While we are on the subject of big polluting industries, I thought I would slip in this dig at the Clean Coal lobby. Directed by the Academy award winning Coen Brothers and produced by Reality.org, this is a great rebuttal to the adds that must be all over US TV.
There is no such thing as Clean Coal.
Enjoy!
Would you believe that I received an email at 1630 letting me know that the Today Tonight article would air at 1830. It must have been a last minute inclusion. The really funny thing was that I didn't check my email until 1820. A few frantic phone calls later to friends and family, we sat back and watched the show. Now you can watch it as well. Sit back, grab some popcorn, and please share the message where ever and when ever you can.
Enjoy!
Today Tonight ran the story this evening at 1830. It was about the emissions reductions that ordinary Australians are increasingly making that, under the proposed CPRS, will not make one bit of difference to this country's overall GHG emissions. A sorry state of affairs, and one that needs to be corrected before the legislation goes through parliament.
GetUp! also have a campaign that is fighting for change in the area. Have a look at the campaign details at this link. We all want to be able to make our personal efforts count, and not give big emitters any further incentive to increase their GHG emissions. Have a look, and please sign the petition if you feel inclined.
Thanks for visiting, if you are new to my blog, I welcome you. Stay for a while and have a look around, there are over 300 articles about sustainable living to read. If you would like to see the segment again, Channel 7 may post it at their TT Video site tomorrow. In the mean time, I have recorded the segment, and am processing the video now. I hope to have it up on the blog tonight.
Gavin
From this.....
To this......
I added a sprig of rosemary, thyme and oregano. 2 dried and crumbled birds-eye chilies, and a liberal grinding of black pepper. Then top it all off with some nice extra virgin olive oil. The recipe I followed recommended at least a week in the fridge for the flavours to infuse into the cheese. I think I will give it two. The only ingredients that are not home grown is the milk in the cheese and the olive oil. Give me a few years and I might figure out how to milk chickens!
Looks like I better get cracking and make another wheel of feta. Oh, I found out today that the mould cheese course has been cancelled due to lack of numbers. I rebooked for June, for when the next course is being held. Such a shame, because I could just about taste the blue vein cheese on a nice water cracker. At least I have time to try a few other hard cheeses now.
What a huge weekend!
On Friday, I helped man the ATA stall at the Sustainable Living Festival. It was a great morning, and so many people were after information about renewable energy. I met so many interesting people who were contemplating a Solar PV installation or had just ordered one. I let each one know about what Renewable Energy Certificates were all about, and my personal experiences with generating my own electricity.
Whilst at the stand, I met Anita who is a regular reader. She goes by the blogger title of the bayside gardener. What a lovely lady. We talked about all sorts of things for simply ages, and she loves my chickpea and potato curry. Well, Anita, that makes lots of us now! It was great to meet you in person.
It was a great morning of non stop talking. I then took a lunch break and wandered over to meet Mavea who was giving her talk about her journey across the Northwest Passage with her hubby Peter. Here is Mavea giving her talk. Not a very good photo, because some bloke popped his head in the shot at the last second.
She gave a great talk, and even did very animated actions on stage. It was very entertaining, but with a powerful message regarding this part of the world. It is changing so rapidly from the effects of Climate Change, that it is hard to imagine that we can slow down the juggernauts of industry from polluting in time.
My green mate Jen met me at Mavea's presentation, and we all had lunch together. It was Hari Krishna food for me again this year, and very tasty it was. After lunch, Jen had to go, and Mavea and I went to a presentation about the 12 steps to a successful Transition Town. It was presented by a very energetic lady called Cara Sandys. We struck up a conversation before her talk, and she mentioned that she makes jewellery, but the reason she was in Melbourne, is because she helping set up a Transition Town in Southampton, UK. I told her that my wife Kim was from Sholing in Southampton, and quite a few relatives still live there (Hello Pam, Jane & Paul). The great unleashing will be held in their Summer on the Common. We learnt a lot from her, and it made me think about what I could do in the Melton area. I have a lunch next Wednesday with three of my local Council employees who work in the Sustainability dept. I will ask them if they think this town is ready for something as big as a Transition Town. I think the time is ripe for action!
