Environmentality, 3rd April 2013

We had a jammed packed show today with 3 guest, Emma de Campo and Chandra Sundareswara from the Moreland Energy Foundation (MEFL), and Dr. Mariann Lloyd-Smith, Senior Advisor for the InternationalPOPs Elimination Network (IPEN) and Senior Advisor for National Toxics NetworkInc. The Moreland Energy Foundation (MEFL) is non-for-profit organisation working with community that provides advice to residents and businesses about easy energy saving tips. The National Toxicity Network is a non- profit, non-government organisation that works with communities across Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific towards a toxic free world. IPEN is comprised of over 700 non-government organisations over 100 countries, all working towards a world which chemicals that are produced and used in way that are safe on humans, animals and the environment

First up were Emma and Chandra to chat about MEFL’s segments about business energy efficiency. A series of interviews with business owners, the segments highlights some of the great work by Chandra and the Positive Charge team. Federally funded by the Energy Efficiency Information Grants Program, working across 9 municipalities in the north and numerous multicultural communities, the program works with businesses to make saving energy easy, simple and affordable!

Unfortunately we were unable to play the segments, hopefully when Emma and Chandra are back in a few weeks the segments will be working. To find out more go to the website or call 9385 8555

Dr. Mariann Lloyd-Smith provided us with an engrossing discussion about endocrine disruptors. It was alarming to discover that out of the 80,000 chemicals in the world; only a handful has been assessed, and that Australia has only tested 2-3 thousand of its 3800 chemicals.  Found in a range of products such as plastics, preservatives and pesticides, endocrine disruptors interfere with our ability to regulate growth, metabolism and development by mimicking natural hormones. The effects of endocrine disruptors can be seen to effects at very low levels. Exposure at early development can lead to reproductive issues later in life, behavioural and learning disorders, endocrine cancers, diabetes, fat development and weight gain.  For the latest effects see World healthOrganisation: state of science of endocrine disruptors

   

With trade secrets protecting industries from labelling and listing harmful chemicals, we can all do our part by choosing to purchase organic and things made from natural products, eating less meat and dairy, avoiding exposure, minimising cosmetic products, and put pressure on companies, industry and governments to regulate these chemicals.    

To learn more about the Stockholm convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP), click here

For further reading: Slow death by rubber duck

Don't forget to tune into the podcast!

Tracked played:

Yothu Yindi- Healing Stone

Charlie McGee- Get together

Tarmac Adam

Grace Knight- Your Cheatin Heart  

Environmentality, 20 March 2013

Today Smokey and Ahmed spoke to Christina from Landcare Australia and our resident gardener, Jodie

Christina came in today to let us know about the Live Grow Explore Community Day at the Woodlands National Park on Sunday the 24th March. A free event open to the whole community, it is to celebrate the start of a 3 year revegetation project Jemma is undertaking along the Moonee Ponds Creek. You’ll be sure to have a great day with activates such as face painting, petting live reptiles, BQQ by the Glenroy Lions Club, nature walk, bike tour, planting native grass revegetation, painting a mural using natural materials and live music by local band Cold Snap.   

Click here to learn more about the Woodlands Historical Park 

Autumn is the ideal time for planting new plants. With good moisture in the soil, you’re more likely to have better luck planting in this season, particular with evergreen plants like citrus and natives. It is the perfect time to be planting autumn or winter crops such as amaranth, beetroot, broccoli, carrot and cabbage.      

Amaranth, courtesy of australiangardener.com.au  

Thinking about what to feed your citrus? Jodie recommends natural alternatives such as chook manure, blood and bones, compost, pot ash, mulch or wood ash.  Citrus are prone to scale (black and brown dots). So if you see ants roaming up and down the plant, it is likely that you have scale as the ants like to feed off the sugary sap.

Do you have Gall wasp? August is when the wasp hatch so the best time to get rid of them is before then. If you see holes in the gall, then the wasp are already gone. To get rid of the wasp, cut 5-10 cm from the gall and put it into the fire or in a plastic bag in the sun.    

Courtesy of abc.net.au

Why should we prune? Just like a haircut, pruning will prepare the tree for new spring growth so that more energy is used to make new leaves and fruit or flowers. When pruning good airflow is needed, so look for crisscrossing branches.  Pruning can be put into 2 categories: winter pruners and late summer autumn pruning. Stone fruit pruning needs to be done in warmer weather after taking the fruit to prevent the plant from getting sick. For deciduous fruits trees, wait until it losses all of leaves. Prune 1/3 of the previous year’s growth.

Upcoming events this weekend:

Edible suburban gardens

The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show (Wednesday 20^th – Sunday 24^th at the Royal Exhibition Building Melbourne)

Earth Hour

To learn more about the Lemon Tree Project, click here 

Don't forget to listen to the podcast as well!

