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Yarra Ranges reduces ecological footprint

Located on metropolitan Melbourne’s eastern fringe, the Shire of Yarra Ranges is known for its beautiful natural environment and its strong sense of community. For this reason, Council staff have enthusiastically embraced a program encouraging them to think creatively about how the organisation can reduce its ecological footprint, both internally and in Yarra Ranges’ communities.

Council’s Manager Strategy and Organisational Development, Jill Colson, said Council made a commitment to climate change at the beginning of this year.

“The Branch Out program was a way of linking Council’s organisational development with its strategic direction,” she said.

Launched in February by Shire CEO, Rob Hauser, and prominent environmentalist Rob Gell, the Branch Out program has been a successful part of Council’s Environmental Leadership Program. All staff were invited to take part in the three month project.

“Participants not only enjoyed the challenge to their thought process, but the opportunity to learn what other parts of the organisation were doing as well,” Jill Colson said.

A major component of the program was Branch Out Innovations. This involved the formation of staff project teams to examine and report on four chosen ecological issues, which included:

• reducing emissions from works undertaken by Council contractors
• encouraging the community to use food production to reduce carbon emissions
• reducing carbon emissions from Council’s light vehicle fleet
• encouraging biodiverse planting on private land.

Jill Colson said Council contracted experts in innovative thinking, Minds at Work, to challenge the way staff make decisions.

“It was a project aimed at making staff think outside the square, and overcoming challenges and obstacles that can get in the way of a solution,” she said. “Each project team had a mentor to help them through the process.

“All teams put in an enormous effort, with many and varied solutions to the issues they were presented with. For example, one team aiming to reduce carbon emissions from Council’s fleet looked not only at increased walking and car pooling, but the implementation of teleconferencing and other technologies.”

The teams presented their proposals in May, for judging by a panel of senior staff and Councillors. Initially, only one proposal was to be selected for implementation, but the judging panel was so impressed with the entries that they chose four. These four projects have now been incorporated into Council’s 2007/2008 business plan and will be implemented by the end of June 2008.

Other successful Branch Out initiatives included:

• Branch Out Café – a series of well attended lunchtime or after work sessions, in which Council staff spoke about their environmental initiatives, with the aim of inspiring collegaues to develop their own ecological ideas
• Branch Out Link – staff were encouraged to post their own good environmental ideas on the intranet, with nominators of ideas eligible for a prize
• items in the staff newsletter – Branch Out ideas, events and developments were regularly publicised in the Shire’s staff newsletter
• ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ – all staff were invited to screenings of former US Vice President Al Gore’s film on global warming.

For further information contact Jill Colson on 1300 368 333