blog.adrianwedd.com

Take this Lollipop

2012-05-12T10:32:00.000+10:00

Just in case you've somehow missed it. I dare you...

a good week in Sydney

2009-12-20T23:28:00.000+11:00

My first ute (at last!)

2009-11-25T23:49:00.000+11:00

Our Soil Test Results (if anyone is curious)

2009-08-13T18:33:00.000+10:00

Maya's getting BIG

2009-08-12T00:14:00.000+10:00

crazy lichen

2009-06-12T08:27:00.000+10:00

Internet Censorship is Un-Australian!

2009-03-18T21:26:00.001+11:00

(not new but incredibly important - make some noise!)

Back Steps

2009-02-28T15:52:00.000+11:00

Is my baby girl getting big or what?

2009-01-15T10:57:00.000+11:00

Busy Busy

2008-11-30T15:48:00.000+11:00

Busy, apologies for the lack of updates to this blog of mine.

check my twitter feed above (though you probably just did)

more soon(er or later)

Back in Hobart

2008-08-15T13:12:00.000+10:00

After 2 glorious weeks of sun, friends and relatives on the west coast I'm back in Hobart refreshed and focused yet buried in a lovely back-log of emails, phone messages, bills and personal administrivia so bare with me while i take some time to tie up those loose ends.

Mischief on the Mainland

2008-07-15T07:05:00.000+10:00

Australian smokestack occupied for 33 hours

14 July 2008

Activists abseiled off the side of a 140-metre coal smokestack and painted the message "Go Solar".

Enlarge Image

Queensland, Australia — Over the weekend, four activists from Greenpeace Australia occupied the top of a 140-metre high smokestack for 33 hours enduring near freezing temperatures overnight. They began the two-hour descent yesterday, at Swanbank B coal fired power plant near Brisbane, leaving a message for Australia's leaders - "Go Solar!"- painted on the side of the smoke stack.

Upon descending, Greenpeace energy campaigner Julien Vincent, who was part of the climbing team, said they sent the message that the situation is urgent and we have to act fast on climate change. This means revolutionising the way Australia generates energy.

The activists climbed the stack at dawn on Friday, 11 July and spent a night up the top in near-freezing temperatures.

Why did we do this?

We did this to get the message out that Australia urgently needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions. They must start replacing old and dirty coal fired power stations, like this one at Swanbank, with true clean renewable energy, like solar. It is tragic that Queensland, with the best solar resources in the world, is not a leader in the booming global renewable energy industry.

Read Day 1 story and Day 2 story

View images on Flickr

Read action updates

33 hours for a renewable energy future

The activists’ occupation of the 37-year-old Swanbank B coal-fired plant began at 5.30am on Friday 11 July. Of 13 activists who entered the plant yesterday morning, nine were arrested before they started climbing the stack. The remaining four were arrested after 33 hours up top of the major climate changer.

Swanbank B is responsible for more than two million tonnes of carbon emissions a year - that's the annual pollution of 300,000 cars.

The world's best solar resource

If every home in Queensland switched to solar water heating, Swanbank B could be switched off. We want a commitment from Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to close Swanbank by the next election.

Australia is way behind many other countries in developing renewable energy. In the next 18 months Spain will roll out enough solar thermal power to replace Swanbank B power station four times over. If Australia makes the right choices it could become a powerhouse for renewable energy manufacturing and technological development, creating thousands of new jobs and investment opportunities.

The Australian Government’s climate change advisor, Professor Ross Garnaut, says that if Australians do not successfully combat climate change, theGreat Barrier Reef will die and they will lose 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in tourism dollars each year.

Jobs in coal can be replaced by jobs in renewable energy. There is no way to replace the Great Barrier Reef.

Take Action

Join our global team of over 50,000 energy efficiency campaigners and help curb climate change.

Donate

To maintain our independence, we rely entirely on donations from individuals. Please give what you can to support our work.

Synaesthetics on Edge Radio 99.3 Sounds Great

2008-06-15T16:16:00.000+10:00

Ii's been a few months settling in to Edge Radio now and I'm quite happy to say my new radio program, Synaesthetics, is sounding great.

