The Greening of Gavin

Archives for April 2008

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

@ By 1 Comment

I was doing some research on Peak Oil today (I seem obsessive on the issue), and it seams that a politician, the Honourable Andrew McNamara, Queensland Minister for Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation has his head screwed on right. I read a transcript of a speech called “Highway of Diamonds”, that he delivered to the Brisbane Institute on 4th March 2008. I was very impressed with his words. One section of the transcript struck a chord with me, and here it is below;

“I spoke earlier of climate change as the crouching tiger; the danger we can see. It is real, dangerous and imminent.

I suggest that we face an even graver threat, that is even more imminent than global warming, and in response to which we have chosen to look the other way for 50 years.

The hidden dragon I speak of is resource depletion; of the peaking supply of those sources of energy that have enabled our explosion from around 2 billion people on the planet in 1900 to 6.5 billion today.

This is truly the unseen threat that will confront us all soon enough, whether we choose to see it or not.”

He goes on further to mention Peak Oil as the main hidden dragon.

So does this mean that certain parts of the Government, Media and general public are either ignorant of, or simply putting their heads in the sand about the issue? The popular media continuously mentions high petrol prices, but blames price fixing by Oil companies, which I think is only partly true, and the Governments solution is to put a price watchdog in place to make sure the Oil companies are being honest to conform with the public outcry. The general public struggle to pay for the higher prices, but continue to do so because that’s the norm, no questions asked. The question everyone, except the dedicated few like Colin Campbell, Richard Heinberg, Matthew Simmons, and those at the Association for Study of Peak Oil & Gas (ASPO), continue to ignore is have we reached peak production of oil and gas in the world?

So why don’t many government officials talk about Peak Oil? Many more of our elected officials other than Andrew McNamara must know about it. My theory is that they don’t raise the issue so as not to panic the Australian public, who are complacent about complaining about higher oil prices. If word got out that we may soon have world oil shortages, then mass panic may ensue, and therefore panic buying, which would in turn create bigger shortages. A simple, but reasonable theory.

My very simple solutions for Peak Oil, the hidden dragon, are as follows;

  • Don’t Panic! (sounds like the Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy)
  • Grow your own food
  • Drive less
  • Uses more Public Transport
  • Use less stuff
  • Get in touch with your local community
  • Live simpler lives, but still enjoy yourself
  • Love the one your with, and
  • Be active in the community, as everyone will need their fellow humans in the times to come
I suppose there is not much more to say than that. Those who have followed my blog over the last few months will know a bit more about the hidden dragon. How we behave now and in the near future is our own personal choice. We can chose to continue to ignore the issues or prepare for a future of dwindling resources and a lack of cheap energy.

I will leave you all with this quote, that sums it all up;

“We have allowed oil to become vital to virtually everything we do. Ninety per cent of all our transportation, whether by land, air or sea, is fuelled by oil. Ninety-five per cent of all goods in shops involve the use of oil. Ninety-five per cent of all our food products require oil use. Just to farm a single cow and deliver it to market requires six barrels of oil, enough to drive a car from New York to Los Angeles.” Jeremy Leggett : What they don’t want you to know about the coming oil crisis,The Independent, January 2006

ANZAC Day 2008

@ By Leave a Comment

The 25th of April is ANZAC Day and it is a national holiday in Australia. ANZAC stands for Australian & New Zealand Army Corp, and was the designation given to the combined force that participated in the Gallipoli campaign during World War I. Many Australians believe, as do I, that the ANZAC spirit, and mate-ship that occurred during this conflict, is what defines us as a nation today.

My children and I attended the Dawn Service here in Melton, and it was the biggest crowd I have seen at this event to date. Each year the crowds at the service get larger and more and more of the younger generation take the time to get out of bed early in the morning (the service started at 0545) on one day a year to honour those that fought and died for our country. ANZAC day is not a glorification of war, but a sombre reminder of the courage and ultimate sacrifice that many good men and women have made whilst participating and continue to participate in conflicts around the globe.

We all arrived well before the crowd, because it was Ben’s first time at the service. I wanted to make sure that he got to see all of the action around the cenotaph and could see the people speaking. He learn yesterday at school, what ANZAC day was for, and apparently he told me that at assembly yesterday, they had a mini service with the playing of the last post and singing of the national anthem. That was a good thing for the school to instigate.

The dignitaries at the service were the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard (she is our local MP), our State MP, Don Narella, and the Presidents of the RSL Sub-branch and the Vietnam Veterans association. Julia gave a very well received speech, and I could tell that it was from the heart and was well rehearsed. She had no notes, which impressed me, and her oration was moving. The rest of the service went very well and was a fitting tribute to our fallen service men and women. The gunfire breakfast back at the RSL was nice and the meal was a gold coin donation which consisted of a sausage, egg and some bacon, with free tea and coffee. Adam bought the first shout, and we had a beer each. When it was my turn to shout, I didn’t cost me a cent, because as I was wearing my medals, veterans were served for free. Adam was mightily pissed off, so I told him to join up if it was that important to him, which quickly shut him up.

Not wanting to taint the ANZAC spirit, I saw one ironic moment during the service that I must share. The police had blocked off the road that runs past the cenotaph and did not let anyone through. All vehicles refused, excepting one. A petrol tanker! It reminded me of a period of my life that I have reflected upon many times. Let me tell you about it.

