Success!

Recently I applied for funding to my local council as part of their Landholder Environment Grant initiative. The Council received hundreds of application and awarded over $300,000 in grants. The big activities in my proposal were weed management works and revegetation activities. 

Due to the number of applicants most proposals were not fully funded, which was the case for my application. However, I was successful in securing $650! Woo hoo! Council has specified this money is to be spent on 250 native species tubestock and 50 bales of straw mulch, as outlined in my proposal.

250 native tubestock won't go far in revegetating the southern paddock on my property, but I certainly consider that all contributions will go a long way to making things happen.

Last night, I have forwarded a species list to my local Bushcare nursery to request a stocking rate estimation for each of the species I have proposed and request what sort of timeframe they could supply these tubestock to me. Once this information is in hand, I will be able to plan my planting day!

So exciting! So as they say, you've got to be in it to win it and let the fun begin!

I will post photos as we go through the process and hopefully it will inspire you to either apply for a grant to undertake something you've been meaning to do at your place or alternatively just think about what native plantings would suit your block.

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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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Food waste

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about how much thin plastic was dominating my domestic, internal rubbish bin. I thought this was so peculiar and a significant burden on the landfill to which this rubbish was destined.

 (Source: Tree Hugger)

The second fact is still true, but as I washed my dinner dishes this evening I had a bit of a light bulb moment. At the time all this plastic was going into the bin I was doing a bit of a cook up. I perhaps might not have noticed the complete dominance of plastic in my rubbish bin if I had been mixing all this plastic with food waste as well. However, there is very little food waste that enters my traditional (in urban environment) rubbish stream.

Food waste in my house generally gets separated between the worm farm, the compost bin and the dogs. Hopefully in the near future I will also be sharing my scraps with some chickens too! In fact, I might not have enough food waste to sustain the chickens and may have to actually grow some goodies for them! Amazing.

All green waste from kitchen, including fruit and vegetable peelings, fruit stones, ends of herbs and old and sloppy fruit and vegetables all go to my worm farm and compost bins. The meat wastes and any small amounts of old left-overs go to my dogs! The only food scraps that on occasion goes into my mainstream garbage stream is my onion and garlic skins. Worms don't like these and as such most of the time they go into the normal rubbish bin.

 (Source: Colin J via Earth 911)

Interesting what little light bulbs turn on when you're up to your elbows in grey-water appropriate soaps suds!   Pin It

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

Clean Up Australia Day

My family and I trundled down to our local park to help out at an organised Clean Up Australia day event. Thankfully the weather was fine this morning and decided it was a great morning to do something a little different. At the park, we registered, got our bags, took out our gardening gloves and set to work cleaning up the site.

There had already been some collectors of rubbish, in the form of cub scouts, in the main park area before we had arrived, but we decided to take a leisurely stroll through the broader surrounds of the park. Not only did we collect a bag full of rubbish, we took our dogs for a walk and involved our toddler in a community volunteer activity.

So what did we collect?

A fair few beer bottles (the area is next to a bowls club), some aluminium cans, a 2L PET bottle, some plastic scraps (including broken down plastic shopping bags), paper from the inside of cigarette boxes, chocolate bar wrappers, newspaper and cardboard, a plank of wood broken off a fence from the local neighbourhood probably and a section of plastic that I think is part of the protective bits from under a car.

At our event, there certainly wasn't millions of people volunteering but by the time we signed up I think the site organiser had registered about 15 people and probably another 10 by the time we left. The site certainly was improved (measurable by amount of observable rubbish) after the efforts of all the volunteers and it is nice to make a little bit of difference to our local community.

Special treat on the way home was purchasing some locally grown, spray free bananas, which are especially sweet.

Looking forward to hearing of all the rubbish that was collected around Australia as part of this event and some of the wacky locations people chose to clean up this year. If you managed to make it out to help Clean up Australia, I look forward to hearing of your experiences.


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Certificate in Sustainable Agriculture

Nutri-Tech on the Sunshine Coast runs a regular course in organic farming. The next Certificate in Sustainable Agriculture is in March 2012 and is being held at Nutri-Tech's facility at Yandina. A course outline and costs are provided on their website, with a similar course being run in Victoria by the same company.

It looks interesting and comprehensive (four days + field day) and I would be interested in attending if it weren't for a little bit of a financial squeeze likely for the next 12 months in our household. Nevertheless, it might be something you are interesting in attending. Let me know what you think if you do manage to attend.

