Climate Action

Climate change is a significant variance in the planet's average weather patterns over a period of time. In the past, these changes have been caused by Earth’s dynamic processes and external forces, such as sunlight intensity. More recently, we've seen a growing acceptance that human activities are contributing to current changes to the global climate. Find out more at Wikipedia, Bureau of Meteorology or Department of Climate Change.

Port Augusta Power Station

Whatever your opinion about climate change, we think it's wise to limit what we use and to lessen the toxic load on our environment. We see it as simple risk management.

We're Acting Now

We're environmentally conscious. We garden naturally. We're herbicide and pesticide-free. Our park's health is improving, because we've been adding organic matter, planting trees and shrubs and, as they appear, weeding around native plants. Increasing birdlife love the extra insects, seeds, berries and flowers. Some wonderful scientists from the South Australian Museum - for example, Prof. Rod Wells (on the right) taught us a lot about our own district at the Mountains of Memory Geotourism workshop in mid-2008. Rod is here with Jane, Bernadette and Sue, all wearing climate-smart apparel!

We clean responsibly and most is done chemically-free. Our facilities are cleaned - not perfumed - and it's not only chemically-sensitive guests who notice the difference.

We're currently developing the park to reduce our ecological footprint before we invest in eco accommodation for guests.

We've been participating in Sustainable Tourism Australia's pilot program too, announced in December 2007 by South Australia’s Minister for Tourism, Hon Jane Lomax-Smith, MP. News Release 2007 (pdf 75kb)

We were delighted to receive Climate Action Innovator status, announced by the Minister at Ecotourism Australia's conference held in Adelaide. News Release 2008 (pdf 77kb)

Mature trees create a fantastic carbon sink Acting on climate change includes producing renewable energy, participating in and developing offsetting programs, minimising energy use, recycling and re-using, raising awareness and adapting to climate change.

We're actively monitoring the park's carbon emissions, 66t for the year 2007-08 and will be setting our reduction goals over 2008-09. Ideally, over time, we will achieve carbon neutrality. We hope to do this in partnership with government and community, with joint projects such as woodlots and endemic plantings in and around Quorn.

We're making the environment our business

We're making it our business so that you can relax in peaceful, healthy, natural surroundings. Guests help us by minimising their use of resources during their stay. And for those leaving a smaller ecological footprint, by travelling by foot or by bike, (yes, they do!) we provide a substantial discount. Heysen Trail walkers and Mawson Trail cyclists appreciate this gesture.

Ideally located in the Flinders Ranges between two national parks, Mount Remarkable National Park to thesouth and Flinders Ranges National Park to the north, makes it a great base for exploring the region. It's a short stroll to town - an easy option to leave your car parked while you wander around and explore historic Quorn. View of Quorn from Quorn Flora Reserve. We're to the left of the silo.

Emissions can be offset by contributing to planting programs. Trees and other plants have a profound influence on landscape functions and the climate. There's loads of opportunities to get out there and plant trees, shrubs, grasses and perennials - or donate to terrific organisations such as Trees For Life or Greening Australia.

We're (trying to be) Diet-wise

Food production plays a big part in greenhouse gas emissions. Eating local, seasonally grown produce is an easy, healthful and delicious way to reduce your carbon footprint. Better still, grow your own, become involved in a community garden, eat legumes a couple of times a week and grow vitamin-rich herbs if space and time is an issue.

Being Water-wise is quite a challenge

Watch this space as we try to work around obstacles so that we can re-use and recycle our water, other than using rainwater on our gardens. We're also considering how we can re-use stormwater.

We all know that water is a precious resource, and many Australian towns and cities experience water shortages. You can help by:

using water sparingly
taking shorter showers.

Being Energy-wise

Using less energy helps reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in our air. This is because less fossil fuels are being burnt to produce electricity. You can help by:

switching off your electrical equipment when not in use
turning off the lights when you leave the room
setting air conditioners to appropriate levels
turning off air conditioners when away from your room or caravan
asking tourism operators about their environmentally friendly practices.

Our Travel-wise efforts

We shop locally and when we do travel, we organise ourselves to make the most of our trip by doing one big shop. Currently around 20 percent of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions come from transport. To help reduce this and save fuel, we can all:

walk and cycle instead of driving
when it's available, use public transport
reduce your speed on the open road
switch off your engine when stopped
choose to buy or hire a fuel-efficient vehicle

As we keep working on our "eco-ness", we'll be happy to hear from like-minded people about how we're travelling. We know that lots of people are "green". They stay with us and tell us so! Drop us a line at info@quorncaravanpark.com.au. We'd love to hear from you.