Argue all you like about climate change – oil prices are going up and oil will eventually run out. The time for sustainable living has arrived.

Here’s some excellent advice from the ABC Health website:
http://littlurl.com/bzkau

“When we in the West think about the costs of climate change, we think of rising electricity and fuel prices. But these aren't the main concerns for people living in developing countries.

Egypt, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Yemen, Mexico… in fact over 30 developing countries face critical shortages of food due to sharply rising costs for staples like rice, wheat, soybeans and corn…..

….What's driving price increases is the sharp rise in the price of oil (a major input in the production and transport of food), rising demand from China, land scarcity, especially as more land is being turned over to biofuels, and increasingly erratic weather events – floods, storms and droughts...

In Australia, food prices are rising too – at about 5 to 10 per cent a year – but because food accounts for a much smaller proportion of our household expenditure, Australian families are in a better position to absorb the price rises. But low-income families are already having to cut back on more expensive items like meat and fish.

Buy fresh, locally-produced food, which has less distance to travel and therefore uses less fuel.

Eat fewer processed and refrigerated foods, which take more energy to manufacture, transport and store.

Waste less food – about one-third of the food we prepare is thrown away uneaten. Don't over-order in restaurants, and eat smaller portions.

Drink tap water, not bottled water, which uses large amounts of energy to produce.

Reduce the amount of meat and animal and diary products we eat. Meat is much more energy intensive and requires proportionally more land to graze animals than crops. Instead, eat foods lower down the food chain – grains, fruits and vegetables that are cheaper to grow, use less energy and less land space.

Buy foods in season – seasonal products generally use less energy to produce.”

And the good news is - its all healthy.

Great subject Fractelle.

It will soon become more and more necessary to think and buy locally and it will probably mean the rise of more local market gardens at the fringes of our cities and towns. (Yet we are still importing food that can very well grow here). Free trade has a lot to answer for.

We have set up our backyard in a permaculture type system using organic principles and a large rainwater tank. It is very much a work in progress with some chooks soon to arrive. The chooks will be for eggs not meat and will free range in the yard as well as have their mobile home. (Naturally the chooks won't be killed at the end of their egg laying but enjoy happy retirement in the backyard).

There seems to be a bit of a revival in the humble backyard vegetable garden where I live, don't know whether it is because of thoughts of peak oil or just an interest in healthy organic food. The book below recounts author Barbara Kingsolver's experience in becoming self-sufficient and eating in season.

Recommended reading:
'Animal Vegetable Miracle' by Barbara Kingsolver.

Compost. Grow vegies. I've grown proper vegies in pots in tiny little courtyards in my time.

If you're in Victoria, lobby the govt to make water restrictions more flexible so people can water their vegies every second day.

Thanks Pelican & Vanilla

Great points about the veggie garden.

Vanilla I agree about the watering of vegetable gardens, we really need some balance in how we use our resources - will this be discussed at the 2020 summit?

Or, by becoming more self sufficient in terms of collecting and recycling our own water, waste, installing solar energy, growing some of our own food requirements be too much of a threat to the current system of an economy based on unlimited consumption?

I believe that sustainable living is a threat to the 'business-as-usual-our-power-is-threatened'(BAUOPIT's) monopoly that is too inflexible to change. Hence all the endless discussion instead of taking action.

Whatever: in the mean time I have my own little veggie garden, I shred paper and add to the mulch on my garden, use public transport as often as possible and shop locally.

Besides there are more of us (the ordinary citizen than the BAUOPITs). I don't believe that we are on the road to extinction, if we fail to change our wasteful ways, but we are gonna change, whether we do it kicking and screaming or rationally and pragmatically remains to be seen.

