Climate Ready Hume has a new web page on the Victorian Government Engage Victoria site - here's the link - go to https://engage.vic.gov.au/hume-regional-climate-change-adaptation-strategy

Newsletters 2021 
February 2021
​March 2021 
April 2021 - special edition for public consultation of the draft Regional Adaptation Strategy
May 2021 - includes a report on BSFG Action Group Renewable Energy Benalla's Community Energy Project Launch at Mujnro Avenue Pre-School

Sunday May the 2nd is International Permaculture Day, and what better way to celebrate Permaculture than meet up with your fellow Permies to chew the fat as it were about all things Permaculture.

We're meeting on Jaycee Island, access behind the CFA shed. To find us just keep an eye out for the Big Benalla Permaculture Banner!

We are planning a communal picnic, so please bring a plate to share, preferably with some nice yummy food on it. I believe there is a Public BBQ on the island, I (Woz) will check and confirm.

BYO Crockery & Cutlery, Drinks, Chairs, Picnic Rug, etc. Children welcome under supervision.

Plan to arrive around 11 for the Meet and Greet part, Lunch will be at 12. Beyond that, there is no real schedule for the day other than just getting to know each other and have some friendly conversations.

COVID - We will run a sign in sheet for tracking if necessary. Please observe the usual COVID precautions. If you are feeling unwell, have tested positive for COVID or are awaiting test results, then for the benefit of all, please stay at home, rest up and get better..

Warwick Bone (Woz)

Beechworth Health Service is hosting a fully subsidised workshop Exploring Social Enterprise about the business model of social enterprise for those who operate in any aspect of the North East Victorian local food system. The workshop - to be held on the 13th and 14th May at the Old Beechworth Jail from 9.15 am to 4pm - is for Individuals, organisations and businesses that operate or are seeking to establish a social enterprise that forms any part of the North East local food system. This includes:

• food producers / growers
• harvesting / processing / packaging
• transporting
• marketing 
• retail / co-ops  / restaurants/ cafes / food businesses that sell or use local food, or would like to
• food disposal / waste
• emergency food relief

Participants must live in, or be operating their project in one of the following Local Government Areas: Indigo, Alpine, Wodonga, Wangaratta, Benalla, Mansfield & Towong.

The workshop is delivered by the Australia Centre for Rural Entrepreneurship at the Old Beechworth Goal in Beechworth.  It is fully funded by the Beechworth Health Service.  

For full details and to register please visit:  https://your.socialenterprise.academy/course/view.php?id=560

There is also a Facebook post on the ACRE page that can be shared:  https://www.facebook.com/ACREAustralia

Web team convenor Peter Maddock recently described 'having an existential crisis' in response to the book and film 'Bright Green Lies' which question the renewables industrial complex. ​

Peter came across the film on Kindle just as he had finished reading Dead In The Water by Richard Beasley which he describes as 'A very angry book about our greatest environmental catastrophe. . . the death of the Murray-Darling Basin'.

'Hot Topics' are invariably highly complex 'wicked' if not 'super wicked' problems.  An excellent resource on wicked and super wicked problems, Chris Riedy's 'Climate Change is a Super Wicked Problem',  highlights the difficulty we have in making headway on dealing with climate change, and many environmental issues and the need for bipartisan approaches.   .

Another important article on complexity uses the analogy of a complex chess game to discuss the 'super wicked' policy problem of climate change. In  'We Need to “See the Whole Board” to Stop Climate Change', Project Drawdown's Executive Director Dr Jonathon Foley suggests that addressing climate change is like playing chess. "We need to use all the pieces, employ multiple strategies, and see the whole board. But, unlike chess, we have to play this game collaboratively to win."

Bev Lee
Web Team

An important event in the Sustainable Future calendar in North East Victoria, the Off the Grid Festival's once again provided a wonderful opportunity for showcasing possibilities for a sustainable future through a range of lenses. 

The Off the Grid Festival at Eldorado clearly relates to this year's United Nations International Year of the Creative Economy for Sustainable Development, which recognises the need to promote sustained and inclusive economic growth, foster innovation and provide opportunities, benefits and empowerment for all and respect for all human rights. It certainly fits in terms of the way in which it encourages diversification of production in to sustainable growth areas, including creative industries, and raises awareness, promote cooperation and networking, encourage sharing best practices and experiences, enhance human resource capacity, promote an enabling a sustainable environment at all levels as well as tackle the challenges of the creative economy.'