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Hungry Planet: What the World Eats

ahazelwood — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:04:06 -0800

Today I received an email from a SustainaBundy movie night attendee that includes some very arresting photos from a 2005 book called "Hungry Planet: What the World Eats." Here's part of the description from NPR: "The husband-and-wife team (photographer Peter Menzel and writer Faith D'Aluisio) wanted to see how globalization, migration and rising affluence are affecting the diets of communities around the globe. Each chapter of their book features a portrait of a family, photographed alongside a week's worth of groceries. There's also a detailed list of all the food and the total cost." Check out these links to see the photos and learn more. Note how much of the food is processed, packaged and imported.

Time Magazine photo gallery part 1
Time Magazine photo gallery part 2
NPR story and audio
Photographer's website

Australia: The Browns of River View. Food expenditure for one week: 481.14 Australian dollars or US$376.45

Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp. Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or US$1.23

SustainaBundy

July 2007 organic gardening meeting recap

ahazelwood — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 16:04:02 -0700

The meeting last night at Across the Waves was a good one, I'm really sorry no other SB members could make it. There were at least 50 people
there, and they will be a great group for SustainaBundy networking. Just in the little bit of chatting we did, we found that the members have a
lot of common interests with us - growing organic food, natural fertilisers, solar cooking, alternative energies... all of these things are aspects of relocalisation.

The speaker last night was horticulturist Tim Rich, from Wide Bay TAFE - he gave a presentation on various methods of propagation, with a focus on marcotting or aerial layering. This is how you get a mature, ready-to-fruit tree or shrub without waiting years and years!

The way Tim explained it, it's quite easy: on a plant or tree that you would like to have a "copy" of, find a good branch, wider than your
finger - this only works on dicots, or plants that have growth rings - you can't do it on bamboo, palms, and other monocots.

Scrape a band of bark off, all the way around the branch, maybe two inches in length. Put rooting compound (some people use honey) around
the top end of your scrape. Dampen some sphagnum moss, put it on a piece of black plastic and wrap it around the entire scrape (plastic side out, obviously) and tie it firmly at the top and bottom. Wait a couple months, check it periodically to make sure your marcot hasn't dried out.

Soon the top part of your scrape, where you put your rooting compound or honey, will have developed roots! (The success rate for marcotting, from what I've read, is as high as 85%.) Cut the branch off of the parent plant below your marcot and plant it.

Here's a website that shows the entire process: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/ornamentals/airlayer/airlay...

See here for a photo of a marcot, ready to be planted: http://www.hort.cornell.edu/mudge/bneimark/VP82.GIF

Voila, you have a small, mature tree/plant, ready to fruit! Be careful though: your new tree or plant has a small root system compared to
what's above ground, so it'll be top heavy - it'll need to be really protected from the wind, etc. From a full sized tree you can make a huge
number of marcots and end up with an entire orchard in just a few months- a food source and an income source (you can sell those new
marcots) all in one!

Dean and I joined the Bundaberg Organic Gardeners Group and are looking forward to networking with the members, going on the monthly field trips and hearing the speakers. There are lots of opportunities to meet likeminded folks and to develop interest in (and find advertisers for)
the SustainaBundy guide.

Cheers,

Andi

SustainaBundy

Articles for the SustainaBundy guide

ahazelwood — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:09:24 -0700

Here's a list of the articles planned or in process for the SustainaBundy guide, along with the writers. If you would like to contribute to the guide, please email Andi ASAP. Deadline for content is November 1, 2007! Articles should be 500 or 1000 words in length, content may be edited, submission does not guarantee inclusion.

Intro, About and Directory - Andi (Suggestions for businesses and organisations to appear in the directory are welcome and appreciated from all!)
Sustainability quotes - Andi
101 things you can do about climate change and energy descent - Andi/Sonya
What is relocalisation - Andi
Permaculture - Andi
Local chef profile - Andi
Water: harvest it, store it, conserve it! - Andi (based on interview with Jacques Rohen)
The eco-friendly farm - Andi (based on interview with Graham and Kate Campbell of Camreay Holdings)
How to recycle (interview with someone from council) - Andi
The eco-friendly woman - Andi
The eco-friendly man - Dean
The eco-friendly office - Beth
Home energy use - Dean
Practical shopping - Dean
Solar - Dean
Keeping chooks - Dean
The recycled food garden - Leah
Landcare and the community - Maureen
BMRG and the community - David
Council's environmental initiatives - Nick
Real food for hyperactivity - local mum

Unassigned: (volunteers wanted!)
Easy recipes for local food
Markets profile (Shalom, Gin Gin and other markets)
Your ideas!