If you are interested, there are discounts offered on the course costs if you're an eligible primary producer, which can be claimed from the government (FarmReady program). Pin It

Transition Film Festival

11-19th February 2012 in Melbourne will see the Transition Film Festival hit our shores. As their website advertises:

"What is the future of clean energy? How can we redesign our economic system? What is the design science of sustainable architecture? How do we consciously evolve to solve our planets multiple crisis? See the change you want to be in the world @ Transition Film Festival."

This event is also part of the larger Sustainable Living Festival (also being held in Melbourne, Australia). For those in Melbourne probably worth going along to to see what you can do and what other people around the world are achieving!  

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How much energy does your household use?

Would you like to know exactly how much energy you use in your home?

CSIRO is conducting a study examining 500 homes across Australia (Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne) to look at how much energy households are using for cooling and heating. The researchers are presently looking for households that would like to one of the 500 households.

One of the conditions of entry is that your house has to be less than ten years old, which removes my household from participating, as well as many of the people I know, but if you meet the criteria you can sign up and reap some of the benefits.

Have a look at their website: http://www.csiro.au/house to see if you are eligible to take part.

Benefits that CSIRO states households will receive from participating include:

• learning how to reduce your energy bills;
• a report on your home's heating and cooling energy performance;
• a set of infrared photographs that show if you are losing heating and cooling and where it is going 
• $100 cash for looking after and returning a pair of thermometers; and
• some homes may be eligible for installation of an energy monitor, valued at $1500, to provide online access showing where your electricity is being used.

I think this would be so cool, particularly the photos of your house showing the heat/cool leaks!

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Queensland Herbarium seminars 2012

The Queensland Herbarium holds monthly seminars at their Mt Coot-tha facility and they are open to the public. Their website currently outlines the seminars for 2012 through to June. These are held on the second week of each month between 12 and 1pm.

Seminars that have been announced so far include:

February 
"The flora of the Desert Uplands Bioregion."

March
"Historical vegetation changes to the grassy islands in the Whitsunday."

April
"The Springbrook wireless sensor network."

May
"Priority threat management to protect Kimberley wildlife."

June
"The fauna of forest red gum ecosystems following the raising of Awoonga Dam near Gladstone."

Maybe you might find some of these topics of interest, so make some time to learn from some of Queensland's researchers. Pin It

South East Queensland Food Network

There is a new push in south-east Queensland to promote local opportunities to producers and connect them to their local markets. The Queensland Business Review published an article this week entitled: Farmers Take Control of Local Supply Chain, which can be found at http://www.qbr.com.au/news/articleid/77703.aspx.

From my review of this article it looks as though producers, tourism organisations and local Councils have established the South East Queensland Food Network as an attempt to promote local produce to people visiting areas and to develop alternate supply chains.

I'm not sure what the outcome will be, but it sparked my interest as there certainly will be opportunities to find out more about your local producers (including who they are and what they produce) and potentially establish direct links to them or alternatively promote their use through your local supermarkets.

It is always great to find out more information about food that is available in your local area and where you can purchase it from.


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Another useful blog...development watch

I came across an interesting blog today which is providing residents of the Redland Shire Council area (in Brisbane city, Queensland) information on development occurring within their shire and giving them a useful and easy reference point to link in with the development process. The blog is called "Development Watch - Redlands" and is located at: http://devwatchredlands.wordpress.com/.

I think this is a fantastic idea, allowing the average Jo to access relevant information about developments in their area and also provides useful links to things that can affect or impact development and development applications in their early planning and approval stages.

My philosophy has always been to get connected and make a difference in this process. This is certainly a useful tool that could be applied anywhere. Maybe you might be interested in creating something like this for your local area. Pin It

Carbon tax impact on Queensland Economy

The Queensland Treasury has recently released a report that outlines the expected future impact on the Queensland economy as a result of the introduction of the carbon tax. The introduction of this report states the overall short to medium term impact the carbon tax will be minimal to minor on the overall Queensland economy.

The figures stated in the report indicate the Queensland gross state product is estimated to be only 0.4% lower by 2019-2020 and 3.5% lower by 2049-2050 after the introduction of the carbon tax. The report goes on to say that the Queensland economy is still expected to be strong, with an annual real growth of 3.5% by 2019-2020.

