In this changemaker chat, we’re joined by Elisha Petrie, who combined their love for travel with their passion for conservation, to create their very own eco travel company, Chasin Clean Coasts, and podcast Chasin Travels. I’m excited to hear from Elisha about her story, travel tips, and of course, what it was like starting her […]
In our latest podcast episode, Tiyana shared a recent interview that she did talking about her journey into the world of social advocacy, starting HCN, and sharing her tips & advice for young Changemakers.
You can listen to the full episode, or read the full transcript below:
Jayde Mialkowski 0:52
Hello everyone. My name is Jayde Mialkowski I’m from Grasslands Social Advocacy, a student-led digital project advocacy project, equipping people and organisations to tell their stories in a digital age. I’m speaking today with Tiyana Jovanovic, who is a PhD candidate with the University of Queensland and Indian Institute of Technologies Delhi’s Academy of Research. Currently, based at UK School of Communication Arts, she has an academic background in sociology, philosophy, and a professional background in media and communications for humanitarian and human rights organisations. Prior to starting a PhD mid 2020, Tiyana founded the Humanitarian Changemakers Network of Brisbane based social enterprises that works with secondary schools and youth groups to catalyse young Australians to engage in the social change space and utilising a passion for solutions focused storytelling for social change. She has The Changing Times newspaper and publishes social change handbooks for young people, and the Changemakers Q&A podcast. Tiyana currently volunteers with a number of organisations and is a member of the Queensland Red Cross Youth Advisory Committee.
So, I thought we’ll get into a hard one. Tell me about your dog, and what is the silliest thing they’ve ever done?
Tiyana Jovanovic
My dog’s name is Rocker. He is a seven year old Jack Russell. I adopted him at the start of 2019. I really wanted a Jack Russell, so I hit up all of the pet rescue centres in southeast Queensland and I was like when you get a Jack Russell, please let me know. I really wanted a Jack Russell. And then I went out and you do a meet and greet to vibe with the dog, and he honestly had no interest in me. Really wanted nothing to do with me, there was no connection there, at least on his behalf, but I was like yes, he’s the one. The silliest thing he’s done was honestly just yesterday, he jumped up onto someone’s bed in my house and got into their leftover KFC and started eating like the KFC chicken bones. Which is obviously not good for a dog to have cooked bones, and then he was like farting really bad. Yeah, he does silly things all the time but that is the most recent one on my mind, and I actually had to kick him out of our room for a while.
Jayde Mialkowski 3:15
And they’re like who did that, that wasn’t me? (laughs)
Tiyana Jovanovic
I love Jack Russells, they’re amazing. I love them because they have the personality of a big dog, but a small, compact dog wants to pick them up and they’re like, please.
Jayde Mialkowski 3:36
And you’re like, no, I must carry you around like a baby (laughs). Alright, now onto the real stuff. Do you remember the first moment when you decided to pursue the field of social advocacy – what was the driving force behind that moment?
Tiyana Jovanovic 3:50
I think I do actually. I would have been probably 15 or 16. And at the time I was a youth member with Girl Guide Australia, and I was also a Junior Leader at the time. I was working on my Queens Guide Award, which is kind of like the peak awards that you can do within the organisation. There’s a lot involved, you do several hours of community service, leadership training, all of these different things and one part of it is your focus. And I didn’t really know what I wanted my focus to be. I was kind of just a typical angsty 15-year-old girl who didn’t want to listen to anyone. I didn’t care what my mum had to say. Didn’t want to listen to teachers. Didn’t really know what I was doing.
And then I got a bunch of resources out, and one of them was a book – it was all about the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scout global action beam, which was essentially the global organisation’s response to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
This would have been back a few years, maybe around 2010 when we still had the MDGs, and not the Sustainable Development Goals, which we have now. But I was basically just reading this book and it was all about how leaders within the organisation can teach young women and girls all about these big issues, like eradicating poverty, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality, sustainability. I still remember reading it like late one night in my bed, and it was kind of this pivotal moment where I just realised that there’s so much more out there going on in the world than my little 15-year-old life. I went to a Catholic all girls school and, it was who’s like through and who’s doing what and who’s wearing what and who’s going to what party on the weekend?
It was kind of like the biggest thing that was going on in my life, and then all of a sudden I just kind of realised there’s actually so much out there. But I think what this book really did was show me that there was actually so much that even I could do. And so, I decided that the Millennium Development Goals would kind of be my focus for my Queens Guide Awards.
Over the next few years, the last few years of class, so, while I was working on my same side award, I ran an advocacy campaign and raised money for UNICEF, I taught all the girls within the district that I volunteered with all about these different issues and in doing so, I learned a lot about them, and then that kind of just, I don’t know, it really motivated me and inspired me to kind of pursue, I knew I wanted to pursue something within that field. When I finished high school, but then I ended up taking a year off after high school just to make sure that if I was going to go to uni and study something, it was going to be the right thing for me. I’m really glad I did because, honestly, I would have studied something completely different than what I ended up doing. And, yeah, it definitely led me down the right path.
Jayde Mialkowski 6:47
I think it’s amazing because I remember being 15, a long time ago – but your world does feel very small and often you feel really powerless in it. You feel like your parents control a lot of what you do, where you go and dictate what you do. I think that’s really impressive for a teenager to do because it’s quite hard to see the world outside of our little bubbles. Do you remember why you started volunteering in the first place?
Tiyana Jovanovic 7:18
I started with Girl Guides Australia and I joined as a six year old. I was like a really shy kid with anyone who knows me, now would really struggle to believe, but I was very shy, very timid like, to the point where, in grade one, I remember – the teacher was like asking questions and nobody put their hands up, so she asked me to answer – and I just burst into tears. Just the pressure of having to answer the question and it was something so simple like, “What was the most exciting thing you did on the weekend?” and like, little six year old self just burst into tears. And so, someone suggested to my mom – oh, like my daughter does Girl Guides, and I think it would be really good to see all this confidence and self-esteem, and kind of help come out of her shell a little bit, which it definitely did.
Now my mom would argue that I probably need to go back a little bit. But yeah, I always enjoyed it. I love that it kind of gave me an opportunity to learn about all these different things that I was never able to learn about through school, and obviously I made so many friends and then by the time I was like, 14, I think, which is when you’re old enough to kind of become like a Junior Leader, I was kind of at the point where I, what I didn’t want to leave the organisation, but I felt it was kind of time for me to move on – because a lot of my friends that I made over the years had left and gone on to do other things. And so, I decided that I wanted to become a Junior Leader, which meant that at the time I was assisting the actual qualified adult leaders to run the weekly meetings and stuff like that, which basically just prepared me to then become a qualified adult leader once I turned 18.
Jayde Mialkowski:
That’s a huge process, you were there for a long time. Were you volunteering, I think I was looking at a profile you had – a couple of other places you were volunteering with in your teenage years as well?
Tiyana Jovanovic 9:13
I did a lot of volunteering through Girl Guides Australia. And because part of my Queens award involves a lot of community service, so there was a lot of stuff that I was doing like that, but through the organisation and it was organised by them.
Jayde Mialkowski 9:40
It’s hard as a teenager to know where you can go and have places to do so, because teenagers have that stereotype, so it’s really good of them. And obviously, you still want to work with youth and education – do you think you’ve always wanted to work with youth? Or do you think you might want to work with older people later on – how do you see yourself actually thinking about that?
