News
News & stories
Campaign updates, local voices and the science behind the issues facing the Southern Highlands.
WinZero NewsA Year of Community Action: WinZero’s 2025 Chair Report
WinZero’s 2025 Chair Report celebrates a year of practical action, fresh ideas, scientific research and community collaboration.
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River HealthThe Forever Chemicals in Your Water: What Platypuses Are Telling Us About PFAS
When Dr. Ian Wright’s research team started testing dead platypuses for PFAS contamination, the lab manager called immediately with an urgent question…
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Virtual Energy NetworkHow one local is powering change with the Virtual Energy Network (VEN)
“Be part of Australia’s energy revolution – join the Deakin Virtual Energy (VEN) NetworkResearch Study. Share clean power, reduce costs, and build a more…
ReadVirtual Energy NetworkHow a Small Café Slashed Energy Costs and Embraced Solar Power— Without Installing a Single Panel.
” We’re all about local, sustainable, and regenerative. The VEN just makes sense—it lets us power our business with solar, even without panels.”
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From Cars to Community: Rethinking Planning in Our Shire
In the Southern Highlands, Neville Fredericks, a seasoned advocate for sustainable development, challenges us to reconsider our urban planning approaches.…
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Solar my School
WinZero and Wingecarribee Shire Council join forces to spearhead the Solar my School program, bringing renewable energy to educational institutions in the…
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Forecasting the Future: How to Prepare for the Challenges of Tomorrow
Join us for an engaging and informative guest speaker event on the topic of “Forecasting the Future: How to Prepare for the Challenges of Tomorrow in Our…
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The Eridge Park Turtles
Wingecarribee’s turtles are in danger. They are in urgent need of greater protection. Though some of our turtle communities are in relatively safe places…
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Moss Vale High School
WinZero will use these funds to help Moss Vale High School fast track their schools’ rooftop solar installation.
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Frensham ForestFrensham Controversial Bush Cabins
Watching Frensham School for girls tear itself apart over the controversial bush cabin development application involving destruction of 249 trees, platypus…
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Local StoriesWinZero Mugs
WinZero is excited to announce that they will be releasing their very own mug this year! Sandy Lockwood from Balmoral Pottery, has created an original range…
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Frensham ForestFrensham’s Controversial Bush Cabins Delayed in Court
Frensham last week moved to ‘vacate the dates’ of the 12/14th October for the hearing in the Winifred West Schools v Wingecarribee Shire Council case over…
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Southern HighlandsOpen Letter to Frensham Board of Governors
Leading environment experts and leaders in the Southern Highlands are calling on the Frensham Board of Governors to abandon its DA for bush cabins in the…
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Local StoriesColin Todd’s Story
For the last 40 years I have been living in Balmoral Village on a 5-acre bush block where my wife and I have a pottery studio.
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Southern HighlandsEarl St Development
THAT the Wingecarribee Local Planning Panel determines development application 21/2058 for subdivision of land and carrying out of works to create three…
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Frensham ForestFrensham
We would like to thank you for supporting our campaign to save the Nattai River Wildlife Corridor in Mittagong by signing this petition. We were able to…
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Local StoriesSave Frensham Forest
In 2015 the area know as the “Lower Holt”, which isa heavily forested section of land in Mittagong that borders Range Road to the west, Colo Street to the…
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WinZero May RoundUp
It has been a very busy period since the last Newsletter as we have been consolidating our relationships with our wide-ranging networks, preparing a variety…
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Southern HighlandsReGreening of the Wingecarribee River
The Oxley College Landcare Group began rivercare activities in 1989 and continued with a range of projects and improvements to the riparian area until 2011.…
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WinZero NewsEarth Hour 2021 Round-up
Thank you to all the people who came along to Earth Hour at the Southern Highlands Botanical Gardens and were amongst the first people in Australia to see…
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WinZero NewsEarth Hour 2021
Come along to Earth Hour at the Southern Highlands Botanical Gardens and be one of the first people in Australia to see the BYD Han EV, and its’ little…
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WinZero NewsSolar my School Launches in Southern Highlands
Marnee Harlor and Cecilia Kemp (Wingecarribee Shire Council), Carisa Wells (RDASI) , Jodie Savage (SmS), Camilla Staff (RDASI), Anthony Weinberg and Nicola…
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Policy & GovernmentWinZero – Presentation to Climate Change Bill 2020
Nathalie Swainston represented WinZero at the PUBLIC HEARING Friday 29 January 2021 of THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, STANDING COMMITTEE ON THE ENVIRONMENT…
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WinZero Update March 2021
As an organisation run by volunteers, with a membership full of volunteers, we all know the one thing stopping us from putting many of our plans into action…
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Policy & GovernmentThe Climate Advisory Panel
In February 2020, the Wingecarribee Shire Council passed the motion to declare a Climate Emergency, and a forum was to be created where the community would…
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Wingecarribee Community Garden Network
WinZero is very excited to be supporting the expansion and networking of community gardens throughout our Shire as part of the community drive towards net…
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Local StoriesWinZero November Roundup
Meeting with the Mayor | EV Charging & Ongoing CommitmentWe met with the Mayor and senior WSC management on a number of issues, including fast charging…
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Policy & GovernmentDig deep, hang on, quiet persistence wins in the end
For those of us concerned about the environment, it’s been a pretty rough time of late.
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Local StoriesGrowers and Producers Lunch
The third annual Growers & Producers Long Lunch was hosted on Tuesday October 27 at The Loch on Greenhills Road outside of Berrima in the Highlands.
