From The Web This Week

Taxing plastic bags in the UK reduced the amount used drmatically do you think we should do it here?
What else should we tax?

Making your own Garlic Powder if you had a bumper crop

Have you ever tried Salted Herbs?  I love this idea for using up herbs that you may have purchased and don't want to waste any left overs.

I quite like this idea for an above ground root cellar or mushroom growing chamber

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is bigger than believed, devastating

The Elephants and Bees Project

A Friend sent me this email the other day and I thought it was such an amazing project that I had to share.  Check out the website.

Bees and Elephants

Being a farmer is hard work — but being a farmer in places like Kenya, Botswana, and Sri Lanka has a unique challenge that other areas of the world don’t: elephants!

Wild elephants, whose natural behavior is to roam, have been known to march right through fields, damaging and destroying crops. When the human farmers try to intervene, things can turn ugly, and both human and elephant injuries and even deaths can occur. Sadly, like too many animals, elephants face many dangers at the hands of humans. It’s a shame, because these creatures are intelligent, sensitive and have complex emotional and social connections, forming strong bonds with one another,and with different animals, too. So a solution was needed that would both keep the farmers’ fields safe, but make sure the elephants were in no way harmed. This solution was not only brilliantly simple, but also had the added bonus of helping out another species in crisis: bees.

A Farmer in his raided crop

In areas where elephants are free-roaming, humans must learn to coexist with them. Sadly, elephants like to raid farms at night, eating and flattening crops and damaging the farmers’ livelihoods. This can lead to violent confrontations where both humans and elephants are hurt and killed.

Elephants usually raid fields at night and to ward them off, people have fired guns, thrown rocks and launched firecrackers to scare them off. Just like with humans, an injury or death in an elephant’s family unit puts major emotional stress on the herd.

The devastation to fields is no small issue, either. These small farmers rely on their crops to survive, and a damaged field can mean a serious loss of income and food.

There seemed to be no simple solution, until zoologist Dr. Lucy King noticed something: Elephants really don’t like bees, and will avoid them at all costs. If they hear buzzing, they’ll leave an area immediately, signalling to others that bees are about. This is because the bees’ stings are especially painful to the elephants’ trunks, and to avoid this pain, the elephants prefer to just stay away. And thus, bee fences were born!



“Beefencing”, as it’s known, is the use of hanging rows of beehives, each connected by a length of wire. When a nosy elephant approaches, it will knock into the wire, setting the hives swinging and disturbing the bees. And when the elephants hear that buzzing, they’ll turn around and leave. The crops are safe, the humans are safe, and the elephants are safe. The bees are safe, too.



Dr. King has been working with various conservation organizations and communities in Africa and Sri Lanka, building these beefences around local farms. She hopes that this will be the first of many steps to create sustainable solutions where humans and animals can coexist peacefully.

The bees also help pollinate fields and maintain the biodiversity needed to support an ecosystem, so the farmers get a helping hand, too. And as an added bonus, the farmers get to keep the honey and beeswax produced by their hives, which they can use or sell.



This “elephant-friendly honey” is available in local shops near the areas where the farmers live and work. So unless you’re planning a visit to Nairobi, you won’t be able to get any. But it’s quite popular where it’s sold!

Worth Watching

We don't get SBS at our place but I like to keep an eye out for any really interesting documentaries that are on.

There is a really interesting series about climate change and the different ways impacts are being felt across America and the world.
Separate stories around climate change unfold across nine episodes, told by a cast of A-list Hollywood celebrities and high-profile journalists, including Harrison Ford, Matt Damon, Jessica Alba, Michael C. Hall, Ian Somerhalder, Olivia Munn, Arnold Schwarzenegger, America Ferrara, and more. These correspondents travel to areas throughout the U.S. and around the world to interview both experts and ordinary people affected by, and seeking solutions to, the impacts of climate change. 

