e-news 20th April 2007
Posted on 20 April 2007 by e-news
Mount Alexander Sustainability Group Weekly News Digest
A summary of news and events: for further details follow the links or contact the office on (03) 54 70 6978
MASG NEWS
MASG cracks 300!! We welcome Karen Nancarrow of the Down to Earth Store as our 300th member. MASG now has 311 members and building. Pass a membership form on to a friend as we want 400.
Volunteer thank you and celebration: 27 April, 5pm to 8pm [not 20th as previously announced] at Faulder Watson Hall, Barker St, Castlemaine, between the library and Post Office. Finger food, drink and “light” entertainment provided. Come along, give us your feedback and celebrate your achievements.
Sustainable schools is taking off….
1. Castlemaine Secondary College: Environmental Awareness Week – MASG is organising the launch on 30th April, at 1pm, at the Etty Street campus. Please encourage your teenager to attend, and come along too. Castlemaine’s deputy carbon cop (Lifon Henderson) starts his beat to encourage everyone in to the canteen for the launch
2. On Friday 27th MASG and Terry White Associates are hosting a meeting at Castlemaine North to form a cluster schools who are moving towards carbon neutral.
3. Do you want to volunteer to help us help our schools become more sustainable..? If so, contact Ian on 5470 6978, or ian@masg.org.au
27 + 28 April – carbon calculator households meet again. 12 households began this process in March. If you would like to join them, contact Ian on 5470 6978, or ian@masg.org.au
Volunteering at MASG
Do something for sustainability – we are planning the next few months – no festivals, but dozens of other great opportunities. [If you are “festivalled out”, take a break, we look forward to some future link with you.] Or you may be ready to take on a new challenge with MASG, [or simply keep on doing the great work you already do], there are three main ways you can be involved as a volunteer at MASG:
1 Regular jobs in the office, mainly administrative, that can be done at times to suit you; this includes refining our digital photo library, updating our newspaper cutting records, website work, data base management, etc.;
2 One-off events and activities, such as helping organise the Secondary College’s environment awareness week that starts on 30 April, or being a speaker about MASG at other events;
3 Working groups, on renewables, sustainable building, transport etc – usually this means attending a regular meeting, plus things to do between meetings.
Please let us know what you would like to do. We can find 1001 things to keep you busy!
* Transport working group initial meeting: interested people are invited to join us and form a working group. We aim to convene at MASG on Thursday 3rd of May at 9.30am. If this time or date doesn’t suit you let us know so we can explore other times or dates.
Festival news continues….Still some great coverage coming up on the web: see Scott juicing oranges, and a report of the breakfast
New photos will continue to appear on our website – click the photos button at top right.
Do you have any pics of your own from the festival that you could share with us?
OTHER EVENTS – not endorsed by MASG
* Ballarat: Big BREAZE Brainstorm on Sat. 21st April between 12:30 – 4pm.
* An Energy Efficiency Event. Saturday5 May, 4-6.30pm at the Uniting Church Hall Mr Ray Prowse, Manager of the Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems at ANU is visiting Castlemaine. Ray will outline choices for mobilizing our community into increased energy efficiencies and explaining the new sliver cell technology. This event is being held in conjunction with ANU-CSES, the Macedon Ranges Sustainability Group and Braemar College. Tickets are $10 and children are free. A screening of “The Inconvenient Truth” will follow the session.
* Compost week 6-12 May Get down and get dirty for your garden and your planet with hints on http://www.compostweek.com.au/
Embodied water
It takes 200 litres of water to produce a 350 ml bottle of water. How much water does it take to produce a cup of tea? More than you might think – about 35 litres (8 gallons). That’s because you need buckets of the stuff to grow the tea leaves in the first place. By the same logic, it takes about 1,450 litres to produce a kilogram of wheat. And a kilo of beef requires up to 15,000 litres, the amount necessary to grow the grain to feed the cow that ends up in your burger. 22 Mar 2007 15:53:00 GMT; Reuters AlertNet. entire article .
At present usage rates the high grade ore bodies currently being mined would last around 80 years. If nuclear power went from providing 16% of the world’s electricity to 80%, then this reduces to 16 years. This suggests that, if lower grade ores are not effectively available, nuclear electricity has a limited future. It would also imply that expanding nuclear power is counter-productive in terms of combatting greenhouse gas emissions. see link
FINAL WORD
Thoughts on MASG’s work with schools….
“History is a race between education and catastrophe”
H.G Wells
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