What will the coastline look like in the future?

Many highly populated areas are now directly adjacent to the coastline or in very close proximity to the coast. This is lovely for those that get to live with lovely views of the ocean or live there because of proximity to trade routes or similar.

However, with climate change and sea level rise there are likely to be significant consequences for all those people that live near the coast. Not only are people going to be directly affected with houses being inundated, but much of our society's infrastructure is located in close proximity to these areas and will likely have significant challenges because of these environmental issues.

(Source: The Guardian) 

In light of these significant impacts that will be faced by millions of people, I cannot see anything but gloom for coastal environments and coastal processes that remain intact nearby these large human populations. 

Do you think governments will stand by the ecological value of the community of mangroves or salt marshes when the people that live behind them face imminent inundation and furthermore the government could take the easy option for these people through the construction of a seawall or similar? 

I feel so pessimistic about this. My professional world is immersed in this reality based economic development sector and I can't see the broader community supporting the retreat of communities (and protecting the coastal environments) over the "easier" solution of building walls and providing coastal engineering solutions (due to the externalities associated with these strategies).

I would love to hear your opinion about this and perhaps lift my mood about this. Perhaps you have some of the picture that I have forgotten to consider in the first place. 

  

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World Environment Day

Yesterday was World Environment Day and I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to write before or on the day, but I am interested to hear what you got up to.

The theme this year was 'greening your local economy', and in the consumptive phase that our communities seem to be obsessed with at the moment, this is a great one to attract the more mainstream community to join in and become more aware of the environment and the impact each of us have upon it.

To celebrate this day, and particularly the theme, I decided I would encourage a bit of a socialisation in my office and hold a tea-tasting event. You may wonder what this has to do with either World Environment Day or the green economy theme. Well, all teas I purchased for the day were teas produced or owned by companies in my local area. In addition to this, I asked participants for a gold coin donation, with the proceeds to be donated to a local wildlife caring group run by volunteers and which my work requests assistance from occasionally.

Great way to get together over a cup of herbal tea and chat about the environment! 

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Quote from Jim Hightower - a way forward

I just listened to an interview with Jim Hightower, a fomer Texan (USA) politician, and found some of his principles very interesting. Some of political positions would traditionally be considered opposed to my current political views. However, Jim proposes many sensible ideas and considers bringing people together by linking them with issues of commonality.

Here is one of Jim's quotes from the interview describing his political position. 

"...fairness, justice and opportunity...."

I certainly believe if all of our politicians framed their policies in this manner our communities and businesses would all be better off and there might be some holistic consideration of our environment. 

I say, bring forth sensible people in politics and positions of power.

 

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Inspiration to "convert" your street

Here is a couple of ordinary Australian people that have changed life in their street (for the better). Maybe you'll get some inspiration from them too.

You Tube presents: Sustainability Street

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CERES Autumn Festival 2012

If you're in Melbourne here is a outing for you on the 31 March 2012. The CERES Autumn Festival. Oh how I wish I was in the area!

CERES stands for Community Education and Research in Environmental Strategies and amongst the many things that this group of enthusiastic community members do, is run a community garden and environment park and provide a hub where communities of like-minded people can gather and learn. It has a great program of environmental education!

The Autumn Festival has so many wonderful activities and show-cases, including the chance to get up close and personal with farm animals, enter a cake baking competition (theme: CERES 30th birthday...so make a birthday cake) and a chance to hear from Matthew Evans (of Gourmet Farmer fame). If you're keen enough you can also volunteer on the day to help out around the place and make the event particularly special.

The CERES environment and education centre is located by Merri Creek, East Brunswick in Melbourne. Their website is full of fabulous ideas, education seminars and so much more. Drop into their website or their centre and be exposed to some brilliant ideas and inspirations. Pin It

Australia Day

Each year on the 26th January Australian's have a public holiday day to celebrate "Australia Day". Do you know this day really signifies?

In 1788, the Australian first fleet landed in Sydney and declared British sovereignty over the land. With the commemoration of this event occurring on "Australia Day" since the early 1800s to commemorate this landmark.

Despite the established tradition of this celebration there is however, some controversy with this day.  This controversy arises because at the time of the declaration by the British people, Australia was home to numerous clans of Aboriginal people, not terra nullis as some believed at the time.

My understanding is that many indigenous people find the commemoration of the declaration of the British colony in Australia not a cause to celebrate but in fact a reminder of much death, destruction and persecution over a long period of time, which some people are still experiencing. It therefore can be a significantly painful day and one that some might consider not a day to celebrate.

Perhaps Australia Day could in fact become more of a remembrance day for events that have past and a celebration and a time to embrace all the cultures that now occupy our nation, including our traditional land holders. Pin It

Hard-stand surfaces

Did you know that flooding and decreased soil quality and health is significantly affected by the amount of roads and hard-stand surfaces (footpaths and other impermeable man-made surface structures)? These structures do not allow rainfall or overland flow to penetrate into the soil structure, as would otherwise occur in an natural environment. Due to the lack of infiltration into the soil the water then flows faster and in greater volume into drainage channels, creeks, rivers and bays thereby creating flooding issues in quicker time frames and with more devastating effects.

