enews Feb 23rd 2007
Posted on 1 March 2007 by e-news
MASG NEWS
Castlemaine State Festival (CSF)…more info
The CSF program will be launched this Saturday 24 Feb, at the Market Building, Mostyn Street. All welcome to attend. MASG and Carbon Neutral events are on pages 93-94. MASG will be providing bikes and other props for the launch stage and will have a MASG flyer in the program highlighting the MASG events during the festival.
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Festival MASG volunteers lunch on Wed 28 Feb at 12.30pm at the MASG office. Mainly for those who are coordinating an aspect of MASG activities during the CSF. If you want to be involved in a festival event/activity, please come along.
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Sunday 18 March: Sustainable House Tour. The Planning and Housing Working Group is organising a tour of 3 local houses that incorporate sustainability principles; one new house, one “newish” and one renovation. $60 pp includes lunch, afternoon tea, detailed notes and information pack, and discussion time with the designers. Limited numbers. Bookings and pre-payment are essential. Contact Peter on 5474 2403 or email bundara@netcon.net.au
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Castlemaine State Festival River of Bicycles rides: details for the rides will be confirmed next week. We now have approximately 70 cyclists registered and we are positive we will get our 200 cyclists to ride. Closing date to register Fri 9 March so there’s still time to be part of that WOW factor of cycling in Castlemaine and to work with one of Australia’s leading theatre companies!! Contact Jill at MASG vol@masg.org.au or phone 5470 6978.
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Free bike hire for festival patrons – a big THANK-YOU to to EVERYONE who has donated or offered to donate bicycles. Closing date for bikes to be brought into MASG is Friday 2 March. Please put your name and contact details on the bikes when you bring them in, so we can thank you and return bikes loaned to MASG. Thank-you! Could the person who brought in the wonderful white Apollo bike please contact Jill at MASG vol@masg.org.au
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HELMETS, HELMETS, HELMETS!!!!We are in great need of helmets to go with the bikes.
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Festival GreenPower:For only a few dollars, businesses can source all their energy needs from wind power during the CSF. MASG will assess the energy use each business for the 10 day period. The cost for each café, shop, office or gallery will vary, depending on their actual energy used. This could be as little as $5 for a small business and no more than $50 for a larger operation. All businesses and venues are invited to participate. Contact Ian at MASG on 5470 6978 or ian@masg.org.au for further details.
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A group called Red Power has been canvassing households in Castlemaine. Although they offer “Australian owned and affordable green power” this option does not rate on the ACF/WWF factsheet (PDF) on GreenPower.
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Thanks to Michael Wolfe for the excellent graphics that he donated for our publicity boards.
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Suggestion for the next Quick and Clean, Friday 2 March. At the next Quick and Clean meeting Fri 2 March, Jill would like include an EARTH HEALING meditation as well as usual business. We welcome the inclusion of ‘distant healings‘ for family, friends, geographic location etc – bring along a photo, or simply place name into the healing circle. Bring rugs and pillows if you wish, chairs will still be available.
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HELP NEEDED:
1. Are you a creative whiz? We need a slogan for T Shirts for MASG volunteers at the Castlemaine State Festival – help us through an email brainstorm. Email your ideas/visuals to Dean at dc@masg.org.au Winning suggestion wins a t-shirt with your slogan on it!
2. Can you be present [or take a lead role] at MASG stalls for Saturday 24 March? MASG is invited to run simultaneous stalls at the Harcourt Apple Festival and at Castlemaine North Primary School. We need to staff tables and distribute MASG literature. Please call the office to put your name down to help.
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MASG REQUESTS – Still looking for an office chair for our hard working volunteers.
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OTHER: for members’ information: these events are not MASG endorsed –
Castlemaine 500: A Community Conference – anyone can attend! A conference to work on ways the C500 message can be spread further and the momentum kept going. We would encourage as many MASG people to go as possible. Campbell’s Creek Community Centre Saturday 3 March – arrive 9.30am for a 10.00am start. Please RSVP – to limit wastage of catered food. Ph. 5470 5934 or email info@castlemaine500.org.au
Straw bale building experience: MASG member Bernard Tonkin and family would appreciate help to prepare their straw bale walls for rendering. They are having a working bee on Sat 3 & Sun 4 March in preparation for rendering on Monday 5 & Tuesday 6 March. The house incorporates many energy efficient features. Come whenever you can over the weekend or help with rendering on 5 & 6 March. RSVP if you can on 5472 4234 or 0400 940 237 or just turn up. Snacks and lunch provided. 16A Vanstan Road, Castlemaine.
The 8th Vaughanbury Festival – Fundraising for Guildford School and CFA – live music and family friendly fun. 4 March 11am – 6pm. Vaughan Mineral Springs reserve. Phone 0354734331 or email vaughanbury@twinlizards.com.au for details.
Tonksculpture Prize will once again be part of the Fringe Festival Carnival of Chaos. Get your entry details from Tonks or the Fringe office, above Stoneman’s Bookroom. START SCULPTING RIGHT NOW to be in the running for a $300 prize for entries from a secondary school age sculptor or a $100 prize for an entry from a primary school age sculptor.
The Fourth Annual Australian City Farms & Community Gardens National Conference, Collingwood Town Hall”, 20-25 March 2007. With broader awareness of Climate Change, peak oil & energy descent, the development of sustainable food production Australia-wide has never been more important. This conference brings together a fantastic spectrum of speakers including Vandana Shiva, Nobel Peace Prize winner, physicist, ecologist, activist and author; and David Holmgren, co-originator (with Bill Mollison) of the permaculture concept. The conference features discussion panels and hands-on workshops.
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FINAL WORD – Cutting emissions and our current progress…Light bulbs and lack of leadership. Greenhouse gas emissions for Victoria this week is 32.6% above the 1990 weekly average, a whopping 2.040 million tonnes. In the “light” of ballooning emissions in Australia, what do we make of the recent ban on incandescent light bulbs? The Climate Friendly newsletter says: Light bulbs ban no substitute for an 80% emission cut policy In the context of an 80% emission cut by 2050, (banning incandescent light globes is) a tiny step in the right direction but it’s being done in the absence of emission targets, which are vital to guide the scale and focus of policy. Our emissions are 564 million tonnes per year. The light bulb ban will save 800,000 tonnes per year by 2010. If we commit to an 80% cut pathway, we will need to have cut emissions by 75 million tonnes by 2010. So, an 800,000 tonne cut is 1% or one hundredth of what we need to do if we are serious about addressing global warming. This is an example of how dangerous it is for policies to be proposed and promoted in the absence of targets.
It allows one off knee-jerk policy ideas to be dressed up as a serious attempt to solve the problem, when a serious policy response starts with a genuine legislated emission target, which is then backed up by a thorough and comprehensive strategy to achieve it. Paraphrased from Joel Fleming © Climate Friendly 2007 “An 80-90% emission cut is needed to limit CO2 to 450 ppm and temperature increase to not more than 2°C. Even a mean global temperature change of 2ºC still implies accepting some very significant ecosystem damage and loss of human life.” Source: Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research (quoted from Climate Friendly Newsletter ). More info at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.
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