ENVIRONMENT: Your Planet Needs You Campaign, World Environment Day 5 June

Your Planet Needs You is a Landcare Australia and Coastcare joint campaign as a call to action, to get Australians motivated and engaged and doing something to help the planet on World Environment Day. So here is what Landcare Australia and Coastcare gathered about Australians:

• WE CARE: Almost all (99%) Australians recognise that it is important that we take action to improve our environment from what it is today (59% extremely important, 28% very important, 12% quite important).
• WE WANT TO HELP: 84% of Australians plan on doing something substantial to help the environment in the next week, 17% say they will volunteer.
• WE DON’T KNOW HOW? Less than 1% of Australians actually volunteer to help the environment.

The aim of the Your Planet Needs You campaign is to make it easy for people to sign up to a volunteer register, tick some boxes to say what skills they can offer (it could be anything really from hosting a BBQ to driving and even walking), and spread the message.

Please promote the Your Planet Needs You campaign through your networks.

World Environment Day 2009, commemorated each year on 5 June, is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action. The theme for WED 2009 is 'Your Planet Needs You-UNite to Combat Climate Change'. It reflects the urgency for nations to agree on a new deal at the crucial climate convention meeting in Copenhagen some 180 days later in the year, and the links with overcoming poverty and improved management of forests.

SUSTAINABILITY: Sanctuary magazine sustainable house profiles

Visit Sanctuary magazine's sustainable house profiles page and click on the locations on the map to read articles about leading sustainable homes around Australia as featured in the highly regarded Sanctuary magazine.

BUSHFIRE: Andrew Campbell on the Victorian bushfires - A perspective on fuel reduction burning

A friend in America asked Andrew Campbell to comment on media suggesting that the 7 February 2009 bushfires could have been avoided through more fuel reduction burning, and alleging that the 'green agenda' is at least in part responsible for the tragic loss of life and property - read Andrew's response. Andrew is Managing Director of Triple Helix Consulting and formerly Executive Director of Land & Water Australia.

BUSHFIRE, CLIMATE: NCC Bushfire Conference - 'Biodiversity Under Fire', Sydney, 22-23 June 2009

The Nature Conservation Council of NSW (NCC) Biodiversity Under Fire Conference will focus on ecologically sustainable bushfire management in the context of the threats to Australia’s biodiversity. There will be an emphasis on achieving best possible biodiversity outcomes. The conference will occur at a time when climate change is at the forefront of political debate and extreme weather conditions resulting in severe fire danger are occurring with unprecedented frequency and seasonality. The conference will provide an important forum for information sharing, discussion and debate.

CLIMATE: New report, 'Green Cities - How urban sustainability efforts can and must drive America's climate change policies'

The new Green Cities report showcases and supports the innovative ways in which America's cities are creating an equitable green economy. The report is based on conversations with the brightest thinkers in the field, and the findings from a survey of 40 of the country’s largest cities. Green Cities takes a step back to see what cities have accomplished, while also identifying areas in which their efforts have fallen short.

The Green Cities report is an initiative of Living Cities, a unique philanthropic collaborative of 21 of the world's largest foundations and financial institutions. Over the past 18 years, Living Cities has invested more than $600 million in American cities, leveraged into $16 billion and making a demonstrable difference in neighbourhoods throughout the nation. Living Cities is also serving as a resource to inform the usage of federal dollars available through stimulus funds and the workforce dollars associated with investments in the energy efficiency sector.