Earth Overshoot Day is the annual date when humans have consumed more than the Earth can be expected to generate in the year.  In 2025 that date was 24 July globally and 19 March for Australia.  To put it another way, if every person on Earth lived a similar lifestyle to the average Australian we’d need 4.5 Earths.

You don’t have to wait for events like Plastic-Free July to get started on your low/no waste journey.  And you don’t have to get overwhelmed by all the options you have to reduce your waste.  Try one or two simple steps first and expand on those once they become a habit.

Simple ways to create less waste are to:

• Avoid purchasing items that serve only to give you that initial dopamine buyer hit
• Use refillable containers (that’s why we have water refill stations and our cafés accept reusable cups)
• When purchasing items pick those with minimal and/or fully degradable packaging
• Keep in mind that aluminium and glass are more recyclable than plastic
• Talk to your neighbours or go onto an online marketplace – the old adage that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure still holds true

How are we helping:

• Our Venues & Catering team and food venues preference local suppliers and foods that have minimal packaging
• We have water refill stations all over each campus
• Come along to the Suitcase Rummage on Tuesday and the Market Day on Thursday to get some pre-loved treasures

Need more help?

There are countless apps and websites out there that will help you to recycle, reuse and purchase more sustainably.

• Apps and websites to help you recycle properly: Recycle Mate; RecycleSmart; Planet Ark Recycling Near You; Local Governments (Fraser Coast; Gympie; Noosa; Sunshine Coast; Moreton Bay)
• Apps and websites to help you purchase more sustainably: CHOICE; Shop Ethical!; Go for Zero; Little Eco Shop; Biome; good on you; Yuka 

What’s your favourite meal?  Is it comforting? Or does it take you to another place and time?  Does it feel indulgent or maybe give you energy?  Just as there are many different reasons behind your favourite meal there are plenty of factors that go into sustainable meals.

Sustainable eating can mean food that is:

• Local (low food miles/greenhouse gases, supporting the local economy)
• Organic (reducing the reliance on chemicals that may impact the soil)
• Seasonal and native (fresh, low food miles, minimal resources to grow)
• Sustainably grown/harvested/caught/raised (conscious production to minimise impact)
• No/minimal packaging (reducing waste)
• Healthy (food that sustains you leads to less waste)
• Affordable (economically sustainable)

UniSC Venues

All of our UniSC venues, and our catering, have sustainable food options.  Make sure to stop in and give them a try.  One example is Café C, which is running Sustainability Week specials, including a Lemon Myrtle Spritz and the Humpty Doo Barramundi Burger.  The HD Barramundi is farmed using an award winning closed-loop saltwater wetland recirculation system, global best-practice animal welfare standards, and independent certification.

Dietetics and Nutrition Stalls

If you’re on the Sunshine Coast campus on Thursday 28 August stop by one of the UniSC Nutrition and Dietetics stalls at the Student Guild’s Market Day.  You can find out how to create a capsule pantry to save money on groceries and still eat healthy, swap some freshly grown produce at the harvest swap stall, taste some of the healthy treats available on campus, and share your thoughts about the soon to be redeveloped Brasserie.

Food Apps and Websites

Beyond this week, check out these apps and websites to help you eat more sustainably:

• GoodFish provides a seafood guide that uses a traffic-light system to tell you which fish and seafood found in Australia are the best choice and a restaurant guide to highlight restaurants that have made a commitment to sustainability
• HappyCow helps you to find vegan and vegetarian restaurants, as well as restaurants that offer vegan and vegetarian options.  You can find reviews by others who also follow plant-based diets
• ecoSwitch and FoodSwitch provide data on food products, including their country of origin, level of processing, sustainability claims, and health and nutrition information
• FoodBank coordinates food donations and Peels connects you with local organisations and individuals who will take food scraps for composting
• To get access to low-cost foods that would otherwise be thrown out use Gander, Too Good To Go, or Foody Bag.
• It doesn’t have to be a food-specific app to reduce food waste.  Try Nextdoor, freecycle.org, or Buy Nothing Project to link up with others nearby to share food.  Or just meet your neighbours in person and create a community food swap.

