Sale at our best gardening bookshop

Imagine a bookshop you can walk to where the staff know all the writers and have most of the books you have heard of and much more you never have – all about gardening, plants and Earth’s growing world.   I reckon it’s Australia’s best specialist gardening bookshop and it’s just off Glebe Pt Road, Glebe.   I’ve received this promo from Gil, the owner, for their annual sale: We open the doors at 10.00am SATURDAY 28... Read More

Sustainability education courses in Australia

At last.   The Fifth Estate has published in ebook giving a comprehensive list of sustainability courses in Australia.   It’s here: www.thefifthestate.com…   Sweet. M  Read More

How little I know

#gallery-1 { margin: auto; } #gallery-1 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-1 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-1 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */ North and South Head to which the guns faced City to the south Path to... Read More

Waverley Council poisons our food, kids, insects and waterways

Waverley Council's poison truck and poison sprayers Well, there we are trying to get on with our life, us and the little critters and along comes a Council and poisons things. Here’s an email by Vera, a resident of Bronte in Waverley Council’s area, NSW, to her Councillors about recent spraying of poison by the Council. Has anyone noticed today’s rain?  You’d reckon it’d be doing some good, unless you swam at Bronte beach after the poisoning... Read More

Eating fish caught sustainably

I recommend a new phone App that keeps you up to date with fish that are, and are not, caught sustainably.   Called, Australia’s Sustainable Seafood Guide, it’s very helpful in a restaurant or cafe or fish shop if you’re unsure what to buy.   It lists the fish and marine critters sold here and can list them in order of sustainability if you wish.   I haven’t bought Orange Roughy and other obviously threatened species for years but now, sadly,... Read More

A murmuration of starlings

Interested in good communication? Me, too. But who of we humans can match this:  get ready for one beautiful vid:     www.wired.com…       Mmmmm  Read More

Advertising in Chippo

Ad industry welcome in Chippo Chippo’s streets are rich with artists’ work and the better for it; walking here is a delight to the eye, mind and all the senses, tho’ challenging to some sensibilities. And this effort on a wall in Cleveland Street by the advertising industry  shows it trying hard, too. Ads that work, M  Read More

When is a park not a park?

Three years of fenced off park . . . Promises three years old of “Park Renewal” When is a park not a park?   When it’s Peace Park, Chippendale.   For over three years we’ve watched in growing wonder at the succession of failed attempts to manage the park, in particular to grow traditional grass there.   The latest grass growing effort has seen the park fenced off for some nine months.   If a park is not used for over half the... Read More

A six star evening

I was sitting watching the light fall less in my garden.  Evening coming on.  It’s slower, isn’t it, than the sun rising?  Lingers.   And I thought of all the shadows soon to be complete.  My neighbours in full dark night.   And out of all this, the seven billionth human being born somewhere.   But left all that, and with cold, soft red wine, just stopped thinking.  Listening and watching with my body’s senses all.   “You get like this, I suppose”,... Read More

Bill, the sustainability apprentice

Bill, who loves coffee and works at Toby’s Estate in City Road, Chippendale, has begun his sustainability apprenticeship. Bill, along with the whole of the Toby’s Estate lot are going to reduce the waste, energy, water and other resource uses of the business. Starting with the coffee-making and cafe business in City Road, Bill and his fellow workmates will garden, compost, gather data and work out where the business can save on resources and avoidable costs. He’s... Read More

  • Michael Mobbs

    Michael is a former Environmental Lawyer who is uniquely placed to consult in four main areas:

    • Sustainability Coach and Speaker,
    • Sustainable Urban Farm Design greening, watering and cooling the cityscape, roads, parks, suburbs,
    • Major Projects Consultant Commercial and Industrial,
    • Residential Sustainability Consultant.
    For permission to re-print any articles or to book Michael for a speaking engagement go to Contacts. Please ensure all quotes from Michael's blog include a reference to sustainablehouse.com....au.