FOR WE ARE LIVING IN A MATERIAL WORLD

Today's post is all about recycling your duds. The fact of the matter is, production of clothes and just STUFF in general takes up a lot of energy. Living in such a fast-paced consumer society as we are, we're using up a hell of a lot of stuff and a lot of energy. You may be used to thinking of coal and oil just as that black stuff that goes to factories and the stuff used to power your go-go mobile, but let's switch to the mentality of remembering that ALL of our stuff - requires energy for its production (energy coming from coal & oil - get it?) and ALL contributes to carbon output and landfill.

With the speil by the spool out of the way, let's look at the fast growing trend of clothing exchange events. I attended one but a month ago called Rethreads. How does it work? You turn up with your stuff and are given a wristband indicating how much stuff you can leave with. Some events give you buttons instead, which you use as currency to "buy" other people's stuff!

Well, thanks to my friend Greg over at The Three Hour Plot (if you need to know anything about starting a vegie garden, Greg's your man) for letting me know about the upcoming event in Sydney, The Big Aussie Swap Party. This will take place on Tuesday the 10th of November at Martin Place. You can bring clothes, CD's books and assorted bric-a-brac to swap.


The Clothing Exchange is another great one - they frequently host events across Australia and are suited to your more picky lass - they have tighter standards on the stuff you can and cannot swap and charge an entry fee. But considering you can potentially free your wardrobe of things that are just taking up space and come home with an armful of new stuff, it's well worth it!

Environmental Benefits of Clothing Exchanges

Recycling takes items you have finished with and puts them back into circulation.

By passing your clothes, accessories or equipment on to others, you are diverting materials from landfill thus conserving resources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In landfill they produce methane, a greenhouse gas with the global warming capacity 20 times stronger than CO2

Reusing a product, rather than buying a new one, reduces the demands for water, energy and raw materials.

Swapping 1 suitcase (20kg) of clothes saves enough energy to run a TV non-stop for 1.7 years.

Swapping 1 box of books (25 kg) saves enough water to fill 150 spa baths.


Courtesy of Rethreads - Statistics from Planet Ark

Quote

'You cannot plow a field by turning it over in your mind'

-Author unknown-

Home

Here's a preview of the movie 'Home'. Take two minutes to have a look.



View the full movie on YouTube by clicking here.

Up On The Roof

The past few days have been a bit on the chilly side. If you've actually turned on your heater, I don't want to know because I may cry. In the actual designated months of winter, use heating sparingly if you absolutely must, but remember that Australian's are currently creating on average about 3.5 times as much carbon per year than we should and we're right at the top of the list of worst offenders when it comes to excessive carbon induced climate change. We're not just hurtling towards extreme effects of climate change - they've long since begun. If you're not on solar power or using 100% renewable energy, you especially need to make some sacrifices and efforts to reduce your impact.

Wintry weather is all about getting snuggly. Before you use heating, layer yourself up and feel cosy in the knowledge that you're not pushing your carbon footprint further and further away from one-planet living.

If your home resembles the Sahara Desert in summer  or if you've been moonlighting as an Eskimo in the winter months, your insulation is most likely in need of a top up or altogether nonexistent.  Roof insulation is one of the easiest ways to reduce heat lost in your home and save energy. It helps to keep the house cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It's all about conduction and convection and all that sciency stuff.

Now for the grouse part. Yes I said grouse. The Australian Government is offering rebates for roof insulation up to the value of $1600 so now is the perfect time to get your house sorted in time for summer.

Most homes do not cost this much to insulate, so in effect you could be looking at free insulation.

Visit the Free Insulation website now (do it!) for more information!

Don't forget to look into eco-friendly insulation such as that produced by 'Greenstuf' - found on the link above. There are heaps of Green insulation companies out there.

TEN THOUSAND CRAYONS

 

Do you know what I'd do? I'd  gather all the runty ones, break em all up, stick em in a muffin tin [heart shaped, obviously] and bake them in an oven at 150 degrees for 15 minutes.

But do you know what? Since my professors tend to frown upon essays composed in crayon, I will personally save this activity for when I'm a) in the company of child and b) have more than 3 scabby crayons kicking around, preferably in an assortment of vibrant colours, as I'm pretty sure that right now any uber crayon of mine would turn out an unfortunate shade of brown.