I have only seen the first 2 episodes so far but I have been really impressed by the way it has been put together.  I really hope that our polititians are watching this too although I am not hopeful.  I know that Julie Bishop announced that Australia will contribute $200 million to the UN Green Climate Fund but I son't think this would have even happened except that many of the world leaders have put pressure on the government.  We really need to do a lot more since according to the latest OECD Greenhouse Gas Emissions Index Australia is ranked as the largest emitter of greenhouse gases per capita how disgraceful.


Years of Living Dangerously - Dry Season

Years of Living Dangerously - End of the Woods

Years of Living Dangerously -  A Dangerous Future

The other series I found really informative is What's the Catch? presented by Matthew Evans the Gourmet Farmer. This documentary series highlights the complex and sometimes shocking truth about Australia’s seafood. It also launches a campaign around seafood labelling that will enable all Australians to make better choices when it comes to buying and consuming seafood. 
We do not eat a lot of seafood and most of what we eat is a locally caught fresh water fish (therefore not sea food) that is a pest species, but it has made me think a lot more about the other seafood we buy.

Whats the Catch? - Episode 1

Whats the Catch? - Episode 2

Whats the Catch? - Episode 3

Have you seen any of these documentaries?  What did you think?

Peak Challenge - Must Watch Short Films

This week I came across some short animated films by Linda Cockburn who blogs over at Living the Good Life.
Linda (with the help of many other talented people) has done an amazing job with these short films and I think they are a great way of starting the conversation about climate change with people you know.
These are only about 4 minutes each and are presented in a way that makes the information easy to understand and relate to.  Please check these out and pass them on.

I will be emailing these to everyone I know and I encourage you to do the same.











What did you think?

I am looking forward to the follow on from these.

The Most Disturbing Thing On TV I Have Seen In A Long Time

In conjunction with Plastic Free July I would like to recommend that everyone makes time to watch this documentary.
I aired on Australian TV last week and at the time I did not see it so tonight I watched it online.  Within 10 minutes I felt ill, angry, revolted and ashamed to be part of a so called evolved and intelligent species.

The documentary which you can watch here (until the end of the month) is called 'The Men Who Made Us Spend'.

It is an eye opening account of how products are designed to fail so that we need to replace them and how we are encouraged to spend.
Sadly there is some graphic evidence of what happens to all the electronic waste as our society constantly upgrades, including all of the brand new un-opened boxes of computing equipment, that is thrown out as it becomes 'outdated'.

I know how different the life we live is compared to many people and that we are quite a long way removed form what is the norm (although far from what I call normal).  But one of the facts I found staggering was that over the 1990's to 2000's people in America went from buying approximately 34 pieces of clothing a year to 67 pieces which equates to a new piece of clothing every 5.4 days.
I don't think I have purchased that many new pieces of clothing in the last 5 years.

In the next episode they will explore how our emotions are manipulated and our anxieties exploited so they can sell to us which I think will be very interesting.

If you have already seen it what did you think?

Plastic Free July - My KeepCup

This month I am participating in Plastic Free July and this week I thought I would let you know a few of the things I have started or been doing differently this month.

Recently I was lucky enough to win a KeepCup from Bruise Mouse over at Living a Little Greener and it has been getting a bit of a workout.
The KeepCup is such  great Australian product and you can completely customise yours by picking the colours for each part.  There are a range of sizes to choose from and they are designed to be the same as a regular take away coffee.
I mostly work from home but even at home I love the fact that because of the cups design (and it has a lid) it means my tea/coffee stays hot for ages.  Every month I go into the office for a few days so last week when I worked in the office I took my cup with me.  Not only was it coveted by a number of my colleagues but I also got a 60 cent discount at the coffee shop for using it.  So now if I do want to buy a coffee when I work in the office I do not have the dilemma of crating waste.
The other great use I have found for my KeepCup is for tea/coffee on the road in the car as the passenger.

Here are some good reasons to get yourself a KeepCup.

