IT was the day after the Black Saturday bushfires that devastated Victoria and Nicolle Herbert was sitting in a Winston Hills park in baking heat.
The mother of three was tired of waiting for world leaders to take action on climate change and was hoping her neighbours felt the same way.
``I'd been sending out flyers and I was resigned that I'd be sitting in the park all by myself,'' she said.
``But 12 people came, some of them with small babies.''
It was a sign of a community determined to take action to help save the planet from climate change.
Sustainability Street Winston Hills was born.
While there are 30 Sustainability Streets in NSW and Victoria, the group founded last year by Mrs Herbert is the only one in the Hills or Parramatta local government areas.
Since then the group has grown to about 20 members, who not only share information on how to live more sustainably, but have formed friendships that boost the area's feeling of community.
``They call it `communiversity' that is, people in the community learning from each other,'' Mrs Herbert said.
Mrs Herbert finds it hard to believe to how her simple desire to do her small part to alleviate the effects of global warming had blossomed.
``Towards the end of last year I became aware of the peak oil theory (the concept that world oil production had peaked and would decline into the future) and realised we need to do something differently.
``I checked on the internet and I found the Vox Bandicoot site and its Sustainability Street program.
``They sent me the manual, and I sent out some flyers and held the first meeting.''
Mrs Herbert said not only had the group held regular activities such as a bush tucker walk and barbecue, but it had led her to do things she had never dreamed of.
``I have been involved with the Sustainability Street institute in Melbourne and a couple of weeks ago I spoke at a course run by Bondi, Rockdale and Woollahra councils for residents interested in starting their own Sustainability Street groups.
``Next year we hope to grow food and share seedlings as well as hold special events like a composting workshop.''
She has also joined with other residents to create a new group, Transition Parramatta, a movement ``about not waiting for the government to do anything'', she said.
``Climate change tends to focus a lot on doom and gloom and you feel helpless but it's getting the word out there that we can make a difference.
``Transition Parramatta is about making the transition from our oil-dependent society to a less oil-dependent, healthy society.
``It's about doing things to make ourselves less dependent such as growing our own food in the backyard.
``If we had a three-day transport strike, for example, the supermarket shelves would start emptying. Transition is about improving our resilience.''
Mrs Herbert called on other Hills residents to form their own Sustainability Street groups. ``My motto is: It's easy, we can do it,'' she said.
This Sunday at 3pm, Sustainability Street and Transition Parramatta will screen a free movie with afternoon tea and discussion at Winston Hills Community Centre. The film The power of community: How Cuba survived peak oil looks at how Cuba became less oil-dependent.
RSVP or group details: sustainabilityst.winstonhills@
gmail.com or 0422444261.
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