After a break, Environmentality will be back on air on Friday the 10th of July!

Please note that the time of the show has changed and will now be on air every Friday from 9am until 10am.

During our break we decided to expand the scope of the show, we will now discuss social justice issues as well as environmental and animal rights issues.

Furthermore, we have created a new blog: http://environmentality.net.au/. Follow our new blog to stay updated on upcoming shows!

We look forward to putting the show back on air, tune in next Friday to listen to an interview with Robert Bender who will be discussing the mass euthanasia of koalas in the Otways.

Environmentality 15 April 2015, Jodi Jackson with Everyday In The Garden

Jodi didn’t disappoint this week, in fact, Jodi has never disappointed us with her light hearted, energetic, information packed shows. This week we discussed green manure, planting in punnets vs planting direct into ground and Brussels sprouts, yep that’s right, the good old Brussels sprout. If you missed the show then you must have a listen to the podcast…MUST.

If you have a highly clayey or a highly sandy soil then you’ll be a big winner from using green manure. Green manure is the planting of a fast growing species such as wheat, rye, barley, corn etc. that you use to generate large amounts of biomass in a short period of time before turning into the soil to add some new rich organic matter ready for the planting of your actual vegie crop. The green manure crop should be left to grow to about knee height before turning into the soil. What a great little tip for those of us in sand or clay rich soils!

A green manure crop

Nematodes, anyone for nematodes? Well before I knew what one was I had a feeling it wasn’t a good thing to have and turns out I was right. A parasitic roundworm living in the soil that can significantly reduce or destroy your crop is not something you want in your garden. Jodi has the tre

atment… Fumigate them with a totally natural, organic method using mustard plants. All you need to do is spread mustard plant (from the Brassica family) seeds when sowing your green manure crop such that you have some mustard amongst your fast growing grass species. When the mustard plant is turned in with the rest of your green manure, the leaves will break down in the soil releasing a chemical that acts as a fumigant for nematodes, EASY!

Plant mustard among your green manure crop

Sowing in a punnet vs sowing direct in the soil? Well, one thing is for sure, the answer to this is not black and white and you could spend hours reading about which species do better in one or the other.  Jodi took us through some the type of seeds that prefer punnets and some that prefer direct into the ground and why! For all the details you’ll have to listen to the show ;)

Brussels sprouts have copped a bad rap in the past for being unappetising but I think we managed to identify the main culprits for this false charge this week. I remember as a kid that despite having never tried brussel sprouts, I thought that they were yuk! I must have picked up this impression from someone and I bet that someone had only ever had OVERCOOKED Brussels sprouts. Jodi believes it is time that our listeners know the truth and that is ‘Brussels sprouts are delicious AND a great source of minerals and nutrients’. There you go, you’ve heard it now so go out and give them another go but this time without overcooking them. Yum! Listen to the show to hear tips on how to train your Brussels sprouts to grow taller and with more sprouts.

To see and hear more of Jodi’s work, head to her website everydayinthegarden.com and you may as well sign up for Jodi’s newsletter while you’re there.

This week is the last show for at least the next 4 weeks so make sure you follow us on twitter @enviro_pod and keep checking this blog to keep updated on what is happening with the show and when we are returning.

Music from this week:

Messages by Xavier Rudd

Island of Oceans by John Williamson

Wild Animals by The Cat Empire

Wonder by Emeli Sande

Environmentality 1 April 2015, Ryan Collins - Planet Ark Recycling Programs Manager

In 30-40 years’ time, will our children’s children be sitting in a history lesson learning about the early 21^st century when we used to produce materials that were non-recyclable and instead of re-using would throw away into giant landfills or the oceans? I hope this is the case and I hope it sounds bizarre, crazy, stupid, wrong, wasteful and even arrogant when they hear of this happening because it sure as sunrise sounds like it to me now as I think about it. To get from here to there we need organisations like Planet Ark to lead the way through their behaviour changing initiatives and recycling and stewardship programs. This week we were lucky enough to have Planet Ark’s Recycling Programs Manager, Ryan Collins, speak to us about waste, recycling and the way forward to a sustainable future.

Australians are good at recycling at home but when it comes to the workplace we seem to forget how to separate our waste. Ok, maybe it’s not as simple as forgetting but 46% of workplace waste is sent to landfill which is not good! Planet Ark recently published a report (written by our guest Ryan) identifying a number of key barriers to workplace recycling and how to overcome them and it seems that the number one reason is insufficient support from management with four out of ten Australian workers feeling that their managers aren’t supporting recycling behaviour. A good start for recycling in the workplace is to introduce some of the free recycling initiatives such as the Planet Ark printer cartridge recycling program. Check out the businessrecycling.com.au website or call the hotline 1300 763 768 to learn of more ways you can improve recycling in your workplace.

