Not letting the grass grow on waste

MASG has:

• Put a submission into the Council as part of Council’s Four Year Plan development, in which, among other things, we sought improvements to the management of waste. We were pleased to see in the draft Four Year Plan that Council is committed to improve its waste management.
• Gone into partnership with the Bendigo Sustainability Group, the Macedon Ranges Sustainability Group and e Calder Regional Waste Management Group to develop an behaviour change waste management project. More details below.
• Set a date for all of us to explore the new recycling venture at Pumphouse (see below)

 

Visit the Pumphouse Recycling site

A wonderful new complex is opening in Castlemaine, so put 6 June at 10am into your diaries and meet at the end of Lewis Drive (which is the entrance to the yard). Lewis Drive is off the Midland Highway not far past the XXXX Antique complex if you are coming from Castlemaine CBD.

 

The Go Below Waste Behaviour Project – we need you!

We are going to compete with Bendigo and Macedon Ranges to see how many people we can recruit to the Go Below campaign.

The campaign asks you to register. When you do, you get a sticker to put on your bin, and you then try not to fill your bin above that level. Each week you get an encouraging enews telling a story of how some people have been successful. (Probably not good to fill your neighbours’ bins – you need to try and cut down).

We need your help to:

• register after 2 June when it is launched
• encourage your neighbours also to join
• find places where we can leave registration forms for people to put their names and contacts down
• tell us your stories of how you have reduced your waste
• do some simple data entry
• help staff some stalls either at Wesley Hill or outside the paper shop if we can get a booking there.

If you can help us in any way, please contact Bronwen Machin via email or phone her on 0438 867 183

 

The Hub Plot Jottings

Activities in the last few weeks have included:

• Holding  a morning tea to celebrate National Volunteers Week with scrumptious food supplied by Alex from The Good Table. This was a thanks to all the wonderful volunteers involved with the Hub Plot. We didn’t mind huddling under the peppercorn tree to avoid the rain.

• On Tuesday six of us gathered horse manure to super-charge our compost.
• Twelve of us gathering at Kathryn’s home and give her a boost with the mud cobbing of their home. There was great spirit of getting a job done, which the family really appreciated.
• This week we hosted a lunch of people involved in local food production. Again we had to huddle under the peppercorn tree with the rain coming down. We had a seed-and-plant swap which added a lot of interest to things. Our plans are to hold this event each season. So watch this space!
• Garlic and tree onions from Tute’s Cottage are now planted. We’ve been gathering piles of autumn leaves for composting. There a have been loads of apples and quinces on the swap table. This week lush celery from Wendy’s wicking bed and large tree onions from Lance’s have ripened.
• Jobs we are planning over the next few weeks include beautifying our ‘worm city’, making space for an aquaponics set up and setting up the new strawberries.

Bush dance for climate change

While Australia is feeling the effects of climate change, people in poor countries are bearing and will continue to bear the full brunt of climate change.

The poorest communities in the world are suffering because of the actions of the richest nations.

Help raise money for Oxfam via a fun bush dance, with easy, called dances by the Centenary Bushband: Jane Thompson, James Rigby and friends, on Saturday 1 June at the Castlemaine Town Hall, 6pm-10pm

Soup and bread served at 7pm. $20 single, $40 family, an alcohol-free event. Tickets at door.

Donate to Oxfam any time Enquiries Judith Tregear on 54 705747

 

Painting Gale

“We pitched our tents under the giant blades and got down to work. As far as I know, I’m the first artist to ever paint a mural on a wind turbine.”

The Hepburn Windfarm’s turbines add power to the grid at Daylesford and the surrounding area, and is Australia’s first community-owed co-op windfarm.

Ghostpatrol was asked to paint ‘Gale’ – watch the video to see how the team was assembled, and the background research.

Maggots for dinner?

UN report says insects could be food of the future
The thought of eating insects like maggots, beetles, caterpillars and ants may give you the creeps, but a United Nations report says they may be the food of the future.

Conventional wisdom on renewables? Out of date!

“We’re 15-20 years out of date in how we think about renewables,” said Dr Eric Martinot to an audience at the first Pathways to 100% Renewables Conference held 16 April in San Francisco.

Read their eye-opening 2013 Renewables Global Futures report.

 

Advocating for solar power

The million-plus Australian residents with solar panels on their roofs will be less likely to be treated poorly by power companies and politicians following the creation of a new advocacy group, its backers say.  The group, Solar Citizens, expects to muster tens of thousands of members in a bid to defend the rights of the million-plus homes with panels on their roofs.  

Slacktivism!

 Click here.

The classic 1950s fibro is getting a thoroughly modern makeover – and it could virtually eliminate power bills for thousands of homes. Over the past 18 months, 35 students from the University of Wollongong and TAFE Illawarra developed the fibro of the future: a solar-powered, naturally ventilated and well-insulated ”no bills” home that produces as much energy as it uses.

 

 

Solar panels catch wind

Solar panels were cheaper than wind turbines for the first time last year in certain markets, per unit of capacity, and are rapidly closing a remaining gap in the full cost of power generation.

 

Our summer of heat continues

Australia’s run of exceptionally warm weather has extended into May, giving us our second-hottest start to the year on record.

The Australian Government’s Clean Energy Future package is an important environmental and economic reform.

See the map at: http://www.cleanenergymap.gov.au/

 

Last word

For Bill McKibben, the real date to mark in the history books has yet to arrive: “I don’t think (reaching 400ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere) will be the turning point. The turning point will be when we do something about it.”