Frackman

March 24, 2015

Watch Frackman the movie and visit their website http://frackmanthemovie.com/ to find out more about the effects of coal seam gas mining in Queensland and to be inspired to act to prevent more land from being devastated, more water being poisoned and more people being displaced from their homes by Coal Seam Gas mining.

Change your subscriptions to digital format

February 15, 2015

One easy way to decrease paper waste is to receive any publications we subscribe to in digital format.

Many publications now make a subscription to digital available.

Having publications in digital format means you can access and read them anywhere, provided you have your phone, tablet or computer handy.

This is presumably cheaper for publishers, as they save on the costs of printing and distribution.

Environmental savings include decreased need for paper...

Carbon emissions per capita, by nation:OECD website

December 29, 2014

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) website provides a vast array of statistics. One of the most interesting pages is linked below. This shows per capita carbon emissions, by nation.

TRADING ECONOMICS. Arable land per capita in Australia....and other useful facts.

December 29, 2014

Trading Economics website provides a wealth of statistics from around the world, related to trade, resources, environment, housing and more.

The open budget - see how the Australian government spends tax revenue

December 29, 2014

Follow this link to explore how the Australian budget is spent.

The Great Green Wall - Senegal leads the drive to plant a 7000km long wall of trees

December 29, 2014

In the Sahel region of Africa, 11 countries are working on a project known as The Great Green Wall.

By planting a 7,100km long corridor of trees, it is hoped that much needed farming land can be spared from advancing desert.

Calculate the size of your carbon forest

November 10, 2014

This is an exercise which you can take as far as you wish.

We are often told that we have large carbon footprints. In Australia we emit an average of around 25 tonnes per year of CO2

I had often wondered just how many trees I would need to plant to be soaking up the carbon I am producing.

Here I have provided links to sites which can help you to calculate you carbon emissions and how big your footprint forest would need to be.

If you are really keen - you can go ahe...

Earth Justice

October 06, 2014

“Earthjustice was created by a small group of attorneys with a passionate belief that the power of the law could be used to preserve the environment. They helped establish the right of citizens to go to court to enforce environmental laws when the government couldn't or wouldn't."

– Trip Van Noppen, Earth Justice President

Urban farming, sustainable living innovations : Spurtopia

July 28, 2014

Self watering garden beds, organic cleaning products, solar ovens and more....

Spurtopia is a truly inspirational website which details the work of Roman and Jana Spur.

Their home in New Farm (Brisbane, Australia) is a wonderful example of how we can live in a sustainable environment, producing fresh food and saving resources using a small amount of land.

I highly recommend visiting the site to find out what you can do to transfor your home in to a sustainable urban farm.</...

Logan Food Gardeners

July 28, 2014

A fantastic website providing helpful information, links, chats and educational events to help you grow your own food.

Biogas

July 28, 2014

Methane is a gas commonly used for cooking and heating. It can be obtained through drilling, including accessing coal seam reserves (CSG), and it can also be produced from our household compost. This process is suprisingly simple, and can potentially provide enough gas to run a cooker for 15 or 30 minutes per day, using food scraps.

Re-circulating food and beverage containers on a regional/national scale.

July 17, 2014

Every evening restaurants serve food with the same crockery and cutlery used by different customers the previous night.

Every day surgical procedures are preformed using instruments which were used the day before, and then re-sterilised.

Society accepts the re-use of these instruments as safe and appropriate.

Nonetheless, every day millions of coffee cups, fast food containers and plastic bags are buried in landfill because we lack the infrastructure to collect, clean and re...

The concept of Ecocide as a crime

July 14, 2014

Ecocide is significant damage to ecosystems, threatening the safety of their inhabitants.

While many of us object to the unnecessary destruction of ecosystems, legislation to protect our environment is lacking around the world.

Many people believe that the earth inherently deserves similar rights to humans, including protection from assault and abuse.

Because earth's ecosystems sustain us, and we cannot live without them, the destruction of these ec...

Eating for the future

July 14, 2014

Understanding the origins of what we eat, and the processes which bring it to our plates, might change our dietary choices.

We might want to know how much time, energy, and space is required to produce various foods.

Raising livestock and seafood for human consumption on a large scale requires copious resources. How much meat and seafood we eat will collectively determine the amount of land and water which is available to support animal habitats, and ecosystems such as forests.</p...

Re-using beer bottles for home brewing

July 14, 2014

It would seem that beer manufacturers sterilising and refilling glass bottles is an obvious way to save waste and energy.

Unfortunately this practice has not been adopted on a large scale.

However there is another way to bypass the process of glass collection, sorting, recycling, re-labelling and re-sale.

With a little trial and error, developing a tasty home brew may save money, waste and energy expenditure.

In Brisbane, Australia, BrewsBrothers help customers to make...

Recycling (when we can't reuse)

July 13, 2014

When plastic products can no longer be re-used, most can be re-cycled.