On a more individual/household level there is really no excuse to not be recycling everything that is recyclable. To find out what can be recycled and where it can be recycled head to recyclingnearyou.com.au. Did you know you can recycle computers, batteries, printer cartidges, mobile phones, fluorescent light tubes and even plastic bags! Plastic bag collection points are often located at major supermarket stores but they are not just for supermarket bags, you can place most soft plastics in there such as your pasta packets, lolly bags, biscuit packets and the like so start saving those too.

This week on the show two relatively new concepts in the world of recycling and business that were touched on were the ‘Circular Economy’ and ‘Industrial Ecology’. The circular economy is an emerging way of doing business whereby products and materials are designed such that the end-of-life of the product or material has been considered and is either reused or recycled as part of the life-cycle process with the idea being that there is no waste. Industrial ecology is similar to the circular economy however is more targeted at industrial processes and using the waste (output) from one process as the input for another and so on.

To find out what else was covered, make sure you have alisten to the podcast. One thing you will hear is Jaime’s passion for the topic of waste in our society.

Thanks to Ryan for his song selections this week:

Sophia by Laura Marling (Jaime’s choice)

Pyramid Building by Hilltop Hoods

Eyes Wide Open by Gotye

What’s My Scene by The Hoodoo Gurus

Environmentality 25 March 2015, Emily Braham, Editor of Sanctuary Magazine

If I was to tell you that this week we would be talking about biomimicry, indoor plants for health and air quality, induction cooktops, designing a home for climate change and a house that has a positive ecological footprint you may well think that our studio was going to be packed with guests each with their own piece of expertise. Well in a way you may be right, however all this information is delivered in the form of Sanctuary Magazine and was discussed with our guest Emily Braham, its Editor.

Biomimicry is something I for one am fascinated by. It seems to be so intuitive that we look to nature to get ideas for design and innovation. The environment that surrounds us has spent millions upon millions of years trying to reach the most efficient way of living, breathing, building, running, swimming, flying and so on. It is only recently that humans have started to tap into this free resource of ideas like the shark-skin inspired swimsuit design that resulted in an avalanche of world records being broken, the termite mound inspired buildings that use 90% less energy than conventional buildings through the use of ventilation tunnels and chimneys and the paint that repels dust, dirt and water inspired by the lotus flower’s ability to do the same thing when emerging from muddy water. Have a listen to the show to hear more the biomimicry article in the current issue of Sanctuary.

A building inspired by the termite's mound efficient way of regulating temperature

sanctuarymagazine.org.au

Who knew that the humble pot plant was so good at improving health and air quality in the indoor environment? Well I had my suspicions but there is now new research from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) that gives us an explanation of how the plants do it and how good they are at doing it! Plants are able to remove Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s), dust, carbon dioxide and monoxide from the indoor air which is obviously a real benefit to us indoor inhabitants. Check out the article for more info or have a listen to this week’s show.

If you’ve been listening to our show regularly you would have heard us talking about induction cooktops over the past few months and how they are becoming the way of the future in terms of energy efficient cooking and moving away from gas. This issue of Sanctuary takes us further with our understanding of induction cooktops and why they are the easiest, fastest, cheapest and most efficient option for cooking. The article also takes you through ‘What to look for when selecting an induction cooktop’ which is a must for anyone in the market for purchasing one.

During this week’s chat with Emily we discussed the article ‘Design for climate change – tropical Australia’ and through this article we touched on the concept of The least house necessary. This is a philosophy that really makes sense to me. Smaller house designed on actual spatial needs = more outdoor spaces to enjoy, less cost for heating and cooling, encourages moving into the outdoor space, less destruction/alteration of natural environment, room to plant more trees and gardens/vegie gardens, less cost to build… this all seems to point to “less is more!”.

Head to the ATA’s website or Sanctuary website for more information about environmentally sustainable home design and architecture.

Music tracks from this week (thanks Emily)

Palace by The Antlers

Frankie's Gun by The Felice Brothers

Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead

Flame Trees by Sarah Blasko

Environmentality 18 March 2015, Jodi Jackson - My Everyday Garden

Well summer passed us by without delivering a day over 40°C but hopefully it did deliver some good crops and reward you for your gardening efforts! Unfortunately it’s time to say goodbye to your tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchinis, basil and beans but fortunately it’s time to say hello to whole heap of winter vegies! Before you get started though, make sure you make use of the last of your summer crop and don’t forget to prepare your soil to restore those essential nutrients ready for a great winter. This week our resident gardening expert Jodi Jackson talked us through all of this and more so be sure to have a listen to hear how to make use of your last tomatoes and basil, some soil prep tips and hear about some must have crops this winter!

