Coogee ECO Barrier - Underwater Footage

Coogee ECO Barrier - Underwater Footage (HD) v2 from Simon Blears on Vimeo.
The Eco Shark Barrier not only provide a safe barrier for water users, the structure has encouraged marine animals to take refuge on it. 
Check out this clip shot by my friend Michele Kwok, (Ocean diver). Hundreds of tailors, tarwhine, herrings and other species thrive on the barrier! One could engineered a marine trail and put the beach on a tourist hot spot!

Don't Risk The Reef

Coal companies want to build the world's biggest coal port right next to the Great Barrier Reef. But first they need to raise the money. We thought we'd see if everyday Australians would help them out. After all, who wouldn't want to destroy the Reef?

Go to http://www.riskingthereef.org.au and sign the petition asking our banks not to fund the destruction of the Reef. If you wouldn't fund it, why should your bank?

Plastic Free July is almost there

Plastic Free July: if refusing ALL single-use plastic sounds too daunting you can register for the Top 4 challenge on our website (www.plasticfreejuly.org).

"Think about it, why would you make something that you are going to use for a few minutes out of a material that's basically going to last forever...What's up with that?" - Jeb Berrier, Bag It. 

The economic hitman

A great illustration on how corporations take control of countries, and how capitalism drives the expansion of the Military Industrial Complex. Made by Studio Joho.

The light bulb conspiracy

Full movie

Planned Obsolescence is the deliberate shortening of product life spans to guarantee consumer demand.

As a magazine for advertisers succinctly puts it: The article that refuses to wear out is a tragedy of business - and a tragedy for the modern growth society which relies on an ever-accelerating cycle of production, consumption and throwing away.

The Light Bulb Conspiracy combines investigative research and rare archive footage to trace the untold story of Planned Obsolescence, from its beginnings in the 1920s with a secret cartel, set up expressly to limit the life span of light bulbs, to present-day stories involving cutting edge electronics (such as the iPod) and the growing spirit of resistance amongst ordinary consumers.

This film travels to France, Germany, Spain and the US to find witnesses of a business practice which has become the basis of the modern economy, and brings back disquieting pictures from Africa where discarded electronics are piling up in huge cemeteries for electronic waste.

Watch movie here

Seeds Of Death

Full movie

The problem with those documentaries is that it's always about the health issues, never about the far more dangerous way on how those big companies are patenting everything around us... which possible has far more consequences than eating the chemically enhanced foods...

My motto is to grow your own and stick to basics, stay away from all processed foods if possible.

Workshop: A Taste of Green Woodworking

Saturday 28 June. It’s a full day workshop offering “A Taste of Green Woodworking”. 

“A Taste of Green Woodworking” is an exciting opportunity to experience the ancient skills our ancestors took for granted, as we make functional and beautiful items from wood obtained fresh from garden prunings and tree loppings.  A warning: Doing green woodcraft can be addictive and great fun!

Greg Miller

PO Box 2063, Carlisle North 6101.

Ph. 0427 770 339

Email: adventure@wn.com.au 

Australia should be number one!

Australia’s electricity is largely generated by ageing, inefficient coal-fired power plants and there are currently no plans, nor a national discussion on the future of the electricity sector and options to significantly reduce its emissions. Delaying the shift to a low carbon future increases the likely risks and costs of transition to a low carbon future in the electricity sector, where it typically takes a decade or more to plan, permit, finance and build major new power infrastructure.
Read more

D’SIGN Awards for young designers and graduates

Important: competitors may only enter if they are still in training or at school or have not worked as a designer for longer than 5 years.

Entering will close on August the 15th of 2014.There is no entrance fee.
Read more and sign up here

Humans “Are Part Of A Massive Experiment”

Geneticist David Suzuki Says Humans “Are Part Of A Massive Experiment”

… are seeds that are generated, not to produce more nourishment or be better tasting, but to allow these plants to be drenched with Monsanto pesticides. Normally those pesticides would kill the grain or the crop but now they engineered them to be resistant to those. And they demand to have them to put the Monsanto product on them. So it’s a business excuse, it has nothing to do with improving the quality on earth.
Read more

Eucalyptus genome could unlock the tree's biofuel potential

The genome of Australia’s Flooded Gum (Eucalyptus grandis) has been sequenced, and scientists are searching it for information that could help revolutionise the fibre and biofuels industries, and provide insight into how to help the species survive climate change.

The research on the trees, which are one of the world's leading hardwoods and home to Australia's koalas, has been published in Nature. 

It’s hoped the genetic sequence will help scientists work out how to grow eucalypts more sustainably and efficiently, as well as unlock the potential of the trees and their oil.
Read article

Are you ready for this year's

Sick of chucking out so much waste? Want to minimise your ecological footprint? 

Refuse all single use plastic packaging this July.

You will discover it isn't easy so you might like to start with the obvious few like plastic shopping bags, take away cups (No, those eco ones are not compostable as they are plastic lined, and that starch based plastic is only compostable in an industrial environment), plastic water and soda bottles and plastic drink straws. You will find that will already go a fair way!

If more motivated or already joined last year you  might like to dig a bit deeper, find alternatives for plastic packaging in the supermarket,  for take away food, doggy poo bags, bin liners, diapers, menstrual pads etc.

Be innovative, creative and join us in July to make a statement. It might even change your habits for much longer!
Sign up at www.plasticfreejuly.org

Student Event in Fremantle tomorrow

My students are working very hard in these last few days to get a great show happening on Friday, creating small batches of their design to test the market. So if you have time on Friday between 10AM and 6PM please come along to Fremantle to support them. 

What is really happening in Fukushima

Australia falling behind

Australia is NOT leading the world on climate change - sadly we are falling behind. 

Other countries are building more renewable energy and improving their carbon and energy efficiency faster, according to a new report from Vivid Economics commissioned by WWF-Australia. 

10 June Launch

Interested in Solidworks?
Come to the launch by SF Works on Tuesday 10 June from 8.00am - 4.30pm 

Register here