Sadly, Starfish has been seriously coronered by the global pandemic. For the moment, the organisation has been placed into an hibernation-like state awaiting a possible positive return.
The impacts of Covid-19 on Starfish’s work program were severe.
By late March 2020, more than 80% of Starfish’s forward work had been either postponed indefinitely or cancelled outright. As an enterprise-based charity with freelance contractors, not employees, Starfish was not eligible for any of the government assistance that was available.
From April to September 2020, Starfish reset and pared back its operations to just three projects, so as to match work with capacity and resources.
Unfortunately, there was further wave of impacts which played out during this time, the affect of which was to undermine the financial viability of even this handful of projects.
As a result, all of Starfish’s sustainability initiatives and professional services have now been discontinued, and Starfish’s Associates program has been suspended indefinitely.
Thankfully, Starfish remains still a going concern and has sufficient reserves to cover it’s fixed overheads for several years to come. The Board intend to initiate a new strategic planning process once a forward view of the situation becomes clearer, which they anticipate will be mid-to-late 2021 at the earliest.
During this transition period, Starfish’s Board will consider any new sustainability initiative on a case-by-case basis, to ensure that Starfish has the required capacity and resources. All regulatory and compliance requirements will continue to be satisfied during this time.
Our work at Starfish is also different because it spans all three of the pillars of sustainability ~ social and cultural; natural and built environments; and the economy and livelihoods ~ as well as a wide range of specialist areas, such as >>>>>
Go to the end of the path until you get to the gate.
Go through the gate and head straight out towards the horizon
Keep going towards the horizon
Sit down and have a rest every now and again
But keep on going. Just keep with it.
Keep on going as far as you can
That’s how you get there.
by Michael Leunig
Our name reflects the unique sustainability principles embodied by starfish as well as the many traditional stories of starfish which show us both how to be sustainable and some of the ways to shift to sustainability.
“The future is here. It’s just not widely distributed yet.”
~ William Gibson
Starfish’s purpose is to create, lead, facilitate and support the changes that are required to be able to realise genuine rural and remote sustainability, being:
- well, inclusive and diverse people, families and communities (socio-cultural sustainability)
- meaningful, fair and responsible livelihoods and economies (economic sustainability)
- resilient, robust and productive environments for the planet (environmental sustainability).
Starfish sees sustainability as requiring a new way of living and being on Earth ~ one that both enables all of humanity’s essential needs, and the needs of all other lifeforms, to be met both now and for many generations to come into the foreseeable future.
This focus on “essential needs” rather than “wants” is most likely to present a deep challenge to contemporary culture and economics ~ and yet it is essential if the goal of genuine sustainability is to be met.
Starfish’s name has been inspired by the lessons for genuine sustainability that are given by the sea creatures and the book, The Starfish and the Spider.
- Distributed rather than centralised ~ in terms of knowledge, capabilities, systems, resources and more. This principle is embodied in collaborative governance, renewable energy, the internet, community agriculture and more
- The importance of regeneration and healing to be able to work through the legacies of conflict, restore environmental health and be equipped to work through the likely future ‘great disruption’ and associated trauma
- Being of service and collaborative to enhance capacity and resilience in others ~ be they people, families, communities, organisations, networks or systems ~ and to create inter-dependent, not co-dependent, mutually beneficial relationships
“You never change anything by fighting the existing. To change something, build a new model and make the existing obsolete.”
~ Buckminster Fuller
There are of course other principles which are important to sustainability, however we are inspired by the beautiful creatures which have given us both our name as well as some significant guiding principles for our work.
At Starfish we believe that short-term global change towards sustainability will primarily happen as an emergency response to disruption, rather than as pro-actively created transformation.
However, we prefer to stay ahead of the curve and purposefully create the conditions for genuine sustainability now. This involves conscious change in systems, enterprises, methods, technologies, know-how, produce, goods, services, infrastructure, ways of being, ways of working together, and much more.
We know that working creatively on sustainability during an era of great disruption is going to require highly professional leadership, large-scale collaboration, deep commitment, self-care and work which is well matched to available resources and Starfish’s own capacity.
“For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.”
~ H. L. Mencken
Meaningful change comes through shared learning, adaptation, and experimentation. Involving diverse people and organisations makes that change even stronger.
This is Starfish’s speciality.
The speed and scale of change today demands new ways of thinking and working. Starfish’s approach reflects this through:
- Adaptive. We’re an agile network that shares leadership and resources to respond to:
- Opportunities ~ by creating new sustainability models and building needed capabilities.
- Disruptions ~ by turning challenges into solutions.
