From the FoE email. GreenPC are looking for monitor donations.
We need your monitors!
GreenPC is currently calling for your LCD and CRT monitors, to be recycled and distributed to low-income earners and other eligible customers. If you have a disused 17 inch CRT monitor or better, or a disused 15 inch LCD monitor or better, contact GreenPC on 03 9418 7400 or visit the donations page of the GreenPC website. GreenPC can also organise pick-up of donations of 10 or more monitors.
Another gem of information from the Friends of the Earth newsletter. Free workshops at CERES.
Lighting and Appliances
Wednesday, 20th January 6:30 pm – 8:30pm and
Saturday, 23rd January 6:30pm – 8:30 pmSustainable home renovation or rejuvenation
Wednesday, 10th February 6.30pm – 8.30pm and
Saturday, 13th February 1pm – 3pmSustainable Gardening
Saturday, 27th February 1pm – 4pm
Can’t seem to find the details on the CERES website. Probably best just to call reception on 03 9387 2609 to make bookings or find more info.
An excellent rundown of ideas from Planet Ark on how to make the festive season a bit more ethical. Available as both at PDF and as a Podcast. They also have a Festive Recycling section on their website.
The Australian Marine Conservation Society has produced a sustainable seafood pocket guide. They also sell an expended edition of the guide in their online store.
Available for download from the Friends of the Earth website.
This Seasonal Food Guide tells you what fresh fruits and vegetables are in-season for each month of the year in the Melbourne area. Developed by the Friends of the Earth Real Food group, the guide encourages you to buy local, fresh, seasonal produce from small independent shops and food cooperatives. The guide folds up and fits your purse or wallet so it’s easy to take it with you when you go out to do your shopping. You can download the guide here.
Get the guide: http://www.melbourne.foe.org.au/?q=rf/resources
Eating sustainably produced, locally grown, in-season food from small independent shops is one of the easiest things you can do to reduce your daily ecological footprint.
An interesting article in the Scientific American: Lightweight “triple-zero” house produces more energy than it uses
Overlooking the city of Stuttgart in southern Germany, a four-story modern glass house stands like a beacon of environmental sustainability. Built in 2000, it was the first in a series of buildings that are “triple-zero,” a concept developed by German architect and engineer Werner Sobek, which signifies that the building is energy self-sufficient (zero energy consumed), produces zero emissions, and is made entirely of recyclable materials (zero waste).
The building industry is responsible for 35 percent of the world’s energy consumption and carbon emissions, and 50 percent of the waste produced in North America and Europe, Sobek said.
Highlighted by WWF Australia.
Letter to the Minister…
Tony Burke
Parliament House Office
PO Box 6022
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600Dear Minister,
I write to express my concerns about illegally logged timber being imported into Australia and to urge the Government to act.
I support the Rudd Government’s election promise to “ban the import of illegally logged timber”. I further support the Governments ultimate policy objective to ensure only sustainably harvested timber is used in Australia. As the Minister responsible, I urge you to fulfil this important environmental promise.
I am concerned that your commitment to this election promise has been lost among complaints that it is too difficult and excuses that Australia alone cannot solve illegal logging.
The Government should take this opportunity to introduce substantial reforms that will see an end to illegal timber being imported into Australia. It should also develop a clear timetable to ensure timber imports come from sustainable origins.
Any reform package the Government delivers must include two key elements:
1. Legislation allowing only forest products that have been independently certified and verified as being legally logged to be imported.
2. Legislation making it an offence to trade in illegally sourced timber products.The reforms should cover all forestry products, including pulp and paper.
Australia imports illegal timber that is directly linked to biodiversity loss, human rights abuses and climate change. This is unacceptable. Please take the urgently needed action to stop it.
Kind regards,
A nice tip for reducing waste!
You can opt out from receiving printed those phone books (Yellow Pages, White Pages) that only ever seem useful for propping up things these days. Just send Sensis and email.
Print Directory Opt-out
You can choose not to receive specific Sensis directory print products by calling 1800 810 211, or emailing bookdelivery@sensis.com.au
More info here…
An interesting article by Frank Reale on the need to look at growth in regional areas as an alternative to ever expanding state capitals.
About half of Australia’s population is contained in five state capitals. The result is an over-urbanisation that is inefficient and requires the building of ever-expanding infrastructure, including transport, sewerage, water and energy supply, telecommunications and waste disposal.
Overall, the concept is radical but surprisingly inexpensive. Establishing six or seven small cities would cost about $1 billion, including land acquisition and basic first-stage infrastructure. Compared with the $38 billion price tag on Melbourne’s road “solution”, striking at the root cause of our urban problems comes at a very modest cost.
A little along the lines of a regular rant of mine. Cities the size of Melbourne can become unworkable. Compared to the Europe and the US, we are a little unusual in our capital-city-focus down here (even Michigan has a number of large cities – Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Ann Arbor).
Teaching Climate Change, an interesting resource from The Australia Institute (with the support of Australian Ethical Investment).
Beyond Zero Emissions is a Melbourne-based volunteer organisation focussed on helping us make the changes necessary to turn around the big-hulking-titanic-disaster-in-the-making that is climate change.
In their own words…
Our core goal is to facilitate the implementation of the social changes and technologies that will reduce the impacts of climate change and give our society, and today’s global ecosystems, a chance of surviving into the future.
We are involved in the following activities:
- education
- advocacy
- corporate campaigning
- political campaigning
- network building
- community campaign building
- research
- solution development
We differ from mainstream environmental groups by one very important point – we believe that we have already allowed climate change to go too far, and must act immediately to reduce our levels of greenhouse gas emissions to zero and below.
They are very action focussed, which is great for the many like myself who are unsure where to expend their energy in order to actually make a difference.
There are regular campaign meetings, monthly discussion groups, podcasts of their weekly 3CR radio broadcast and lots of other fantastic stuff.
An impressive effort. I’m looking forward to taking some time out to volunteer with them in the near future.
The Federal Government recently announced some initatives focussed around soil carbon.
Per LP.
It will be interesting to see how effective carbon sequestration in this form could be.
The 2009 Sustainable living festival is on at Federation Square (in Melbourne) this coming weekend. I’ll be doing the dishes for a while at one of the Wash-Against-Waste tents.
More info here…
The Hepburn Community Wind Park, Australia’s first community owned wind farm, has recently opened their share offer. A pretty impressive effort by a community based group in my opinion.
At a glance it is $1 per share, with a minimum of 1000 shares (total issue is 9,679,000 shares). The project is expected to begin earning in 2010, with average projected annual earnings of 13.9 cents/share (before tax) for the 25 year life of the project. I haven’t read the rest yet. More information on their website.