Enough about me though - this is a neat little activity for the kiddies and a lesson in reuse and recycle!

Thanks to Earth Savers for this sweet idea and pic.

Show some local love

Tonight I watched with horror as current affairs program Today Tonight told us how Australian shoppers are currently getting more bang for their buck by shopping overseas online. The reason for these bargains? The current strength of the Aussie dollar.

To me, a story like this is outfitted with a couple of glaring holes.

First of all, a great way to lose our edge and to boost the US economy is, you guessed it, to shop in the US. 'Economics for Dummies' anyone?

Secondly, to bring it home to an environmental front, we have the issue of freight. Freight being a major cause of pollution. Whatever you're buying - clothes, homewares, groceries, vegetables, whatever! - local is always the better choice. The more we can eliminate the need for our goods (and services for that matter) to travel to get to us, especially from overseas, the more we reduce our carbon outputs.

So whilst the jerks at Today Tonight ramble on about how the cost of your US-bought goods including postage & handling is a fantastic bargain right now, they have completely overlooked the environmental factors, let alone the long-term economic factors. In the midst of recent economic turmoil, coupled with the extremely serious matter of ecological turmoil (which is also directly linked to the wellbeing of our economy - another story) it's actually quite appalling that an Australian program would present this story to such an impressionable and un-questioning audience. Appalling, yet sadly not surprising.

The more we try to consider where our goods and services are coming from - the greater service we will be doing for the environment and for our economy.

Don't be a silly dumb ass traitor.

Show some local love! xo

Rain

A gift from the skies of grey
A love in most simplest of ways
Down from the heavens she comes
Cleansing the path, she runs
Now heavy your heart may seem
For the sun in your heart cannot be
Awakened this day in the sky
As the damp from the clouds runs awry
If you quiet your soul to the rain
Let go of all pressure and strain
Breathe deep in your soul, the dew
Capture content as it brews
And look how the landscape now sings
From the grass, to the bark and the spring
Elated in purity's bath
An elixir of angelic craft

2009

Quote

"You have two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them"  

- Denis Waitley -

Earth Greetings

I recently came across these delightful greeting cards from Australian company,  Earth Greetings. If Mother Nature were going to send you a card, I'm pretty sure it'd be one of these lovelies. All products are made from 100% post-consumer waste using vegetable-based inks (as opposed to greenhouse-gas emitting mineral oils).

Earth Greetings use chlorine-free paper for all their products, including this beautiful rustic wrapping paper. The products are produced at environmentally-friendly mills that capture waste plus the packaging is made from 100% recycled materials!  Phew! Oh, and did I mention that Earth Greetings offset the CO2 from the production process by planting trees? Yeah, they're pretty much perfect.

With the festive season approaching, Earth Greetings has a range of Christmas cards and wrapping paper in stock.  If you're not so much with the whole card writing deal, you could always opt for these swing tags - less space to fill and an attractive way to spruce up a package!

Although you can't order  from the site,  you can contact the company to find a nearby stockist or purchase online from the sites below.

Todae 
Greenleap.com.au

Streamwatch

Streamwatch is a long running water monitoring program run in partnership by Sydney Water and the Sydney Catchment Authority (SCA). It supports local communities and schools across Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Illawarra and Southern Highland regions. Streamwatch groups investigate and take action on water quality and catchment and ecosystem health.

Streamwatch began in 1990. There are now over 250 community, school and other groups that monitor water quality and macroinvertebrates (water bugs) across more than 600 sites.

Streamwatch & Your School
[extract from website]

Streamwatch can be integrated across many key learning areas in the school curriculum, helping schools achieve syllabus outcomes and meet requirements of the NSW Environmental Education Policy for Schools. Streamwatch can also be run as an extra-curricula program.

Participating schools use Streamwatch kits that contain equipment to conduct a range of water quality tests including temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, turbidity, available phosphate, dissolved oxygen and faecal coliforms. Macroinvertebrate (water bug) surveys can also be done through Streamwatch.