Tracks Played:

Dog on Wheels- Belle and Sebastian

Ace of Spades- Motorhead

Race for the Prize- The Flaming Lips

Treasure- Po

Environmentality, 13 March 2013

Kate Lawrence from Green Renters visited the show again to chat about what we can do around the home to be green. Green Renters is a non-for-profit organisation that who works with renters to help them live more sustainably within the limitations of being a renter.

Courtesy of Green Renters

What is the main barrier of living green in rental homes? Kate has found that a lot of owners are very interest in what they can do, however the problem of shortage of renter properties means that there are no real financial incentives for the landlords to put in green incentives. In light of these barriers, Kate focuses on changing our behaviour and participating in local initiatives.   

Kate’s Top 5 tips:

1. Turning off energy when not in use as standby power can still use up to 20% of power. Kate’s recommendation: turning off the power at the power point.    

2. Draft proofing and insulation:  blinds on outside of windows or coating and door snakes

3. Hot water issues: check water leaks, washing clothes in hot water, setting hot water to reasonable temperature and insulate pipe. 

4. Think about the composition of your household, what kind of standards do you have, what are your deal breakers, ways to negotiate things and what things will make it easier to be green?

5. Get involved with people who are doing similar things and meet likeminded people

Following all top 5 tips can save 20-30% of energy use in homes!

To hear Smokey’s editorial on Melbourne’s unprecedented weather and to listen to more of Kate’s tips, tune into the podcast. 

Get the podcast here!

Tracked Played:

Waitin’ for a Superman- Flaming Lips

Centrefold- J Geils Band

My Mother The War- 10,000 Maniacs

Silver Machine- Hawkwind

Let’s Make the Water Turn Black- Frank Zappa 

Environmentality, 6 March 2013

Kevin Mahon, land-management officer at the Hume City Council dropped by today to chat about the war against weeds and pest.

A competitor of native grasses, the serrated tussock is of most concern due to its miss-identification with native grasses. The serrated tussock pushed out native grasses from areas; grazing animals eat native grasses, helping the serrated tussock grow. Nothing else will grow in areas covered in serrated tussocks.  What can we do? Kevin’s first tip is to start learning about it! Chemicals can be very effective; however people tend to use the wrong chemicals which will worsen the situation.

Courtesy of  dpi.vic.gov.au

What is one of the most concerning pest in Hume? Rabbits! What’s the magnitude of the problem? It’s big. Kevin recommends first counting the rabbits over a couple of nights if you do find any on your property. Then seeking further advice about what can be done. Short term program such as baiting can be effective. A long term solution is fencing. Kevin advises a combination of strategies and to stay away from trapping and shooting.

Can you harvest rabbits? Yes! But we need to be careful about commercial harvest due to legalisation that prevents the spread of rabbits.

To find out more about foxes, frogs, feral cats, blackberries and garden species: listen to our podcast!

For more information and resources about pest and weeds, see the Hume City Council’s website

Tune into the Podcast!

Tracks played:

Flaming lips- Race for prize (Sacrifice of the New Scientists)

Nick Cave- Push the Sky Away

Patti Smith

Raining treasure- The Traffic

Environmentality, 27 February 2013

Carolyn, Marianna, Danielle and Nicole from the Western Polytechnic Institute, the United States was here to work on Banksia Garden’s Science Education Program. The girls worked to embed longevity into the science program. Based on loss of interest in science careers, Banksia hope to promote science to schools. We managed to wrangle the girls into going to the Sustainable Living Festival on the 15^th of February while they were here.

Courtesy of Banksia Gardens

Here are is the list of groups that the girls spoke to:

•  Car next door: car sharing website that allows people to lease their cars when you’re not using it. In sharing cars, not only are we reducing the resources used in making new cars, but also encouraging more people use alternative forms of transport such as walking and public transport. Piloting in Bondi, they are looking to expand into Brisbane and Melbourne 
•  Australia organic schools: free school gardens resources to help schools implement gardening into their curriculum 
•  Green Renters: helps renters live more sustainably by providing advice on what renters can do legally to greener lifestyles. Green Renters also runs workshops to provide people with ideas and tools to implement in their homes 
• Poo Power: Reducing the amount of dog waste going into rivers and making people sick by collecting dog waste to generate bio-energy. 
•  DYI Double Glaze: Double glaze units to replace existing windows, hence improving insulation 
• Positive charge: a social enterprise of the Moreland Energy Foundation, positive charge has expanded to work with other council areas. Positive Charge also provides to get free phone advice, and connects people to resources and service providers  
• Re-place: divert plastic from landfill and turns it into things that don’t break down such as furniture, signage and decking.
• PJT green plumbing: plumbing that focuses on sustainable initiatives such as rain water tanks and solar hot waters
• Landcare Victoria: promoting and supporting community conservation and friends groups, sustainable agricultural, urban groups, education in schools and protection of crown land 

We’re certainly glad to hear that the girls liked our public transport system, amount of bicycles in the city and availability of recycling bins!

