Ask not what your food can do for you, but what your food can do for your environmental footprint!
 
A German study which converted emissions from food production into car-trip equivalents found organic equates to a lower number on the clock for almost every type of food production covered. Organic production of 1kg of winter wheat crop was the equivalent of driving 1.5 km where conventional was 3.4 km. For 1kg of pork produced organic drove 17.4 km with conventional up at 25.8 km. And producing 1kg of cheese from 10L of milk took organic 65.5 km with conventional hitting 71.4 km.
 
When it came to diet choices, organic was also a ‘low-km’ winner. The study found an overall ‘eat everything’ diet including meat, dairy, fruit and veg took a conventional eater 4758 km from their starting point, with organic travelling 381 km less at 4377km. And where food choices were no-meat, no-dairy and organic, eater’s footprints were further reduced to a car-trip covering a mere 281 km, 6.8% of the conventional original drive, and 348km lower than a conventional vegetarian diet. The only area an organic approach didn’t come out in front was meat production from feedlots – organic was the equivalent of driving 113.4km, compared to 70.6 km for conventional.  

Dr. Andrew Monk, Biological Farmers of Australia Standards Chair, said it was important to remember overseas figures were not always relevant to Australia because production methods varied. He said conscious consumers would fare best by focusing on the whole “package”, not just on CO2 emissions, even if organic was a winner in this field. “For example, taking into consideration issues like growth hormones, excessive feed requirements and animal welfare in meat production.” He said there was no doubt organic food was more in tune with its environment. “Organic systems do not use fossil-fuel based chemicals that emit nitrous oxides and damage microbial soil life – the bedrock of fixing carbon in soil."

 [From Biological Farmers of Australia - www.bfa.com.au - Press Release 25 September 2008]

Following a very low key survey (and lifting help from Maria and Margaret) I have put a swap table for any surplus seeds, fruit, vegetables, plants, etc.near the letterboxes.

The suggestion is to put any of your surplus greenstuff and other perishables there on Fridays before people go to the market. Longer-lived produce (e.g., pumpkins, seeds, potted seedlings) could be put there at any time of the week.

I am not the best gardener but have had the odd surplus lettuce and cabbage. Who knows we may not need to go to markets as time goes on!

Trevor K.

Did you know that if you spend more than $150 on garden items that help save water you can get $50 rebate from SA Water?   Eligible items include mulch and compost, tap timers, soil wetting agents, compost bins, and drip watering systems. For more information see:
http://www.sawater.com.au/NR/rdonlyres/E7CE95CB-E4E7-495E-9E4C-54409BC6EB33/0/HomeRebateGardenOutdoor.pdf
or phone the SA Water Rebates Hotline on 1800 130 952.

Jenni McG.

Masanobu Fukuoka, the pioneer of ‘natural’ farming, which eschews ploughing, weeding and the use of fertilisers and pesticides, died of ‘old age’ aged 95 at his home in Japan on Saturday, his family said. Fukuoka was the author of, among others, ‘The One Straw Revolution’, a book that has been translated into English, Korean, Thai and several other languages, and who is the recipient of the Deshikottam Award, India’s most prestigious award, and the Philippines’ Ramon Magsaysay award for public service (both in 1988).

If you are interested in the revolutionary farming concepts Fukuoka pioneered, check the following links. His independently developed system is very similar to permaculture.
http://www.permaculture.com/drupal/node/140
http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC14/Fukuoka.htm
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/1978-07-01/Organic-Farm-Masanobu-Fukuoka.aspx

Red Lentil and carrot soup (as served at Sustainable House Day)
 
280gm red lentils
280gm diced carrots
Medium/large Onion chopped
1.5 litre stock of choice
1tsp Tandoori Temptation Rub (one of my spice blends!) optional but very good! Can get at mates rates if interested!
 
Sauté onions in little olive oil until soft.  Fry spices for about 1 minute then add remaining ingredients.  Cook for about 40 mins.  You can leave chunky of blend smooth.
 
Very easy and freezes beautifully - enjoy!

Jacqui G - 8556 6459

In case you needed any more convincing that it is our generation who need to act, here's your reason.  Just "giving up" and "leaving it to the politicians" is the same as saying "we'll leave this environmental/population/economic mess to our kids to fix".
 
