Please see the message below that was posted on the Food Security Network email listserve - an awesome service for project officers, councils, community organisations and others who are addressing food security issues in their local areas in Melbourne. It is to facilitate discussion and the sharing of resources. To join visit http://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/Content.aspx?topicID=151#cs_783.

The Garnaut Climate Change Review will release its Draft Report on Friday 4 July 2008. The Draft Report will outline the impacts of climate change and preliminary policy options for Australia to minimise its environmental and economic impacts.

We invite you to attend one of the five public forums being held around Australia between 7 July and 11 July 2008, to hear about and discuss the findings of the Draft Report. Professor Ross Garnaut will host the forums, providing a half hour
presentation, followed by question time. These forums will provide an opportunity for individuals and organisations to discuss the Draft Report with Professor Garnaut ahead of the completion of the Final Report by 30 September 2008.

Wednesday 9 July,10.00-11.30am, Melbourne Town Hall
Attendance is free of charge but registration is required.
To register visit www.garnautreview.org.au.

Please find an abstract of an article below from the Australian Conservation Foundation. It raises some interesting issues - namely the emergence of a ‘green collar’ workforce. To read the full article visit http://www.acfonline.org.au/articles/news.asp?news_id=1797&eid=7505

Action on climate change to create three million new ‘green collar’ jobs
Date: 26-Jun-2008
Australia can take strong action to tackle climate change and create millions of new job opportunities, according to a major report released today. To achieve this win-win, millions of Australian workers will need to be equipped with new, greener job skills. The report, Growing the Green Collar Economy, identifies the employment impact of action to cut greenhouse gas emissions in Australia and examines the skills, training and workforce implications. CSIRO analysis is based on the latest economic modelling and is released by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and the Dusseldorp Skills Forum (DSF).

Using two different economic models, CSIRO found:

• If Australia takes significant action to cut greenhouse gas emissions national employment will still increase by between 2.6 million and 3.3 million over the next two decades.
• Jobs in sectors that are currently high carbon emitters, like transport, construction, agriculture, manufacturing and mining are forecast to grow strongly in the next decade.
• It will be essential to identify and provide the green skills needed by the 3.25 million workers in industries that currently have ‘high environmental impacts’.

To read the full article visit http://www.acfonline.org.au/articles/news.asp?news_id=1797&eid=7505

Information Needed on Port Philip Bay

I’m seeking information on potential cross-bay travel. This could be regular or occasional:

• Commutes to and from work.
• Trips for meetings, conferences, consultations, etc.
• Tourism related travel.
• Travel for family or recreational reasons (eg sport, family reunions, holiday houses, etc).
• Trips where an alternative mode (ie ferry/hovercraft) would be preferred.
• Light freight movements.

We need to know:

• Your starting point (work or home) and your destination point.
• Number of travellers and reason for travel.
• Existing travel mode and reasons why you would prefer to travel by ferry/hovercraft.

Assume:

• Travel cost per person is approximately the same as the prevailing public transport costs.
• Regular ferry/hovercraft trips will connect all parts of Port Phillip Bay from 06:30 to 23:00.

Send information to steve @goingsolar.com.au and please advise if you do not want your name published in the report.

Please find more information below about which relates to another of our presenters, Marika Wagner from the Food Gardeners Alliance, who recently featured at the Sustainable Cities Round Table on Sustainable Food Systems.

Food Gardeners Alliance: Friends of the Vegie Patch.

Who are we?
An alliance of horticulturists, educators, home and community gardeners. (See below for more details of who has been involved)

What do we want to do?
Support the rights of all Victorians to grow their own food locally. For Environment, health & community.

How did we form?
During summer one Melbourne gardener, Marika Wagner, was struggling to look after her vegie patch under the somewhat arbitrary water restriction regime. Two watering times a week are not adequate to keep vegetables alive during a Melbourne summer. Marika is renting her inner suburban home, and it is particularly difficult for those renting, and also for those on a low income or using a community garden plot to keep growing their veggies during summer. These people don’t have ready access to water tanks and other systems , as they are either out of reach financially, or not worthwhile installing in a temporary situation. .

