Monday 29 August 2022 - Friday 2 September 2022
Sustainability Week is an opportunity to learn more about, and engage with, the University's sustainability initiatives, its partners helping to achieve our common goals and ways in which you can become more sustainable in your own lives. It is also an opportunity for the University to celebrate its achievements, including its performance in the 2022 Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, which look at how we are working to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals:
- Equal 31st in the world overall
- 5th in the world for SDG 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation
- 3rd in Australia for SDG 15 - Life on Land
- 4th in Australia for SDG 14 - Life below Water and SDG 13 - Climate Action
- 5th in Australia for SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production
Come out, learn and engage with us! Plant a native shrub, check out our Market Days, watch some engrossing films and engage with our experts.
The University of the Sunshine Coast is committed to building a contemporary, sustainable, accessible university. UniSC has adopted values that support this goal:
- Advocate for equitable access to education and knowledge.
- Recognise and embrace diversity and inclusion.
- Champion environmental sustainable principles and practices.
- Commit to fair and ethical behaviour.
- Respect our people, our communities, and their potential.
- Be accountable to ourselves and each other.
- Strive for excellence and innovation in all that we do.
Screenings and Panels
UniSC wants you to engage with sustainability in a way that makes it less scary and overwhelming. One of the key ways to do this is through listening and discussion. Therefore, the University is hosting daily documentary screenings. These screenings will be followed by panel discussions with UniSC researchers, academics and leaders on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Theme: |
Climate Change & How We Talk About It |
| Location | |
| Sunshine Coast: | Lecture Theatre 3, Building I, Ground Floor |
| Moreton Bay: | The Rise |
| Caboolture: | J1.16 |
| Gympie: | See Sustainability Week Screening Film Links |
| Fraser Coast: | See Sustainability Week Screening Film Links |
| Online: | PANEL DISCUSSIONS ONLY - https://usc-au.zoom.us/j/89671189693?pwd=ODlmKzNZVFJHWG5abGl5TmdYYlZPdz09&from=addon; ZOOM Meeting ID: 896 7118 9693; Password: 381811 |
| Time | |
| Screenings: | 12:45 pm - 1:30 pm |
| Panel Discussions: | 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm |
SCREENINGS
| The Breakdown - Climate Change: How We Got Here | |
| Looking back at our 10,000 years of climate stability , this episode covers how the discovery of ancient fossil fuels changed the course of humanity as we know it. | |
| The Breakdown - Climate Change: 50 Years of Lies & Misinformation | |
| This episode explores the role of fossil fuels companies in denying the science around climate change and investing millions into misinformation campaigns to confuse the public and seed doubt. | |
| The Breakdown - Climate Change: Nine Years Left to Avoid Disaster | |
| Addressing why we have just 9 years left to halve global emissions, and taking a look back at all the COPs of the past. We look at the crucial turning points of the Paris climate agreement, the 2018 IPCC report and why COP 26 in Glasgow is so crucial. | |
| The Breakdown - Climate Change: An Unequal World | |
| Highlighting how climate change is first and foremost a social justice issue, and looking at the intersection between racism and climate change and exploring the need for a just transition. | |
| The Breakdown - Climate Change: What You Can Do | |
| In this episode, we look at the difference between individual and systemic change and ultimately why we must all join the climate movement. | |
| Greenwash, Explained with Hamsters | |
| What is the difference between green action and green "action"? We've recruited a team of climate-conscious hamsters to help explain how to spot businesses and industries that are greenwashing. | |
PANELLISTS
| Ms Carmine Buss | PhD Candidate, BPsych (Hons) |
| Kirsty O'Callaghan | PhD Candidate, School of Law and Society |
| Prof Patrick Nunn | Professor of Geography |
| Prof Tim Smith | Professor of Sustainability |
Theme: |
Our Environment & Efforts to Save It |
| Location | |
| Sunshine Coast: | Lecture Theatre 3 |
| Moreton Bay: | The Rise |
| Caboolture: | J1.16 |
| Gympie: | See Sustainability Week Screening Film Links |
| Fraser Coast: | See Sustainability Week Screening Film Links |
| Online: | PANEL DISCUSSIONS ONLY - https://usc-au.zoom.us/j/84499777523?pwd=aWRRTU1OQnZjR2NENDlBZ1h6V09MZz09&from=addon; Meeting ID: 844 9977 7523; Password: 092321 |