Jodi brought in some special surprises this week which included some seeds for an exotic beetroot variety called Giant German Gold. The Giant German Gold is a large variety of beetroot that you cannot buy anywhere in Australia, Jodi managed to get hold of some though and let one of the beetroots go to seed. The beetroots should be harvested once they are around 15-20 cm in diameter, however if left to go to seed they reach a massive size, equivalent to a very, very large watermelon! If you’d like some seeds, let us know here at Environmentality and we’ll see if we can arrange something.

Also on the surprise list were some Burgundy Blush potatoes, described by Jodi as sexiest potato she has ever seen and if you’ve seen their colour you might guess why! A deep red/burgundy colour which at first glance could be mistaken for a radish. Jodi  got the seeds for the potatoes from Tas Potatoes if you’re interested in getting some for yourself.

Celeriac from the Celery family

Celeriac Mash (taste.com.au)

One thing we did discuss that was promised for the blog was Celeriac, also called turnip-rooted celery. It is actually a variety of celery that is cultivated for its roots rather than its stalks. Jodi promises us that celeriac mash is a super tasty dish and highly recommends planting some now so you can enjoy over the winter. Another recommended planting by Jodi is Funugreek which is a very common ingredient in Indian curries but also has many other uses including making tea, salad addition and used in many middle-eastern dishes.

Fenugreek

Fenugreek seeds

If you have any questions for Jodi, make sure you tune in on the 3^rd Wednesday of every month and send us a text or tweet us during the show!

Next week on the show we are chatting to Emily Braham from Sanctuary Magazine about the current issue (29) which is an Australian Design Special. Sanctuary is a showcase of sustainable building design and architecture and is published by the Alternative Technology Association, a not-for-profit organisation.

Music tracks from this week:

I Will Wait by Mumford & Sons

Moorings by Andrew Duhon

Lanterns by Birds of Tokyo

Time In A Bottle by Jim Croce

Environmentality 11 March 2015, John Englart, Colleen Jones & Brian Bainbridge - Sustainable Fawkner and Climate Action Moreland

More and more I’m realising that real and important social and environmental change is driven by local community and eventually filters UP to local, state and federal governments rather than the other way around, especially in Australia given our governments’ lack of foresight, creativity and vision when it comes to planning Australia’s future. Volunteer run community groups give me great hope for our future and have led to movements such as Transition Towns, Landcare and many local climate change action groups including the very local (to us here at Environmentality) Climate Action Moreland.

Sustainable Fawkners Community Garden - The Dandelion Patch

This week on the program we spoke to Colleen Jones and Brian Bainbridge and John Englart from Sustainable Fawkner and John is also involved with Climate Action Moreland. Sustainable Fawkner was established with the principles of transition towns in mind and has since been successful in maintaining a regular food swap, community garden and craft workshop. These types of events and having a community garden may, at first, seem to be quite low impact in terms of making an environmental difference but in fact they are essential in developing relationships among neighbours and communities and provide a platform to discuss the important issues such as climate change and the shift towards a zero carbon economy. This point and many more were discussed on this week’s show so be sure to have a listen and leave a comment if you so desire. Keep up with Sustainable Fawkner and their events through their website as well as their Facebook page.

A Food Swap at Sustainable Fawkner

Climate Action Moreland is a non-profit group working locally to take action on climate change and John is one of their many members from the Brunswick, Coburg, Fawkner and Glenroy areas. If you are wanting to take action on climate change such as putting pressure on political leaders and promoting community education and awareness of climate change then get in contact with the group or perhaps another similar group that may be more local to where you are. Find Climate Action Moreland on twitter using @CAMoreland.

John Englart has been blogging about climate change for over 10 years now (takvera.blogspot.com.au) and contributes regularly to the Climate Action Moreland website as well as writing for nofibs.com.au. During our show this week John also mentioned a literature review he completed on climate change heatwaves and Melbourne so be sure to check that one out as well. John will be attending the UN climate talks in Paris in December this year to report directly on the negotiations and keep a specific eye on the negotiating positions and spin from the Australian Government so stay tuned to Environmentality as we hope to follow John’s reports and have him back on the show following his trip!