Dr. Albert Bartlett, professor emeritus, department of physics, University of Colorado at Boulder, believes that the greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function, and, if you watch the video series at the following link, you’ll understand exactly why that is. The link accessess 8 short videos in a Uni lecture format (with slides).  Fascinating stuff and well presented. Pass it on!
 http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/09/18/the-most-important-video-you-ll-ever-see.aspx?source=nl
 
Note: Thanks to Vanda for the link. We also have the complete video in the Village Library. So if watching on the computer doesn't appeal, you can watch from the comfort of your armchair. Elizabeth H.

Are you interested in recycling your plastic bread tags? They can be processed into items for horticultural use by a children's charity.

You can leave them in our letter box (labelled "CB & LA Waters", the most western letterbox under the Village noticeboard) and I will pass them on to a woman in my folk-dance group at Uni of 3rd Age who can direct them to this good use.

Anne Waters - 8557 6281 or 0414 086 622

Villagers have again been busy behind the scenes with knitting, crochet and needlework for the latest baby rug - this one for little Aurora Chan. The colourful squares were expertly linked together by Jill Wilson, who presented the rug to Aurora and her parents Lucy and Kevin at the Sustainable House Day 'After Party' on Sunday. The rug comes with the love and best wishes of the Community for a warm and loving future for Aurora growing up in the Village.

If you didn't get to see the rug at Sunday's party, check the ATTACHED file for a photo. 
Auroras rug

And a message from Lucy and Kevin:

We would like to thank everybody who contributed to Aurora's beautiful rug, it is absolutely gorgeous. It is amazing to see the love and support shown by the village and we are honoured to have been included in this tradition.

Thankyou!  Lucy and Kevin

An interesting paper has just been published by a CSIRO scientist that appears to vindicate the 1972 scenario modelling of the original Club of Rome - "The Limits to Growth" - predicting a severe outcome for our society by the middle of this century under a "business as usual" scenario. At the time, the Club of Rome prediction was vilified and discredited by big industry and vested interests. Now, Dr Graham Turner of CSIRO has compared the original scenario with 30 years of actual data to find that society does indeed appear to be heading pretty much along the "business-as-usual" track headed for collapse this century. 

A short summary of the paper is ATTACHED, but it may be worth downloading the paper itself from the link given in the summary, as the graphs comparing actual data with the original scenarios are sobering. (If you can't access the paper, I can email it to you on request - Elizabeth H. - email)
Limits to Growth vindicated  

For compelling information on world issues that we should all know about, but is never accessible through mainstream media, visit www.projectcamelot.org. I urge everyone to take a look.

Rae D'Esprit - Cottage 18

Thanks to Tricia O'D. for sending in the attached PDF cutting of a feature in this week's Messenger on Tony and Franka's home - The Straw Barn - at 5 Clematis Walk. You can be they are going to be busy this Sunday on Sustainable House Day!
Gerlachs eco-home

There are a lot of panels now coming in from China and other places that are attractively priced. Before you buy, however, you might want to ask yourself how you will go at getting warranty if you need it in 5 - 15 years time.

Over the years, we have seen even brand-name Western-made panels fail due to manufacturing faults etc.  So while panels are generally very reliable, there are occasional failures. If the manufacturer does not have an office / warehouse in Australia, you will be relying on the importer or retailer who sold you the panels for the warranty.  How long have they been in business?  Do you feel confident they´ll be there in 10 years if you need them?
  
Something to think about!
Michael V.

Cement, or the concrete that it forms, is the most consumed material on the planet, after water. About 2.5 billion tonnes of cement are produced every year, which amounts to almost 0.3 tonnes for every person on the planet. By 2050, global production is expected to reach 5 billion tonnes as housing booms continue in countries such as China and India.

Unfortunately, making cement is also a very carbon-intensive process. The process creates CO2 in two ways: by driving carbon dioxide out of calcium carbonate (from limestone) in a chemical reaction inside cement kilns; and by burning large quantities of fossil fuels to heat the kilns to the 1,450C necessary to generate the chemical reaction. For every tonne of concrete produced, the chemical reaction releases 0.6 tonnes of CO2, with up to another 0.3 tonnes generated in the burning of the fuel to heat the cement kilns.

