Creating a Sustainable Sunshine Coast - Nambour to Mooloolah

Newspaper article

Sonya — Fri, 16 May 2008 20:07:02 -0700

Sunshine Coast Relocalisation- Noosa Eumundi and Districts (SCReNE)

Budget wishes

clivewrites — Tue, 13 May 2008 06:22:28 -0700

My dream budget in no particular order, as the brain turns...

Grants and loans for individuals and communities to develop their own food production at the local level.

A commitment to community housing - no person should be on the street unless they choose to be there.

A commitment to agricultural and manual arts education.

A re-priotitizing of infrastructure development funds from road and air to rail and sea. This includes the establishment of solidifying not only the major seaports, but also boosting the number and quality of the minor ones across Australia.

A commitment to water.

A commitment to the "greenstream" energy technologies. We always talk about "alternative" energy as being solar, wind, geo, wave, etc. Well, this mindset needs to change, dagnammit! Many of the technologies are here, waiting to be implemented! These ain't alternatives, these are ECONOMICALLY VIABLE, , ENERGY-PRODUCING ENTITIES.

Make the energy playing-field equal! Subsidize the greenstream tech to the same level as the polluters, or cut the subsidization to the polluters!

A commitment to small-business enterprises that are willing to take on and meet the challenges of the new economy with creative and/or long-lost ideas and solutions.

A commitment to simplification of the rules of co-operative enterprises.

A commitment to innovation and invention.

A commitment to bartering.

A commitment to the farmers. These men and women are, I believe, being taken for granted by Government and by us as citizens. They need our help. Without the farmers, well...I suggest that you look into how "civilization" was formed in the first place.

Peace in our communities.

Creating a Sustainable Sunshine Coast - Nambour to Mooloolah

Relocalisation film night

Sonya — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:04:26 -0700

Start: 2008-05-28 19:00

End: 2008-05-28 22:00

Sustainable Maleny Project

Relocalisation film night

Sonya — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:57:23 -0700

Start: 2008-05-28 19:00

End: 2008-05-28 22:00

Sustainable Maleny Project

The lights are out

clivewrites — Sun, 04 May 2008 04:24:15 -0700

I acknowledge the owners of the land upon which I write, the Kaurareg nation.

Living up here in the Torres Strait means that sometimes things take a bit of time to get done. On Friday night, just before the long weekend began, I lost both the lighting and the fans on my electrical switchboard. This happened as I turned on a light. The wiring is a bit worn and tired in our unit. Because a State government department handles my dwelling, I need to go through some paperwork to get things done. But, it's a long weekend, and I didn't feel much like trying to go through the effort of getting a sparky over here to do the work, let alone having to go through the bureaucratic hoops that one must go through to get something done without paperwork.

I viewed this as an opportunity to live with the lights out. Well, not exactly. I still had my powerpoints, so I've been able to set up a couple of lamps. Nonetheless, it's been pretty undramatic. I think that I would probably be able to get things done around here without any lights. It was pretty comical around 5 p.m. when I remembered that I still needed to fold laundry, clean the bathroom, and make a couple of dishes (yep, still have the oven circuit working too). I could have moved the lamps around, but didn't want to go through that trouble either. So, I ran around, got things done, then the sun went down.

Guess what? Things are fine.

To live without much light at night just means that I have had to adjust my schedule a bit. Not a huge drama. I am very very thankful that the powerpoints didn't go as well. Otherwise I would have had to find the sparky, pronto. You know, when I think about it, the only massive dramas that I would have around here without powerpoints would be refrigeration and the computer. OK, the stereo. The stove. The fans...the washing machine...hmmm...

Maybe it would be a little more daunting than I'd first thought.

So, let's think about powering down...could I do this western lifestyle on only one powerpoint?

Stove and oven? Well, it's pretty hot here - replace it with a solar oven. Or convert to gas.

Stereo? Might be able to get by (might have to get by) with an mp3 player and a set of headphones and/or small speakers that are powered by rechargeable batteries that get their energy from the sun. Keeping the music close to the ears requires less energy than cranking the speakers. However, it would be a drag when you want to get your groove on with others.

Ceiling fans? It would be a drag to be in the house without them. I refuse to use air conditioning even when it's 34 and 80% humidity, but the fans take the edge off. A solution to this is devising some kind of contraption that would use solar PV to directly power a fan to which it is attached through some kind of simple circuitry. It provides a relatively simple solution: when do I need the fans most? When the sun's beating down on the roof. Would probably want to connect a rechargeable cell of some sort so that I could turn it on when going to sleep in the summertime.

Computer? There are low power options out there. The 1 laptop per child program uses hardware that is power-pack free; battery charging is based on a hand crank.

http://laptop.org/

It may be possible that the myriad of laptop power packs in existence could be adapted to a portable solar charger that could augment or fully charge the battery. Who knows.

