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Aldinga Community Children's Centre has a long history of leadership within the local community. In October 2007, the centre's Staff, Parents and Management Committee led the centre to reach another milestone: it was named Australia's first climate-neutral childcare centre.
Aldinga Community Children's Centre is a South Australian community-based non-profit childcare centre with places for 62 children. It is situated in a community which includes a village built on environmentally-sustainable principles and a large Waldorf Steiner school.
Our Staff, Parents and Management Committee decided that, if the centre was to keep in touch with its community, it needed to value and support our beliefs, high among which is the need to be sustainable and work towards ensuring a viable world for future generations.
Auditing emissions
The first step of our greening process was an emissions audit. It was carried out over several weeks and included a survey of staff and parents, focusing particularly on transport to and from the centre and the centre's power and gas usage. The survey established the centre's carbon footprint – the amount of greenhouse gas emitted by our school in a year – as 34.46 tonnes. Armed with this information, Aldinga purchased carbon credits and renewable energy credits to neutralise this output.
How to kick the carbon habit
Now that Australia has ratified the Kyoto Protocol we all have an important role in reducing the amount of greenhouse gas pollution that is released into the atmosphere. Scientists agree that we need to take urgent action to keep temperatures from rising above dangerous levels of two degrees.
As our nation accepts its responsibility, we can set our own personal goals and targets. By doing so we live healthier lives and help create the kind of world we want our children to grow up in.
Measure and reduce
The first step in kicking the carbon habit is measuring what environmental impact you already have, so you know where to start to make savings. You can do this using Australian Conservation Foundation's GreenHome eco-calculator at: www.acfonline.org.au/greenhome
The most important move you can make is to reduce the amount of energy you use every day. It is possible for each of us to reduce the amount of energy we consume by approximately 70 per cent without losing our standard of living. This reduction can be made by establishing a plan, for example to:
- change your light bulbs
- insulate buildings
- install water-efficient showerheads and tap aerators
- set yourself a target for installing a solar hot-water heater.
Convert to Greenpower
You can purchase electricity and gas sourced from renewable energy supplies such as solar, wind and biomass. This is easily organised through your electricity provider and is supplied to your service as usual.
The average Australian consumer of green electricity prevents up to eight tonnes of greenhouse pollution entering our atmosphere – visit www.greenelectricitywatch.org.au for more details to choose the best product available.
Purchase carbon offsets
Along with saving energy and buying Greenpower you can offset any unavoidable emissions, such as transport. Carbon offsetting means you pay someone else to compensate for the greenhouse gas emissions you cause. The offsets are represented as a certificate or permit that can be bought and sold.
You can offset by investing in:
- renewable energy
- energy efficiency
- activities that store carbon dioxide (usually tree planting or preserving).
There are many offset products to choose from. Offsets that go into renewable energy or energy efficiency are more permanent and therefore a preferable option. Tree planting only stores carbon which could potentially be released at a later date. Offsets into tree planting can also create other problems if it is a monoculture rather than a biodiverse indigenous revegetation scheme. However some tree-planting schemes are beneficial for the environment and provide local employment initiatives so you should talk carefully with your offset provider to find out all the details.
Measuring the standard of greenhouse gas emissions can also be difficult, so it is important to make sure you receive independently audited offsets. A recent report by RMIT University indicated that offsets in Australia typically cost between $9 and $40 per tonne.
For more information go to www.acfonline.org.au/climate and www.carbonoffsetguide.com.au
Elle Morrell
Australian Conservation Foundation
Reducing our footprint
In December last year, Aldinga had a complete energy audit which surveyed all of the energy expended by the centre and gave us concrete areas to work on to reduce our carbon footprint. The energy audit provided us with several easily implemented ideas, such as installing new ceiling insulation and ensuring all globes are fluorescents.
Our Management Committee is looking further ahead and has sourced several grants that they will be applying for this year. The first application will be for the Australian Government Photovoltaic Rebate Programme, which provides cash rebates for the installation of solar systems in homes, schools and, most importantly in this situation, community buildings. This will allow the centre to reduce its power bills and function completely independently of the national power grid for most of the year.
The centre also intends to apply for a Government Community Water Grant, which are offered to help local community organisations save and recycle water. The Aldinga Community Children's Centre hopes to use this grant to install several rainwater tanks for all centre water usage.
Aldinga is also looking closer to home in establishing a worm farm to compost food scraps, planting fruit trees and implementing the use of environmentally friendlier nappies.
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Our vegetable garden is a huge success with our children, and benefits the centre in the form of fresh, nutritious food. The garden reconnects our children with the earth and basic food sources, which has been largely lost in our society.
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Conclusion
We hope all these changes will improve our future and the future of all the children who will experience the early years of their lives at the Aldinga Community Children's Centre – we encourage other centres to begin this tremendously rewarding journey.
Steve Kingsmill
Director
Aldinga Community Children's Centre
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Greening services: Practical sustainability is about empowering children and investing in their futures through everyday activities and planning. It is filled with great ideas and provides easy step-by-step guides to make your service greener.
It is available from Early Childhood Australia for $14.95 (inc. p&h). To order, or to find out more, visit
www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/rip0703 or freecall 1800 356 900.
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Every Child magazine – vol. 14 no. 1, 2008, pp. 16-17
Don't forget, Every Child is tax deductible for early childhood professionals
You can purchase this issue of Every Child magazine now.
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