Environment

Two tweets landed side-by-side in my Twitter feed the other day, highlighting the difference between our current government(s) and optimal reality:

Found via Miss Politics.

A Pictorial comparison of the amount of space required to transport the same number of passengers by car, bus or bicycle.

A pet hate of mine is the facade of democracy we have here. Either the ALP or the Liberals will be put in charge of the country. Sure, it looks like Howard is on the way out, but does it really matter?

Take your pick of comments I've heard recently:

• Why don't we just merge the ALP and the Liberals and stop spending billions on elections pretending that they are any different?
  
• Which half of the party are you going to vote for?
  

ALP policies one-up the Liberals. The Liberals one-up the ALP. Rinse. Repeat.

Oh, and it's not like the party members get an individual voice any more, it's all about the party line - read this extreme, un-reported example and be shocked at what goes on.

Some people join politics to make a difference. I just don't see that difference if you are towing the party line. Why bother?

With your vote, think about picking an independent, or perhaps a party that gives a stuff about more than being re-elected in three years. Maybe one that isn't going to bribe us with $billions of tax cuts while hospital waiting times reach record levels and public transport serves only a lucky few, and badly at that.

(I don't care if different levels of government have responsibilities for different things - we're all Australians, and if the states don't have money for something the Commonwealth should give it to them).

If you at all care about climate change, see what your local candidates' stances are. You might be surprised.

It's hard to be an Aussie and not know and have a degree of respect for Dr. Karl. But if you've managed (or aren't an Aussie), have a quick read of his Wikipedia entry.

So he's running for the Senate, and has a scientific view of the major parties' so called "clean coal", or CCS technology, upon which they are basing their half-hearted attempts at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. You can read Karl's thoughts on SMH.

Sydney alone would produce a cubic kilometre of compressed carbon dioxide every day as a result of the process, he said.

"You can't build a box big enough to store that every day - there is nowhere big enough underground to put it and the ocean is not an option.

"One cubic kilometre of CO2 to get rid of every day? They make reassuring noises that they're spending millions looking for underground caverns, but that is a complete waste of taxpayers' money."

If you're at all interested in leaving your descendants a planet to live on, make your vote count for genuine renewable, non-polluting power sources.

Original on Stumbleupon, found via Treehugger.

Cycled up to The Rocks last night for a truly inspiring talk by Jan Gehl. This is the Danish guy who has turned global cities into places you might actually want to live, the closest success to home being inner-city Melbourne.

In a move with a change of making me respect a politician, Sydney's Lord Mayor Clover Moore has engaged Jan to provide his views on Sydney, which makes for amazing reading.

(There will apparently be a podcast/vodcast of the talk available here - well worth your time).

I think after our European travels, the main reason I want to live in places like Paris, Amsterdam, Munich or Copenhagen is that they are just great, friendly places to be. Cars have their place outside the center, but the right there in the middle is a place for people. To meet, to be entertained, to relax, and to watch.

Sydney's CBD just is no use for that. The only public spaces worth talking about are disjoint, and at all times as a pedestrian you are less important than the car. Jan's work on other more visionary cities is but a dream here in Sydney.

After the talk, I changed into my cycle gear and pedaled back to Kogarah. In the city traffic, making the best of what cycle 'lanes' are on offer. More nightmare than dream.

Clover, I challenge you to step up to the plate and implement 100% of the recommendations when you get them later this year, as Melbourne did. Perhaps we will be less inclined to consider the Southern city a place to live, which we did much to our disgust after traveling there last year and being blown away by how good an Australian city could be.

The City of Sydney is running a Live Green festival tomorrow, I'm going to try and make it. Have to get off my lazy bum and cycle in, I've slackened off a bit with the recent nasty weather.

Everyone's photos of the festival (including mine hopefully) will be on Flickr, which is cool in itself.

Seven days of rain forecast, let's see how that pans out. The timing is nice as our tanks have been empty for just over a week, so they need a good topping up.

Plus, I've done a bit of water blasting cleaning here and there (yes, of hard surfaces), and have a fair bit more to do, but it's only legal with tank water!