If your school is located near a waterway that you would like to monitor, go to the website where you will see links to contact Streamwatch.

My Two Cents
This is a great one for schools who are located close to the beach or a river system. I've worked with groups of primary and secondary students in Streamwatch activities so have been able to witness the two-pronged benefits first hand. For the primary schoolers - it's a great ongoing activity, a chance to both play and learn. They especially love using the dip nets to fish for macroinvertebrates to check the health of the river. For the secondary students, again, there's the chance to put practical knowledge from the classroom to real use (not to mention the chance to play with chemicals, which the boys seem to love). Hands on activities always enhance the learning experience. Councils actually collect and use data from schools' Streamwatch activities. You can imagine students would have a real sense of pride in their input.

Visit the Streamwatch website to enquire about Streamwatch for your school

Envirokid

Above: For a 'Printing & Publishing' assignment in my undergrad, 2003, I looked at the idea of 'Envirokid' as a tween magazine.

A story by yours truly - 5 year-old greeny in the making methinks?!

Ticket to Ride

Alright so personally, I am currently without bike. It's a sad time, yes, but one I intend to remedy. Because today I was thinking nostalgically about the time -I think I was about 4- I rode around our coldesac one afternoon on my little pink plastic bike, collecting the neighbours' mail (by plucking it out of their letterboxes). I was playing postman and let me tell you you it was a great game - one that's been seared into my memory, perhaps because I could not read at the time and redistributed the mail according to my own personal preferences, paying no mind to the actual intended recipients who were mere hindrances to an otherwise wonderful game.

So there's a picture of a bike up there and it happens to be green. I don't need to talk to you about bikes. Ok just quick. They burn your cupcakes and they don't generate CO2. They're a good investment and an easy way to fit a workout into your day. But most importantly, and I do mean most importantly, they make you look hott, especially if you have a Stack Hat like this beauty.

And then there's The Goodies...
I rest my case.

Introducing Arron Wood. A couple of months ago I was lucky to have worked with Arron's team at the 'NSW Youth Environment Conference' in Sydney with kids from 25 schools across NSW. In this clip, the creator of the 10 year old 'Kids Teaching Kids' program shares some thoughts on his work and what he feels is the pressing issue of environmental concern.

Very tough to look at, but give it a go.

GreenWeb

Council's Greenweb program, which is part of a Sydney-wide strategy (Green Web Sydney) aims to protect and enhance the Shire's native plant and animal populations by identifying key areas of bushland habitat and establishing corridors to connect them. These corridors make it easier for the movement of both plants and animals which is essential to maintain healthy populations and diversity.

How can you be involved?

If you live in a place that backs alongside the bush or a waterway, a GreenWeb officer can visit your house and tell you about the types of natives that you can plant in your yard and any plants which you should probably remove. This is because some non-native plants can spread into the bush by way of wind, seeds and animals eating the plants. If you live along the water it's SO important that you don't let the wrong things get down into the waterways as some plants become rapid growing weeds in the river and can overtake the river system - they squash the native plants that the little fish eat, the little fish die and then the bigger fish have nothing to eat, and so on.

A couple of years ago I had a GreenWeb officer visit my parents' house and we were given a voucher for 25 native plants. I then coerced several family members into helping me plant them. It was great fun! And now we have a thriving array of natives which are a super happy following last week's TLC via our worm-laden, home-made compost.

SO, if you live in Sydney, visit GreenWeb to enquire about having an officer visit your house ;)

HYBRID

A little eco-naughtiness of a Sunday morn. But come on, if must drive, must drive one of these ...my next car.

Vrrrrrm.

The LS 600h L is certified as a Super Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle. That's all I need to know. That...and that it can go from 0-60 in 5.4 seconds from a 438 horsepower V8 gas/hybrid motor.

That's a lot of horses.

Anywho... *slap slap*, where did I put that bicycle again...!?

Lexus Hybrid 09 > go to website

Thanks to StyleCrave for the pic.

Thanks to my pal Sharpy (Sharpy of Lexus) for always leaving me thinking about cars.

...actually Kermit...we beg to differ...

A shout out to my home girl Em, who brings us today's blog from her haven at A girl called E! Oh I do love a good green recruit, especially ones who don't take nonsense from scrawny, misguided frogs!

