Our campaigns
Deadly temperatures in Sydney’s suburbs mean that catching the bus on a hot day can be dangerous. In some of the hottest suburbs only a quarter of bus stops have any shelter.
Heatwaves are a silent killer. We need better heatwave emergency strategies to cope with record temperatures.
Hot suburbs mean higher electricity bills, more heatwave deaths and a blistering environment. There are simple ways to cool our suburbs and our homes. Let’s act now.
How can you help?
These are some of the tasks and activities we need help with. You can let us know if you would like to know more, or send us an idea for a different type of volunteering in the form below. All volunteers will be asked to sign the Volunteer Agreement so you have an understanding of your responsibilities and rights.
| Activity | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Event support | We’re looking for volunteers to help us run our events. If you’re passionate about heat and sustainability and great with people we’d love your help. Our events and community meetings are where supporters, community allies, and community leaders meet to discuss challenges and solutions related to heat and inequity in our cities | Sydney and Melbourne |
| Social media supporter | Do you love sharing great ideas and good causes on your social media? Social media is a key tool we use to share our work with the community and bring new people into our movement. We need your help to spread Sweltering Cities’ work as far as possible. | Anywhere |
| Photographer | We need more images of local heat impacts and cool solutions. You don’t need a fancy camera to submit your #BustedBusStop or local hot spot photos, the camera on your phone is perfect. If you’d like to get involved with taking photos for the #BustedBusStop campaign you can get more information here, otherwise let us know if you’d like to help with general photos below. | Anywhere |
| Researcher | Issues related to extreme heat are complex and diverse. We often need to research issues so that we have a deeper understanding for advocacy, and to communicate information to our community supporters. If you have some time to read reports, investigate an issue or help us analyse data – we need you! | |
| Bus Stop Mappers | How many bare bus stops do you see whilst travelling around Sydney? We need your help to map those by adding information through our online form. | Sydney |
| Community organisation allies | We value the relationships we have with like-minded organisations that are passionate about bridging climate inequities. By working together, we increase our power in the community, reach more people and effect change. Together, we can organise and host events with shared values and goals, reach more members of the community and work together on campaigns that address climate inequity in our cities. Do you belong to an organisation who would like to be a part of Sweltering Cities vision for more liveable, equitable and sustainable cities? We’d love to hear from you! | Anywhere |
| Outreach and organising | There are lots of different ways to talk to people who we might not be able to reach online about about extreme heat. We regularly phone Sweltering Cities supporters to let them know about what we are up to and new events and campaigns. We also have plans for stalls, door knocking and letterboxing. | Sydney, Melbourne or SE Queensland |
| Graphic Designers | Do you love using your design skills to spread the word about causes that are important to you? We use social media to share updates and information about our work and campaigns. We’d love your help creating some of this content (including fun memes)! You can find us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. | Anywhere |
Latest volunteering and events news
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VIDEO: Over 40 Victorian orgs and leaders come together to lay out priorities for heatwave adaptation and transformation
The Greater Melbourne Heat Alliance was founded in 2023 to bring together organisations and leaders from across the city who are working to reduce the impacts of rising temperatures, support communities to build resilience, and tackle the root causes of heat vulnerability. At the first meeting in February, the Alliance agreed to run a heatwave…
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Heatwave Safe Homes for Renters event
Last Thursday, over forty people came together for our ‘Heatwave Safe Homes for Renters’ event at Trades Hall in Carlton, with more people joining online. To prepare us for the hot summer ahead, we heard from an incredible panel of renters, health and housing experts about the risks of living in dangerously hot homes and…
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Community meets in Penrith to talk Heatwaves, Health and Hot Homes
This summer, rising temperatures and cost of living have put pressure on people across Western Sydney. On March 9th Sweltering Cities hosted the Heatwaves, Health and Hot Homes community forum in Penrith at Thornton Community Centre. We brought community members together to hear from experts and share ideas for cooler, more equitable suburbs. 60 people…
