Saving our planet: WA pulls the plug

WEST Australians made a substantial difference to their energy consumption last night when they turned off electricity as part of Earth Hour.
Lights, TVs and other electrical appliances were switched off across the state between 8-9pm .
Western Power's general manager system management Ken Brown said late last night he was surprised at the substantial reduction.
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Nanotechnology

Imagine a low-fat ice-cream that tastes just as creamy as an unhealthier, full-fat version. Or a colourless drink that bursts into the flavour of your choosing at the flick of a microwave switch. Or intelligent food packaging that detects if the contents are beginning to spoil, changes colour to alert you, and then releases a preservative.

These are some of the promises of nanotechnology, a revolutionary area of research at the atomic or molecular scale of matter. Nanotechnology is expected to have a huge impact on many aspects of our lives, including medicine and the environment, with the development of materials and devices that can monitor blood, detect environmental pollutants and store energy better.

But one of its most immediate effects will be on our food. An estimated 200 companies worldwide are conducting research using nanotechnology to develop foods with new tastes and textures, as well as to improve packaging and enhance nutrient absorption.
Read Further

Reading this story this morning I wanted to know a bit more about what nanotechnology is so I looked it up: Nanotechnology is the science of manipulating matter on an atomic or molecular scale. So what, you might say. Well, it's going to change the world. Stephen Cauchi reports.

WELCOME to another environmentally friendly day in our new, sustainable world.

You awake to the sound of an alarm clock that is powered by green energy. You eat your eco-friendly cereal before driving to your paperless office in your carbon neutral vehicle.

You buy a novel at lunchtime and pay extra for the green bag. Back at the office, you plan a business trip and pay $5 to offset your flight's emissions.

After work, you shout some of your colleagues a new, carbon neutral beer, before going home, feeling good about the fact that you've done your bit to help the environment today.

Or have you?
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Patricia Piccinini's art

Patricia's evocative art reflects her interests in world issues such as bioethics, biotechnologies and the environment. Watch the video and listen to her interesting story behind this art:

10 targets for Sydney to reach by 2030

1. Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent compared to 1990 levels.

2. At least 132,000 dwellings, 48,000 new dwellings, for an increased household diversity.

3. Of all city housing, 7.5 per cent will be social housing and 7.5 per cent affordable housing.

4. The city to contain at least 465,000 jobs with an increased share of the finance, education, creative industries and tourism sectors.

5. Use of public transport for travel to work increased by 80 per cent.

6. At least 10 per cent of trips made in the city by cycling and 50 per cent by walking.

7. Every resident within a 10 minute or 800m walk to a main street with food markets, childcare, health services and leisure infrastructure.

8. Every resident within a three-minute walk or 250m of continuous green links that connect to the Harbour Foreshore, Harbour Parklands, Moore and Centennial Parks or Sydney Park.

9. The level of community cohesion to increase with more than 45 per cent of people believing their neighbours can be trusted.

10. Have the capacity to meet up to 100 per cent of the city's energy demand and 10 per cent of its water supply.

Info

Perth Earth Hour

Yes! Perth is participating!

Perth, dubbed the City of Lights when its citizens turned their lights on for US astronaut John Glenn when he orbited Earth in 1962, will be plunged into darkness on Saturday for Earth Hour.
West Australians will join tens of millions of people around the world at 8pm on March 29 forgoing electricity for an hour.
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Sun Fair - 6 April

In August last year I already wrote about this fair because I've been there last year and was positively suprised to see so many interesting topics on sustainability.
They have asked me to rent a marque to bring the Perth Green Drinks forward, but as I do this all voluntarily and do not have a budget, I've declined. The Perth Green Drinks needs to become a self containing network anyway, like in the rest of the world!
The Sun fair will be bigger than ever this year, so if you have time, go there! Visit their website for more information!

Extrta Perth Green Drinks at SWUG first Tuesday in April‏

Shane Parker from InterCAD has invited the Perth Green Drinks to attend one of their monthly SWUG (Solid Works Users Group) meetings on Tuesday 1 April.
I'ts especially aimed on the designers, engineers and architects in this group but anyone else who is interested in the topics is welcome too.
You have to RSVP for this meeting at the website of SWUG, click here if you are planning to come. Click on the Yes button and fill in your details. If you have problems to do so you might want to send an email to swugwa@westnet.com.au

When:
6:00 PM Tuesday, 01 April 08

Where:
WA Innovation Centre
Suite 4, Enterprise Unit 3
11 Brodie Hall Drive
Bentley
(Entrance off de Laeter Way)
Google Map

6.30 PM Australia's Inconvenient Truth... For Engineers
Glen Fraser
There has been a lot of 'hype' about recently with regards a number of environmental issues that face our society, with the possiblity of climate change as a result of human activity being failry well front and centre.
This presentation aims to remove the hype and buzz, and present some facts - including what can and is being done presently - from an engineer's perspective.

7:30 PM Break

8.00 PM Building a Wave Energy Device
David King
The Perth office of JP Kenny has been successful in building and operating (approx) a 1/3 scale prototype of what is effectively a floating, man made, blowhole capable of generating electricity from the power of passing waves.
The project is now in the final design phases for the full scale device.
SolidWorks and CosmosWorks has been used extensively in the development cycle, and David has kindly agreed to fill us in on what has been happening, and how they have gone about a very challenging project.