The Plastic Identification Code is helpful in confirming which products can be recycled, although not all centres are able to recycle every type of plastic. (See link)

If you can make it to the Recycle Expo in Brisbane, QLD, Australia in April 2015, come along to learn more about recycling (See link)

Reject the concept of 'single use' items containers

July 08, 2014

Re-use always trumps recycling for reducing waste.

For example, takeaway containers are made for holding and transporting food. These products have value, and take a toll on the environment when discarded.

Recycling requires the transport of products to collection centres, and reprocessing of materials to form new products.

Every time we re-use a container, we save the energy that drives these recycling processes.

The cost of re-using your containers is a small amount...

Shopping without packaging

July 05, 2014

A great way to reduce underground plastic is to shop in outlets which sell products without packaging.

The classic example is the fruit and vegetable store. Food is displayed in it's original packaging. Skins and shells.

While a bag may be helpful to keep all the items together, these bags need not be used only once.

As usual, the simplest way is for us to take the time to re-use our own jars, bottles and bags.

However, hundreds of grocery products come wrapped in plas...

Optimise your household energy efficiency

July 05, 2014

Energy savings through domestic efficiency can save you money as well as reducing your carbon footprint.

Converting petrol/diesel cars to electric

May 28, 2014

This is actually happening right now - on a small scale. Apart from the obvious benefits of reducing pollution in urban areas, and reducing carbon emissions (depending on your grid''s energy mix), conversion to electric also means using car bodies for their full lifespan.

As was recently pointed out to me, it would be worse for the planet if we all bought a new electric vehicle tomorrow, as our current car bodies would go to waste.

I have provided links to various sites which I h...

Hybrid Electric Vehicles in public transport

May 28, 2014

Public transport is one means of decreasing human energy consumption and carbon emissions.

Combine this concept with electric motors powered by renewable energy, and you have added energy savings, with cleaner air for commuters and urban inhabitants.

Crown coaches in Melbourne have a fleet which includes a diesel-electric hybrid bus.

Growing in season, eating in season

May 28, 2014

Many of us enjoy the luxury of eating our favourite foods all year long. While this is obviously very nice for us, the amount of domestic and international transport behind this luxury is phenomenal.

By growing our own food and/or eating locally sourced foods, we not only avoid excessive transport of foods, but eat fresher food without the need for preservatives.

Solar Roadways

May 28, 2014

Regardless of whether or not the Solar Roadways project ever actually achieves it''s goal (covering public roads in USA with solar panels), it is a truly inspirational concept. Making use of the MASSIVE flat horizontal areas that have already been created for transport on earth, to harness solar energy and improve road safety and efficiency, is a brilliant idea.

This is thinking a little outside the box, and in my opinion that is what we need to move forward in the future.

Regardl...

Driving electric vehicles

May 25, 2014

There are several reasons we might consider switching to electric vehicles (EV's).

Firstly, there is obviously the potential to run vehicles from a renewable energy source, decreasing carbon emissions.

There seems to be a consensus that the amount of carbon emissions reduction gained by using EV's is dependent on which energy sources provide the grid.

For example, in Australia (largely coal based grid supply), the carbon savings appear to be fairly meager, compared to places...

Selective shopping

May 25, 2014

If there is any truth in the idea that governments are heavily influenced by large corporations, then our spending habits may be as important as our vote.

It is very easy to shop without questioning the processes involved in product manufacture, or the treatment and pay that workers receive.

We may also be ignorant to the environmental impacts of sourcing the constituents or ingredients of a product.

For example, the effects of the massive palm oil industry...

Sahara Forest Project

May 25, 2014

Revegetation and creation of green jobs through profitable production of food, freshwater, biofuels and electricity.

A very ambitious project growing food in arid regions, using solar power, desalination and modern agricultural techniques.

Global Alliance for Banking on Values

May 25, 2014

Banks. Love them or hate them, they are entwined in our society and culture.

The Global Alliance for Banking on Values provides a framework for banks to conduct their business with consideration for positive social and environmental outcomes.

If these issues are important to you, this link to the Alliance website will help you to learn more about the banks involved.

Choosing your bank carefully

May 25, 2014

Marketforces.org.au and 350.org websites recently enlightened me to the fact that my bank was investing heavily in fossil fuel projects on the Australian east coast.

I realised that my own money was funding various projects which I do not approve of, including dredging of the Great Barrier Reef, and extracting huge amounts of fossil fuels for export.

An interesting question is 'WHAT DOES YOUR BANK DO WITH YOUR MONEY?'

"Between 2008 and 2013, ANZ, Commonwealth, NAB and Westp...

Choosing your superannuation fund carefully

May 25, 2014

As the years go by, we will hopefully accumulate a large sum of money to fund our latter years.

Until we finally get our hands on the money, many of us leave it in the care of managed funds.

Just like our banks, our superannuation funds are obviously using our money in the mean time, on various investments.

One might wonder ' WHAT IS MY SUPERANNUATION BEING INVESTED IN?'

And the answers can often be found online, or by contacting your fund.

Not surprisingly, ene...