After swapping contact details with Cara, I said goodbye to Mavea, and went back to the ATA stall for a while. Later on in the afternoon, I took another break and sat in on a presentation by a lady called Nola from the CWA. Her talk was about Preserving food, and like all good urban farmers, I could use the advice. She was an absolute wealth of knowledge, and I learnt about the different fruits that have high, medium and low pectin levels and that with a simple test you can determine if you have to add lemon juice to your jam to make it set. She was very funny, and reminded me of my Nana (bless her). Here is Nola with her preserves.
Her jams had the most brilliant colours to them, and I bet they tasted fantastic. After much worldly advice (I could have listened to her for ages), there was a prize draw. I just happened to be sitting on a seat with a dot under it, so I won a copy of the CWA Victoria Cookery Book. It has some fantastic, yet simple recipes in it. So much knowledge in one little book. The book contains many recipes from the original 1933 version, and are converted into metric. It would make a fantastic present for young adults just leaving home. I will treasure it always.
At about 1700, I decided to brave the traffic and venture home again. I called Kim on the way home, and told her that it would be nice if Ben and I had a father and son day at the festival. She thought it was a great idea, and she could rest at home in peace!
On Saturday morning, I managed to convince Ben that it was a good idea to go on the train to the festival. He wasn't too fussed and wanted to stay at home with Mum. Just an excuse to play computer games all day. I stood firm and dragged him off to the train station at about 0930. Ben was very excited when we were waiting for the train. I was glad, because I just wanted to enjoy our day together.
We had a great chat on the train and talked about all the cool things we might see there at Federation Square. We arrived at Southern Cross station at about 1020, and caught an Electric train to Flinders Street. Just across the road was the Festival, and Ben was even more excited.
The first thing he dragged me to was the Future Spark Power trailer. It was basically 16 bikes hooked up to generators that fed a grid tied inverter that fed surplus electricity into the grid. Here is Ben peddling for the planet!
Somehow he got it into his head that we were providing electricity for the entire festival. Well, in a way we were. Ben wanted to specifically power the band that was in a big red double decker bus. He thought that was great.
The set up of the trailer was very cool. Here is one of the generators that the rear wheel of the bike spun around.
We came back to the bikes four times during the day, and even though there is no photo to prove it, Dad peddled for the planet as well! At one stage there were 10 riders and we were producing about 650 watts. It just goes to show how little energy we humans can produce with our own two legs. Give me Solar PV any day!
We then quickly rushed of to say gidday to Mavea and to meet Peter. We chatted for a while and vowed to keep in touch. Ben was a little bored during their talk, but I kept him interested in by translating into kids speak for him. He got the gist of the presentation and he even had a chat to Mavea after her talk. Mavea asked Ben how the chickens were, and that she thought that his paint job on their house was wonderful. Now where did she get that information, I wonder.
After saying goodbye, Ben informed me that he wanted an icecream, so off we went to the Timboon fine icecream van. A single chocolate cone kept him busy, but it was off to the bikes again. My legs were beginning to get sore.
I then has a veggie curry with rice and wolfed that down, as it was now time to go on the playground. Fed Square has quite a good little playground and he found some kids his own age and mucked around for a while. After about half an hour, it was back to the bikes again, and then off to the veggie burger stand. Ben asked specifically for a veggie burger, so who was I to deny him one. Whilst standing in line, we saw the smoothy lady on her bike.
She said that she thought that Ben's T-shirt was cool, and he said thanks. After his veggie burger (of which I ate the lettuce), he decided it was time he took some of the photos. Here are a few of Ben's shots.
Thanks son, nice photos. I think he has a thing for washing dishes.
Back to the stalls again, but along the way a helicopter whale ate my son!
