Microbat houses up today – bring ‘em on

Murray and the microbat boxes in the tree Today the very marvellous Murray Cox, landscaper and gardening extraordinaire, put three microbat house boxes into the tree in my back garden. These tiny critters eat over a thousand mozzies a day which will be welcome here in mozzie driven Chippo. It can take more than a year for them to find it. I’ll know when they’re here when I see them at evening light and by guano at the base of the boxes. The design for the boxes, generously... Read More

Microbat nests come to Chippendale

Microbat nest boxes Steve Fadel and his artisans from Paramount Properties – www.paramountpropertygroup.net….au – have built and given three microbat houses to me and our Chippendale environment.   Microbats can be as small as a knuckle on a human finger.  They eat mozzies – over a thousand a day!  They have been dying out as we cut down trees in our cities.  These new houses will provide a home and refuge for them in Chippendale.  This is what... Read More

Is climate our dictator?

I’ve been walking the streets of Chippendale, reading, and thinking about my life, my children, friends and all that I love. And now I’ve written an article asking, Is climate our dictator? What do you think? I’d like to hear from you if you have a moment. Thanks, Michael  Read More

Sustainablity tip – how to harvest stingless bee honey

Honey harvest Michael Strelan runs his own web tv station, Myecotv. Michael has just made this beautiful 8 minute video called, Honey Love, showing how to harvest stingless bee honey. The images of the bees, their hive, their honey and industry bring me as much succour as does the unusual light taste of their honey – as it’s about 70% water it’s very light and elegant to taste. The vid shows something vital; anyone can harvest native been hives or split them,... Read More

Sustainable Tip 2 – From pools to ponds

After a fridge a pool will be the biggest, or it can be the bigger, energy user. An option is to change your pool to a pond and, in doing so, cut down the energy and pollution it causes due to the pump running 24/7 and the use of cleaning agents such as chlorine. How:   Put some plants in, change to a low power, low energy pump, or simply turn yours off. Why:   The water is easier to maintain, the yukky chlorine smell is gone, the plants do the cleaning for you, and if you do... Read More

When poetry is about sustainability

There is a poem by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney based on the legend of St Kevin and the Blackbird:  the blackbird laid its eggs in the saint’s outstretched hand as he prayed.   And then there was St Kevin and the blackbird,          The saint is kneeling, arms stretched out, inside          His cell, but the cell is narrow, so            One turned-up palm is out the window, stiff          As a crossbeam, when a blackbird lands         ... Read More

Beach plastic is breathed in by fish who then die

Imagine the plastic we see beside the roads, rail lines, footpaths . . . then imagine it floating on and below the sea to be breathed in by fish, whales, jelly fish, crabs, whales, little critters there . . . in pieces as small as the tip of a pen or pin, getting in the lungs and then killing oceans of fish.   These folk do – Responsible Runners – and every day they prevent some of it getting into the ocean – Responsible Runners.   This is an extract... Read More

Commercial project taking carbon out of air to make plastics – and hope

This is what we and Earth need – projects to take existing pollution out of Earth’s air. A new commercial project extracts carbon from Earth’s air to make plastic products. The ‘biocatalyst” commercial machine takes carbon from landfills and other polluting sources and mixes it with air in a reactor and makes it into a liquid which pulls carbon out of air and makes it into plastic. The two people behind the US business are Mark Herrema and Kenton... Read More

I love birdsong in the morn n eve

Birds, birds, birds A friend has a couple of trees with flowers that attract parrots.  They feed there day and night, gossiping, laughing, chortling, scurrying, eating upside-down (my favourite), coming and going.  How I love Aussie parrots for their song and colour, their beauty.  And there are both honey and native bees there, too, feeding on the tree’s feast. This year I’ll plant a tree or two like this. M    Read More

A banquet of consequences – abrupt climate disfigurement

Everybody, sooner or later, sits down to a banquet of consequences. (Robert Louis Stevenson – Scottish Essayist, Poet, Author, 1850-1894)   First, the good news: “Good News- Solar Storage Plant Gemasolar Sets 36-Day Record 24/7 Output, by Emma Fitzpatrick, Reneweconomy, Oct. 8, 2013: The Gemasolar, a Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) facility, is the world’s first large scale power plant that uses molten salt to capture heat during the day so it can produce energy... Read More