Green Drinks, Brisbane, Friday 15th October.
Met Anya van Goor who runs Flowers of the World, 178 Grey Street, Brisbane. She described how she has always been a florist, but began to suffer allergies and then got cancer. Her doctor remarked “ something is poisoning you” and she realised it was the chemicals incl Roundup and herbicides present in the cut flowers she was selling. So now everything she sells is organic. Her daughter was born with digestive probs, probably as a result of her mother’s endocrine disruption - see Theo Colborn’s book for WWF but was healed over time by a natural doctor.
Her daughter is now part of the Queensland environmental youth council. We shall want to make contact with von Lippe Bistefelt the Sister of the Dutch Queen, who created Nature College to expose Politicians to the need to understand the role of nature in our lives.
Tony Hall - The life and death of the Australian Backyard - showing how Australians work the most whitecollar hours of most OECD countries, compared to the happy go lucky atmosphere prevaliing in the 1980s. Australia has adopted the American model of living, taking on air conditioned cars and houses, and not living in accordance with its natural environment, such that now it has become hugely energy intensive
Tim Davies has been working for Cundall engineers for the University of Queensland, discovering that for 83% of the year, buildings in Queensland can survive without air conditioning or heating just with a bit of airflow.
CSIRO - the Australian National Scientific Research Office has done some work on how Australia can adapt to climate change, rather than mitigate it.
Chris
Friday, October 15, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Tuesday 12 October - Tweed Heads, the most northerly city in New South Wales
Tuesday 12 October: Jasper Hall to Cabarita Beach via Mullumbimby
Cycle Day no:
Total Day Tally:
Weather: a tiny bit of rain in the morning. Then cooler.
Terrain: Very very steep hill country at start, moderate hills in middle, and a12.5% hill at the end. Some of the toughest hills I have done with the trailer and bike.
Distance: 50km
The river level went down - 2km from Minyon Falls - after 5 days rain & we got away from Jasper Hall to Mullumbimby, linking up Rainforest Rescue u with Jasper Hall.
Learnt about the Australian Association for Bush Regeneration - AABR who have practical knowhow in rainforest resuscitation - an important skill since most red cedar forest was cut down under orders from Australian colonial governments. "You can have that land if you clear it" was the adage of the day. We hope to make links between them and Brazil and Sri Lanka.
Cycled back to Mullumbimby, to visit Mullum Mac to get a new backup hard drive for the computer, and then left via scenic old road to Cabarita beach, meandering through stunning verdant countryside and mixed forest, where wattle trees had been planted and cared for, leading to more variety in the forest, compared to so much of forest populated by Camphor Laurels. After settlers had felled all the red cedar and cleared the land, the birds spread the seed of the camphor laurel so widely that it has become a major shade tree, but also a major nuisance too.
Headed past abandoned railway route, and and over to Pottsvile and Cabarita beach where already Australia's unsustainable urban sprawl from Gold Coast can be seen, inexorably heading south, swallowing up pristine land in concrete. 1970s campsite set up in the 1970s by a Ken Hanson, big developer in the areas, later this year to be demolished for 3 storey apartment blocks. A shame. Camping next to a national park and the dunes, going to sleep to the sound of surf, and the small park very well tied, mowed and looked after by Brenda, who emigrated from Stockport, Manchester in 1966 and still has a strong Mancunian accent.
Cycle path northwards obstructed by more building works, building more houses jammed cheek by jowl, with little or no garden for growing edible plants. More tarmac, only a few singular bushes planted for effect rather than much thought about shade or nature.
Chris
Cycle Day no:
Total Day Tally:
Weather: a tiny bit of rain in the morning. Then cooler.
Terrain: Very very steep hill country at start, moderate hills in middle, and a12.5% hill at the end. Some of the toughest hills I have done with the trailer and bike.
Distance: 50km
The river level went down - 2km from Minyon Falls - after 5 days rain & we got away from Jasper Hall to Mullumbimby, linking up Rainforest Rescue u with Jasper Hall.
Learnt about the Australian Association for Bush Regeneration - AABR who have practical knowhow in rainforest resuscitation - an important skill since most red cedar forest was cut down under orders from Australian colonial governments. "You can have that land if you clear it" was the adage of the day. We hope to make links between them and Brazil and Sri Lanka.
Cycled back to Mullumbimby, to visit Mullum Mac to get a new backup hard drive for the computer, and then left via scenic old road to Cabarita beach, meandering through stunning verdant countryside and mixed forest, where wattle trees had been planted and cared for, leading to more variety in the forest, compared to so much of forest populated by Camphor Laurels. After settlers had felled all the red cedar and cleared the land, the birds spread the seed of the camphor laurel so widely that it has become a major shade tree, but also a major nuisance too.
Headed past abandoned railway route, and and over to Pottsvile and Cabarita beach where already Australia's unsustainable urban sprawl from Gold Coast can be seen, inexorably heading south, swallowing up pristine land in concrete. 1970s campsite set up in the 1970s by a Ken Hanson, big developer in the areas, later this year to be demolished for 3 storey apartment blocks. A shame. Camping next to a national park and the dunes, going to sleep to the sound of surf, and the small park very well tied, mowed and looked after by Brenda, who emigrated from Stockport, Manchester in 1966 and still has a strong Mancunian accent.
Cycle path northwards obstructed by more building works, building more houses jammed cheek by jowl, with little or no garden for growing edible plants. More tarmac, only a few singular bushes planted for effect rather than much thought about shade or nature.
Chris
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Friday 8-12 October, Wet Wet Wet - at Jasper Hall, near Lismore
Stayed at the permaculture community set up by Andi Islinger, and got marooned by the swollen rivers during 5 days continuous rain.
Three websites:
1- ">Jasper Hall book
2- Studying at different ecovillages.
3 - more on Jasper Hall here.
Three websites:
1- ">Jasper Hall book
2- Studying at different ecovillages.
3 - more on Jasper Hall here.
Monday, October 4, 2010
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