The washing machine? Hmmm...Without completely going back to the scrubbing board, it is possible that a few compromises could be made to improve chances of still using electric. Would a low-powered, smaller, front-loader do the trick? Could it do the trick on a power-point supplied by solar? Definitely no dryer!

These compromises could be managed, with growing pains, without the need for energy storage. Energy storage is one of the main factors confronting us today as we travel down the road to sustainability. Intermittency of renewables is often cited as an excuse for not upscaling them. Come on people, surely we can do better than this!

I'm not going to get into a debate about the power requirements of blowdryers, irons, and hair curlers or straighteners or whatever the heck we're doing to our hair these days. Quite simply, creased clothes and naturally occurring hair aren't going to send our communities into a tailspin (our nightspots, on the other hand, may never be the same). A real problem as far as our western civilization is concerned is a steady supply of energy for refrigeration. Yes, there are gas fridges, but these are still pretty darn dear, and gas won't last forever either. We may need to consider some adapting on this front as well. It may be beneficial for somebody out there to do some experimental work on refrigeration temperature profiles that reflect intermittent power delivery based on diurnal sunshine patterns (or a decrepit power grid). Could our food get by if we had a fridge that, say, could get down to 1 or 2 degrees whilst the sun was up and running a solar cell? Knowing that we lose a great deal of heat during the time that we open the fridge, do we as humans have the planning capacity to keep the door closed after the sun goes down? (I'd like to think so!) Maybe we wouldn't be able to keep our milk fresh for two weeks, but maybe it would still sort us out for 3 or 4 days? Still better than the alternative.

Power tools? This could be problematic. Many such tools are high-powered, just like the irons and blowdryers, meaning that they use a lot of energy in a short period of time. Sorry, but we might need to get used to going back to hand drills, hand saws, and screwdrivers, and community efforts. In my own opinion, we built a lot of great stuff before power tools anyhow. It just takes longer. What with inflation, mortgages, and rent being what they are, it is hard to say whether we're going to need many more new houses. I reckon that it's safe to say that some of us are going to be looking for somebody to rent out the second bedroom to help the mortgage. And that some of us are going to be asking around to see if we can stay on the sofa for a couple of days or years.

We are going to have to get used to things taking longer. We are going to have to become better planners in our everyday life. We are going to need to adjust our habits. We need to become consciously aware of the notion that instant gratification just isn't going to be there like there was. Things are going to slow down. I reckon that'll be a good thing for a lot of us anyhow.

The moral of the story is, this weekend without light has been a good, easy, thought-provoking exercise in peak energy. In the same way that a few empty petrol bowsers in Scotland in the last week was a good exercise for the UK.

Anyhow, I'm going to turn on the light in the oven to see if that potato bake is done.

Peace in our communities.

Creating a Sustainable Sunshine Coast - Nambour to Mooloolah

Permablitz done!

Sonya — Sat, 03 May 2008 21:53:54 -0700

Thanks to everyone who came to today's permablitz working bee at our place.

You really did an amazing job and the garden looks fantastic.

I'm exhausted, but it was worth it.

Tired, but happy,
Sonya and John

Sunshine Coast Energy Action Centre

Maleny Wood Expo

Sonya — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:47:11 -0700

Start: 2008-05-03 09:00

End: 2008-05-04 17:00

Sunshine Coast Relocalisation- Noosa Eumundi and Districts (SCReNE)

Exponential growth and...everything

clivewrites — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 02:55:49 -0700

For those interested in how exponential growth applies to things other than paw-paws, I invite you to check out the very interesting slide show in the making at "Crash Course".

http://www.chrismartenson.com/crashcourse

It provides some very interesting analysis and talks about exponential growth in some easy-to-understand detail.

The other exponential growth that I perceive to be happening is the exponential growth of the Relocalization movement. I can't actually prove it. Perhaps some statistics are available for number crunching, Shelby? Now that's exponential growth worth talking about!!

Peace in our communities.

Creating a Sustainable Sunshine Coast - Nambour to Mooloolah

Exponential Growth and paw-paws

clivewrites — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 20:25:41 -0700

One of the "buzz-words" flying around a lot of blogs (but not yet the mainstream media) is the idea and reality of exponential growth. You may have also heard of "positive-feedback loops". These loops are related to exponential growth. It has been said that one of our failures as humans is to properly understand what exponential growth is. Let alone to understand what it can mean or how it can manifest; or to comprehend the wide range of natural and economic phenomena that follow such growth patterns.

Let us consider growth then for a minute. What does that mean to you? It is commonly viewed as "getting bigger", or "getting larger". Perhaps think of that in the context of a seed that transforms into a fully fruiting paw-paw (or choose your own fruit) tree. First the seed. Then a sprout, followed by a stem, leaves, branches (well, pseudo-branches in the case of the paw-paw), all the way to a set of lovely oblong green and yellowing fruit hanging from the upper trunk of a tree with leaves of a variety of colour of greens. OK. That is one reconciling of growth.