Then it was back through the crowd, stopping every now and then to explain what different things were and meant, and then it was off to the train station to catch our ride home.
We just missed the train and had to wait for an hour at Sunshine station. Luckily I had my iPod touch with me, so Ben played a few games, and I read some of the brochures that I had collected at the SLF. After an uneventful trip home, Kim was waiting for us. I think she missed us both. Ben and I had a fantastic time, and he said it was the best day ever! Hard to beat, I reckon.
For dinner, I decided to cook a vegetable curry. I will post the recipe later on in the week, as it was the best green vegetable curry I have ever made or tasted. I had a basic recipe from somewhere on the web, but as usual, I modified it quite a bit based on my taste buds quest for new flavours.
We all crashed at about 2130, because I had a busy Sunday ahead of me.
Sunday was hectic. I rose at 0630, made a cup of herbal and sat down to right a list.
So that adds up to about 11.5 hours of work. I was never going to get it all done, so I had to prioritise. This is what I managed to get done in bold, and the real time it took! Everything took twice as long as I estimated. It is always the way, isn't it.
As you can see, still a few things to do on the list. I better write a new list with the stuff I still have to get done.
I did the workout and garden work in the morning, and finished off the report in the afternoon. We had a simple dinner of oven fries and chicken, with some salad. I couldn't be buggered cooking anything.
Well that was my weekend. I had a great time with Ben, and was very proud of finally finishing my report. I have sent it in for assessment, and hopefully it will be OK. I intend to present it to the staff at the ATA some time in the next week. That should be fun, and may be the start of something magical!
You may wonder why I only selected 29 eligable contestants. Well that is because my sister (didn't want the prize), Lisa, and Wombat064 commented twice, so I only thought it far to the others that I subtract their second comments.
If you are near Federation Square, Melbourne tomorrow, don't forget to drop by the ATA stand and say hello. I will be helping to run the stand first thing in the morning from about 0930 to 1200, but will definitely hang around the festival for most of the day.
I am very excited at the prospect of maybe meeting just one of my readers, but am equally excited about just being at the festival and soaking up the eco vibes! It should be a really cool day.
See you all there!
Gav
It was about this time last year that I wrote my first post on this humble web log. Little did I know back then when I penned my first post, of the events that would unfold, and the doors that would open. It has been a great ride, with many more interesting and topical posts to come. Oh, what fun it has been and I would like to thank every single visitor who has dropped by.
Here are some interesting stats;
There have been 18,878 visitors to this blog, with 30,474 page visits. That is an average of 113 visits per day. In the first month, I was lucky to get 10 visits a day and that was only because I kept emailing all my mates to keep reading it! This graph shows the monthly stats over the year. Not bad for an average Aussie who grew up on a dairy farm in Loxton North, and who settled down in Melton West, Victoria!
Now here is the average demographic by country since I started the blog. Click to enlarge. The bigger clusters represent large amounts of visits from those areas.
Enough stats, on with the exciting bit!
As long time readers may know, I started writing this blog for two reasons. Firstly, I had begun a wonderful journey towards a sustainable lifestyle after my green epiphany, and wanted to share it with the world. I was on a personal mission to help save the planet, but somewhere along my journey, I discovered that it wasn't the planet that need saving, it was humanity that needed my help from their own actions.
Secondly, it was because I was laid up with a back injury and needed an outlet for my thoughts and opinions and I so desperately wanted to continue on the journey I started by any means possible.
So to celebrate the occasion, I am going to giveaway a small prize. In the spirit of this blog, I have some well read magazines and a small book to giveaway. The magazines are "G Magazine" which is touted as "your guide to green living". I have found it very helpful, with great tips and articles about all things sustainable.
The book is about change. Now if there ever was a skill that we all need right now, it is how to handle change effectively. The book is titled "Who Moved My Cheese? - An Amazing Way to Deal With Change In Your Work and In Your Life" by Dr Spencer Johnson. It is a fantastic book, and easy read, and it changed my outlook on life. I believe that if you can deal with change, you can deal with most things in life.