If you would like to contribute to the guide, please email Andi ASAP. Deadline for content is November 1, 2007!

SustainaBundy

Earth Hour

darcie — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 17:00:42 -0700

Do not forget Earth Hour.
Turn off your lights on Sat March 29 for 1 hour at 8pm.
Encourage your friends and work places to participate. The website is www.earthhour.org.

SustainaBundy

What to go in the SustainaBundy Guide?

ahazelwood — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 18:06:17 -0700

If anyone has any ideas on what should go in the SustainaBundy guide, please post them here! My list at the moment includes:

A directory:
- businesses that manufacture stuff locally (and sell locally)
- organic growers
- cafes and restaurants and shops that serve/sell local or organic produce
- a map of all the roadside produce stands in the Bundaberg region (along with a directory of their addresses, name, what they have available and at what time of year)
- any "greenie" type businesses (including Nana's Pantry that sells bulk grains and lollies and coffees and all that kinda stuff, the Soapbox, the organic hair salon, etc).
- local environmental community groups (nonprofits)
- useful websites

Interviews:
- Bundy and Burnett shire councils, to talk about what environmental initiatives they're involved with in the region
- Bundaberg Mayor
- Paul Neville, member for Hinkler
- local permaculturists/organic gardeners
- local relocalisers/businesses striving to be more sustainable

How-to and info articles:
- What is relocalisation
- How to recycle (based on an interview with whoever is subcontracted to pick up recycling in Bundy- this article can also go into detail about what happens to your stuff once the recycler takes it)

Lots more ideas out there I'm sure- chip in!

SustainaBundy

Considered printing

ahazelwood — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 03:16:05 -0700

Before we can begin compiling a guide on living a "greener" life in Bundaberg, we have to explore our options for printing said guide. Only after getting an idea of the costs involved in such a project can we determine rates for advertising in the guide, whether to seek out sponsorship/donations, how much to charge for the guide (if at all), etc. But cost is, of course, only one of the factors to be considered, and it's not even the most important one. But what is?

Is it more important to have the printing done locally or to have it printed in an environmentally friendly manner- and to what degree? The options are staggering.

Read about recycled paper options in Australia.

The printing process is extremely important too. Check out this printing company in Sydney. I am knocked out by the level of enviromental commitment here!

I have contacted both of the companies in the links above to ask for quotes, but I will also contact some Bundy printers and see if they offer any recycled paper options, if not would they be willing to let me source the paper, and of course how will their cost differ from the out of state places. Then we'll weigh up the pros and cons and see who comes out on top!

Your thoughts are welcome. Chip in!

SustainaBundy

Welcome Freecycle Members

ahazelwood — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 17:11:00 -0700

I just wanted to post a welcome to any members of Bundy Freecycle that happen to come visit us here at SustainaBundy! Tamara Kelly from Bundy Freecycle was kind enough to let me send a message to the group inviting them to join, since their goals and ours overlap.

SB members, if you aren't familiar with Freecycle, check them out. If you haven't joined Bundy Freecycle yet, please do! Freecycle serves a great purpose in keeping stuff out of landfills. You can read our personal Freecycle story here.

Again, Freecycle members, welcome to SustainaBundy, please feel free to post your "eco friendly" blog, forum, news or calendar posts (Bundaberg related stuff, obviously)! I hope some of you can join us Tuesday at the Teaspoon.

Cheers,

Andi Hazelwood
SustainaBundy

SustainaBundy

Ideas for a local currency in the Bundaberg area

dino — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 18:09:34 -0700

I am sure everyone has heard of Bartercard? This and similar ideas have been around for years as a type of local currency. All designed to encourage people to purchase local goods and services. One that seems to have been doing well for one local community is the Totnes Pound in England.

I was hoping that some brainstorming could be done for a similar concept in the Bundaberg area. I am not sure if it is ever too early to bounce around ideas. But I was trying to come up with a catchy name. I was looking at this page of the History of slang terms for money for ideas.

Any one else wish to add their Two Bundy Pence? Ha Ha!

SustainaBundy

What about?

dwebble — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 18:27:39 -0700

making a long term list? Things like future projects like community gardens or a co-ops?

If a list is made to be added to then from time to time it could be addressed and seen if there is anything on it that can be put into action.

