Replace Hazelwood event pics

A pictorial update from the Replace Hazelwood event in Wodonga last weekend.

If you want to know how take a stand on a serious political issue, but have some fun at the same time, this was the event for you. It featured a cake replica of the coal-fired power station, complete with 'steam' in time for the Border Mail photographer.

The Deputy Mayors of Wodonga and Indigo councils did the honours to cut up the cake after the official pictures. And we were entertained by the Next Generation, a band that formed especially for the occasion, with their impressive rendition of [previously AC/DC's] Long Way to the Top ... If You Keep on Burning Coal.   

All pictures in this post taken by Joy GrinhamFor more about Hazelwood and the options to replace it, as well as news and pictures from other events held across the nation, visit the Replace Hazelwood website. Local media coverage included both pre- and post- event stories in the Border Mail, another in News Weekly and as an item on WIN tv news.

Catching my eye

I've been making an effort to be more organised to 1) not overlook/forget documents, audio or video clips that come to my attention and 2) find the time to view/listen to them!

The current solution involves an electronic file to keep anything I think fits the bill so I can easily put my hands on it if I find myself with time on my hands. I've also downloaded the audio files and am trying to multi-task so that I listen to them while doing other things like cooking, gardening or travelling (be it walking, driving or my next train journey).

Some items you might be interested in are:

Prosperity without Growth- this is one of the 2010 Deakin Lecture series. You can download both video and audio files of all the talks (full list here). There are many good ones. The title Prosperity without Growth had me contemplating attending the lecture in Melbourne when the program was first announced. I didn't, but am really glad I've had the chance to catch it online instead. Tim Jackson discusses the issues with our current economic (and energy and social) systems, why growth cannot be infinite on a finite planet, as well as the challenges and opportunities such a discussion raises. I highly recommend taking a look/listen.

The full lecture (and questions from the audience) can be downloaded as audio or video. An additional interview on the same topics aired on Radio National's The National Interest program (download here). And if you can't find the 40+ minutes to hear one of those, at least take a look at the 7-minute highlights package from the lecture, put together by ABC tv for Big Ideas.

From TED.com I've enjoyed Collaborative Consumption - how technology in the 21st century helps us to share rather than all consume individually (here). Also, I finally got around to watching Hans Rosling make statistics seem absolutely riveting, and bust a few myths around global development in the process (here). It deserves the hype I'd read about it.

I've enjoyed several segments from Life Matters (another Radio National show), particularly their It Took Over My Life series, again accessed online. Specifically taking my fancy were ones on The Kitchen Garden, Geocacheing and The Simple Life (featuring Rhonda, whose blog Down to Earth I've been following and enjoying for a couple of years in fact the blog is better than the interview, I reckon).

An article by US permaculture author Toby Hemenway, The Myth of Self Reliance makes some interesting points about self sufficiency and contrasts it with self-reliant communities, which sound very much like community resilience, as Transition Towns frame it. Indeed, this article seems to fit very nicely with Tim Jackson's messages, and with the ideas behind Transition Towns.

Snail mail hasn't been forgotten. I've been perusing, or is that drooling over, the new Green Harvest and Eden Seeds catalogues that arrived in past weeks. Also, a farm and garden calendar and planting guide magnet from Senator Christine Milne. Check out her blog for info about those.
A local food and gardening calendar would make another great project for Transition Towns (and/or member groups), don't you think?

Here comes the sun

Bleak? Did someone say bleak?? (See last Saturday's post).

The last few days of gorgeous sunshine have reminded me that winter in our climate is rarely bleak for long! Yes, it's still chilly and the days are still short (but lengthening!), but what a difference some sunshine makes.

It arrived with good timing for our hot water heater. It was just about to need boosting with the element, but no, the last few days have it piping hot again. We're yet to boost this year. We do work with the system, for sure, by trying to reduce our demand even further when things are getting light on (that is, the temperature out of the tap isn't as warm as we'd like). But it's very exciting that the sun can do about 99.5% of the heating of our water, even in winter!

Meanwhile, Build-It Bloke has the mini-excavator booked for this weekend, so both Murphy's Law and the Bureau of Meteorology predict rain (which will hamper his efforts).