The production of geopolymer cement generates just one-third of the carbon emissions associated with the standard grey powder. But regulatory obstacles stand in its way to becoming the world’s 21st-century concrete. For more information see the ATTACHED file:
E-crete

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has identified the challenges facing London from climate change, and the key measures that are needed to prepare for these. London is the first major world city to have produced a comprehensive plan of this kind.

You can find London's Climate Change Adaptation Strategy at:
http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/publications/2008/08/climate-change-adapt-strat.jsp

On Friday this week a new book will be released that is very relevant to what we are doing to manage our gardens and land here at AAEV:

"Composting: The Ultimate Organic Guide to Recycling Your Garden" by Tim Marshall, published by ABC Books

Everything you need to know about composting, including building a compost heap, compost ingredients, tools, worms, anaerobic composting, solving
composting problems, mulching.
[rrp: $29.95; large format full colour paperback; ISBN 9780733324161
See the ATTACHED media release flyer.
Composting Book PR

Check out this website for a very innovative static or rotating dome-home concept and beautiful use of mezanine design!
Thanks to Leonie H. for the link.
www.solaleya.com

Hi everyone,
 
Just came across this in my IONS email, and thought it might have relevance for us… Rosanne DeB. - 8293 2120
  
Managed Grazing
Goats and grazing animals have been used for countless years as land management tools and are a popular alternative to the land management conventions of mowing, disking, and burning. Managed grazing takes into account multiple levels of ecology and environment, including vegetation types, soil types, watershed functions, plant recovery mechanisms, nutrient flow, and energy cycling. IONS is welcoming 250 goats and sheep on campus as part of a managed grazing program implemented by San Francisco-based Living Systems Land Management - http://www.livingsystemslandmanagement.com/

Additional notes from Elizabeth H.
Integration of animals into our landscape for just these reasons has been under discussion in the Farm Committee off and on over several years. In addition, a group of villagers looked into the possibility of using livestock to manage the areas within the village we currently mow - i.e., vacant lots and common land areas that will be gardened in the future by Neighbourhood Groups. The group chose to look at alpaccas because of their soft feet, ability to ward off foxes, and greater respect (than goats) for fences and containment structures.

Unfortunately, our tour around local alpacca farms revealed that the animals are hugely expensive and extremely fussy eaters - i.e., will only eat the very best grass and not the weeds we wanted them to control. That's as far as the group have got, as there was still concern about the effect of goats grazing a very fragile and seasonally droughted landscape such as we have here.

The rationale behind the anti-feral fence proposal for the Farm that is coming to the AGM this month is to empower introduction of small livestock and poultry onto the farm (good control for white snails, and addition to fertility, etc), without the need for a whole plethora of unsightly internal fencing within the farm area. Having a good solid anti-feral perimeter will allow flexible managed grazing within the area to be controlled by moveable light-weight or electric fencing only.

Hi everyone - I think this article is brilliant. Michael V.

Going All-Electric - http://www.nanosolar.com/blog3/?p=93 

"The following is one of my favorite charts: How far a car can drive based on either of the following forms of energy, each produced from 100m x 100m (2.5 acres) of land:



How come that biofuel does not really cut it? Electric cars are about four times more energy efficient than fuel based cars. This is because fuel engines create mostly heat and thus waste the majority of the energy units available. Combine this with biofuel plants not being very efficient solar energy harvesters relative to semiconductor based solar electricity, and the result is this huge difference.

In other words, it is clear that if the goal is to maximize energy efficiency, the end point to go after is all-electric cars everywhere. Moving all of transportation to all-electric would essentially cut in half our overall energy consumption without compromising on distance to go.

I for one have vowed that the Prius I bought six years ago will have been the last fuel powered car I’d buy in my life. (Given that I may very well own the highest-mileage Prius on the planet, this presumably reflects my confidence in the quality of this vehicle and the near-term readiness of electric car technology). Presently, it is baking in the sun all day while I’m at work. My future all-electric car would charge up while idling under a solar carport."

Villagers might be interested in this article from 'Online Opinion' - an analytical critique of spiritual eco-communities from Dr Chris James, an artist, writer, researcher and psychotherapist who lives in regional Victoria. It contains some food for thought around a number of issues we have not really considered for our community as yet. (Maybe you can do better with a posted comment in response than those already there!)

See: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=7822
 [Thanks to Brad N for the link.]