Environmentality- 16th January 2013

Dear Environmentality listeners,

First of all, we’d like to extend our apologies for some of the technical difficulties experienced at the start of the show but we managed to persevere nonetheless! Also apologies for the late blog, we had some problems uploading the podcast but that’s all fixed now!

Once again we had our wonderful resident gardening expert, Jodi Jackson in to discuss helpful tips for seed saving. According to Jodi, the art of seed saving is a great, cost effective way to grow your own plants. Now it isn’t as hard as it sounds because plants are naturally designed to set seeds and by saving those seeds you’re not only helping your hip pocket but also helping to keep plant diversity alive. 

Harvesting seeds can be tricky but there are many different ways to do it. Take for example, Kale. Part of the cabbage family, Jodi was able to share with us that she harvests its seeds by ripping the leaves off.

Some important things to remember about harvesting seeds are: 

Courtsey of thisoldhouse.com

• This can occur annually, bi-annually, seasonally depending on the plant
•   Don’t try to save everything and to share seeds around with family and friends 
• Finer seeds such as lettuce have a shorter shelf life of about 1 year

Often people wonder which seeds to save and according to Jodi, saving seeds can be subjective and she’s shared the following three handy tips to help you identify which plants are the best.
 
Save seeds from:

•   The healthiest plants
•  Those that bear the biggest fruit
• Those that produce the best colour/shape – brightest colour, shape of leaf, shape of fruit etc

Courtesy of drgrowgood.co.uk 

Once you harvest those seeds, it’s also important to make sure you make the most of them by storing them correctly. Now there are different opinions on how with some people going as far as storing their seeds in specials fridges with thermometers but fear not! Jodi recommends the following fail safe tips for seed storage.

• Store in a cool place, out of sunlight 
•   Make sure it’s stored in an air tight jar/container, snap lock bag or a paper envelope will do
• Storage must be dry

Different seeds have different germination techniques but Jodi recommends 9/10 times on growing more directly from planting seeds in the ground than in punnets. In the ground not only do they have a greater chance of absorbing more nutrients but also being pollinated either by wind or through insects and animals. 

For a fantastic guide to saving seeds, Jodi highly recommends “The Seed Savers Handbook” by Michel & Jude Fanton.

For step by step visuals and more information from our specialist Jodi, also visit http://www.everydayinthegarden.com/

 

Just a reminder that Hume City Council in conjunction with Environment Victoria has opened up the HumeEnvironmental Champions Program 

 for 2013 where Hume residents are encouraged to come together to learn, share interests and knowledge on the environment and sustainability. In groups, residents are also encouraged to come up with their own environmental initiatives to help the community and it would be great to see some familiar and fresh faces getting involved! The top community initiatives of 2012 came from Sunbury Organic Fruit and Veggie Co-op, Community Garden on Private Land and The Lemon TreeProject.

Happy seed saving!

If you have any questions for Jodie please twitter, sms or comment on the blog. And don’t forget to listen to the podcastfor the full show!

Songs played during this show:

Strangers by Portishead

500 (shake baby shake) by Lush

His indie world by Mary Lou Lord

A track from Grizzle bear’s Album Veckatimest

Drums by Ol Mercy

Environmentality, 9 January 2013

Dear Environmentality listeners, 

First of all, Happy New Year! This was the first show for the year after some well-deserved (if we say so ourselves) holidays. Smokey and I were lucky to be joined by our new presenter Ahmed, who, as I am sure you all noticed, has a natural talent for radio :).

Given that Ahmed is a self-confessed novice with regard to environmental issues, this week we took advantage of the opportunity to continue explaining some basic concepts including Global Warming Potential or Carbon Dioxide Equivalent. We also talked about how long each greenhouse gas stays in the air and a little bit about the role of trees and forests in relation to climate change. Using some data from the wonderful World Resources Institute, we provided some information about how different industries and activities contribute to total global emissions.

Young Ahmed

After this, we covered a couple of interesting articles that have appeared recently on the news. The first one was about the fact that temperatures in the United States have reached record levels in 2012, making last year by far the hottest year in the history books.

The second article had to do with a recent report that has been released by the World Economic Forum about Geoengineering. Most of the information for today's show was sourced from The Guardian  website. 

On top of that, we heard some groovy tracks from artists including Adele, Stereolab, Pete Seeger, Feist and others.

Listen to the show!

Environmentality 19 December 2012

Dear Environmentality Listeners,

Smokey and Jaime were joined by our resident gardening expert, Jodi Jackson today to discuss caring for your garden during the holidays.

The important message Jodi would like to share is that if you go away and leave your garden, it is important to prepare your garden beforehand! Here are some of her tips:

 - Provide your garden beds with an extra sprinkle of blood and bone, chicken manure pellets or rock dust.
 - Plants in pots need additional feeding compared to plants in soil.
 - Conserve water by stacking pots together, which keeps sun off the edge of pots.  If pots heat up on the outside from sunlight and heat, the roots of plant can be literally, 'cooked'.
 - Mulching provides beneficial nutrients to the straw, for example pea straw provides nitrogen to plants once it is broken down in the soil. Be careful with gumtree and pine tree leaves and bark, both of which have grown inhibitors contained within them
 - Don't scatter pots around a large garden, as you may forget to water some of them.  Don't stack pots together on the northern or western sides of your property. The exceptions this rule are a) you have a large pot with a hardy plant like a succulent, b) if it is an irrigated pot or c) there is shade on the northern side.
  - A good tip is to use a colourful stake to help garden carers to pay special attention to watering your 'needy' plant.
 - Water timers can be purchased for as little as $30, and can be used with batteries.
 - It is useful to purchase plants from a variety of nurseries, which minimises the risk of plant disease and fungal issues affecting all of your plants.
 - Rhubarb plants are heavy feeders and best cared for by providing heavy amounts of manure around each plant, the worms take care of the rest!
- Share and document your observations about your local garden and area on www.natureshare.org.au

Jodi is making broad bean dip from her crop, now safely frozen, whereby you blanche the inside part of each broad bean, then crush them with olive oil, garlic, pepper and paprika. She is also making a roasted carrot and avocado dip, which is delicious with toasted chiabata bread.