Tiyana Jovanovic 9:57
When I was younger, when people asked me, like what do you want to be when you grow up? I think until about the age of like 13 or 14, I always said that I wanted to be a teacher. I don’t really know why I said that I think it was just because I love to learn, I love to learn as a kid, and I think, because the only environment that you really learn within when you’re that young is in like a structured school environment, but I just thought that the logical next step was probably for me to become a teacher.
And in my own way I kind of have always kind of been a teacher, through a lot of the volunteering and stuff that I’ve done. It’s just been less formal forms of education. But even when I was like a Junior Leader with Girl Guides, a lot of the parents who were teachers or the teacher aides, always came up – “You know you should really think about becoming a teacher, when you finish we need more teachers like you, you’re so passionate, blah blah blah.”
And I remember feeling so bad when I was like 15 or 16, I was starting to think that I didn’t actually want to study teaching and become a teacher but I wanted to do something else. But yeah, through the work that I do with HCM and some of the other organisations that I’ve volunteered with. I’ve always really enjoyed teaching young people through a less formal education format – so teaching them through workshops and kind of fun activities where they don’t realise that learning something because they’re enjoying it so much. But with the humanitarian changemakers network, as an organisation, it is kind of targeted towards young people.
We don’t kind of say youth in the strict sense that it’s like 15 to 25 or 15 to 30 year olds, but I was thinking about that the other day because I was born in 1996, which means I’m the last year to be considered a millennial, and I was just thinking about, at what point will I no longer be considered a young person? Because I’m technically not part of like Gen Zed, but I feel like I identify with Gen Zed maybe a little bit more than millennials, I don’t know – millennials just seem that a little bit older.
Jayde Mialkowski
I was born in ninety two, so it’s like I’m in the younger end of the millennials and there are much older millennials that have been set up with a house and kids and you know, they’re very far ahead and many are in their late 30s, early 40s. So, you’re a little bit younger and you’ve grown up with more technology instead of the more Gen Z stuff, you’re sort of in that weird area – and maybe it’s easier to connect with them in that way?
Tiyana Jovanovic
Yeah. And I think because most of the people that I do work with tend to be in that Gen Zed. I always wonder at what point. Like am I going to outgrow my organisation? Because I say like, when made like we’re an organisation of young changemakers for young changemakers. At what point will I no longer be a young change. Like I’m already 25 to 30, and it just makes me think like it’s still such a young organisation, but at what point am I going to need to pass the leadership responsibilities on to someone else? Because I don’t want to be like that older person going into like for young people going in, “Hey kids,” – and you’re like in your 30s. So, I can see that cut off.
Jayde Mialkowski 13:23
Tell me, how did you start the organisation? That’s a huge process, I can’t even imagine it. Was that difficult, with lots of highs and lows? It must be more established now, but the beginning must have been chaotic.
Tiyana Jovanovic
Honestly, it wasn’t too bad in the beginning, only because I didn’t start it with the intention of it becoming what it is now. So, in the beginning, it would have been around 2019, and I was getting invited to a few different schools and organisations to talk with young people, just about what social change is and how they can get involved in the social change space. And from there, I developed a framework that would allow me to easily communicate what social change is, and how young people can bring it about – just to kind of make these workshops easier for me.
And so, I developed this framework and I had a personal blog at a time and I just wrote about the framework on there. And then when I went to different events or hosted workshops, the groups that were about a specialised topic, I’d maybe create like a special resource or two for them and just put it on this blog that we kind of let them learn about it a little bit more, and then I kind of started getting a lot of really positive feedback, and I kind of thought that maybe this could be something that’s a little bit bigger than just me. And so, I decided to create a new separate blog and I didn’t know what to call it and I don’t know how I came up with the name, humanitarian changemakers network, but I somehow came up with that name, and the domain was available and I was like okay I’m just going to make an Instagram page.
In the beginning it was just a blog where I was still going around running these workshops and kind of sharing resources, and then the more young people I began to speak to, I noticed what some of the gaps were and some of the things that were kind of stopping them from engaging in the social change space and for a lot of them it was kind of this really dismal media landscape that was dominated by fake news and kind of negative stories about all the problems in the world – and it was leaving them feeling kind of helpless about everything.
So, I was like, okay, maybe something we need to start doing is just providing some more positive or solution focused news stories. And so now, as we kind of begin to grow, we’re switching our focus from just running workshops, which isn’t super scalable and also not super good for me when I’m trying to do a PhD, running these workshops because it does kind of take a lot to actually organise them – and because every workshop is tailored to the specific group or school or whatever that we work with. So, we’re kind of now trying to reach a wider audience of young people by diving deep and using our podcast and the unused platform to kind of explore potential solutions to different problems and letting young people know the ways that they can kind of engage in addressing local or global challenges.
Jayde Mialkowski
I’ve read your profile even just you talking about this – how do you juggle everything? I’ve been through your Instagram, Youtube and everything and it’s like, there’s so much. When do you sleep?
Tiyana Jovanovic 16:50
Surprisingly I actually sleep really well now and I get a good seven to eight hours a night. But it wasn’t always like that. And I’ve definitely had to kind of learn how to overcome the burnout culture that I think is so prevalent in the social change base. I mean we already kind of live in a culture where burnout is kind of normalised and there’s not really a culture of care. It’s a very hustle based culture. And I think that’s kind of amplified in the world of social change because there’s this extra level of guilt, because a lot of the time. It’s not about you, it’s not about you progressing your career or doing things for yourself, it’s about you doing what you think is right, what you’re morally compelled to do or you know helping others or serving others and so you feel guilty when you take a break, or you decide that you’re not going to go to that particular process because you need to work to pay rent, or whatever it might be.
And I think it was that kind of guilt that led me to burn out, which would have been around the time I started HCM. And since then, I’ve really had to learn how to just kind of create a culture of care in my life, and balance everything. But with that said, I mean I do a lot. And I’ll be the first to admit that I do a lot and potentially take on too much, but all of the things that I do are things that I genuinely love, and the time it doesn’t feel like work. Like a lot of the volunteers that I do. Like, it’s just something that I’m really passionate about and so it doesn’t really feel like work to me. Even the stuff I do for HCM most of the time, unless it’s boring like admin stuff – to me, recording a podcast episode and answering young people’s questions about particular topics is something I genuinely enjoy and so it doesn’t feel like work to me.
Jayde Mialkowski
I think that’s the big secret they always tell us growing up – find something you love. It’s really impressive if people find it and it does take a long time to get that and then to balance that with your own personal life, and so it’s good that you’ve now found that balance. If you had to give advice to a younger person dealing with burnout in this sort of field, would it just be about creating that culture of care or is there something more specific you would recommend?
Tiyana Jovanovic 19:09
I think a big thing for me was the realisation that you don’t need to justify, right. I always felt if I was going to take a break, I needed to somehow justify and say well okay like, “I’ve got all of these things ticked off my to do list today, so now I’m entitled to a break,” and I’d be like, “okay, if I take a break now, it means that I’m going to be so much more effective at working tomorrow,” when in reality, like, you don’t need to justify. You know, we kind of just set these limitations and these standards on ourselves. And once we realise that there’s no one judging us for wanting to watch Netflix in the afternoon instead of some volunteer work, then I think it makes it so much easier to just realise that it’s okay. And all like so many benefits to actually taking care of yourself. But that shouldn’t be the reason you do it.
Jayde Mialkowski. 20:01
You’re accountable to yourself.
