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This is a special lifestyle edition: Living the Good Life – Organically. Discover how others have got off the treadmill and are living the Good Life simply and sustainably in the city and in the country. For beginners there’s an article on how to get going and get growing with easy-to-grow vegies. Editor Liz Sinnamon writes about how she achieved food self-sufficiency and the dollar savings you can make from even a small vegie garden. If you want to get started in no-dig gardening, there’s a great four page article on how to do it, including photographs and diagrams. In newsagencies from early July.
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News
Going nuclear not essential: Rudd
Nuclear power ... 'not inevitable'
Photo: Reuters
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says Australia does not need to resort to nuclear energy as part of its climate change strategy.
A newspaper report today says that former NSW premier Bob Carr and Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes are urging the Federal Government to consider the use of nuclear energy.
The report says Mr Carr believes that nuclear energy can be used while renewable energy sources continue to be developed.
However Mr Rudd told ABC's AM program that nuclear options are not needed.
"We believe that we have a full range of energy options available to Australia beyond nuclear through which we can respond to the climate change challenge and we're confident we can do that," he said.
Mr Rudd has also reiterated that fuel and transport must be part of a broad climate change policy but the question of whether the Government will include fuel in the emissions trading scheme still remains.
"The precise definition of the scope of the scheme - that'll become clear during the green paper, white paper process," he said.
"We're proceeding on this policy development process, calmly, coolly methodically, responsibly and that's why we've been out there in the last six months consulting industry."
Are we likely to find more tribes now with global warming forcing people to move from their more traditional areas?
Doc on June 01 2008 09:16:31 4 Comments ·
192 Reads ·
Climate change causes great dieing in SA stringybarks
Spring Gully Conservation Park near Clare in SA's Mid-North was established, at least in part, to protect the red stringybark (Eucalyptus macrorhyncha).
The last dry and warmer than average summer, followed by a record heat-wave in March, has caused many thousands of these trees to die. This was partly a freak weather event, but one made much more likely by climate change.
Yet another piece of evidence that we must live more simply.
I've written more and posted photos at http://www.geocities.com/daveclarkecb/Australia/ClareCC.html
Aust's ecological footprint one of biggest in world
The annual Climate Living Index, which measures humanity's demand on natural resources, has listed Australia's ecological footprint as one of the biggest in the world.
The United States has taken the lead position as the largest consumer of natural resources on the planet, followed by the United Arab Emirates, Finland, Canada, Kuwait then Australia.
THE regions most at risk from climate change in Australia are where most people live, the Climate Institute has warned.
Using data from soon-to-be-published CSIRO research, the institute found the impacts of climate change threatened the major cities of mainland Australia - where more than 60 per cent of the population lives.
The regions most at risk are the catchments of Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Murray-Riverina.
The assessment, undertaken by the CSIRO this year, was based on climate change impacts, historical rainfall changes, catchment condition and population growth.
"Clearly, there will be high costs of government inaction on climate change - and it will be felt hardest in our major cities," institute chief executive John Connor said.
"New research by the CSIRO has also shown that the impact of climate change on the length of severe droughts may double or triple in some parts of Australia after 2050.
"Australians will pay the price of government inaction on climate change with higher water and food costs over the coming years."
The assessment revealed drops in these catchments: Blackwood River (WA) down nine per cent by 2030, down 26 per cent by 2070; Brisbane River (Qld) down five per cent by 2030, down 14 per cent by 2070; Hawkesbury River (NSW) down three per cent by 2030, down seven per cent by 2070; Murray-Riverina (NSW) down seven per cent by 2030, down 20 per cent by 2070; Thomson River (Vic) down five per cent by 2030, down 14 per cent by 2070; Torrens River (SA) down six per cent by 2030, down 16 per cent by 2070.
The report's findings should come as a reality check to those calling for less urgent responses to the threat of dangerous climate change impacts, Mr Connor said.
"This report reveals that it is in Australia's national interest to lead on these matters - at home and abroad.
"This is why we need further action to reduce our carbon emissions and to forge international agreement on tougher targets."
It never occurred to me when I was a spender that I was actually giving away my independence. I thought the opposite. I believed I was the queen of my realm and the more I had and the more dollars I spent, the more power, strength and independence I had. When I stopped spending I realised how pathetically wrong that was.
What I was doing was working in a job I didn't like so I had enough money to pay for a lifestyle I didn't want to live. I was shopping for clothes and shoes to make me look like everyone else, I was buying things for my home to make me feel comfortable in a place I didn't take the time to feel comfortable in, and I was buying foods to comfort and nurture because I didn't feel at ease in my life and I didn't have the time or energy to cook the foods I liked. And the strangest thing is that when I was doing that, I didn't think about the sadness I was feeling, I didn't realise I was unsatisfied and I didn't see the need for change.
I only realised that need when I took myself out of the shopping frenzy and sat alone on my verandah and thought about what I was doing and how far from my ideal life I really was. When I stopped shopping, I saw it in a brighter light and when I saw its ugly side, I didn't want to go back there.
I realised that I could do all those things I used to spend my money on. I could make clothes, I could cook well, I could do my own housework, but when I started doing those things I found that I'd lost many of the skills I grew up with. I'd forgotten how to sew and knit because I paid someone else to make my clothes, I'd forgotten how to cook well because I'd been buying all sorts of foods that didn't require me to exercise my mind and spend my energy on making my truly favourite dishes. When it came to housework, all I knew was to get the Chux and Mr Sheen from the cupboard and wipe. I was really pathetic - a grown woman who didn't know how to look after myself or my family properly; I'd forgotten the skills that all my great grandmothers had passed on to me - I, my friends, was a modern woman - I was dependent on others to help me live.
