Archives for June 2010

Time For A Change?

June 24, 2010 @ 23:16 By Gavin Webber 8 Comments

Well, a new Prime Minister is upon us here in Australia. A bit of a surprise really, and I know of one ex-Prime Minister who must have had a really crappy day! The Hon. Julia Gillard MP was sworn in today at Government House by the Governor General Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC. As we use the Westminster system of government, we don’t get to vote for the head of our parliament, we vote for our local member, and the party which forms government elects a Prime Minister.

It just happens that Julia is our first female PM, and that she is the federal MP of my electorate of Lalor. I actually met her this year at the ANZAC Day dawn service, when she was Deputy PM. It is a small world.

Now, enough of the official stuff, and down to business. I personally think that even though I hope she does a better job than Kevin Rudd has in the last year or so, she is still an elected politician first and foremost. That means she works for the people of Australia, and has to do what is right for all the people of our nation. So, I will not be soft on this PM, in much the same way as I badgered the last one. In my book, if you make a promise, you must keep it, no matter how hard it is to achieve it, or who or what gets in your way. Election promises are made to the voter who vote for you in good faith that this promise will be kept. That is what makes good policy, and governments rise and fall on them. Yes, I know, many thousands of election promises get broken all the time, however there is one that in my humble opinion, is just too great a promise to break.

That promise is action on Climate Change. It is a huge issue that faces us all, not only here in Australia, but throughout the entire world. The climate change issue has already brought down the likes of John Howard, Brendan Nelson, Malcolm Turnbul, and now Kevin Rudd. How many more politicians does it take to fall for someone to really take this issue seriously?

Those long time readers will know that I try everything in my power to walk the talk in my own personal life to lower my environmental footprint, with community education as one of my top priorities. For example, have a look at my most recent attempt in the local newspaper on selling the green lifestyle! The media attention of late has been overwhelming, to say the least.

So to re-enforce the climate change message to our new PM, I have joined up with GetUp! to help promote their latest campaign to let Julia know about what the Australian people think she should take action on first. You can access their site at this link to send Julia an email, letting you know that you would like her to finally take decisive action on one of the ‘greatest moral dilemmas of our time’.

Please join me in having your say, on this, an historic occasion of the appointment of our first female Prime Minister.

Here is my letter that I just sent off.

Subject: Action on Climate Change.

Dear Prime Minister Gillard,

As a member of your electorate of Lalor, I congratulate you on your appointment as Prime Minister of Australia today.

However, I would like to bring to your attention the promise of action on climate change that was made by the Labor party preceding the last election. I, as many Australians are, was extremely disappointed when the previous PM dropped the CPRS, and replaced it with a big fat nothing. It seemed to me that your party was all talk and spin, with little real commitment to put a price on carbon.

I believe that a price on carbon would fundamentally change the way the current economy works, giving people and corporations a huge incentive to green up their act, and start taking decisive action on reducing carbon emissions. We have seen the effects of climate change in this country already, with the scientific community, including your own Chief Scientist, calling for action on this, the greatest single issue of our time. Your fellow Australians are expecting this decisive action, and soon, or we will all be suffering the consequences of our inaction.

Yours faithfully,

Gavin
Melton West, Victoria

www.greeningofgavin.com

I hope she or at least her staff take the time to read it.

Home Brewing Workshop

June 23, 2010 @ 23:37 By Gavin Webber 5 Comments

On Saturday, with a little bit of a sore head from the party the night before, the Melton Sustainable Living Group hosted a home brew workshop at my house.

As my Cerveza was not quite ready, I had to dash out and buy another kit, so I have the added bonus of being able to make two batches of beer, cider or ginger beer at the same time.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, Kim filmed the workshop, and I have edited it into three parts. I hope you find the time to watch this educational documentary, courtesy of the MSLG. You will notice that the standard of cinematography is a lot higher than normal, as we lashed out and bought a $30 tripod for the video camera. It is amazing how much of a difference it makes!

Part One

Part Two

Part Three with Q&A session

The next day, I checked both the Cerveza and the Cider to see their progress. The cider was not bubbling, so I took off the lid to ensure that it was indeed fermenting (which it was), so I screwed the lid back on super tight. This sealed it correctly this time, and the airlock started working ferociously.

I then took a hydrometer reading of the Cerveza, which indicated that it was finished primary brewing. I sterilized all the bottles, placed a teaspoon of sugar in the small ones, and two in the large. After I filled them all, I cleaned out the barrel ready again for another batch that I will make this weekend. I am going to brew a Coopers Dark Ale next, which I have made before, and it was very nice on a cold winters evening straight out of the shed without any prior refrigeration.

I just checked on the Cerveza, and it is clearing well, with only a very thin layer of sediment on the bottom of each bottle. I can live with that! And as for the Cider, well due to the fact that I only put in 500gm of Dextrose, it looks like it has finished fermenting as well. I will check it with the hydrometer and possibly bottle it tomorrow night! I can taste it already.