5 totally free ways to save money while saving the...

The price of food and petrol isn’t showing any signs of going down anytime soon, and the politicians are starting the recession-talk. But you don’t have to start dumpster diving just to save a few bucks! Here’s some cheap tips that will help the environment and save you some money at the same time. 1. Learn to love your library Instead of spending money and wasting resources on something you might only...

That pile of money sure does look nice…...

There’s been suggestions in the media lately that the international economic crisis means that we’ll have to put climate change action on hold. I honestly don’t see why: the kinds of things that will help the environment will be creating jobs, making our businesses more efficient, and reducing the costs of dealing with pollution. Apparently we can spend money to save money in one arena, but not the other. But...

Fresh green links...

I’m starting a new feature - each Friday I’m going to post the links to green info that I liked the most this week. Funny (but not quite safe for work or little ones, some coarse language and hand gestures) video from Greenpeace Australia at Your Call on Coal. Featuring the Coaly Moleys and Lumpy the Coal. I wish I’d thought of this! After watching the video, you can sign up to call PM Kevin Rudd’s...

How to make a no-dig garden bed...

As I’ve mentioned before here, growing your own food organically helps the environment. If you can avoid using petrochemical-based fertilisers and pesticides, you’re doing your soil and our waterways a favour. But it can also save you money! In Dirt Cheap, an article at Salon, Steve Almond tells how he was inspired by the Victory Gardens people planted in WWII to provide themselves with food during the war....

Blog Action Day 08 roundup...

Thanks to everyone who commented on my Blog Action Day post - thanks to you I’ll be making an increased donation to Oxfam! There were quite a few good Blog Action Day posts that also deal with the environment in relation to poverty. Two that I quite liked were: Four Big Thinkers’ Ideas on Going Green, Ending Poverty at Treehugger - lots of links to more articles; and The Nature Conservancy’s report on...

Blog Action Day: Poverty and environmental issues...

Today is Blog Action Day: bloggers all around the world are writing about poverty today to raise awareness about how it affects our world. Tomorrow I’ll post a round-up of other good articles. At first glance, it looks like poverty is an entirely separate issue from the environment. It’s rare for activists to work on both issues, because they’ve got their hands full dealing with just one. Some people...

Bike to Work Day, October 15th...

This Wednesday is Ride to Work Day - the idea is to promote cycling to work as a healthy and more eco-friendly alternative to driving. You can register as an individual or workplace group. The website has all sorts of resources for making it a fun event that will show people how easy it can be to ride to work. They suggest workplace breakfasts, giving prizes for ‘least-likely rider’ or ‘best-dressed...

Review: A Crude Awakening...

A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash is a documentary from 2006 about peak oil (yeah, I’m slow to get to watch these things!). It’s about how our addiction to oil, a non-renewable resource, is going to force us to reimagine our society. You can see a rather good preview of it on YouTube. The directors, Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack, lay out the details of the problem without any hype or fear-mongering. Many of...

OK, Garnaut, I don’t get it…...

I’ve been puzzling over this for a few days now. Here’s what Garnaut had to say about the how serious climate change is for Australia: “If we fail, on a balance of probabilities, the failure of our generation will haunt humanity until the end of time,” he told reporters in Canberra. We are entering territory here that humanity has not been in before. We will delude ourselves if we think that uncertainty...

Walk to Work Day, this Friday...

This Friday is Walk To Work Day around Australia. The Pedestrian Council wants you to walk all or part of the way to work, or take a walk in your lunch break. You can register as an individual or a business at their website. My office is organising a group walk, with a healthy lunch afterwards. I often catch a train and a bus to work, but was going to skip the bus section, which would be about a 15 minute walk. However,...