Tiyana Jovanovic
Yeah that mindset shift for me was the biggest thing and learning how to just kind of create a culture of care and rest more and not put so much pressure on myself, and not feeling guilty for wanting to prioritise self-care. And I think that’s not just within the social advocacy field or social change, I think a lot of people do that. “I’ll take a minute to myself, but I need to tell everyone why I’m doing it,”. You are accountable to yourself, you can take time to yourself and I think that’s really important.
Jayde Mialkowski 20:35
You mentioned before about your travels, and I’ve seen a lot of your travel pics – it looks fun, but also, while you’re over there, do you ever engage in other modes of social change? Have you ever learned anything over there about the way people engage in that field and you’ve taken it on board?
Tiyana Jovanovic
The first two international trips I took, the first one was the one that got me into trouble in the first place. I went to a conference back in 2013, when I was 17. I got invited to this conference because of some of the advocacy work that I’ve done for my Queenside award, and when I went over there, like, to me the fact that it was in Hong Kong was like an inconvenience because then then I had to like pay money for a flight and I have to go out of my way, and I’ve never travelled I’m really nervous about it.
But it was more just the fact that I was getting to meet other young people that were actually interested in social change and social advocacy, which is not something that I’d found yet. But I went to this conference, and I noticed a lot of the speakers were saying that I can see that you’re all like a really passionate group of young people, but my advice is that if you want to change the world you have to experience success. And then he spoke about the importance of just travelling and immersing yourself in other cultures and all that stuff and I was like “Okay, this guy knows his stuff, so he says I need to travel.” And I was already planning on taking that year off after high school – and so I was like okay, it’s going to be my goal to just travel as much as I can while I’m at university. I thought by the time I finished university, I’ll be done with travel, and I’ll be done with university.
Except travel is like a drug – the more you do it the more you want to. But then after that, the next trip I did was one that I did through the Welsh Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts to one of their centres in Sangamon India, and they have a whole bunch of different partner organisations that they work with on an ongoing basis. And so, I went over that to work on a project, because I was really passionate about art and drama, and I was going to study at university, that’s what I thought I was going to study. And then I didn’t end up studying, but I went over to help begin a project where we use performing art to create these performances that people who were a part of this organisation would perform in different slum communities about family violence and violence towards women. And I worked on that project, and I’m really glad that I did that.
And then I’m also really glad I didn’t do volunteer tourism, because if I hadn’t learnt about the negative impacts of volunteer tourism, I probably would have been really inclined to go and do one of those trips where you kind of like paid to volunteer and they tend to be more exploitative and exist kind of more as a business for the artists to profit from, then they are actually about creating positive social impact. But yeah I don’t know how, I think I just read an article about it or something and then I kind of explored it more and I learned about volunteer terrorism and that’s not to say that all volunteer tourism is bad but generally, as a whole. If you’re doing any kind of volunteer work where it’s short term, and you don’t need any kind of specialised skills or qualifications for, then the work is probably either not needed, or it could be done by locals who could actually get paid to do it – as opposed to you paying a big company or organisation to go over and do the work for them. You hear so many horror stories about orphan tourism, places where you know you go build a school and then a week after you’re done, they come and knock it down, or something like that. I think another reason that I didn’t do any of that kind of travel was also just because I simply couldn’t afford it.
I was a poor 18 year old, and I just moved out of home and I was like “Okay, how am I going to pay rent and travel and do everything that I want to do?” So, I mostly just backpacked around. And even now, I’m a little bit older and my budget isn’t as tight, I still tend to just stay in hostels. I think it’s the best way to meet people and you can meet people from all over the world, even if you go to a backpackers hostel somewhere like Adelaide. But I think that’s the beauty of it, and just meeting new people and realising that you know, people come from all different backgrounds and they have different views that you might have, you know, all these different things. But I think the one thing that I noticed is at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how different we all were, at our core, we’re all kind of the same. I think, people, when you strip away all of the negative things, most people are kind, compassionate and we all want the best for our community. So, I think travelling definitely taught me a lot of really important lessons.
Jayde Mialkowski 25:50
I mean, that must be hard with COVID and everything being locked down. We can go to New Zealand, does that count? (laughs). But I mean hopefully it comes back and you can keep going.
So, about your book as well – when did you decide that you wanted to write one and put it out in the wild? You self published it, didn’t you?
Tiyana Jovanovic
I think the idea for it kind of came during COVID, when I wasn’t able to run any of the workshops that I was previously running and I was trying to think of ways that I could still reach young people and teach them the framework for social change. And I kind of thought that maybe a book would be the best way to do that, because I thought about putting together an online course, because I just felt like I had so much to say, and the only way I can say it all is if I just write it all out in a book.
I was like “Okay, I’m gonna give this a shot,”. I say that it took me about six months to write it, but I think it took me about five and a half months of planning it, and then two weeks of just me sitting out and like smashing the writing, I just started in my own head, I always do try and plan things and make them perfect – but in reality I knew everything that I needed.
This is the kind of stuff that I’ve been teaching in these workshops that I’ve been learning about for most of my adult life, and so I took myself on a writing retreat, and went on to like Groupon, and I found like a really nice result and I was like okay, and just spend five days here, five days with no WiFi. I just sat down and wrote, and I got my first full draft written in five days. And then I looked at all of my different options and I decided that self publishing would be the best just because I want all of the money from the sales of the book to go back into funding to humanitarian changemakers network, because that’s always been kind of like the biggest struggle that I’ve found over the years is actually trying to fund it.
Jayde Mialkowski 28:18
I know you’ve got, was it four or five people working with you at the moment?
Tiyana Jovanovic 28:23
We have a few. Most people are on a volunteer basis. I don’t get paid, but we have one team member who is incredible and I wouldn’t be able to do it without him, but he’s actually paid.
Jayde Mialkowski 28:39
That’s exciting!
Tiyana Jovanovic
It is exciting! Yeah, that’s a step. I actually met him when I was running a workshop for his school, it would have been back in 2019, and he hosted a mental health podcast, a really good podcast and he asked if he could interview me for his podcast, and I said yes. After the interview, I was kind of thinking of starting the humanitarian changemakers, and turning it into this thing beyond me, and he said, “Yeah you should do that, it sounds really great, go for it!”. He fully hyped me up, and so he’s literally like been there from the beginning. He was one of my first ever writers, and now he’s studying journalism, so that is really good. And even though once we kind of started getting recurring revenue. I was like “Okay, what am I going to do with this? What’s the biggest priority?”. And to me,, obviously I’ve done so much volunteering over the years, but I’ve also think that good people doing good work and being financially compensated for it is important, and something that I’ve never wanted to do is rely too heavily on people volunteering. And so I was like, it’s really important to me to be able to pay him, and so I was like, even if I can barely afford it. I think that’s a big step, and maybe down the line, you know, it’ll become more of that.
Jayde Mialkowski:
On a sadder note, what do you think is the biggest mistake you’ve ever made? And how did you find yourself handling it?
Tiyana Jovanovic 30:46
I think perhaps the biggest mistake I probably made in all aspects of my life is probably just overthinking things and thinking that everything needs to be perfectly planned out before you actually start. I think this is something that I’m much better at now. And something that I kind of learned about in this book is called The Lean Startup method and it’s mostly for people running businesses or startups, and it’s about needing to fail.