Meanwhile has anyone checked out the Green Office website on ABC Online - many useful things we can do there as well.

http://www.abc.net.au/greenatwork/GreenGuru/default.htm

Cheers

Fractelle,
Do not worry very much for Australians, in worst case we could block the export for agricultural products and we solve our problem for long time.
The question is for the people from the poor countries, for the people from countries which will damaged the maximum from the climate change.
Fractelle,
We, (Australians) are the worst polluters per person on the planet,Imagine how many people on our planet will suffer from our immaturity!
The problems from the climate change is very big, is an international problem, unfortunately, many of our leaders, especially Bush can not understand it and of cause are not ready to do anything to limited its negative consequences on our planet.
Your suggestions are good but I am an internationalist! I could not eat when I will know that my brothers in Asia, Africa or Latino America are hungry, thirsty, cold, ill or they have to move from place to place.I will feel very bad because I will know that they will suffer of cause our (developed world) crimes against our planet.
I agree with you but I want to add few words more
'LET'S FIGHT FOR THE PROTECTION OF OUR PLANET!'
Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide

Antonios

Thank you for you words of support and I fully agree that we need a global effort on sustainable living.

Two points:

1. Australia can lead the way by example.
I am only one, and I do what I can, hopefully my neighbour can do
as much as they can and so on... I believe in the butterfly
effect.

2. Please take good care of yourself - if you aren't well how can you
help others?

Pax

From little things big things do grow.
Once country living saw fruit and veges grown in the back yard a few chooks and meat and eggs came too.
My back yard has no chooks but my fruit is swapped for eggs and we are all happy.
All on tank water not a drop leaves the block until it is used many times.
Looking for dramatic change? we all are but if every house grew just a window box of veges more if you have room and one fruit tree?
Strangest thing is people who get my fruit free tell me it is too much work to grow it?
8 citrus 2 plums 2 apples 1 nut and one other on a half acre block and plenty of room for veges, try it.

Belly

Gardening is one of the best exercises anyone can do.

And nothing beats pruning in relieving stress - take that and that and that! Of course it also generates self control - one must be left with a fruit tree after one has finished pruning.

The joy of picking your own fruit, digging up your own potatoes. I am confounded by those who bought a McMansion - all house no garden, all that boring housework cleaning the inside of the McHouse and no fun in the sun outside.

One really short step to sustainability would be a size limit on the dwelling that could be built on a site. How many bathrooms does anyone need? Who wants to clean them and all that water that is wasted...?...Where do the children play? And they look bloody awful, sitting on top of each other, no privacy at all. They look like some kind of bizarre up-market ghetto. OK, I'm sure everyone realises that I don't like them. But my reasons are completely valid.

My house to put it bluntly is not much more than a holiday shack, but it is a shack with a view, where I am constantly in contact with nature - sometimes more of it comes inside than I would like, but hey, its their world too, they agree not to bite me and I agree to live and let live.

Dear Fractelle,

All of us can do our share - if we just try, and every little bit helps.

We've recently installed water-saver shower heads - and we encourage family members to take shorter showers and half-flush whenever possible.

We've changed our lightbulbs, and we switch lights off when they're not needed.

I turn off any appliance that runs constantly without any attention.

I tend to buy locally grown products - in the fruit and veg. departments. I tend to walk more instead of driving - especially locally.

If we all did our bit - it would make a difference. Our next project
is - to buy 2 water tanks - (when we've got enough money).

Solar powered electric cars (and domestic solar power) are an integral part of the future of sustainable living. The problems with some of the earlier models was the limit of 100km per charge but I believe that with improvements in battery capacity they can go up to 300km (as revealed by the scientist/engineer in the film 'Who Killed the Electric Car').

Obviously this would not be conducive for haulage or longer travel but would go some way in alleviating pressure on current oil supplies. I fear we are probably too late to make a significant difference but the changeover to electric would also aid in reducing pollution and harmful emissions in our ever-growing cities.

I'd like water usage rules that allowed me make more effective use of the water available to me - if I'm under regional usage targets then it should not matter if a built in irrigation system is used on my garden rather than buckets or hoses.

I'd like to see more community gardens, I don't know of any near me but have looked through one at Morningside which was very interesting. They look like a great way to build community, exchange ideas and get some economy of scale for self grown fruit and veges. There are some things that fit a lot better in a larger garden than in a small backyard.

I'd like to see more bikeways on transport corridors, a bike track on the suburban rail easement might be one way to facilitate that in my area.

I'm managing to work from home more often lately, that saves a couple of hours of commuting, some out of hours care time and cost for my son and lets me work in a better work environment than a noisy office. A win all round and no AC running in my home office either.

Come to think of it pushing for climate appropriate attire in our workplaces and reducing the air conditioner load would have to help.