Let us now consider not just the SIZE of the tree. Let us also consider the size of the tree as time marches steadily on. You might now ask, how quickly does the tree grow? Trees take a while to grow from a seed to when the point when they actually fruit. So, the changes in the tree happen in a way that can seem slow to us humans, but perceptibly slow. As time goes on, we might notice that the tree is now taller than the bird-bath, or has a flower, or a new branch, or is shading the tomato plant. This conception that the tree is taking a while to grow is one of a LINEAR GROWTH conception (not quite a reality, as the early growth of many organisms is actually exponential).

Let us now consider the 4 fruit on that paw-paw tree. Within the deep orange and red flesh of the paw-paw are the black seeds of the future of the paw-paw population. After eating the flesh of a few paw-paws, some animal discarded the seeds into a heap. Lo and behold, twleve weeks later, new paw-paw plants. But not one paw-paw plant. 150 paw-paw plants!

THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF EXPONENTIAL GROWTH. You might barely notice one paw-paw plant growin in your garden, but the transformation of a garden landscape with 150 paw-paw seedlings is very quick, and is very dramatic (GASP!!).

So, each of those new 150 trees produced 4 paw-paw fruits after about 40 weeks. The seeds of the fruit were discarded by a bunch of animals who were now sharing (GASP) paw-paw and paw-paw seedlings with other animals. These animals tossed their seeds in a number of different places. 12 weeks passed by. Wow, all over the countryside, 22,500 paw-paw seedlings popped up out of the ground! Why 22,500? One paw-paw tree (call it the first generation) gave rise to 150 new trees in the second "generation". These 150 second generation trees EACH gave rise to 150 new trees in the third "generation".

150 x 150 = 22,500.

Now to finish the exponential growth lesson. The third generation trees gave rise to the fourth generation - an astronomical 3 million-plus (22,500 x 150, or 150 to the power of 3 generations) number of paw-paw seedlings! Sadly, the third generation had tapped out a lot of the soil's nutrients. Furthermore all of the generations were growing in a place surrounded by ocean on all sides, and so got crowded. The fourth generation didn't bear any fruit, in fact, a lot of them withered away before anyone noticed.

This illustrates the FINITENESS (an endpoint) of exponential growth, at least in the biological realm.

In another posting, I would like to reflect on one of the characteristics of exponential growth. That is, that actual growth can be imperceptible for a long time, and then suddenly explode upwards.

Peace in our community.

Creating a Sustainable Sunshine Coast - Nambour to Mooloolah

The Perfect Storm...of vegetables

clivewrites — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 18:57:06 -0700

Sigh. That is about all I have been doing for the past few days as I read the blogs that I frequent. Then I stumbled upon one which poked me into quiet reflection for a little while that put things into a bit of perspective. I highly recommend it, but I also warn that there is some really deep philosophical musing, and the occasional bit of language that some might find offensive.

Casaubon's Book: Sharon Astyk’s Ruminations on an Ambiguous Future
http://sharonastyk.com/2008/04/24/ok-breathe/

The basic message of this commentary is, things in various aspects of energy, climate, economics, finances, food, and population, are getting very interesting, perhaps more quickly than many have previously thought possible. This is the dynamic of EXPONENTIAL GROWTH vs LINEAR GROWTH. However, in the midst of all of this, we should remember what it is that is really important to us. What is it that we need and want most? Sit down and reflect on that.

So I did. I went to my neighbours', had a beer and a sing-song, and a laugh. I played with their dogs and talked about music, and threw the darts around-the-world.

It was a nice night.

The second message of the commentary is that there is much work that we have to get to. We need to reprioritize. We need to take back our communities that have been hijacked by solitary commutes in an automobile to race home after work to catch up on primetime TV.

Last night I felt that we had, in some small way, proceeded to build our community, and not just from the metaphysical standpoint. We also engaged in discussions about building up a (small) community garden in our complex of duplexes. The great thing was that nobody was in dispute that it should or shouldn't be done. We were talking about what we were going to bring to the equation. One guy was going to get a hold of a rotary hoe, we talked about permaculture vs. dig & turn, about acquiring fish carcasses to enrich the soil...We talked about where we should put it, about what to put in it. Everyone contributed to the discussion.

This morning I transplanted out seven more paw-paw plants, and got another 30 ready for distribution to a few others around. The beans are sprouting, the capsicum plants are getting bigger, and I had the most beautiful coconut for breakfast.

Progress isn't all about material wealth.

Peace in our community.

