Villagers may be interested in this photographic and historical book on the McLaren Vale region commissioned by vigneron Greg Trott (Wirra Wirra Winery). Find more information and an order form on the ATTACHED flyer.
071029 Book flyer

Villagers may be interested in an article in the Guardian newspaper about oil:
"Steep decline in oil production brings risk of war and unrest, says new study". Output peaked in 2006 and will fall 7% a year. Decline in gas, coal and uranium also predicted!
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,,2196435,00.html

With its "Geo-4" report, the United Nations tells us that most aspects of the Earth's natural environment are in decline; and that the decline will affect us, the planet's human inhabitants, in some pretty important ways. We've heard it before, of course, but this report is different. First there is the sheer scale. Hundreds of researchers from a huge variety of disciplines have compiled, written and analysed its 572 pages; thousands more have reviewed the various chapters; and second, Geo-4 covers the whole range of environmental issues, and the links between them. Our EcoVillage ethos moves us in the right direction - but is it enough? Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7060072.stm

"Wild oats" is a coarse weedy grass which grows prolifically in the Village and seeds readily. It can be removed with a good tug at the base - and should be, wherever possible, especially in the mounds and cobbled areas where it doesn't get slashed as it sucks up the limited moisture and looks terrible. Check the attached picture to recognise this villain so you can pull it up when you see it.
071025 Wild oats
Tony for NEC

Hi everyone, this came into my email, and I thought it may be of interest. The two websites mentioned are worth a look:   
 
Natural (Earth) Building course in Thailand in collaboration with Whispering Seed - www.whisperingseed.org - a children's home and community living and learning center on the Thai-Burmese border. At Sangklaburi, Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand January 5-18, 2008 and January 21-February 2, 2008. More info at http://sgnb.createsend.com/viewEmail.aspx?cID=492C3802C3BFB79E&sID=E60BC81625A70172&dID=5CB9CB5A1CE688CE
 
Deb Harding - (Lot 112)

Hi all - Some may be interested in the following message sent by the "Zero-Carbon Future" network:

On September 26th, journalist Katharine Murphy from The Age newspaper in Melbourne revealed in an article entitled "Don't mention the 'N' word" that the Federal government recently sent an official to Vienna to secretly sign the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) agreement with the US. GNEP is a plan which entails "trusted" countries like Australia enriching uranium, exporting the fuel rods for reactors overseas, then re-importing the high level very toxic radioactive waste, where it would either be stored in the desert for the next 500,000 years, or reprocessed - a potentially dangerous process which involves chopping up the fuel rods, dissolving them in concentrated nitric acid to remove the plutonium, creating large amounts of potently carcinogenic liquid waste. Plutonium has two main uses: it is the fuel for nuclear bombs, and can be used as fresh fuel in the new Generation IV reactors.

Read the article by Katharine Murphy about GNEP at:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/dont-mention-the-n-word/2007/09/26/1190486391722.html
A link to the article is also available at www.nuclearfree.com.au/background.htm#artic

In an oil- and emissions-constrained world, will Australians be prepared to compromise on personal mobility to embrace first car pooling and then ultimately car sharing? It's worth thinking about these future options.

Here's a website sent in by new community member Tom Deliveyne (Lot 75) to show us a system now in use in Belgium:
http://www.cambio.be/cambio/carsharing/en/2/stdws_thema/intro/intro0.html

And also, closer to home, Sue suggests checking out "GoGet" a similar system now operating in Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane):
http://www.goget.com.au/

Are we heading for a global food shortage? It seems world grain supplies are now at their lowest since records began. Check out this ScienceAlert article by Julian Cribb. It also contains some good reasons (if more were needed) for protesting against further urban sprawl:
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/opinions/20071810-16466-2.html

Here in the UK I receive the enews from www.newbuilder.co.uk which may have something of interest for people. Mainly however it was the news item 'Eco Village calls for Shareholders' that caught my eye. Their website is www.lammas.org.uk . They describe themselves as in the planning stages of creating a low impact eco village in Pembrokeshire, Wales. I thought others at AAEV might want to check out the site.

Deb Harding (Lot 112)

"Greenbang" tracks the explosion of the environmental industry. It's blogged by a small but growing team of reporters around the world, and anyone else who cares to join in... See: http://www.greenbang.com/
You can also subscribe to a free e-newsletter and send in your own environment business news.
[Thanks to Leonie Hick for the alert.]

If you ever doubted the political power of TV ads, check the pulling power of this one at:

https://www.getup.org.au/campaign/ClimateCleverer&id=128

From Hans Banens