On Monday Feb 10, The New Joneses came to town. Ch7 Sunrise sent their weather crew in to live the life of a sustainable, energy efficient, no-waste, money saving, groovy-as-all-get-out life. The TV team moved into their 8 star energy rated Ecoliv home, which was furnished and fit out entirely by Leonard Joel, Gumtree and Sacred Heart Mission, showing we can source everything second hand, extend the life of existing goods, reduce demand for new goods and make better use of our finite resources in a serious stylish way.
Beds and linen were sourced from Grand Hyatt, highlighting that even in luxury hotels, we sleep in beds someone’s used before, but there’s nothing wrong with that!
Food for the crew, and a VIP breakfast that fed Saint’s Captain, Nick Riewoldt as well as Lord Mayor Robert Doyle, all came from Farmhouse Direct, Australia’s first online farmers’ market, where you can buy direct from farmers and producers online supporting local Aussie producers.
School tours encouraged kids to eliminate food waste, teaching them the importance of composting, worm farms and getting our vital nutrients out of the rubbish bin and back into the earth. (Food thrown in our bins and sent to landfill doesn’t break down nicely as we’d imagine, rather it produces methane, a toxic gas around 2o times more toxic than the carbon pollution from our cars…)
Speaking of cars, the Ch7 crew drove the Nissan Leaf, the electric vehicle which uses no petrol, adding zero tailpipe emissions to our air. Some of the car is made of up cycled plastic post consumer waste.
Our inspiring energy partner, powershop.com.au showed how right now, the cheapest energy on the market is coming from company’s like powershop, who are backed by 100% renewable energy, whilst our LED partners at LEDified highlighted how by switching from halogen down lights to LEDifieds, we could save up to 89% on our lighting bill. Illuminating!
Once the Sunrise crew moved out The New Joneses home was invaded by the crowds of Sustainable Living Festival, generating such interest that crowd control was required to manage the queues waiting to see inside!
All up, when The New Joneses came to town, they showed simple ways to transition to sustainable, stylish and smarter lifestyles that are good for us, our people our wallets and our planet.