Too many people, too little oil, too little soil . . .

Does this story sound like us: ” . . . Iran’s population in 1979 when the Islamic Revolution occurred was 37 million; today it’s 75 million. Egypt’s was 40 million; today it’s 85 million. The stresses from more people, climate change and decades of environmental abuse in both countries can no longer be ignored or bought off. On July 9, Iran’s former agriculture minister,... Read More

Solitary bee nesting hives appear in Chippendale street

Solitary bee hive, Myrtle St, Chippendale, NSW Last night two solitary bee hives appeared outside my house on the little pergola built to train up the native raspberry bushes there.  One has a cute metal roof and the other is also cute – a  bundle of sticks. Bundle of sticks hive Solitary bee nesting box The sign  beside it intrigues me, “Solitary bee nesting box”. And,... Read More

Anyone can see how much electricity we use in Sydney’s Sustainable House

If anyone wishes to see how much electricity is used and how much is made from the sun each day at my house they can now do that any time, anywhere.   This website has a menu heading called, “My electricity“.  If you use it you can see the amount of electricity used and generated by the solar power system each day, month or year at Sydney’s Sustainable House.   By... Read More

Join a small class and talk with leaders building cool roads and neighbourhoods

I’m blogging to invite you to join us and work with leaders in their fields in the new short course at Sydney’s UTS - How to build a sustainable neighbourhood.   Leading speakers who will present costs, design, politics and industry experience about small and large projects include: a Council Mayor, a NSW government Parliamentary Secretary, a Chief of Staff in the... Read More

Sydney study into native bee health

Leafcutter bee A research project is underway in Sydney, led by Tanya Latty, into the health of native bees. In their new facebook page Tanya Latty says:. The goal of the Urban Bees project is to study the ecology of native bees in community gardens within greater Sydney metropolitan area. Specifically, we will address four main questions: 1) Which species of native bee are present... Read More

New wireless temperature sensor installed at ecoPOPs

Anir and Raz pointing to Ysense temperature logger on Bondi Beach ecoPOPs   A temperature logger has been installed by Anir Upadhyay to measure the temperature from the shade created by the Bondi Beach ecoPOPs. Anir Upadhyay, is a PhD student at the University of Sydney under the supervision of Professor Richard Hyde. Anir and a friend, Raz, have designed a wireless data logger.... Read More

Janet Laurence’s plant sculptures

One of my favourite sculptors is Janet Laurence.   Kimberley botanical Janet recently went to Australia’s Kimberley and brought back some plants and is making sculptures from them.  Here’s Janet’s description and some photos of her work. “The great majority of Australian plants and animals are found nowhere else on earth. They are precious repositories... Read More

Elke’s bee photos

Inside the honey bee hive This weekend I met a friend, Elke Haege, a landscape architect and consulting arborist, at the Australian Garden Show at Centennial Park and she promised me some photos of her introduced honey bees and hive in her garden at Paddington, Sydney.   European honey bee Elke says: “I was inspecting my hives this morning and took a few pictures.  This... Read More

Go wild

Here is my review for the Sydney Morning Herald last weekend of George Monbiot’s new book about rewilding ourselves, our culture and our countries, Feral: the enchantment of rewilding –  review . . . Go wild, M  Read More

New game to save the world to save a bear

There’s a new game being developed for kids around Earth, Habitat the game. The site says: “. . . players will undertake actions to keep an endangered animal alive. In this first iteration of Habitat game players will adopt a polar bear. To keep the bear alive and healthy, players need to successfully complete events in the game and undertake real world actions. By... Read More