Continue Expecting the unexpectable.

Friday Nights 10pm - Midnight
on Edge Radio 99.3 in Hobart, Tasmania
and streaming live around the world.

Synaesthetics, coming soon to Edge Radio 99.3FM

2008-04-02T16:58:00.001+11:00

I'm excited!

Starting next Friday (April 11) from 10pm until midnight I'll presenting a new weekly radio program on Edge Radio here in sunny Hobart.

Anyone who ever listened to RTRFM's (now deceased) Auditory Spiral might have some clues as to what Hobart is in for.

I'll get the web page set up soon at http://www.synaesthetics.info

Another trip to Bali

2008-03-20T16:43:00.002+11:00

plenty more photos in here

Slacker!

2008-03-19T17:01:00.000+11:00

not a post in months! call me what you will.

(and i'll whack some photos in here...)

Getting excited about Tasmania - one week to go!

2008-01-09T17:14:00.000+11:00

So i've been doing a little research, nabbing some good links from Sustainable Living Tasmania:

Tasmanian Environment Centres / Environmental Organisations

Launceston Environment Centre http://www.lec.org.au/
The Launceston Environment Centre (LEC) is a non-profit community organisation that has been working on environmental issues in northern Tasmania since 1974.

North West Environment Centre http://www.happyplanet.org.au/
The North West Environment Centre is a newly established centre in Burnie, working to embrace a better future for North West Tasmania.

Huon Valley Environment Centre http://www.huon.org/
The Huon Valley Environment Centre (HVEC) is a volunteer-based organisation that provides the public with access to information and educational materials on environmental issues. HVEC is at the centre of the campaign to gain protection for the old growth forests of the Huon valley.

The Environment Association (Deloraine) http://www.tassie.org.au/tea/index.htm
The Environment Association (TEA) is a community-based organisation, run entirely by volunteers. TEA provides information and assistance to the community, and campaigns for nature conservation.

Tasmanian Conservation Trust http://www.tct.org.au/
The Tasmanian Conservation Trust (TCT) was formed in 1968 and aims to foster and assist in the conservation of flora, fauna and important natural, archaeological and cultural features, especially those that directly affect Tasmania.

The Wilderness Society (Tasmania) http://www.wilderness.org.au/regions/tas
The Wilderness Society (TWS) is a community-based environmental advocacy organisation whose mission is protecting, promoting and restoring wilderness and natural processes across Australia for the survival and ongoing evolution of life on Earth.

Tasmanian National Parks Association http://www.tnpa.asn.au/
The Tasmanian National Parks Association Inc. (TNPA) was formed in 2001 to provide a public voice committed to the conservation of Tasmania's magnificent national parks and reserves.

Tasmanian Land Conservancy http://www.tasland.org.au/
The Tasmanian Land Conservancy is a non-profit organisation that acquires and manages land in Tasmania, protecting important natural places.

Environment Tasmania http://www.et.org.au
Environment Tasmania is the representative body for Tasmania’s Environment movement, made up of more than 20 environment and conservation non-government organisations from across the state.

Natural Resource Management Tasmania http://www.nrmtas.org/home.shtml
Natural Resource Mangement (NRM) in Tasmania complements all the ongoing natural resource management work undertaken by Federal and State governments, local government, and innumerable individuals, groups and businesses.

Climate Change

Australian Greenhouse Office http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/
The Australian Greenhouse Office, part of the Department of the Environment and Heritage, delivers the majority of programmes under the Australian Government’s climate change strategy.

Climate Action Network Australia http://www.cana.net.au/
Climate Action Network Australia (CANA) is an alliance of over 30 regional, state and national environmental, health, community development, and research groups from throughout Australia. CANA was formed in 1998 to be the Australian branch of the global CAN network, with representative groups in over 70 nations.

Climate Crisis http://www.climatecrisis.net/
The website accompanying Al Gore’s remarkable film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’. Contains climate change news, science, action ideas, and links to useful sites.

