A virtual tour of The Grove, a sustainably-built library

The Grove is a library and community centre built to environmentally sustainable design (ESD) principles. I’d heard of this building here in Perth, but haven’t had a chance to visit it yet.

But now we can all take a look, because Josh Byrne (from Gardening Australia) has given us a video tour of The Grove building.

What impressed me most is how beautiful it is. Yes, it’s got an extremely efficient heating and cooling system, and wastes no water, but it’s also a stylish and modern looking building that you would never guess is so sustainable unless you spotted the solar panels on the roof.

You can read more about ESD principles in the fact sheets they’ve put online. I’m so glad to see such a great demonstration of what’s possible for our cities using current technology.

One Plastic Beach

One Plastic Beach from Tess Thackara on Vimeo.

These artists have been collecting plastic debris off one beach in Northern California for over ten years. The couple make sculptures, prints, jewelry and installations with the plastic they find washed up, raising a deeper concern with the problem of plastic pollution in our seas.

A quote from the video:

The idea is that plastic in itself is not evil. But there is an evil, and the evil is single-use plastic. You know, to scrape up your cheese, put it on your little cracker and toss it away. I mean that’s just a ridiculous use of material.

Always in the season

I came across this Christmas song on the weekend and thought that all my online friends who are trying to go greener would like it. It’s called Always in the Season and it’s by an American band called Pomplamoose. Very sweet and with a message I think we can all get behind!

The last few minutes of the clip are about the band members asking people to contribute to a charity to win a prize, but that’s from last year so I don’t think they’re doing that anymore!

Here’s a little bit of the lyrics:

’cause i thought christmas was supposed to be
more than lighting up the christmas tree
more than filling up our socks with toys
more than all of this tremendous noise

so all i really mean to say
is let’s not throw this time away
i’d rather just sip chocolate with you

What are some other Christmas songs with a message that us greenies can get behind? I’m drawing a blank right now but I’m sure they’re out there…

Environmental art

Non-Sign II by Lead Pencil Studio

Regular readers will know that I love a bit of eco-themed art! Here’s a few of the recent installations that have popped up around the place. Let me know if I’ve missed any of your favourites, I’d love to see them.

Sydney’s Art and About festival had a great sculpture called the Bike bike – a giant penny-farthing bicycle, built out of bikes!  If you go to the Gallery page, you can see bigger photos of it (number 40 and 41). They also had a Live Green House, if you click on the photo on that page you’ll get the larger version so you can see the detail.

Power stations, multi-country is a series of photos by Michael Kenna of coal-fired power stations around the world. Very spooky and atmospheric.

The Waterhouse awards are for artists whose subject is the natural world, open to anyone. This 4 minute video from Stateline shows this year’s winners and highly commended entries, well worth a look. My favourites are the eagle made from recycled iron and mallee, and the painting of the owl with an empty painting beside it. I hadn’t heard of this award before, but I’ll definitely keep an eye out for it next year.

A billboard advertising nothing but fresh air – it’s oddly beautiful for something so angular. I really like it. Apparently the artists have “built a career on blurring the divide between architecture and art; questioning the idea of consumer culture has been a recurring theme”.

Should I send this to some politicians?

Sorry for the lack of posting – I was busy with the Walk Against Warming on the weekend, then sick with a cold. I’m hoping to put up some photos from the Perth/Fremantle walk later this week.

For now, take a look at this video on the science of climate change. I’ve been thinking I should email it to all the politicians from the major parties who seem to think that climate change is something that’ll happen in the far-off future after they’ve retired.

It’s a “just the facts, ma’am” presentation of how climate change works and the evidence we have that it’s happening now.