If the water is otherwise allowed to naturally penetrate the subsoil would be healthy and retain any water for longer periods of time before flooding the downstream catchment.

In Portland in the US, there is a community group that is actively "ripping" up areas of pavement and hard-stand areas in locations that no longer require this type of cover but due to lack of interest and finances would otherwise remain as hardstand. The group is called DePave and through volunteer participation it transfers these areas back into community greenspaces. What a great idea!

I wonder how much space in your local community could be returned to its natural landform or cover and in turn bring more greenspace back to your suburb and return some life to the soil below. Pin It

2011...what has been achieved by GetUp! and its members

If you'd like to see what the GetUp! campaigns and the members of this movement have achieved in 2011, have a look at the following short video.

Get Up 2011 summary video

I love this movement, their campaigns and their drive to re-claim the Australian political process!

Bring on the campaigns and success stories in 2012. Pin It

Guide to ethical supermarket shopping

I picked up this guide today from a local shop for $6. It is devised by the Ethical Consumer Group Inc (www.ethical.org.au). They advertise the guide as a way to have an impact "with every dollar you spend".

The guide is larger than you are probably likely to carry around if you're just going to be popping into your store to get a litre of milk, but if you're doing your regular shopping and you're carrying a handbag it certainly wouldn't be a struggle to fit it in. You could then use it as a easy reference guide to compare products and make some informed choices whilst in the store. I think they also have a iPhone App.

All products listed in the guide have their production location listed (ie Australia or overseas), as well as providing a rating of the product based on things such as "areas of environmental and social impact, treatment of animals and accountable business practice." The guide also lists all the products in relevant categories, provides their names and their parent company's name.

I'll let you know if I find it useful once I try it out whilst shopping. Pin It

Reclaim your rights!

In a previous post, "Don't sit back", I discuss the requirement about the requirement for people to participate in public comment periods and become involved in shaping their communities. I just attended a conference which not only confirmed this thought pattern but took it one step further and discussed the requirement that people within the community need to start to participate as citizens.

What does this mean? Surely, by just occupying space within a community you are considered a citizen. I'm afraid not. We need people to start to participate in the political process to re-engage the politicians with their constituents and actually act on their (our) behalf rather than the large corporations that are currently hijacking the political process and our rights.

Stand up and be counted!

What can you do?

• Contact your local political representative, at all levels of government (local, state and federal), and discuss your interests and express that as your elected representative (no matter what their party lines are) they should be representing you and your community! Bring your ideals, values and beliefs to the front and allow them to be counted and considered.  
• Another thing to do is join up with some of the internet groups that represent your values (perhaps groups like GetUp, Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Avaaz, etc) and sign their petitions. Politicians are beginning to take notice of these group actions and make decisions based on these groups'/peoples' interests. 
• Engage with people in your community and make them aware of your concerns/beliefs. Your beliefs may seem a little different to many that you share them with, but eventually you will link up with like-minded people and all these individual voices together will add up and be heard. 
• Stand up for your convictions. Don't be scared to rebut other people's opinions and create useful debate. With such dialogue, learnings can be made and challenges can be explored.  

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Occupy Wall Street

The idea behind Occupy Wall Street is to bring the 99% of the population together to protest against greed and consumption of the wealthiest people in the US (those that make up only 1% of the population). There are also going to be supportive protests here in Australia: Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane today. 

Some people are questioning whether it is relevant here because the American/Canadian movement commenced out of the impacts they felt as a result of the Global Financial Crisis. I personally think it is still relevant here in Australia, as most people here would probably be interested in supporting their fellow global citizens and also saying 'no' to the way the world seems to progressing. That is, the dominance of corporations and wealthy people and their influence over government process. 

I think there is definitely a ground-swell or movement where people are expressing that they are sick of this influence and would like the government once again to be an elected representative of the people rather than large corporations, wealthy people or their political party. 

I think this is a great conversation starter and allows you to introduce new ideas to people and also meet people of like-minded experience.

A "blog" that expresses the opinions and views of some of the 99% (American focus) can be found at: http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/. Maybe you could subscribe and add your story. Cool community spirit!

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How to make a difference with your super!

Here in Australia it is mandatory to have a percentage of your wage go into superannuation, with the money only accessible once you retire aged 60/65. The reason for this is to ensure all people will have some sort of financial security in their retirement and reduce the burden on the government.

Generally, this money is invested by private companies into shares, cash and property. Many of these companies offer different packages to allow you say in the investment choice dependent on your circumstances. For example, there are packages tailored to those retiring in the short-term, with these likely to be more aggressive attempting to maximise your gain in a short period of time.