DISPOSABLE CUP FACTS

• 500 billion disposable cups are manufactured globally every year; that’s about 75 disposable cups for every single person on the planet.
• Half of the plastic used in the world today is for single use items.
• On average, each disposable cup contains 5% of the raw materials involved in the process of making and delivering it.
• In the United States alone, 58 billion disposable cups are thrown out annually, with the majority ending up in landfill; that is, 158 disposable cups for every US inhabitant.
• The 500 billion disposable cups used in the world each year placed end to end could circumnavigate the earth 1,360 times.
• World paper use has exploded by 400% in the last 40 years. Now nearly 4 billion trees or 35% of the total trees chopped down are used in paper industries on every continent.
• 98 tonnes of resources are used to make 1 tonne of paper.
• Globally, we go through about 300 million tons of paper each year. Most of that paper is made from virgin pulp.
• Very little recycled paper is used to make disposable cups because of contamination concerns. Because most disposable cups are coated with plastic, both composting and recycling of disposable cups is uncommon.
• Most of the world’s paper supply, in fact about 71%, still comes from diminishing forests, not tree farms or the recycling bin.
• Urban rubbish has increased tenfold over the course of the twentieth century, from 92 to 1242 pounds of pure product waste per person per year. At this rate, we discard approximately 14.4 times our body weight in waste every year.
• Taiwan discards 1.5 billion disposable cups annually. Landfill issues have given rise to new rules for establishments, to give discounts to all reusable cups. It is expected to produce a 30% reduction of disposable cup use annually, or 450 million cups, saving 110,000 trees and reducing carbon emissions by 15,000 metric tonnes.

Are you as staggered as I was when you read those facts?

Plastic Bag Obsession

Is it just me or are shops obsessed with trying to give customers plastic bags?

Hubby's pet hate is being offered a plastic bag for one or two items and he often comments that when he refuses a bag people look at him like he is a freak.  But what other people think does not stop us from refusing plastic bags.


The other day I was getting some groceries and the check out girl started packing them into plastic bags even though my green bags were sitting on top of my groceries.  Then when I pointed them out to her she asked me if I just wanted to take the ones she had already packed.  I told her that no I did not want them left in the plastic bags as we do not use plastic shopping bags.
She looked at me in a confused manner and asked "what never?"
I then simply said to her that I always carry green bags or cotton bags with me because I do not believe in using plastic bags.
She then said to me "oh yeah I keep green bags in my car boot, but I never remember to take them into the shops when I get my groceries so I end up with heaps of plastic bags from that.  I said to her that if I ever forget mine I just pack all my groceries back in the trolley and load them into bags when I get to the car.
Then she tells me she would be embarrassed to ask shop assistants to put things other than groceries in those bags.
I think she was pretty shocked when I replied saying "I think you should be more embarrassed accepting a plastic bag in this day and age when we know how much environmental damage they do and they are so easy to replace with re-usables".
She was not very talkative after that.
When I looked up the lady in the next checkout over, who was having her groceries packed into plastic bags, had obviously been listening because when she caught my eye she glanced down at all of her shopping packed in plastic bags and blushed badly then looked away.
There were other shoppers at the checkouts waiting so I have no doubt they all heard what I said as well and I am sure I gave them something to talk about.  And hopefully they do talk.

Perhaps this is a tactic we should use...

We are not 100% successful in keeping plastic bags out of our house and rubbish bags pose a big challenge but we really try and lately I have been looking at what to do with the ones we are left to deal with.

I know plastic bags are only a recent invention and humanity got by without them in the past so there is no doubt in my mind it can be done.

What tactics do you have for avoiding plastic bags?
Do you find that you are bombarded with plastic bags even when they are not really needed?

Allan Savory: Green deserts and reverse climate change

Allan Savory is one of those people in life who makes me want to see more happening to heal our planet.
He makes me want to tell anyone who will listen about the work he is doing and leaves me wondering why his methods are not more widely used or discussed since they seem to have such profound impacts.
You can learn more about him, the work he is doing and the institute he created here.

Desertification is a fancy word for land that is turning to desert. And terrifyingly, it's happening to about two-thirds of the world's grasslands, accelerating climate change and causing traditional grazing societies to descend into social chaos. Savory has devoted his life to stopping it. He now believes - and his work so far shows - that a surprising factor can protect grasslands and even reclaim degraded land that was once desert.