I know its not something that would be undertaken straight away but just more ideas to throw out there for people to think about.

SustainaBundy

rental wanted!

ahazelwood — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 01:43:35 -0700

Today the verbal agreement we had to rent a house in North Bundy fell through- the owner said she's got some "family thing" and she'll be staying in the house. As such, we're back to looking for a house to rent. If you know of a place within walking/biking distance to the Bundaberg CBD on 1/4 acre or thereabouts so we can put in some vegie gardens, please let us know! We've got two large dogs too, and they're part of the package.

Obviously this means that the "official" Sept 1 move date is up in the air. Thanks for your help in advance...

SustainaBundy

Advertising and Sale of the SustainaBundy Guide

dino — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 03:24:47 -0700

Hey - a lot was covered today in the informal get together at the Teaspoon. I have to say that was one tasty cappuccino. One thing we touched on was advertising in and selling the Guide. This can be done in several ways. Firstly we need to sell advertising for certain businesses. They give us some money and we print their ad. However when we have the guides printed we need to be able to distribute them, going back to some of the advertisers to display them near the register. We would then need to keep tabs on how many they sell and collect money back from them.

One option is for those businesses with frequent retail traffic to buy advertising and the guide up front. Rather than $10 for a quarter ad - or however much it works out to be - they just buy X amount (put a minimum on this of 20 or so) of guides at a discount from the RRP. Then we deliver the guides to them and we don't need to worry about collection of any funds. They sell them and keep all proceeds. And we don't waste valuable time and fossil fuel chasing them all down.

It sounds a bit weird written down but I swear it makes good sense in my head when I thought about it on the drive home.

Dean.

SustainaBundy

if anyone is interested

dwebble — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 22:20:41 -0700

I don't know if anyone has read this book before "Living The Good Life"' or checked out the site but its definitely a worthwhile read. http://www.lintrezza.com/

I read the book last year and it really helped me to think more sustainably and it has some amazing info in it too. Certainly some pro-active info and ideas that someone may enjoy :-)

SustainaBundy

The move is sooner!

ahazelwood — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 01:40:21 -0700

I'll be officially moving into Bundaberg on Aug 6, and Dean will follow shortly thereafter! SustainaBundy members, lemme know when you want to come over for coffee ;)

We should definitely start planning regular meetings to work on the guide!

SustainaBundy

Your say at State Govt level - last call!

Sonya — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 18:53:59 -0700

Have your say at State Govt level.

How can we prepare for climate change and peak oil?

On August 29 I have been invited to attend a roundtable discussion at Parliament House in Brisbane.

The forum will look at how we can best prepare for the long haul on these global issues.

As part of my role in the discussions, I have been asked to discuss these issues with my local community (geographical or virtual) and bring their input and comments to the table.

My interests in this are relocalisation, permaculture solutions, energy descent action planning and community education about these issues and the many solutions we have available to us to act.

I will be discussing the energy descent action planning course we have in place, the Sunshine Coast Energy Action Centre and the relocalisation groups I am involved with.

Could you please consider the following background information and questions and let me know if you have any suggestions or comments you would like to include;

Leading for the future…

Building resilience in social and economic systems to deal with sudden discontinuous change and uncertainty.

Strengthening our capacity to learn, adapt and innovate in businesses and communities.

Think ‘local’… think ‘dispersed’… think ‘diverse’…

Focus questions

What conditions allow people to collaborate across boundaries to generate social resilience and innovation?

What do we (as community leaders) need to do differently to meet the challenges of climate change (and peak oil)?

What support and resources will we need to be effective in this role?

What steps can we take in SEQ and NENSW to develop local leadership?

How can we support networking and learning between leaders?

Your comments would be most appreciated,
Sonya

SustainaBundy

New book lifts lid on Howard's 'greenhouse mafia'

Sonya — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 23:40:15 -0700

High & Dry by Guy Pearse
John Howard, climate change and the selling of Australia's future.

Guy Pearse's revelation about Australia's 'greenhouse mafia' made headlines. In High & Dry this Liberal Party insider shows why John Howard's climate change policy is reckless, how it came about, and who is behind it.

Released only a few weeks ago, this book outlines the reason behind John Howard's refusal to sign Kyoto and explains why he will never do anything to cut carbon emissions while he is in power. The story featured on ABC TV's Four Corners in February 2006.

If you wonder why our leaders are steadfastly refusing to respond to the greatest threat posed to our planet - read this book.