You obviously need to fail so many times before you find the right idea or the right business. And this book is kind of about testing your idea and failing quickly and doing that over and over again so that you can get to where you need to be faster. And I think that that’s applicable for kind of all aspects of social change, and whether it’s running a business or running an advocacy or an activism campaign or whatever it might be, even if it’s just figuring out what to study or what kind of path you want to go down – the best way to figure it out, is to actually engage in things and get hands on – rather than just thinking about them, so you can figure out what works for you or what doesn’t work for you fast and then move on to the next.
Jayde Mialkowski 32:07
I think failure is that thing that everyone’s really terrified of – you know that you fail once and that’s it – you know it’s like you can never re-approach something and it’s not really a great mindset. I guess you maybe have to separate your ego from it – like, “It’s okay for me to fail, this doesn’t represent me,”.You just can’t get good at something until you suck at it and not looking at it as failure. You’ve succeeded in figuring out what doesn’t work for you, or what isn’t the right option for you. And so if you look at it like that, well, it is a success because you know exactly what not to do. I think that’s a really good way to look at it. In contrast, okay what do you think has been your proudest moment? I know there’s probably a lot!
Tiyana Jovanovic 33:01
There’s a good thing. I think one of my proudest moments is actually probably getting into my PhD. Yeah, I was always like I was always kind of studious in high school until I got to about that kind of 15/16 mark where I just lost all interest in school, and didn’t really care. I didn’t even know if I was gonna go to university, and I think people assumed that I was always really good at uni and that lI got sixes or sevens, but I didn’t. My GPA wasn’t great. And that’s partly because I didn’t really apply myself to university, as well as I could have, I kind of prioritised other things – like doing all my volunteering and stuff – which I certainly don’t regret, but I didn’t have the best GPA for me to get into an honours programme.
I did two bachelor’s degrees. I did a Bachelor of Global Studies and then a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Philosophy – and philosophy was the only thing that I was actually really really good at, and I’d never got anything less than a distinction on an assignment or anything in philosophy. So, I just went to like the head of philosophy at the University and I said, “Look, I know my overall GPA is not great, but I’m really good at philosophy. Do you think you can let me do an honours?”
And he said yes, and I’ll sign off on it – so that’s how I got in my honours programme in the first place. And then, if I’m being completely honest, 2019 just for me personally, it was a bit shitty and not a good year for me. So much happened at the end of the year, and I had like four weeks to go and I had hardly any of my thesis written, and I had to break my lease and move out.
I had nowhere to go, but luckily my grandma was overseas in Serbia, which is where she’s from, and I just called her up and I was like, “can I please stay in your house and just finish my honours thesis?”
And she said yes, so I went and stayed there and for four weeks straight, just wrote out this thing. I don’t know how I did it, but I think I just scraped through and was on the bare minimum that you can use to get into a PhD programme, and honestly even that surprised me – I didn’t think I was going to do it. I think the only thing that saved me was the fact that you do a little bit of coursework as well and I’d done my coursework at the start of the year and I did okay. So I just had the grades to get into a PhD programme. And I honestly wasn’t even going to apply for the one that I’m currently in. I remember looking at it and I was like that was amazing, but there’s no way that I’m qualified enough for that.
My friend was like “Just do it anyway, it’ll be good practice,” – and I was like okay, I’m going to try it. And I was honestly surprised when I got in. I cried, and I’d say that’s probably one of my proudest moments.
Jayde Mialkowski 36:27
How long have you got to go on it?
Tiyana Jovanovic 36:30
I just talked my confirmation for a third of the way through. It won’t be long, you know it’s gonna go quickly, it always does. The first year kind of flew by – I felt like I actually started to realise it’s not just about my PhD but about everything. I think you think that there’ll be a point in your life where you feel like you know what you’re doing – and I just like I always felt like at uni, that if I ever did like a masters or a PhD like that would be the point where I really know what I’m doing. The same when I started humanitarian changemakers, and I was like there’ll be a point where I feel I know what I’m doing. And I don’t think I’m ever going to get to that point, I don’t think I’m ever going to get to the point where I actually feel I know what I’m doing, and that’s okay, I think I’ve learned to just embrace the unknown. I think it’s a bit of an illusion.
Jayde Mialkowski 37:30
It’s like being an adult – you never really feel like an adult, you just are an adult. If you could give any advice to someone wanting to follow in your footsteps, or even just starting the kind of work that you’re doing or wanting to make a difference – what would be the biggest thing you can tell them?
Tiyana Jovanovic 37:43
I guess, one piece of advice I always like to give is that idea that clarity comes from engaging in things and thinking about things. You can spend all day thinking about what kind of jobs might be suited towards you or what kind of career path, or what you might want to study or what kind of volunteering role might be good for you, but like the only way you’re really going to know is if you actually get out there and do it. That whole idea of if you’re going to fail, get out there, fail quickly and move on to the next thing.
Another thing in terms of careers, one thing that I think I’ve always done without actually realising that I’ve done it – people always asked me when you’re younger, what do you want to be when you grow up? And when you start uni people are okay, like what do you want to be when you finish your degree? But the one thing I’ve never done focused on a particular role that I’ve wanted to have or any kind of identity. I’ve always just focused on doing what I enjoy doing. And if you focus on doing the things that you love and all the things that you’ve put out, and the things that you enjoy, the right kind of roles and opportunities will find you. And just figuring out what it is that you enjoy and what it is that you’re good at and focusing on doing those things as opposed to being a certain kind of someone. And I think the rest will kind of just fall into place.
Jayde Mialkowski 39:06
I think there comes a point even with study, with a lot of people do their degrees and then realise that’s it’s not actually right for them – and getting out into the field and realising that firsthand, it’s okay that it didn’t work out, you’re learning something from that process, even if it costs you few years, and a little bit of money. I think it’s a really good message to take home.
Humanitarian Changemakers Network founder Tiyana J recently sat down with QUT’s School of Public Health and Social Work to talk about social advocacy and her story as a young changemaker. We thought it was only fitting that we share the full interview with you too! Learn our social change framework with the social change handbook […]
Greenwashing is the process of conveying a false impression or providing misleading information about how a company’s products are more environmentally sound. Greenwashing is considered an unsubstantiated claim to deceive consumers into believing that a company’s products are environmentally friendly. In this episode, Tiyana explains how you can spot greenwashing, and what we can do […]
Greenwashing is the process of conveying a false impression or providing misleading information about how a company’s products are more environmentally sound. Greenwashing is considered an unsubstantiated claim to deceive consumers into believing that a company’s products are environmentally friendly.
Basically, greenwashing is using PR or marketing tactics, or event just strategic messaging, To make it sound as if an organization’s products, aims and policies are environmentally friendly when they actually aren’t.
The problem with greenwashing is that it is a marketing tool used to drive profit, rather than to take environmental responsibility.
The phrase “greenwashing” topped headlines in August 2021 when environmental activist, Greta Thunberg, called out the fashion industry for partaking in the phenomenon. As the first to be on the cover of Vogue Scandinavia, Thunberg used to speak up against it. In a social media post that accompanied her cover announcement, Thunberg stated:
“Many are making it look as if the fashion industry are starting to take responsibility, by spending fantasy amounts on campaigns where they portray themselves as ‘sustainable’, ‘ethical’, ‘green’, ‘climate neutral’ and ‘fair’” she wrote, “But let’s be clear: This is almost never anything but pure greenwashing. You cannot mass produce fashion or consume ‘sustainably’ as the world is shaped today. That is one of the many reasons why we will need a system change.”
