STORIES ON ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCHERS WHO WANT TO AT MELBOURNE 15 CHANGE THE WORLD SUSTAINABILITY AT MELBOURNE

From water, food and climate change to protecting wildlife and improving the way our cities work, the University of Melbourne is committed to excellent research on sustainability. We have an estimated 1300 researchers working in fields relevant to sustainability and resilience, with annual research expenditure of about $218 million. Read some of our researchers’ stories here – and who knows, you might uncover something that will become part of your daily life in the future.

Welcome

Sustainability is a daunting topic. and careful prediction about future stresses. We may no longer be able Yet the people profiled in this short to prevent a warmer world, but good survey of sustainability work at Melbourne research can encourage resilience believe in the power of ideas and the and anticipate challenges. possibility of action. Each combines Contents a commitment to critical inquiry with a Though just a small sample of work practical program to make a difference. on a vital subject, Sustainability at Melbourne is informed by a quiet So colleagues are charting temperatures optimism: we can make a difference. and mapping past climates, drawing Research provides a basis for action on Indigenous history to illuminate to address the scientific and political land management, saving wildlife, challenge of creating a sustainable future. building green roofs and solar panels, promoting geothermal power. There is a Regards, determination to work with environmental realities from fire to urban settlements. Scholars work on supply chains for food, clean water for thirsty cities, and better health amid a very different climate. Research provides a common theme – understand what is happening to our Glyn Davis climate so we can respond in thoughtful Vice-Chancellor ways. This means discussion of evidence University of Melbourne

Publication produced by Picture shows the Melbourne School of Design building, which opened in 2014 and has been awarded a 6 star Greenstar Education Design Rating. It’s home to the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute CLIMATE CHANGE AND CITIES

Listening to Indigenous knowledge

“We know we have had custodial responsibilities to care for country, in doing + that then it cares for us” Kerry Arabena

Far from exploiting country, water and that there is now the largest number It’s a deeply traditional idea this – the cultural determinants of to challenge established norms the atmosphere for profit in a market of adolescents alive on the planet than that has somehow become health – further. Tied to that is the and institutions, on issues including economy, Arabena would like to see ever before. revolutionary: humans should environmental impact of integrating Indigenous reconciliation and Indigenous ideas of stewardship revived. “Young people who are highly Indigenous knowledge, for example constitutional recognition (she live within the bounds of their “We know we have had custodial globalised, they know that they want on burning-off, diversification of was founding co-chair of the ecosystems. Kerry Arabena is responsibilities to care for country, to take care of and manage land. grasslands, and soil regeneration. working to revitalise the concept, in doing that then it cares for us,” They’re doing incredible things,” she ). She has described says Arabena. Arabena is also working on climate which has a 60,000-year history says. “I think with that kind of population herself as a provocateur. change, writing a book chapter for in Australia. And she has one Moving away from the unsustainable we can really change the world.” 2015 on how to manage the impacts “I would hope that what I do is give particular reason for optimism. exploitation of natural resources and Arabena’s research work includes of climate change on Aboriginal people. people a different perspective,” away from technological “progress” investigating the health and wellbeing “People who live in rural and remote-area Arabena says. “I want to stretch Arabena is Chair for Indigenous Health is incredibly difficult, she says. But impacts of Indigenous people getting communities are going to feel the full the limits of people’s thinking.” at the University of Melbourne. She’s it’s needed. started a research program around out onto country. impacts of climate change before we Ecohealth – elevating Indigenous “It’s like a jarring of people to call them get to feel them in the cities,” she says. “The vision is to take [Indigenous] people knowledge on the environment and back to their real authentic self. I don’t back out to country and improve their Then there’s the 2016 on country, for the good of people know if our real authentic self means health and wellbeing by engaging in conference, which will and of the land. sitting in front of a computer for 16 hours custodial responsibilities and cultural look at what it means to live within a day, walking across roads looking custom,” says Arabena, a former social an ecosystem. The Melbourne “We’ve had 60,000 years or so of being at our mobile phones.” able to live within the confines of an worker who did a PhD in human ecology. conference will host about 2000 ecosystem, and people’s entire lives Arabena displays a qualified optimism people. Arabena is on the board She cites research that found taking were framed by that … now it’s a deeply about changing Australians’ relationship and chairs the program committee. Aboriginal people with chronic illnesses challenging mind-shift,” says Arabena, with country. Based in the University’s out to traditional lands had profound Arabena’s research agenda is ambitious a descendant of the Meriam people Melbourne School of Population and health benefits. She’d like to research and her record shows she’s prepared of the Torres Strait. Global Health, she’s quick to point out WATER Home Contents

Clean drinking water for the world Scales’ new water recycling system is being tested in a pilot plant. + Peter Scales

Seven billion people, not enough the water theme at the University Nationally, Scales has mapped out clean water, groundwater of Melbourne’s Carlton Connect how Australia can better manage its running out, rivers contaminated sustainability and innovation precinct. notoriously variable water resources “Recycling gives you a lot more in a . by chemicals. resilience in your water supply.” The blueprint calls for smarter use of technology and markets, and This is what keeps water engineer Scales has been working on a new, more focus on sustainability. Peter Scales awake at night. optimal system to recycle wastewater. He Scales says the world is heading hopes it can be used in Asia, particularly It’s a natural fit for this self-described for a water crisis. Some rivers are so China, India and South-East Asia, where “farm boy” from country Victoria. “I grew polluted they can’t even be used for some aquifers are dangerously low. up on a farm near Bendigo, I’m interested in water, I’m interested in country.” irrigation. Cities are pumping dry their The technology is also suited to Scales, an academic in chemical his laptop in Beijing. He says cities and So why is Scales in Beijing? Melbourne underground water reserves. Climate Australia’s inland cities and towns. Major Scales’ new water recycling system is and biomolecular engineering, says towns will start needing this technology University has a joint research centre change is altering rainfall. There are coastal cities have been drought-proofed being tested in a pilot plant. The plant while wastewater systems are good in 10 to 20 years, as climate change with China on river basins, and joint more and more chemicals in water by desalination plants but that’s not an takes existing technology and rearranges at removing pathogens, chemicals affects water supply. “We’ll be ready.” classes and e-subjects are run with supplies – and the effects on human option for towns like Orange, Bathurst it into a sequence of seven stages, should be a priority. Water can contain students at Beijing’s Tsinghua University. “I get a real buzz out of doing practical health are sometimes unclear. and Bendigo. “How would they go in the including ozonation, microfiltration, pharmaceuticals, antibiotics, hormones, Scales has partnerships with 10 groups problems and getting into them, next big drought? The answer is they’re UV and chlorination. While other plants industrial chemicals, chemicals like in China, including the Chinese Academy The solution, he says, is cheap, safe and finding out there’s some really not as resilient,” Scales says. strip out pathogens (bugs) first, then Bisphenol A from plastics – and some of Science. About 50 people are technology which can recycle dirty water fundamental research in them that chemicals, this plant removes the pass straight through treatment plants. involved. He travels to China regularly. – including sewage – into drinking water. Drinking recycled sewage has been people haven’t done,” Scales says. chemicals early. “We’re doing it the controversial in Australia. “I’m not saying The plant, in Hobart, will be tested Would he drink water from the plant? Next is India; Scales plans to get involved “The fact that people haven’t got the other way round,” Scales says. He’s that’s an easy social thing to manage,” throughout 2015 then installed in a town “Yeah, no problems.” in the high-profile project to clean-up ability to take dirty water and turn it also prioritised keeping costs down. into clean water is a real problem in Scales says, but notes the next drought of 150 people. Scales runs the plant via the Ganges River. the world,” says Scales, who leads will come eventually. GREEN ROOFS

