sustainability news 21 December 2007
Posted on 20 December 2007 by e-news
MASG News and Events
For more info call 5470 6978
MASG thankyou: we are so grateful to all the businesses, schools, individuals and organisations that have helped us have a magnificent year. Your ongoing support is much appreciated. This is the last newsletter for 2007 so enjoy a low carbon break; the enews will be back with you in the New Year. MASG office re-opens on January 2nd.
MASG new position for the new year – ADMINISTRATION MANAGER
Full time – 38 Hour week – Salary Level and Range – Officer Level 2, $40-45,000 p.a. (plus superannuation)
The Mt Alexander Sustainability Group is experiencing rapid growth and we need a skilled person to assist with administration, membership and volunteer coordination and some financial aspects of the organisation. The Administration Manager’s work will complement the projects and activities being undertaken to achieve our goal of a carbon neutral community by 2015.
The person will require: excellent communication and organization skills; experience in dealing with the public/volunteers; an interest in climate change issues; the ability to work as part of a team but also to work unsupervised; a good eye for detail; experience with Access database and MYOB computer programs. Click here on Administration Manager for a Position Description and the application process.
Send the junk mail back this Christmas: Member Lee Fox writes: “Every Christmas I’m inundated with advertising junk mail. A “No Junk Mail” sticker on my letter box is great but it doesn’t stop the junk arriving in my local newspaper, which I’ve now cancelled. I even received a blue metallic advertising brochure from a large telecommunications company in my newspaper last Saturday. Hmmm, I thought, now this could make very attractive Christmas decorations. But I resisted the temptation and instead sent the shiny brochure back to whence it came with a letter suggesting they make more environmentally friendly decisions in future. Now I invite you to do the same and send the producers and distributors of this unnecessary waste a clear message. I wish you all a happy, junk mail free Christmas.”
Help MASG Grow! Click the Make a Donation button over on the right of this page.
Clearing out the cupboards? MASG is still collecting old mobile phones for recycling and every phone brings $5 to our fundraising efforts too!
A special thankyou to the member who has advised us that for her 60th birthday in February, she has asked her guests to write a cheque to MASG rather than bring presents to her weekend party. She has also asked a MASG committee member to attend a lunch on the Sunday to give a brief address to guests about what we’re doing and why. This is a great fundraiser idea which we hope to spread much more widely. Any other ideas very welcome
MASG in 2008
In the New Year we will be launching a series of projects that will need YOUR involvement to be successful. We will be asking our 550 members to choose to support at least ONE project or activity in 2008. Some of the projects include:
Housing: 20 people committing to two afternoons in 2008 to staff the demonstration home in Campbells Creek.
Renewable energy: 10 people committing to do at least one public information stall during the year to get the public more interested in renewables.
Greenpower: at least 200 new greenpower users.
Business: 50 businesses signed up with MASG to grow their business not their emissions
Stay tuned and get involved in 2008!
Report: due to rain, the Christmas MASG barbeque, Friday 21st December took place at our offices, not at the Botanical Gardens, Castlemaine. thanks to all who came!
OTHER NEWS AND EVENTS, not endorsed by MASG
News from Bali: big stuff just off the north shore of island Australia over the last 2 weeks. Here is the Avaaz summary of 2007.
Bizarre! I know we humans can get pretty anthropocentric in our thinking – assuming other species feel as we do, but this takes the cake… Check out this ABC article: “A New Zealand inventor has been forced to defend the use of worms in a composting toilet he has developed after officials became concerned that the creatures might become traumatised by the procedure.”
Kapok – Sustainable substance of the future? Kapok is an amazing, almost miraculous substance with many useful qualities. It grows naturally on tropical trees and needs no irrigation, pesticides or fertilizer. It repels moisture which makes it entirely immune to mould and bacteria, and all other pests, vermin, and rodents. It is cool enough to be used in the tropics, yet warm in cold climates. I am making and selling pillows from kapok. When people stop to think about their pillows made from petro-chemicals, and what effect they have on their health or the health of the planet they instantly want a kapok pillow. See me at Wesley Hill market, or email: abbieheathcote@gmail.com
Coming events for 2008
** ‘The Architecture of Self – how our dwelling places impact on who we are’. Saturday 26th January, 2 – 4pm. Talk by Peter Cowman: an Irish architect who teaches people how to create their own personal space. This ‘living’ architecture is seen as a vehicle for following one’s individual life stream, allowing one to live one’s life in harmony with the outside world. By creating a sustainable space that is a conscious extension of who we are, we can explore the rich world of dream and imagination that sustains us. Peter’s work has been featured on Irish television and radio and his writings on Living Architecture have been widely published. This is his first visit to Australia.
** Climate Change Conference – Melbourne Feb 9th Phillip Sutton, Western Environment Centre and FOE. Details in January.
** Australian Permaculture Convergence 2008 – “Celebrating 30 years of Achievements”; “Providing Solutions for the National Water Crisis”, “Planning the Future for the Movement” – Thursday, 20th March to Monday, 25th March (includes Easter weekend).
** Tours of Melliodora “Melliodora” (Hepburn Permaculture Gardens), on the edge of Hepburn Springs, the spa centre in Central Victoria. It is one of the best documented and well known permaculture demonstration sites in Australia. Passive solar house, mixed food gardens, orchards, dams and livestock, and creek revegetation show how permaculture design can help to restore and improve land, provide for residents’ needs and enjoyment in a cool inland climate.
Tour Dates 2008: 3rd Feb, 2nd March, 6th April, 4th May. www.holmgren.com.au
Quote: “The moment you have in your heart this extraordinary thing called love, and feel the depth, the delight, the ecstasy of it, you will discover that for you the world is transformed.”
J. Krishnamurti
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