The Greening of Gavin

Archives for June 2011

Withholding Frustration

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With all the media attention today about yet another tour of Australia by that climate denying clown Lord Monckton, I was going to write about post about his presentation and how he has fabricated and cherry picked data to put across his point of view which opposes view and peer reviewed findings of the overwhelming majority of climate scientists around the world.

However I will not belittle myself to stoop as low as him and his ilk, including the sponsor of his tour, mining magnate Gina (I’ve got a bazzilion dollars) Rinehart.  I wonder if the term ‘vested interest’ gets a mention in his presentation at the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle tonight.  It should be one hell of a show, with a hostile audience expected to attend. 

Instead I will post a video that totally debunks the Loony Lord’s so called facts that he so often likes to present here in Australia. 

I dare say that there will be more crap in the Murdoch media tomorrow, especially the Australian and the likes of Andrew Bolt, but not to worry, because I don’t read their trash anyway.

For tomorrow night and over the weekend, I have cheese to make and a chook house to build.  I have no time for this action stifling debate. Just get on with it and enough said.

Chicken Nipples

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I have always wondered if chicken’s had nipples, and now I know that there is such a thing.

Hard to spot aren’t they.  I think so as well.  Luckily there is no such thing on the actual hen.  So here are some cows nipples for those who thought they were duped!

 
Well I was not exactly telling porkies when I mentioned chook nipples, because the other day I bought some.  In fact, I liked the look of them so much that I bought two bags.  The bloke I got them from was also trying to sell me a bridge!

These so called chicken nipples are a commercial watering device that you clip on to 25mm pipe so that chooks can drink fresh water all day long.  Our chooks have a habit of mucking up their water and we have to change it twice a day, and can’t leave them for more than a day.  It works via gravity feed from a water barrel, and the hen puts her beak to the stainless steel tip and has a drink.  Nice and apparently it doesn’t take them long to figure it out.

Further big news.  I have a big chicken house construction underway that Kim, Ben and I started on the weekend just past, which I am not quite ready to show you all.  Suffice to say, it is going to be the Taj Mahal of hen houses, with its own sustainable water supply and secure enclosure for the large chooks.

I am so excited, and can’t wait to finish it this weekend, with just the roof and the wire to go!  Rock on Saturday.

Addendum: To see how I installed these in Cluckingham Palace click through to this post titled “Chicken Nipple Installation“.

Re-usable Coffee Time

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Yesterday morning I received a pleasant surprise.  This surprise was in the form of a random act of greenness, not by myself, but by someone who I believe that I may have influenced over time.

This person was Kate the coffee lady.  Kate, who owns the tiny kiosk at our local railway station, makes the best Caffé Latté this side of Melbourne.  I partake in this wonderful beverage each morning to help kick-start the day, and sure, it is not very green, but I consider it one of my few vices.  I bring my own cup, so I don’t add to the mountain of disposable coffee cups that get dumped into landfill each year.

So Dear Reader, let me paint you a picture.  As I walked to the counter, I began to give my order.  Kate yells out, “There he is!” in quite a loud voice.  I began to notice that many others began to stop and look my way, and she continued with “This green man brings his Keep Cup every day, and now there are two of you.”  To my surprise there was a re-usable cup under the coffee machine already.  I gave the proud owner a wink and a nod for being so thoughtful, then Kate proudly stated in a booming voice, “From now on, I am going to take 30 cents off the price for those people who bring their own clean re-usable coffee cup!”  Startled, I thanked her, took my coffee, and looked forward to my next cup hoping that this trend would catch on.  

This morning, I talked to Kate to confirm that she was still okay with the discount for a BYO cup.  She said that she had talked it over with her hubby (must be a part owner) and they agreed that it was the right thing to do.  Less waste into the environment, less cost to her business, and an incentive for others to bring their own re-usable cups.  I told her that it was a fantastic decision and that I loved her work!

So as I sat sipping on my coffee from Kate the coffee lady, I smiled and felt warm from that simple act of greenness.  It feels good in the knowledge that by leading by example (it only took 18 months), I am helping others to make a difference. Now all I have to do is coax her into buying organic & fair trade, but that is another challenge.