The problem with “sustainability”
The challenge with words like “ethical” and “sustainable” is that they are quite subjective, and there’s no standards to which they can be held against and compared to in order to determine just how sustainable or ethical they are. Like what does that even mean? If you saw a bottle of “sustainable” detergent. What standards would you expect that product to meet? Chances are, if you asked someone else they’d give you a completely different response.
Often, the option that you might think is more sustainable, often isn’t universally the most sustainable option. You might think that biodegradable packaging is better than recyclable, but if the waste is only going to end up in landfill without the proper conditions it needs to break down, it likely won’t break down anytime soon. So, recyclable packaging that can be reused might be a better choice.
Similarly, you might think that a natural plant or animal-based fibre like cotton is better for the environment than a synthetic fabric. Natural fibers usually have a smaller environmental impact than synthetic fibers because natural fibers do not use as many chemicals during the production process, but some natural fibers are less eco-friendly than others because some plants require more water. Similarly, some synthetic fibres are very durable, can make stain-resistant or waterproof clothing, which might be a better option for a higher quality clothing item that will last many seasons.
This is why it’s important to always remember that there is no “one size fits all” approach to sustainability.
How to spot greenwashing
Be wary of buzzwords:
Terms like “organic, ethical, eco-friendly, natural, cruelty-free, or green” are often used, and while these words might be an accurate way of describing something, they are quite elusive and they make something sound “greener” than it actually is.
“Natural” is a very vague term that could mean anything, like it doesn’t contain artificial ingredients or harsh chemicals— but the “natural” products in contain could be unsustainable or unsustainably sourced. You could have a “natural” t shirt that is made from really unsustainably sourced cotton.
“Cruelty-free” means that the product didn’t go through animal testing at any point in the supply chain, but that doesn’t mean it Doesn’t contain animal products, or toxic products, or micro-plastics, etc.
When you see terms like this, do your research to see whether they have provided more information, if they do not, they are likely greenwashing.
Research the company/brand:
A quick search on a brand’s website should tell you exactly what they mean if they are using any of these terms, and you should be able to find details of their suppliers, or where their materials are sourced. Transparency about who their partners are and how they do things is a good thing, even if they aren’t ideal— most of the time, secrecy or hiding the truth from your consumers indicates that they are probably not doing the right thing.
While some products and services will be advertised as, or actually be environmentally conscious, the company that owns it might not be— if you’re buying a vegan leather belt from a jeans manufacturer that actively pollutes rivers, or purchasing chocolate with recyclable packaging from a company that also sells single-use plastic water bottles, that money is still going to the same company.
Look for verification: If a company is indeed doing as it claims, it will often have some kind of verification or a certification from an approved auditing organisation— Certified Fair Trade, Certified B Corp, Certified organic, Biodegradable or Recyclable. These are all great starting points, but again, it’s important that you don’t just accept these at surface level. Look at the whole product or brand, and see how else they’re trying to do the right thing.
It’s not as simple as it sounds
As a consumer, it probably sounds simple right— can’t brands just make changes. And while they should, it’s not as simple as it sounds.
For a cleaning company to switch their bottles to a biodegradable plant-based plastic, they need to run tests and make sure that the product will last as long, in the same temperature conditions, and not get damaged during transport, as the current materials. Current contracts with suppliers would need to end, and new contracts with partners need to be drafted and agreed upon. Labels would need to be redesigned. This stuff can take time, and be resource intensive.
I want to acknowledge from first-hand experience just how hard it is to run a sustainable and ethical business. When we started Changemaker Co., our Upcycled & Slow Fashion Brand to fund the work we do here at the Humanitarian Changemakers Network, it was challenging to enter a market where there are always existing policie and processes that dictate what is considered “business as usual.” And again, because there’s no ‘one size fits all” approach to sustainability, it’s often an iterative process that involves making changes and doing the best the best you can with what you’ve got.
For example, before we started Changemaker Co. we pre-launched Our range of definition tees on the Humanitarian Changemakers Network website, and I was really keen to make sure these shirts were on organic cotton tees. So we did that, but then we found that the only suppliers that could offer us organic cotton were all based in Europe, and because most of our audience and market are based in Australia, the transport miles involved in sending those items here, plus the fact that the supplier didn’t offer biodegradable packaging and only offered plastic, just didn’t sit well with us.
So instead, we partnered with an Australia based printer, who uses water-based inks, and while their shirts aren’t organic, they use brands like AS Colour, which are very transparent about their sustainability Policy & Practices, stating “we are committed to eliminating single use plastics, and plastic in general, from our supply chain…” and on top of this, they ship from Brisbane and in completely biodegradable packaging, which drastically reduces transport miles and eliminates unnecessary plastic.
Shirts like these are printed to order, meaning the finished product doesn’t exist until an order is placed, and then it’s printed just for the customer. This slow to approach to fashion is obviously far better than creating a bulk of stock and having to push those products out, risking a surplus of unsold stock and unnecessary waste.
However, it’s still not perfect, and we would like to eventually transition to offering all of our designs on upcycled second hand tees, which we already have a small collection of. But again, this is a time and resource-intensive process that we can quite afford yet, but as we grow and scale, we hope to transition to being a fully upcycled brand. Sustainability certainly isn’t simple for businesses and organisations, and especially ones that are far more established and have higher standards and levels of accountability than what we have, change often has a slow and iterative process to ensure things are done correctly.
How do we change things?
It’s important to remember that like with any type of social change, the responsibility isn’t solely on individuals, although as citizens and consumers we do have a role to play.
As a consumer, you can vote with your dollar— purchase products that align with your values. You don’t have to stop purchasing things altogether, but choose to support brands that are doing the right thing, if you are in a position to do so. In capitalism, supply and demand is a powerful thing, and if there is more demand for sustainable products, supply chains will follow.
Of course, you’re also a citizen, and you have the power to tell brands and leaders what you want to see from them. Write letters, leave customer feedback or testimonials, comment on their social media— these might seem like small actions on their own, but brands actually want to please their consumers (that’s how they make money,) so they do value your opinion.
Hayley Payne is a multipassionate changemaker who is currently working as a research assistant, doing her masters, and is the co-chair of the QLD Red Cross’s Youth Advisory Committee— amongst many other things. We recently sat down with Hayley, to discuss her journey as a changemaker into the social change space and her multiple passions, […]
The sixth assessment report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) does not make for a particularly uplifting reading— You have probably seen headlines about “code red”, “unequivocal human influence” and 1.5C of warming by 2030. As Changemakers it’s up to us and the rest of civil society to turn the dread and horror from the report into determination, effort, unprecedented cooperation, and visionary commitment.
It would mean making profound changes in our societies, economies, our ways of doing things. But it is possible to do. And we know how to do it. Scientists, policymakers, and experts of all kinds know what the solutions are to reducing our global greenhouse gas emissions.
Perhaps the biggest obstacles that stand in the way of adopting these solutions are actually interconnected personal or political challenges. There’s a lot of money that goes into the fossil fuel industry, which is why there is so much resistance from leaders to changing the status quo. And without significant public interest and pressure in transitioning to a more sustainable future, there is little incentive for government or big business to do so.
So what needs to change?
The solution to getting governments and big businesses here In Australia to start taking action, is to use direct action, strategic campaigning, and community organising and mobilisation tactics to shift the current power imbalance that exists— we want to shit the power to the people, and if enough people, put enough pressure on governments and corporations to act— they inevitably will… history has shown us this. From women’s suffrage to the contemporary feminist movement, From the civil rights to the BLM movement, and other ongoing social movements advocating and campaigning for the realisation of human rights by demanding action… they’ve shown us that we can only get decision-makers to start taking action to change what is considered to be “business as usual,” When there is enough political pressure on them to do so.