Next week on the program we have Jodi Jackson's My Everyday Garden answering all your questions. 
Music tracks from this week were selected by our guests, thank you:

Who’s Gonna Stand Up by Neil Young
The Commons by David Rovics
Shadows by Sirroco
Little Suitcase by Luluc
 

Environmentality 4 March 2015, Operation Newstart - Boneseed in The You Yangs Regional Park

One thing that really makes me smile is when the younger generation takes an interest in and engages with the environment. Whether it is in the form of learning about and researching an environmental issue or just enjoying the great outdoors and developing an appreciation for the world in which we live, it doesn’t really matter as one will eventually lead to the other.

Big Rock in the You Yangs Regional Park (panoramio.com)

Operation Newstart is an outdoor, adventure based intervention program for 14-18 year old students at educational risk and it has managed to, among other things, incorporate environmental engagement into their program. This week on the show we were lucky enough to have students from the Operation Newstart program come and talk to us about a recent camp to the You Yangs RegionalPark and their new found knowledge of the issue of the boneseed weed that has proliferated in the park. The high school students spoke to a Ranger at the You Yangs before setting off the do some of their own research and finished off the process with presenting their information live on our show! If you’d like to have a listen, click here.

the boneseed weed (deepseaimages.com)

Boneseed (or Chrysanthemoides monilifera –listen to the show for Josh’s pronunciation) is a Weed Of National Significance (WONS) that has infested the You Yangs Regional Park which is now one of the densest boneseed infestations in Australia. The boneseed outcompetes native vegetation and leads to a monoculture in the lower and middle story of the bush. Apart from losing flora diversity, boneseed inhibits the regeneration of eucalypt seedlings and leads to long term effects on canopy trees and the animals reliant on the ecosystem.

boneseed infestation

The management of this issue is heavily reliant on the work of volunteers as one of the most effective management practices is the manual removal of boneseed. These volunteers do great work in managing the boneseed weed and preventing its spreading and deserve to be thanked for their great work. If you would like to get involved, there are a number of ways to do so including contacting your local Landcare or Coastcare group or the Friends of The You Yangs Regional Park.

If you have boneseed in your garden or on your property, it is very important to destroy before they flower or set seed. Once destroyed, new seedlings that may sprout must hand-pulled immediately. So make sure you know what it looks like and make sure you spread the word to friends and family so that any future infestations can be avoided

Thanks to Brendon Delaney, Northern Metro Operation Newstart Coordinator, for approaching Environmentality and providing our listeners with the opportunity to hear from the students. Congratulations to the students Josh, TJ, Eray, Maddy, Alex and Reece who did a great job speaking about their research into the issue of boneseed in the You Yangs Regional Park. It’s great to see students getting involved with an environmental issue and then having the courage to speak about it live on air!

Music tracks this week were selected by our guests:

Take Me To Church by Hozier

Sun Goes Down by Robin Schultz

4, 5, Seconds by Kanye West & Rhianna

Summertime Sadness by Lana Del Ray

Dear Mama by Tupac

Environmentality 25 February 2015, Paul Gale-Baker, Permaculture

The Permaculture Flower (shows the holistic approach of permaculture)

This might just be me but permaculture makes sense, a lot of sense. Although the word permaculture is new to me (I didn’t even know what it meant 6 months ago), the concept of it and the principles are not new. The principles of permaculture form a very holistic approach that can be applied to almost anything that involves humans and the way we live on this planet. Essentially, if everyone followed the permaculture design principles, we would live in an abundant, community focussed, biodiverse and environmentally sustainable world! How’s that for a definition?!

Our guest this week, Paul Gale-Baker is a permaculture designer at Urban Shepherd who has had his head into the concept of permaculture for 40 or so years. So to get the nitty gritty details (and correct definitions) of permaculture, you are best to listen to the podcast here.

If you’re looking to get more information on the topic, a good starting point would be David Holmgren’s Permaculture – Principles & Pathways Beyond Sustainability. By all means, have a look around to see what else you can find and leave a comment if you know of or find anything else that would be helpful to those looking to find out more.

To finish the show this week, we quickly went through the ways to get involved in permaculture which I think is worth mentioning here:

-Look up a local permablitz you can attend
-Join a local sustainability group (Banyule, Darebin, Fawkner)
-Read books and search online



Permablitz in action

 

Next week on the show we are chatting to some students from Operation Newstart about their recent trip to the You Yangs and some of their new found knowledge on the impacts of the invasive weed boneseed.

