Public asked to take sustainability ideas to online forum

Amid Melbourne’s season of sustainability, with the Transitions Film Festival and Sustainable Living Festival all running in the city’s CBD, members of the public are now being asked to take their sustainability ideas online.

OurSay, the participatory democracy platform which hosted the online Hangout with the Prime Minister in 2012, has opened its February/March 2013 forum Leading for Change. The forum asks the public what we can do to create a sustainable future.

According to OurSay founder and CEO Eyal Halamish, “This forum is an opportunity to explore the role leadership plays in creating a sustainable future and to investigate the kinds of leadership we need to tackle the increasingly complex challenges we face.”

On 27 March, the most popular questions as voted on the forum will be the focus of a public discussion panel at the University of Melbourne, featuring Jennifer Grey, CEO of Zoos Victoria; Professor Kate Auty, Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability; Professor Carolyn Evans, Dean of the University of Melbourne Law School; Professor Kerry Arabena, Chair for Indigenous Health; and Janette O’Neill, Head of Corporate Responsibility at National Australia Bank.

“Jennifer has a unique perspective on leading people, engaging community and running a large organisation with a conservation focus. She also understands both the opportunities and challenges that women leaders face and, with a Masters of Philosophy in ethics, the role values play in leadership,” Halamish said.

The project is being run in partnership with the University of Melbourne and the Centre for Sustainability Leadership.

Members of the public are able to post questions about Leading for Change and vote online until 24 March at http://oursay.org/. They can also register their attendance for the free public discussion panel.