CLIMATE CHANGE easy click ACTION

If you have not met the website Get Up! yet, now is a good time.
Get Up! is a website which hosts all kinds of community action campaigns. The Climate Action Now map is very cool. Simply add your location if you are concerned about climate change, and watch the map of Australia before you become populated with more and more people adding their names every second.

Finally Climate Change/ Global Wierding is becoming a mainstream concern.
Now you can watch a TV show on commercial TV called
'Cool Aid' on Channel 10 Sunday March 4th '07 at 8:30pm.
This will be a 2 hour "special". According to Channel 10:
COOL AID: The National Carbon Test will shock Australians- confront them- amuse them- inspire them. Hosted by Sandra Sully, COOL AID: The National Carbon Test will feature exclusive interviews with Al Gore, former US Vice- President and creator of An Inconvenient Truth, and Australian of the Year, Tim Flannery, as well as live performances by Toni Collette and The Finish and super group EVERMORE.
The CoolAid website also includes an online poll asking if "Australia should sign The Kyoto Agreement?"

TIPS: recycled paper

TREES: Worth the chop for a note?
I had a question about recycled paper from Leigh. He asked:
Our Institution has a contract with Xerox for our paper. We must be clear felling an acre a month around here. Can you recommend me THE most sustainable office paper on the market today? And then, the best that Xerox can do?
I had wondered about this a while ago and ended up starting a green paper co-op through the Wilderness Society Newcastle. We used the joint buying power of the wilderness society and Newcastle University to buy in bulk the paper we researched as the best. Buying in bulk made the paper available at a comparable rate to bleached virgin forest paper.
Our conclusion on the best paper was confirmed by the wonderful people at SCRAP.
I refer you to the scrap website for their catalogue
and also from the copy paper catalogue page, all the further information you need on choosing the best paper.
Our choice was Evolve office, 100% post-consumer recycled copy paper, may contain some pre-consumer content, oxygen bleached. Guaranteed for high volume copying, printing and double siding. Made in England.
Our only issue with this paper is that it is made in England, creating transport issues. However, it does claim to have Australian paper content. I was confused by this and asked Peter Carroll from SCRAP for clarification:
Moi:
A few people have been wondering about Australian v Imported paper.
From looking around it seems that Green Wrap (by Fuji Xerox) is the most forest
friendly from Australia.
but then somehow Evolve is connected to Australia? :
can you explain the SCRAP newsletter Term 1 2003 p6 "Questions for
consideration" which says:
"15200 tonnes of Australian copy paper consumed in the collection area
of the UK mill producing evolve"
This means to me UK imports Aust paper and re-uses as part of general
office paper re-use...how can they know that?
Obviously Evolve is the best paper, but we would like to encourage
australian production.. we would probably involve a little campagn
with this paper co-op and it would be nice to send letters to all the Aussie
companies we reject and a letter of congratulations to the one we choose!


Peter:
Hi Jo,

The Evolve evidence on UK usage of Australian paper is drawn from reputable
industry sources including the mill (Paperlinx) themselves. The assessment
that some of this paper (once used and recycled in the greater London area)
ends up in Evolve is somewhat more speculative and cannot be proven although
it is highly unlikely that none of it reaches the Evolve furnish. The
quantities cannot be proven but the fact that it is there is pretty certain.
It is good to know that we are providing the best info.

On the matter of research into Australian paper -
Dont be fooled by third party efforts like Fuji Xerox's Green Wrap. It has
barely any postconsumer content and is chlorine bleached at Shoalhaven.

As for writing letters to Australian companies - there is only one producer
so it should be a short letter writing campaign - better in my view to
concentrate on building your co-op so you have some strength through
purchasing.

We look forward to your business.

Regards
Peter
SCRAP (School Communities Recycling All Paper) Ltd
C/o Holsworthy High School Huon Cr, Holsworthy 2173
Ph: 02 9825 1062 Fax: 02 9825 6972 ABN 40 079 741 227

So my answer to your question is, Evolve Office is the best.
Xerox' best offer is "Green Wrap" although it is not as GREEN as it would like to seem.