 

Music from this week (thanks for the selections Paul)

Fast Train by Solomon Burke

Into The Mystic by Van Morrison
Stand By Me by John Lennon

Layla (acoustic) by Eric Clapton 

Environmentality 18 February 2015, Gas Prices in Australia and the Psychology of Ignoring Climate Change

Here’s a little myth-buster session just for you blog readers and please feel very free to share with friends and family, you may just save them money!

Gas Vs Electric

Myth #1 – Natural gas is a clean energy alternative to coal generated electricity.

Don’t be fooled by the natural  in natural gas, technically it is natural (like all fossil fuels) as it is formed from organic plant and animal matter that has been subject to heat and pressure over thousands of years, however it is not renewable, the drilling, extraction and pipelining often leads to release of methane (a serious GHG) and it’s combustion leads to carbon emissions. One report says 8% of all gas (methane) is being lost to the atmosphere during transfer from the gas fields to our homes and this unburnt gas can be 100 times more damaging to the climate than carbon generated from its combustion.

Myth #2 – Natural gas is cheap (compared to electricity).

Once upon a time this was true but it has now moved in the fiction category. Natural gas has been sold to homeowners as a clean, efficient and cheap alternative to electricity especially when used for household water heating and cooking requirements which may have been true a number of years age (except for the ‘clean’ bit, see myth #1). Recent advances in modern appliances such electric heat pumps for space heating, electric hot water heat pumps and induction cooktops have completely blown natural gas out of the water in terms of efficiency, running costs and emissions!...even when using conservative figures AND not including any fugitive emissions associated with extraction and pipelining the gas to the user (A past guest of ours Matthew Wright has published his research on this exact topic).

So Natural Gas is neither environmentally cleaner NOR cheaper to use anymore AND as we heard on this week’s show, the price is almost certain to rise by 200-300% in the near future once the gas export terminals are completed off the Queensland coast (right on the World Heritage Listed Great Barrier Reef mind you).

To really nail this one on the head in terms of what energy source to use, electricity or gas? Using electricity from the grid, generated from the burning of coal is more environmentally friendly in terms of emissions and it is also better on your hip pocket. This feels like a kind of half win where we have chosen the lesser of two carbon emitting evils, however we can make this a WIN WIN by using a renewable power source like Solar PV to power our electric appliances and voilà, no emissions, no operating costs, just an upfront investment with incredibly fast payback.

Not quite what we mean by solar powered cooking but hey, this could work!

Listen to the show to hear more about why gas prices will rise and also hear from an expert psychologist on why humans are wired to ignoring the impacts of climate change.

Here are the links to the ABC Radio National interviews we played on our show:
Gas Prices – ABC Radio National, Saturday Extra with Geraldine Doogue speaking to Giles Parkinson, originally broadcast on 12 July 2014 and then repeated on 3 January 2015.
Ignoring Climate Change – ABC Radio National, Late Night Live presented by Phillip Adams speaking with George Marshall, broadcast 4 February 2015.

Next week, we are chatting to Paul Gale-Baker about all things Permaculture. Not sure what that is? Well tune in to find out!

Music from this week:
Through The Roof by Hermitude
Paper Heart’s by Em George
Listen Up by Dark Fair

Environmentality 11 February 2015, Robyn Deed, Editor of Renew Magazine

We cannot continue to live on this planet like we have another one to go to. Living a more sustainable existence is a must if we as a species are going to continue to flourish. This week's show was all about living more sustainably in the modern world through providing real life examples and all the latest technology and innovations to help us live the dream of sustainability! Listen to the show here.


Issue 130

Our guest today was Robyn Deed, editor of Renew Magazine published by the Alternative Technology Association (ATA). ATA is a non-profit organisation that exists to enable, represent and inspire people to live sustainably in their homes and communities. We spoke to Robyn regarding some of the articles in the Magazine and sustainability in general.  Robyn talked us through the article “Greeny flat experiment”  featured in the renew magazine where the author Andy Lemann shares how his first attempt to build an energy efficient full scale living house on a limited budget was a success. This piece highlighted some important factors that must be considered in house design/ retrofit in order to be sustainable including the layout of the house, the insulation, window positions, double gazing, low flow plumbing fixtures and many more. For more details, this is a direct link to the online version of the article.



Another article that was highlighted during the show was the “Energy Efficient Cooking” by Alan Pears.  There were some basic tips we could do to save the usage of energy in our kitchens. One interesting one was the fact that just putting the lid on while cooking can dramatically reduce energy losses while cooking.