Now to win these fabulous prizes, you simply have to leave a comment (nothing rude please). I will randomly pick a winner using a random number generator (nerdy, I know, but fair), and I will post the prize to any location on the planet. The prize will be drawn on Friday 20th February at 1800 Australian Eastern Daylight Saving time, with the winner announced in a blog post. So stop lurking and start commenting. You have to be in it to win it!
Bon Chance Mon Ami!
Sorry about this, but no cheese making post tonight. I am very tired, after having just made a ramekin worth of ricotta out of the whey I produced today. I chose to make Fetta, and it is not quite ready to present in all its glory. It is still drying on a rack in the kitchen, and will be brined tomorrow.
So I believe that instead of posting half of the method, I will wait until tomorrow night and post the entire procedure. I took lots of photos during the day, so I hope they all came out.
See you all tomorrow!
I keep talking about this wonderful chutney, but have never posted the recipe. Yesterday I had a request to do so from Kerry, so here it is.Hot Chilli Chutney
450g chillies (I use jalapeno)
1 onion, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, crushed
4 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons turmeric
25g root ginger, peeled and grated
1 tablespoon salt
3 quarters of a cup of olive oil
3 tablespoons sugar
1 and a quarter cups white vinegar
Sterilise the jars in an oven @ 120C for 15 minutes.
Finely chop chillies, including seeds.
Mix together the chillies, chopped onion, garlic, cumin, turmeric, ginger, salt and oil.
Transfer to a heavy based pan and fry for 15 minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking.
Add sugar and vinegar and bring to the boil. Cover pan and boil for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
Pack into jars, then seal. If you have button topped lids, make sure the button pops down when the jar has cooled to ensure a proper seal.
We are still using the last jar that we made last March. It keeps for a long time, but make sure that once opened, that you keep it in the fridge just to be sure. I reduced the amount of oil from the original recipe because I just found it far too runny. The oil has been halved and I find that the chutney is just right.
Bon Appetite!
I picked 2kg of jalepeno chillies last Monday night and made a big batch of Hot Chilli Chutney. It is wicked stuff, and hotter than hot english mustard. Here is my handy work. Before opening you put it in the fridge and when cold, give it a good shake. That makes the oil mix into the chutney and changes it into a paste like consistency. I will probably give a few jars away, because last year we only managed to get through 4 jars.
"7.5.2 Auditor expertise and qualifications
In addition to developing relevant guidelines, the Government’s preference in the Green Paper was to establish an accreditation system for auditors, the form and nature of which would be determined following further consultation with the industry."
P 7-36 Vol 1 White Paper
I feel a bit weird posting this tonight. After having just watched the local Victorian news about the bushfires across Victoria and New South Wales, and I really feel for the family's that are grieving tonight, with some having lost loved ones, homes, or both. A very sad day indeed. Both Kim and I were in tears when we saw the extent of the devastation. Some of the worst bushfires were only 100 km to the north of us.
We were fortunate here in Melton, with only one grass fire starting a about 10 streets away, but it was soon under control and no lives or homes were lost. The CFA were very quick, and I thank all of the fire crews across the state who have worked so very hard to protect us all from these fires.
So in light of the current events, please excuse this humble blogger for posting pictures of his sun burnt garden. No words, just pictures, and I hope where ever you are, that this finds you are safe and well.
Unlike others, this is nothing compared to what others have lost. Take care.
Gavin
My humble apologies for not posting much this week. It has been very hectic here at TGOG's house, what with the record temperatures of 47C (that's 116.6F), trying to keep the veggie patch and chickens alive, and working on my assignment for the Carbon Accounting course that is due today!
My main post for today is over at the Simple|Green|Frugal Co-op and is titled Clean Renewable Energy - My Story. However, having said that, I will take a few photos today of my mostly dead garden and post another story tonight.