The strong forces of Winter and Alina have combined to ravage the vege patch, so I've just spent the morning stripping it, enlarging it, and putting in sub-surface irrigation so as to be ready for spring growing season. A few things have survived, and our citrus trees finally look like they are beginning to understand this whole 'growing' thing, but it will be good to have it all back alive again.

Hopefully, between the backyard and the Organic Farmer's market that starts in Hurstville in a week or two, we should have a good supply of food, with organicfood.com.au to fall back on.

Firstly, Jersey Kerb are playing tonight! Same place - Tailors on Central. Kicking off 6pm.

Had a gig last weekend with The Honeymakers too at Marrickville, which was going pretty well considering I was sight-reading the bass parts, until we lost power half way through the last set! And, as is usual for this type of gig, they seem to underestimate the band and don't do any advertising, so there's not many people around, but at the end they all come up and say "wow, we should put some signs up and tell people next time!" Watch out, there mightn't be a next time if you don't get organised.

At home, we're squished into the back half of the house as I've ripped up all the carpet, and we've had people in sanding and oiling the floor boards. The mix-matching dirty carpet is now all gone, and in its place some great looking natural timbers, topped with natural oils. Sleeping in the dining room is a small price to pay, and we can move back in probably tomorrow.

The ugly room (at the front) is also getting floor boards put down, probably next week. The flooring guy is just making sure that we're getting plantation, not old growth, timber.

It's been good being able to work from home while this is happening, saving loss of another week's pay.

Got some baby furniture off eBay which I am going out to pick up tomorrow. We got a matching set of cot (which changes to junior bed and then a couch), wardrobe and chest-of-drawers with a change table on top. It's been a good way to get things - not new, saving on packaging and materials. Plus it's all also sustainable timber.

The baby itself keeps on growing, kicking now and then. Liz had some pains at work the other day but was able to go straight up and get the all clear - a nice perk of her workplace. It still hasn't really sunk in, not sure when it ever will. Just about the 2nd of December, I'm guessing.

Richard Branson, in SMH:

Why have I so strongly set out my green ambitions for Virgin Atlantic and other parts of Virgin? Because, from the books I've read and the scientists I've met, I am certain the world is heading for environmental catastrophe if we carry on as we are, relying on fossil fuels to improve our daily lives. Our children and grandchildren will never forgive us for doing nothing to stop climate change.

Even before we found out that we were going to be bringing another Gould into the world, the latter part of the above has always been the primary motivator for me doing something positive to reduce my impact on the world I live in.

We try fairly hard not to preach to people we meet day-to-day, because there is some stigma about being "one of those greenies". Actually, I just give a shit about the future of my species, other species and the planet we all share. Is that so bad? Why does that make me weird? Maybe others should think about their impacts too.

Sure, I preach a bit here, but you choose to come here and read it, and could easily choose not to.

Here's a list of things I personally do to reduce my impact on the world I leave to my children:

• We capture rainwater rather than let it run out to sea. Two days rain filled the tanks, and that will last us around two months, give or take. It is plumbed into everything in our house, except for one tap we have in the kitchen.
  
• I researched our new car purchase a lot, discarding things that appear green like Priuses and ended up at the car that emits the least amount of carbon for the style of driving we have. And then we run it on 100% biodiesel. So it's made from plants which have absorbed carbon in the recent past rather than dinosaurs who died millions of years ago. The car is so good we get comments on it regularly and it won Small Car of the Year shortly after we bought it.
  
• I cycle to work most days a week (exceptions are typically bad knees, terrible weather or having to lug instruments, when I use a train instead). I cycle for short journeys, when I don't take the dog out walking instead.
  
• My house is run on 100% renewable solar energy from Origin, and we have actively reduced our consumption of even that. Little things like my Solar Charger I made help out too.
  
• We took a train to Melbourne instead of flying, even though it took much longer. The scenery and relaxation was worth it.
  
• We eat organic food produced without pesticides, and where possible not shipped from the other side of the world or packaged in excessive plastic.
  
• I mow the lawn with a push-mower. At least, that part of the lawn that hasn't been replaced with a vegetable patch instead.
  