Creating a Sustainable Sunshine Coast - Nambour to Mooloolah

Future Scenarios - David Holmgren

Sonya — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 15:42:38 -0700

Sustainable Maleny Project

Food Forests

Sonya — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:22:46 -0700

Start: 2008-06-21 09:00

End: 2008-06-21 15:00

Sustainable Maleny Project

Animals in the Permaculture system

Sonya — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:19:54 -0700

Start: 2008-06-14 09:00

End: 2008-06-14 15:00

Sustainable Maleny Project

Permaculture Plants & Seed Saving

Sonya — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:16:54 -0700

Start: 2008-06-07 09:00

End: 2008-06-07 15:00

Sustainable Maleny Project

Building Healthy Soil Part II

Sonya — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:14:18 -0700

Start: 2008-05-24 09:00

End: 2008-05-24 12:00

Sustainable Maleny Project

Building Healthy Soil Part I

Sonya — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:11:26 -0700

Start: 2008-05-17 09:00

End: 2008-05-17 12:00

Sustainable Maleny Project

Garden Design & Pest Management

Sonya — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:08:30 -0700

Start: 2008-05-11 09:00

End: 2008-05-11 12:00

Sustainable Maleny Project

Permaculture Principles

Sonya — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:05:20 -0700

Start: 2008-05-03 09:00

End: 2008-05-03 15:00

Sustainable Maleny Project

Introduction to Permaculture

Sonya — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:02:26 -0700

Start: 2008-04-26 09:00

End: 2008-04-26 15:00

Sustainable Maleny Project

Chevallum Permaculture Meeting

Sonya — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 23:56:29 -0700

Start: 2008-04-30 19:00

End: 2008-04-30 22:00

Sustainable Maleny Project

The Power of Community DVD screening

Sonya — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:25:19 -0700

Start: 2008-04-26 10:00

End: 2008-04-26 11:30

Sustainable Maleny Project

National summit ignores peak oil

Sonya — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:08:05 -0700

Sunshine Coast Relocalisation- Noosa Eumundi and Districts (SCReNE)

Future Ready Expo - Building Better Soil

dino — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:34:59 -0700

The Future Ready Expo at Kawana was quite an eye opener. There was a lot to see and hear. Listening to Roberto Perez (from the Power of Community DVD) was a real treat. We all remember his quote about riding bicycles ;-) Then there was Geoff Lawton. Who hasn't been inspired by the "Greening the Desert" flash animation on the web?

But one of the most intriguing discussions I attended was regarding building soil in a sub tropical climate. As organic gardeners we're always trying to build soil using compost. It helps, but in a tropical and sub-tropical climate we can easily lose our nutrients to torrential downpours leaching it away. So much we read about compost is for more temperate climates in Europe and North America that hearing a new take on it for the tropics was fascinating. Due to the differences in climate in temperate gardens 80 percent of the nutrients are held in the soil. But in a sub-tropical garden this is only 20 percent. The rest is held in the plants themselves..

Having a layer of organic matter, mulch, continually shielding the soil from blasting sun and torrential rain is a natural way of protecting the nutrient levels in the soil. Frances Michaels from Green Harvest gave a great lecture on what we need to do in a sub-tropical environment to build great soil. Remember that soil is alive. Dirt is dead. So having an active layer of mulch, leaves and other vegetable matter, covering the soil promotes this in a sub-tropical garden. Grow plenty of plants that are good to "cut and drop" to provide this nutrient rich mulch layer. Remember, we're trying to create a rain forest in your backyard.

We don't necessarily want to have too many nutrients in the soil. We want a continuous slow decomposition of organic matter into nutrients. With the weather being warm enough for this to happen with out having to pile it high in mounds we don't need to work so hard at composting as those living in more temperate climates. Obviously if we have a no dig garden or raised bed these rules will change but the natural food forest concept at this latitude and rain fall really doesn't need us to work so hard at building compost.

One of the great additions to a backyard permaculture forest are chickens. Originally forest fowl, they have been bred for maximum plumpness and egg producing capacity but are still right at home in a well shaded food forest garden. They turn the mulch while looking for bugs and can reduce bugs and leafy greens to nitrogen rich manure.

So if you are thinking of having a food forest in your backyard, you won't need to think about where your kitchen vege scraps go. Feed them to your chooks under your fruit trees, no compost turn and you have the bonus of fresh free range eggs for breakfast.

Dean

SustainaBundy

Monthly meeting

Sonya — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 14:19:30 -0700

Start: 2008-06-01 08:30

End: 2008-06-01 10:30

Sunshine Coast Relocalisation- Noosa Eumundi and Districts (SCReNE)

Diesel-generated electricity concerns

clivewrites — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 06:57:29 -0700

I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land where I write, the Kaurareg nation.

Living at the end of the Australian diesel supply chain here on Waibene (Thursday Island) has always made me consider, subconsciously, the potential impacts of an energy disruption. A couple of pieces of information have come to my knowledge this weekend which has moved the debate to my conscious mind.

First of all, according to my calculations, made based on a pamphlet released by the International Energy Association and the OECD (see attached document), Waibene's electricity use requires the consumption of more than 10,000 litres of diesel PER DAY. Electricity supplied here is "off-the-grid" and is supplied by wind and diesel fuel. The wind turbines only account for 10% (at the very best) or less of the electricity supplied.

Second, the Caltex diesel refinery at Lytton has had to conduct unscheduled maintenance. This is going to have an impact on diesel supplies in SEQ for the rest of the month. For the story, click the link below.