If you would like to see a really interesting TED Talk about the work he is doing then take a look at this.
He received a standing ovation for this talk from the audience.

Celebrating Earth Hour

Tonight between 8.30pm and 9.30pm it is time to turn off the lights.  For more information or ideas on celebrating earth hour click here.

Will you be participating?
How will you be celebrating?

On March 31 2007, WWF-Australia inspired more than 2.2 million individuals and 2,000 businesses to turn their lights out for one hour in the first Earth Hour event – kicking off the world's largest voluntary action for the environment.

This year, Earth Hour Australia is turning Earth Hour on its axis, using the power of Earth Hour to shine a light on one of the world’s most loved – and vulnerable – places: The Great Barrier Reef.

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, but it’s future is uncertain. Climate change is raising ocean temperatures and making seawater more acidic, threatening the survival of the coral and the animals that call it home. And to make it even worse, the Queensland and Australian Governments are fast-tracking mega port developments, including the world’s biggest coal port at Abbot Point.

The Earth Hour community is taking action to tell Australia’s Prime Minister that if we don’t act now, the effects of climate change on our reef will be irreversible in just sixteen years.

Hope In A Changing Climate

If you ever needed to see that it is possible to rehabilitate our earth in even the most challenging situations then this is for you.

This documentary features stories from China, Rwanda and Ethiopia and shows how large areas of land that are in a state of complete environmental ruin can been regenerated.

In Rwanda the government recognised that the value of the land in it's natural state was more valuable that when it was exploited for it's natural resources.  One of the my favourite quotes from the documentary is: "Climate change is better withstood with trees.  You know humans no matter how intelligent we are, no matter how capable we are with all our technologies, we are helpless in the face of climate change. We have not yet properly understood the miracle preformed by trees".

Grab a cuppa, put your feet up for 30 minutes and check out Hope In A Changing Climate

Let me know what you think.

Saving Our Reef Update

Well it looks like the people are standing up and making their voices heard.

I got this update today and it is great to hear that people are prepared to fight this proposal.


They must have assumed they'd had the final word. 

When Greg Hunt and the Marine Park Authority approved dumping of five million tonnes of seabed inside Reef waters, it was supposed to be campaign over. Vested interests had won, and our Reef would be sold out for short-term profits. 

Instead, something incredible happened. Thousands of GetUp members put their own money forward to launch a citizens' Reef Fighting Fund. We've never seen anything quite like it. 

All up, more than 16,000 people have donated so EDO Queensland and North Queensland Conservation Council can take this fight to the courts. Together, we're contributing $130,000 to the legal case right off the bat – $50,000 more than our original target! GetUp members have also ensured we have the resources to fund a strong ongoing campaign that won't shy away from other hard-hitting legal, legislative and corporate tactics. 

Thank you to everyone who's made this possible. 

We all know how prolonged and expensive legal fights can be. To their enormous credit, EDO Queensland and North Queensland Conservation Council had been prepared to pull together a case on a barebones budget. Now, it's a very different story. 

"Now there is money for expert witnesses, court transcripts, barristers' fees and transport costs. We can be bigger, better and more ambitious with the court case to protect the Reef. This is nothing short of miraculous. We are overwhelmed by the determination of GetUp supporters!" - Jo Bragg, EDO Queensland Solicitor. 

No matter what happens in court, we've sent a very uncomfortable ripple through the legions of power and vested interests used to getting their way. Thousands of everyday Australians are making it possible to go toe-to-toe with big mining, and together we will do everything in our power to protect our Reef. 

Does World Heritage Mean Nothing In This Country?

Are you angry?  Because I sure am.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has caved to the pressure of the mining industry and the Federal Government. The agency charged with "the protection, wise use, understanding and enjoyment of the Great Barrier Reef in perpetuity" has allowed it to be sold out for short-term profits. 