Making green roofs work in Australia

+ Claire Farrell

When Claire Farrell couldn’t Green roofs haven’t taken off in The research green roof inspired There’s plenty of other research The Burnley team has gone on find quite the right plants to grow Australia, says Farrell, a Lecturer in Farrell’s plant-hunting expedition, happening on Burnley’s demonstration to design green roofs for five on rooftop gardens in Australia’s Green Infrastructure in the University which was to the Terrick Terrick roof. It includes sections with shallow commercial and University buildings, of Melbourne’s Science faculty. “They’re National Park near the Murray River. soil and deeper soil, irrigated and including the first native grassland hot, dry climate, she went bush. not as widespread as overseas,” A key reason to plant a green roof is non-irrigated sections, native and roof in the southern hemisphere. she says. to reduce stormwater runoff. Heavy exotic species. There’s even tomatoes Farrell, a modern-day plant-hunter, But before householders race out rain rushes straight off hard surfaces and thyme, along with Farrell’s thriving set off for a remote Victorian National “It’s hotter and drier here … you can’t just to plant a rooftop garden, beware. into waterways, causing erosion and monocots. Students taking the Specialist Park to investigate which plants were translate what’s been done in temperate Farrell points out most existing houses spreading pollution. Gardens soak Certificate in Green Roofs and Walls thriving on rocky outcrops with shallow parts of the US and Europe to Australian aren’t strong enough to carry the up some of the rain, reducing runoff. study there. soils (conditions similar to green roofs). conditions and expect it to work. You’d weight; new houses work better. She identified a range of species then have a lot of dead plants.” The catch is that the best survivors Burnley researchers found the With summer temperatures regularly ran an experiment at the University on green roofs are succulents (which cooling effect of a rooftop garden in the 40s, the plants have to be right, So researchers at the University’s Burnley researchers found of Melbourne’s Burnley campus. store water in thick, fleshy leaves or (soil and plants reflect heat, and as does the soil (Farrell has been Burnley campus, located on a bend of stems) – but they absorb little water provide shade and insulation) can experimenting with different soil the cooling effect of a rooftop The results showed four plants were the Yarra River in suburban Melbourne, when it rains. Farrell wanted to find cut air-conditioning use by 38 per additives; a form of charcoal stores garden (soil and plants reflect well-suited. These species have now built Australia’s first research green roof. native plants which can survive drought cent. A PhD student found people water well and helps plants survive). been planted across roofs in Melbourne. It opened in 2012. People can walk from heat, and provide shade but soak up plenty of water when preferred green grassy vegetation Farrell thinks they could be part of the staff room out onto the second-floor But if a green roof seems too hard, it’s wet. Her four best species – on a green roof, and that working and insulation) can cut solving the puzzle of growing green roof, which contains the Burnley team also does green three monocots (grasslike plants) near one improved concentration. roofs in Australia. , paths, seats and an umbrella. walls and facades. air-conditioning use by and a herb – do just that. Farrell says green roofs also reduce ‘Green roofs’ are gardens planted out “We get a lot of butterflies and bees “That work is pretty groundbreaking, the “urban heat island effect,” where on rooftops. They’re popular in Europe, and birds, just because there’s so many prior to that it was all about survival,” the hard surfaces of cities store and particularly Germany, and in US cities different plants out here,” says Farrell. she says. “No one really thought about release more heat compared with like Portland and Chicago. Popular “The general public love it. People will % inhabitants are succulents, flowers, balancing water use and survival.” cooler, leafy suburbs. 38 say ‘can’t we just put that everywhere?’” vegetables and native species. CLIMATE CHANGE

Tracking David Karoly (right) talking to Peter Doherty (left) Karoly’s team won a climate change Eureka prize in 2014 for mapping the last 1000 years of Australia’s – in real time climate history.