I hope to meet a few of you there.
The event with the Concervation Council is postponed to June. I keep you posted.

Kind regards,
Wilma van Boxtel

Plastic bag numbers on the rise

March 20, 2008
The Australian
A REPORT that shows the number of plastic bags in use is on the rise is evidence the Government's phase-out is not working, environmental groups said.
A leaked report for the Federal Government shows more than 4 billion plastic bags were used in 2007, up from 3.3 billion the previous year.
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A thirsty planet looks for solutions to water shortage

March 20, 2008 - 5:22AM
The Age
A world without fresh water would be a world bereft of humans, and yet one in five people lacks regular access to this most basic of life-sustaining substances.
By 2025, fully a third of the planet's growing population could find itself scavenging for safe drinking water, the United Nations has warned ahead of World Water Day on Saturday.
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"One good chair" - Design Competition

"A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier. That is why Chippendale is famous."
— Mies van der Rohe

Your design should demonstrate a new attitude toward an old problem. Transcend basic green standards by transforming the very nature of the chair. Show us how inventive you can be. Push the envelope. Knock our socks off. Entries due 9 June!
For more information click here.

The Food Price Crisis

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation says world food prices rose by 40 percent in 2007, warning that high prices of basic grain crops have led to severe shortages and unrest in developing nations.
An increase in westernised animal-rich diets across Asia, where increased livestock need more grain; the push to convert crops into biofuels; and weather woes as droughts and floods hit crop producing nations have all led to increased demand and prices. Read more.

Young go to Darwin, old to Adelaide

The tropical city of Darwin has the youngest population of any of Australia's capital cities, while Adelaide is home to the highest proportion of aged residents. And Perth experienced rapid growth, expanding by 8.4 per cent over five years.
According the Perth now news of today.
If you are interested in more statistics check the website of Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Scoodi

Scoodi is a new and exciting Australian-based initiative that gives you a free and easy way to get rid of your unwanted things and find items you need. Ever wanted to clean out your garage, but don't want to throw useful stuff away? coodi strongly believes that re-cycling is good, but re-use is even better. It works pretty simple; Scoodi searches for things inside a geographical area with a location that you set at the centre. For example if you live in Leederville you can set an area for 20 km around Leederville to look for what you need.

The real cost of bottled water

AUSTRALIA'S love affair with bottled water is costing the planet 314,000 barrels of oil a year.
That's how much of one of the world's most precious resources it takes to package, ship and refrigerate a product that is already piped to every single suburban premises for next to nothing, according to Sunday Age calculations.
"It's one of the greatest cons ever pulled," says Clean Up Australia chairman Ian Kiernan. "It's just lunacy, there is no other word for it. We are squandering our oil resources."
Oil is not the only precious resource being squandered by consumers, with bottled water 2500 times more expensive than the tap variety. "Drinking water in Melbourne or Sydney costs around $1.20 a tonne," says Mr Kiernan. "Australian bottled water costs around $3000 a tonne. And Italian bottled water? About $9000 a tonne.
Click here to read the whole story.

Think outside the bottle!

2008 – 6 Years VIVID – Vibrant Visions in Design

Are you based in Australia? Are you in business less than 5 years or a student of design? Have you recently completed a new design?

Applications for VIVID 2008 – 6 Years VIVID – Vibrant Visions in Design are now welcome!

This dynamic showcase and highly esteemed design competition is the heart of Furnitex from Thursday 17 July - Sunday 20 July 2008 at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, South Melbourne.

Furnitex is Australia’s largest Furniture and Furnishings Trade Fair attracting over17,000 qualified trade visitors from around Australia and overseas and will be one of the key events of the Satellite Program for the Victorian State of Design Festival 2008.

VIVID 2008 will be an inspirational display of new works by Australian based designers showcasing their latest furniture products, all things beautiful, innovative, commercial, and fun.

Awards for Excellence in Design will be presented in the three categories:
VIVID Commercial – for the best new release
VIVID Concept – for the best prototype
VIVID Student – for the best student product

Applications close Wednesday 30 April 2008 at 5pm.

Click here to download an application form and more information.

4th Perth Green Drinks

The last opportunity for this summer to meet up with the Perth Green Drinks in Kings Park and enjoy the magnificent views plus sunset was taken up by a nice group of about thirty people and we had an enjoyable evening outdoors discussing all kind of sustainable topics.
I am happy to announce that there will be an extra Green Drinks next month, on the first Tuesday in April; 1 April, more info will follow soon.

Free workshops - How to make great gardens

I've been to the workshop on Thursdaynight in Cottesloe and it was really very good. In a short time you learn a lot about water-wise and fertiliser-wise gardening in your area. I can really recomment you to go, it's worthwhile! They give a way a lot of materials at the end so we went home with a bag of organic soil wetter as a bonus!
A new series of FREE Great Gardens workshops are being held throughout the Perth metropolitan area in Western Australia. These 3 hour workshops are designed to be informative, fun and provide participants many additional opportunities to learn more about specific gardening and environmental issues.
For more information or to register for a workshop click here.

Celebrate World Water Day

The international observance of World Water Day is an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro. For more information check the website about World Water Day.
Rebecca Duffy, Manager New WAter Ways, asked me to bring this event to your attention. It's on 20 March in Perth and you need to rsvp. Click on the picture to make it bigger for more information.