Late last week, they granted a permit to dump five million tonnes of dredge spoil inside the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. 

I cannot believe this has been allowed to go ahead and if you like me are also angry and want to help here is how you can.  Send these details to everyone you know if this is a cause you believe in.


Here is the information I received from Get Up:

This destructive project is now allowed to go-ahead - unless we make a last ditch effort to challenge it in court. Click here to learn more, and help fund the legal challenge to save our Reef: 

http://www.getup.org.au/reef-fighting-fund 

We're not lawyers, but we've taken on big legal fights before — and won. In 2010, GetUp members challenged Howard-era electoral laws in the High Court. Together, and with the help of some of the best legal brains in the country, we stopped hundreds of thousands of Australians from losing their right to vote. Now we can step up again, this time to protect our Reef. 

Our lawyers will be the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) of Queensland, an independent community law centre dedicated to public interest advocacy in environmental matters. They'll be representing North Queensland Conservation Council. Both groups have got what it takes to tackle the project, but need the backing of GetUp members from right across Australia. 

It's as if the Federal Government saw this fight coming. Just before Christmas, and without warning, they inexplicably cancelled $10 million in federal funding to EDOs nation-wide. But they aren't expecting people to fight back. Let's unite, and gather the resources we need to use the full power of the law to protect our Reef. Click here to make it happen: http://www.getup.org.au/reef-fighting-fund 

The best legal analysis says this case is strong, and we won't be alone. Other environmental groups are planning to chip in as well. 

We all know legal battles can be long and expensive. If we can raise $80k together as GetUp members - that's about 16,000 of us chipping in $5 or more - the project will be confident of covering the considerable legal fees involved in a long fight. That money pays for court fees, printing and overhead costs, and allowing expert witnesses to provide evidence. 

If we raise more than $80k together, we will use the extra to build our Reef Fighting Fund to power further campaigning, or for further legal costs. 

Can you chip-in as little as $5 to kick off the all-in citizen-funded legal fight to protect our Great Barrier Reef? 

http://www.getup.org.au/reef-fighting-fund 

The mining industry, the Abbott Government, Campbell Newman and everyone else with vested interests expect this decision will be a kick in the guts for the environment movement – something that will deflate us, put us in our place and mark the end of this campaign. 

Documentary Follow Up

Photo from here

Following on from Dick Smith's documentary I wonder did you see it and what did you think?

I thought that Dick raised some good points but one of the things that should have been emphasised a lot more is not where our power comes from but how much we waste and how excessive our usage is.

I had no idea about the Concentrated Solar Thermal Power proposed for South Australia and to me it seems like a fantastic idea. If you want to know more about it or you agree that it is a good idea there is information and a petition that you can sign here.

Lets hope our government get real about the issue.

Ten Dollars a Litre

Tomorrow night on ABC a documentary called "Ten Dollars a Litre" will be presented by Dick Smith.  I am really interested to see what is discussed.

Photo from here

Here is a synopsis about the show.

We feel it at the petrol pump and in our household bills. It affects our businesses and the
cost of virtually everything we buy and directly alters the course of our everyday lives. Yet
until recently, we have barely given energy much thought.
All that's changed now of course. Prices have doubled in the past five years and will double
again in the next five. And now the battle to control energy supplies and the consequences
of burning it are affecting things on a global scale.
As one of the world’s highest per capita energy users, and also one of the world’s biggest
exporters of fossil fuels, Australia is bound to be deeply affected by the changes coming
down the energy pipeline. How will we cope? Where will it all end? What are the options for
Australia as the world moves from a golden era of cheap and abundant energy to an age of
scarcity and high cost?
These are the questions that self‐professed fossil fuel addict Dick Smith sets out to explore
in this engaging and surprising documentary. Hostage to no vested interests, and one of our
most trusted figures, Dick brings his signature brand of common sense to the issue, and
along the way explodes a few myths, upsets a few politicians and surprises us with his
conclusions about the decisions Australia should take.