| Time | |
| Screenings: | 12:45 pm - 1:30 pm |
| Panel Discussions: | 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm |
SCREENINGS
| A Coral Love Story | |
| Coral reefs support almost a quarter of marine life, offering food and shelter to thousands of creatures, they also play a vital role in absorbing, and storing, harmful pollutants – just as trees remove CO2. As temperatures, pollution and sea levels rise, these creatures are beginning to starve, and eventually die.C | |
| Blue Carbon on Wall Street | |
| After decades of being exploited and destroyed Mangroves are being restored. They are among the most productive ecosystems on earth, and serve many important functions, not only are they unparalleled for forests at storing carbon, which helps fight the climate crisis, they also sustain life for humans and an array of animals and plants that live in oceans and rivers. | |
| Sumatra's Forest Guardian | |
| Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem is one of the most biodiverse on Earth... But it is also a battleground between big corporations that seek to destroy it for profit, and an alliance of Forest Guardians led by Sumatran native, eco-activist and Whitley Award winner Farwiza Farhan, who are fighting hard to protect one of the world’s most crucial ecosystems. | |
| Growing Back Beirut | |
| Miniature urban forests planted using a method invented by a Japanese botanist in the 1970s are growing in popularity. Eco Architect Adib Dada and the 'guerrilla foresters’ trying to bring green spaces back to Beirut. How much space do you think you need to grow a forest? | |
| Koala 911 | |
| Abandoned dog, Bear, becomes a conservation superhero as he’s deployed to sniff out koala survivors in the wake of Australian bushfires. Koalas depend on eucalyptus trees that burn quickly and intensely. When fires sweep through their homes, they often don’t have time to escape. Bear has been following the aftermath of the fires, finding sick, injured or starving koalas that otherwise would have perished. He has now found more than 100. | |
| The Rooftop Revolution | |
| Whether it’s for our own sanity or to mitigate climate change, the need for green spaces in our cities has never been more pressing. As global populations rise and the trend towards urbanisation increases, space is at a premium. But just above our heads there’s an abundance of free space - rooftops. The only limit is our imagination. | |
| The Giant's Achilles Heel | |
| PAMS' investment platform, ‘My Planet’, works by using blockchain technology - the same used to run Crypto Currencies - to create a pier to pier platform that allows PAMS donors around the world to connect directly with PAMS project staff on the ground. In this film we go to the Elephant Guardian Project in Tanzania to see how this system works. | |
| The Fight against Plastic | |
| As fossil fuels fall out of favour, petrochemical mega corporations, reliant upon their extraction and refinement, are pivoting towards the manufacture of plastics as their “plan B”. With a hugely energy intensive and polluting manufacturing process and environmentally catastrophic products, feted NGO, ClientEarth, has joined forces with grass campaigners to oppose the plans of a €3BN plastics superplant in the Port of Antwerp. They’re winning, but can the momentum be sustained? | |
| A Circular Solution | |
| The earth’s ability to endure the destructive processes of industrialisation is reaching its limit. Society generates more than 2 billion tonnes of household waste. Fortunately, there is another way, that is not only beneficial to the environment, but that could also save worldwide industries an estimated one trillion dollars each and every year. We just need to come “round” to a new way of thinking...the circular way. | |
PANELLISTS
| Dr Alexandra Campbell (TBC) | Senior Lecturer - Seaweed Research Group |
| Prof David Schoeman | Professor of Global-Change Ecology |
| Mrs Melissa Innes | Associate Lecturer in Management & Human Resource Management |
| Dr Tina Lathouras | Senior Lecturer in Social Work |
Theme: |
Food, Fashion and What We Can Do to Make a Change |
| Location | |
| Sunshine Coast: | Lecture Theatre 3 |
| Moreton Bay: | The Rise |
| Caboolture: | J1.16 |
| Gympie: | See Sustainability Week Screening Film Links |
| Fraser Coast: | See Sustainability Week Screening Film Links |
| Online: | PANEL DISCUSSIONS ONLY - https://usc-au.zoom.us/j/84499777523?pwd=aWRRTU1OQnZjR2NENDlBZ1h6V09MZz09&from=addon; Meeting ID: 844 5566 1127; Password: 775397 |
| Time | |
| Screenings: | 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm |
| Panel Discussions: | 2:30 pm - 3:15 pm |
SCREENINGS
| ReDress the Future: ReDressing New | |