Sustainable Housing and Building

Australian Government ‘Your Home’ guide http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/yourhome/
An online guide to sustainable house design and building, containing the ‘Your Home’ technical manual.

Alternative Technology Association http://ata.org.au/
The ATA (Alternative Technology Association) is Australia’s leading not-for-profit organisation promoting sustainable technology and practice, in order to protect our environment.

SustainableBuild http://www.sustainablebuild.co.uk/

An excellent UK site with practical advice on green construction ideas and techniques.

Sustainable Transport

Bicycle Tasmania http://www.biketas.org.au/
Bicycle Tasmania is Tasmania's bicycle advocacy group, and with interests in all forms of cycling.

Waste

State Government Recycling Directory http://www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/BHAN-53LUW4?open
An A-Z directory of recycling providers. Find out where to recycle anything from used computers to old tyres.

Waste Management Association of Australia (Tas branch) http://www.wmaa.asn.au/director/branches/branches_tas.cfm
The Tasmanian branch of the Waste Management Association of Australia (WMAA). WMAA is the peak national forum working to shift the waste management industry towards economically and environmentally sustainable solutions.

Freecycle http://www.freecycle.org/display.php?region=Australia
An online exchange for unwanted items- and everything is free! Click on ‘Tasmania’, then find your local group.

Organic Food and Gardening

Hobart Organic Food Co-op http://www.tasmedia.org/node/1202
Community-run organic wholefoods shop, providing cheaper
organic foods and less packaging

Permaculture Association of Tasmania http://www.permaculturetas.org/
The Permaculture Association of Tasmania is a network for the advancement of permaculture in Tasmania. They organise public events, member meetings, field days, and workshops in order to share the skills and knowledge that exists within the membership.

Eat Well Tasmania http://www.eatwelltas.org.au/
Eat Well Tasmania is a State-wide program that provides support and assistance for activities or projects that promote enjoyable healthy eating. Includes information about community gardens – where they are, and how to set one up.

Native Gardening and Revegetation

The Understorey Network http://www.understorey-network.org.au/
An independent and not-for-profit community organisation promoting the protection of existing native vegetation, and the use of local native understorey in revegetation.

Greening Australia http://www.greeningaustralia.org.au/GA/TAS/
Greening Australia are native vegetation experts who work in partnership with landholders, the community, government and business to tackle environmental degradation in a practical, apolitical, scientific way

Environmental planning / legal advice

Environmental Defenders Office (Tas) http://www.edo.org.au/edotas/
The Environmental Defenders Office is a non-profit community legal centre advising on environmental and planning law, with the aim to assist and increase public awareness of environmental laws and remedies.

Green consumer guides

Green Pages Australia http://www.greenpagesaustralia.com.au/index.asp
Green Pages is a national directory of environmentally sustainable products and services. Green Pages also produce a magazine in two editions, for business and lifestyle. Both are available online or through our centre.

Sumatra photos coming soon

2007-12-07T12:06:00.000+11:00

I'm just downloading my images from Sumatra to my computer now, so i'll try to post some today or tomorrow.

Fucking Garuda!

2007-12-06T04:08:00.001+11:00

oh boy did it suck when i went to pick up my ticket (which was confirmed on my travel agent's system) and Garuda told me the flight was fully booked, my name not being on the list. So they put my on a 'high priortity standby list' and told me to head to the airport and hope for the best.

No such luck, so i spent another night at the hotel in Pekanbaru, booked to fly tonight.

Unfortunately the plane they booked me on was delayed by four hours so i've missed my singapore airlines connecting flight back to melbourne (actually i missed my original connecting flight, and the one after that.) Now, as fate would have it, the next flight i can get on is at 9:55 in the morning, which gives me almost 11 hours hanging out in this airport (and i really need to sleep)

Now that really sucks! I did attempt to talk to Garuda when i got to the airport, hoping they'd give me an accomodation voucher or something, but their office was closed.

So fuck you Garuda, I'll never fly with you again.

Only 8 hours to wait until my flight, maybe i can find a comfy place to get a bit of sleep somewhere in this crazy airport.

