Plastic? Fantastic? Fifty and Five
Recently I was asked to speak about Plastic Free July. My specific brief was to talk about 50 bits of plastic I can live without and five bits of plastic I cannot. I thought I would share my speech . . . Lots of fives . . . and funnily enough this will be the fifth year I have participated in plastic free July . . . . but of course I am NO WHERE NEAR fifty years old! Fifty bit of plastic I can live without . . . Really this is a list of fifty bits of plastic I learnt to live without during plastic free July. They generally fall into five categories First things I just had to be vigilant about. It wasn’t hard, I just needed to be conscious and say “no” – plastic shopping bags, take away coffee containers, water bottles, straw. . . .. Not much of a change really – just awareness . . . and the occasional gumption to walk out a pub that only sells beer in plastic containers and refuse to fill my water bottle with wine! Second, new habits I needed to adopt – buying in bulk – flour, peanut butter. Rice, lollies, chocolate, popcorn. Finding a butcher who would wrap meat in butchers’ paper only. Going to local farmers markets for organic fruit and vege. Taking a container and cutlery to the markets to avoid plastic takeaway containers. This will take you more time and organisation to start with, but less in the long run. Third, there were things I had to find alternatives for or cut out of my life – I gave up on timtams, starburst lollies, store bought strawberries, balloons. And fourth, (and most excitedly) new skills I had to learn, things I had to make – those little cloth bags you put your fruit and vege in, cloth sanitary pads, yogurt, toothpaste, deodorant, my own jam, canning fruit in season, making ice cream (yes I’m sorry all bulk icecream has some plastic packaging – damn it!) Some of these skills are old skills being revised (do you know anyone who makes their own sanitary pads?) and many of the people who know those skills are not here anymore . When it comes to these things all I can say is “thank goodess for google” The number of times I jumped on line to ask “is there a plastic free alternative to . . . . “ The fact someone out there had thought of it and taken the time to add it to the net made me feel less alone in my quest. One of the best exercises I have seen involved these four ways to reduce plastic. A teacher got her class to do a stock take of the plastic in their household pantry and fridge. Each child was then randomly given a “tricky” item to see if they could find an alternative. The creative ideas and research that came out of that assignment was incredible. And fifth, some things I did were truly just radical and just strange. In my third year of Plastic Free July I could not source milk that was not in plastic so – meet Kirsh. Kirsh had triplets last year and in the end she was producing nearly six litres of milk a day. I learnt to milk her, I learnt to make goat cheese (lots of goat cheese . . .).I trained a goat around the streets of South Freo without running away from dogs, I learnt how to wake up at exactly the same time each morning so the neighbours didn’t complain about her bellowing . . . When I tell my plastic free story, most people say “good on you” but occasionally you do get someone who comments “What difference is this going to make really? This is nothing in the scheme of things” I usually tell them this story. There is a girl in our street. She goes to a posh private school in Perth. After we screened the movie Bag It, she decided that she was going to refuse to buy bottled water again. She simply took a water bottle. When her school took the girls up to Karagini for a camp, she put on her permission form that she could not drink bottled water. She added it to the allergy part of the form, she added it to special requirements and she attached a letter explaining her stance. It is a long way on a bus to Karagini. At the first stop the teachers got out the water and fruit for morning tea. “I can’t drink that Miss, but I have a water bottle I filled before I left home.” She is a good girl, but by lunch time her drink bottle was empty. She was offered water in a bottle. She refused. She got into trouble, but still she refused. Kids always love a rebellion and soon other girls started to join in. By the next town half the bus would not drink bottled water. At the next town the teachers bought large esky water containers (remember them?) Despite the head teacher being really annoyed one teacher pulled her aside to tell her she was actually impressed. The school has changed its water bottle policy. No bottled water will be taken on school camp. They go on 25 camps a year with an average of 30 girls, each one drinking 5 bottles of water a day. That’s 3,750 plastic water bottles. What was that about one person not making a difference? What if we add school carnivals? Cross country? The other thing that people say is “you can’t get rid of all plastic, what about . . . .” I always reply “By god your right! I suppose I am only thinking about reducing what I can avoid” I am pretty proud of the plastic I have avoided in my life, but I have a dilemma bag too. The
Musing With My Mouth Full
