Composting on the frontier

In Chippo we have public compost bins on our road gardens.   Friday and Saturday nights – pub nights – sometimes bring the urban galah, alcohol and our bins together.  About a month ago an urban galah or two tipped over two bins and damaged them. Michael with two heavy duty tapes screwed around the bins – sorry about the poor photo in the poor evening light Today, a new gardener who’s just moved into Myrtle Street, Michael,... Read More

App for recycling building ‘waste’

Builders, designers and others looking to use or to recycle building waste now can  use a phone app to do so. Called BuildBITS, once a user downloads it they may take a photo of the surplus products, enter a short description and price – and the product appears for sale in the BuildBITS online marketplace. There are no commissions or fees for sellers and buyers. It can be cheaper for a builder to list, say, waste bricks on BuildBITS for free and... Read More

Inspiring food growing trial

In South Australia’s desert, 100 metres from the sea, is an inspiring greenhouse growing food using the sun’s heat and the sea’s salty water. The desert farm uses the sun to desalinate seawater for irrigation and to heat and cool the greenhouse. It’s cheaply growing high-quality, pesticide-free vegetables year-round in commercial quantities. It’s the work of Sundrop Farms, based on the design work of an English inventor,... Read More

When words fail

To prevent an increase in average Earthly temperatures of 2 degrees we need to cut the human-made carbon we put into the Earth’s atmosphere by 5.1 per cent each year for 39 consecutive years, according to PwC research group. In their report, “Too late for 2 degrees?“, PwC accounts for the carbon humans have put into the atmosphere each year for the last century. PwC measures the amount of carbon put into Earth’s atmosphere. The... Read More

Bright idea and investor’s generosity sends books to 154 Councils

You know a good idea when you hear one – it just makes sense. When a friend and colleague (who does not wish to be named), suggested sending the new book, Sustainable Food, to Australian councils it was such a beaut idea I had no hesitation in asking a commercial property investor who has built a project which commands respect for the way it’s integrated sustainability with design, Lesli Berger, Fivex Commercial Property, if he would buy... Read More