As I may have said before, please bare with me while I am on the Carbon Accounting course. I have one more classroom day, and one more assignment to complete. All being well, I will be accredited in about 3 weeks time and get back to regular posting again!
Gavin
Just taking it easy at TGOG's urban farm.
We have been harvesting sweetcorn, cucumbers, a multitude of tomatoes, herbs, capsicums, snow peas, blood plums, a variety of lettuce, Swiss rainbow chard, and Jalapeno chilies.
Tonight I made tomato jam, and added a bit of mixed spice to the recipe. It tastes great. It was so simple in the bread maker. I added 500gm of peeled and cored tomatoes, a quarter of a teaspoon of mixed spice, one and a quarter cups of sugar, and two tablespoons of Jamsetta. About an hour later and this is what I got.
Kim was quite impressed and it tasted great to boot. Apparently you can use it on toast, and with roast meat as a relish. Later on tonight I am making a spicy plum sauce, which (I hope) will taste something like hoisin sauce which we both love on most Chinese dishes that I cook.
Last night we had omelettes, to which I added shredded ham, red onion, cheese, and tomatoes. They were very yummy, and a cheap meal. The chooks are doing well, and send their love!
Tomorrow night I am going to whip up a batch of my Chili Chutney. We are presently down to our last jar from last years stock. We use it sparingly on sandwiches which have cold meat in them. It is so hot, but very, very tasty. I find it far better than hot English mustard which used to be one of my favourites.
Other than those very exciting events, not much is going down around here. The weather has cooled down to low 30's, and we are not having to water the veggie patch so much. Everyone is fine, and doing well. I have started putting the carbon inventory together for the ATA, and thanks to Sophie at the ATA for sending through a constant stream of data to analyse. With the third class room day on Monday for the Carbon Accounting course, I should have the assignment ready for presentation by the due date. I am so glad that I plan ahead.
We wavered from one of our 2009 goals last week during the extreme heat. On the third day of over 43C, I decided that enough was enough, and ordered pizza from the local pizza shop. To my surprise the place was packed. I think that like us, no-one wanted to cook that night. It was so bloody hot. But back on the bandwagon now. We have started afresh, and are twice as determined to continue on the no takeaway challenge. We have saved so much money so far, and the $50 play money that we allocate ourselves each fortnight rarely gets spent. We figured out that most of the time, we used to spend it on fast food, and went through it in a flash. No more, thank goodness and we now always have cash in our wallets a day before payday!
For the rest of the week, I wait with baited breath for Lynda to tell me that the Today Tonight story will go to air. She has told me that it will be a national report, so the entire country will get to see my mug!
Just think. I will be able to add the moniker of "As seen on TV" to the side bar (just joking). That is of course, if it goes to air. I thought that with all this crazy weather of late, it would have been screened sooner than later, because the drama would have been fresh in the general populations minds. Not to worry. It will happen when it happens.
When I was a kid, I loved a good cartoon with a message. When I grew up and had kids, I still liked cartoons with a eco message like Captain Planet. I liked it so much that I wrote about it.
It has been quite a while since I posted a few videos on the blog, so tonight, here are a few good ones with an eco message.
Enjoy!
Picture this. Friday 30th January 2009. Eighteen determined students studying Carbon Accounting, working in a classroom full of computers, figuring out how to calculate carbon inventories for Australian businesses. No air conditioning, stinking hot and sweaty, with an inside temperature of 32C and an outside temperature of 45C. The third day in a row of maximum temperatures of over 43C.
Doesn't that strike you as being just a little bit ironic? It did for me. I felt like I was trying to shut the gate after the horse had already bolted. Learning how to calculate carbon by the tonne so that households and businesses could reduce their carbon footprints. Maybe we have left our efforts a little too late? This heatwave is just another little part of the evidence that our climate in our part of the planet is changing quickly. 11 out of the last 12 years have been the hottest on record.
Here is the rub. Over the last three days of searing temps, the following things failed.
These major events happened as well.