+ David Karoly

The thermometer pushed 50 statement climate scientists have Others show a world affected by That program – World Weather author in 2001 and 2007 (when the That hasn’t put him off. “I respond by degrees C at times as Australia made tying a specific weather event climate change. The simulations were Attribution – starts in 2015. “What we’re IPCC won the Nobel Peace Prize), trying to remain engaged, it provides me sweltered thought its hottest year to global warming”. run on many models by different research trying to do is to communicate as quickly and an editor in 2014. with a stimulus to say I need to do more,” groups around the world. The scientists as possible in a way that is scientifically he says. “I find it means that my research But Karoly, who has been researching He’s also engaged with climate policy, on record in 2013. So was this the found that without climate change, robust,” he says. and my communication is even more climate change since 1987 and is a motivated by what he describes as effect of human-induced climate Australia’s 2013 heatwave would happen important, because if the science was Professor of Atmospheric Science at It’s a big change for Karoly, who as a the “apparent disconnect between change – or just a very hot year? about once every 12,000 years. It would accepted, the policies were in place, the University of Melbourne’s School young man studied theoretical physics policymakers and scientific evidence”. happen once every six years with climate I could retire.” of Earth Sciences, is still not satisfied. and applied maths and hated public He sits on the board of the government’s While politicians confidently gave their change. The risk of a hot year like 2013 He’s working on ways to inform the public speaking. He switched to weather Climate Change Authority and is He’s not retiring yet. He wants to opinions, climate scientist David Karoly was increased at least 2000 times by about whether extreme weather events and climate and his first research on involved in the Wentworth Group research whether forests and soils decided to dig deeper. He ran a study climate change. which concluded it was “virtually like heatwaves, floods and bushfires are climate change was in 1987; “I did it of Concerned Scientists. will store less carbon dioxide as the impossible” to have reached those linked to climate change – within days. So how to do a study like that in because I thought I was clever and planet warms. And there’s work to He does 200 media interviews a year temperatures without humanity’s “near-real time,” as Karoly wants? young and was going to disprove that do on methane clathrates, frozen The process is rigorous; climate scientists and was part of a University team which greenhouse gas emissions. It used to take six to 12 months. human-caused climate change was methane (a potent greenhouse gas) do conclude that some events are not won a for mapping “That’s not quick enough, the having any influence on temperatures … deep in the ocean. As the oceans linked to climate change. Karoly cautions 1000 years of Australia’s climate history. “This couldn’t happen without climate public’s lost interest,” he says. all scientists are sceptical.” warm, will the ice melt and the change … it’s the first time that any against “overhyping” the link. Climate change is politicised and methane enter the atmosphere? study has been able to make such His team has started working on But he found emissions were affecting His study on 2013 involved analysing controversial in Australia. Climate strong conclusions,” he says. calculations in advance, preparing data temperatures. Karoly went on to work climate model simulations and sceptics have been influential and tables so . with the UN’s climate science body, the observational data. Some models policymakers have not always acted landed on the front page And Karoly is working with US and UK Intergovernmental Panel on Climate show what happens in a world without on scientists’ advice. Karoly has been of the , which described scientists on identifying the causes Change (IPCC). He was an human-caused climate change. regularly criticised. it as “perhaps the most definitive of weather events within a week. , a lead CLIMATE CLIMATE CHANGE CHANGE

Rethinking Speaking up + climate politics Robyn Eckersley + Peter Doherty

She plans to attend the 2015 summit in “It’s about finding a window of Paris where a treaty on climate change opportunity and then stretching people’s is due to be signed. thinking about what can be achieved,” Eckersley says of normative political Intellectually, the boundaries are wide theory (ie what ought to be). “It’s a great also. Eckersley has written a paper feeling to open out the debate because proposing a new UN Climate Council, people tend to succumb with resignation where a small group of key countries to the status quo.” (the most capable, the biggest emitters, the most vulnerable) works on the Eckersley, Chair of Political Science core of a climate treaty, to be put to a in the University’s School of Social broader UN audience. Called “inclusive and Political Sciences, says there’s minilateralism,” this might circumvent a long history of humanities and social the slow pace of the United Nations science academics asking ethical Framework Convention on Climate questions and exploring solutions. Change ( ). Policymakers working in the field might be so pressured by short-term issues The proposal was discussed widely. As Peter Doherty sees it, science In 2014 he to at the University’s new Peter Doherty they struggle to find the perspective “It’s got people talking, and for an is under siege. The rich and Prime Minister Tony Abbott calling Institute for Infection and Immunity, says to ask the big questions, she says. academic that’s probably as good powerful are not listening to for climate change to be put on the there’s a tradition of biomedical scientists G20 agenda (it was). He’s fearless like Sir Macfarlane Burnet and Frank as it gets,” Eckersley says. “I like to step back a bit and look more what scientists are saying – critically,” Eckersley says. “I’ve always on Twitter, where Fenner taking a broader view. They’re Robyn Eckersley is not satisfied She’s also written on the looming and the ramifications are serious. been a big-picture person.” has 5000 followers. trained to see humans as balanced with the status quo. problem of climate refugees, researching ecosystems, which resonates with the Doherty, a biomedical scientist who “The people in science need to speak what rights they should have and Eckersley publishes widely, co-authoring idea of a sustainable society and planet. She doesn’t just explain why things won the Nobel Prize for his work on out,” says Doherty, who was Australian proposing an international fund for a book, journal articles and three And Doherty says the practice of are the way they are. She also imagines immunity to viruses, thinks scientists of the Year in 1997. “We all need to them. “You’re building momentum to book chapters – and that’s just in the medicine is based on “duty of care”, alternatives, suggests long-term have an obligation to speak out publicly. be communicating.” think big, rather than small, on behalf past two years. She’s on the editorial a principle he thinks should be extended solutions and raises dangerous, Sustainability and climate change are of those who are least responsible advisory board for publications to the health and wellbeing of the “unthinkable” ideas. big issues for him. Doherty’s next book, due in 2015, looks and most vulnerable.” including Environmental Politics at knowledge and power. He thinks the atmosphere, oceans, rivers and soils Eckersley, a political scientist, and New Political Economy. And she’s not shy to discuss a “coal “What science is telling us about what two have come into conflict, and looks that sustain all life. works on the international politics, non-proliferation treaty”. This would She’s also working on an we’ve been doing to the natural world at why those with knowledge have governance and ethics of climate He’s also across more recent trends. be similar to the nuclear non-proliferation on what is suddenly a big problem,” he says from been sidelined. He also raises doubts change (among other things). She Doherty would like to run a production treaty. Eckersley says countries wouldn’t makes some countries leaders on his office at the University of Melbourne. about capitalism. asks difficult questions about whether studio to make videos about scientific touch the coal proposal – “it’s just climate change, while others are “Unless we change the way we do current efforts to tackle climate change “To some extent, the nature of our research, and tells his students to post unthinkable ... too dangerous an idea” – laggards. Eckersley is comparing things, we’re in real trouble.” are enough – the answer is no. She contemporary capitalist culture, their own versions to YouTube. “I’ve but it would be a fast, direct means of five countries – Germany, the UK, Doherty has written books and articles then asks why, and what could solve with the focus only on growth, not on suggested they could become the Kim slowing climate change, and should be Norway, the US and Australia. Her on sustainability, and spoken in the the problem. sustainability, is analogous to cancer … Kardashians of science.” debated. She cites the recent success research has found it’s not just about media. He’s appeared in The Monthly, If all we value is consumption, I think Doherty’s calls for politicians to listen This topic takes Eckersley from her of the global fossil fuel divestment dependence on fossil fuels; political on Lateline, and spoken at the Festival we’re lost.” to scientists may not always succeed, office at the University of Melbourne to movement, which encourages culture and foreign policy traditions of Ideas. He chairs the board of the but he’s not stopping. “You have to try. UN climate summits – Copenhagen in divestment of assets in high-emitting are better predictors of leadership ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate If this seems a long way from his What can you do but try?” he says. 2009, Durban in 2011, Doha in 2012, companies, as an example of the on climate change. Systems Science and advises the publications on microbiology and Lima in 2014 (shown in the photograph). unthinkable becoming the do-able. Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute. immunology, Doherty, who works ENERGY