Some of these companies are realising that not all people wish to invest in "typical" options and/or have a desire to make a difference to the world throughout their lives. As such, there are now packages appearing which are entitled "socially responsible" or "environmentally friendly". If you are a person considering one of these options it is worthwhile investigating the package to determine whether they address your concerns. I personally have a "socially responsible" package through my superannuation firm, which gives me similar returns to other standard packages, but the investment choices within this are determined to be socially responsible.

However, what does "socially responsible" mean though? My superannuation company has an extensive list of the firms they invest in through this package available on their website, which can be downloaded and reviewed at your leisure. This is a great first step. After reviewing the list briefly, of so-called "socially responsible" companies some of them looked a little questionable to me. So, my next step was to email my company requesting a definition or set of parameters that they use to to determine whether a company is "socially responsible" or not.

I received the following as a response. They have three key criteria which they use:

" 1. the financial assessment process and the ability to factor labour standards, and ethical, social and environmental factors into company selection;
2. avoiding exposure to companies with a material exposure (greater than 10% on key financial measures) to avoid the production or manufacture of tobacco, uranium, armaments, gambling, alcohol, or pornography;
3. selecting optimal manager combinations."

This was fascinating and made me more aware of the package I was "buying into". The issue, however comes as you cannot change your investment mix to reflect personal choices and remove individual companies based on your preferences.

So if you are considering making a positive step for either the environment or "society" through your long-term finances an appropriate superannuation packages might be another reasonable strategy. The key message however, is to look into the investment structure and asked for definitions.

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Bike riding

Well we are on the move and hopefully with the move we might be a little less car dependent (at least will have shortened commute times). I am in fact hoping to embrace my bicycle. The location we are moving to is probably considered more undulating in its topography but hopefully the country atmosphere will lead me to the footpaths with my bike and result in a more sustainable choice in regards to my transportation.

I think the biggest inhibiting factor for me will be that most of the surrounding roads are high speed (80km/h) and not particularly wide roads meaning cars will have to go around me on my bike rather than being capable of passing me within their lanes. Also I am likely to be carrying my toddler in a seat on the back of my bike and if collecting anything from the shops my bike trailer as well. All leading to a not so friendly road sharing option, but we will see how we go.

Certainly the areas of Australia that I have experienced which have a mix of rural/residential styles of living don't often provide great options for those not wanting to rely on their cars. Maybe this could be addressed by the local council, State governments, etc in the future. Will writing emails/letters to these people may a difference? Pin It

Refugee Tutoring

In Brisbane St Vincent de Paul has developed a special volunteer program where individuals can assist refugees in the Brisbane, Logan and Ipswich areas. The idea is to provide them with educational, social and vocational opportunities within the community with your assistance.

I had learnt about this type of program being run a couple of years back and have been trying to keep my ear out for something similar. So finally I have got around to looking into such a program and found this specific one.

If people want to know more about the program or would like to volunteer then refer to the official website: http://www.refugeetutoring.org/index.php.

Presently this particularly program only caters for those areas mentioned above. Perhaps there are other similar programs available in your area, feel free to add these as a comment to this post. Pin It

Australian company's competition with a twist

I was recently shopping at my local grocery store for my weekly shop and noted in the biscuit aisle that one of the biscuit companies was holding a competition. We all see these, win $10,000 or a car or a holiday or whatever the prize is to encourage us to divulge our details for their marketing purposes in order to win something that will make our lives 'richer'.

However, the competition that I noticed in the aisle this time was a little different. It didn't offer to make you richer but rather a local charity or club in the order of $1000. Wow! I looked at this advertisement for the competition and thought "Why would I enter it?" I am not affiliated with any club or charity within my local community (as sad as that is) so I would get no direct reward, etc, etc. I wondered how many people also thought the same thing....cool, competition, but then on reading the details that nothing would be coming back directly to them decided not to enter it. I actually returned to the aisle after mulling on this matter for a little while and decided that it would be a good social practice.

Now that I have got the competition entry form and the qualifying products I then have to decide on a charity that I would like to see 'win' $1000. This 'task' of choosing the 'right' group is now complete and I have entered on their behalf. I certainly see this as an interesting social experiment, in light of no personal gratification for those entering the competition and wonder how many people will have go online or post entries into a competition when they don't actually 'win' anything compared to their normal 'direct reward' type model.

I certainly feel good about myself and I think that is enough of a 'win' for me in this instance.

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Farm Day

Watching the telly tonight, Getaway was on. They had a piece on "FarmDay". This is apparently where city families (which we are) travel to farm to visit farms and country families. The idea is for city families to learn about farms and farming activities. Whilst the country family in the Getaway piece said that they get to see their lives through the eyes of people fresh to such experiences and remember the reasons why they are on the land.

The Farm day website (www.farmday.com.au) allows you to register your interest for the next farm day weekend (29 & 30 May 2010). The organisers of this service then coordinate the farmers and city families based on interests and children's age groups.

Let's see if we are successful in getting a farm. Keep you posted. Pin It