Now, these events are not ironic in themselves, they were just outcomes of a major heatwave, one that the greater Melbourne area has never experienced since weather records began in 1880. The ironic thing was the majority of peoples behaviour once the heatwave finished yesterday. The TV news was full of people angry at the government, public transport operators, and power companies.
So lets analyse this anger and see if it is miss-directed. The first question to ask is what causes climate change? Is the government? Well maybe a little, because they emit CO2-e like everyone else, but not the sole contributor of climate change. The ones at fault are everyone who leads a western lifestyle! That would be the majority of Australians. So don't you think that the angry people should have a good look at themselves first.
Secondly, you can't blame the public transport operators for the massive cancellations, basically because the suburban rail system was not designed to operate at temperatures over 40C. Our average January temperature is usually 26C. Railway tracks buckle at these extremes, and they did, which caused massive delays. Brakes on engines aren't designed to work in sweltering heat, and they didn't. Electric trains don't run when there is no electricity, and neither do the signals for diesel locos either. So what did most people do on day 2 and 3 of the heatwave? They drove their cars to work. Do you think anyone carpooled? Hell no. Not even I, because no one I knew was going my way, so I was also to blame for the larger than usual traffic congestion. It took me two hours to get to Uni on Friday, when it normally take just 50 minutes.
Thirdly, you also can't blame the government for the power grid failing. Yes, the Premier of Victoria, the Honourable Mr Brumby might have said on Monday that the grid will be able to handle a few days of hot weather, but it was not his fault that every Tom, Dick, and Harry decided to turn their air conditioners on pushing the grid to breaking point, instead of investing in insulation, awnings and ceiling fans to keep their homes cool. And break it did. At about 1800 on Friday afternoon a major substation blew up at South Morang that supplied to major transmission lines to the western part of the state. Over half a million consumers were without power for at least four hours at the height of the heat.
Do you think this anger was misdirected. I do! Everyone has a choice, and most seam to be making the wrong ones.
So what about solutions. Well here is one that would solve most of the issues.
Just think of this scenario which is definitely and squarely in the governments court. A 1 kW Solar PV system of every homes roof top, generating at least 25% of each homes electricity need. This electricity will be generated where it is needed most, and not via distributed via substations and transmission lines. Maybe if all this locally generated power was being pumped into the local grid, substations wouldn't overheat and explode from overuse. I don't know, I may be out on a limb here, but if feed-in tariff was just a little more (a lot more) attractive to the average householder, then this scenario could become a reality. This scenario would also go a long way to helping reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, by offsetting our reliance on brown coal fired electricity generation. We might also go quite a way to setting an example to others and could avert the climate chaos that is quickly approaching us.
To cap all of this off, the rainfall that we so desperately need is nowhere in sight. My rainwater tank is nearly dry, and the vegetable patch is a former shadow of itself. During the heat I lost 5 tomato plants, hundreds of sun-burnt tomatoes on other vines, two cucumber plants, 6 sweetcorn plants, and most of a hedge out the front. Amazingly, or more to my hard work, the rest of the garden survived. I can certainly believe that our water supply for the city is getting near to critical. Not as bad as no 2009 vintage from the majority of Victorian vineyards! Now that is a sorry state of affairs!
I truly hope that Melbourne does not become the first major Australian city to run out of drinking water. Now that would be one for the books. What would happen to the angry people then? Who would they blame? Where would they go?
Possibly a behaviour or reality check is in order. There are lessons to be learnt from the events of this past week. But, alas, these are lessons that will not sink in, and the opportunity will most probably pass us by. The hot weather will be a distant memory, now that it is becoming cooler, and the necessary solutions will not be implemented. Consumption in all things crappy will not abate. We will wait until it happens again next summer and complain until it this weather pattern is the norm. And of course our parliamentary ostriches, with their heads in the sand, will continue to fight for the status quo. Corporate greed before morality. Sounds the wrong way around to me!
I will leave you with a quote that always gives me hope when I read it. I hope it does for you as well.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead.