Gazpacho soup

While on the topic of saving energy with cooking, Jamie mentioned the popular Spanish soup, Gazpacho, which is served cold! While it saves energy wasted in cooking, it also is a delight to your taste buds and is refreshing in this hot climate like ours. Maybe you can try your own “Gazpacho Soup” watching listening to this week’s show?! http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/gazpacho

The Timor-Leste Project by Dave Carlos was another topic we talked about on the show where he has written about solar-powered lights being provided to a remote villages in Timor-Leste and how it has changed the lives of many people living there as well as the volunteers travelling there to help install.

Installing solar panels for lighting in remote Timor-Leste villages

There are heaps more articles in the magazine that we were not able to cover (as usual!) so head to the Renew website to read all the latest.

Next week we have our resident gardening expert, Jodi Jackson so don’t miss it!

Environmentality wants to thank Smriti Panday for her contributions to this week's blog.
 

This week's music tracks

Steal the Light by The Cat Empire

Silent Night by Gurrumul and Delta Goodrem

Fear Of Failure by The Basics

Hills of Brisbane by James Blundell

Environmentality 4 February 2015, Panel discussion with Jaime, John, Chris & Ahmed on environmental issue in the recent news

Firstly, don't forget to fill in our survey and you'll be in the draw for 2 movie tickets, it's the last week we are running it! Here is the link, GOOD LUCK!

This week we had a good old fashioned panel discussion with Jaime, John, Chris & Ahmed about environmental issues in the recent news. We realised that there is way too much to cover in one show but we tried our best to canvas a few trending topics. The items we discussed were mainly based on recent news articles which are listed below. As you would expect, the conversation occasionally drifts on tangents so make sure you listen to the show to hear all the wisdom of Jaime and all the random facts, figures and info that John manages to retain in his brain.

If you are keen on keeping up with the latest environmental news, there is a great FREE service offered by Making Environmental News whereby a daily email is sent to your inbox containing the links to any and all environmental news collated from all the major non-subscription electronic news media. It is the quickest and easiest way to stay on top the latest environmental news.

Ocean depths heating steadily despite global warming ‘pause’ – The Conversation

theconversation.com

Genetically modified coral could help save reefs, report argues – The Sydney Moring Herald

smh.com.au

Apple to open $2 bn solar-powered Arizona data centre - RenewEconomy

Broken Hill solar plant on track to complete at end of 2015, change of community engagement approach – ABC News

Feral feast: cats kill hundreds of Australian animals – The Conversation

Air travel: what a waste – Traveller

Traveller.com

We didn’t really get into politics but given a few more minutes we would have covered the most talked about political item this week which is off course, the Coalition leadership uncertainty…here is the article we had lined up to talk about: Is this the last hurrah for the Far Right in Australia – RenewEconomy

Tesla Model S

And for all those rev heads we even covered a supercar! The fully electric Tesla Model S that is faster (in terms of acceleration) than almost every other petrol powered supercar! Don’t believe it… read this 5 super cars slower than the Tesla S P85D – Gas2.

Please leave a comment or links to any other articles you think are worth a read.

Next week on the show we are chatting to Robyn Deed, editor of Renew magazine about Issue 130. Head to the Renew Magazine website to get a heads up on some of the magazine content that we will be covering.

Music tracks this week:

Hello, You Beautiful Thing by Jason Mraz

Tombs by Hiatus

Live It Up (feat. PEZ) by 360

Q.U.E.E.N. by Janelle Monae Feat. Erykah Badu

Environmentality 28 January 2015, Riki Edelsten - Melbourne Director of Grow It Local and long running association with the Sustainable Living Festival

If you grow fruit or vegetables at home whether it’s in a big designated garden, some scattered fruit trees or even on a windowsill, then you should be registering your garden with Grow It Local. Registering your ‘patch’ is a great way to be part of an Australia wide community farm. You can include pictures of your garden and your tips on producing that ideal crop as well browse through the 1000+ gardens already registered. Head to the Grow It Local website for all the details.

This week’s guest, Riki Edelsten, is the Melbourne Director of the Grow It Local campaign and we found out what it is all about. Riki also filled us in on the upcoming Local Growers Feast on the March 1^st which will tie in with the final day of Sustainable Living Festival. To go in the running for the 50 double pass tickets to the feast, all you need to do is register your patch, share tips on their facebook page and use the #growitlocal tag on instagram and twitter @growinitlocal.