Marika decided that some concessions, such as use of buckets on extra days, were necessary for vegetable growing, so then she decided to do something about it.

She collected over 3,000 signatures on a petition to state government about water restrictions, and gathered together a wide range of gardeners and horticulturalists to help find solutions for gardeners. We started off calling ourselves Friends of the Vegie Patch, but then decided that the Food Gardeners Alliance was more descriptive of what we wanted to do

• as we are a diverse group meeting together to find ways to enable people to grow their own food . The first step seems to be establishing more equitable water access.

Why Grow our Own Food?
There are many reasons why we should grow our own vegetables:

• Reducing our contributions to climate change. By reducing food miles. Our current food transport system contributes significantly adds to carbon emissions. ( for example, the food for a typical meal can travell more than 2, 0 00km). And also by reducing chemical input and energy needs during production.
• Water Efficiency. Home grown food has been shown to be more water efficient than broadscale agriculture.
• Fresh, chemical free food
• Community Health, Social and Cultural benefits. . To many people, growing food is part of their culture and many culturally significant foods need to be home grown as they are not available in supermarkets. Encourages children to eat fruit and veg, is a healthy, active outdoor activity, tackle childhood obesity
• Food shortages & increased prices. Home grown food is more economical for families.

What Have we been doing?
We are working together with community, government and organisations to resolve issues such as developing guidelines for sensible water use and bringing to the forefront the needs and benefits local food production.”

• We have brought together Garden Experts to discuss solutions to these problems in a number of meetings
• We have developed some suggestions on how to modify water restrictions to enable people to grow their own food, while still conserving water.
• Petition. The Water for Produce petition elicited an enthusiastic response. It was tabled in the Victorian Parlaiment on Thursday 13th M arch 2008 by Steve Herbert with 3271 signatures. Another 265 tabled later.
• Media. We have been part of a lot of discussion in the media generated by this issue.
• Government –We are keen use our expertise and experience to work with government to determine the best options . A number of politicians have been contacted about this issue. Colleen Hartland, Craig Ingram, Carlo Carli, Steve Herbert have all shown interest in this issue.

What are our plans?
To help develop a response to water restrictions which will make it possible to maintain a vegie patch, while still being water efficient.
We are keen to raise the issue with the public, and also with politicians
There are plans to hold a public forum in September, and also a parliamentary forum on this issue in Ausust.
Colleen Hartland of the Greens is tabling a motion to parliament.
In the future we also want to be supportive of other issues which affect home and community food growers, and provide a network of interested individuals and organisations.

Who is involved?
Individual home produce gardeners, horticulturalists and Landscape Designers.
Individuals from Sustainable Gardening Australia, Cultivating Communities, Diggers Seeds, Nursery & Garden Industry Victoria, Bulleen Art and Garden, Collingwood Children’s Farm, Dept of Horticulture & Environment, Swinburne, CERES, North East Ranges Permaculture, Friends of the Earth Real Food Group, Holmgren Design Services, School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Emcor Nursery, Community Representatives, Royal Botanic Gardens, Manningham Council, Frankston Food For All Advisory Group, Moreland Food Access Project, garden presenters Kevin Walsh, Jane Edmanson,and a number of others

Are there others we should include????

Please contact me if you want further information.

Creator of Water for Produce Petition
marika@baag. com.au

At the Sustainable Cities Round Table on Sustainable Food Systems held on 28 May 2008, VicUrban led a discussion on how developers could contribute to establishing productive food gardening in estates. The audience consisted of 78 knowledgeable, sustainable food enthusiasts who provided some very interesting feedback. I believe this information could serve as an excellent guideline to anyone who is interested in incorporating productive landscapes into urban developments. I have analysed the data from the 73 feedback forms received from the event to provide a summary for each of the three role-play scenarios.

Role #1 - You are a person who has just moved into the development. What would you want to find there to support your involvement in productive gardening?