R0bert

Robert.. working from home seems to me one of the biggest savers, specially for those in IT.

Travel is of course one of the biggest hinderences to maximizing our usefulness and productivity.

I was caught on Lysterfield road last friday, on my way to a weekend camp. I was stunned that this 'back way' road was bumper to bumper from Wellington road almost back to Ferntree Gully.. Turned out it was a temporary 40km zone where OXFAM walkers were crossing Wellington road, slowed the whole system down to a snails pace. But many people waste an HOUR each way in travel on the Monash "free"way daily just to get to the big smoke for work.

BIGGER blocks of land.
EXTENDED FAMILY use of said land, allowing high density living. (semi detached mini-homes with more central infrastructure. (resulting in a higher population density but a lower building density)
WATER CONSERVATION through a dam and water tanks on the property, and its use in vegy production for home and sale.
SOLAR energy based high efficiency lighting systems. No electric ovens or cooktops. (all gas)
PERMITTING the raising and slaughter of meat animals on property, which can then be distributed to extended family and bartered with nearby neighbours for vegies or other services.

In short..modernized village life.

All good advice I forgot two fruit trees in my yard pear and peach but each was picked for the longer life of the fruit.
It is a village a very small one so I surrounded my block with bottle brush more shade no air conditioning.
Spuds and pumkin are home grown for me and many others.
Hate the doom and gloom but one day that food may be needed by more.
Mc Mansions? my dislike matches yours how can any one live like that?
My home is 1978 fibro too big moved from Sydney and renovated for profit it cost little but even its size could be helpful in my big family one day.
Once a cow paddock my views are birds that love the bottle brush life can be better without the cost to our environment.

If you live near efficient public transport (and don't have kids) sell your car. I have never owned a car, believe it or not (I had a couple of scooters when I was younger) and don't miss it at all. A couple of times a year, we hire a nice new fuel-efficient something and go for a holiday.

Eat whole foods. Decide what you're going to buy based on how much packaging it's got. My local shop sometimes gives me a discount because I always take my own bags.

Remember Autumn is a good time to plant onion family crops — garlic, leeks, spring onions. Spring onions are great is pots.

Vanilla

Thanks for the reminder must get my garlic in.

Everyone has made terrific contributions. I am so tired of the gloom and doom scenarios from every part of the political spectrum. Those who claim sustainability will ruin the economy and those who claim we will become extinct. There is a middle road and it is a very positive one.

I don't believe we need larger blocks of land - there are already issues with land prices and availability, just for once Boaz, don't take my disagreement with you as a personal slight. We do need more effective use of land. We have small families, we certainly don't need huge homes which would have to be one of the most wasteful trends in the past twenty years.

It is possible to grow a great deal in a small space, using rotation and organic methods. There are dwarf varieties of fruit trees and espalier offers options in courtyard gardens.

The possibilities are only limited by our imaginations and those who want "business-as-usual".

Listening to the radio the other day (not sure if it was RRR or ABC) there are community developments for solar grid energy to supply a number of homes, rather than just individual installations - these also qualify for government rebate. Will try to follow this up some more.

Some good websites:
http://www.organicfooddirectory.com.au/comm_food.php
For info on where to buy, restaurants, valid reasons for supporting organic food

And current research going on at CSIRO
http://www.csiro.au/org/SolarResearch.html
This is treasure trove of technical information.

Cheers everyone.

Fractelle..I don't take it in any way other than ordinary expression of view :)

My view was intended to propose more efficient use of land and while I say 'larger blocks' with extended families.. I'm also allowing for home grown vegies and even some small 'flocks and herds' i.e. a sheep or goat or 3 all of which can be meat. Add in few chickens..and yes..even a fish pond.. stock it with trout and yellow belly.. make it long and narrow so you can cover it to keep the shags and herrons out..and bingo.. we have paradise.

Well...thats how I'm approaching it at least, in my minds eye.

We plan to have a row of fruit trees, and a dam at one end, (with fish)(slightly sloping block) a chook shed and vegy garden. Water for the garden and fruit trees is from the dam. We also plan to have Solar for lighting. But you all have to buy my Gym Timers and Solar Pumping Maximizers so I can finance it :)