Fresh green links

4 degrees of change – a map of what 4 degrees of increased temperature would do to our world, created by the UK government. Click on the labels at the bottom to show or hide the sections you’re interested in, then click on the circles with plus signs to show information about that area.

Timor Sea oil spill, in pictures – I don’t understand why this isn’t getting more coverage: oil is valuable (even if it causes pollution and climate change); it’s killing dolphins and whales and probably smaller, more vulnerable wildlife too; and it’s reached the coast of Indonesia and East Timor. Bloggers there are covering it, as you would if a giant oil slick showed up on your nice clean beach. They’re up to the 4th attempt to plug the leak (which has cost $4.3 million so far), when they should have had preventative measures in place before anything even happened. And yet the government is going to give them a licence to drill for more oil in other places. I don’t think this company is very good at the drilling part, why would we want them to have another go?

OpenAustralia.org – if you’re curious about who said what in Parliament, check out this website. It’s like Hansard, only it’s online and you can search it. I’ve linked to Wednesday’s speeches, which include the second reading of the CPRS bill. It’s still pretty dry stuff, but at least you can find what you want quickly and skip through the boring bits.

Reel mower guide – we’ve got a push mower like these, but I usually leave it to Dave to mow our tiny patch of lawn. This little guide makes it seem easy enough that I could give it a go and get some more exercise this spring.

Shoe repair tips – an interview at Craft with Vince Pacheo, a shoe repair guy from California. Below the interview he gives his advice on what to do about common shoe problems. So next time your favourite pair loses a strap or heel, check this out to see if you can fix them instead of having to buy a new pair.

Google Powermeter – this is available in the USA and the UK, with Canada and India next, but I want to know when we’ll get it here in Australia because I’d absolutely use it. It’s a way to monitor your household electricity usage, to make it easier for you to help the environment. According to an article in Worldchanging, not only are people are saving lots of money with it, and one lady even stopped her house from burning down because she was able to detect a burning toaster while she was at work. It’s one of Google’s philanthropic projects, with the goal of using technology to help fix global problems. It’s free, you don’t even see any Google ads when you use it. I’ve asked them to email me when they go into beta testing in Australia – you never know!

Mmm, I’d love a cuppa right now

I’ve been trying to drink less soft-drink lately. Partly for the sake of the environment, because of all the plastic and waste that each bottle or can of sugar water involves. And partly for the sake of my waistline – I just don’t burn off the kilojoules the way I used to So I’ve been drinking more tea and coffee as well as plain water.

Not that tea and coffee don’t have an impact of their own, but on the whole I think it’s less of an eco-mess to produce and ship a bulk item wrapped in glass or cardboard, than it is to do the same amount of single-servings wrapped in plastic or aluminium the way soft-drink is. Naturally, I go for Fair-Trade and organic wherever possible.

G Magazine says that of the two types of drinks, tea has less environmental impact than coffee. But although I learned to love coffee years ago, until lately tea… well, it hasn’t been my cup of tea.

But I got tired of drinking so much coffee and plain water, and I wanted more variety. Tea comes in so many different flavours I’ve always got something new to try. Plus, I like the little break you get as you wait for it to steep: very nice when I’m at work!

And as it turns out, the tea I didn’t like drinking is the mass-produced, bland type. Once I got into the organic, Fair Trade, loose-leaf types I found it really tasty and enjoyable. I’ve now got 3 or 4 different types given to me as gifts by tea-drinking friends: an organic Earl Grey from Wild Walnut is my favourite so far.

I’ve also got a lovely ceramic mug I keep just for brewing a cuppa, and a couple of those little doohickies that replace tea-bags when you go for the loose-leaf. I can see why the Japanese have tea ceremonies – it’s very easy and stress-relieving to turn your cuppa into a little ritual.

So having done something for the sake of the environment, I’ve now discovered a simple pleasure in life that I didn’t know about before. If you’re a tea drinker with a favourite type, let me know in the comments, I’m keen to try new flavours!

Are you an environmental professional?

If you work in any environmental-related industry or non-profit, you might like to take a look at this survey from RMIT and the Environmental Jobs Network.

They’re researching the range of professional environmental jobs across Australia, to identify the types of skills, knowledge and experience associated with these jobs. This info will be used to create a 2010 Australian Guide to Environmental Careers.

The guide will be used to help people find out about the range of careers available where you get to care for the environment in some way. It sounds like it’d be very useful, and given how keen I am on expanding the green jobs industry, I’d love to see it become a success.

Obviously, though, the people making the guide want to make sure they’ve got as broad an overview as possible. This is where you can help if you already have an eco-job – let them know what it is, what kind of training it needs, etc.

It does take 25 minutes to complete, but you’ll be helping the next generation of eco-workers get started, so I hope you’ll make the time. Check it out: Environmental Career Survey.

Fresh green links

Poppy (11) and Jarrah (9) at Great Barrier Reef

International Day of Climate Action is tomorrow – people around the world will be doing group activities to show their support for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, with 350.org presenting photos and petitions from all the groups to world leaders. See this map to find out what’s happening near you on Saturday 24th October. So far I know about a bike ride and a visit to state parliament in Perth, plus some cupcake action in Melbourne!

If you don’t have an action happening near you, it might be a bit late to get an official one going. But grab some friends, make a sign, and send a photo of yourselves to 350.org to show your support for a 350ppm target for the Earth. You can see more photos at the 350.org Flickr site.

What will Wong’s CPRS actually do? – the simplest explanation yet on how the CPRS is set up, and why it’s completely useless, from Dr Richard Denniss. If you think the CPRS isn’t going to help Australia, contact Senator Wong via the ACF’s email form to let her know.

Excellent/disturbing coral reef segment on 7:30 Report – 6-minute video explains how ocean acidification affects the Great Barrier Reef. (via)

Would you like a green, clean job?

Recently I posted about ending the coal industry in Australia. Although it only contributes 1.3% of Australia’s employment, that’s still over 200,000 people affected by the change. But it doesn’t have to mean that they’re out of work – we’ll be needing lots of people to work in new clean energy industries.

Plus, we can’t be telling our kids to head off to the mines and rigs for a well-paid job when they get older. It’s not really a secure industry anymore: they’ll be needing something with a long-term future.

But what will the jobs in the clean energy industry look like? What kinds of things will they do?

I’ve taken a look at the ABC’s Ace Day Jobs website and picked out a few jobs there that will be in big demand over the next decade. Each link has an interview with someone who already works in the industry, with info on what sort of people will enjoy the work, and what kind of training you need.

• Solar energy researcher – the more solar the better!
• Civil engineer: recycled water supply systems – we have to get smarter about water
• Senior forestry consultant – playing a part in the new carbon trading market
• Apprentice electrician – help the upgrade to a smart grid electricity system
• Soil scientist – testing for pollution in soil and groundwater
• Ranger – to protect and promote our national forests and parks
• Facade engineer and architects – making buildings more sustainable
• Urban planner – to make our cities more sustainable, creating walkable communities with plenty of green spaces.

But wait, there’s more!

Check out www.cleanenergyjobs.com.au for even more examples of the types of jobs we, our families and our friends could be doing in the future. Each case study is a link to information about someone with a job in solar and wind power, waste & recycling, water supply, energy efficiency and so on.

Half of these things didn’t even exist as jobs when I was a kid – I think the possibilities are really exciting, don’t you?