There is a big part of me that is deeply concerned about where we are heading in terms of climate change and the distinct lack of action by governments around the world to put in place policies that encourage a massive reduction in fossil fuel use by its population.
I know that we are by no means perfect, and there is plenty more we could be doing, but I also believe that many people will not be motivated to change until things reach a drastic level, like petrol at $10.

What do you think it will take people to change?
Do you worry about what the future holds?

Turn Down the Heat

Photo from here

A positive report that I read just today is that the World Bank has announced they will no longer be investing in coal and there is hope that this will be a trigger for things to come.

Here in Queensland there is a lot of talk about natural gas being either a replacement or a transition fuel away from coal but I am still not convinced that it is the solution, not that I have any idea what is.

This article also lead me to a very interesting report about why it is so vital that we avoid global warming titled Turn Down The Heat.  It is a long and very detailed report but I did find it really interesting.  For those who are not inclined to read it here are the concluding remarks:

A 4°C world will pose unprecedented challenges to humanity. It is clear that large regional as well as global scale damages and risks are very likely to occur well before this level of warming is reached. This report has attempted to identify the scope of these challenges driven by responses of the Earth system and various human and natural systems. Although no quantification of the full scale of human damage is yet possible, the picture that emerges challenges an often-implicit assumption that climate change will not significantly undermine economic growth.  It seems clear that climate change in a 4°C world could seriously undermine poverty alleviation in many regions. This is supported by past observations of the negative effects of climate change on economic growth in developing countries. While developed countries have been and are projected to be adversely affected by impacts resulting from climate change, adaptive capacities in developing regions are weaker. The burden of climate change in the future will very likely be borne differentially by those in regions already highly vulnerable to climate change and variability. Given that it remains uncertain whether adaptation and further progress toward development goals will be possible at this level of climate change, the projected 4°C warming simply must not be allowed to occur—the heat must be turned down. Only early, cooperative, international actions can make that happen.

It is hard for me to imagine some of the changes we will face in my life time and I hope that we are smart enough to adapt and innovate.  Sometimes I find it all a bit overwhelming but I am sure that there is hope I just hope that we have the time to make the changes required to transition to a new way of life not dependent on fossil fuels.

What do you think?  
Does the subject of climate change keep you awake at night?

Have You Seen No Impact Man?

The other day I happened to see this documentary on ABC.  It is the personal story about 1 man, his wife and daughter and their experiment to reduce/eliminate their impact on the environment.

For one year, my wife, my 2-year-old daughter, my dog and I, while living in the middle of New York City, are attempting to live without making any net impact on the environment. In other words, no trash, no carbon emissions, no toxins in the water, no elevators, no subway, no products in packaging, no plastics, no air conditioning, no TV, no toilets…

What would it be like to try to live a no impact lifestyle? Is it possible? Could it catch on? Is living this way more fun or less fun? More satisfying or less satisfying? Harder or easier? Is it worthwhile or senseless? Are we all doomed or is there hope? These are the questions at the heart of this whole crazy-assed endeavor.

You can also check out his blog here.

I found this to be a fascinating insight into exactly what is possible even in our modern world if you just have the determination to do it.

At this stage of our life when we are looking at moving overseas and starting over we are questioning many aspects of our life and looking at what changes we want to make.  We are also starting to declutter our home and reduce the possessions we own.  I think for me this documentary just proved that it really is possible for everyone to live a less impacting life and tread a little lighter on our planet.

It also made me realise that there is a lot more we could be doing.  It's not that I am plagued with guilt over the life we lead but it has made me questions some of my beliefs and assumptions  which I think is always a good thing.

So if you didn't get to see it you can watch it on ABC iView for the next 6 days.  If you have seen it what did you think?  Could you relate to the ideas shared?

The Coal Seam Gas Debate

Over on ABC the 4 corners program aired a documentary on Coal Seam Gas a little while ago.

If you have not seen it you can watch it by clicking on the link below.  Having fought against a proposed sand mine in our community I  know how these people feel.  At least we were only fighting a private company and not a massive company.

ABC 4 Corners - Gas Leak