Where to Water

2007-12-05T14:04:00.000+11:00

The inventor of permaculture is among those calling for backyard farmers to be freed from water restrictions. Katherine Kizilos reports.

IN A drought year, during an era of climate change, what does it mean to be a responsible gardener? Cactuses, paving and a sculpture near the barbecue? Or an old-fashioned vegie patch, fruit trees, herbs and a compost bin in the corner?

Some serious gardeners are now questioning the conventional wisdom that the best way to save water at a time of low rainfall is to put a clamp on the hose. While pushing the use of rainwater tanks and grey water, they also argue that growing fruit and vegetables at home is, in the words of David Holmgren, "the best thing you can be doing" for the environment.

Holmgren, with fellow Australian Bill Mollison, devised permaculture, a design system for sustainable living and land use. He puts his ideas into practice at his property, Melliodora, at Hepburn Springs, where a hectare of land supports fruit and nut trees, vegetables, chooks, geese and two goats. Although grains, some nuts and oil-producing plants are not in the mix, the property allows for a fair degree of self-sufficiency - Holmgren says this is also possible because he eats seasonally and does not rely on the "drip feed from supermarkets". Water comes from dams and from taps connected to town water. Holmgren says the smallholding uses about one-fifth of the water "used by a market gardener or orchardist".

According to Holmgren, "if we planted out city farms and urban areas, we could achieve a massive increase in (water) efficiency. No one is talking about this ".

Holmgren also points out that farms tend to be open expanses and need more water than a home garden, which is naturally more sheltered. In addition, "farmers use overhead sprinklers which are inefficient". And many orchards and market gardens are sited in sunny, warm places like Mildura, where the rainfall is low, but where farmers achieve a market advantage by producing fruit and vegetables slightly ahead of the season in colder, rainier Melbourne.

Holmgren has based his calculations on water use on a 2001 Australian Bureau of Statistics study by Lenzen and Foran. The study estimated "the amount of water needed throughout the whole economy to provide final consumers with $1 worth of various goods and services". It found that fruit and vegetables required 103 litres per $1; beef products 381 litres and dairy 680 litres.

By contrast, Melliodora uses about 20 litres of water for every $1 of fruit and vegetables produced, while the two goats that provide milk and cheese consumed about two litres per $1 of value, or 1/300th of the amount used by a dairy farm.

According to Lenzen and Foran's figures, commercially purchased food - not including the food purchased in restaurants - accounts for about 48 per cent of the water consumed by the average Sydney household. While the water that comes out of the tap at home accounts for only 11 per cent of a household's total water use.

For Holmgren, the data suggests that putting restrictions on watering suburban gardens makes little sense. He knows that water restrictions are necessary but proposes households be given a seasonal allocation of water, with the decision of whether to use this in the spa or on the tomatoes left to them. Under this system the price of water would "skyrocket if you exceed" the allocation.

"There are good public policy reasons that home food production is desirable," he says. "We need policies that at least don't impede this, even if they don't actively support it."

Holmgren's ideas have been given a boost by a recent petition to the State Government; hundreds of gardeners have asked for exemptions to the water restrictions to allow them extra water for vegetables and herb plots.

In suburban Coburg, Pam Morgan is conducting an experiment. "I want to explore how much food production I can get on a city block," she says.

For 22 years, Morgan managed the Collingwood Children's Farm and has visited Havana to see how the Cubans increased the city's food production by 10 times in a decade. "Fifty per cent of their food is grown there now."

By cultivating land in the city, the Cubans were responding to embargoes which slashed the amount of petroleum available to them to transport food; urban farms reduce food miles. Morgan also wants to recycle her household's biodegradable waste to create compost (commercial farms use petroleum-based chemicals and fertilisers). She also hopes to save water by using grey water and roof water.

Morgan argues that policy makers are approaching the water-shortage problem "from a mechanistic perspective. Minimal water use in the garden and drought-hardy plants. It ignores the issue of carbon recycling or organic waste and also of returning nutrients to the land. We are wasting resources from the city at the moment."