Cheaper solar panels + David Jones

It’s one thing to install glass solar And if you’d like solar coating on your Melbourne University is the lead panels on a patch of your roof. backpack to charge your mobile phone organisation in the Victorian Organic How about a roof made entirely or lap top on the go, watch this space. Solar Cell Consortium ( ), with Jones thinks his portable solar cells the CSIRO and Monash University of cheap solar tiles? could double or quadruple battery life. involved. Jones is the co-ordinator. The state government has part-funded the David Jones is working on it. He’s The technology uses “high-tech plastic project. VICOSC, running since 2007, is developing plastic-based solar cells ink”, Jones explains. That ink, which the developing cutting-edge solar materials (he’s holding one in this picture) which team makes in the lab, converts solar in the lab, then converting them to can be printed directly onto roofing power to electricity. It’s directly printed industrial scale using commercial printers. tiles. The idea is that large commercial in many layers onto another surface VICOSC is also researching the barriers printers will churn out the panels, like plastic, fabric, windows or tiles, to commercialisation. much like newsprint. and comes in different colours (it can “It means your whole roof can be a even be made to look like slate). The And there are barriers. Organic solar solar array,” says Jones, a chemist result – called “organic solar cells” – cells have two problems. First, they at the University of Melbourne. functions like conventional solar panels. are less efficient at converting sunlight to electricity. VICOSC’s conversion rate “The reason we’re doing this is that we He estimates the cost could be one-tenth is currently up to 11 per cent in the lab active layer of ink, but printing worked And once the cells are rolling off the Things like making liquid fuels really want to change the cost structure that of current glass solar panels, because (silicon cells are around 25 per cent), better when the active layer was thick. printing presses, Jones – who chose (alternatives to petrol and diesel) from of solar energy generation, and we want there’s no glass or silicon, and no vacuum but significantly less in outdoor They’re working on it. chemistry for his undergrad and has air. Powering the advertising displays processing. “A few cents per kilowatt to make it so cheap that … the decision never looked back, including a stint in shopping centres from overhead lights. conditions. Secondly, the cells are Jones says the technology is ready to hour,” Jones estimates – if all goes to is made for you,” Jones says from the lab. with BP – has already thought through Coating tents and caravans with solar not as durable as glass – and they be rolled out in small-scale applications plan. “This is potentially a very, very He’s surrounded by whirring machines, the next steps. “What excites me is the cells to boil the kettle. Generating fuel have to be tough to be put on rooftops. like backpacks and shade awnings. low-cost way of getting a high coverage rows of chemicals in small bottles and fact that we potentially have a really for electric cars. And not just in Australia; They need a manufacturer, which is of renewable energy.” formulae scribbled on windows. “We’re getting better,” Jones says of low-cost renewable energy source, there’s been interest from India these problems. For example, his team difficult – the technology is new so risks “The Australian public engage, they then you can start doing things you and Indonesia. That might make it easier for recently published a paper which showed are higher. Bridging finance is being want to install solar panels. We want can only dream about now.” householders to make money from efficiency was better with a very thin sought. “We see it certainly being rolled “If we can do this, then all of a sudden generating electricity or go off-grid, to make it even more available.” out in the next five years,” Jones says. the consequences open up a whole lot depending on government policy. of new chemistry,” Jones says. WILDLIFE

Wildlife on the move + Kylie Soanes

How did the endangered gliding research whether gliders were using animals mostly didn’t even try to cross possum cross the road? With the the rope bridges. “It was a great idea, the highway if there was no rope bridge. help of Kylie Soanes, of course. but whether or not it worked, that was What the bridges did do was allow something we hadn’t figured out yet,” gliders to move around to find food, Known as a squirrel glider, this native she said of the rope bridges. “Some nests and a mate. Soanes’ research mammal (pictured left) gets around by people were sceptical.” found one of the bridges was used air. It has a web of furry skin between nearly every night by a father, mother Seven years on and Soanes, a wildlife its wrist and ankle which forms a sail and daughter glider, enabling genetic ecologist, has turned her research into a as it glides from tree to tree. Sometimes exchange. PhD, which she finished in late 2014. She it has a baby in its pouch or on its back. also uncovered some surprising results. The next step for Soanes is to analyse “They’re amazing little aeronauts,” says the effect of the bridges on the long-term Soanes, who has been studying the The project looked at rope bridges survival of glider populations. “There are gliders since 2007. on the Hume Freeway, the main road so many more parts of the story that I’d between Melbourne and Sydney, at a And they are little; adults weigh like to look into,” she says. “There are point near Benalla in northern Victoria. under 300g, so Soanes holds one so many species that we see dead on For Soanes that meant going back to her in the palm of her hand as she fits our roads.” home town. She visited the structures it with a radio tracker. to download images from solar-powered Bridges and poles are now being built in Squirrel gliders (Petaurus norfolcensis) cameras - that’s one on the left. She Queensland, NSW and Western Australia are , partly also caught gliders (a mixture of peanut to help squirrel gliders and other species because they can’t cross busy highways. butter, honey and oats lures them in) to cross highways. Overseas, bridges and They don’t like to move on foot and if fit them with radio trackers. She stuck underpasses are used for everything a highway is more than 50m wide they it out despite watching hand-sized from bears and elephants to turtles and can’t glide across it. That’s why Soanes huntsman spiders colonise the bridges porcupines. But Soanes says there aren’t sometimes finds them dead by the side and cockatoos dismantle her equipment. many rigorous studies that measure the of the road. effect on species survival. Her team, from the In an attempt to help gliders survive, , which is a Soanes says a problem is the structures some rope bridges were strung up joint project between the University are being built only on new roads in over busy highways, and “glider poles” and Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens, Australia, not older roads. And without – similar to telegraph poles – built on found that gliders do use the bridges. protecting animals’ habitat, bridges median strips as a mid-way landing It took them about a year to start using won’t save these species. pad. But no one knew if the gliders them, but there were 2000 crossings She has no regrets about her work on were using these devices. recorded in the four years after that. squirrel gliders. “A lot of people fall out That’s where Soanes came in. She joined The team also found the bridges weren’t of love with their project and their PhD a University of Melbourne project to needed to save glider lives because and I haven’t yet,” she says with a laugh. BUSHFIRES