Musing With My Mouth Full Tim Darby. January 2011 As I sit down to write this I’m chewing on a delicious slice of sourdough bread, still warm having been pulled from the oven just minutes ago. Mmmmm, so am I going to talk about sourdough and recipes? Well yes ….and, then again, no, not really. The oven the bread was cooked in is a mobile pizza oven that I finished putting together a couple of weeks ago. I’m pretty proud of it (don’t you love it when a plan comes together?). So am I going to talk about building pizza ovens? Well, sort of ….but not really. Yes, no, recipes, building, sort of , pizza ovens, not really…. What’s this all about? I guess what I want to talk about is how a piece of commonly owned infrastructure (in this case, a mobile pizza oven ) can be part of the recipe for building a strong community. This story begins a couple of years ago when a friend of mine decided to hold his wedding at our Eco B and B, The Painted Fish. The wedding was really beautiful (and deserves another story all of its own), but all that sloppy romance stuff aside, the thing that really struck me was the way in which a large number of wedding guests were fed. My mate, Wade, hired a mobile pizza oven from a local manufacturer and set it up in the driveway of The Painted Fish. The oven arrived still hot from the previous gig so my partner, Shani, never one to waste an opportunity, popped in a tray of our freshly harvested potatoes and we had baked potatoes for dinner. The next day I helped out, whipping up pizzas for the throngs of wedding guests. It was so quick and easy once I got the hang of it. I ended up feeding half the neighbourhood kids as they wandered past on the way to the beach. The next morning the oven was still hot, so Wade used the last of the pizza dough to make up some breakfast damper and Shani cooked up a load of roast beetroot. So much food with so little effort. It really got me thinking; “Hey, why don’t we make our own?” On the other hand, how often would we really use it? Probably not often enough to justify taking up some of the near-200 square metres that we live on. Then, on the other hand (how many “other hands” is a Libran allowed?), what if we made it mobile and got everyone in the street to chip in to pay for it? I asked around and to their credit about half the people in the street put in $100 and I went shopping. As it turned out I had underestimated the cost so the idea went on the back-burner awaiting the right moment to boil over into action. . . . . Then, in 2010 a remarkable thing happened. Our annual Hulbert Street Sustainability Fiesta ran at a profit (a surprising and fortuitous accident). What should we do with the left over money? Hey, why don’t we build a mobile pizza oven? During the fairly chaotic discussion that followed it emerged that there was a strong feeling that at least some of the money should be given to a local community group in need of funds for a worthy project. I suggested that maybe we were a local community group in need of funds for a worthy project and, in addition, I figured that if we built the mobile oven then we could lend it out to other similar groups to raise funds for their own projects (for example, during the 2010 Fiesta a group of Hulbert Street residents hired a pizza oven and sold enough pizzas to raise $1000 to help fund the Fiesta). Somewhere there’s a saying “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man to make pizzas and he can raise enough funds to pay for his own fish”. So now we have a street-owned mobile pizza oven. People are now drawn together through the sharing of food and fire, two elements that serve as powerful social adhesives due to our common history as cave dwellers (well, at least that’s what I think). For the past year one of our neighbours, Sean, has been hosting an open invitation afternoon tea on Wednesday afternoons. Since the pizza oven has been available people have started bringing toppings and dough and afternoon tea has morphed into dinner, feeding half of the street and anyone who happens to be passing by. These weekly pizza fests provide an excellent opportunity for the sharing and showing off of homegrown produce. Last Wednesday we used tomato sauce (made with homegrown tomatoes, onion, garlic, herbs etc cooked earlier that day in our solar oven), olives (grown by our neighbours and pickled by us using a recipe from another neighbour), cheese (made by our visiting friend Nunzio), herbs (from the Hulbert Street Guerrilla Garden and the verge gardens) and smoked trout (raised in my aquaponics tanks and smoked by a nearby mate Jeremy). Yum!
The “Official” Post Fiesta Report
The goals of the Hulbert Street Sustainability Fiesta are to : 1) Celebrate Sustainable Living in Hulbert Street and to 2) Inspire others to take on sustainable actions So How did we go?From Colin Ashton Graham (our official evaluator!) The Fiesta was a success on a number of levels: About 5,500 people attended and over 70% were first time visitors to the event (showing that the event is reaching new audiences and not ‘the usual sustainability suspects’); 50% attended because of a recommendation/ invitation from friends (showing that previous visitors recommend the Fiesta); Almost everyone who attended in previous years reported taking a new sustainability action as a result (84 actions for every 100 people who previously attended); Of the people attending this year there were 90 new learnings/ ideas and 95 intentions to act on a sustainability change for every 100 people through the exit: Most of the Fiesta features/ events/ services were rated as very interesting/ interesting by at least 80% of attendees. The number and length of positive unsolicited comments shows that the Fiesta set up a ‘social contract’ with the people attending, hence people wanted to give back. See the end of this blog for a list of unsolicited emails and letters received. ‘Sustainability’ and ‘Community’ were the major motivations for people to attend and ‘seeing sustainability’ (through homes, gardens, demonstrations etc) were the most highly appreciated aspects of the Fiesta. For most of the actions tested at the Entry and Exit to the fiesta, the overall likelihood of implementing