According to Clive Blazey, the founder of mail-order seed company The Diggers Club, the "average person only needs about 60 square metres of space to be self-sufficient in all the potatoes, all the vegetables and the fruit that you wanted to grow. You wouldn't have big, massive apple trees or anything. You would have espaliered trees, especially dwarf rootstock varieties that wouldn't take up much space". He reckons the garden would need "about 34,000 litres of water", which could be gathered from the roof, or grey water.

Blazey is concerned that the present system of water restrictions does not make allowances "for people on a low income who want to grow their own food" and who might need help to divert grey water or set up a rainwater tank. And he believes the role of suburban gardens in reducing greenhouse gases is not appreciated.

He is irritated by the prevailing landscape aesthetic which advocates paving gardens and planting cactus "so instead of burying carbon and doing something useful you are stopping any organisms from growing under the paving and you are using plants that have so little biomass they are absolutely useless to you. What you need to be growing in your backyard is a lot of green things. Trees and shrubs and plants and food plants and not paving, concrete and bricks."

But the water restrictions fall hardest on community gardens, where gardeners do not have the option of using grey water and where tank water, if it exists, may not be sufficient for each plot holder's use. In addition, the morning watering requirements can be difficult for gardeners who have to travel further than the back veranda to visit their plot (while also being less efficient than watering in the evening).

Ben Neil, chief executive of Cultivating Community, which looks after 21 community gardens - just under 800 individual plots - on Ministry of Housing sites, says that when stage three water restrictions were introduced on January 1, "we lost 20 to 25 per cent of our gardeners. There was this initial feeling of 'how are we going to cope?' We lost quite a lot of crops."

Since then, "some people have been quite ingenious," he says. "A resident on the 17th floor has a pram and comes down with containers of water from the shower." Neil is now talking to the State Government about installing more rainwater tanks in community gardens, but he also believes policy makers need to look at food-producing gardens and water restrictions in a different way.

"I believe that if local food and urban agriculture are not part of our future, it will be very, very difficult for us to face the forthcoming environmental challenges," he says. "We must have people growing food in the city."

By making life more difficult for gardeners, particularly community gardeners, you are not merely depriving them of a recreational and social opportunity, Neil argues. "If I don't grow my food next to where I live, I will jump in my car and go to the supermarket and buy something that is refrigerated, wrapped in plastic and that has a massive carbon footprint.

"It's a no-brainer. If I can't grow food close to where I live, what am I going to do?"

www.communitygarden.org.au

GOOGLE'S GOAL: RENEWABLE ENERGY CHEAPER THAN COAL

2007-11-28T10:17:00.001+11:00

Google Creates renewable energy R&D group and supports breakthrough
technologies

Google today announced a new strategic initiative to develop electricity from
renewable energy sources that will be cheaper than electricity
produced from coal. The newly created initiative will
focus initially on advanced solar thermal power, wind power
technologies, enhanced geothermal systems and other potential
breakthrough technologies.

For more information on Google's commitment to a clean energy future,
see http://www.google.com/renewable-energy

Congratulations, Australia!

2007-11-25T02:34:00.001+11:00

I cannot begin to say how incredibly happy I am that enough of you Australians have finally seen sense enough to rid us of the tyranny of Howard governance. Yes, it took some of you a long time, but it seemsyou've finally 'got it'. Congratulations!

Those of you still voting 'Liberal' (and there are WAY too many of you) scare me. To be honest, I'm also pretty freaked out that so many of you still vote for Labour too, but that's another story (This two party mentality we really need to shake off, it makes for an unhealthy and undemocratic democracy)

We've got some really rough times ahead - and under a Rudd government we're now in a much better position to adapt to lessen the impacts. Fingers crossed he's not quite as 'conservative' as he's made out during the election campaign.

I'm very much looking forward to writing my first letter to our new environment minister. Exciting, isn't it?

Vote Smart

2007-11-21T23:11:00.001+11:00

I'm stuck in Sumatra in the middle of the jungle and as I didn't have much notice, I can't vote this time 'round... so i'm counting on you folks!