Not only are our politicians doing nothing to stop emissions, they are resolutely taking us in the exact opposite direction - one they know will lead to a very grim future for us all.

It's hard to understand how anyone could consciously do this, but Pearses' book explains the reasoning and the 'behind the scenes' very well.

Not a cheery read by any means, but an absolute must read for any Australian concerned about climate change, the future of the planet and future generations.

From the book jacket...

In this damning account, Liberal Party member, lobbyist and former Howard-government advisor Guy Pearse takes us behind the rhetoric he once helped write. He reveals that the government has no plans whatsoever to reduce Australia's emissions, and explains why this is bad for Australia's economy. He exposes a prime minister wilfully blind to Australia's real interests - a man who has allowed climate change policy to be dictated by a small group of Australia's biggest polluters and the lobbyists they fund.

Just as Tim Flannery's The Weather Makers explained the science of climate change, High & Dry explains the politics. You cannot understand the future of Australia without reading this book.

Published by Viking as an imprint of Penguin Books - ask for it at your bookstore

Visit www.highanddry.com.au for more information and updates.

SustainaBundy

First draft of SustainaBundy Guide front cover

ahazelwood — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 21:30:53 -0700

This is a first pass at a front cover for the 2008 SustainaBundy guide. I will look to talk to council and other potential partners and interested organisations, and if any are interested in getting involved with production of the guide I can make room on the cover for their logos as well.

Comments welcome.

SustainaBundy

Resilience in the face of the long emergency

Sonya — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:42:42 -0700

Resilience in the face of the ‘long emergency’

(With acknowledgement to JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER)

My new mantra is ‘resilience’. It’s officially my new favourite word and I have a lot of favourite words as they are my tools of trade. But resilience is my absolute favourite as of now.

It perfectly sums up how we need to approach peak oil and climate change. It’s succinct, positive, definite and strong.

We need to build resilience, we need to be resilient. Our systems and infrastructure need to be resilient.

Our food gardens, water supply, lighting, heating, cooling – they all need to be resilient.

Our finances, our means of earning money, our health, even our psyches needs to be resilient.

To me, resilience means that if one thing ‘falls over’ not everything does, that there is diversity and strength in systems to weather a shock and still be standing. That something can ‘fill the gap’ left by a problem, life continues to some degree…you haven’t put all your eggs in one basket and subsequently backed over your basket.

The Macquarie Dictionary defines resilience as; elasticity, rebound, recoil, ready recovery, buoyancy, even cheerfulness.

But how do we go about it?

I’ve summed up what I believe is the start of a resilience plan. The Steps we need to take to build resilience in our communities. I’ve taken my years of working in media and communications for emergency services, where I responded to emergencies using communication as my tool on a daily basis, and I’ve applied the same ‘crisis management’ strategies to preparing for a post carbon future.

Aside from the topics raised in this article, now is the time for communities to carefully and thoughtfully examine how they can build resilience and preserve the following; society and social structures, law enforcement & justice, health, culture, bio-diversity, emergency response, insurance, and recovery.

This is a long emergency, as James Howard Kunstler has described. Most emergencies I dealt with in emergency services lasted a few hours, perhaps a few days – never weeks, never years, never decades – never like we are now facing with peak oil and climate change.

It’s going to be hard work, it’s going to be tiring, frustrating, exhausting, depressing, busy, draining. Our energies will be shattered and scattered as we look for solutions. We’ll respond and react to problem after problem, to crisis after crisis at a heightened level day after day after day after day… it could easily take a tragic toll among us.

You first
Firstly, YOU must become resilient. Build support systems, create networks, find your inspiration, TAKE TIME OFF, rest, eat well, keep in contact with Nature, support others, acknowledge, accept, celebrate, have fun, laugh, and cry.

Steps to resilience
Identify
Admitting and identifying the problem is a good first step and one a lot of people will struggle with. People honestly think nothing will change and everything will just keep going the way it is today. Discuss and identify the issues, ensure you include lots of diversity in the groups you discuss these problems with. Talk about vulnerabilities, what are they and how can they be managed, improved, changed, or accepted. Who’s in your community? What strengths do you have in your human resources? What skills are lurking in the masses? Do you know your neighbours?

