The Greening of Gavin

Archives for August 2010

Skype Me!

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Now this may sound a bit out there, but as I have had Skype (a free IP telephony and video service) installed for a while, I was wondering if anyone out there had the inkling to call me and ask any sustainable living questions?  Even happy to have a detailed conversation about some of the big issues as I see it (PO and CC) if you really want to get deep and meaningful.  Please remember, I am not offering a service for anyone to pay out on me by every Climate Change denialist out there.  I can always block and hang up.

Happy to receive voice calls only if you think video is too personal, however I have video if you are really excited about seeing my mug shot moving around, but if it is late at night you might catch me in my jim jams!

My Skype address and status is on the left hand sidebar, so you will be able to tell when I am online, however if it is during the day Australian time, don’t be surprised if Kim has a chat to you (or not, she is a bit shy)!

Just putting it out there if anyone wants to learn a little bit more from someone who has a little experience under his belt about living a semi-sustainable lifestyle.  I like recording podcasts, but it just seems too one way for my liking.

Let me know if your are cool with a few more podcasts, or just on Skype and have a chat.  Remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question, just a stupid answer!

Comments welcome.

What the World Needs Now

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A cross post today.  I wrote this for the Co-op, but thought it was so good that I had to post it here as well.

As Burt Bacharach wrote “What the world needs now, is love sweet love”!  Not in the physical sense, but in the community sense.  Things like pride of place, which is a sense of community love or to put it in a better way, pride of where you and others around you live.

I have described previously I believe that to live fulfilling and sustainable lifestyle, you need other like minded people to share the journey with you.   It is a lonely place to be in if you attempt to down-shift in isolation or take steps to build a sustainable community without others to help and to share the passion and to bounce ideas off of.

I have found that people who attempt to live this kind of lifestyle, usually are involved in at least one community group, sometimes two or three depending on their interests.  This is a great way to meet like minded people, learn new skills and to build long lasting friendships.  However, with these connections there comes a greater responsibility to other than self.

You have the needs, desires and well-being of others to consider.  I liken it to an extended family, who care about each other, which I believe leads to a deep sense of belonging.  Humans want to belong, other wise we would not have congregated into hamlets, village, towns, cities or megalopolises over the last 10,000 years. 

With these communal structures in place other needs begin to become fulfilled, like security of food, water, shelter and the like. Even in bad times, a tight knit community looks out for one another.

Now, having a strong and dare I say, loving community structure is a great goal to achieve and it reminds me of the country town I grew up in.  I must admit that I had forgotten about the one resource that is sustainable, renewable, abundant and is not peaking –  love and compassion:

Personally, I for one will not stop caring for my community, the environment and planet Earth.  I believe we can create a sustainable and peaceful future together  because I truly believe in human nature. 

I know we can show this planet we love it!!!

Wicking Garden Beds

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Busy in the garden as always, I decided to get off my bottom and build a new garden bed.  Here what we have built so far.  My daughter Amy helped as did Kim, so it was a group effort.  The bed measures 2.3 x 1.2 metres.



The timber that I saved from the deconstruction of our old kitchen came in handy.  It was wonderful wood, nice and solid, red gum I think, which was at least as old as the house (about 40 years old).   I have enough material for one more 1 x 1 metre bed which I will whip up after Sustainable House Day.

Please let me know what you think of my handy work.  The only power tool I used was a drill and all the rest was constructed by hand.  I will be adding the wicking part either one night this week or on Saturday.  I followed the example on Scarecrows blog “Outback Edge Harvest“.  It has some great tips about these types of garden beds.  Great information and simple to follow instructions.

The area we have selected is under cover from about noon in summer and only gets the morning sun.  Idea for a salad garden and close to the back door.  It should stop the lettuces from bolting fast, and keep them nice and crisp for picking at any time of day in the heat of summer.  Well that is the theory anyway.