actions increased. Further measures of the actual implementation of new sustainability actions and changes in intentions and attitudes will be measured over the coming months. Improved communication (in advance, in programs or over an event PA) could improve the engagement with speakers, commitment flags and activities. There was also demand for more/ more choice of foods, more shade for sitting in and some toilets lower down the street. And financially? This was the first year the Fiesta was in the black (eg last year we ran at a $1,500 loss) The Fiesta costs an estimated $69,361.18 to put on, with $48,650 of this being in kind support. The great debrief meeting About a month after the Fiesta a meeting was held with street residents and other interested volunteers. There was a great deal of support for running the Fiesta again next year, with a similar format. The date for next year’s Fiesta was set (September 24th and 25th 2010) and suggestions and issues discussed. Ideas for next year included: Add pack up procedure to volunteer list instructions Offer free accommodation to people to stay at the Painted Fish over the weekend – have to clean etc on Friday and be out all day! Keep street layout (ie stall tents on one side open homes on the other) All stalls out on the road (eg Pledges and LS in drive of Painted Fish did not work) Put more tables for sitting in PF driveway. Have free water and sunscreen available! Comment ideas box at entrances/ exit. Get someone to be an official money collector . Get someone to coordinate and keep an eye on Living Smart Stall. Order 600 posters and 1500 postcards. Have an Aboriginal Welcome each day. Toilets at both ends of the street with better signage. Better labeling for bins – have a “waste depot” with information. Don’t go over Douro Road for couch race . A couple of open garden homes are interested in running a tea stall. Sandra suggested she needed a better entry statement to bring people in to her studio. Discussions Several suggestions for next year were discussed. It was suggested that the Fiesta should be meat free. It was decided not to do this, but to encourage all food stalls to have a choice for people. It was also suggested that a display could be set up with information about the environmental impacts of eating meat. There was a suggestion that there be an organic beer tent next year. It was decided this was inappropriate and would add a more complex level of risk. There was quite a bit of discussion about the Speakers Tent. Most people seemed positive about the idea of a Speakers Tent but agreed that the tent site was inappropriate. Ideas for next year included several smaller “show and tell” tents, gathering a “crowd” for the beginning of each talk, and ensuring the set up allowed for good views of powerpont type displays. There was a feeling from some that the Fiesta had got a bit too big and commercial in nature. Processes for decisions about stalls and participation was discussed. While it was suggested that there should be less entertainment, the discussion that followed suggested most people felt that the busking areas provided a great opportunity for local groups to showcase their love of music or dance. Much discussion about the identification of street residents. Issues included finding an easy ways to identify a number of people without creating more “stuff” (eg Tshirts). It was also suggested and agreed that there were so many non Hulbert Street residents that volunteered and deserved to be recognized as well. Ideas included an apron with a screen print that could list a house number. It was decided that since Fiona was willing to take this job on again next year, she would make any final decisions. The centrally coordinated activities at this year’s Fiesta were considered a great success and the combination of remaking stall, basket weaving, wood work and the fairy garden were well supported. Ideas for consideration for next year included: A kid’s drawing/ painting area, Feltmakers Association, Spinners Guild, Pottery Clay workshops, Sandcastles, Mosaic workshops, Paper making workshops and a Story teller. The Fiesta is in many ways an “Open Space” for people to come and share and try ideas. It was agreed that the Fiesta should remain as open as possible, and in the end those people who were willing to organise a stall,
Hulbert Street Sustainability Fiesta 2010
By Tim Darby How do you feel about sequels? As an avid reader, when I find that a book I’ve enjoyed has a second book to follow, I get really excited. I start day dreaming about long winter evenings reading, wrapped in a cocoon of warm fluffy doonas and steamy hot chocolate being transported to another time and place through the magic of words. On the other hand (did I mention I’m a Libran?), there can be few things as sad as the lackluster sequel Son of … or Return of….. or …… meets Godzilla etc – the formulaic remake, of the copy, of the follow on, of the dramatisation of an idea which in its original form may have had some merit With this in mind, I approached the 2010 Hulbert Street Sustainability Fiesta (Son of the Return of the HSSF 2007) with a tingling mixture of apprehension and excitement. For those who missed the original. In 2007 my partner Shani and I opened our bed and breakfast, The Painted Fish, with Solar House Day and accidently precipitated an invasion of Hulbert Street by 800 people, eager to take a peek at the beginnings of our eco retrofit and gardens. Seeing the impact that the open home had on our long suffering neighbours, we invited them to join in. The 2000 people who visited our street in 2008 were greeted with a series of information stalls, eco products and some food. By 2009 a large number