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Local StoriesClimate News in the Southern Highlands
We managed to drag ourselves into the 21st Century, and now you can sign up to be a member online. You can also donate on the same page, if you like. Check…
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Local StoriesA Conversation with Miles Lochhead
Coffee has become an essential part of mornings and certainly we’ve developed the habit of offering it as a welcome when somebody arrives for a visit. I’m…
ReadLocal StoriesAn Australian Climate Story | Derek White
I grew up in the countryside, running around the back blocks of Queensland playing cricket.
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EU Green Lights $572 Billion For Climate Action, the Biggest Green Stimulus in History.
European Governments recently agreed a $2 Trillion COVID rescue plan, with $572 Billion going directly to climate action. And yes, it’s the biggest green…
ReadPlanning & DevelopmentWinZero Overview
Together let’s Work for a Sustainable Future Climate change poses a very real threat to our way of life in the Southern Highlands, however, we have a choice…
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Planning & DevelopmentSeptember Round Up
We’ve been busy in the last month, and we’re happy to say there’s a lot of good news.
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Planning & DevelopmentKilling with Kindness
Recently, in the Mt Gibraltar Reserve, protectors of the native environment were distressed to see that a well-meaning soul has mistakenly pulled out a whole…
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Local StoriesFinding Maree Byrne
When I email Maree suggesting a conversation she writes back in answer with what I now think of as ‘the Covid19 response’. She tells me she has so much time…
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Planning & DevelopmentPlantings for a Wet Spring
Planting for a wet spring – A quick guide to selection of natives for poorly drained areas on farms and in the garden
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Planning & DevelopmentWombatised Joins WinZero Alliances
WinZero would like to announce that another group in the Southern Highlands has joined as a community alliance.
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Local StoriesMichael Meldrum, Past Convenor, Climate Action Now Wingecarribee (CANWin)
Michael Meldrum, the last Convenor of CANWin before it melded with WinZero, is quick to assure me that he is not a local hero. Neither, he tells me, is he an…
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Planning & DevelopmentChai Tea and Finding the Courage to Change
A text exchange between my husband and my niece has me thinking.
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Planning & DevelopmentSharewaste
We have the ultimate closed loop, waste free, action that you can start to be a part of TODAY!
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Climate ActionWinZero – A Clear and Powerful Voice for Sustainability
New coalition of Wingecarribee environmental groups officially launches today!
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Planning & DevelopmentAn Important Local Tree Needing Protection
Eucalyptus macarthurii; an important local tree needing protection
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Business30% Saving on Power Bill through PPA
The completion of the 9.4MW Robinvale solar farm last week marked a milestone not just for the project’s developer Suntech, but also for a company called…
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BusinessThe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
The IPCC was created to provide policymakers with regular scientific assessments on climate change, its implications and potential future risks, as well as…
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Climate ScienceClimate Cuts, Cover-ups and Censorship
The Climate Council’s report, ‘Climate Cuts, Cover-Ups and Censorship’provides a detailed overview of the Australian government’s approach to climate change…
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Climate ScienceState of Play: Renewable Energy Leaders and Losers
State of Play: Renewable Energy Leaders and Losers tracks the relative progress of Australian states and territories based on their performance across a…
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Planning & DevelopmentFor the Walker who Seeks
Surprisingly close to Bowral town is a hidden bush track with a story…
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Planning & DevelopmentBox of Tricks
Given the vast range of things we have to worry about these days, this could be said to come in low on the scale, but I need to let you know that presently…
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Planning & DevelopmentRethinking single use items
Today, when out riding on my bike in knee-length pants, I felt the breeze ruffling hairs on my unshaven legs. 😱 Letting this piece of information out is…
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Policy & GovernmentWingecarribee Shire Council joins a further 31 councils across New South Wales in declaring a Climate Emergency.
Wingecarribee Shire Councillors have voted to declare a Climate Emergency following Wednesday evening’s meeting of Council.
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BusinessReckoning with the overlooked business risks of climate change
How should organizations cope with climate change? As president and executive director of the Woods Hole Research Center, Dr. Philip Duffy has spent much of…
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Policy & GovernmentFrance puts EVs at centre of $13.2bn plan to restart auto industry
French president Emmanuel Macron has announced France will seek to jump-start the local auto industry decimated by the Coronavirus pandemic with an €8…
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AgricultureFrom the Ground Up – Regenerative Agriculture
Inspired by Charles Massy’s best-selling book “Call of the Reed Warbler”, filmmaker Amy Browne set out across the dry farming country of South East NSW to…
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Climate SciencePRIMED FOR ACTION: A RESILIENT RECOVERY FOR AUSTRALIA
The report ‘Primed for Action: A Resilient Recovery for Australia’ is part of a broader campaign that the Climate Council has begun. The report outlines our…
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Policy & GovernmentThe Climate Wars
Climate Wars: How brutal politics derailed climate policy in Australia
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Planning & DevelopmentOn seizing the day, considering barriers and emptying the teapot…
The concept of the Australian landscape being harsh, poor and in need of improvement is firmly lodged in our national psyche. This has come about because…
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Climate ActionSchool Strike for Climate
On May 15 the School Strike for Climate are taking their climate action online when they will be hosting an interactive livestream so together they will…
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AgricultureANU gives Southern Highlands Shocking Environmental Score
The Centre for Water and Landscape Dynamics develops new methods to measure, monitor and forecast climate, water availability and landscape conditions. Our…
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Introducing WinZero
As you’re all probably aware, following Climate Action Now Wingecarribee’s (CANWin) successful Climate Forum in November last year, and the Extinction…
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