The thing that I actually wanted to focus on in this episode is less about the need for activism to demand climate action, and more about how we can bring more people into the movement— because we need to have more people taking direct action, pushing these campaigns forward to shift the power from these big corporations and government leaders, to the citizens, so that decision-makers will be forced to act. More people = more power = more pressure = more likely to act.
When you consider the magnitude of the issue of climate change, and how it will affect or already is affecting every single human and non-human animal on the planet, as well as the natural world, it seems counterintuitive that not every single person is willing to take action and demand change. The reason not everyone is willing to do so is that not everyone cares enough about climate change— not necessarily because they are bad people, but because for whatever reason they haven’t formed strong enough opinions about the issue that will compel them to act. So the challenge is, how do we actually get more people to form a strong enough opinion about climate change that they feel compelled to act?
Now there isn’t much to debate when it comes to climate change— the science is clear, and there is consensus from the overwhelming majority of at least 97% of climate scientists about the science behind climate change, so it’s not an issue of convincing people to believe in climate change— if people don’t believe the world’s leading thinkers on this topic, we have little chance as activists of getting them to believe the science.
What we need to convince people of, is the need to care about climate change enough to take action. Public opinion plays a significant role in how the government and other actors respond to demands for climate action. So, shifting public opinion is key.
Components of public opinion: attitudes and values
How individuals form opinions and the types of opinions they form depend on their immediate situation, more general social and environmental factors, and also their pre-existing knowledge, attitudes and values. Public opinion is shaped by 3 stratified factors held by individuals; opinions, attitudes, and values.
Most famously characterised in public opinion research by Robert Worcester; opinions are “the ripples on the surface of the public’s consciousness—shallow and easily changed,” attitudes are “the currents below the surface, deeper and stronger,” and values are “the deep tides of public mood, slow to change, but powerful.” According to Worcester, the most important concept in public opinion research is values, which determine whether and how people will form opinions on a particular topic; people are generally more inclined to form an opinion when they perceive that it aligns with their personal values. Values are adopted early in life, shaped by an individual’s upbringing, family and friends, and cultural context, and are not likely to change, but rather strengthen as people grow older.
Once an issue is identified, some people will form attitudes towards it, and as these attitudes are expressed to others by sufficient numbers of people, a public opinion on the topic begins to emerge. Not all individuals will develop a their own attitude about an issue, if they don’t care about it or know enough to develop an attitude.
Therefore, a seemingly homogeneous body of public opinion may therefore be composed of individual opinions that are rooted in very different interests and values. If an attitude does not serve a function such as one of the above, it is unlikely to be formed: an attitude must be useful in some way to the person who holds it.
Factors influencing public opinion
There are a number of factors that can influence and shape public opinion. Environmental factors play a critical role, and are key for the development of both opinions and attitudes— including their family, friends, workplace, religious community, or school. Individuals will often adjust their attitudes to conform to the most prevalent groups that they belong to.
Mass media and social media also play a role in affirming latent attitudes and ‘activate’ them, prompting people to take action.
Interest groups, such as NGOs, religious groups, or unions also cultivate the formation and spread of public opinion that might be of concern to their constituency. This can be done through mass media and social media, words of mouth, or through an organised advocacy or PR campaign.
Finally, opinion leaders can play a major role in influencing individual opinions— such as political or religious leaders.
Changing public opinion
The greater a person’s level of cognitive engagement with an issue, the more likely he or she is to be exposed to and comprehend political messages concerning that issue. People tend to resist arguments that are inconsistent with their political predispositions, but they do so only to the extent that they posses the contextual information necessary to perceive a relationship between the message and their predispositions. Given that these existing predispositions cannot be easily changed, any effort to influence opinions must be done in a way that aligns with and engages their deeply-held values to motivate concern and action— through values-based messaging. Values-based messaging uses clear, compelling short narratives that connect a person’s existing values to an issue.
The 6 principles of persuasion, which were first put forward by Robert B. Cialdini in his 1984 book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion,” are 6 principles that have been used for decades by businesses, politicians, and marketers alike, to influence people to do or care about something. The first principle is similarity, which is about trying to connect with people (as authentically as possible) in a way that they can relate to and identify with— this principle is all about safety in numbers, because people feel validated and are more influenced by something or someone they observe to be relatable or similar to them. The second principle is consistency: people want to commit to things that are aligned with their values, and people have a deep need to be seen as consistent. Once we have publicly committed to something or someone, we are so much more likely to go through and deliver on that commitment… and do it again. This can be explained, from a psychological perspective, by the fact that people establish a commitment as being in line with their self-image. Third, is authority: people really do have a tendency to believe someone they trust, or people who have authority. Whether it’s their mum, a local hero, a celebrity, or a politician, the average person will accept what a trusted figure of authority says without really questioning it. The fourth principle is consensus: put simply, people want to be part of the majority, not the minority. When we are surrounded by people who are all doing something, we want to reflect that. This is how trends spread so rapidly, especially in the age of modern technology and social media. Principle 5 is reciprocity; human beings are wired to basically want to return favours and pay back our debts and treat others as they’ve treated us. Finally, the 6th principle is scarcity: when people believe something is in short supply, or that they must act urgently, they want it more.
Storytelling is also a powerful tool to influence people’s opinions. Facts and figures are a great way to let people know about pressing global issues, and to help quantify the scope or depth of a humanitarian problem. But when you are trying to motivate people to care about an issue or take a specific action, telling a single story will have a far greater impact than any statistic. Evolution has wired our brains to be more receptive to storytelling. It has been one of our most fundamental methods of communication since the first cave paintings were discovered over 27,000 years ago. The science behind storytelling is pretty simple. Stories are, in their simplest form, a connection of cause and effect, and this is how humans think. When people make a decision about donating money or funding a project, most people do not rationally calculate the benefit they can expect from their contribution, they make intuitive decisions based on affective reactions. There are various studies that have explored what makes people act most generously, and the research has all confirmed that feelings, not analytical thinking, drive people’s generosity and compassion.
Mother Teresa once said, “if I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.’’ When a story is told with an identifiable victim, it is much more likely to generate voluntary action than a number of unnamed “statistical victims.” This is referred to as the Identifiable Victim Effect. People pay greater attention and have stronger emotional reactions if they are presented with a case of an identifiable victim. People by nature are far less inclined to engage with a cause when they are presented with statistical data about multiple similar victims that are caught up in the same system of need.
When it comes to a greener future, the vehicle we choose to get there really matters. Join Loughlin as he dives deep into the topic of micromobility and climate crisis, or read the full article here: https://humanitarianchangemakers.net/your-journey-to-net-zero-micromobility-and-the-climate-crisis/ Learn our social change framework with the social change handbook for young changemakers: http://thechangemakerinyou.com/ Get a FREE Skillshare […]
When it comes to a greener future, the vehicle we choose to get there really matters.
In July, amid Lockdown Five in bitterly cold Melbourne, I went online and made a very aspirational purchase. A brand new pair of boots were set to become mine, as I looked forward to making an entrance into my first in-person university class of my degree.
Of course, we all know how that went. The boots arrived… at the beginning of Lockdown Six.
I promise you there is a broader point to this, because I don’t want to discuss the boots – even though they’re very good – but rather how they got to me.