In the line of fire

+ Within two minutes of a bushfire NSW, Queensland, South Australia and “It’s always been my driving force Kevin Tolhurst being reported in Victoria, a Tasmania. Hundreds of fire analysts have to produce knowledge and change computer program has mapped been trained to use it. in the way people understand and behave,” he explains. out where the fire is likely to “A lot of what I’ve learnt about fire and “You need to be spread, helping managers decide fire behaviour I’ve tried to capture in a Tolhurst may have spent many years if they should send firefighters consistent way in Phoenix,” says Tolhurst, at the Creswick campus, but he’s not able to live with it, now an Associate Professor in Forest done researching forests and fires just or evacuate communities. you need to respect and Ecosystem Science at the Creswick yet. His team is testing and refining That computer program, Phoenix campus where he started studying Phoenix and improving the way it factors it, you need to RapidFire, is the brainchild of researchers 40 years ago (it’s now part of the in wind. They’re tweaking it so it can be Kevin Tolhurst and Derek Chong. And University of Melbourne). used to manage planned burns, where understand it.” fires are lit in cool weather to reduce fuel. it’s been 40 years in the making. “The computer allows you to capture a Tolhurst started studying forestry in the lot more of the detail and the complexity Tolhurst also wants to change the Victorian town of Creswick in 1974. Over … I think it will save lives, yes.” way fire managers work. Rather than focus on losses and disasters, he time, he noticed a gap in how bushfires Tolhurst hopes the software will lead wants them to use Phoenix to measure were managed. Predicting where a to a better understanding of fire. “To successes; where lives are saved, fire would spread was “largely intuition”, try and control fire – it’s too powerful an what factors helped? he says. There were computerised agent to be able to do that with,” Tolhurst models of fire prediction in the northern says. “You need to be able to live with Above all, Tolhurst wants fire to be hemisphere but they didn’t work in it, you need to respect it, you need to understood rather than simply feared. Australia’s eucalypt-dominated bush. understand it.” “I enjoy trying to understand it, I find it Managers had to do manual calculations endlessly fascinating,” Tolhurst says. Some people may want every bushfire and make a best guess of how to “I think it’s magnificent … it’s so much extinguished, but as Tolhurst points fight fires. bigger than you are that it provides out, the bush will burn at some point. a certain amount of respect.” Tolhurst saw bushfires first-hand as Putting out almost every fire means a field forester, began researching fuel – dry wood and leaves – builds up, fire in 1984, and joined the University contributing to megafires like Victoria’s of Melbourne in 1997. He began working 2009 . As on a computer program which could temperatures topped 48 degrees Celsius predict likely fire spread in a more and winds gusted to 115 km/h, these fires rational, consistent way – and give killed 173 people. Tolhurst’s research people hours of warning that a bushfire shows climate change exacerbates the was heading their way. risk of megafires like Black Saturday. Within seconds, the program crunches Tolhurst was in Melbourne’s State Fire data on weather, wind, vegetation, the Control Centre that day, mentoring fire slope of the land and how dry the bush analysts and testing Phoenix. “It was is. It turns this into a map of where the my day off,” he recalls. fire is likely to go, overlaid on Google Earth, and displays the results as a Tolhurst hopes Phoenix, which was video (pictured right). The program funded by the Victorian government also diagnoses the type of fire – and the how hot will it burn? How high will , will be used to make the flames go? Where might embers strategic decisions about which fires can land? Trained fire analysts monitor be left to burn, to reduce fuel loads. He’s and act on the results. also using the software to educate the public, speaking to community groups, The software, which Tolhurst developed fire authorities and government with colleague Derek Chong, was tested departments. in 2009 and is now used across Victoria, FOOD

“We’re at the early Where is your days of an explosion of + innovation in this field.” food from? Kirsten Larsen

Not all research leads to a organic marketplace,” and includes was limited in winter. Wholesale buyers Eureka moment. Sometimes it’s a focus on feeding vulnerable were difficult to please. The people a hard slog where the errors can communities. The prices are keenest to help often did not have usually lower than in supermarkets. business skills. reveal as much as the successes. opened in early 2014 and And yet it did work, and Larsen has But then Kirsten Larsen isn’t looking for a is still running. The research part written up these problems and how to Nobel Prize. She just wants you to know of it was funded by VicHealth. manage them. “To put a research lens more about the carrot you’re eating. into this field of activity … can really bring “People are so excited about the value to the people who are trying to do Larsen, a research manager at the possibilities to connect with their food it day in, day out,” says Larsen, referring University of Melbourne, is trying to link and where it’s coming from,” says Larsen. to other food hubs, which are mostly urban communities with nearby farms. “And the farmers are sticking with it, smaller with limited IT support. She has set up a Food Hub – she calls because it needs to work. We have so it an “action research project” – in many farmers going broke and leaving Larsen says the Melbourne’s outer suburbs. And it the land.” software trialled by the project makes turns out the value of the trial was food hubs more viable and replicable, The project aims to supply high-quality, just as much about what went wrong and cuts administration time. “I see healthy, local fresh produce, to pay as what went right. huge potential … we’re at the early days a fair price to farmers, to reduce food of an explosion of innovation in this field.” Larsen’s team chose Dandenong, on the waste, and to build more resilient and city’s south-eastern fringe, for the Hub. sustainable food supply systems. Larsen VEIL, which works on emerging The population is growing rapidly and says food security is increasingly an innovations which could form part of while there’s productive farmland nearby, issue and people shouldn’t “just take future sustainable systems, has also it’s difficult to buy the local produce. for granted that there will always be mapped Melbourne’s outer suburbs “Really your only option is Coles or an excess amount of everything”. to show where food could be grown. And researchers have produced “food Woolworths in some of the new areas,” Larsen says Coles and Woolworths freight reports” for fruit and vegetables, says Larsen, from the University’s control about 80% per cent of Australia’s showing how freight works (and could Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab ( ). food retail market. Food is transported be improved). Using new software, VEIL set up an long distances through a complex online system for farmers to log their supermarket supply chain, and the Larsen is also part of VEIL’s Australian produce – mostly fruit and vegetables consumer often doesn’t know where Research Council-funded project to – every week. Local people and goods are from. model national scenarios of food security in the future, using the CSIRO’s Stocks businesses order online, then farmers The supermarket giants may have and Flows Framework. This will show bring their goods to a warehouse in their critics, but running a Food Hub the implications of climate change, Dandenong. Workers package up the is no easy task. “It has been difficult,” drought and degraded soils for food AN ORGANICS DIGESTER IN THE orders which are delivered to businesses Larsen notes wryly. and to smaller hubs like community production, and investigate under UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT UNION organisations for collection. Larsen Matching supply and demand – what circumstances there might BUILDING TAKES FOOD WASTE says the Hub is “no middle-class and scaling up orders to be viable not be enough food to go around. AND CONDITIONS IT TO BE USED for farmers – was hard. Produce ON VEGETABLE GARDENS CLIMATE CHANGE