I was a sailor in the Royal Australian Navy and performed 20 years of service, reaching the rank of Chief Petty Officer, of which I am very proud. I also served on the HMAS Adelaide in 1990/91 during the first Gulf War conflict and was part of the liberation of Kuwait. It was a scary time, and even though I am glad I went, and returned safely, I would not wish the experience upon anyone. The R.A.N. was involved in the conflict, as part of a Multi-National force that were enforcing United Nations resolutions 660 to 665. We patrolled the Arabian Sea and part of the Persian Gulf and stopped Iraqi merchant vessels and searched for weapons and contraband that were in breach of the UN resolution. Our biggest threat were not the Iraqi Navy, but the thousands of sea mines that they had laid in the Gulf. Needless to say, it was the first time in Australian history that all combatants returned home from the conflict without a single loss of life.

I do not, nor did not get involved in any of the politics of the first Gulf War, and did not learn the ulterior motive behind the scenes (besides the liberation of Kuwait) until well after the conflict. Whilst on-board ship, we were blocked off from the media coverage that was going on all around us, and we just got on with our jobs. I received the Australian Service Medal (Kuwait clasp) for my part in the conflict, and I wear it with pride on each and every ANZAC Day.

However, now that much water has passed under the bridge (18 years in fact), and that Australians are still involved in the second Gulf War, under somewhat dubious pretences, I cannot help but think that both of these conflicts are related to one thing, and one thing only. And that one thing is OIL, and that these two conflicts were none other than the greedy protection of this asset that makes our western civilisation run. As Peak Oil has now hit, with demand out stripping supply, and with proof that oil prices are continuing to rise, and that reflects at the petrol pump, I cannot help think that I maybe correct. Recent media attention to the subject has been rife. Even predictions of long, drawn out conflicts to secure global oil reserves in the guise of climate change, or some other trumped up excuse like the “Axis of Evil”, or Weapons of Mass Destruction are flooding the media. I do not want any of my sons, or daughters having to or being forced to join up to fight in another global conflict, when all of this is avoidable.

There are many sustainable living websites and books that can assist us with changing the way we live for the better. Check out the links in the blog roll to the right, as there are some wonderful people, doing some wonderfully simple things and that by adopting them, can change the way we live and behave, all for the betterment of human kind.

I did some research and stumbled across this essay by Ted Trainer from his website, The Simpler Way. The essay is titled “Why ANZAC Day is so disturbing“, and is a very thought provoking piece. Whilst I link it in this post, I do not agree with all of its arguments. I just believe that it makes you think, and that is all I intend by linking to it. Armed forces, in my experience, are controlled by their Governments, good or bad, and the servicemen and women do not have much say in the conflicts they are ordered to attend. That is just the way military services are. They are the final instrument of government when diplomacy fails. And in most cases, as the essay states, diplomacy could have solved many of our conflicts well before military intervention was required.

So my advice to all who worry about Peak Oil, and further global conflict, is to live sustainably, seek a simpler lifestyle, and get active so that public opinion does not allow governments to think they have the mandate to get involved in resource wars in the future!


Doesn’t The Sun Work Anymore?

@ By 3 Comments

I think that the marketing world has just gone crazy!

Kim told me this morning, shaking her head and angry as hell, as I was working, about this new hydroponic indoor garden device that has just come onto the market here in Australia. It is called the AeroGarden, and it is basically an indoor vegetable garden designed to grow things like cherry tomatoes, chillies, assorted herbs and some flowers. And get this, it costs $249.95 + $29.95 p&h. Add on another $30 for a silver coloured one!


So why is this crazy product? Well for one, you have to plug it in to electricity to make it work, secondly the seed pods that are not reusable and made from plastic, cost $30 each! Thirty dollars for a packet of seeds, what planet are they on? The most I have ever paid for seeds was about $4 and they were heirloom seeds! And get this, you must use special “organic” nutrient tablets. What is wrong with compost and seasol for goodness sakes. This product smells like “green washing” in a big way as far as I am concerned.

Sure, it may have its uses for an apartment dweller, but most apartments have balconies that you can grow veges in pots quite successfully. And the cost of the entire kit just blows my mind. My entire vegetable garden setup, which is now approx 15 sqm in area cost me less than $200 for the materials, soil, and seeds and now that I save seeds each season, it just gets cheaper and cheaper and aparently (not trying to sound to sarcastic), the Sun provides the light to grow the food as nature intended. Not only can I grow about 50% of the food for my family each year, I get far more variety and I don’t use electricity to grow the food. Sure the kit comes with CFL bulbs and the site states that it uses less energy than a 60 watt light bulb. So in typical marketing speak, that means that it is probably rated at 59 watts. For how long is it powered on I ask? If this product is left on 24/7, which I assume it is, that equals 525.6 kilowatt hours of power each year to grow a single crop. That is just plain ridiculous!

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against hydroponics when it is the only solution available, but this product is just plainly over priced, and a marketing ploy to get the masses to consume more useless junk. I do not, in any way, shape or form endorse this product!

Try nature, water, soil, and sunshine. It works for me and many millions of others.