EVENT: ALL ABOUT GREEN ENERGY &PASSIVE SOLAR SOLUTIONS

I will be running afew workshops in the Hunter region this year.
If you live in the Blue Gum Hills region (Maryland, Fletcher and Minmi) you might like to come along to the workshop I will be running there on Wednesday April 18 (in the school holidays) From 12 noon-2pm.
ALL ABOUT GREEN ENERGY &PASSIVE SOLAR SOLUTIONS:
Learn about the different options available for your home (eg. appliance, passive solar measures and simple lifestyle changes) to save energy and how you can use your power bill to invest in a renewable future for your children (and theirs).
You will need to book for this workshop so call 49742837 if interested.

EVENT: Green Energy Workshop

I will be running a green energy workshop, organised by Newcastle City Council, on the 27th of March, from 5.30-7pm.
Some of the things I will cover :
-reducing energy use in the home
-generating renewable energy from your home
-options for purchasing renewable energy
The venue is yet to be announced.
Please contact Newcastle City Council closer to the date for details.

WEBSITE REVIEW: Low Rise, Low impact

Well from Very High-Rise to Very Low rise.
I feel like a hobbit might answer the door here.
This is very much a hand-made house in Wales. Have a look at the sweet website for more info and images.

BLURB:high-rise living

At university I studied through post-feminist philosophy eyes alot of the time. I did alot of

Image: LeCorbusier "the radiant city"

reading on LeCourbusier and used to look scornfully at his utopian city visions, of everyone living in highrise towers, separarted miles apart by huge tracts of forest with high-speed motorways in between. The main criticisms of this design from a feminist perspective were about alienation, women being stuck at home in these high-rise towers with the children playing in a playground 50 stories below and somethings else I can't think of right now.. any LeCorb fanatics add to comments please... Anyway, the point being that Singapore feels like an interpretation of that LeCorbusian plan which works is a way that I could have never understood when I read the texts, because I was reading from a perspective of isolated home life not densly packed life with exteded family structures still inplace. So you may be a mother at home on the 48th floor and the children may be playing outside on the ground in the (nice, clean, safe) playground, but they are watched over by your mother/aunt/grandfather and the local community. Or even possibly from LeCorbs day and today in Singapore, servants (gasp!)
This has me reconsidering my feelings on high-rise towers. I must say, I don't generally like their appearance on the skyline, or their powers to overshadow and block natural wind paths. So number one I would suggest to keep the population as small as possible.
But I realise we need more housing, our population is increasing, and I think immigration is a cool idea. Going up is infinitely better than going out. It's crazy to build on good farming soil or to destroy forests for these "housing" estates. New individual homes are so big that they are left with tiny gardens anyway, so why not have upwards sprawl? If combined with really good urban planning, and integrated systems in high-rise towers, such as a dedicated recycling shute, on-site water recycling, private garden spaces, communal vege plots etc, then I am thinking its worth thinking about.

HELLO:From Singapore

I am currently visiting my Brother in Singapore. Singapore is a country, an island, and a city. It's small and has 4 million inhabitants. This city/country has had me thinking alot about architecture, urban planing, and the environment.

GREAT ENVIRONMENTAL FEATURES OF SINGAPORE INCLUDE:
Public transport.
Today's sad news that Howard is not agreeing to ratify the Kyoto protocol. ( click the "taking action" link in TOPICS if this enrages you too) .
Of course, Cars contribure HEAPS to co2 emmissions (I know, so do airplanes, and no, I didn't sail here.. but I will if you'll take me on your yacht).
The Public Transport system here is AWESOME. People are discouraged form owning cars due government restrictions, meaning the road system of this huge city is rarely congested. There are buses and a super-fast Mass Rapid Transport (MRT-a subway/train system) which depart every 2-10 minutes, and all interconnected. You buy a plastic card which you keep forever, and charge it up with credit wherever, like adding credit to your mobile phone. The card is elecronic, and you just tap it on a machine when entering and leaving a bus or MRT station. This way you are only charged for the length of trip you make. Being useable on both systems is also awesome, and the efficiency with boarding busses and entering MRT stations is amazing.
Each bustop is a social hub, with outdoor markets, food stalls, the local MRT station, supermarkets etc, and housing towers right above. Its all very convenient ... no-one really needs a car. Hooray!