WRITTEN OR EDITED Having the ear of 47 governments BOOKS

+ Ross Garnaut

Economist Ross Garnaut has review how climate change would affect have done, particularly over the last 250 Garnaut says his climate advising He has written or edited and His latest research project is Indonesian been advising prime ministers on Australia and what should be done years, is wonderfully good … for that to experience was not fundamentally values economics for “its relevance to energy policy. The country is committed policy since the 1970s. So when about it. In 2010 he updated the review be all put at risk through humans not different from past experiences. understanding the great policy questions to acting on climate change but its and formally advised a parliamentary using their own capacity for analysis Businesses which would have been of the day”. Marrying academic research emissions are growing quickly; Garnaut his advice on climate change was committee on a policy response. The seems to me to be a terrible pity.” disadvantaged by reform were noisy, with policy advice is “just what I’ve visited coal mines and oil fields in the taken up and implemented, only equivalent of Britain’s climate adviser while other businesses were quiet. But always done,” he says. Indonesian forests in late 2014 to see Garnaut’s experience as a senior policy to be abandoned by the following Lord Nicholas Stern, climate policy proved “a particularly bitter for himself. adviser has been unique. His advice on “I first of all want to properly understand human-caused climate change was real, and difficult issue”, he says. The business government, his response liberalising the economy (floating the the issue, and I do that whether I’m As for Australia, Garnaut says he is not the costs of action were less than the community protested more loudly, and was phlegmatic. dollar, removing trade barriers etc) in presenting at a seminar or presenting in a hurry to investigate and advise on costs of inaction, and pricing carbon media company News Corp had more the 1980s was acted on – and critics to a prime minister.” climate policy for future governments. “I’m beyond feeling things like was the centrepiece of the best power and used it to oppose reform. still peg him as a cold-hearted economic He thinks his advice still stands, and disappointment and regret,” policy response. He’s made for his rationalist for that. The policymaking process is now more repeats that an emissions trading Professor Garnaut says from his research on China and climate change That advice saw a carbon price enacted focused on short-term political pressures scheme would be a strong policy choice office at the University of Melbourne. Yet on climate change he is seen by (he was ambassador to China in the by the federal Labor government in and appeasing vested interests than in (he has ideas on how to address the some in business and politics as a radical 1980s and a founding director of “When you’re working on a big policy 2011. The Abbott Coalition government the 1980s and 90s, Garnaut says. There oversupply of credits, and low prices, (he’s publicly warned climate change Asialink). From 2012 Garnaut has argued issue you know that things don’t always removed the scheme in 2014. was a stronger independent centre of in schemes overseas). could lead to “extended anarchy”). China’s economic model is changing work out as you would wish.” the polity back then, with more people “The regret I feel is for future generations He objects to the term; “I see myself to a less energy-intensive one in which engaged in questions of the national Garnaut was appointed by state, territory of our species,” says Garnaut, reflecting as an economic rationalist seeking emissions will plateau soon. interest. Political leaders were more and federal governments in 2007 to on those events. “I think what humans to understand the issues.” open to expert advice. CITIES

The + walkable city Billie Giles-Corti

Billie Giles-Corti has advice for To help get people moving, Giles-Corti Adelaide. The study could eventually people wanting to buy or rent and her team from the University of lead to US-style discounted mortgages a home. And she’s not thinking Melbourne’s McCaughey VicHealth for people who buy in walkable areas, Centre for Community Wellbeing a recognition they’ll save money on about the price tag or how many developed a “walkability map” for the car travel. bedrooms to look for. city. First they researched what makes The next project is to map the liveability an area suitable for pedestrians. Three Giles-Corti wants people to think about of cities – whether conditions are good key factors are how connected street whether an area is made for walking. for human health. Is an area safe, is networks are (big blocks and cul-de-sacs Some Australians may think they want there affordable housing and public are not helpful for walkers, while the old a large house in the outer suburbs – transport, are there shops and jobs? grid street pattern is great), density (low but a smaller home within walking And what are the consequences for density doesn’t help), and the presence distance of shops and jobs could health and wellbeing? The National of shops and jobs. “There’s got to be actually be a better option. Liveability Study, led by Dr Hannah somewhere to walk to,” Giles-Corti says. Badland, will be developed in 2015 “My challenge to people is to really and city-specific maps released in 2016. think about the lifestyle that they want,” The team then sourced data on these factors and layered the results onto she says. It’s all part of Giles-Corti’s vision: public a map of Melbourne, using GIS and health is not just the preserve of medical Giles-Corti is an expert on the built the . researchers, it’s also the responsibility environment and public health; how Researchers coded up different parts of planners and decision-makers on to make cities better for people’s health of the city as green, orange or red for “If there’s one thing METROPOLITAN land use, transport and food. She’s and wellbeing. While billions of dollars walkability. The map shows the inner MELBOURNE on the National Health and that people could is spent on medical research in Australia, city is very pedestrian-friendly – but WALKABILITY Medical Research Council’s Centre for Giles-Corti’s prescription doesn’t involve there’s a lot of yellow and red elsewhere. do to benefit their Research Excellence in Healthy, Liveable INDEX any drugs. She just wants people to walk and Equitable Communities. health, for chronic for half an hour a day. The map was posted online in early 2015. Giles-Corti hopes people will use it when disease, heart disease, As for Giles-Corti herself, who has “If there’s one thing that people could thinking about where to live. “It’s seen published more than 200 articles diabetes, it’s to be do to benefit their health, for chronic as a tool for democracy, people have and reports and is ranked among disease, heart disease, diabetes, it’s to a right to have access to data,” she says. physically active,” the top one per cent of researchers be physically active,” she says. “Being in the social sciences by citations, inactive as well as sitting all day is The research team is sending local is she practising what she preaches? actually very detrimental to your health.” councils a walkability map of their area to diagnose problems and help She walks to the shops, cycles to She also notes that walking is more pedestrians, for example by putting work, and takes the stairs up to her environmentally sustainable, cushions in cut-throughs and increasing 2100 office. “I try once a day to walk up the against higher oil prices, and cuts housing density. stairs, five flights. I usually puff a lot BIKE PARKING traffic congestion. The research team is working on similar but I feel better for doing it,” she says. SPACES ON THE maps for Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and “I’m trying to walk the talk.” PARKVILLE CAMPUS ENERGY