--< Alex

Kermit was wrong, it is easy being green

I'm guilty, as I'm sure many of us are, of not always making the greenest decisions. Sure I tryyy and recycle - that's the thing with paper right..? Joking, joking - I really do try, but maybe not consciously enough.

There seems to be a wide spread belief that climate change is so big that surely our own minute actions can't really make that much of a difference. WRONG! Alex over at Head, Heart and Hands can set you straight on this. Sometimes it's as simple as switching off a light when you leave a room (or turning off that naughty electric blanket...) or hanging onto that copy of mX to throw in your own recycling bin.

And sometimes being green is fun too and involves shopping... which is more my field of expertise. If you head over to Head, Heart and Hands you'll learn why it's so good to get a decent refillable drink bottle... but why on earth not make it a really cute one like this baby from BioMe?

Better still, flaunt your style and environmental conscience at the supermarket by grabbing a set of these re-usable shopping bags in Flora from Todae. They're practical and fun, all the while saving landfill from a couple of nasty plastic bags each time you visit Woolies.

And for those of you with no room to swing a cat, let alone plant a herb garden - pocket gardens from Todae! Not only will it help spice up your culinary skills, it also brings a little bit of outside inside. And it's a pretty cute gift, no?


See, even the most fickle of us can do something green.

Watcha gonna do with all that junk, all that junk inside that trunk?

Here's an opportunity for us to save a few trees! We caught up with Postman Pat [pictured, right] earlier to give us the inside dirt on the criminal world of junk mail...





HHH: So Pat, do you really think it would make much of a difference for me to stop junk mail coming to my place?

Pat: Why yes, in fact the book 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth (Earthworks) featured stopping junk mail as its number 1 recommendation.

HHH: Interesting! Pat, I'm curious. Where on earth is all this mail coming from?

Pat: Most of the junk mail jammed into Australian letterboxes is manufactured by a company that produces Australia's magazine paper. About 70-80% of the content comes from timber plantations. Very little recycled content is used. It's jolly bad.

HHH: Well I'll be damned. How much junk mail would you say is distributed every year?

Pat: 550,000 tonnes of the stuff back in the UK, 100 million trees worth in America and about 8.2 billion unaddressed leaflets and catalogues in Australia.

HHH:Wow. That's heaps. Anything you'd like to add?

Pat: Actually, yes. The production of junk mail also uses a significant amount of energy and causes air pollution. Each tonne produced uses enough energy to heat an average home for 6 months and causes 26 kilograms of air pollutants. Don’t forget too about the pollution caused in the disposal of the junk mail, such as the pollution from the trucks which haul it away. This applies to junk mail that you recycle, too.

HHH:Thankyou Postman Pat, we know you're a busy man but you’ve been very informative and you have convinced me, JUNK MAIL IS FOR LOSERS! I'll let you get back to your cat now Pat, he looks hungry.

Pat:Jolly good. Cheerio!

So there you have it folks. Pretty startling facts there. So now on to my favourite part - what can you do? Two very quick and easy steps!

1) First, visit the Australian Direct Marketing Association website & fill in a quick form to reduce the amount of unsolicited mail you receive from marketing companies.

2) Whack a 'No Junk Mail' sticker on your letterbox. For a free silver & black sticker, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to:

DSB Sticker
PO Box 6252
Karingal Vic 3199

Why not enclose a couple of stamped self-addressed envelopes, get a sticker for a neighbour, friend or relative too. For more information on this offer, click here.

Well done you if you choose to take these steps - you'll be doing an awesome thing for the planet!

*Postman Pat would like to thank Intelisigns for helping him get his facts straight.

I WANT YOU TO SHOW ME

[oh! a heart etched in grass, taken by me from the top of le tour eiffel]

Just tap it in... tap it in... tap tap tapperoo...

FOR GOODNESS SAKE GET A REFILLABLE WATER BOTTLE!

There is so much CO2 production tied up in the production of bottled water. How bad is it.

Added to that, most of the bottles don't make it to the recycling stage because they're disposed of in places where there's no recycling facilities. Even then - there's a huge amount of energy tied up in the recycling process itself. I think we're all guilty of forgetting about that part - although recycling is good, it's better to just use less in the first place.