- Holistic. We use integrated, place-based strategies and form tailored teams from our network for each unique initiative.
- Collaborative. We align efforts across services and stakeholders, enabling success in areas like mental health, renewable energy, youth development, and regeneration.
- Start-up incubator. We reduce barriers for sustainability start-ups by providing governance, finance, and support systems — eventually spinning them off independently.
- Uber participation. Our large-scale participatory tools help build shared understanding and counter fragmentation and declining trust in centralised authority.
Starfish’s initiatives are sustainability projects which are either led by Starfish, where Starfish is directly involved or Starfish is providing funding.
- Energy
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- Coalition for Community Energy
- Farming the Sun
- New England Wind
- North Coast Energy Forums
- Sapphire Windfarm (Community Investment)
- Zero Net Energy Town (Z-NET)
- Regenerative Farming
- Banded Bee Farm
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- Biochar for Sustainable Soils (B4SS)
- Green Glasshouses
- The Carbon Farm ~ donate here
- The Living Classroom
- Disability
-
Complex Case Management & Behaviour Support Conference
- Mental Health
-
Partners in Recovery | New England
- Youth
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- BackTrack
- EdFest @ SLEX 2012
- Tamworth Youth Development Strategy
- UNE Student Association
- YOUth LEADing the World
- Social and Affordable Housing
-
- BackHome for Girls
- Homes North Governance & Strategy Retreats
- Housing Alliance Annual Forum
- Elderly
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New England Home & Community Care
- Reconciliation
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- Armidale Aboriginal Memorial
- Myall Creek Centre for Reconciliation
- Community Enterprise
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- BackTrack
- Biochar for Sustainable Soils
- Community Energy initiatives (see ‘Energy’ listing above)
- Community Regeneration
- Earthfunerals
- Plastic Collective
- The Living Classroom
- Biodiversity
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- Border Rivers-Gwydir Catchment Action Plan
- earthfunerals
- Little Star Bee Sanctuary | 100 hives in 100 schools
- New England Biodiversity Connectivity Project
- The Grass Routes Initiative
- Strategy & Research
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- Ballina Major Regional Centre Strategy
- Gwydir Vision 2030 Summit
- Myall Creek Business Development Plan
- Lismore Community Sustainability Strategy
- National Community Energy Strategy
- New England Home & Community Care
- New England Sustainability Strategy
- North Coast Energy Forums
- Northern Inland Regional Development Plan
- SEED (Social Economic & Environmental Development) Plans
- Governance
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- Border Rivers-Gwydir Catchment Action Plan
- Coalition for Community Energy
- Coledale NOW (New Opportunities West)
- Housing Alliance Annual Forum
- New England Biodiversity Connectivity Project
- New England Sustainability Strategy
- Partners in Recovery | New England
- Tamworth Youth Development Strategy
- Leadership & Learning
-
- BackTrack
- Complex Case Management & Behaviour Support Conference
- Homes North Governance & Strategy Retreats
- Inaugural National Community Energy Congress
- North Coast Energy Forums
- Northern Inland Sustainable Business Network (NISBN)
- UNE Student Association
- YOUth LEADing the World
- EdFest @ SLEX 2012
Starfish welcomes your interest to get involved with and support our work for rural and regional sustainability.
These are the different ways you can play a part:
Meaningful change happens through shared learning, adaptation, and hands-on collaboration. By involving a wide range of people and organisations, Starfish helps make that change more effective.
As change accelerates around us, Starfish adapts by working in these ways:
- Adaptive: We stay flexible, responding to both new opportunities and unexpected challenges.
- Holistic: Our work is community-based and systems-focused, drawing on the right mix of people for each project.
- Collaborative: We bring together partners across sectors to address complex needs and secure lasting results.
- Start-up support: We help new sustainability ventures get started with governance, funding, and structure, then spin them off as independent projects.
- Wide participation: We use tools that build shared understanding and inclusive decision-making at scale.
Meaningful change happens through shared learning, adaptation, and hands-on collaboration. By involving a wide range of people and organisations, Starfish helps make that change more effective.
As change accelerates around us, Starfish adapts by working in these ways:
- Adaptive: We stay flexible, responding to both new opportunities and unexpected challenges.
- Holistic: Our work is community-based and systems-focused, drawing on the right mix of people for each project.
- Collaborative: We bring together partners across sectors to address complex needs and secure lasting results.
- Start-up support: We help new sustainability ventures get started with governance, funding, and structure, then spin them off as independent projects.
- Wide participation: We use tools that build shared understanding and inclusive decision-making at scale.