What’s the secret to cooling “The key for us is to reduce energy Sustainability your home on a hot summer’s consumption,” says Narsilio, who studied initiatives day, while cutting back on in Argentina and the US before taking up a research fellowship at the University built directly greenhouse emissions? You of Melbourne in 2006. (He liked it so on campus might just be walking on it. much he stayed, and is now an Australian Research Council Future Fellow.) Guillermo Narsilio is working on technology which uses the cool The school installation cost about temperature of what’s underneath $200,000 and saves money through % Going the ground to chill down buildings. lower energy bills. In other countries, 40 This can cut carbon emissions by up systems are paying for themselves to 75 per cent compared with traditional through lower bills in as little as two OF ALL CAMPUS WASTE IS underground air-conditioning. or three years. DIVERTED TO RECYCLING But there’s a catch. Narsilio says Shallow geothermal is quite widely there’s a “fear factor” associated with used for heating in Europe and the US, for clean the technology, which has rarely been and Narsilio thinks it can take off in the used in Australia. So his team from southern hemisphere. Johnston and the University of Melbourne is not Narsilio’s team, which includes PhD 12,000 kL just researching the technology, students, has taken calls from India, energy it’s installing and monitoring it. Thailand and Mauritius, although Narsilio CAPTURED BY CAMPUS thinks geothermal may work best in RAINWATER TANKS IN “If people are not aware, they will never temperate climates. “We’re in ideal use it,” says Narsilio, a geotechnical 2014, REDUCING THE conditions,” he says of Victoria. engineer (he studies soil and rocks). USE OF MAINS WATER “We’re trying to let Australians know The school is part of a program the about this technology.” University’s Department of Infrastructure Engineering is running to install shallow + The team, led by Professor Ian Johnston geothermal ELECTRICITY of the University’s Department of Guillermo Narsilio – homes, commercial buildings, CONSUMPTION % Infrastructure Engineering, installed etc. It’s funded by the Victorian the technology in the Elizabeth DOWN BY 12 government and involves engineering Blackburn School of Sciences companies Geotech and Direct Energy. FROM DYNAMIC VOLTAGE near the University campus. It’s the largest monitored shallow OPTIMISATION UNIT INSTALLED 28 boreholes were geothermal project in the world. IN THE LAW BUILDING . Plastic pipes carry water And researchers are teaming up with underground, where the temperature is academics from Cambridge University, a steady 18 degrees C, then return it to which has expertise on the mechanical the surface. In summer the air above is side of geothermal energy. Links have THE UNIVERSITY PLANS TO usually warmer than the soil, so the water been formalised and Melbourne PhD cools down the building via a heat pump. BE CARBON-NEUTRAL BY student Olga Mikhaylova, originally from The system works in winter too; the soil Russia, will study at Cambridge in 2015. is usually warmer than the air, so the heat 2030 pump uses that warmer water to heat Narsilio, who has the habit of sizing the building. (This is different from the up buildings around the Melbourne geothermal technology which sinks University campus to see if geothermal much deeper boreholes into hot rocks can be installed – the answer is often to generate electricity). yes – thinks the public is ready to hear more about geothermal. 100 kilowatt The school’s 120 kilowatt system does use electricity – to circulate the water, “People are in general interested, SOLAR SYSTEM WILL BE and for the heat pump – but less than people ask me, ‘tell me more’,” he says. ADDED TO WILSON HALL conventional heating/cooling systems. “There is no logical reason I can see IN EARLY 2015 for this not taking off.” AGRICULTURE

Food in a changing + climate Elisabeth Vogel

“I hope that through gaining a better understanding of the impacts of climate When Elisabeth Vogel between science and policy making, “We all share a research interest in decided to research the impact and highlights to me the importance how to mitigate climate change and extreme events on of extreme climate events on of putting affected communities in its impacts, but are looking at a range the centre of research,” she says of different aspects, from renewable food production food production, she didn’t stay from Nairobi. energies and geo-engineering to equity at her computer at the University principles, soil carbon sequestration systems, my research “Climate extreme events are predicted of Melbourne. She set out for and rising sea levels,” Vogel says of to become more frequent and severe helps to better prepare the student group. Kenya to see for herself how in many regions of the world. I hope that for climate disasters.” affected communities cope. through gaining a better understanding A group of German universities are of the impacts of climate extreme partners in the College. Students spend Vogel, a PhD student, looks at how events on food production systems, 4 to 6 months in Germany as part of their events like droughts and floods affect my research helps to better prepare PhD and 20 academics in Germany are crop yields worldwide. She’s researching for climate disasters.” joint supervisors to the students. The how to predict extreme climate events