"Brisbane diesel drought looms"
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23542562-952,00.html

It made me think in two different ways:

1) If I had to give up 90% of my electricity consumption tomorrow, what would I need to do in my day-to-day activities?

2) If Waiben had to give up 90% of its electricity consumption tomorrow, what would the island need to do? Is a plan in place?

My thoughts on this are unclear at this point, although a couple of things came to mind immediately: the hospital, refrigeration, and communications networks. Maybe a fan. Regardless of what I think, the Federal Government does have a plan to deal with such an event. It is the Liquid Fuel Emergency Amendment Act 2007. This diesel drought might be a good time to conduct a dry-run of the new provisions of this Act. The Act can be found at:

http://www.comlaw.gov.au/ComLaw/Legislation/Act1.nsf/framelodgmentattach...

I hope to provide a more detailed musing on all of this when the time comes. In the meantime, if you are interested in keeping an eye on what the retailers are paying for diesel when it is unloaded off the cargo ships, go to the Australian Institute of Petroleum link here:

http://www.aip.com.au/pricing/tgp/index.htm#diesel

By the way, diesel was 87.4 cents/L on Jan 1 2004; it was 158.4 cents/L on April 18, 2008 according to the same website of the AIP. This is an average annualized rise of approximately 18.9% p.a.

Renewable energy is not only becoming less expensive, non-renewables are becoming more expensive.

Peace.

Creating a Sustainable Sunshine Coast - Nambour to Mooloolah

Rising Sea Levels

elvirawhite — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 04:07:38 -0700

I would like to share an interesting site I found on possible rising sea levels. You can play with it endlessly and view almost anywhere in the world to see what a new sea height would do to the coastline. Very educational, and fun to find your own roof! Have a look!

www.flood.firetree.net

Sustainable Maleny Project

Food Festival to Promote Relocalization?

elvirawhite — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 02:43:54 -0700

A very interesting thing happened here last week. We had a public meeting sponsered by the Chamber of Commerce and two projects were chosen. One that I want to help with is a festival promoting local produce of all kind (local in the food mile sense, too!) All sorts of things could be showcased, including bush foods, plants and a farmers market, as well as products made locally from them. What an opportunity for educating our community about enjoying local produce! And perhaps growing some of their own, too! I'll let you know how we get on as we progress with organising it.

I dont know if we need to actually start a relocalize group yet officially. I looked at the form to fill in and I dont even know how to describe our goals in Kenilworth yet.

The other thing we are thinking of doing is revitalising our old CWA as its goals are very compatable with relocalising and they have insurance cover. We could meet in their building free if we were members. How do all the groups manage insurance issues for their member's activities? This could be important these days.

At the moment we are mostly getting our own vege gardens going. I am going to the seed saving workshop at Chevallum in May to get the info we need and tell the others who couldn't go.

Sustainable Maleny Project

Regional Powerdown Blog

Sonya — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:00:32 -0700

Well, it's one month today since the local council election and the amalgamation of three councils into one.

The EDAP is still being written, but in reality, we it wouldn't have been appropriate to deliver it to the old council and we need to give the new council a little breathing space before we deliver it to them.

Janet and I had a meeting with State Government this week, which was really encouraging. We have a relatively new Minister for a new portfolio called Climate Change, Sustainability and Innovation and he had already commissioned a report on oil vulnerability in our state prior to his appointment as Minister.

It was through his office that we had the meeting and discussed all the things we been setting up here on the Coast.

It all looks very promising, media interview requests are rolling in via the website as are other contacts in universities, councils and community groups around Australia.

Our next step is to meet with the new Mayor, discuss what we have done and plan to do. Keep in contact with State Govt, finish the EDAP and start developing a Transition Team Troika Network to start to really get this out in the community and around the region.

This week is very busy for me - I have meeting to plan the layout of a mock "Transition Town" at our World Environment Day celebrations in May, then on Thursday night Janet and I are presenting at a film screening of The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil which includes special guest Roberto Perez, then on Friday I'm helping Janet all day with a huge school garden seminar she has organised with 45 schools attending (teachers, principals, groundspeople and parents) to discuss how permaculture and all its uses can be incorporated into school curriculums.

On Saturday we have an all day expo on sustainability. Guest speakers include Roberto Perez, Geoff Lawton and locals Bob Cameron (sustainable business owner) and Frances Michael (Green Harvest business owner).

I'll be doing a presentation on Transition Towns and what the community can do about climate change and peak oil. Andi Hazelwood will be there talking Relocalisation and I'll also be doing a compost demonstration.

Busy times and momentum is definately building... exciting times and lots to do!

Sonya

Sustainable Maleny Project

Not Like Y2K!

elvirawhite — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 23:18:16 -0700

While talking to someone yesterday about peak oil and its possible effects on every aspect of life, I felt a bit like I did about Y2K. Do you all remember the hype and doomsday pictures that were predicted? Then nothing much happened(thank goodness!) and it all settled down. The person asked me if I REALLY thought it was all going to happen. I said, "Yes, but even if it wasn't as bad as all that we still needed to change a lot of things about our lives and communities to make them better." Has anyone assembled a good answer to the question as to whether Peak Oil changes to lifestyle will really happen that can be given briefly in a conversation without sounding fanatical? Any comments ?