| This episode will explore not only the burgeoning second hand clothing industry, in particular new apps that allow people to buy and sell used clothing from their own home, but the more traditional concept of repairing or altering our own well-loved items of clothing. Because when it comes to sustainable fashion, forget buying something new, let’s just make the most of what we already have! | |
| ReDress the Future: ReDressing the Model | |
| This final episode will look to the future of responsible, circular fashion. While mentioning some of the issues associated with using fabrics made from recycled plastics, this episode will look at ways of making clothing truly circular by seeing how an item of clothing made from an organic material, like cotton, can be broken down to it’s very fibres and then made into a brand new item of clothing again, not only eliminating waste, but eliminating a reliance on harvesting new raw materials. | |
| Blood in the Bay | |
| The Bay of Biscay is also home to nearly a third of our planet’s 90 species of whales and dolphins. But the bay is also renowned for a massacre worse than the Japanese and Danish slaughter combined. Sea Shepherd volunteers are documenting this undeclared dolphin bycatch that is being pulled in by the fishermen’s nets, to bring the matter to public attention and to induce a change in the law and impose better regulations over fishing practices in European waters. | |
| A Meatless Future | |
| This punchy short film is about tackling our relationship with meat consumption. Humans have a 1.5 million year history with meat, but a rapidly growing population means we need alternatives and fast. | |
| Food for Thought | |
| More than ⅓ of the world’s food is wasted, accounting for around 8% of all greenhouse gas emissions. And where does this waste go? The vast majority, to landfills. Featuring Simmie Vedi - freelance Chef based in Cardiff, and Douglas McMaster - founder of the world's first zero-waste food restaurant, this short film explores the creative ways that humans and the food industry itself are re-imagining food waste. | |
| One Chew at a Time | |
| This short documentary follows Chef Chew, a vegan food inventor and entrepreneur, as he patrols the streets of Oakland taking care of the community’s diet, on a mission to help his community transition to a new vegan lifestyle while creating equal opportunities for everyone. His main aim is to democratise access to plant-based food and better health, will he achieve his American Dream? | |
PANELLISTS
| Ms Deborah Fisher | Lecturer in Design |
| Dr Ipek Kurtboke | Senior Lecturer, Environmental Microbiology |
| Dr Judith Maher | Lecturer, Nutrition & Dietetics |
| Dr Vikki Schaffer | Senior Lecturer in Tourism |
Theme: |
Taking Action - Youth Unstoppable |
| Location | |
| Sunshine Coast: | Lecture Theatre 3 |
| Moreton Bay: | The Rise |
| Caboolture: | J1.16 |
| Gympie: | See Sustainability Week Screening Film Links |
| Fraser Coast: | See Sustainability Week Screening Film Links |
| Time | |
| Screenings: | 12:45 pm - 2:15 pm |
SCREENINGS
| Youth, Unstoppable | |
| A film 11 years in the making, Youth Unstoppable documents the struggles and events of the largely unseen and misunderstood Global Youth Climate Movement. At age 15, filmmaker Slater Jewell-Kemker began attending environmental summits, camera in hand, wide-eyed and ready to make a difference. What began as a single journey evolved into an intimate and challenging documentary shot behind the front lines of the largely unseen and misunderstood Global Youth Climate Movement. Seen through the lens of Slater’s camera, Youth Unstoppable documents the struggles, events, and first hand effects on the youth fighting to be heard at home and within the frustrating and complex process of UN Climate Change negotiations. From flood ravaged villages in Nepal to luxury hotels in Cancun, from the tailings ponds of the Alberta Tar Sands to the riots of Copenhagen, culminating with the intense and defining events at the 21st UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, Youth Unstoppable shows us a powerful vision for the future of our planet and the young people who will lead us there. | |
Theme: |
How to Care about Climate |
| Location | |
| Sunshine Coast: | Lecture Theatre 3 |
| Moreton Bay: | The Rise |
| Caboolture: | J1.16 |
| Gympie: | See Sustainability Week Screening Film Links |
| Fraser Coast: | See Sustainability Week Screening Film Links |
| Time | |
| Screenings: | 12:45 pm - 1:30 pm |
SCREENINGS
| Who Cares Wins with Lily Cole | |
