… supporting these young environmental leaders, we are actually investing in the future, doing something tangible for the environment.”
LRQA is a member of the Lloyd’s Register Group and is a leading independent provider of Business Assurance services including certification, validation, verification and training. The Group enhances the safety of life, property and the environment by helping its clients to ensure the quality construction and operation of critical infrastructure. It comprises charities and non-charitable entities, which support the charities in their main goal.
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