Sustainable Maleny Project

Participating in Local Community Groups

elvirawhite — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:02:51 -0700

We have been thinking that one of the best ways to help relocalize our community is to join existing organisations that have similar aims and revitalise them! For example, the QCWA, that is, the Country Womens Association, has similar aims to strengthen the community and learn skills such as cooking and craft that would be of benefit in hard times. Also, if the community needs a focal place for markets etc, the local community hall would be vital, but the committee that runs it needs help as they are all aging. If we join them and give our support then a vital piece of already existing framework will be maintained.

In our local rural community, there is a falling away of volunteers for all of our organisations, due to increasing work committments and lack of childcare assistance, mainly.

Everyone can think of volunteer organisation in their areas that probably need support and often what they need is new blood and fresh ideas. Perhaps an efficient use of our time and resources would be to pitch in while spreading the relocalize message! The general population respect those who are not afraid to join in and help practically, and would be more likely to listen to any message thay have to give. Also, you would not have to reinvent the wheel in that situation. I think cities also have this same situation.

Events such as community forums are also a great oppertunity to have the message heard and meet others similarly minded. Suggest ideas that people will be able to agree with and support, such as community gardening being a great social connecter and promoting health and wellbeing, not just a neccessity in a collapsing society!

Has anyone had experience at these types of approach to relocalizing their communities and do you have any further suggestions along these lines?

Sustainable Maleny Project

Seed Saving Workshop

Sonya — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:49:14 -0700

Start: 2008-05-10 09:30

End: 2008-05-10 14:30

Sustainable Maleny Project

Permablitz Eudlo

Sonya — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:41:37 -0700

Start: 2008-05-04 08:30

End: 2008-05-04 10:30

Creating a Sustainable Sunshine Coast - Nambour to Mooloolah

Next meeting

Sonya — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:22:07 -0700

Start: 2008-04-06 08:30

End: 2008-04-08 12:00

Sunshine Coast Energy Action Centre

Plan of chook run and food forest

elvirawhite — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 04:37:40 -0700

Here is a plan showing the food forest I am creating next to the chook run and then our cow/sheep paddock. The chook run has small compartments down it in which to grow veges and chook food. The hens can be let in or out as wanted through gates. They can also forage in the food forest when it is mature enough. The Midyim bushes are only 1-1.5m tall so wont shade the veges and the forest will get progressively taller towards the east. This will also help with frost protection, I hope! The forest needs to be dense enough to provide a cover for more frost sensitive things. I am mulching with cardboard from our local shops and the grass I rake up from the paddock. A mower wouldn't fit between the rows and petrol costs might make that impossible anyway, dont you think! Kikuyu is hard to kill off though, so I hope this works!
I want to inspire others to try this. I have to do it fairly much myself so it is a bit at a time and it will eventually be a forest. When I am old I hope to sit under it and eat the fruit of my labours (alongside the chooks!)

Creating a Sustainable Sunshine Coast - Nambour to Mooloolah

Food Forest

elvirawhite — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 02:40:39 -0700

With all the rain this Summer, I couldn't do much to my farm. Not even keep up with the grass! Now the weather is cooling,I am all inspired to get to work!
I have finally begun on my food forest that adjoins the long chook run. I plan to put low bushes next to the run to allow sunlight to get to the vegetable compartments down the run, and then plant sucsessivly taller trees until reaching the other side of the paddock. The paddock will be fenced to keep out the cow and any stray horses and keep in the chooks when they forage in the mature forest.
Well, the first plants are bought! I was at the Yandina Markets on Saturday and came across 70 little Midyim plants in tubes for a good price and snapped them all up! I will have just enough to plant them in two rows at about 1m apart. They are supposed to grow 1-1.5m tall and they will be perfect for the first row. They bear from Jan to June so will be very good to eat.
Next problem to overcome is the Kikuyu grass. I asked the local 4 square for cardboard and they have lots of it so I started putting it down over the grass and covering it with raked up grass. A long hot job but I think it will work. The plants have to be very close together to create a frost free understory so I cant mow between them. Anyway, with the price of petrol going up I wont be able to forever mow, will I?
I am going to tree guard them with the ones I made for the Gum trees last year, just in case the hares try to eat them as well.
A friend is going to help with the fence soon. I have almost all the materials I need bar the metal gate, and that isn't essential at the moment. There is lots to do with refreshing the chook run as well and finishing the compartments down it for the veges. I have one finished for vegetables. The chooks have been pecking it over and fertilising it all Summer and now it is ready for action! I just added lots of fresh grass straw and cut up branches to their straw yard and they are happy again! Molting is finished and they are starting to lay again. I have 10 old hens that are probably not laying and 10 younger ones that should be! Here's hoping!
I hope to inspire my community to start their own gardens and keep chooks like in the early days. Everyone did out here in Kenilworth but now they need encouraging again. People see me working from the road and wonder what I am doing:)
Anyone with helpful comments is welcome to sent some to me. It is all a bit of a Permaculture experiment!