To learn more about the Science Education Program and listen to the girl’s impression of Melbourne, tune into the podcast! If you would like more information into the Science Education Program, you can leave a comment on the blog or give Jaime a call at Banksia on 9309 8531 

To hear about the girls experience, tune in here

Tracks played:  

We Won’t Cry- Archie roach

Fighting Kind- Ainslie Wills

I awake- Sarah Blasko

Environmentality- 20th February 2013

Hello Environmentality Listeners,

Today Jodie wasn’t feeling well so was unable to come in for our regular gardening segment; we hope that she’s feeling better now. But Jaime, Smokey and Admed did speak to Robyn Deed from The Alternative Technology Association about the latest issue of ReNew magazine.  

Courtesy of the ATA

The current issue of ReNew focuses on reuse of materials. Robyn highlights that building materials make up 40% of landfill, hence by reusing materials not only are we diverting materials from landfill but also reducing up to 90% of the embodied energy in houses. Using shipping containers to build a temporary shopping mall in New Zealand, a studio in the backyard or a home demonstrates some of the ingenuous designs from using recycled materials.      

Towards guilt free cooling by Allen Pears guides us through the practicalities of heating and cooling.  Allen goes into different types of cooling such as insulation, windows, roof and walls, and active energy consuming cooling. Allen suggest that simple test we can all do if we are unsure whether a window is causing overheating is to place the shinny side of the cooking foil on the inside of the window to see if it makes any difference to temperature or energy cost.  

Martin Freney discusses earthship homes and its radical design using recycled car tyres filled with dirt, dirt walls and a greenhouse. Martin’s research has shown that earthships homes in New Mexico are able to maintain stable temperatures without the need for heating and cooling.  Furthermore, comparing the earthship homes to other types of construction materials, earthship comes out on top when built with a greenhouse. Without a greenhouse, earthship’s energy efficient has been shown to very similar to insulated and concrete block.    

Given the vast options of solar panels available, Stephan Ingrouille’s article helps us to work out which is best with a 15 point check list. Some of the things to ask are panel efficiency, price, manufacture’s product and performance warranty, insulation warranty and features.    

For more information about ReNew or access to the forums, you can access the website here

We look forward to talking with Robyn again about the next issue of ReNew.

Don't forget to listen to the podcast!

Tracked played today:

Saltwater band- Wapango

The Sundays- Skin and Bones

The Sea Urchins- Pristine Christine

Joy Division- She’s Lost Control Again

Environmentality- 13th February 2013

Hello Environmentality Listeners,

Today Jaime chatted with Robert Bender from the Friends of the Organ Pipes National Park (FOOPS), Smokey dropped by a little later towards the end of the show. Robert has been a member of FOOPs since 1983.

Located off the Calder Hwy in Sydenham, The Organ Pipes National Park is the smallest national park in Victoria. The significance of the park is the basalt columns or organ pipes, a volcanic formation that formed when volcanoes erupted 1 to 2 million years ago to fill in the old river valleys. The area was initially used as a ground to teach geology students about volcanism. 

Courtesy of FOOPS

FOOPS was established in 1972 when the group volunteered to restore the park from pastoral land filled with weeds, pest and rubbish to its natural state. In 1973 FOOPS propagated seeds in the park, and after 15 years the trees were inhabited by animals. An animal study conducted by the Arthur Riley Institute discovery of 7 species of bats lead to the installation of 10 bat boxes in 1992. 27 additional boxes have since been installed totaling 37 bat boxes with a count of 470 bats. Sugar gliders were released into the park in 1989. The sugar gliders eat the black wattle sugar turned into gum in the winter. Unfortunately as the black wattles were all planted during the same period they also all died in the same year, so all of a sudden there were no trees and the sugar glider population was greatly impacted. However it is great news to hear that new trees were planted which are now coming into maturity and the sugar gilder population is growing. Weeding continues to be an ongoing project due to pest such as the Artichoke Thistle, African Boxthorn and the Prickly Pear.

Courtesy of foter.com

The park is extraordinarily active with monthly working bees and bat, frog, sugar glider and water studies. Robert stresses the significance of volunteers to the restorative success of the park, however with decreases in volunteers numbers, more volunteers are needed to help continue the fantastic work done so far. Given that it will take about 500 years to restore the ecosystem, and out of the 300 species needed to restore the park to its natural state only 50 species has been reestablished, Robert reminds us all that ongoing commitment along with a much better funding and support system is needed to ensure that the incredible work by FOOPS continues into the future.   

Anyone can join the group and any of the projects. To join you can contact Parks Victoria on 13 1963. You can also email Robert at redneb.trebor@gmail.com or Terry Lane at terry2653@hotmail.com.

We would like to thank Robert for coming on to the show and showing us what can happen when a group of volunteers get together to work on a common goal!

For more information about FOOPS you can access the link to their website here

Listen to the podcast here

Tracks played:

Archie Roach- Song to Sing

Oh Mercy- Confessions

Mia dyson- tell me

Linda Ronstadt- Blue Bayou

Linda Ronstadt- Winter light

Shane Howard- Solid Rock