Australian consumers are starting to understand the true cost of the food they buy, and that particular choices can significantly reduce environment and health impacts.

Under growing carbon, water, energy and nutrient constraints, food security and community well-being demand new planning. Andrew Campbell feels Australia is well placed for innovation, and its benefits.

When the United Nations introduced the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development in 2005, Australia already had many of the building blocks in place to increase learning about sustainable development in schools, the workplace and the wider community. Robin Taylor reports on commitments three years into this ambitious education transformation.

Sustainability education offers students and teachers alike wonderful opportunities for spirited and rewarding learning.

Tertiary institutions are responding to the need for sustainability practitioners with a range of new courses and adaptations.

Continuing debate about government plans to dam the Mary River near Gympie to secure urban drinking water for south-east Queensland has more twists and turns than the tranquil waterway itself.

Over the last 40 years many economists, business and government leaders and voters have assumed that the more you do for the environment the worse the economy and unemployment will be. But investment in a 'green economy' is now being discussed at high levels as the pathway out of financial crisis to a new round of job growth, prosperity and a low carbon society.

One of the unexpected effects of climate change may be an increase in new infectious diseases which could target native wildlife and stock, as well as humans. In September this year Australia's leading biosecurity managers and researchers met at a forum in Canberra's Parliament House to discuss the emerging threats.

Biochar, similar to the charcoal used by Amazonian cultures to invigorate their crops, is receiving attention as a potential solution for sequestration of significant amounts of carbon. Employing it in agriculture may also increase crop production and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other potent greenhouse gases, such as nitrous oxide. So what is this stuff?

What will Australia's workforce look like in a low-carbon future? Modelling by CSIRO is revealing how policy choices will shape our economy, workforce and environment over the next 50 years.

Tackling our environmental issues and moving society toward more sustainable ways of living require more responsive forms of governance.