of “Hulbertians” had taken part in a Living Smart Course, 20% of the street had installed photovoltaic systems and, as well as our home and business being open to the public, there were 7 gardens 5 artist studios and 50 different stalls ( 1/3 artists, 1/3 community groups and 1/3 providers of sustainable products and services). We also expanded the provision for local entertainers and added a speakers’ tent. At the last moment we hired one porta loo … which proved to be just as well. Despite rain on both days, the street was visited by nearly 5000 people over the weekend. The 2009 Hulbert Street Sustainability Fiesta was described as ‘the peak sustainability event of the year’ (And no, that is not just a quote from my Mum!) So 2010 and where to from there? The 2009 Fiesta, while hailed as a great success, had taken a fairly heavy toll on us financially and personally. For the three months prior to the event, Shani had been increasingly debilitated by a spinal herniation and spent the Fiesta (about three week post spinal surgery) confined to a rainbow coloured gopher and pumped full of powerful pain numbing (not to mention mood enhancing) chemicals. For my part, I spent the six months following the Fiesta plagued by a series of illnesses and mysterious but debilitating fatigue. We received lots of support from Freo’s Sustainability Officer, Alex Hyndman, the backing of almost everyone in the street and over 100 volunteers, without which, it would have fallen in a heap. But still there was some question in our minds – was the whole thing actually a Sustainability Fiesta or just a fun and colourful party? When you are so close to something, it’s hard to see it objectivity, particularly for Shani propped up by chemicals and me running on my chocolate and endorphins habit. We decided that if we were going to initiate HSSF 2010 we wanted to be sure money and time and energy were being usefully spent. Enter Colin Ashton-Graham (no relation). Colin describes himself as a behavioural economist … economists as in numbers, patterns and predictions, behaviourist as in what people do and why. Colin developed a series of questionnaires to examine changes in peoples’ attitudes, intentions and behaviour as a response to participation in the Fiesta. Our experience presenting Living Smart has been that once the seed of an idea has been planted, it can take some time for change to precipitate so the study is to be followed up at three months, six months and 12 months intervals. Is this all starting to sound frighteningly economic rationalist? Relax and read on. It’s not all cost benefits and analysis. For example, we decided that bigger is not necessarily better. In 2010 we were asked if we would promote the event through the West Australian, our local State newspaper. We decided, given the parabolic increase in attendance over the previous years, that while the Fiesta offers a great example of sustainable community (which should be spread like organic butter on hot toast) any more than 5000 people would detract from the quality of the experience for guests and probably overwhelm our Hulbert Street hosts. Maybe the seeds of change, like broad beans, are best planted in your own backyard? On the Friday night before this year’s Fiesta I noticed Shani looking unusually calm amongst the chaos of experimental pizza cooking, last minute signage construction and a flurry of bumble bee costumes. I asked her what was going on? She explained that she had adopted a new approach based on some open space facilitation theory she recently trained in. “Our job is to create the space, send out the right sort of invitations and then trust that the right people will come”. Sounded a bit too hippy for me, given the huge logistics, but she was right (either that or the planets were in alignment)- the moments that made this year’s Fiesta really special were all to do with events and activities instigated by the Hulbertian hosts, volunteers or guests, with very little to do with us. Shall I give you some of my favourite examples? On that same chaotic Friday afternoon our friend Amy asked if she could borrow a ladder. I waved one arm in the right direction and thought mo more of it. It wasn’t until the next morning that I realised that Amy and a mob of her knit bombing mates had needed the ladder to turn our street sign into a beautiful piece of collaborative
What did you expect?
What did you expect? or Despair , Transformation and Creativity in an Age of Environmental Collapse By Tim Darby OK. I admit it. For most of the last month I’ve been feeling really miserable. What do you expect? I’m working on a community based program (Living Smart) getting people to think about the environmental impact of their behaviour and (with careful manipulation and a lot of luck) to head off in a more sustainable direction. Imagine trying to do that in WA – arguably the worst carbon polluter per head of population in the world, in the middle of a mineral resource boom. Some days I feel like I’m running a mattress maintenance program for Japan’s National Sumo Wrestling Team. Whatever small progress I make each day gets crushed by the weight of incoming bad news a few hours later. