The Greening of Gavin

Archives for January 2009

If Chickens Could Talk…

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They would say "Thank you very much.  You are my heroes!".  That would go exclusively to Kim and Ben for keeping them alive during this heat wave.

Kim and Ben’s heroic actions of keeping the chooks cool by spraying them with a mist of water, every two hours over the last three days has been exemplarily.  I am so impressed because as I have written before, Kim doesn’t handle the heat well at the best of times, so to be brave enough to go out into 42-45C heat every two hours was just simply fantastic and above and beyond the call of duty.  If they had a Victoria Cross for heat waves, then you two would get it.

Well done to you both, I am so proud of you!  Edwina, Bunty, Polly, and Ginger blow you both a big kiss.

 

Meltin’ in Melton

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I just saw the ice cream van go past my house and look what happened! 
All I wanted was a box of ice creams for the kids!  It has been 43C for two day in a row, and it is forecast for a similar temperature tomorrow.  I wish this heat was over, but we will just have to do our best.  I have been watering the veggie patch every morning at 0530 with mains water when I am allowed and tank water every other day.  The tank is now 25% full, and as it hasn’t rained since 10th December 2008, I reckon it will hit rock bottom before it gets any better.  Kim has been spraying the chooks to make sure they stay cool every couple of hours, and they are doing well.  Well done love!
This morning I had to pick 3 cucumbers as they were starting to get sunburned.  This evening, I picked about 4 kg of blood plums and put them in the fridge.  The plums that are exposed to the direct sun are burnt, and only good for chook food now.  Luckily there are so many more sheltered from the sun under the canopy.  I also picked about 3 kg of tomatoes tonight, and put them in the fridge.  There are quite a few that have been burnt as well, but not enough to cry about.  When it cools down a little I will make some pasta sauce to preserve for later on in the year.  I even have my eye on a tomato jam recipe.
Tomorrow, I go back to class again and attend day 2 of my carbon accounting course at Swinburne Uni.  I finished the project plan on time and submitted it on Australia Day, so I am hoping that it was OK.  We learn about how to put a carbon inventory together in Excel and how to calculate the CO2-e emissions for different things like municipal waste, burning petrol in cars, natural gas etc.  Should be fun, and I will write up a quick post about it tomorrow night.
To finish of, a bit of education in the form of the latest ZapRoot video.  It features a nudie Kate Winslet and how she was tricked into posing with fur.  Makes the mind boggle, but PETA were very upset about it!  Don’t mind the picture below, there is no real nudity in the story.  There is also a very good little feature about Ocean Acidification and how rising CO2 is killing our reefs and ocean creatures.  

Enjoy!

Thanks!

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I would like to give a big thanks for all the massive support and kind words via comments and personal blogs over the last 24 hours.  I feel overwhelmed to say the least, and your words give me the courage and strength to keep on spreading the message and doing what I am doing.  I just hope that my whole TV segment doesn’t cut!

I expect that if the Today Tonight piece goes to air that I may be contacted by other media outlets to tell my story, but time will tell.  Not getting my hopes up, but the more I can represent the views of the majority of my readers the better off we will all be in the long run.

There has been some encouraging news out of the US over the last day or so.  The Congress has approved President Obama’s stimulus package that includes US$11 billion for a green electricity grid. Now it has to pass through the Senate.  It looks like Al Gore has been in the Presidents ear of late and might just see his lofty goal of 100% renewable energy in 10 years come to fruition via his RePower America campaign.  Good on you Al.  I really look up to you, even though you were a politician once.  I suppose that is karma really because you, Al, now have the moral imperative and the mandate of the American People to move forward on advising the current administration regarding climate change and how to solve the crisis.  I reckon you may just break through the special interest groups firewall and get that change that you and the public are after.  There is hope after all, and if you guys lead, most of the world will follow.

So, once again, thanks to everyone for their wonderful encouragement today, it really does make a difference. 

As for becoming PM, Daharja, I don’t think so, but thanks for the vote of confidence.  For one, I hate politics but I love this new found activism I have embraced.  Look how the mighty have fallen regarding Peter Garrett.  I would hate to be stifled by the collective party like he is right now.  It is time for the people to speak and the politicians to listen and start working for us and not for corporate greed.

And to my sister, the Mrs Cabbage Heart.  Thanks for the accolades, but you are biased!  We are family.  Mind you, I feel like all my readers are like family.  When you think about it a bit, we are all in this together, so why wouldn’t we be family?

To Margaret from the UK, thanks for the award.  I really appreciate you thinking of me.  Just doing the best I can. 

Thanks Sarhn for the "Sarhn Award".  How cool is it to receive on of those.  I wonder what it looks like, but I reckon it will be better than an oscar!

And finally, to anyone else I have missed, THANKS A MILLION!

Gav