The important take home message from this analysis is that the information in the report is based on a Business as Usual model and doesn't calculate or estimate the potential impact on the economy if markets, industry and the government modify and adapt to a post-carbon tax environment. If the modification scenario does eventuate, the economy could move towards a growth situation based on new industries and products and move its reliance away from situations that rely heavily on carbon polluting inputs.

The full report can be found on the Queensland Treasury website at: http://www.treasury.qld.gov.au/knowledge/docs/carbon-price-impact-assessment/carbon-price-impacts-queensland.pdf.

Note: The above analysis is based on a particular set of assumptions and an analysis is done with alternate sets of assumptions there will obviously be different conclusions drawn. So it is important to understand the premise upon which an analysis is done before a comparison is done between reports and conclusions. Pin It

Native Bees

Native bees here in Australia have a significant role in our native ecosystems and presently with the overall world decline of pollinators they have a very important place in our backyards. There are apparently over one thousand native bee species here in Australia, with the honey bees, that we typically associate as honey providers, being an introduced species. Native bees are generally solitary with only about 10 of our native species being communal or social, with these occupying a variety of habitats, but a primarily hollows in trees.

There are many reasons for the reduction in the number of native bee species and other pollinators here in Australia but some of the primary reasons are the reduction of their habitat and the widespread use of insecticides throughout the community.

Native bee hives in tree hollows are not visually prominent and as a result are often destroyed when areas of native vegetation are cleared. If these nests are identified prior to clearing activities, they can be salvaged, as has been done with this one that is now located in the Mt-Cootha Botanic Gardens in Brisbane, Queensland.

Native bees provide an important ecosystem service for humans, with these insects acting as pollinators for many of our food crops and also native vegetation. If these species are lost, overall food is likely to become more difficult to produce and in the long-run more expensive due to higher production costs and increased scarcity.

Things that you can do to encourage and maintain these species in your garden:

• Become aware of their plight (including increased competition for food resources from the European honey bee) and their physiology (they are stingless and therefore don't pose any threat to people with allergies); 
• maintain their habitat;
• alternatively if clearing is necessary salvage a native bee nest; or 
• invest in a salvaged nest to include in your garden. 

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The importance of fire

Here in Australia much of our vegetation is dependent on fire. I'm sure those of you who grew up here in Australia have heard of this, but what does it mean? Basically, the plants in Australia have evolved over a long time (for at least the last 40,000 years) in conjunction with fire. These fire events are both natural, as a result of lighting strikes, and as a result of human modification of the environment, with Aboriginal people using fire as a land management strategy.

What does this co-evolution of our Australian flora and fire mean for our vegetation communities in these modern times? Some our most popular native species, such as banksias and hakeas, are dependent on fire to produce the next generation. Such species must  experience a fire event before they will release seed from their seed pods. Other plants have adaptive 'behaviours' that assist them to survive in a fire event. For example, eucalypts produce epicormic growth (growth from under the bark which is stimulated when there is significant damage to the crown or the top of the tree) and these are then utilised as a survival technique after a fire event allowing the plant to continue photosynthesizing and obtaining energy and food. Fire in itself is also a way for the environment to manage fuel loads. More frequent and less intense fire events control fuel loads and reduce the risk of high temperatures and severe fires that we have witnessed and experienced in the southern areas of Australia in recent years.

Overall, it is therefore important to recognise the usefulness of fire and the importance of fire to some of the vegetation communities here in Australia. When well managed, undertaken in appropriate conditions and implemented in the right place fire is a useful land management tool. Pin It

Quandamooka people successful in achieving Native Title recognition

The Quandamooka people were today recognised as the native title custodians of "4,408 hectares of land and water on and surrounding North Stradbroke Island, including areas of national parks, reserves, unallocated State land and other leases." The Native Title Tribunal (NNT) has additional information on the determination in a media release on their website. According to the NNT, this determination recognises the Quandamooka peoples' exclusive rights to 2,264 hectares and non-exclusive rights to 22,639 hectares. The recognition of Native Title rights to the Quandamooka people does not however extend onto freehold land or many types of leasehold tenures.

The Native Title claim was over the Quandamooka people's traditional land and seas, known as Minjerribah on North Stradbroke Island. The recognition of the "rights" to these lands is an amazing step forward and one that has been a long-time coming.

The determination also extends to the inclusion of an Indigenous Land Use Agreement, which provides the Quandamooka with economic and employment opportunities. Overall, the agreement recognises the Quandamooka's rights as custodians and managers and protects environmental and cultural values.  The Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) has additional information about the agreement and the custodian role that the Quandamooka people on their website.