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not like there’s no reasons to rejoice. It’s just that what successes I have, while often profound and important on a personal level, tend to get lost amongst the litany of eco horror stories coming to you live from all over the world. Recently, after watching ” The Age of Stupid”, I found myself caught up in one of those ” what’s the point we’re all doomed anyway ” cycle of thinking. What do you expect? It’s an occupational hazard for anyone who’s literary consumption extends beyond The West and those 15 year old New Ideas on offer in every suburban GP waiting room, particularly those of us involved in environmental behaviour change. So what does one do with those feelings of despair? When I spend all day rabbiting on about how “every long journey begins with a single step” and that “we must all be the change we want to see”, it feels a bit hypocritical to stand up half way through my macrobiotic, low food miles, guilt free lentil burger and say ” You know what? I think you might be right. I think we are totally fucked after all.” So after a couple of weeks of indecision, self-doubt and angst (sometimes I hate being a Libran!) I started to quietly mention it to a couple of fellow “save the planet”ers only discover that they all suffered similar periods of feeling totally overwhelmed and defeated. Really, I suppose what do you expect? So…Wearing my heart on my sleeve I tentatively suggested that we all put aside some time to share our feelings of “less than absolute certainty it will all be O.K.” This seemed like a rather cumbersome title (and also I’m only a two finger typist)so with the help of my far more optimistic partner Shani I sent out invitations to: “The Heart Night – Worried about the future? Bring along your stories, poems or songs to share” As the ambiguously named Heart Night approached I was filled with apprehension (not an unusual state of event for me as you may have gathered). I didn’t really know what to expect. Would anyone show up? Would I be treated with disdain for daring to suggest that it really is a lost cause? Or, on the other hand would I find myself surrounded by hundreds of teary suicidal eco- worriers? (See what I mean about being a Libran?) As it turned out kind of neither, both and all of the above happened. About 15 people turned up, most of whom I know or had a least met. There was only one complete stranger and she seemed to make herself right at home chatting and sharing tea and bikkies with everyone. She brought her knitting along which seemed like a cosy kind of idea and not at all out of place at a heart night. After a brief introduction I got things under way gently by singing a whimsical and funny song called “The Snip” about my concerns about overpopulations leading to me getting a vasectomy. A couple of members of the Hulbert Street choir sang backing vocals and provided a percussive accompaniment on garden shears. (the lyrics follow at the end of this blog) That seemed to break the ice a bit and the evening rolled along pretty smoothly from song to poem to story and back again. Some sad, some hopeful, some funny. I would say that everyone who felt they had something to share felt they had a safe place to express it and perhaps break a bit of the isolation of “am I the only one who thinks like this?” (a few examples follow at the end of this blog) Probably my favourite part of the evening was seeing the beauty and creativity that can come out of despair. As the evening wound down and people were swapping phone numbers and putting their salty tissues in the compost bucket, the unknown knitter approached Shani, looking a little concerned. “I just wanted to tell you that I think you need to change your face book page” she said. “Gosh really? Could you tell me a little more about what you mean?” offered Shani, well aware that the Heart Night hadn’t featured on any face book page, but still in the mood for receptive listening. “Well it just wasn’t what I expected. I must say I enjoyed it but it just wasn’t what I was expecting. I think you need to explain it a bit more clearly”. It turned out she thought she was coming to a knitting group, but had arrived on the wrong night! Well, what do you expect? Tim’s Snip Song (Introduction with scissor percussion) Well the planet’s getting crowded Thought I’d make my contribution With medical intervention Be part of the solution But what if something goes awry And I’m filled with regret (oh) Walk with a limp, become a gymp, Move bass to a falsetto CHORUS I’ve got an inclination For cessation of procreation While engaged in recreation Without sexual frustration I want the snip. I called around to Andy’s He’d moved up to Mount Rugged He
Economic Development and Your Speedos
Flicking through a local paper a while ago I came across an ad calling for five community representatives to be involved in an economic development working group to “deliver an economic development strategy … to grow Fremantle’s economy with a focus on increasing employment … and the number of businesses in Fremantle.” After due consideration I don’t think I have the prerequisites to apply for one of the positions but I did have a few thoughts about economic growth generally. Let me start with four things I really like about Winter: Snuggling up in bed every night with a yummy rich hot chocolate Butter melting through a stack of crisp yet deliciously spongy crumpets Toasting marshmallow over an open fire Slothing around in comfy old tracky pants (the ones with a really stretchy waist band. OK what about Summer? Here is one thing I really don’t like about the start of Summer. Trying to get into your budgie smugglers on the first sunny day after the rains and realising that they just don’t fit any more … or more to the point, as they haven’t changed over the Winter, you don’t fit anymore! Struggling with the unimaginable notion that you have grown too big, your mind rushes about grasping more and more implausible explanations. Maybe the very last time you went to the beach last summer you mistakenly took someone else’s Speedos (someone much smaller, of course) . . . . Maybe your bathers are made out of some new fangled lycra which shrinks when not exposed regularly to