| In this condensed episode, Lily explores the overwhelm and grief that can come with climate action. But conversely, if we truly understand the destruction that is taking place, why do we continue with business as usual? Are many of us living in denial? Lily speaks with artists, activists, psychologists and anthropologists to delve into the cognitive dissonance, eco-grief and anxiety we’re presented with as we ask the question, how much should we care? | |
| People vs. Pipeline: The Cost of Crude Oil | |
| In early 2021, Canadian and US land defenders and organizations successfully stopped the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. From a small group of people to forming unlikely alliances and gaining global attention, the power of the people prevailed. Many of the various threats were underpinned by water security. The increasing vulnerability of watersheds to the risk of spills brought indigenous, non-indigenous and climate organization groups to fight together for a common purpose of protecting their lands from devastating environmental destruction, creating a turning point in environmental activism history. After the victory of stopping the pipeline in early 2021, the big question remains: What is to stop the project from resurrecting under a more ‘preferable’ government? How can marginalized communities ensure their opinions and legal rights aren’t disregarded with similar projects? This documentary film project will celebrate the people and efforts behind stopping Keystone XL and will serve as a reference for similar case studies to stop oil pipelines and Tar Sand developments in the near future. | |
If you are unable to attend any of these screenings, but are interested in the films, they are available to screen on WaterBear, a free streaming service dedicated to promoting action on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Market Days and other events
Wednesday 31 August
Thursday 1 September
| 10am - 2pm | Sustainable Market Day hosted by The Student Guild & Sustainable UniSC | |
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* EV Test Drives Test Drives of the Mazda MX30 Electric Vehicle will be run during Market Day hours.
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| 2:30pm - 3:30pm | Regen Australia | Lecture Theatre 3, Building I |
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The School of Law and Society invites you to please join us for a screening of Regen Australia, Damon Gameau’s latest film which creates a glimpse at an achievable future we can create together by 2030. This film follows the work of 2040 and specifically imagines Australia’s transition to a regenerative economy. The film is 20 minutes and this leaves time to:
This film is about creating community, generating excitement and encouraging action. |
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Wednesday 31 August
| 11am - 1pm | Sustainable Market Day | |
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| 12:30 - 1:30pm | Regen Australia | The Rise |
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The School of Law and Society invites you to please join us for a screening of Regen Australia, Damon Gameau’s latest film which creates a glimpse at an achievable future we can create together by 2030. This film follows the work of 2040 and specifically imagines Australia’s transition to a regenerative economy. The film is 20 minutes and this leaves time to:
This film is about creating community, generating excitement and encouraging action. |
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| 3-4pm |
Conserving Native Bees |
MB-A.G.30 |
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Dr Kit, aka the Bee Babette, is a wild bee scientist and will presenting to the Beeple her evidence-based tips on how to create a bee-friendly garden to protect and preserve our native bees and their pollination services. Dr Kit has published over 30 peer-reviewed publications, was a FameLab Finalist, and has been on Gardening Australia. She is also author of the book 'Creating a Haven for Native Bees' which you can get a copy of at her presentation. |
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Thursday 1 September
| 5-8pm | Movie Night with the Student Guild | The Rise |
Thursday 1 September
| Time | Details | Location |
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| 11am - 1pm | Market Day | The Courtyard |
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Tuesday 30 August
| 10am-1pm | Sustainability Week Lunch | Outdoor BBQ Area |
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Tuesday 30 August
| 11:30am - 12:30pm | Chomp and Chat: Spring Fever Flower Planting | BBQ Area |
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Wednesday 31 August
| 6-8pm | Creating Waves Public Lecture | Room 104.2, Building B |
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