Today the following tunes were played:
  Sultans of Ping - Where's My Jumper
  Joey Ramone - I Couldn't Sleep At All
  Zelenuft - Beta Zolar

Thankyou to Jodi for providing such fantastic insight.  We will hear more from Jodi next year, and will also continue to follow the Lemon Tree Project.  We wish all listeners a Merry Christmas and festive season, we hope you will listen in again to Environmentality 98.9FM in the New Year!

Environmentality 12 December 2012

Dear Environmentality Listeners,

Jaime and Smokey have been joined by a new co-presenter, Ahmed, and we look forward to having his fresh perspective on the show!

Environmentality reflected on important milestones in the establishment of climate change science, which can be traced to 1827 when Jean-Baptistse Fourier first used a 'greenhouse analogy' in relation to earth weather warming.  New Scientist recently published an article detailing this milestone and many others in reference to climate change science, recommended reading for Environmentality listeners.    The New Scientist website has information about climate change and the climate change science timeline article on their website: www.newscientist.com/topic/climate-change

Next week will be the last for the year and we hope you can listen in to Environmentality 98.9 FM then. Thankyou to Alicia, our wonderful Production Coordinator who has done a remarkable job for the Environmentality team.  She is sadly leaving the show and we wish her all the best in her future endeavours!

The excellent music played today included:
   Velvet Underground - Waiting for my Man
   The Go Betweens - The House Jack Kerouac Built
   The Presets - Ghosts

Environmentality 5 December 2012

Dear Environmentality Listeners,

Smokey and Jaime had the pleasure of interviewing Sarah Robins, Project Manager of Sustainable Table, to discuss sustainable eating and her latest book, Seasonal Regional.

The Sustainable Table is a non-for-profit organisation that aims to help understand how people impact significantly on the environment simply through their food choices.  In fact, 60% of our eco footprint in Australia relates to our choices about food.

As Sarah shared with listeners, it is easy for people to miss the larger environmental impact around food production.  For example, the transport, storage and packaging of food all have an impact on the environment to varying degrees. In particular, a large part of our eco footprint is largely connected to eating meat products, which utilises a large amount of our natural resources in animal feed, water and land.

Image Courtesy of Sustainable Table

Eating locally produced, in-season, organic and/or biodynamic products, all help to reduce our environmental footprint, and eating this way is actually healthier for people too!  If you are a meat eater, choose free-range and grass fed meats from ethical meat suppliers.  Also, demand and choose sustainable seafood and fish (a guide can be found here: www.sustainableseafood.org.au).

As Jaime said, choosing to eat sustainably reflects the 'environmentality way'... namely a small change in our behaviour can be better for the world and environment, but also better for your life!

In Australia, the 'Meat Free Monday' campaign was recently launched.  It will help people to consider where they are sourcing their meat and seafood from, and reflect on the environmental  impact of their food consumption choices.

Sarah Robin's book Seasonal Regional has references to 69 food producers in Victoria, featuring plenty of vegetarian and non-vegetarian recipes, helping to inspire sustainable culinary creations.  A second edition of Sarah Robin's first book The Sustainable Table is also available for purchase, with proceeds helping to fund Sustainable Table projects.   Either of these fantastic books would make great Christmas gifts!

You can find these books and more information about the organisation at: www.sustainabletable.org.au.   Thankyou to Sarah for speaking on Environmentality 98.9 FM.  If you missed the show a podcast will be available shortly.

The following excellent tunes were played:
   - Tricky - Black Steel (Been Caught Steeling Mix)
   - David Bowie - Ashes to Ashes (guest choice!)
   - Derwent River Star - Paradise Motel
   - Rialto - Monday Morning 5.19

Environmentality November 28 2012

Dear Environmentality Listeners,

Jaime, Smokey and Sarah had the pleasure of interviewing Ben Sanders, Community Conservation Officer from Zoos Victoria to discuss the Beads for Wildlife campaign.

Zoos Victoria is responsible for the Melbourne Zoo, Healesville Sanctuary and Werribee Zoo.  Zoos Victoria undertake conservation work and run a number of fantastic campaigns, including the Beads for Wildlife campaign.  See: www.zoo.org.au

Image Courtesy of Zoos Victoria

The campaign supports communities in Meleko in Northern Kenya to make beaded work that is available for sale from Zoos Victoria, online and at the various zoo locations.   Around 600 women from the communities are producing beaded products, an alternative source of income to utilising the ever threatened natural resources.  70% of the profit generated from the beaded products goes directly to the women.

Ben visited the area and could see how interrelated people and the wildlife are in Meleko.  The people are the custodians of the wildlife.  Northern Kenya is currently in a drought situation, putting an extra strain on the natural resources.  Communities are supported via the program in conservation by having an alternative income apart from for example animal hunting or utilising the trees and vegetation.

The beaded work itself is beautiful, ranging from jewellery through to ornamental pieces, all of which make great christmas gifts! Order online here:  http://shop.zoo.org.au/shop/beads-for-wildlife.html

Thankyou to Ben for sharing with us details about this wonderful program.  If you missed the show, a podcast will be available shortly. 

We played:

  Dog on Wheels - Belle & Sebastian
  Velvet Underground & Nico - I'll be Your Mirror
  Shane Nicholson & Kasey Chambers - The Quiet Life