sunlight. . . . . Maybe your partner is messing with your mind by replacing your togs with an identical but much smaller pair. . . . . Finally (possibly after a reality check in the mirror) you are faced with the incontestable fact that they are your bathers and you’ve just grown too big. There’s no escaping it. How depressing. At this point you have three choices. One, you can decide you never really liked swimming anyway and you’d rather spent the rest of your life wearing comfortable trackies. Two, you sneak out and buy a bigger pair of bathers, which is fine this year and may be next year, but at some point in the not too distant future you may find yourself at the centre of a mob of enthusiastic young conservationists trying to push you back into the water and chanting ‘Save the whales, save the whales’. Three, you come to the painful realization that your pleasurable overindulgence has led to your unpleasant over expansion and that as painful as it may be, the best time to address the problem is sooner rather than later. What’s this all got to do with economic development? Well it’s like this. Essentially, some things get bigger, and some things don’t. When the two collide there’s a problem. Let’s look at some non-budgie smuggler examples: Some things get bigger – 1) Population. At the moment, Australia’s population is growing at over 2% annually – one of the fastest in the world. Perth’s population is predicted to double by 2050. 2) House sizes and the urban sprawl. Since the 1950s the average Australian house has doubled in size (despite the population per house halving). We are living in four times as much space as we used to. 3) Cars. Between 1980 and 2003 the number of cars in Australia doubled to 10 million and continues to increase faster than the population. In fact, if you look at just about anything to do with consumption of resources, you’ll see a parabolic increase since about the end of WWII Some things don’t get bigger – 1) The number of habitable planets currently at our disposal. 2) Happiness. Despite a threefold increase in the material wealth of the average Australian since the 1950’s our happiness has flatlined. In fact some things are actually on the decline – (mostly natural resources!) 3)Water. Water inflow into Perth dams has fallen from about 330 gl (in 1960) down to about 80 gl (2009) and continues to decline. 4) Oil. Australia’s oil production has peaked and is in decline, and according the ASPO predictions production worldwide may well have already peaked. 5) Land. Viable food producing land. At present 2.4 million hectares of Australian farmland has become unusable due to salt encroachment. This is estimated to increase sixfold over the next 30 – 50 years. Maybe I’ll stop there before I run out of fingers . . . . It concerns me that economic growth is taken as a given, even though it is based on increasing consumption of our dwindling natural resources, driven largely by increasing population (baby bonus anyone?), which in turn has only been made possible by the availability of cheap oil. I understand that the very suggestion that we can’t continue to grow indefinitely will be howled down as ridiculous. After all, the last fifty years has seen the average Australia undergo continued increases in wealth and prosperity. Surely the next fifty years will be the same! Surely growth is good … Or is it? Think about it next time you try to fit into last year’s Speedos. Cheers, Tim
Living Smarties Sustainable Clothing Session
Join us in a mass pledge to recycle refashion and upcycle your clothes! Twenty plus Living Smarties had a hoot Wednesday night at the Sustainable Clothing session presented by Lesley Thomas and Kerri Barrie. There was a lively trade in clothes and fabrics to swap and lots of discussion about what we could do to take our passion for sustainability into the change room and laundry with us (and still look gorgeous!). Kerri spoke about her lifelong passion for reusing fabrics – including felt hats and boots from old jumpers and using doilies, tablecloths and curtains to create beautiful and unique clothes. Kerri and her friend Melanie have started up a business devoted to this and supporting fair trade and local designers and makers: check out Red Feathers and a Hula Skirt at 360 Marmion St Melville. Genevieve (Gen) also wore a beautiful dress that had been created from several other clothes and showed how she had turned one dress into a dress, apron and and a skirt! Great example and role model, Gen! So, about a dozen people pledged to recycle, renovate and refashion their clothing choices for 2, 4, 6 or 12 months. Check out the Wardrobe Refashion Pledge website for details. We’d love to do a mass pledge of 20 or more people for at least 2 months. The rules are: No Buying New (exceptions: undies, specialist wear and hand made clothes) One ‘Get out of Jail Free’ card per 2 months post to blog regularly and report on progress Be honest – fess up to slips We’ll have a ‘show and tell’ event in a couple of months to show off what we’ve done. Kerri and Lesley are hoping to get a few Living Smarties together to share a refashioning course so we can learn together and have a good laugh as we fulfil our pledges. Information from the Night Lesley shared some of her research into sustainability as it applies to fabrics and manufacturing, as well as some hot tips on what to look for and where to look for recycled and vintage clothes. For those people who wanted some of the websites Lesley referenced in her talk, please see below. Comparisons of sustainable fibre choices through ‘Made By’ Brands Fibre benchmarking. Environmental Benchmark Fibers (PDF) Made By rated recycled fibres, and organic hemp and linen in