Pre-plan & Pre-pare
Being prepared is a wonderful thing, it gives you such confidence. It’s not bad luck to talk about the ‘what ifs?’ In fact it’s a sign of good management to discuss scenarios and to talk about the ‘what ifs?’ Perhaps it may not be as bad as what you expect, if you think the worse, you might be pleasantly surprised. In all seriousness, table top scenarios, community discussions, acknowledging the possibilities and planning for them – they are all powerful tools of preparation and preparation is the key. Whether it’s a public talk you’re giving or laying a concrete slab, preparation pays off. It’s also good to underpromise and overdeliver. Preparation = information therefore information = empowerment.

Mitigate where possible
Is there something you can do today, right now to mitigate a problem? To reduce your vulnerability. To build resilience today?

Communication
Ah, my favourite subject. Communication is another powerful tool we humans have in the face of adversity. Communication = information, information = empowerment, When we communicate, people have an understanding (hopefully!). If we communicate before a situation arises, even better. If people are prepared and know what might happen, what might be expected of them, how others might respond, and where to get more information it often leads to less panic and mayhem when the incident actually happens. Communicate early and often. Communicate pre, during and post events. Keeping people informed reduces rumour, mis-information and problems later. PS there will always be someone who asks “why wasn’t I told?” no matter how thorough you are – it’s just one of the mystical laws of communication.

Have structures in place
Another current favourite topic. Google ‘peak oil’ or ‘climate change’ and see what happens. There is SO much information out there we can no longer excuse our ignorance and continue living in denial with “well I didn’t know that” or my other favourite “no-one told me” – another mystical law of communication that must be followed for the fabric of the universe to be maintained. Community groups, activists and even some leaders around the globe are telling anyone who will listen what is on our horizon. Leaders know – and they have an absolute moral and ethical responsibility to HAVE STRUCTURES IN PLACE. My personal aim is to lobby for the systems to be built around the people. Put the structures in place. Those of us who know have a responsibility to do this.

Resources
We will need resources. Now is a really good time to identify them, where they are located, who can get to them quickly, how many we have and how they can best be activated in an emergency. Are they readily available and easily accessible? Resources can be many things and should include people.

Build confidence in the community
Isn’t it just so much easier to do something when you know how to do it, what’s expected of you and what’s expected of others? That’s confidence! A confident community = an empowered community. Communication plays a key role as does education and practical experience in building confidence. Resilient psyches are very powerful!

Have a back up plan
Murphy’s Law – whatever can go wrong will go wrong. Take note of it and have a back up plan. If one road is closed does your plan fall in a heap? Have a back up plan.

Have more back up plans
The long emergency is a unique situation. Sure we’ve dealt with crises here before, but not of the intensity and frequency we will face in the future. Add to that the fact we will have less available ‘energy’ – power, electricity, petrol, goods, food etc – in the future due to peak oil. Increasing demands (for emergency response) in a depleting energy environment – who’s planning for that?

Have alternatives
When all else fails have an alternative plan – creativity, flexibility, responsiveness, the courage to accept feedback and make the necessary changes are all good things.

Diversify
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket – someone may drop it. Practice resilience in all its glorious forms.

Feedback
Factor it in, accept it, do something about it. If something isn’t working change it. If something is working keep doing it.

Identify
The closing of the loop… go back to the beginning and start working through it again.

So that’s my 13 steps to resilience.

But who is going to do all this? We need leaders and those leaders need QUALITIES…

Qualities needed for community resilience
Leadership
Isn’t it great when someone knows what to do? Someone who inspires you, someone you want to be around? Leadership is an innate quality. People are born with it (or not). It can be honed, but it can’t be ‘made’. Poor leadership has got us into this mess. Good leadership can get us out. The same bad leadership that got us into this mess is NOT the same leadership that will get us out. If ‘they’ had that foresight in their thinking, we wouldn’t be here in this mess in the first place.

Trust
‘Sigh’ so lacking in today’s leaders… Trust is the key. We need to trust our leaders because we will be following them. Without trust it’s all over. If I don’t trust you, I’m not going to do what you ask of me.

Ingenuity
Being ingenious! Inventive, talented, skillful. Excellent qualities to have and encourage in others.

Creativity
As it relates to flexibility. The ability to creatively look for answers, solutions, new ways of doing things, new ways of using things. Not being locked up by that “we’ve never done it like that before” type thinking.

Know limitations
One of the greatest qualities a leader or a community could have. It takes great strength and self-awareness to know, let alone acknowledge your limitations. A good leader surrounds themselves with good people who possess the skills that complement their own personal limitations. It also shows a lack of ego, which is a good thing.