So what are you doing to leave a usable world for your descendants? Is doing something convenient now really worth your children or their children not having a place to do anything at all? Trust me, that's pretty inconvenient.

In my eyes, driving a car/4WD to get everywhere, leaving lights and appliances on powered by coal, flying for the speed of it, and putting jobs now ahead of a world to live in in the future (Mr Howard, et al) is actively saying to your children and grandchildren that you don't care about them.

And if that's how you feel, then go right ahead. I just wish I could find a way to get my own little world for my descendants away from the world you leave for yours.

Good, thought-provoking article over at The Age:

Eat a kilogram of steak and you are responsible for using up to 16,000 litres of water. A bag of potato chips: 185 litres. An apple: about 70 litres.

I knew activities such as these had huge water usages, but didn't realise that the numbers were so high. Household water use really is tiny compared to agriculture.
Solving sustainability is going to be a huge challenge involving all levels of production - it's not just up to the consumers. The best we can do is reduce our consumption of such water-hungry products.
The graphic at the top of the linked article brings it home quite well.

Due to the crazy demand it took quite a while, but we now have water tanks installed and ready for the next downpour! The rain has been on and off tonight, but it's just a waiting game now.
I've put some photos (with notes) up on Flickr of the installation if you are curious.
The capacity is 5000L at this stage, we can add more in the future if we need. It's all quite clever - a switch reads the level of water remaining and decides whether to pump that out or use the mains instead. All automatic, we don't have to do anything. If the power goes out, the pump wouldn't work anyway so it just uses the mains water.
We decided to keep the kitchen cold tap purely always mains water, but the entire rest of the house is through the system, meaning tank water if there is any available.

Hey: It's World Water Day!

We come in to the day on our dubious measuring system with Tim slightly ahead of Liz, but both well well under the national average.

Tim's running total: 26.85L
Liz's running total: 29.90L

This morning so far we've used a bit of greywater for rinsing, and had two half-flushes of the toilet at 4.5L each.
I've brewed a 0.25L pot of coffee, although that will do me for two cups.
I had a bit of a rinse and then some shower-in-a-can, because the luxury of daily bathing is not something that someone on this sort of tight water budget can afford. Around 0.25L there.
Liz washed her hair with 1.15L of water in the sink, a luxury she usually does every day, but might have to re-think in drought conditions. She then had a splash in the shower with 0.5L of water.
10:30 Another 0.75L bottle of water for me at work.
Lunch was a team affair at a pub up the road. I had vego pasta and one local beer. Not sure of the water load on that yet again.
17:00 coffee again was 0.25L, washing up also about 0.25L.

Liz's updates so far:
1.5L to drink
1.5L washing up
4.5L half toilet flush
2.25L cooking dinner
and a bit of a round up to 1.5L for miscellaneous odds and sods
She takes the lead! But she did cook and wash up, so I'd better not say too much :)

22:00 I get home from band, microwave my pre-cooked dinner (thanks wife!) and tally one final toilet flush, with a bit of water here and there, for another 4.75L.
23:00 40 hours complete! The tallied totals were:
Tim: 26.85L + dinner and lunch at the pub + three beers.
Liz: 29.90L + fish and chips.
So, not sure how much those meals add up to since we didn't cook them (and we don't normally eat out that much either!), but if we had have replaced them with meals we DID cook, we should have ended up with around 30L each, which I think is pretty good considering our target of 40L.

We also learnt a few tricks along the way, such as topping up the toilet cistern with greywater, and being very careful with the tap pressure when you really only need a tiny amount of water for the task.

So Liz found out about the 40 Hour Drought that ABC Local Radio is organising, and we both thought it would be an entertaining way to find out just how hard our farmers are toughing it.
We realise that most people reading this blog will not be doing the same, probably because you haven't heard of the idea, but more likely because of the fact that water is so amazingly cheap here that you have no incentive whatsoever to reduce your consumption. For example, our water tanks, which are being installed in about three weeks time, will save us something like $13 per quarter in the estimates we have been given.
Hardly financial incentive to get them installed, when the cost is quite a way north of $5000.
(People don't seem to realise - the vast majority of your water bill is the sewerage and the service charge. Actual water consumed is a small fraction of the cost. Check yours and have a look)

Anyway, here's a log of our efforts to use no more than 40 liters of water each in 40 hours - the drought started 7:00am this morning.