Congratulations to all those that participated in the negotiation of this outcome and I am so glad that there is finally recognition of the Quandamooka peoples' land rights. Pin It

Alternate finance model - encouraging green outcomes

I heard a suggestion the other day that would implement a completely different model of borrowing money from financial organisations, with the aim of achieving more sustainable housing options for individuals. The idea was that financial institutions offer low interest rate and very long-term (60+ years) home loans/support loans to be utilised to finance sustainable technologies and practices. 

You would be able to obtain a low interest and long term loan for things such as photovoltaic cells (solar panels), water tanks, insulation, etc and then for the traditional building materials and methods you would attract the normal home loan rate and term. Thereby ending up with two home loan products on your property. 

As you are unlikely to live for the  length of your long-term loan period that loan is actually attached to the title of the property and that loan would transfer to the new owners when you or someone on your behalf sells the property.  

Such loans would make the investment into alternative and sustainable technologies more affordable with recognition that the practicalities of investing in good technology can potentially be expensive for individuals, particularly for some of these emerging technologies. Such loans would encourage personal investment in sustainable housing options and technologies, with the incentive of long-term and low interest rates but would also mean such technologies over time would become cheaper and more efficient with increased investment in research and delivery of these technologies. Win-win situation.

What a brilliant and alternate model to imagine! If there are any bankers listening, perhaps a model to try?

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Don't sit back, make a difference

An issue with the modern generations is their inactivity in decision-making in either their neighbourhood, the political environment, their workplace, their family or anywhere decisions are required.

In discussion with some friends this morning we were chatting about some infrastructure development in their neighbourhood and the options that have been put forward by the infrastructure provider.  My friends were passionate about the option that was proposed through one of the last remaining patches of bushland/wetland in their area. That is, they don't want it to go through that area.

There are a number of options the infrastructure provider has put forward for comment and many others that have not been raised to the public. At present, placing the infrastructure through the environmental reserve is the easiest option and therefore one the project manager would definitely prefer. You may ask, why is the environmental reserve option the easiest option? Well, without any public outcry, the infrastructure provider would only have to deal with the local government, as the current custodian of this land, and this does not pose much restraint when community infrastructure is seeking an easement or land. It is certainly much easier to deal with than a commercial entity who is looking at lost profit and therefore potentially significant compensation or a number of home-owners who feel passionately about their home that they have lived in for the last X number of years. All the infrastructure developer would need to do is come up with a suitable compensatory package and certainly in my experience and many project managers' experience this is much cheaper and more politically stable option than dealing with the other landholders and economic interests.

I know that many people have concerns for the retention of environmental spaces and parks within their local neighbourhoods, but without communication of this concern to the decision makers and project managers these intact, environmental area will always end up having the conflicting landuse placed in them or being sacrificed to. They don't have a voice, they don't have traditional economic value and they certainly don't have anyone putting up significant or costly barriers to their resumption and/or development. There isn't anyone else but the general public and caring souls to defend these areas. Commercial activities/industries, schools, churches, recreation facilities all have significant groups of interested people attached to them and thus will always have a voice and someone defending their interests till the last battle. This doesn't seem to be the case for most environmental areas.

It is important to realise we are the voice of the environmental reserves, national parks, conservation reserves, wildlife, threatened plants and animals, marine parks, remote locations, environmental water allocations, groundwater quality, etc, etc. If we don't stand up and put our voice forward and express our concerns about particular developments within these area, the developments will also win and the environment will continue to lose. Economic interests will always prevail and our land will end up being over-developed, over-utilised, degraded, without recognition of the public's concerns for these areas and values.

Speak up! If there is a chance to put your view forward it is important to do so. And if there isn't an invited comment period take the first step and engage in the process. You can contact your local politicians, the infrastructure developers, the general land developer or the agent of land use change. Stand up and be heard! Take action now or it will be too late! Pin It

How to shape your neighbourhood?

If you plan on making a difference in your local neighbourhood, it is important to participate in local, State (or Territory) or Federal government development assessment processes. The are many stages set up during these planning and approval phases that allow for public comment and your comments can in fact create or stop developments.