Claire will be speaking at the SLF

This week our guest also covered the upcoming Sustainable Living Festival being held in and around Melbourne from the 7 Feb - 1 March. From what we heard, there will be something for pretty much everyone so you must check out the website to see which events are going to tickle your fancy. There is the Transitions Film Festival nestled into the Sustainable Living Festival, many workshops including ones on permaculture and garden pest management, morning weekly bike tour along the Barwon River departing Geelong, panel discussions featuring Tim Flannery, talks from George Marshall, ClaireDunn, Tim Silverwood and many more. Honestly, do yourself a favour and just check through the list of events and I’m sure you will 1) be surprised and 2) find something that you cannot resist going to! I think is something like 200 events and they are spread out across Melbourne including Geelong and even Inverloch.

If you were listening to the show you will have heard about the survey we are running for Environmentality where you can win 2 movie tickets just for filling it in. The survey should take about a minute and it will help us to improve our show. CLICK HERE TO COMPLETE SURVEY and good luck!

 


George will discuss his book at the SLF 

Screening at the Transitions Film Festival

Next week on the show we will be discussing Permaculture with a specialist in the field so make sure you tune in or download the podcast.

 

Thanks to our guest Riki for this week’s music selections:

Peaches by Presidents Of The United States

Our House by Madness

From Little Things Big Things Grow by Paul Kelly

Push Th’ Little Daises by Ween

Environmentality 21 January 2015, Jodi Jackson, My Everyday Garden - Citrus Special

Summer is upon us and what better way to beat the heat than a summer citrus lemonade, a refreshing citrus salad or a delicious citrus mocktail (or cocktail for Jodi). This week our regular gardening expert Jodi Jackson was with us today to talk about “Citrus”, some citrus that we have never heard of and also some hybrid varieties.

image: adamsgarden.com.au

We started with oranges and in particular an orange by the name of Dwarf Valencia. Dwarf Valencia has an amazing sweet musky flavour that bursts in your mouth. How do we know this??? Because Jodi brought some into the studio for us to taste and let it be known to all our blog readers that there is no comparison whatsoever between the tastes of the oranges you get in Supermarkets and the Valencia  we tasted. Another variety of orange we talked about is the Seville Orange, a sour orange which is very popular in Spain (Jaime confirmed this for us!). It has very high acid content, sets very well and is therefore used mostly for marmalades and jams.

Rangpur Lime highly recommended by Jodi

We also touched on essential oils from citrus including  Bergamot Orange, a type of orange that is used for essential oils and can be used for cleaning purposes and Sweet OrangeOil, another essential oil that comes from Valencia with digestive properties.

Also mentioned was the Kaffir lime Chinotto, Kumquats, Tangerines, Tangello and the Rangpur Lime. Rangpur lime is a cross breed between a mandarin and a lime and Jodi recommends people to try growing this at home because of its versatile taste.

Jodi's show and tell this week

During the show we said Jodi had a list of citrus by type and we weren't lying! So here is the list and just a reminder, it is not exhaustive but rather citrus that is right for a home garden...
Oranges - Sweet: Navel, Valencia, Joppa, Blood Orange, Sour: Seville, Bergamot, Chinotto
Mandarins - Clementine, Emperor, Imperial, Thorny
Lemons - Sweet: Meyer, Lemonade, Sour: Lisbon, Eureka, Fino, Villa Franca, Rough Lemon
Limes - Acid Lime, Kaffir, Rangpur, Australian Red Centre, Australian Sunrise, Sweet Lime, Native Finger Lime
Cumquats - Nagami, Marumi, Variegated
Grapefruit - Thompson's Pink, Rio Red, Marsh, Wheeny, Pumelo
Hybrids - Tangerine, Tangor, Tangelo, Honey Murcott, Satsuma, Calamondin

In terms of citrus care, Jodi emphasised how important the early preparations are before planting. Citrus is shallow rooted and is a heavy feeder so Jodi recommends planting them in partial shade where the plant gets enough light but not too much sun Jodi also recommends NO PLANTING IN POTS otherwise the plants become too much like babies, needing extra care and attention.  Another piece of wisdom from the show was to reuse your fish tank water on the your citrus tree. See… so many good tips! .

Gall Wasp and illustration of the galls that form

We finished the show talking about citrus pests and ways of dealing with them, in particular the two most common, the Gall Wasp and  Scale. Gall wasps are usually found around the foliage of the new shoots, they lay their eggs inside the branch and as the pupa grows and it causes these “galls” which is the swelling of the branch. Cutting if off and incinerating the branch is the best way of getting rid of it according to our expert

Jodi. Scale is found underside of the leaves and along the branches and the best way of its detection is the movement of ants up and down the tree as ants love the secretion from the scale.The best way of dealing with scale is to bust it off with your finger or use white oil in extreme conditions.

