Sustainability Blog

Sustainable Fish & Chips?

June 25, 2008

Wintery Friday nights and fish and chips seem to go hand in hand.  Recently at a newly opened shop I noticed flathead on the menu.  With the majority of eateries favouring flake as the main seafood on offer it was very refreshing to see the locally caught flathead tails as a more sustainable alternative.  The Australian Marine Conservation Society produces the Sustainable Seafood Guide which discourages the eating of long lived species such as flake, barramundi, southern blue-fin tuna and orange roughy instead promoting more abundant species including flathead, bream and King George whiting.

With 75% of the world now over-fished, this is a sustainability issue that we can all vote on with our dollars.  Use your wallet wisely when choosing from a menu, fish and chip shop or fish monger.

 

 David Holmgren gives hopeful but urgent message

March 14, 2008

Last night David Holmgren may have given the audience at the Barwon Heads Community Hall more than they bargained for.  For those who don't know him, David is the softer spoken co-originator of the Permaculture concept developed in the late 1970s.  While Bill Mollison spread the Permaculture message internationally, David and his partner Su set about converting a blackberry infested property in Hepburn Springs into their home and livelyhood. 'Melliodora' is now a fantastic Permaculture demonstration site and provides Su, David and their son Oliver a level of self reliance and ethical living that is truly inspirational.   

While mainstream environmental organisations are focused largely on Climate Change, David has been spreading the word on Peak Oil and Energy Descent for most of this decade.  It's not that Holmgren believes Climate Change doesn't require drastic action, it's that he feels Peak Oil is a stronger motivator for the kind of grass roots level, community responses necessary for dealing with both Peak Oil and Climate Change.  This is because in part that when we consider Peak Oil we see that lowering our energy consumption now is in our own direct self interest as energy prices continue to climb.  

"Can the Barwon Heads Community really make a difference to global climate change...well in reality no.  But can Barwon Heads create a vibrant township that will be resiliant in the face of expensive, inconsistent fuel supplies, and challenging weather events - you bet!"

 

Holmgren's suggested plans of action essentially called for a relocalisation of food and energy production along with a reduction in mobility of people and 'stuff'.  All of these strategies will of course reduce carbon emissions, but will also promote local economies.  Carbon offsetting by having a third party plant 70 bluegums in Western Australia (so you can drive guilt free) will be of little help to local communities in an energy constrained future. 

 

Perhaps David's most hopeful message was introducing the Transition Towns initiative currently sweeping the world.  Started by Permaculture activists Rob Hopkins and Ben Brangwyn, the Transition Towns concept is best described by Rob:

"The scale of the challenge is huge, and the obstacles are plenty, but there is an emerging energy to succeed, a sense of quickening and an exhilaration in talking and listening to each other once again, to visioning what we want and then rolling up our sleeves and starting to co-create it..."

For anyone that's ready to roll their sleeves up, the Transition Handbook is now available. Who knows, perhaps in five years time the Surf Coast Shire may be made up of a group of Transition Towns where food is produced and consumed locally and children on bikes have reclaimed the streets!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Save water by using it?

February 21, 2008

Growing up in the 1970's and 80's in the golden days of the 'slip and slide' and lawn sprinklers certainly seems like a time in history when water affluence was at its peak.

Jump to 2008 and fresh water is recognised as a precious resource with plenty of focus on reducing household water use through both behaviour change (e.g. short showers) and technical solutions (e.g. reduced-flow shower heads).

Last year, when Barwon Water announced a daylight savings reprieve for gardeners, those of us that grow our own food quietly punched the air in the hope that someone was finally looking at the big picture.

Most people are surprised to learn that around only 11 to 15% of our individual yearly 'water budget' occurs through actual household use. So where does the rest of our water go?

 

With almost 50% of our individual water use going on large-scale food production, surely there must be a better way?

To join the growing numbers of backyard producers that recognise you can save water by using it, sign the petition.