the highest rating (class A), with organic cotton as class B. Conventional hemp and linen and PLA (a type of polyester made from plant fibres rather than petroleum were ranked in class C. Most synthetics, non-organic cotton and wool were rated lowest of the 20 fibres. (photo: Carol Hanlon: London College of Fashion) Some manufacturers are taking up the sustainability challenge. Made By Brands and Icebreaker both have developed track and trace systems for supply chain transparency. http://www.icebreaker.com/site/baacode/index.html http://www.made-by.nl/tracktrace.php?lg=en Goodone recut clothing from recycled clothes (as does a a small business in the East Freo area (could the Living Smartie who had these details please contact Lesley?). Goodone have a great video on their website that shows this in action. Two companies that are taking a more holistic approach to sustainability include: Aussie company Fully Stoked – (www.fullystoked.com.au) UK’s Continental Clothing’s Earth Positive – (www.continental clothing.com). Refinity’s amazing felt clothing http://www.ecouterre.com/5857/dutch-designers-modular-refinity-clothing-is-like-legos-for-fashion/refinity-click-fold03/ On the vintage and recycling front, tips for buying include: go for quality – style, materials, construction, classics… …Or cheap and cheerful Check zips work Check for stains, damage (vintage usually shows some wear) Undone hems and seams are easy to fix Can shorten/take in if needed Buying recycled or refashioning clothes : Reduces the impacts of fabric and manufacture Lower exposure to finishing chemicals and excess dye Most are recycled locally, reducing transport footprint Pleasure of finding a unique piece Extends the life of beautiful, well made clothes and shoes
Living Smarties Preserving Night February Meeting
A report on the last Living Smartie night – Vacola preserving, freezing, jams and drying Written by Susie and Jess (and a big thanks to them from Shani!) Amy the happy pearl stringed house-wife, shared her inspiring experience and extensive knowledge of Vacola preserving. She talked about why she preserved. – Because she gardens, economics, creative satisfaction, to reduce waste, to reduce food miles (check out sustainability.ceres.org.au – to make tin cans, ore from WA is shipped to Japan to be processed, then back to Melbourne, and across to WA, a distance of more than 17 000km. And that doesn’t even factor in what’s in the can!), and having assurance about what you eat! Amy uses the good old Fowlers Vacola gear. All you need to know is in the instruction book, or google it, for beautiful bottles of preserved fruit (no sugar, vinegar, or other preserving agents necessary) If you don’t have the Fowler’s gear (a big tub with a thermometer slot down the side, plastic or stainless steel with an electric element, or a tin tub which sits on a gas stove), you can heat up your jars in a big pot on the stove, but rest them on a cake rack so they don’t crack, and wrap tea towels round them so they don’t rattle (Leah). Check out the quokka for second hand jars, should be about $1 each. Look out for stainless steel lids (brassy ones go a bit rusty) What to preserve?Tomatoes are great (but not veggies, cause they’re not acidic enough, may breed botulism!) Plums, peaches, apricots because you can get them cheap in season or off your tree. Also orange, lemon and other juices!(And you can use the water you heat up for a bath!) And jams are as easy as could be…One part fruit: one part sugar+ lemon juice, pith and seeds in a muslin bag (for pectin) or green apples, or jamsetta (just in case) Wash jars and dry them in the oven on low heat. Boil up the fruit and sugar til gloopy (for a test set put a tsp-full on a plate that’s been in the freezer. The jam should set on the plate). A jam funnel makes it easier to get into the jars.Forage the streets for free food – lilly pillys, quandongs, figs, mulberries, mmm… Cordial is easy too 1kg sugar: 600ml fruit juice (lemon, grapefruit, lime, grape – heat fruit, mash and strain through muslin) + a bit of citric acid Some good books on preserving Amy recommended were A Year in a Bottle: Sally Wise and Pick, Preserve, Serve And then Shani stepped forward for the lowdown on freezing. Frozen food stores indefinitely, no nutrients are lost. Spread fruit and veggies – berries, cherries, pears, tomatoes, corn, spring onion – flat on trays to freeze speedily, and then store in freezer bags. Blanch veggies such as beans and pumpkin first (put in boiling water 2 min, iced water 2 min) to slow enzyme ripening (they’ll go mushy otherwise). Defrost in fridge. And… Drying Some ideas included – solar wheel barrow (glass sheet on top), a mesh screen resting on the dash board of your car (windows just slightly ajar for air circulation). Great for peaches, figs, tomatoes… And very best of all, we wind it all up by sampling some of the passionate preserves produced by Amy and Shani – pears with vanilla bean and lemon zest served with baked custard, lemon cordial, sundried tomatoes, fig jam… truly delicious! Thankyou! We are thoroughly inspired! If you are interested in coming along to our nights – email Shani on stay@thepaintedfish.com.au) We meet on the first Wednesday of each month at 7:00 in the library at Beaconsfield Primary School. Please bring along something to share for a snack and mug for a cuppa Topics for the next few months include: March 3rd – Sustainable Clothing with Lesley Thomas and invited guests Bring along some clothing to swap and those evening clothes to donate April 7th Make your own Alcohol (April 1st is Easter!) Greg will share tips on beer making, Peter will share ideas on making liquers and we are still hoping to find someone to talk on making your own wine (can anyone help? – call Shani) May 5th – Looch will talk about Vegan and Vegetarian eating and cooking (and she promises to share some recipes including her amazing corn patties!) June 2nd– (to be confirmed) GM Consumers’ Network Please contact Shani Graham at stay@thepaintedfish.com.au or on 0417 941 991 if you want to be on our email list or you have ideas for future Living Smarties Topics