The boots were made (if the label is to be believed) in Portugal. But by the time I ordered them, they were in a U.K. warehouse of a notorious fast-fashion company, because yes, I am part of the problem.
Australia Post took it from there, “manifesting” my parcel from the warehouse and driving it to the airport. My boots arrived in Australia 36 hours after take-off. The next stop was a sorting centre in Melbourne’s north, and from there they were driven to another hub in the city’s south.
There’s just one problem with that: they drove my boots past my house.
This isn’t a jab at postal workers, who are working under incredibly difficult circumstances right now. Nothing went wrong here, because I do live closer to the destination hub than the origin.
People who finished high school in Queensland should understand the issue Australia Post faces: questions asking students to find the most efficient route through a network of hubs are part of the Queensland Core Skills test.
The more specific the destination, the greater the challenge becomes. Originally, my parcel just had to make it onto a plane to Australia – benefitted by economies of scale. By the end, it had to be narrowed down to my house.
Those economies of scale also come into play when considering the environmental impact of my parcel. This impact matters to Australia Post, who buy offset credits to make their deliveries carbon neutral, offsetting over 200 thousand tonnes of emissions since the program started in 2019.
But the best carbon is the carbon never emitted in the first place. So, let’s look at the energy it took to get my parcel from the U.K. to my house.
At the beginning of its journey, the fuel consumption of my parcel was shared across all of the other packages on the plane. By the end, there were less parcels to share that same fuel burden across.
That means despite planes using so much more fuel than a parcel truck, the plane flight from the U.K. to Australia was more energy efficient than the truck drive between sorting centres.
And this isn’t theoretical thinking or a guess. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the U.S. conducts regular studies comparing the fuel efficiency of various modes of transport – from planes to cars.
They compared the total fuel consumed by all the trips of a given transport mode against the total distance travelled by each passenger. Here’s what they found:
Intercity rail – that’s trains that travel between cities – were found to be the most efficient mode of transport. Close behind is transit rail, comprised of both “heavy” and “light” rail – think the New York City subway or Melbourne’s tram system.
Surprisingly, motorcycles and planes are about equally as efficient. That’s because motorcycles are very light and don’t require much fuel, while the higher fuel needs of planes are dispersed among hundreds of passengers.
Cars are in the middle, followed by commuter rail. Confusingly, it’s defined as having “usually only one or two stations in the central business district” – so not quite on the scale of intercity travel but larger than a metro rail system.
One reason why commuter rail could be less energy efficient than its intercity and transit counterparts could be the energy it uses in the first place. Unlike light rail, which uses electricity, Oak Ridge say “most” of the 25 systems they analysed rely on diesel power.
Another gas guzzling mode of transport? Light trucks – think the Australia Post parcel truck used to cart my boots around Melbourne. In fact, a plane passenger can travel 14.23 miles further than a light truck passenger using the same amount of energy.
That’s 22.9 kilometres – more than a half marathon!
Diesel is also part of why buses are less efficient than cars in this analysis, which may surprise you. But the much bigger reason buses are less efficient than cars is that they have less passengers.
The U.S. Department of Energy explains: “Transit buses are not very efficient at their current ridership rates, where, on average, a given bus is less than 25% full.”
Let’s go back to the Oak Ridge report and look at the real numbers to see what impact that has on efficiency. In 2017, transit buses used 91.6 trillion British thermal units (Btu) worth of energy, compared to the 6,339.3 trillion Btu cars used.
But car passengers travelled 2.2 trillion miles, compared to just 20.2 billion (note the ‘B’ there) miles travelled by bus passengers. This means bus passengers used 1.44 per cent of the energy to travel only 0.92 per cent of the distance car users did. Ouch!
But bus users still have an edge over the least efficient use of energy by far: the somewhat murky ‘demand response’ category. Even if you’re not clear on what that means, you’ve likely travelled this way, as demand response includes taxis and rideshare.
They’re the least efficient way to travel because demand response drivers use energy in order to get to a passenger before actually transporting them. Buses may transport more refrigerated air than passengers in the U.S., but they spend less time completely empty.
So, there’s the numbers. The road travel leg of my boots’ journey to me was more logistically complicated and energy inefficient than the air travel leg. But you might have a question about that: why does it matter?
The unfortunate truth, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change informed us last month, is that humans have been having an “unequivocal” impact on the environment, and transportation is part of that impact.
And for the Federal Government, saving carbon means more money from continued foreign investment. On ABC TV’s News Breakfast, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg spoke about the importance of net-zero emission targets to Australia’s economy.
“I certainly see it in our interest being part of these global agreements,” said Frydenberg. “Financial markets have always factored in these significant structural shifts.”
But for now, the energy used to make our cars, planes, and trains go has to come from somewhere. And as we’ve already discussed, diesel is the source of energy for some of our public transport options.
Even electric transport – electric cars or light rail – aren’t as green as they could be right now. That energy, more often that not, can have an inconvenient source, too. We’re still a ways off from solar-powered trains.
But those numbers from the report we’ve just looked at, do show how public transport could be a big part of the planet’s journey to net-zero, as well as reveal a huge problem it faces.
Public Transport is Sooo Pre-Covid
We’ve actually already touched on the problem facing public transport. It’s those pesky numbers that show buses are more energy inefficient than cars.
That shouldn’t be the case; economies of scale should disperse the higher energy use of buses over the greater number of passengers they take. But in the United States, there aren’t enough transit bus passengers to offset the increase in energy use.
So, how many more passengers would it take for buses to tie with cars, not beat them? Let’s use that 25 per cent passenger figure from the U.S. Department of Energy as a starting point; they said it was less, but they didn’t provide any additional information, so as far as I’m concerned that’s on them.
We know that bus passengers currently travel 0.96 per cent of the distance car passengers do, but use 1.44 per cent of the energy. To make passenger miles match energy use, it needs to increase by 1.57 times.
That’s a passenger increase from 25 per cent to 39.25 per cent. To get there, every two current bus passengers would need to convince one friend to ride with them.
Of course, this would also make the bus heavier and use more energy. However, a 2018 study published in Springer’s Transportation journal shows overall energy efficiency increases as bus occupancy rises – the distance the new passengers travel outweighs their additional weight.
The study analysed the fuel efficiency of different occupancy levels of four different bus models, comparing the amount of energy used per passenger kilometre travelled. It found the average full bus used about a quarter of the energy per passenger kilometre compared to a 20 per cent full bus.
That’s a huge energy saving that would certainly put buses above cars, and maybe even planes, in terms of efficiency. There’s just one problem, it’s clear, at least in the U.S., that people don’t really like buses, or any public transport at all.
Back home, we face similar issues. The Australian Bureau of Statistics found 14 per cent of Australians used public transport in March this year, down from 23 per cent pre-Covid. One in six people who used public transport regularly before the pandemic haven’t used it at all since March 2020.
It doesn’t look likely public transport use will return to normal levels once restrictions ease, either. 61 per cent of people the ABS surveyed said they don’t expect their current habits to change.
For some who’ve stopped or reduced their public transport use, they may be working from home. But for others, public transport may not be an attractive option, and that may have been the case pre-pandemic.
It’s an issue that’s created some unlikely advocates. The Head of Public Policy for RACQ – that’s right, the car insurance company – called on the Queensland Government to act last year. Dr Rebecca Michael said “we need to do everything we can to encourage more sustainable transport”.
