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Tuesday, August 9. 2011Come Plant Some Trees
This Saturday from 9:30am we'll be planting trees with Landcare across the back section of our property. Where we now live!
This collaborative effort is aiming to restore native bushland across the country, and we have previously volunteered our time on a number of local properties to assist this cause. Now it's our turn, and people will plant approximately 250 native trees to provide native habitat. These will all be species native not just to Australia but to the Razorback area. If you are interested in helping out, we'd love to have you along. We are only 45 minutes south of Sydney and it will be a pleasant environmental day out. Please do let us know you are coming as we will be providing lunch. You can even reduce some of that guilt by answering "yes actually, I did plant some trees to offset my carbon output!" Many thanks, Tim and Liz. Monday, June 13. 2011Why Build Sustainably?
My parents will be quick to tell you that as a teenager I was one to spend 10-15 minutes in the shower without much thought. Why not? There's plenty of water, and power to heat it, and besides I had more important things to do like adolescence and general self-indulgence.
I can't recall where it started (blog entries say attempting to stop phone book deliveries in 2004) but there was a true shift in my and Liz's thinking towards such matters when it became abundantly apparent that our existence here is transient, and we are but caretakers of the planet awaiting to hand it to our children. It did happen before we had children, but I've read stories of new parents who do go through this sudden understanding that they had best start looking after the world their children are going to live in. So we purchased a car that was amongst the most efficient on the market at the time, and could run on biofuels (it got me to the station this morning, and hasn't skipped a beat since new). We installed water tanks in our suburban home, plumbed to the entire house - almost unheard of at the time. We massively reduced our consumption of water and energy, I took the train to work on the days I wasn't cycling, and pretty much every decision we made became more focused on the future of the planet than just raw lowest cost. (Summary from 2007 here) Somewhere along the line we wanted a power meter. I found one online at the Alternate Technology Association's website, and while browsing there stumbled across two things that were to shape our future very strongly:
So, we went looking for and eventually purchased a block of land, and the rest is about to be (our) history. I'd had hoped that by 2011 all homes would be built to sensible standards, but in our discussions we still found most builders, and certainly almost all bulk package home builders view sustainability as just adding a water tank to the side of your 400m2 fully-airconditioned 100-downlight McMansion. That approach is going to look a little odd with the power price hikes we are all about to face. Monday, April 26. 2010Insulated Twitter
Two tweets landed side-by-side in my Twitter feed the other day, highlighting the difference between our current government(s) and optimal reality:
Thursday, November 8. 2007Required Space
A Pictorial comparison of the amount of space required to transport the same number of passengers by car, bus or bicycle.
Friday, November 2. 2007Party Politics
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:
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. Dr. Karl
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. 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. Tuesday, September 11. 2007Sydney Planning
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.
Posted by Alison Gould
in Cycling, Environment, Sydney, Travel
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22:47
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Friday, August 24. 2007Live Green Festival
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.
Posted by Alison Gould
in Cycling, Environment, Photography
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02:42
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Saturday, August 18. 2007Rain rain, come this way, then come again another day
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. Thursday, July 26. 2007Catchup Blogging
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.
Posted by Alison Gould
in Environment, Family, Honeymakers, Jersey Kerb, Real Life
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23:10
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Tuesday, June 12. 2007So what are YOU doing?
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:
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. Wednesday, May 23. 2007Water is not just what comes out of the tap
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. Sunday, April 22. 2007Water Tanks: Installed!
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.
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