Able to ask for expert support
See above

Community empowerment
An empowered community goes a long way toward a resilient community. Understanding, feeling ownership, being involved in the process and in decision making all lead to empowerment.

Established networks
Now is a really good time to build networks – not when the crisis is happening. Networks, whether physical or social need to be establish BEFOREHAND, not during, not after, but before. Now is a really good time to build networks, while we have the time, resources and technology to do it.

Understand skills base
In your community, in your leaders. A skills base of expertise is part of communication, networking and preparation. All important strategies for emergency preparation.

Identify inequities and those most vulnerable
‘They’ say the measure of a community is how it treats it’s most vulnerable. People who have nothing to lose – have nothing to lose. Identify and ADDRESS inequities. This is part of social cohesive and inclusiveness. People who feel isolated probably are isolated and they also feel desperate. Desperate people will do desperate things. Ensuring equity and support and caring for our most vulnerable is GOOD social management and will go a long way in the long emergency.

Things will change
Understand that things will change. We are living in an illusion of stability. Things will change. It is very likely that our future situation will be very different to our current situation. Things may never return to ‘normal’ and they will definitely not be ‘stable’ once the long emergency really kicks in. We need to define a new ‘normal’ and be prepared to redefine that too. We need to communicate this to people so they are prepared.

Responsive to and understanding of change
A fundamental quality we must all adopt. See above.

Communication
Back to my favourite subject. Communication. One I’m dedicating a thesis to in fact. But let’s just focus on one aspect of communication in society. How do a lot of people get their ‘information’? From the media. The television news, radio, internet and newspapers are their sources of what’s happening. When a disaster occurs there is a predictable pattern of reporting that newsrooms follow and it is timely for our leaders to understand this process – no surprises then. These stories and the process of reporting them will go something like this…

How the media will report a ‘disaster’
• Initial reports – media report what hard facts are immediately available and vision of the incident.
• Cause of emergency – more details, more information emerges of the incident
• Stories of individual courage – the ‘human interest’ of the story, in depth ‘features’ appear
• Effect of the disaster – financial costs, industry costs, ‘loss of’ costs, final fatality numbers, and more features of various aspects depending on the type of disaster
• Safety warning and inadequacies – the media (public) examination of the incident begins includes letters to the editor, more features etc
• Emergency response and inadequacies – media (public) examination of the emergency response
• Blame – who is to blame?
• Aftermath and recover – the one year on story, costs, losses etc, lessons learnt

This is my take on resilience, why it’s important and perhaps a few ideas and thoughts on how we might go about creating it.

I hope you find it useful and please ask yourself; ‘how can you build resilience in my community?’

SustainaBundy

Local food at the multicultural festival

ahazelwood — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 14:02:56 -0700

Dean happened to notice the following in an article in yesterday's NewsMail:

"One of the rising stars in Bundaberg kitchen scene, Trent Schulze from Crofton Caterers, said he was looking forward to the day.

"It is something I have not done before so it should be exciting," Mr Schulze said.

Mr Schulze said Crofton Catering would be making a Coral Coast Strudel, made entirely of local products. (emphasis mine)

"It is something we designed ourselves," he said."

I'll be contacting Crofton Catering to learn more. Sounds very promising to me.

We'll be at the Multicultural Festival tomorrow (now I'm looking forward to trying the strudel!) - anyone else planning on being there? We should meet up!

SustainaBundy

Council expanding Bundy's cycleway and footpath network

ahazelwood — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 15:17:50 -0700

We recently received the Bundaberg City Council Budget News letter in our mailbox, outlining the council's $93 million 2007-2008 budget - the council's largest budget ever.

While the vast majority of the money is going to expansion and growth projects ($15.9 million to airport works, $12.4 million to major tourism facilities, $8.5 million to road construction and maintenance, etc) there were a couple small items of particular interest to SustainaBundy:

"An allocation of $550,000 has also been made for the further implementation of the Multimodal Pathway System across the city of which $200,000 has been provided by the State Government"

Yeah, I wasn't sure what that meant either- till I saw this further down the page:

"Expansion of the city's cycleway and footpath network at a cost of $550,000"

Also:

"Our quality lifestyle will be futher enhanced with $3.7 million set aside for cultural activities (Arts Centre, Library and Moncrieff Theatre) and another $3.7 million for parks and gardens. Significant funds for the staging of major events and for community groups are also included."

