Welcome to the August issue.

Firstly, AGDF would like to welcome newly appointed AGDF Board Director Cr Peter Matic who represents invited member, Brisbane City Council (BCC). Peter is replacing Cr Helen Abrahams on the AGDF Board and as the Chair of the BCC Environment, Parks and Sustainability Committee he is a welcomed addition to the team. For a list of our Board Directors, click here.

It’s been another busy month for AGDF laying a lot of ground work in order to provide a very diverse program for the remainder of 2008 for our members. We hope you all can participate, by any way possible, in the network of upcoming sustainable activities and events.

Membership
Membership renewals are now due. We are excited to work with our members again now and into the future to further accelerate the adoption of sustainable development practices in Australia. Click here for more membership information. For a list of new and renewed members click here.

Monthly GreenSpeed networking breakfasts
Last month’s GreenSpeed networking breakfast was a huge success with Steve Storer leading the discussion regarding Improving Sustainable Housing in Queensland, the latest government discussion paper. We truly appreciate the support of our members and other attendees and also the contribution of our speakers, volunteers and sponsors. An email has gone out to those who attended with a short survey and we hope to collate responses early next week. AGDF will be putting together a submission for this discussion paper, which is due 12 September.

The next GreenSpeed networking breakfast is scheduled for 26 August and asks, Are we Keeping up with Solar Energy Innovation?

National Construction Road Show 2008
‘running on empty’ is the theme of the upcoming national road show touring from 7 – 16 October 2008 and is being coordinated by AGDF Director, Scott Elsom of SALA Homes along with AGDF CEO Ailsa Brown. The focus of the program is rising fuel and transport costs and the impact this may have on urban development along with possible solutions to this issue. We’re extremely happy to present this tour along with Cuban Professor, Fernando Martirena to present the case study of Cuba’s peak oil experience. Cities included are Townsville, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane. Registrations open soon. Click here for more information.

Inaugural Annual Forum 2008
Plans are well underway for the first national AGDF Annual Forum 2008. Held in Brisbane on Wednesday 22 October, the topic, Is Sustainability Affordable?, will raise a number of discussions including Eco-materials for Low-Cost Housing, Redefining the Triple Bottom Line, Urbanism and Affordability and much more. Tours of affordable sustainable projects in SEQ will be organised for the following day, Thursday 23 October. Registrations will be open very soon for this event so don’t miss out!

Council Forum Program
AGDF have been busy working in collaboration with the Local Government Association of Qld to provide a training and information program for local governments across the state. A pilot program with Gold Coast City Council is scheduled to be launched in September. Read more here.

Your Development
AGDF have been commissioned as editors of the new Your Development website which is a collaborative effort between Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts and CSIRO. This one-stop-shop website for sustainable development is scheduled to go live next month. Click here for new information and stay tuned on this website for the latest progress on this website.

Website upgrade
AGDF are putting together a range of exciting new features on our website to encourage more interactivity and constructive conversation between our membership networks and beyond. So keep your eye out for new additions to the website throughout 2008.

A new resource portal will be live before the end of this month. This resource portal is for you and is a compilation of your contributions, so we encourage you all to keep sending us information to share and exchange within our network.

As always, we welcome your feedback and encourage your participation in AGDF activities.

Welcome to the August 2008 edition of the forum e-news.

We welcome any feedback or submissions from members and readers, so please send all enquiries to business@agdf.org.au or call 07 3846 5499.

Submission deadline for September 2008 is Monday 25 August 2008.

If you would like to unsubscribe from this newsletter click here.

Australian Green Development Forum
(inc. Brisbane)

70 Merivale Street
South Brisbane QLD 4101
P: 07 3846 5499
F: 07 3846 5158
E: business@agdf.org.au

Ailsa Brown
Chief Executive Officer
E: ailsab@agdf.org.au

Patricia Sison
Events & Marketing
E: events@agdf.org.au

Ann Earle
Office Manager
E: business@agdf.org.au

AGDF Cairns
c/- Brisbane
E: cairns@agdf.org.au

AGDF Townsville
c/- Brisbane
E: nthqld@agdf.org.au

AGDF Sunshine Coast
c/- Brisbane
E: sunshinecoast@agdf.org.au

AGDF ACT/Southern NSW
c/- Brisbane
E: act@agdf.org.au

Disclaimer: Australian Green Development Forum publishes articles relating to the adaptation of sustainable development that are often based on information supplied by third parties. While an editorial process is applied, we make no exhaustive investigation into the accuracy of the information, thus no liability will be accepted for its accuracy. Please note that in providing this information, Australian Green Development Forum is not supporting or promoting any specific company and its products or services, merely seeking to inform. Interested readers should take their own steps to verify the information prior to relying on it in any way.