The University's travel and transport footprint shrunk when everyone was working and studying from home, but many of those emissions have returned.  So how can you commute more sustainably?  Read on for a few options to consider.

Commutes

Active transport 

Have you been riding your bike or taking walks more often at home?  Do you live close enough to campus to commute by bike or foot?  Remember USC has cycling/active transport facilities that you can use.  Find out where to park your bicycle and where to access showers.  

If your bike isn't up to the daily commute, remember to bring it in for our free bike service this Thursday.

Public transport

Remember public transport is currently just 50 cents.  What a bargain!  Check out the public transport options available at each campus.

Driving

Make sure your car is in good shape.  Did you know that having underinflated tyres increases your vehicle's drag, which increases fuel consumption and, as a result, your emissions?  You can use apps like Loggy or Drivvo to track your vehicle's services, repairs, expenses and set reminders for tasks like registration and oil changes.

For those of you with Electric Vehicles, find our charging stations.

Consider ride-sharing/carpooling with apps like Moovl, Rooride and Liftango.

We are currently investigating options to help people transition to EVs and to ride-share.

Getting from campus to campus

Did you know that UniSC has hybrids and EVs in our fleet?  If you're a staff member, use BookIt! to hire a sustainable fleet car, including our Hyundai Kona or Kia Niro EVs, or our Kia Sportage or Toyota RAV4 hybrid electric cars.  And remember to carpool wherever possible, or consider taking public transport.

Business and Vacation Travel

Did you know that over 9.5 million Australians travelled overseas in FY23/24? Or that UniSC staff flew over 9.3 million kilometres in 2024?

Basic tips

There are many tips and tricks for reducing your travel footprint.  Consider these, where possible:

• Avoid travel and shift to online meetings
• Preference train over air travel
• Trip stack/chain multiple purposes into one trip
• Fly economy
• Rely on partners overseas
• Pack wisely so you don't bring extra weight
• Consider some of the apps we linked to in the Monday update page for more sustainable eating or buying during your travels

Apps and websites

Check out the following apps and websites to help you travel more sustainably:

• Use GreenTripper, Sustainable Travel, Travel and Climate, Wayaj or MyClimate to calculate the emissions associated with your trip (flights, hotel, rental car, etc.), some also help you to offset those emissions
• FairTrip helps you find local places with a positive impact  
• Try out sustainable accommodation apps Fairbnb  or Ecobnb.
• Check out Ecotravelist's article on the Signals of Authenticity in Eco Friendly Hotels
• Use Rome2Rio to see if you can travel by bus or train rather than by air or car

Connecting can feel overwhelming at times. 

To avoid getting overwhelmed it helps to make those connections positive. 

Two ways to do that are to connect to people with similar interests through volunteering and to connect to ideas that inspire you through media that can inspire you.

Volunteering

There are myriad organisations and causes that you can support through volunteering.  Here are some options, but many more exist:

If you're overwhelmed by all the choices, check out SeekVolunteer to find a variety of opportunities near you. You can search by commitment (one off or regular) and location.  You can also filter by category (over 25 options), type of work (what you're willing to do) and suitability (think groups, kids, disability, work experience). 

Another option is GoVolunteer.  GoVolunteer is an initiative of Volunteering Australia. Their aim is to match people who are interested in volunteering with appropriate volunteering opportunities. The website uses a national database of volunteering opportunities.

Media

If the news and social media get to be too much, here are a few streaming services that provide some positivity and sustainability:

• WaterBear:  A streaming platform founded by the Executive Producer of My Octopus Teacher and supported by a range of respected NGOs and activists.  The platform is free, ad-free and provides shorts, documentaries and original content with a focus on the social and environmental future of the planet.  The platform also has articles and links to 'Take action' and 'Collective missions' that you can participate in, 'Community Spotlight' to feature sustainable events, and 'Partners' that you can learn more about.
• Ecoflix: A streaming platform dedicated to saving animals and the planet.  There is a variety of free content, or you could pay monthly/annually to get unlimited content; 100% of donations and membership fees go to fund their conservation initiatives directly.  You can even choose where you want your money to go. They focus on animal welfare and safeguarding, habitat preservation, and habitat restoration and have features like the Teachers' Packs that provide extra information to use alongside the streaming content.
• Kanopy: A free streaming service that links into your local library membership, or UniSC library membership.  You get different access depending on which you use; local library gives you a range of classic movies and some great, educational children's content while the UniSC membership gives you access to documentaries on more serious topics. 

