Say "Hi" to Yael.

Yael Stone has spent most of her life acting, in television, film and on stage. During the Black Summer bushfires, she publicly announced that she was giving up her Green Card and returning to Australia to work towards positive climate action. She is the founder of Hi Neighbour, a volunteer-led not-for-profit and recently chatted to the Flame about this unique and exciting project.

You’re a Bulli local now, what do you love about living on the Coal Coast/Dharawal Land?

I’ve been in Bulli since 2016 but I’ve dreamt about living here since I was a teenager catching the train with my best friend down to her place in Jervis Bay. As the train passed through this magic corridor of the ocean and the escarpment, it felt like a geographical embrace. I feel extremely lucky to call this place home.

Can you tell us, in a nutshell, what Hi Neighbour is, and how it came about?

Hi Neighbour is about making sure the low carbon energy revolution that is banging down our door includes everyone. This region is ripe and ready to lead the world with low carbon transformation – we can see that when we look at wildly exciting visions like Electrify 2515. Hi Neighbour wants to make sure it is local workers who also benefit – not just the fancy postcodes.

We do this by awarding scholarships to local workers to upskill so they can move into low carbon jobs. We provide the money but we also provide the knowledge of training pathways, which can be shockingly difficult to uncover – particularly when you’re a busy working professional. We want to make this graduation to low carbon work easier.

Our unique funding model seems to be getting a bit of attention. We loan businesses money to finance their solar. The interest repayment goes to the scholarship fund, the principal repayments go toward future solar financing projects. The best part about it is we get to immediately lower CO2, make money to reinvest in the community and help a local business move toward their sustainability goals. We call this our win, win, win model.

You’ve said that the Black Summer bushfires were the catalyst for you to return to Australia and focus on driving positive climate outcomes. I think many of us feel overwhelmed by climate change. How did you refocus your anger and fear?

I’ve gone down a few pathways. I helped paint a mural that got me arrested. I've enrolled in university to study sustainability (slowest mature-age student on record, I’m sure), I’ve talked to a sickening number of clever people about what best to do in the face of climate change and from there I started working on Hi Neighbour. I am now obsessive about Hi Neighbour and I channel my anxiety, guilt, hope and belief in a positive future into that work. I love the people I now work with, whom I would never have met otherwise. I’m excited about that relational network growing and spreading for all of us. Communities that survive and thrive are deeply interconnected, in other words, saying ‘hi’ to your neighbour is really important.

I grew up, like many locals, with family working in the Steel Works. The issue of job losses has been a real and sustained threat hanging over much of the Illawarra region for decades now. Hi Neighbour has such a unique (and, I think, respectful) approach regarding the history and future of our Steel City. Can you give us a bit of a run-down of how this ‘divide’ is approached and how you hope the community can come together?

At Hi Neighbour we are proud of our past and ready for our future. That means saying thank you for all the hard work to the people who have defined this region’s industrial and mining history. It means acknowledging that there is an energy transformation at our doorstep and we must make sure that those families with generational skills are supported to move into low carbon jobs. My grandfather worked in steel, he was extremely proud, if he could have done his job in a way that was better for the environment and future generations I know he would have wanted the opportunity to be part of that. That’s why we prioritise coal and steel workers for scholarships.

Alright, I’m in! How can we get onboard?

Right now I would say, please spread the word about our scholarships to local sparkies! We’ve just launched our first round of scholarships worth $20,000 to support local electricians to be ready for the work required to support Electrify 2515. Specifically, solar grid connection and design, battery storage systems for grid-connected PV systems and EV charger training. We want to hear from local, qualified electricians, or in the 4th year of their apprenticeship, that are over 18. We prioritise coal and steel workers and their families, we prioritise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and female applicants, but we welcome applications from everyone!

More broadly I would say, please jump on our website and click ‘get in touch’ and talk with us directly. We’ve got loads of ways to be part of this local movement and we can’t wait to find ways to work together. We need your support.

To learn more about Hi Neighbour and its founder Yael, head to Hi Neighbour