Greater Bendigo Climate Collaboration's next Community Forum will examine how Bendigo can move beyond petrol, how we can speed up the transition to electric vehicles, get people walking and cycling more and make our public transport more sustainable.
The Community Transport Forum will take place from 7pm-9pm at the Bendigo Regional Tennis Centre, Nolan Street on Tuesday September 13 and is open to all interested people.
Greater Bendigo Climate Collaboration Coordinator Ian McBurney said the Collaboration is working with businesses and community to develop projects that will put Greater Bendigo on the path to zero emissions by 2030 and this forum is all about how Bendigo can cut climate-changing emissions from transport.
"At the forum, we want to hear from people in our community about what they think needs to change to bring about a zero-emissions transport system that is good for business, good for our health and for our environment," Mr McBurney said.
According to the Climate Council of Australia, 18 per cent of Australia's carbon emissions are from the transport sector and most of this is from people's individual cars.
Heading the transport forum program is international keynote speaker and urban strategist Steven Burgess, author of Complete Streets - Guidelines to Urban Street Design. Steven has worked on creating human-centric villages, towns and cities around the world through contemporary street design and better parking strategies. He will talk about how electric vehicles, public transport and active travel fit together in a zero-emissions transport system.
Matthew Kerlin from the City of Greater Bendigo will talk about the City's plans for active travel, while an electric vehicle expert will address the transition to electric vehicles, and a representative from community organisation Bike Bendigo which works to make bike riding easy and attractive to people of all ages and abilities, will outline what is possible now in Bendigo.
The Collaboration is running this and other community forums to kick off projects and bring on mass action before a clear path to zero emissions is set out at a Greater Bendigo Climate Summit next year. Future forums will examine how Bendigo could reduce emissions from buildings and food systems, restore nature and grow the circular economy to reduce waste.
The forum is free and open to all. Please register to attend at www.events.humanitix.com/gbcc-transport-community-climate-forum