Further details shows these cultural and park upgrades to include mundane things like air conditioning, parking, lighting, and kids play areas, but there are a few promising (if perhaps odd) tidbits such as "planning for a wetland/water polishing area in the Botanic Gardens" (water polishing??) as well as some valuable upgrades in the library.

Another item that caught my eye was "continuation of preliminary works on the Agro Trend Site to accommodate the future relocation of the Bundaberg Showgrounds". The current showgrounds site is several acres... I wonder what they have planned for it once they move the showgrounds to the Agro Trend site? Perhaps a sustainable housing development could be proposed...

I'm going to get in touch with council this week to learn more about all these items- stay tuned for more, and please chip in with your thoughts.

SustainaBundy

Bundaberg Youth will make Bundaberg Sustainable!

shine_on — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 16:52:25 -0700

Here are my thoughts on creating a sustainable Bundaberg: work with Bundaberg's young people and give them reasons to stay in Bundaberg.

My 26-year-old impression of "young people" these days is that they are intelligent and aware of world issues. They are great at expressing their opinions and not afraid to take action! Young people have energy and enthusiasm, something that every project needs! We have something very important to offer!

Energy needs an outlet however, and without a direction, trouble can result. I've heard people say that there's nothing to do here in Bundaberg... but why can't we make our own fun? Get your hands dirty and help create something! Learn how to do something! For young people, getting involved in the community builds confidence and skills, and enhances employability. There's SO much we can do, and youth-development groups like Lead On and The Oaktree Foundation are already doing it.

As member of SustainaBundy, I personally want to meet and work with young people on more projects and I'd like to facilitate a link between SustainaBundy, youth groups and schools. This is what community is all about!

I'm excited about the idea of Bundaberg schools showing off their environmental efforts to our community on World Environment Day. I know people will be impressed when they find out what our local schools are doing! Just look at Gin Gin State School's Wicking Bed garden and St. Luke's solar vehicle successes. And that's only a glimpse of what's happening in schools.

We need to engage youth in being actively involved in the community, to strengthen it and make our efforts sustainable. There's another issue that needs to be addressed too: Why do many young people leave Bundaberg after they graduate? What will encourage young people to stay in town?

I'd like to hear what others think, and I'd ask that we use this opportunity to discover solutions: so if you identify a "problem", please also suggest a solution! And if you're a young person with ideas, please get in touch with me by replying to this post, or emailing me directly at jacqui@sustainabundy.org

Looking forward to hearing from you!

SustainaBundy

working bees, workshops and YouTube

Andi Hazelwood — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 19:07:49 -0700

Sonya Wallace, who is leading the very promising relocalisation efforts on the Sunshine Coast, just posted this about working bees on the website of her relocalisation group in Eudlo: http://www.relocalize.net/node/7483 (text below this post).

Working bees like the one a few of us attended yesterday (building a worm farm for SB member cornonthecob) are a great way to get to know people, help out on a fun and useful project, learn something new and even get kids interested in sustainability projects! There was a little girl at yesterday's working bee that was helping where ever she could, and squealing and having a ball sitting in the wheelbarrow while cornonthecob ran the wheelbarrow at top speed from the barn to the worm farm! Sure, the "big picture" importance of worms in an ecosystem won't be visible to her for several years yet, but she may very well remember having a wonderful time playing in the food garden.

Working bees and workshops can focus on any aspect of sustainability - garden projects, renewable energy projects (a working bee to help install solar panels!), practical conservation workshops, you name it. These get togethers - and interviews too - should be videotaped and edited into short, useful instructional videos that can be posted to YouTube for the benefit of not only the group and the wider community, but for anyone that is interested in various aspects of sustainability! To that end, we've created an account for SustainaBundy at YouTube: http://youtube.com/sustainabundy (right now it contains links to a few of our favourite sustainability videos, and we'll look to add more, but we hope to post some original content too!)

Much as I personally hate being in front of the camera, and I know most other people do as well, this is one of those "greater good" type issues - we need to get over our shyness to create useful tools for the future! This would be a great project for the Education Sub-Group, and obviously would overlap with the other subgroups as well (food, energy, etc) depending on the subject of the workshop, working bee or interview). Something to think about as SustainaBundy moves forward. We've got a videocamera, we're ready to get started!

Andi

(Content of Sonya's working bee post follows)

Food Garden - Working Bees start in Eudlo

The first of our PIG days - People In Gardens - will be on November 11. As our next project group members have decided to start helping each other get our gardens productive and abundant and overflowing with food!