Creating a Sustainable Sunshine Coast - Nambour to Mooloolah

Sustainable Maleny needs YOU

pekadillo — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 05:15:54 -0700

Start: 2008-03-29 14:00

End: 2008-03-29 16:00

Sustainable Maleny Project

Regional Powerdown Blog

Sonya — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 20:13:34 -0800

Second meeting with one of the mayoral candidates went very well. The election date is the next key timeline point for the region.

Once the new Mayor is elected and he (there are only two candidates, both male) is in place and the councillors up and running it will be time to kick start the real powerdown work in the region.

The document is still under construction, but we do have the March 15 election date and we can't do anything before that, so we have a little lee way in time at the moment.

Staff within council have been presenting peak oil seminars and an introduction to the EDAP in-house and it is being very well received.

It will be a huge undertaking to actually get this document ratified, endorsed, and the implementation process started, but I'm hoping there will also be opportunities for employment in there too. Doing this voluntarily is okay, but not sustainable - for me at least.

Lots of behind the scenes work going on in the lead up to the March 15 date; meetings, letters, writing, ideas exchanges, last minute additions to the EDAP etc etc. Also one of the students from course has devised a survey to test all candidates knowledge of and committment to both peak oil and climate change solutions. Looking forward to seeing the results.

We have one chance with this... if we do it well, we open the door for many others to follow behind us. If we stuff it up, we've made things a whole lot harder for the next EDAP.

The document will be peer reviewed to ensure credibility and strength. We need it to be bullet proof and most of resilient (just like we need all our communities to be too.)

I'll let you know who wins the election and what it means to our EDAP!

Sunshine Coast Relocalisation- Noosa Eumundi and Districts (SCReNE)

Climate change & Peak oil are not a problem

Sonya — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:43:45 -0800

I don't think climate change and peak oil are a problem... let me explain.

There is so much media, government and public attention focused on the ‘problem’ of climate change and, to a lesser degree peak oil, but aren’t we all looking at this from the wrong angle?

I see the changes in our climate and our impending energy descent as symptoms, not problems.

The problem is much deeper and much more personal.

The problem is the way we – those of us in developed countries – are living our lives.

It’s the way we consume way beyond what we actually need, it’s about the food we throw away, the culture of consumerism we’ve created and have now become enslaved to.

Try telling someone that they don’t need the latest model car, they don’t need a wardrobe full of clothes they don’t wear, that we don’t actually need shopping malls full of useless ‘crap’ and see how far you get.

Somewhere, somehow, we all started believing we had the right to live the high life. Marketers jumped on the bandwagon – or perhaps kicked it all off – and we were on our way. The latest handbags, boxes and boxes of shoes, the latest in-season fashion. Live like a celebrity!

What’s hot and what’s not? Our passion for fashion (not just clothes of course, but the latest model kitchen appliance, the celebrity style overseas get away …) is directly related to what’s hot that’s for sure. And another thing that’s hot is the climate.

Human behaviour – consumerism, land use, deforestation, fossil fuel burning – has now changed the world’s weather patterns – perhaps irreversibly. Warning after warning, each more dire than the one before and appearing in our newspapers, our nightly news programs yet… where is the revolution?

Yet, we continue on our merry way, worshipping the consumerism of today’s life… very few people have really made any serious effort to change the way they live. Our societies make it hard for those of us who would like to seriously change the way we live – you try living without a car on the Sunshine Coast!

We continue to pump out (the problem) carbon emissions in huge amounts (the symptom) despite knowing it is going to cause extinction of species (note to all – WE are a species!), destruction of the environment, major disruptions to food supply and loss of available land…

As for peak oil, do you think an ant cares that we are running out of oil, or a bird, or an elephant?

We care that we are running out of oil because we’ve built ourselves into a corner. A corner built on oil, lives dependant on oil, economies dependant on oil, employment, housing, food, mobility… all dependant on oil.

We’re running out because we’ve consumed what was available at an alarming rate. We’ve wasted oil on frivolous, meaningless things that have done nothing to really improve our lives. We’re less happy and more stressed than our pre-oil ancestors.

Looking at climate change as an environmental problem is taking us off course and away from where we should be focussing. We are losing valuable time and wasting valuable energy if we look at this as an environmental problem.

Because what happens is councils and other organisations, thinking they are doing the right thing – climate change is about the environment right? – employ environmental scientists to get to work fixing the problem.

But then, the poor person put in that position realises the problem is not the environment, the problem is people - social, economic, psychological, planning, infrastructure, systems, systems, systems.

