Recently, Adelaide had a visit from "The Solar Taxi" - a solar-powered car on its way round the World without using a drop of petrol! See the attached pics and the Solar Taxi website at http://www.solartaxi.com
Solar Taxi

If you thought the environment around us was just about dried to a crisp - you are right. While there has been significant rain to the west, north, east and especially northeast, SA is really missing out this year. Some of you may have seen this summer rainfall chart published last week in The Australian. I't so graphic it's worth noting as the reason for our own Aldinga summer "dust-bowl" dryness.

If you have been tempted to believe government and business rhetoric about Economic Growth being a positive advantage, read the ATTACHED opinion piece commenting on a recent feature in The Independent - and have a long think about it!
080218 Econ Growth our foe

Check out some of our recent Village events in the latest "Village Happenings" (ATTACHED)
VILLAGE HAPPENINGS 11Feb08

The ATTACHED PDF article is well worth reading. It is a personal account by co-housing author, Chuck Durrett, about his own experiences in avoiding a corrosive aspect of living in community.
Gossip-CoH article

If you don't want to download the PDF you can read the article on screen at: http://www.cohousing.org/cm/article/gossip

AAEV Friend, Sarah West is now the Coordinator, Secretary and Treasurer of The Ecovillage and Co-housing Network of Australia(ECNA) Inc. - http://www.ecna.org.au

The Network site allows you to sign up for forums, access to information and articles, and more.

You can contact Sarah in her Coordinator role by email or phone on 0406 086 681

Hi all - for info, interest from Vanda:

"New Online Resource Gets the Skinny on Eco-Labels" - By: GreenBiz.com
www.greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=36592

From Vancouver, Canada, Jan. 28, 2008 -- Ecolabelling.org aims to take the mystery out of the bewildering herd of green labels by studying the foundations of all types of eco-labels aimed at both consumers and corporations.

Ecolabelling.org - http://www.ecolabelling.org - a project of the Vancouver-based web developing company Big Room, looks at the sources of more than 260 different ecolabels from around the globe -- labels covering everything from organic food to building products -- with the intent of cutting out consumer confusion around green labelling schemes.

Yes - it is possible to "retro-fit" suburban streets for more sustainable living. Here's an inspirational story of how sustainable living in the suburbs can be built out of restored community.

Below is a link to an article published by the Sunday Age Colour Magazine “M”, a few weeks back, publicising the Sustainability Street Approach (SSA), namely, the power of building local, human scale relationships for sustainability. An important point made in the article is that ... “after a while, Sustainability Street is not something the community does, it becomes something the community is!”
http://www.voxbandicoot.com.au/images/stories/Sustainability%20Street
%20approach/media%20release/Sustainability%20Street%20Age%20story.pdf
(The article is also ATTACHED as a PDF)
Sustainability Street story

There are now scores and scores of SSA Villages, around Australia, who have long since “finished the course”, but whose group identification and sense of belonging to each other is ongoing, based on their commitment to a sustainable future.  The very first ever Sustainability Street Village is now six years old and still hangin’ out together.

You can find out more about this great movement for urban sustainability through the Vox Bandicoot website at:
http://www.voxbandicoot.com.au/