Our first 'PIG day' will be on November 11 at Eudlo. We will be helping design a new garden and perhaps making a start on raised garden beds.

For those of you who haven't been involved in these types of days before it goes something like this...

We all decide whose garden to work on and that person selects a project or two for the working bee. It might be a garden bed, a chook house, worm farm, compost system, propogation shed... anything that relates to home (organic) food production and sustainability. Something that would take a group of people about three hours - you'd be amazed how much you can get done.
That person then plans the day and works out all the resources needed (materials, tools etc). They either supply them themselves, or ask group members to bring them along (usually asked to bring your own tools).
We all bring some food to share at the end of the session
The person whose house it is provides; tea, coffee, cool drinks etc.
People arrive at a particular time, work begins, after about three hours we stop and sit back, admire our hard work and have something to eat and drink.

If you are interested in being part of the Eudlo Working Bee PIG group, let me know.

SustainaBundy

Eat Local Challenges, 100 Mile Diets and Locavores

ahazelwood — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 21:32:08 -0800

Over in this thread shine_on mentioned the idea of a region wide "Eat Local Challenge." Earlier today I spoke to SustainaBundy's resident chef, Carol Sweeney, about the possibility of providing a few recipes for all-local dishes that we can print in the guide. I think we could have a very successful Eat Local Challenge right here in Bundy!

To arm us with information, I thought I'd provide some more links to people who've done it before. It's known by two names most commonly: the 100 Mile Diet, from the book by James MacKinnon and Alisa Smith, also the locavore movement - you have your herbivores, carnivores, omnivores and locavores!

Australian journalist Richard Cornish wrote a very illuminating article about his experiences being a locavore.

My co-correspondent on Global Public Media, Jason Bradford, is coordinator for Willits Economic Localization in California - he lived as a locavore for the entire month of October 2006 and blogged about it at relocalize.net. You can read his experiences (in reverse chronological order) here.

Albany, New York had 76 people participating in their 2nd annual 100 Mile Diet challenge.

Here are a bunch of shows and articles about eating locally:

Deconstructing Dinner: The Eat Local Challenge
Deconstructing Dinner: 100-Mile Diet / Local Food Strategies
Author & Locavore Jessica Prentice on "The Reality Report" with Jason Bradford
The 100 Mile Diet
How to Eat Like a Locavore
Locavores: Loco or Logical?

I think once the guide comes out this'd be a great project for a few SustainaBundy members to take on! "Register your interest" by replying, and we'll revisit this when the guide comes out - unless someone wants to start now!!

SustainaBundy

Tom Wyatt Videos

ahazelwood — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 22:10:04 -0800

Dean has now posted the first two segments of Tom Wyatt's entertaining organic gardening presentation to SustainaBundy's YouTube page. Stay tuned, plenty more to come!

This first video is Tom Wyatt talking about Your Lawn & Pee!

In this second video - which is actually the beginning of his talk - Tom discusses all the reasons we should not kill bugs in the garden. They all have their jobs to do.

(Sorry about the lighting, later in the presentation we moved the video camera and it was much better - other segments will be better!)

SustainaBundy

Photo Galleries now online

ahazelwood — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 23:57:40 -0800

A series of photo galleries showcasing various sustainability projects and events around Queensland are now linked on the SustainaBundy Media Page (scroll to the bottom). More will be added as they happen - a photo essay from our visit today to the Bundaberg Waste Management Facility is coming soon, I'll drop a line when it's posted.

SustainaBundy

Our Bundy

ahazelwood — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 19:44:56 -0800

Yesterday one of our website subscribers forwarded me an email called "SNIPPETS from OUR BUNDY," an E-Newsletter which includes all the positive events happening in town for the next week. Obviously this week's events are predominantly holiday related, including the Mayors' Chrismtas Appeal, the Christmas Street Parade, Orpheus Singers Christmas Concert, Chamber of Commerce Christmas Breakfast and many more - but also included are things like tomorrow's Bundaberg Social Plan Community Forum (which Dean and Jacqui from SustainaBundy will be attending!)

Our Bundy is a project of Kathy Sawyer, and the Our Bundy tag line is "Places to Go, People to Meet, Things to Do and See." What a great way to help connect the community! I've signed up- you should too. Click here to subscribe to "SNIPPETS from OUR BUNDY."

SustainaBundy