Tim's first 17 hours total: 15.85L
Liz's first 17 hours total: 12.5L
6:00 Alarm goes off. I decide that what I want to do before the drought starts won't take me an hour, re-set the alarm and go back to sleep.
6:30 Wake and shower. Yes, it's slightly cheating doing this before the drought starts, but we're still going to have to work out bathing inside the drought, plus as always we have a bucket to catch the pre-hot water and the water gets turned off while I'm soaping up.
Shave too, justifying this one by saying I would just grow a beard were I in real drought conditions. Actually I pretty much did earlier in the week, and was almost going to leave it that way on Monday morning.
6:55 Liz half-flushes the toilet, ridding us of the night's mellow yellow.
7:00 We're in drought conditions! I go and take a photo of the water meter, I'll post it here later, along with the reading.
7:05 0.25L of water each for tea/coffee. I use a stove-top coffee pot, and even if I want one cup I always fill it to save gas. The coffee I have this morning has been sitting there for a few days, and I just add hot water. Tastes good enough.
7:15 Decide that all the washing up should be done later, in one go, so that we can better judge our water usage.
7:45 Half-flush the toilet, however the inlet tap has been turned off and we fill the cistern with 4.5L of grey water we have previously claimed from the shower with a bucket, taps with a smaller container, etc., when we were washing hands and faces. Wash hands with a bit of soap and bucket of grey water. Will debate/decide whether this 4.5L counts at a later date, as we had it saved from before the drought!
9:10 Do my washing up at work, 0.25L as I use the water from one thing into another, minimising the amount I get out of the tap. Also grab a bit from other people who take their items away before the tap has finished running.
9:15 Fill up my water bottle at work, 0.75L. We have a really stupid cold filtered drinking water tap in our tiny "kitchen" at work, which runs on for about 30 seconds after you turn it off. Supposedly this is something to do with the pressure filter system draining everything out of the pipe so as not to over pressurise, but exactly the same system and tap on other floors of this building don't do the same thing. Lots of people couldn't be bothered waiting and just loose that last water (it's about 0.25L that runs on) down the drain. Those who do choose to wait (such as, obviously, me), have to turn it off early and hope you guessed the right amount to fill your drinking vessel.
We often wonder how much working time per year is wasted to this tap, and obviously how much water.
10:45 Ate an apple at work. It was from our Organic fruit and veg box, so I didn't need to rinse it. Cleaned my hands afterwards with a bit of water from my drink bottle.
12:30 Empty results of drinking water. We have waterless urinals here at work so no problems there. Washed hands with the most amazingly small amount of water, I'll be unkind and call it 0.1L.
13:00 Lunch was some left-over Risotto, haven't washed up the box yet. Filled up water bottle again - supposedly 0.75L, although I suspect that is an over-estimate and I'll check that out later. Despite an orange as well, I managed to avoid washing my hands.
15:20 Another waterless urinal trip, wash hands with tiny amount of water again. I'm going to roll it into the first trip's allowance.
Also, my share of a pot of coffee is 0.25L.
17:00 Toilet flush and wash hands, probably 9L. Ouch. Can't get away with that much on this budget.
18:00 Band rehearsal - finish off my bottle of water. Afterwards we have dinner - me a steak, chips and salad with a couple of beers. This was all purchased - does that mean the water used in the rearing and preparation doesn't count? Not sure. I wouldn't know how to guess anyway, other than the fact that meat is a horribly un-sustainable way to eat so I'm sure it's not good.
22:45 Water the back garden with the remnants of the beer now that it's dark :)

Liz's totals for the day:
Brushing teeth, face, hands, etc: 1L
Drinking: 2L
Bird and dog: 0.5L
Two half-flushes of toilet (with greywater though): 9L