GetUp has some great resources to make sure you're not giving your vote to the devil(s)

check this out for example:

GetUp's guide to 2007 Senate preference flows

Posted by The GetUp Team, November 18th, 2007

We've gotten a lot of questions about how our electoral system works, and in particular about preferential voting - that's why we've written your friendly GetUp guide to voting.

One of the hottest topics of conversation is the preference flows the parties' have lodged in the Senate - and we thought it was worth pulling out into a separate blog, to make sure that your vote goes where you want it to.

So here are a few notes on the preference flows that we think you might be particularly interested in (note: we've limited most of our comments to the flows among just the parties that currently have Parliamentary representation - so when we say that Party A has preferenced Party B and then Party C, more than likely there are a stack of "microparties" in between):

The Democrats have preferenced the Greens above the two major parties in every state, but in most states they have "split their ticket" between the major parties - meaning that if you vote above the line for the Democrats and the race for the last seat in your state comes down to Labor vs the Coalition, there's a 50% chance your vote will go to the Coalition above Labor and a 50% chance your vote will go to Labor above the Coalition. (In NSW and Queensland, however, they registered a single ticket with Labor above the Coalition.)

A new party called the Climate Change Coalition has preferenced Pauline Hanson above Labor in Queensland, and One Nation then Family First above the Greens and Labor in WA.

This election, Labor's preferences flow directly to the Greens in every state. Looking only at parties that currently have Parliamentary representation, Labor's preferences then go to the Democrats, then Family First, then the Coalition.

In every state, looking only at parties that currently have Parliamentary representation, the Greens' preferences go to the Democrats and then Labor before either Family First or the Coalition.

In South Australia, independent candidate Nick Xenophon has split his ticket (meaning that if you vote for him above the line, your vote has a 50-50 chance of ending up in either pile) in the following way among parties that currently have Parliamentary representation:

50% of preferences will go to Family First, then the Greens, then the Nationals, then the Liberals, then Labor

50% of preferences will go to the Greens, then Family First, then the Nationals, then Labor, then the Liberals

Among parties that currently have Parliamentary representation, the Liberals' preferences generally flow first to Family First, then to the Democrats, then to the Greens, then to Labor.

In many (but not all) states, Family First sends its preferences to the CDP (Fred Nile), One Nation, and/or Pauline before any of the 'major' parties. Among major parties, they always flow to the Coalition before Labor, the Democrats or the Greens.

And remember, you can see the full preference flows lodged by every party in every state at the AEC's website here.

Indonesian government making some good noises

2007-11-18T22:28:00.001+11:00

from http://news.okezone.com/index.php/news/detail/2007/11/18/1/61823

Kaban ready for a dialog with Greenpeace

Yogyakarta - Forestry Minister MS Kaban has said he was ready to discuss about the positive offer from GP to the halt peatland usage by the government. The government, however, will ask the opinion from experts and forestry scientists on the benefits and drawback about the demand.

"We are ready to have a dialog with them. But we need to discuss first the benefit and drawback for us," said Kaban after attending a seminar at the School of Forestry of the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta on Sunday.

He said, the government had noticed the inputs from GP if the idea is in line with government's mission and development in environment.

He also said that the government remained committed to reduce illegal logging.

The minister expected illegal logging would be a severe headache. "We are consistent. All parties just need to have full awareness. This isn't like recurrent headache," he said.

hmm... the 'bandap' are coming

2007-11-17T19:30:00.001+11:00

we've just received word that the 'bandap' (palm oil industry funded thugs who were responsible for the recent protest in Rengat, translates loosely as 'hard punch') are on their way to our camp.

i'm optimistic that they won't cause too much trouble, but we've taken precautions nonetheless. fortunately, we're also due about now to have some intelligence police drop by to inspect our permits and paperwork. great timing, assuming they're not a couple of hours late.

UPDATE:
unsurprisingly, the bandap didn't come, the small team in a small boat turned around and went home upon seeing a group of us at our pier. The police didn't make it either - we are in indonesia after all.