It helps to know where you are to figure out the best way to get where you want to go.

Here are a few sites you can use to figure out your current environmental / climate footprint:

Once you know where you stand you can move on to take actions to help you be more sustainable.  A good way to consider action is to use the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

	Encourage and support local businesses Advocate for good working conditions and wages Learn and share financial literacy Keep learning in-demand skills
	Grow your own food Shop smart Store your food properly Consider a food coop Don't overorder or overbuy
	Educate yourself and take responsibility for your physical & mental health Visit your general practitioner when you're sick Eat more fruits and vegetables and less sugar and salt and processed foods Exercise Practice good hygiene
	Engage in your education Seek out opportunities to learn informally and formally Be or seek a mentor Diversity your studies to encourage broad perspectives and shared learning
	Work or study with a diverse group of individuals Consume more stories with main characters that are a different gender from you investigate the lessons you learn to ask if outcomes could differ based on gender Consider the language you use and assumptions you make to understand and overcome unconscious biases
	Dispose of rubbish in bins, particularly near waterways Keep your property free from debris that may be swept into waterways during rain, storm and flood events Dispose of liquids properly Practice good hygiene Use earth friendly cleaning products
	Use renewable energy Turn off appliances and technology when not in use or charging Buy energy-efficient appliances and technology Enable energy efficient settings on your phones and computers Rely less on AI, which is a large consumer of energy (and water)
	Patronise businesses that treat (and pay) their employees well Buy local Avoid buying products with forced labour  Buy from companies with verifiable commitments to fair trade and no forced labour Provide feedback and reviews when an employee or company does something well
	Support businesses using innovative, sustainable practices Build time to think creatively and critically into your day/week Engage with different perspectives Invest in innovative, sustainable companies Properly maintain your house/apartment
	Speak up against discrimination Be aware of when you take over conversations Create space for others to share Advocate for diversity Engage with people and communities that have different backgrounds and perspectives to you
	Plant a native tree or shrub in your yard (or native plant in a pot on your apartment balcony) Use mass/public or active transport  Volunteer locally Meet your neighbours  Donate any used goods of yours that are in good shape
	Avoid: Ask yourself if you really need what you're buying (what purpose does it serve?) Reduce: Buy less Reuse: Select products that can be used many times Recycle: Upscale or repurpose or donate items you no longer use Recover: Dispose of items in ways that generate energy Dispose: Dispose of non-recyclable/non-recoverable items in landfill only as a last case
	Keep your car, appliances and technology well maintained to run efficiently Promote and advocate for climate friendly actions through your social media Switch off electronics when not in use or charging Buy renewable energy Use public or active transport Plant trees and shrubs Download key apps to help you shop, eat and live more sustainably (not too many, though)
	Pick up rubbish near/in lakes, oceans, streams, waterways, etc. Use refillable water bottles instead of single-use plastic water bottles Buy sustainably sourced seafood and fish Buy organic foods so chemicals don't make their way into groundwater or waterways Select restaurants that sustainably source their food
	Select restaurants and cafes that are paddock/farm-to-plate or organic Grow your own food Pick up rubbish Volunteer at clean-up days Plant some trees or shrubs Keep your pets away from native wildlife
	Use social media to raise awareness around sustainability and hold organisations and politicians accountable Consider running for a political position to promote sustainable causes Join or donate to organisations that are advancing sustainability causes Set a positive example by obeying the law Stay informed - ensure the sources you get your news from are based in facts Attend local community meetings Do some research before voting to understand all the candidates' positions
	Get your friends & family involved - volunteer with them, cook them a sustainable meal, share helpful hints, have open discussions with them Volunteer with a local organisation Join or give to a charity Mentor someone, or seek out a mentor Pay it forward - give others the opportunities you have been given, whether through simple donations or by using your time and knowledge