Footprints Online 2020

Footprints Ecofestival is held annually at Council's Whites Creek Valley Park.

Because the festival couldn't be held in-person in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, it became Footprints Online.

All of the panel discussions, webinars and videos on sustainability issues from Footprints Online remain available here.

First Nations welcome

The Welcome and Acknowledgement of Country was conducted by Aunty Deb Lennis, Cultural Advisor to the CEO of Inner West Council.

This video premiered on Saturday 29 August 2020.

Mayor's welcome message

Inner West Mayor, Darcy Byrne opened Footprints online with his welcome message.

This video premiered here on Saturday 29 August 2020.

Whites Creek Valley Park video tour

Whites Creek Valley Park in Annandale is a hidden gem of the Inner West. Come with us as we explore the park, its wetland, community garden and food forest.

This video premiered here on Saturday 29 August 2020.

Talks program

These are the three talks for Footprints Online that premiered on 29 August 2020. Enjoy listening!

Please note that the views expressed by the speakers in these podcasts are their individual views and do not necessarily reflect the views of Council.

Podcast 1: Talking climate

In this podcast we discuss how to talk to each other about climate change - why it matters, what are some of the barriers to action and offer some practical solutions. Speakers are Richard Aedy, Rebecca Huntley and Jean Hinchliffe.

Richard Aedy

Richard is a Radio National journalist who currently hosts The Money and recently presented Hot Mess, a podcast series which asked why has it been so hard to agree and take action on climate change? Richard is a former Reuters Foundation Fellow at Oxford and has worked as reporter, producer, executive producer and presenter in three countries and is a lifelong media junkie.

Dr Rebecca Huntley

Rebecca is one of Australia's foremost researchers on social trends. For nearly nine years, Rebecca was the Director of The Mind & Mood Report, Australia's longest running social trends report and she currently heads Vox Populi research. She is the author of numerous books including the 2020 release How to talk about climate change in a way that makes a difference. Rebecca is a broadcaster with the ABC and presents The History Listen each week on RN.

Jean Hinchliffe

Jean is a 16-year-old student and a lead national organiser with School Strike 4 Climate, campaigning for Australia to become fully carbon neutral. Her activism started at age 13 with the Vote Yes campaign, and since then has worked with organisations including GetUp and Stop Adani. She has been represented widely in the Australian media, appearing on The Project and Foreign Correspondent. Jean is also an actress, appearing in Les Norton (ABC) and The Unlisted (Netflix/ABCMe). Her book Lead the Way is being published in March 2021 by Pantera Press.

Podcast 2: Sharing in the local Inner West economy

In this podcast we discuss the share economy: How does it work, what are its benefits, particularly for the environment, and ways you can get involved locally. Speakers are Amy Croucher, Eli Bramborova and Inka Santala. This podcast is moderated by Emma Daniell from Inner West Council's Green Living Centre and is a collaboration with Inner West Libraries.

Amy Croucher

Amy is a driven local Inner Westie who has a passion for sharing, reuse and is the founder of the Inner West Tool Library. She has been part of the C40 Cities Women 4 Climate mentorship program, exploring how the sharing library concept can expand on a more sustainable scale. Amy loves connecting with engaged communities and thrives on seeing connections made and the amazing ideas, projects and collaborations that result.

Eli Bramborova

Eli believes in life-long learning, the circular economy and the power of community. Through her various educational roles she has always facilitated other people’s learning and personal growth. With her husband Tomas she founded ShareWaste in 2016, with now over 63,000 members worldwide. The ShareWaste App connects people who don't have the capacity to compost with their neighbours who compost, worm farm or keep farm animals and can accept their organic waste. ShareWaste helps people save food scraps from landfill and turn them into healthy soil.

Inka Santala

Inka a PhD Candidate at the University of Wollongong. Her research project explores Sharing Cities and the potential of community-based sharing initiatives to create new capacities and agency in the urban political context. During the project, Inka has been working with a community-based initiative Share Sydney to create an asset map of all the sharing resources around the city of Sydney.

Podcast 3: Sustainable Food Systems

In this podcast we discuss how the current industrialised, conventional agricultural system poses serious concerns for human and planetary health. We discuss ways to create more climate resilient food growing systems that can support the ecosystems that they exist within. Speakers are Costa Georgiadis, Patrice Newell, and Manu Prigioni and is moderated by Emma Daniell from Inner West Council's Green Living Centre.

Costa Georgiadis

Costa is the Logie winning host of ABC Gardening Australia. Costa is a great supporter of our Inner West community, having profiled the Camdenville Paddock Garden at Newtown and Sharewaste on Gardening Australia, and attending many events in the Inner West.

Patrice Newell

Farmer, author, researcher, advocate, Conjoint Fellow, University of Newcastle - Patrice Newell has been a journalist, broadcaster, newsreader and former co-anchor of the Today Show. Then came a total career change to land manager and biodynamic farmer in the Hunter Valley. She's an apiarist, has olive trees, grows garlic, keeps sheep and a few cattle. Plus she writes books: The Olive Grove, The River, Ten Thousand Acres: A Love Story and Tree to Table: Cooking with Australian Olive Oil. Her latest book Who’s Minding the farm? In this climate emergency was published in 2019.

Emmanuela Prigioni

Emmanuela is a permaculture designer and regenerative grower with a background in soil health and soil ecology. She coordinates Farm It Forward, a Blue Mountains based peri-urban farming initiative, and teaches food growing and Permaculture workshops at Lyttleton Stores Coop. Her personal food growing journey as well as Farm It Forward have featured on ABC Gardening Australia, ABC Radio National and ABC Landline.

Activities

Be inspired to cook more sustainably with Cornersmith, create some great art with Artspark Studio and listen to book readings from Inner West Libraries.

Cornersmith - sustainable cooking demo

Cornersmith owner Alex Elliott-Howery presents a food waste focused demonstration using tips from her new book Use it All - The Cornersmith guide to a more sustainable kitchen, co-written with Cornersmith Cooking School co-ordinator Jaimee Edwards.

Using a whole celery as an example Alex shows you how to properly store and use the whole vegetable with several recipes. She discusses why buying and cooking whole ingredients is the most economic and resourceful way to cook. The recipes are simple, delicious, good for you and good for the planet.

This demonstration provides a framework to create a sustainable and less wasteful kitchen with any of your favourite fruits and veggies.

This video premiered here on Saturday 29 August 2020.

Artspark Studio - Kids art demo

Illustrator Charlotte Dennis from Artspark Studio shows you how to use natural and recycled materials to make an environmentally friendly artwork “Native Birds on a Spring Tree”.

You will learn some drawing and watercolour techniques to create your birds, while adding your own imaginative ideas.

You might like to grab some art materials and follow the demo as it goes. Materials:

Lead pencil and eraser
Watercolour paper or inside of a cereal box
Watercolour paints
Cup of water
Brush with soft bristles (for painting)
Brush with tough bristles (for glueing)
Scissors
Extra pieces of plain white and green paper
Pegs
Old piece of cloth
Glue
Small found branch - always look for fallen twigs or small branches, never pull them off a tree!

This video premiered here on 29 August 2020.

Community showcase

Some of the sustainability initiatives in the Inner West would like to tell you about themselves in these short videos. The initiatives are Reverse Garbage and the Bower Reuse and Repair Centre.

Reverse Garbage

This video premiered on Saturday 29 August.

Bower Reuse and Repair Centre