Yes, climate change is about the environment, but climate change is only a symptom, not the problem. Same with peak oil – if we didn’t use (waste?) so much of this precious fuel and if we hadn’t designed our whole lives to revolve around it – it wouldn’t be reaching it’s peak and if it was, we wouldn’t care.

When I worked in the medical field, often patients would be being treated and hospitalised for their symptoms, not the problem. Our health system is a reflection of our current crisis.

Yes we can treat symptoms, we can mask symptoms – but unless we treat the underlying problem – and in this case it’s human behaviour and abuse of earth’s resources – we are only ever going to have a bandaid effect.

Let’s instead bite the bullet and address the real issues 1) consumption – or more to the point overconsumption and 2) a change away from linear globalised systems – resource in waste out – extraordinary transport miles and carbon emissions attached to everything we buy.

Let’s be brave and let's be visionaries
reduce consumption,
produce locally,
build resilient communities
relocalise and
make the transition to our post carbon future with our eyes wide open and looking forward.

Sunshine Coast Relocalisation- Noosa Eumundi and Districts (SCReNE)

The Case for a Sustainability Emergency

Andi Hazelwood — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:39:42 -0800

Creating a Sustainable Sunshine Coast - Nambour to Mooloolah

Bogota radical urban reform: Radio National

pekadillo — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:00:37 -0800

Start: 2008-02-16 21:00

SustainaBundy

Sunshine Coast Peak Oil action interview

Sonya — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:13:11 -0800

SustainaBundy

Composting & worm farming workshop

Sonya — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 14:05:53 -0800

Start: 2008-02-16 09:00

End: 2008-02-16 10:00

Creating a Sustainable Sunshine Coast - Nambour to Mooloolah

Meeting outcomes for February

Sonya — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 17:14:43 -0800

Thanks to everyone who turned up despite the heavy rain. Outcomes from today's meeting;

the bulk buying project will kick off again and we will have a list of items for the next meeting - so start thinking about oil, flour, rice, tahini etc
we've agreed to run a stall at WOEIE and sell plants, produce etc there - look at having a raffle with the prize being a raised garden bed of food and a second prize of a box of produce from our gardens - if we are selling things, we'll need to pay for the site
the seed saving course looks set for May 10 - will chase up holding it at Chevallum rather than Yandina and will advertise it more broadly.
still chasing up cost of Eudlo Hall for a community film night to raise awareness about peak oil, climate change etc.
some members will be attending the Eudlo Concept Plan meeting at the Town Hall tomorrow night (and hopefully find out exactly how much the hall costs, and talk to the WOEIE organisers) and inputting relocalisation ideas and our wish list for the town
will also look into whether we could use the hall as a market place to sell produce
next working bee will probably be at Yukari's and Arnaud's place - they have a creek revegetation seedling planting planned - subject to weather of course - will let members know closer to the date.

Sunshine Coast Energy Action Centre

Regional Powerdown Blog

Sonya — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:29:19 -0800

Well, the meeting with the Mayor went very well and I now have a follow up meeting on Feb 18 to discuss in more depth what SEAC has been doing, our role in energy descent action planning action, the model of community action to deliver and implement and EDAP and our milestones so far.

Today was our first open day for the year at SEAC and from now on we'll be open every Saturday morning between 9am and noon at 41 Farrell Street Yandina with events posted on www.seac.net.au

SEAC is a hub that sits within the region and supports local action groups on the ground. It seems to be a model that is workable. It's great to have the opportunity to put these ideas and theory in practice and see them working in real life and being meaningful and of use to people.

This week I met with Eric from CERES in Victoria - they have a 10 acre community garden/centre that is so successful. Their website is www.ceres.org.au - very inspiring to see such good work happening in the community.

Also met with a group planning a regional event for when Roberto Perez from Cuba is here - a public screening of The Power of Community and a talk by Roberto.

Visited the Caloundra Community Climate Change Response Group and they have a lot of great ideas for this year, and SEAC is able to support them with a few ideas and resources. They even came up with a mini energy descent action plan on the night - great stuff!

Today was really inspiring too, here in Queensland we are in middle of our rainy season, so we're having torrential rain almost every day, yet 20 people turned up for a compost & worm farming workshop and to watch the Cuba DVD. They were actually queued at the door when I arrived (probably trying to find shelter)!

From this morning's session I've been invited to speak to a couple of local groups (not groups to do with peak oil or climate change - just community groups in general) about these issues.

The awareness is on the way up - of that I'm convinced.

Tomorrow morning I have our regular Eudlo Relocalisation Group meeting and the next day I'll be part of the initial meeting about an overall Eudlo Concept Plan to put to council.

It's all a lot of work and time at the moment, but I'm keen to see how successful community group models and structure can a) actually work and b) meet the needs of the community (rather than dictate them).

This week there was also a presentation delivered to the council on peak oil and local solutions to peak oil which was very well received and has generated positive feedback.

Just waiting now for the council election to see who is Mayor and we can begin poweringdown this region... yippee

PS - the EDAP is a regional project and therefore will survive the amalgamation process regardless of who gets in.