Scenario art as a decision-making tool to facilitate sustainable futures: The case for minerals and mining in Australia

Scenario Art (visual representations of a future scenario, used to enhance decision-making processes) is offered as a new tool to facilitate a transition to sustainable futures. The paper acknowledges recent evaluations of current futures methods (methods for long-term decision making and strategy development that involve consideration of multiple future circumstances), which have found that the futures field is not having the transformative influence expected. It is argued that to have a transformative influence, world views need to be drawn out and examined. An analysis of the results of a workshop (Vision 2040) that tested the application of Scenario Art, alongside art and neurological theory, is used to explore the relationship between Scenario Art, neurological processes, and the implications of these neurological processes in the context of decision-making processes. Vision 2040 utilized a deliberative process and aimed to establish a shared vision and strategy for the future of the mining and minerals industry in Australia. The workshop involved a range of futures methods which provided an opportunity for mining stakeholders to explore how the mining and minerals industry in Australia can deliver long-term national benefit. This paper focuses on the results of applying Scenario Art at this workshop which support that Scenario Art increases a person's level of empathy, creativity, responsiveness to risk, imagination and willingness to consider alternative perspectives. In the context of developing a shared vision, it was found that this increased a persons ability to recognise strategies and actions that would benefit multiple stakeholders and to recognise shared and conflicting ideas, values and perspectives for a preferred future

Innovative techniques for local community engagement on climate change adaptation

Abstract: Climate change adaptation requires communities to prepare for both extreme weather events and the more gradual shifts that a changing climate may bring. Our project designed and evaluated several face-to-face activities to engage communities in North East Victoria on climate change adaptation. The objective was ultimately to help vulnerable people in the community become more resilient by connecting them with resources and supportive networks. The workshops tested several innovative community engagement activities, including storytelling, visioning and creative practice. These activities responded to a body of research on best-practice approaches for engaging community elders and leaders as spokespeople and peer educators, as well as research on deliberation and the use of story to locate sustainability experiences in an emotional landscape. The workshops used existing community networks to multiply their potential impact, and took place in communities that had experienced extreme climate events (drought, fire and flood) firsthand. We present a toolkit of ten community engagement activities drawing on the experience of these workshops. We contend that these activities are potentially replicable by local governments and other stakeholders in climate change adaptation. Further, they can bring to life the many and varied materials created by various agencies about preparation for climate change

Building Our Savings: Reduced infrastructure costs from improving building energy efficiency

Meeting Australia's energy needs sustainably will be a major challenge for the next decade. Electricity consumption is forecast to increase by over 20 percent in the next 10 years, while peak electrical demand is increasing even more rapidly, with almost 30 percent growth forecast from 2010 to 2020. Natural gas consumption is forecast to rise by almost 50 percent and gas peak demand is set to increase by around 40 percent by 2020. An unprecedented level of energy sector capital expenditure has been proposed to meet this growth in total and peak demand. Over $46 billion in electricity network infrastructure alone is planned over just the next five years. Electricity generation and gas infrastructure will add significantly to this figure. This unprecedented expenditure is resulting in dramatic increases in consumer energy tariff

Adapting to climate risks and extreme weather: a guide for mining and minerals industry professionals

Abstract Extreme weather events in Australia over recent years have highlighted the costs for Australian mining and mineral processing operations of being under-prepared for adapting to climate risk. For example, the 2010/2011 Queensland floods closed or restricted production of about forty out of Queenslands fifty coal mines costing more than $2 billion in lost production. Whilst mining and mineral professionals have experience with risk management and managing workplace health and safety, changes to patterns of extreme weather events and future climate impacts are unpredictable. Responding to these challenges requires planning and preparation for events that many people have never experienced before. With increasing investor and public concern for the impact of such events, this guide is aimed at assisting a wide range of mining and mineral industry professionals to incorporate planning and management of extreme weather events and impacts from climate change into pre-development, development and construction, mining and processing operations and post-mining phases. The guide should be read in conjunction with the research final report which describes the research process for developing the guide and reflects on challenges and lessons for adaptation research from the project. The Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney (UTS) led the development of the guide with input from the Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation, University of Queensland and a Steering Committee from the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgys Sustainability Committee and individual AusIMM members, who volunteered their time and experience. As the situation of every mining and mineral production operation is going to be different, this guide has been designed to provide general information about the nature of extreme weather events, and some specific examples of how unexpectedly severe flooding, storm, drought, high temperature and bushfire events have affected mining and mineral processing operations. A number of case studies used throughout the guide also illustrate the ways forward thinking operations have tackled dramatically changing climatic conditions. Each section of the guide outlines a range of direct and indirect impacts from a different type of extreme weather, and provides a starting point for identifying potential risks and adaptation options that can be applied in different situations. The impacts and adaptation sections provide guidance on putting the key steps into practice by detailing specific case examples of leading practice and how a risk management approach can be linked to adaptive planning. More information about specific aspects of extreme weather, planning and preparation for the risks presented by these events, and tools for undertaking climate related adaptation is provided in the `Additional Resources section

Scenario art: A new futures method that uses art to support decision-making for sustainable development

This paper introduces a new futures method, Scenario Art, which involves the use of visual representations of future scenarios to support decision-making towards sustainable development. Based on preliminary investigations it is proposed that Scenario Art has the capacity to increase a persons level of empathy, creativity and responsiveness to risk; and on this basis has great potential to facilitate decision-making processes and outcomes that demonstrate sustainable thinking. To illustrate the application and support the proposed value of Scenario Art an overview of a recent futures workshop, which applied the new method, is provided. This paper aims to inspire the further development and utilisation of Scenario Art