Living Smarties Bee Night November Meeting
Wow! A small but inspired group of people enjoyed extracting their own honey after hearing from Peter about bees. Everyone enjoyed hearing the wide range of information that Peter shared with us, and he was able to answer all sorts of questions – discussions ranged from the similarities between bees and human gender politics and the uses of propolis (a special “glue” that bees use to fix gaps in their hive) Here is just a small portion of the facts about bees he covered. Queen bees live for 1 to 4 years Drone bees live for 6 to 8 weeks Worker bees live for 6 to 8 weeks The brood temperature is always 34 deg C It take 500 workers 4 weeks to make 1kg of honey Queens can lay up to 2,000 eggs in 1 day It takes 21 days from an egg to a bee. A hive contains approx 30,000-60,000 bees Each bee frame has about 3,000 cells on each side of the frame. (6,000 cells per frame) Bees are attracted to Dark colours which can excite them, so it is best to wear light colours & NOT dark. (Hats and Socks as well) 100 bee hives can use up to 1,000 litres of water in a week, that’s 10 litres each bee hive each week. Bees can beat their wings up to 200 times per Second as they fly. (They have 4 wings) This is how they make their buzzing noise. Bees can carry 50% of their weight in a load of honey and a Jumbo Jet can only carry about 25% of their weight. Honey does not have a use by date, In Egypt they found honey that could be eaten after 2,000 years. Bees need to eat about 7 kilograms of honey to make 1 kilogram of bees wax. Pollen contains high levels of protein, 1 kilogram of pollen contains the same protein as 5 kilo of beef. Bees use only about 1 teaspoon of honey to fly around the world. If you are stung by a bee always scrape out the sting, never pull it out! But the highlight of the evening was after the formal talking was over. We moved outside and chief honey extractor Aaron (at three and a half years of age) showed us how to use the hand spun machine extract honey from the honey filled frames Peter brought along. Norm managed to get covered in honey and we all thoroughly enjoyed the taste of the unprocessed product. Peter has several hives in the Fremantle, White Gum Valley and Coolbellup area and he prefers to sell his honey locally if possible. Shani and Tim always have some at their place, so get in touch with them if you are interested in purchasing local unprocessed honey from Peter. As always seems to happen at Living Smarties it was inspiring to hear from someone so passionate about their area of interest, and we are all appreciative of the time Peter put into putting his presentation together and the effort he made to bring all his gear. Next month we are planning an end of year dinner, sharing and celebration, along with a screening of the movie FLOW which will be held at the end of Hulbert Street on Friday night December 4th. Freo Living Smarties End of Year Dinner and Film Night Friday December 4th 2009 At the end of Hulbert Street, South Fremantle Bring your family and friends 6:00 pm for dinner – bring food to share Bring a chair to sit on (or pillows) 7:30pm for the movie FLOW and discussion FLOW – For Love Of Water. Water sustains our planet. Without it there would be nothing . . . come and see Irena Salina’s award winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st century – The World Water Crisis For more information call Shani on 0417 941 991
Living Smarties Chook Night October 2009
Our chook night, held on Wednesday October 14th was another great night of sharing – thanks to Ian and Sandy who presented and shared their love of all things chicken, those who sat on the panel and especially Nadia, our special guest. Nadia is a 14 year old chicken who still occasionally lays an egg! Thanks to Ian and Sandy for the info below 10 Good Reasons to Have Chooks in Your Backyard… 1. Chooks give you infinite pleasure. 2. They are good pets for kids & adults. 3. Chooks will save you money. 4. They turn your scraps into eggs. 5. Chooks give you free fertiliser. 6. You will get fresh ethically produced eggs. 7. Chooks eat garden pests. 8. You will reduce your food miles. 9. Mouth-watering Roast Chicken – reconnect with where your food comes from. 10. There is nothing better than seeing a child with his/her chook with a mob of chicks! 10 Things that Chooks Need 1. Shelter 2. Roosts 3. Food 4. Other Chooks 5. Dust Bathing Areas 6. Shell Grit 7. Clean Water 8. Air 9. Protection from hawks, foxes, dogs 10. Sun How to Find Chooks In WA there are lots of places you can find the chook for you. Here are a few suggestions… You can buy the Quokka Thursday and find a whole range of chooks advertised, from day old chicks to laying hens, free chooks, breeding pairs, roosters etc. OR You can go Online… WA Poultry Trader http://wapoultrytraders.proboards.com/index.cgi? Clucky Hen Hatchery http://www.cluckyhen.com.au/ ChookNet http://www.chooknet.com.au/ Comps Poultry http://www.poultryandbirdswesternaustralia.com/ Eggschange Auctions http://www.eggschangeauctions.com/ This website is great for chook info www.simplynaturalorganic.com Note: Each council in Perth has their own set of regulations for keeping chooks and will tell you if you can have roosters or not, so it is worth checking it out with them.