Switch on to our e-news! Switch off fossil power.
The next e-news will be published on Thursday, 13 March, so get your contributions in to us then, by 11am.
This fortnight we’ll let you in on a few workshops to help you build your house, compost for your garden, a killer termite treatment for under your house and a better place for your money than the Big Four.
And of course, this week the NHMRC found what we suspected all along (because of the 19 earlier reviews and reports … )
Windfarms safe – NHMRC
Australia’s leading expert public health organisation, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), has found no reliable or consistent evidence that wind farms cause ill health in humans.
Compost field day
Learn how to undertake on-farm composting to improve crop yield and pasture productivity. This free field day includes soil specialist Declan McDonald (DEPI) discussing the compost making process, suitable components and potential benefits.
Rural environmental leaders program
A sustainability leadership training program is coming to the Northern Rivers. Applications close Friday, 4 April, 2014. Are you passionate about making a change? Do you find yourself often frustrated by shortsighted policies or poor leadership in relation to environmental management? Here is an opportunity to increase your capacity as a change-maker and lead the way in creating a sustainable future.
Termites and me in Castlemaine
In my sleep I heard the jaws of millions of tiny white insects eating the foundations of my house. In my waking hours, every silverfish scuttling for cover and every flying ant diving for a light bulb was a termite worker or queen. Was I completely paranoid?
Read more
Grow what when … the planting guide
In central Victoria, April is the month to plant. We’re thinking about autumn and winter veggies and we’re over the sting of summer. Now may well be the time to come and buy one of our planting guides, Grow what when around Castlemaine. The guide includes a seasonal planting guide, methods to plant, making potting mixes, protecting plants from the weather and pests, and far more. At $20 the guides are a bargain. Throw in a wall chart for your toilet wall and it’s irresistible.
Available from the MASG office and the Hub Plot.
Community power for Fukushima
From 31 January until 2 February, Embark spoke at the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies-led third Japanese International Community Power Conference in Fukushima. Residents of the devastated Fukushima region are keen to take control of their energy supply and strengthen their community through community energy, and with a strongly committed nuclear-free Mayor, Fukushima prefecture has made the decision to become a 100% renewable energy region by 2040.
Workshops
Strawbale:
Dean Lamb is conducting a strawbale workshop Labour Day long weekend. Email kynetonkid@me.com. mobile ph number 0409434420.
Floors:
Jayson Burhop and Janet Phillips are building a new home in Campbells Creek and have invited local clay and straw expert, James Henderson to run a one day workshop, demonstrating how to build an earthen floor. Great fun for all ages. 2 Neates Rd, Campbells Creek, 15 March, 10am-3pm, $20/head (children free)
Contact Janet on 0400050399 or janetlouisephillips@gmail.com
The pallet house
This is such a neat idea we couldn’t resist it. The designers at I-Beam Design created the Pallet House Project because they were inspired by one simple, but unbelievable, fact: 84% of the world’s refugees could be housed with a year’s supply of recycled American pallets. Just based off of a year and a half year of pallet production in the US alone, 33 million refugees could live in a Pallet House. Read more
Slacktivism
Fracking
Download, print, sign and post to the address on the two petitions (Senate and House of Representatives) from the links below. When you Sign this National Petition against fracking and all unconventional gas mining it is like signing every anti-CSG/fracking Petition in Australia with just that one signature on each of “The Big Ban’s” two Federal Petitions (Senate and House of Reps).
It includes Australia’s “territorial seas” to stop the Industry going off-shore and damaging marine ecologies near our coast.
If you look at it this way you can see how invaluable your two signatures are via this national approach.
Please print and sign from the links below, sign and return.
Divestment
On 3 May, 350.org and Market Forces will hold Australia’s first ever national day of bank divestment action, where you and hundreds of bank customers can close your account and switch to a fossil free bank.
Our banks are funding a big problem. Since 2008, the “Big 4” – Westpac, Commonwealth, NAB and ANZ – have loaned almost $19 billion to new coal and gas projects in Australia. These projects threaten our land, water, health, the climate and precious ecosystems like the Great Barrier Reef.
Now’s our chance to step up the fight to protect our communities, climate and environment from the fossil fuel industry. It’s time to show the big banks that fossil fuels are not only bad for the climate, environment and communities – they’re bad for business. If the banks won’t divest from fossil fuels, then we’ll divest from them.
Tell Clive to stop dumping toxic wastewater into the reef
A Queensland nickel refinery owned by Clive Palmer has been dumping toxic wastewater into the Great Barrier Reef — even though the refinery was forbidden from doing so. As if breaking the law weren’t enough, Palmer is refusing to remove the pipe that spews toxic water into the reef.
Coal mine fire at Hazelwood
Last word
“Can you taste it Bruce? Can you taste the filth, the dirt, the oily blackness of that fossil fuel in our mouth as you choke and gag and spit it out? Do you still hear his voice in your head urging you to eat? Eat, eat eat. Your mother’s cries. Do you hear them? You should be Bruce. Because I know that it’s never left you alone. Now you can eat what you want to eat. For me, for you, for all the others. Now you can consume to your heart’s content or your soul’s destruction, whichever comes first. So eat.”
- Irvine Welsh, Filth
MASG is committed to activity and practical projects that reduce carbon and build community resilience in the face of climate change. We are very pleased to have a formal partnership with Energy for the People to explore a new model to bring affordable solar energy to the community in a way that delivers a social dividend. They bring an innovative, fresh approach to delivering renewable energy projects, without the fuss. We are presently working together to pilot the model in Mount Alexander Shire.
Learn more about the MASG Local Food Production group and the demonstration garden The Hub Plot
