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Ever had an idea that could change the world?

Taronga is offering up to $50,000 in the Taronga Green Grant/s to fund the best and most innovative project to inspire Australian communities to live more sustainably and have a positive impact on our wildlife.

The world’s top minds agree that if we all keep using resources at the current rate, the earth will not be able to sustain our populations. Top scientists already conclude that one third of species on the planet could be extinct by 2050.

The Taronga Conservation Society Australia is looking for wholly original and innovative ideas to transform local communities and inspire people around the globe to embrace change.

We don’t just want you to just have the idea; we want to help you put it into action!

With the Taronga Green Grants, together, we can help humans and wildlife share the planet into the future.

Examples of the types of innovation we’re looking for include:

    * Earth Hour: by demonstrating how easy reducing your footprint can be – www.earthhour.org.au
    * Clean Up Australia Day: by reducing the risk of devastating pollution in natural areas - www.cleanup.org.au
    * Act4Nature: by providing clear, action oriented messages on how people can act for a better future - www.act4nature.org.au

Click here for application guidelines

All applications must be submitted electronically to:

    Dr. Rebecca Spindler
    Manager, Research and Conservation Programs
    Taronga Conservation Society Australia
    rspindler@zoo.nsw.gov.au

"All we have to do to destroy the planet’s climate ... and leave a ruined world to our children and grandchildren is to keep doing exactly what we are doing today, with no growth in the human population or the world economy. Just continue to release greenhouse gases at current rates ... and the world in the latter part of this century won’t be fit to live in. But, of course, human activities are not holding at current levels - they are accelerating, dramatically ... At current rates of growth, the world economy will double in size in a mere fourteen years."

James Gustave Speth, the Dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University

"… over the next forty to ninety years humanity will exceed - in all probability by around 100 per cent - the capacity of Earth to supply our needs."

Tim Flannery, Now or never: a sustainable future for Australia? Quarterly Essay, Sep 1, 2008