How to make a country unsustainable

The New York Times this week ran an opinion piece by Patricia McArdle (19 June) about how the US has gutted and is ending one of Earth’s most sustainable food systems. Where would they do such a thing? In a place where they mean to do ‘good’;  Afghanistan. Read this  and try not to open your mouth with amazement: www.nytimes.com… As some counterpoint, however,... Read More

Special series on cities

This week The Australian newspaper carries a series of articles on cities, here: www.theaustralian.com… There’s an interesting one about planning, here: www.theaustralian.com… I’ve written one about the future of roads, here: www.theaustralian.com… Enjoy, Michael  Read More

Heat island goes mainstream at last

On 30 June the Melbourne Forum will host a free conference, Combating the urban heat island. The flier for it says: Urban development dramatically changes the landscape. Buildings, roads, and other infrastructure replace open land and vegetation. Surfaces that were once permeable and moist become impermeable and dry. These changes cause urban regions to become warmer than their... Read More

Yummoh garden design

Suspended flower garden by Tig Crowley This suspended ‘flowering roof’ by designer, Tig Crowley, at North Sydney Girls High includes these features; inclined to allow the winter sun in recycled turpentine pole from a demolished wharf And, of course, simplicity. Nice work, Tig, (Tig Crowley is a registered member of the Australian Institute of Landscape Designers &... Read More

New York plans for 3 degree heat rise by 2020

In The Daily Beast: “New York, which is looking at an average temperature increase of up to 3 degrees Fahrenheit by 2020, is planning to paint 3 million square feet of roofs white, to reflect sunlight and thus reduce urban heat-island effects.” See the full article here: www.thedailybeast.com… Change we can believe in, M  Read More

Hard to believe

See if you can put these two things together. First, have a look at the photo of the Pilliga Scrub. Pilliga Scrub It’s the largest continuous remnant of semi-arid woodland in temperate New South Wales and contains many threatened animal and plant species such as the Pilliga Mouse, Black-striped Wallaby and South-eastern Long-eared Bat. Now, take a look at this map of 500 wells,... Read More

Death of Duck n Swan

The Duck n Swan Hotel closes at the end of this May – this weekend. Many of us miss it already. Unpretentious.  Good food. A place where we could talk. Quiet enough for conversation. Imagine that. All the staff will go. We’ll miss them, too. The new owners are apparently from the UK and, according to some who have met them, have some knowledge of the class system there. And... Read More

Book talk at Shearers On Norton

Shearer’s On Norton talk The bookshop, Shearer’s On Norton, Leichhardt, is putting on a talk evening where I’ll talk about the new book, what worked and didn’t over the last 14 years; this is a story of the house where no sewage has left the site (how can you keep over 1.5 million litres of sewage on your house lot?), energy and water bills are less than... Read More

Greg builds a shed

Shed in bits + Greg Greg and shed, finished Greg built a shed this weekend.  Provided by Sydney City Council through the good work of Russ Grayson there, it arrived at Pine Street Creative Centre on Friday.  Starting on it after some lunch time tucker at the Duck n Swan on Saturday, young Greg downed tools after sunset when the torch held by his assistant failed to find the holes... Read More

Does my sewage system produce methane?

This question was put to me: ‘Mike, On  recent tour of your house with Ryde TAFE college, you told me the septic tank did not give off methane because of the anarobic bacteria. You asked me to ask the question on your blogg. Being an old fart, I do not know how to use these wiz bang electronic garbbage, so in search of knowledge, I am contacting you directly. My knowledge... Read More