Narara ecovillage raises funds without banks

Yesterday I had a coffee with Lyndall Parris, one of the Directors involved with the new Narara Ecovillage. Lyndall would be pleased to hear from anyone interested in finding out more about this residential development near Gosford, just north of Sydney.Her contact details are: lyndall@nararaecovillage.com and 0419 279 711. nararaecovillage.com…Here are some points I made from our conversation:- The Narara Ecovillage Co-op is set up to build a world class ecovillage... Read More

Coal a dying business say Deutsche Bank and Standard & Poor’s

Two recent reports say coal, and the mining infrastructure for it, have only a few years to go before world-wide investment in them will not be available. Referring to the reports today the online magazine, Reneweconomy, reports that: “CLP Holdings, the Hong Kong based company that is one of the largest power companies in Asia, said it wouldn’t invest any more money in coal-fired generation in India following the disastrous results of its latest 1,200MW investment, which... Read More

Climate change a cause of Arab spring and more to come . . .

In his New York Times column today, Thomas L Friedman attributes climate change and the collapse of the world’s food crops, particularly wheat, as a major cause of civil unrest, particularly in the Middle East and specifically as a cause of the “Arab spring”: “Consider this: The world’s top nine wheat-importers are in the Middle East: “Seven had political protests resulting in civilian deaths in 2011,” said Sternberg. “Households in the countries... Read More

Watch ice bigger than Manhatten Island break away from a glacier

This speeded up film on Youtube, taken from a remote and distant mountain in the Arctic, shows ice breaking away from a glacier as it gets smaller and smaller. The video shows the 75 minute collapse in 4.41 minutes. Ice in chunks as high as 90 or more storied buildings and the size of Manhatten Island (87 square kilometres) rises three to four hundred metres high as the ice smashes and collapses. It took the glacier 100 years to break up and become 8 miles (~ 20 k) smaller –... Read More

Innovation and courage when shame’s won over by vulnerability

For a courageous – that is, the will to do or commit to something where there is no guarantee – talk about where innovation and courage and connections with each other come from try this talk by Brene Brown, Listening to shame. If you’re interested in new ideas, design, medicine, communications, city life – how we work and connect with each other and in our cities, workplaces and homes . . . here’s someone who says shame is an issue we’ve all... Read More

New way to get local council action

There’s a new phone App that seems to be making a difference. Called, Snap Send Solve,  it says it’s “the free app that lets you report issues and provide feedback to your local council in under 30 seconds Australia wide.” It works like this: take a photo with your phone, then choose a category for the photo, then send it off as an email from  your phone.  It’s a pity it can’t yet be sent as a text message but that may come. There are about... Read More

Frankston Council shows leadership with rate rebate for composting

Frankston Council, Victoria, has a run-away success with it’s rate rebate for composting program, Halve Garbage.   The designer of the program, Alison Winn, says: “I originally designed the ‘Halve Garbage Waste’ program and secured a $100 000 grant to roll out a smaller garbage bin service to residents.  Residents who signed up received either a compost bin or a worm farm and a $20 rate reduction.  I think the smaller bin was a 60L bin.  The program incorporated... Read More

Funny thing, politics

But is this a laughing matter . . .   www.youtube.com…   M    Read More

Public meets to discuss plan to sustain a suburb

The Sustainable Communities Team have arranged a public meeting on Tuesday 16 October at 545 pm to discuss the plan to sustain a suburb, The Sustainable Communities Plan.   They’ve put the event onto Facebook where any person, even if they don’t use Facebook, may visit to see what’s planned.  Here’s an extract from the site:   The Sustainable Communities Panel is a completely free event brought to you by The Sustainable Communities Plan... Read More

Cool streets to cool cities on ABC TV 730 WA

  On Friday 20 on ABC TV 730WA  Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettit, Michael Mobbs and Shani of Hulbert St – where I stayed in The Painted Fish – show how cool streets cool cities: www.abc.net… Citizens; let’s cool our cities by 1 degree by 2020 and take power stations off line; we can do this. M  Read More