The development of energy literacy (knowledge, attitudes, and intended behaviour) and agency of New Zealand children (age 9-10) were investigated through thematic and exploratory statistical analyses of interviews (October 2011-April 2012) with 26 children, their parents and teachers, focus groups and photo elicitation. The children knew that electricity costs money and saw it as a finite resource. Half could name an energy source but few knew of any associated environmental issues. Most of the children had a positive attitude towards saving electricity, but did not intend to save energy to a further extent (low intended behaviour) and were not influencing their families to conserve energy (low agency). The children were learning about energy informally from a variety of sources, and acquired their attitudes mostly from talking to their parents. The results highlight the need for energy education for citizenship at school and conversations about energy both there and at home.

Objective: To analyse local government (LG) policies concerned with creating a healthy, sustainable and equitable food system.Methods: All relevant policies on LG websites were identified and analysed against a framework of 34 recommendations for LG action on food system issues.Results: A total of 13 of 207 (New South Wales 128, Victoria 79) LGs had dedicated food system policies. Most actions on food system issues were in general (non-food specific) policies. MostLGs acted on food safety, sustainable local food production, food waste, drinking water access and food system-related education. Few used economic measures to support the consumption of healthier foods, restricted unhealthy food advertising, developed and implemented dietary guidelines in LG-managed settings or influenced the opening of unhealthy/healthy retail food outlets. Conclusions:LGs undertook a range of actions relevant to creating a healthy, sustainable and equitable food system. Strategic opportunities for LGs include regulating the sale and marketing of unhealthy food and ensuring policy coherence. Implications for public health:LGs can be supported to act further on food system issues, including through 'joined-up' state and federal policies. Further research should address how relevant LG policies can be developed, implemented and monitored effectively to address the complex challenges created by contemporary food systems.

Socialisation into electricity consumption usually occurs during childhood, but little is known about the socialisation processes involved. Here, we use interviews and focus groups to investigate how nine to ten-year-old children from New Zealand learn about, and consume, electricity in their homes. The children used a wide range of electrical appliances and engaged in different energy saving behaviours, often without being conscious of their implications. Control over appliances and learning through modelling, reminders and rules helped to socialise children into saving electricity, while nagging and inconsistent behaviours from parents were counterproductive. Conversations about energy were uncommon, but helpful for creating consciousness about energy use. We discuss the need for a more structured approach, through developing energy literacy, in order for children to use their agency, surpass their parents' level of energy saving practices, and stabilise energy saving behaviours through life. In addition, we provide recommendations on how parents, schools, the media and product developers can help in this process.

Amidst calls for paradigm shifts in environmental scholarship, we track an emergent literature on how environmental values, knowledge and behaviour (EVKB) change (or not) with the migration process. We focus on the role of Majority World migrants to the Minority World. Large-scale survey research into EVKB is beginning to consider both ethnicity and migration history as important variables, but tends to leave the concepts of environment and environmental behaviour unexamined. Western EVKB indicators thus tend to be universalized rather than understood as themselves culturally specific. An emergent literature attempts to improve both quantitative and qualitative research on EVKB by broadening the conceptualization of environmental behaviour to include the practices of Majority World migrants. Those studies throw new light on the process of acculturation as having disruptive or solidifying potential for sustainable practices. We summarize four implications for future research. There is a need to go beyond western logics in research design and method. Straightforward assumptions about the 'pro' in pro-environmental behaviour need to be challenged. Cases of EVKB's persistence post-migration and positive influence on the broader population should be sought out and examined. The migration process provides real-time experiments in enacting alternative worlds.

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Issues addressed Urgent action is required by all levels of government to create a food system capable of nourishing a rapidly growing population while remaining within planetary boundaries. This study investigated policies and programs implemented by Australian local governments (LGs) that aim to contribute to a healthy, sustainable and equitable food system. Methods An online survey was completed by LGs (n = 64) in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia. Questions focused on LGs' food system‐related policies and programs, barriers to and enablers of engaging in food system work and organisational responsibilities for food system work. Results Preventing food waste, organising food‐related social/cultural events and providing potable water were the most commonly reported activities. Few LGs reported policies/activities on market gardening or sustainable agricultural practices, or strengthening food system resilience. LGs implemented a wide range of initiatives, such as hosting food forums, using research to identify and address food access issues and providing healthy food and drink options within LG‐owned/managed facilities. Enablers of food system work included internal LG support, human resources, external funding and partnerships. Barriers included lack of community interest, short‐term and/or project‐based funding, internal governance issues and restrictive state government planning frameworks. Conclusion Australian LGs undertake a wide range of actions addressing diverse food system issues; however, internal and external barriers constrain their involvement in creating a healthy, sustainable and equitable food system. So what? Legislative reform, combined with increased financial and human resource capacity, would support LGs to expand, strengthen and sustain their food system work.

Migration from the Global South to Global North is a major feature of contemporary population movements, and provides a lived experiment of the implications of moving from less resource-intensive modes of living towards more resource-intensive ones. Pre-migration practices come together in complex ways post-migration with established norms and infrastructures in destination countries. Here we examine the barriers to and enablers of sustainable practices, synthesising in-depth research from nine different studies in south-eastern Australia in relation to household water use, food growing and transport. The total sample includes 323 migrants from 33 countries. The main barriers include infrastructure and broader patterns of work and society. The main enablers are cultural norms of frugality and preferences for public transport. Barriers and enablers interact in diverse ways. We show that migrants are important contributors to inadvertent sustainabilities, but their contributions may be weakened by infrastructural, structural and cultural barriers. Addressing the diverse capacities of migrants would enhance system change for everyone.