Local governments, for example, will have sections of their websites indicating what development applications and planning processes they currently have 'on their books' and which ones you can provide comments on. Also here in Queensland you may notice large noticeboards (public notice) on the side of the road adjacent to open land, old houses, etc. These signs indicate an applicant is interested in either changing the type or intensity of development allowed on that land. This public notice is basically an advertisement seeking public comment on the development application and this is an opportune time to participate.

To make a difference in this process it is important to know how to make your comments really count. There isn't much point in just saying that you don't want the development, but rather have a look at the planning scheme, regional documents and other relevant information and providing justifications against these documents why the development should or should not be approved.

As I said there are numerous development approval processes where public comment are sought and to make a difference you should be engaged in all of these. Some sources where you may find public comment opportunities include:

• The Commonwealth government's referral process under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999;
• local government development processes under Queensland's Sustainable Planning Act 2009 (likely to be advertised on your local government's website);
• State government planning policy documents (often distributed across a number of government agencies, but inclusive of the Queensland Department of Infrastructure and Planning and the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management); 
• Infrastructure providers' websites, such as Energex, Powerlink, Queensland Rail, Ergon, Origin, as they will be required to have their environmental impact assessments available for comment; 
• large scale development agents' websites, for example Stocklands; and
• local environment and legal groups, such as Environmental Defender's Office. 

So don't complain about what is happening to your neighbourhood but rather participate in the process. Don't wait till someone is building something you don't like because you will have no leg to stand on and the process will continue no matter how much you complain. Give yourself and your views a fighting chance and participate early. Pin It

Saved a fence!

You just never know where you will find something useful in life! Wandering through my local township I  did a double take when a pile of fencing caught my eye. There just lying next to a shed was a large pile of dismantled white picket fence. This had been taken down from a courtyard area behind a shop in the main street. There were some landscapers working on what was clearly a new fence and I thought "opportunity"!

Quick conversations between myself and the landscapers and it was established the fence was going straight to the tip. Can I have it, was my obvious next question? Clear it with the boss and its yours. Fabulous. After an early morning trip back to the location, this time with a ute, I am now the proud owner of a pile of old picket fence segments and now slowly dismantling them into single palings and supporting beams.

Why some of you might ask? Well in the near future I will be moving house and I plan on acquiring some chickens. I thought the palings would make a good edge for my chicken run or at least allow the chickens to have an outdoors fenced area separate from my two dogs.

Felt proud of myself for salvaging this fence and re-using something that would have otherwise ended up at the tip, potentially as compost. It certainly would have had a much shorter life-cycle than it was capable of having! All sorts of things can make a difference to the planet and this is just one of them. Reduce, reuse, recycle! Pin It

Carbon tax

In recent months the Australian Federal Government (the Labor party) has announced they will pursue the introduction of a carbon tax. For those that know nothing about this, this announcement will introduce a price (a tax) for each tonne of carbon pollution emitted. The idea behind this is that such pollution becomes an economic dis-incentive and hopefully those polluting will consider reducing their emissions because it hurts their back pocket (so to speak). The level that the carbon tax is set at will determine how much of a dis-incentive such pollution turns out to be (the higher the price the greater the incentive not to pollute).

Such taxes target large organisations but there will also be some impact on the average household as in this modern day we all have carbon emissions. However, given the government will be raising money through the introduction of such a tax such impacts on households hopefully can be evened out with the government promising to assist families through the transition and provide some buffers. Thus again, expressing the idea that the introduction is about reducing the incentive for big polluters/big business rather than impacting upon your average family.

The idea of a carbon tax shouldn't be a scary thing for the average Australian. Yes, there will be economic implications, but big business is smart. Obviously, if they can continue doing what they have always done it is the path of least resistance but if forced they will come up with alternatives and solutions to work around this issue and remain profitable. They always do. The large companies that are going to impacted upon potentially significantly are also usually highly diverse businesses.  Their economic strategies will allow them to pursue alternative business models and business streams that previously may not have been heavily invested in and hopefully are better for the environment (with such incentives) and those that are most heavily taxed because they are significant contributors to carbon pollution will be reduced.

The world can't persist on its current path forever. The world will shut down without such drastic steps (both environment and economies). You have probably all heard the statement "there will be no economy, if there is no environment". This is certainly true and the government is starting to appreciate this. The introduction of the carbon tax is truly about providing our country with a future, one that we all want to be a part of. Subsidies for cleaner energy solutions, incentives for big businesses to involve and buffering families will hopefully all be part of the broader picture and assist us all through this transition period. Pin It