Fresh green links...

A few quickies today, because I’m going to finalise the new blog style today (no, really, I mean it this time!): Scientists list the key Australian tourist spots that will be devastated by climate change - reduction of snow in ski fields, more cyclones up north, more drought down south, airports getting flooded. Communities band together for solar power - G Magazine reports on how some neighbours are chipping in...

Simple tip: keep your green bags handy...

I’m sure that as good greenies you’ve all got your re-useable bags stashed away. It’s hard to avoid picking up a bunch of the standard green bags when you do your grocery shopping these days, and they’re so handy for more than just your groceries. But do you remember to bring them to the shops? Or do you sometimes end up at the shops on the spur of the moment, without your handy reuseable bag?...

I’m going paperless...

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the damage done by deforestation (climate change, habitat destruction, salinity, etc etc). It seems that quite a lot of logging in Australia and South-east Asia is done for paper production, and although I’ve signed petitions and emailed corporations and politicians, I’m at the point where I just don’t want any more of my money going to paper companies. So...

Fresh green links...

Just a few links today - I’m hoping to get the new blog style up and running tomorrow, have been working on it all week! One Million Women Campaign - it’s a two year national campaign hoping to get 1 million Australian women to commit to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by 1 tonne each. Women make over 70% of purchasing decisions in the average household, so we’ve got a lot of power to make changes...

Quick note...

Just a note to say that I’m taking the week off writing posts, in order to spend a little time updating the blog theme (I’m so sick of this default look!) and a few other admin things. See you again next week!

Fresh green links...

All sorts of interesting links for you today! How Green Was My Budget? - not as green as advertised! An analysis at Larvatus Prodeo, with a spirited discussion in the comments about the various alternatives to coal. PowerShift 09 - If you’re aged 13-25 and are passionate about preventing climate change, see if you can make it to the first Australian youth climate summit, in Sydney in July. There’ll be training...

Fair Trade Fortnight...

It’s Fair Trade Fortnight! From the 2nd to the 17th of May, it’s Australia and New Zealand’s celebration of everything that’s fair trade. You might have seen the Fair Trade logo around and wondered what it meant. It’s an international certification that the product you’ve bought has better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability and fair terms of trade for farmers and...

Laundry balls, put to the test...

This weekend I borrowed one of those laundryballs to test out, they’re the ones you sometimes see advertised on tv in infomercials. They claim to get your clothes clean without the need for laundry powder, with one ball being reuseable for 3 years. This sounds great for environmentalists - no laundry powder means no phosphates in the water (making it safer for greywater use, or just as runoff into the system), no...

Fresh green links...

Some varied stuff this week: Avaaz is an American non-profit group who made a spoof ad I quite like, making fun of Exxon’s advertising (via Treehugger.com). South Australia is leading the way by banning plastic bags, starting this week. I hope this catches on around the nation! Retailers might find it easier to have one system at checkouts instead of a separate one for SA, and if they aren’t supplying the...

The more things change…...

The big eco-news this week has been Rudd’s changes to the proposed ETS. He could see that his legislation wasn’t going to pass in it’s existing format, so decided to try again. The result is something that gives some nice soundbites for the 6pm news, but actually makes the trading scheme less likely to make any difference to Australia’s emissions. The good (well, mediocre): committing to emissions...