Well that wraps up a pretty comprehensive review of this week’s show but make sure you have a listen to the show so you don’t miss any important tips!

Leaving the best for last, listeners of the show this week were told of a chance to win some movie tickets. Environmentality will be giving away two movie tickets this week to one lucky listener who fills in the survey below. Pretty simple equation: 60 seconds of your time filling in survey = chance to win movie tickets.

CLICK HERE FOR SURVEY and Good Luck! We'll contact you next Wednesday if you are a winner.

Next week on the show we have Riki Edelsten, Melbourne Director of the Grow It Local campaign. Riki also has a long term association with the Sustainable Living Foundation so we will be discussing both the Grow It Local campaign and the upcoming Sustainable Living Festival which is occurring in Melbourne next month.

Environmentality wants to thank Smriti Panday for helping out with the blog this week ;)

Music Tracks:

Grandma’s Hands by MEG MAC

The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face by Roberta Flack

Clouds Over Tamworth by John Williamson

Love Me Do by The Beatles

Environmentality 14 January 2015, Daniel Sullivan, ASEN member and Student Environment Officer at University of Melbourne

Hello for another week of Environmentality! This week we spoke to a member of Australian Student Environmental Network (ASEN), Daniel Sullivan, about the group and how to get involved. Daniel is also the Student Environment Officer at The University of Melbourne so was also able to enlighten us on the various campaigns and groups running out of the university.  I suggest you listen to the show here if you missed it!

ASEN members on the Mining the Truth Roadtrip

Now for those who don’t know about ASEN, in summary it is the network of student environment groups from around Australia committed to building grassroots movements for change. The network links together a fluctuating group of around 38 university environment collectives and five state-based networks around Australia (thanks Wikipedia! The ever reliable and accurate internet resource). In other words, they organise a range of cool and inspiring projects and campaigns in the area of environment and social justice and provide an easy way for everyone to be involved! Some of the projects include an annual Students of Sustainability Conference, National Training Camp, bi-annual publication ‘Germinate’, various No Coal No Gas campaigns, Food Coops as well as working with Australia’s indigenous people for sovereignty and justice. On top of these, ASEN runs other training courses, training camps and conferences so search for and like them on Facebook to keep up to date on the current and upcoming events and visit their website to see how you can be involved and how to become a member.

fossilfreeuniversities.org.au

A major campaign that is currently running is the Fossil Free Universities campaign. If you want to find out what all the fuss is about and what part your university is playing then check out the website for all the facts and figures.

Some useful links related to this weeks show:



ANU chief Ian Young’s ethical sell call paying dividends – Published in The Australian (surprising) but unfortunately I cannot provide a link to the article as this one requires a membership (I’m thinking… CONSPIRACY). This article is referencing Australian National University’s decision to divest from fossil fuel including all its shares in Santos a few months back and just last week a report release by Credit Suisse stated that Santos shares may be worthless at current oil prices.

UNSW rejects divestment push – Blah blah…. UNSW don’t want to participate in “token political actions”, Christopher Pyne called the campaign “a Greens-led, anti-mining and energy divestment campaign that is damaging to some of our biggest companies and employers”. Greens-led? ummm... pretty sure it has been and continues to be led by members of communities, universities, banks, churches and any other organisations that have investment capabilities because these members are sick of the lack of action by Government and feel a moral and ethical obligation to do so, not to mention the financial benefits (See RIAA's Responsible Investment Benchmarking Survey 2014 Report!). At least Mr Pyne recognises the damage the campaign is doing to the dirty, unethical, environmentally damaging companies!

Coal curse: the black side of the subsidised resources boom – On older article (July 2012) but worth a read. Addresses the true cost of energy from coal by weighing up the real costs and benefits. Some surprising figures in this one (well, surprising if you’ve been subjected to mainstream media coal lobbyist claims).

Feel free to add more articles or make comments on these ones below!

ASEN members campaigning against AGL plans to frack the valley in Gloucester during the Mining the Truth Roadtrip

TUNE IN NEXT WEEK FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A PRIZE!!(movie tickets…shhh) More details will be provided during next week’s show!

Speaking of next week, we have Jody Jackson, our resident gardening expert coming in to have our monthly friendly, informative and funny discussion.

Music from this week:

The Wire by Haim

Everyone’s Waiting by Missy Higgins

Gonna Take A Little Rain by Andrew Duhon

Chain and Padlock by The Lurkers

Power And The Passion by Midnight Oil

I See Fire by Ed Sheeran