Michael’s concern is the increased road congestion created by more drivers on the road. She’s advocated for an integrated public transport authority to be created in Queensland, which would tackle issues around service reliability, frequency and affordability.
But there’s another issue passengers face before even getting on the bus, and that’s getting there in the first place.
The Last Mile Problem
Earlier we discussed how the last leg of my online shopping’s journey to me was the most logistically complicated part of it. There’s a name for that phenomenon in the postal world: the last mile problem.
DFDS, a major European shipping and logistics company, says “the main challenge of the last mile is to handle low-density deliveries cost-effectively.” That’s because the last mile of a journey is by far the priciest; 53 per cent of delivery costs come from the last mile.
One of the causes should be familiar by now: the DFDS Scandinavia Vice President Niklas Andersson says “delivery trucks and vans are too often half-empty when they make their rounds”.
“The current situation simply isn’t environmentally sound,” he added. “We can’t continue to compete on price and delivery times without hurting the environment in the long run.”
But the last mile problem isn’t unique to shipping. The distance between a bus stop or train station and one’s home or workplace can also create friction for public transport users. For some, it’s a pain point that leads them not to use it altogether.
For example, unless someone’s lucky enough to have a bus stop or train station near their home, the walking distance could be a deal breaker. When you’re coming home from a stressful day at work, the last thing you want is more surprise exercise.
Former Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad was invested in this issue. She oversaw Brisbane’s Cross River Rail project, which involves building several new train stations around the city.
In March 2019, the locations for these stations were announced, including one near an investment property Trad had purchased a week before the announcement. Trad didn’t formally disclose the purchase to Queensland Parliament in the required time-frame, leading to corruption allegations from the state opposition.
The Liberal-National Party referred the issue to Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission in July. Three days later, Trad rang Commission chairman Alan McSporran to “self-refer” the matter.
“There’s no compromising my integrity, I didn’t feel as if I was being influenced or there was an attempt to,” McSporran said at the time. He later recused himself from any further CCC investigations into the matter.
In September, the Commission announced “no evidence … supported a reasonable suspicion of corrupt conduct,” and didn’t launch an official investigation. “However, as a general proposition,” they added, “failing to declare and properly manage a conflict of interest creates a corruption risk.”
Despite this finding, Trad was removed from the project by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk the next day. “The Premier has a right to expect the highest standards from all of her ministers and on this occasion, I did not meet those standards,” Trad told media.
Last year, Trad told Guardian Australia the matter – along with another CCC investigation into a different matter which cleared her of wrongdoing – was part of a campaign against her.
“There’s a concerted campaign against me because I guess I’ve stood up, I’ve stood up for the values my community care about and because there have been positive outcomes in that respect.”
Walking distance isn’t the only thing that can reduce the burden of the last mile. For people who live in outer suburbs where walking isn’t an option, adequate parking space can allow people to use public transport for a portion of their trip.
The train stations with the best carparks tend to be in marginal federal electorates, at least if former Infrastructure Minister Alan Tudge has anything to do with it. He oversaw the implementation of the Urban Congestion Fund, established in the 2018-19 Federal Budget.
The $4.8 billion fund included $660 million in funding for the construction of commuter car parks to ease traffic congestion. 40 sites for car parks were chosen in the first part of 2019, in the lead up to the federal election that April. Of those, 27 were selected the day before the election was called.
In June this year, the Australian National Audit Office released a report on the program. They found the selection process involved canvassing the MPs of 23 Coalition-held electorates, as well as Coalition Senators or candidates in a further six electorates held by opposition parties.
The result: 77 per cent of sites chosen were in Coalition-held electorates, with a further 10 per cent in the other six canvassed. 64 per cent were in Melbourne, despite the majority of Australia’s most congested roads being in Sydney. And most of Melbourne’s sites were in the south-east, despite most of the city’s congested roads being in the north-west.
The ANAO found the implementation of the Urban Congestion Fund was “not effective,” and criticised the selection process, calling it “not demonstrably merit-based”.
Alan Tudge denied any wrongdoing and said decisions were “made on the basis of need” in August. “33 of them were ticked off by the department before coming up for decision and we took those to the Australian people and the Australian people voted for them.”
So with bruised trust in both state and federal levels of government to tackle the last mile problem, the Brisbane City Council looked overseas for a solution.
Scooting to Net Zero?
“Please unlock me to ride me, or I’ll call the police.”
That was the threat made on many U.S. streets in 2018. The source: new e-scooters that quickly earned the ire of locals.
While these companies had launched before that, 2018 saw the rideable industry’s most rapid expansion. Scooter companies grew from five to 70 U.S. cities that year, entering the national conversation for the first time.
But not all of those conversations were good. The adoption of the “move fast and break things” philosophy of the rideshare industry by scooter companies put them in hot water with local governments. Four cities banned them altogether.
The business model of rideables also raised problems for disabled people. That’s because riders could leave scooters in the middle of footpaths when they were finished riding, making city streets harder to navigate.
This issue led to a lawsuit from accessibility advocates filed in 2019, who alleged the “uncurbed growth” of the rideables industry “comes at the detriment of the rights of all disabled persons … causing Plaintiffs injury, severe anxiety, diminishing their comfort and discriminating against them based on their disabilities.”
Four of the plaintiff’s claims were dismissed in 2020. A motion for class certification was denied in June this year.
In response to the poor initial entry in the U.S. market, European rideable company Lime took a different approach when entering the Australian market.
Brisbane was the first city in Australia to trial e-scooters in 2018, following consultation between the local council and Lime. When it comes to the last mile problem facing public transport, Brisbane City Council believes e-scooters could fill that niche.
In its draft e-mobility strategy, the council wrote “e-mobility options have potential to complement the role of public transport and provide short distance transport options within communities so people can conveniently access local services.”
“We could have said ’no’ to this technology, like other cities have done,” wrote councillor Ryan Murphy in the 2020 report, “but this would leave our residents and visitors worse off, with fewer options and less choice when it comes to getting around Brisbane.”
E-scooter programs have now expanded around the country, with trials now running in every state except New South Wales. State Transport Minister Andrew Constance ruled out a trial in March, branding programs in other states “a disaster”.
Constance’s claims aren’t entirely without merit. Last year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission found Lime failed to disclose safety issues to riders. That’s despite knowing about 50 incidents, some of which resulted in broken bones.
Lime conceded they broke consumer law in a written statement to the ACCC, writing: “We are a young company and while we don’t always get it right, we learn fast.” The company pulled out of Brisbane completely in June this year.
Brisbane’s rideable market is now served by Neuron Mobility and Beam, who both secured three-year contracts in May. Both companies introduced e-bikes to their offering in July, replacing Brisbane’s CityCycle scheme that was scrapped last year.
So, can e-scooters and e-bikes get people out of their cars? Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner is quietly confident, revealing in June that “between 30 and 50 per cent” of rideable trips were replacing car trips in the city.
For Neuron and Beam, their shareable business models appear to be safe for now. Personal e-scooters are on the market if you want to cut out the middle-man, but the lowest cost model is $999 from JB Hi-Fi. That’s around 22 months’ worth of monthly passes from Neuron.
As trials continue around the country, lawmakers and stakeholders are waiting to see if rideables can really take public transport users the last mile.
CBS recently announced their new gameshow The Activist. The show will be hosted by three celebrities: Usher, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Julianne Hough and will premiere on October 22… and the basic premise of the show is that it “pairs advocates from the worlds of health, education, and the environment with famous figures in a […]