Next to turning off light switches, this is one of the easiest actions you can take to reduce your grubby footprint. Do it!

[In case you have not been to a shop in 10 years & have no clue where to source a drink bottle, here's a plug for Howard's Storage World. Good ol' Howard. I picked myself up a futuristic-looking metallic drink bottle & would reccommend you go check out those bad boys at a store near you.]

Plastic Fantastic?

Article: The Sun-Herald, 27/09/09

"The environmental impact of extracting, transporting, bottling and disposing of bottled water is very significant... bottled water is a menace and a marketing con".

A town in the southern highlands of NSW has banned bottled water - shops will now only sell refillable bottles. This is an amazing achievement and something we can all follow from.

Extract from the New York Times: "In the last few months, bottled water — generally considered a benign, even beneficial, product — has been increasingly portrayed as an environmental villain by city leaders, activist groups and the media. The argument centers not on water, but oil. It takes 1.5 million barrels a year just to make the plastic water bottles Americans use, according to the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, plus countless barrels to transport it from as far as Fiji and refrigerate it."

Read the full New York Times article and be inspired.

Carbon Footprint

Carbon Footprint: A carbon footprint is the measure of the amount of greenhouse gases, measured in units of carbon dioxide, produced by human activities. A carbon footprint can be measured for an individul, household, organization, nation and so on. It is typically given in tons of CO2-equivalent (CO2-eq) per year. Source

Calculate your own carbon footprint here: www.footprintnetwork.org

Take one planet, add carbon and simmer slowly...

Currently, humanity uses the equivalent of 1.3 planets to provide the resources we use and to absorb our waste. This average includes developing nations where individual usage is much less.

In Australia, most of us use the equivalent of about 3 planets.

That means we're living 3 times beyond our means in terms of the electricity and water we use, the fuel we use to travel, all the stuff we buy then waste and throw out and so on. Remember that everything we buy went through a process of energy and water usage to produce it.

Turning resources into waste faster than waste can be turned back into resources puts us in global ecological overshoot, depleting the very resources on which human life and biodiversity depend. We're using resources faster than they can be naturally replenished.

The result is collapsing fisheries, diminishing forest cover, depletion of fresh water systems, and the build up of pollution and waste, which creates problems like global climate change. These are just a few of the most noticeable effects of overshoot.

The Earth provides all that we need to live and thrive. So what will it take for humanity to live within the means of one planet?

Individuals and institutions worldwide must begin to recognize ecological limits. We must begin to make ecological limits central to our decision-making and use human ingenuity to find new ways to live, within the Earth’s bounds.

Information thanks to: Footprintnetwork.org

Stay tuned for tips on easy ways to reduce your carbon footprint.

Green is the New Black

...c'mon - you can't tell me she's not having fun...

Living Green you say? Yes, I do say. Why? Because Green is the new Black. Or something like that. Seriously though, it's time that we all get on board to kick this sustainable future into gear. Do it!

As a massive part of our power to help the environment rests on our actions as individuals, seemingly little things can make a big cumulative difference.
Don't stress, there are so many small things you can do- they don't all have to be as big as rainwater tanks or solar panels for the moment. The idea is to make some changes with minimal fuss, and actually have fun with it. (She is.)

*Image found here.

Don't leave a light on for me

By turning appliances off at the powerpoint rather than leaving them on standby, you can reduce your current energy use in your home by an average of 12% (that's 12% off the bill, too).

Leave no switch unflicked! Think lamps, white goods, TVs, computers, mobile chargers, heaters, washing machines, microwaves, phone chargers, modems, etc.

If you have easy access to the point and it's not in use, FLICK IT OFF! On that note, beware of 'overcharging' - there's no need to have your laptop or telephone handsets on permanent charge.

This is one of the simplest ways we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions.



Image found here

Would you like fries with that?

What a grand suggestion, Mcdonalds! Click here to view McDonalds' 'Best of Green' PDF.



I wonder if we'll be getting these in Australia any time soon? A McDonald's recycling station in Japan - also found in Germany.