and how vulnerable communities can She’s also had time to visit the Kenyan was a founding partner in the College best prepare. national parks of Maasai Mara and and helps fund students’ travel. Tsavo East, and visit Maasai villages. That took her from Germany to study One of Vogel’s supervisors is Malte at Vogel is one of 14 students at the Meinshausen, the director of the College, , a new Australian-German College. They who sits with the students in their office. graduate college at the University share an open-plan office in the new Associate Professor Meinshausen has of Melbourne. In 2014, the first year Carlton Connect precinct, looking out a background in climate science and of her PhD, she headed to Nairobi over bustling Swanston Street. The policy, and is a scientific advisor to for a research exchange at the United students are from all over the world – Germany’s Environmental Ministry on Nations Environment Programme. Argentina, the USA, France, Germany, international climate change negotiations Vogel is working on early warning the Netherlands, and Australia. Some under the UN’s climate body (the systems for climate-related events in have trained as engineers or lawyers, UNFCCC). Meinshausen attends the Kenya. She says the work is valuable others have worked in forest policy. UNFCCC’s annual summits. He’s also because it’s “real-world” and relevant. Two spent the summer of 2014-15 researching Australia’s climate targets. in Antarctica. “My time in Kenya allows me to learn more about how to bridge the gap CLIMATE CHANGE

Sustainability voices at the Next-gen University of leaders Melbourne The Melbourne Sustainable Society PROFESSOR TIM FLANNERY PROFESSOR KATE AUTY Institute (MSSI) aims to facilitate and Professorial Fellow, Melbourne Vice Chancellor's Fellow at the enable interdisciplinary research Sustainable Society Institute University of Melbourne, and former linkages, projects and conversations Victorian Commissioner for leading to increased understanding Environmental Sustainability Melbourne University is playing a leading of sustainability and resilience trends, role in sustainability research. From challenges and solutions. climate change to the built environment, its A great University is a place where The MSSI approach includes sustainability stars cover a huge range of curiosity flourishes. Here in this University + a particular emphasis on the topics. I'm proud to be part of the Melbourne of Melbourne collection the reader will be team because I think that together we can drawn into great insights, stimulated by robust contribution of the social sciences Kakau Foliaki really further the sustainability agenda both research, and encouraged by the implications and humanities to understanding in the University and in society as a whole. for practice and policy. Sustainable best and addressing sustainability practice is about testing ideas and making and resilience challenges. places for participation and diversity. www.sustainable.unimelb.edu.au The Carlton Connect Initiative (CCI) brings together talented people who share a desire to pursue innovative solutions to tackle For Kakau Foliaki, it all started “I think that’s the reason why I’m really Foliaki has now returned to Tonga, some of our biggest sustainability with the ocean surrounding passionate about creating a world where he lives just outside the capital and social resilience challenges. his home country of Tonga. that’s better. When you leave this world Nuku’alofa. He leads the energy www.carltonconnect.com.au you’ll know you did a lot to help others efficiency section in the Department “Every time I went to the outer islands who can’t help themselves,” he says, of Energy and is developing a national The Melbourne Sustainable I’d see how sea level rising is affecting reflecting on that difficult time. energy efficiency policy to cover Society Institute and Carlton their lives. When you talk to people they transport, electricity and buildings. Connect Initiative are part of Foliaki wrote a thesis proposing a guide PROFESSOR DON HENRY CATHY ALEXANDER say ‘when we grew up we used to plant “There’s none at the moment,” he notes. Believe – the Campaign for the for sustainable design in Tonga’s built there, but now it’s all water. The sea is “But it’s cheaper to actually save energy.” University of Melbourne. To discuss Public Policy Fellow, Melbourne Research Fellow at the Melbourne environment. Supervised by Dominique Sustainable Society Institute Sustainable Society Institute, editor coming in’.” (Tonga relies on expensive imported opportunities to contribute to their Hes from the Faculty of Architecture, of Sustainability at Melbourne diesel for electricity, although off-grid work, visit believe.unimelb.edu.au “The future generation, all they think Building and Planning, Foliaki islands are going solar). The University of Melbourne is making of is when is the natural disaster going emphasised regenerative design – a major contribution to research important Protecting the environment is one of the to happen.” “giving back to nature”. He’s hoping One topic Foliaki studied in Melbourne to action for sustainability and its translation major challenges we face. And the task for to publish and enact the thesis. was how to convince people to change into public awareness and policy. This is universities is not just to do excellent research That prompted Foliaki, a public servant, their behaviour. He took from the delivering substantial public benefit on a on the environment, but to make it matter to move into solar power. He then took He also studied leadership and literature the suggestion of explaining great challenge of our times for Australia – to convey it to the people with the power up an Australian government scholarship interdisciplinarity at the OEP – and why he believes in the change, rather and the world. to act on it, and to communicate with the to study at the University of Melbourne’s made good friends. There are 430 than telling people what to do. Foliaki public. That’s what this publication is about. Office for Environmental Programs ( ). students in the OEP’s graduate has put this into practice. That meant moving his young family programs, more than a third from away from Tonga, the overseas, including students from It’s not always easy. “The Tongans in the Pacific east of Fiji, in 2012. Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, have this fear of losing their homes, Written and edited by: Cathy Alexander, MSSI Research Fellow Pakistan and the Philippines. Students their culture. Their future’s at stake Photography: Peter Casamento, except for Kevin Tolhurst (Claire Denby), Kylie Soanes (Esther Beaton), During his two-year Master of choose from 200 subjects across due to climate change,” he says. Kakau Foliaki (supplied by Kakau Foliaki), Robyn Eckersley (Martin Wainstein), Elisabeth Vogel (supplied Environment he studied energy by Elisabeth Vogel), and squirrel gliders (Kylie Soanes). nine faculties; the course develops efficiency and sustainable design of “But you know for sure that we’ll do Design: Studio Binocular the knowledge and skills of people buildings for the first time; they were a lot of good, and we can change the wanting to work in the environment not on the radar in Tonga. The loss of world, and then we’ll be remembered Printed on acid-free, process chlorine free, 100% or sustainability. post-consumer waste recycled paper (FSC COC his baby daughter shortly after her birth as the generation who made the certified) made with a carbon neutral manufacturing in Melbourne crystallised his career path. impossible possible.” process at an ISO 14001 EMS accredited mill. SUSTAINABILITY AT MELBOURNE

CLIMATE CHANGE

WATER

FOOD ENERGY

WILDLIFE

CITIES

GREEN ROOFS

AGRICULTURE

BUSHFIRES