Key issues for the new resident includes:

• The pre-established layout and design of the estate
New residents desire planned space for a diversity of urban agricultural models (both for the community and individual) which are integrated within the residential zone. The location for these mixed plots must also consider access to sunlight, water, clean soil, tool sheds, and areas for animals (chooks & ducks). Varieties of urban agriculture models suggested include community gardens, private gardens, productive streetscapes, aquaculture, rooftops & shared back gardens.

Water was a key concern of the estate. Many people remarked on the need for pre-existing water storage infrastructure such as private and communal water tanks, urban stormwater drains to capture water and the use of recycled water systems.

• Information about food growing
Information requested included how to establish and maintain a food garden (with specific information on seeds, seasonal growing, earth types, companion planting, soil preparation, etc), water information (cost, greywater systems, use of third pipe) climate information, a community gardener contact list and guides to indigenous plants to the area.

Read the rest of this entry »

Please see details below for film night series that Friends of the Earth Melbourne - Real Food Group are putting on.

Real Food Film Nights
Farming and food production have strong connections to us all. Join us on a journey through three film nights as we explore some of the darker sides of our relationship with food. Issues ranging from industrial factory farming and genetically engineering of food to the loss of food sovereignty and threat to food security will be addressed. We’ll have a short discussion of some of the problems raised and pose solutions and actions we can all take.

What’s on the menu?
Wednesday 25th June, 6.30pm at Loop Bar, 23 Meyers Place, Melbourne
Entrée: Store Wars – Spoof animation comedy (5 min)
Main course: The World According to Monsanto – Documentary (100 min)
As entrée you can enjoy the spoof Star Wars animation titled ‘Store Wars’ (5 min) where Cuc Skywalker and Jedi Yoghurt take on Dark Tador in a battle for the Farm. Main course consists of a documentary titled ‘The World According to Monsanto’ (100 min) which investigates the journey of Monsanto corporation from chemical manufactures to biotechnology giant in its global takeover of our food, farms, and agriculture heritage.

Tuesday 1st July, 6.30pm at Loop Bar, 23 Meyers Place, Melbourne
Entrée: Food not Bombs - Short film documentary (6 min)
Main course: We Feed the World – Documentary (95 mni)
Desert: Meatrix - Spoof animation comedy (5 min)
The short documentary on Melbourne’s ‘Food not Bombs’ (6 min) will be followed by a documentary titled ‘We feed the world’ (95 min - subtitles) which investigates food and globalisation, fishermen and farmers, drivers and high-powered corporate executives, the flow of goods and cash, a film about scarcity amid plenty. Desert consists of the spoof Matrix animation titled ‘Meatrix’ (5 min) where Moothius and Leo discover the impacts of factory farming.

Wednesday 9th July, 6.30pm at Loop Bar, 23 Meyers Place, Melbourne
Main course: Lost in Palm Oil - Documentary (63 min)
Desert: Palm Oil & Orangutan Rescue – Slide show (5 min)
The feature documentary ‘Lost in Palm Oil’ (63 min) investigates the negative impacts that oil palm plantations have on forests, climate change, water pollution, biodiversity, with a focus on Indigenous communities in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. How does this relate to food? Palm oil shows us that food issues, forests, people, culture and animals are interconnected. Palm Oil is used in 1 in 10 supermarket products, yet there no requirement for it to be labelled. Guest speaker Jessica McKelson from the Melbourne Zoo Orangutan Sanctuary will present an uplifting slide show of her recent trip to Nyaru Menteng Gunung Leseur National Park in Indonesia where she saw the impacts of Palm Oil on the Orangutan population first hand. The wild organutan population is heading towards extinction, but the rescues and release work witnessed by Jess gives us hope that there is a future for them.

Free Entry.
Drinks and food available from the bar.
Seating is limited and RSVP is preferred.
For bookings and more information, email realfood @melbourne. foe.org.au
Organised by: Friends of the Earth Melbourne Real Food group
Supported by: Loop Bar, 23 Meyers Place Melbourne

You can also download a PDF flyer from http://www.foe.org.au/sustainable-food/activities-and-projects/project-1/Flyer3hires.pdf/view

The section below is republished with permission from the Going Solar Transport Newsletter #62, 3 June 2008, compiled by Stephen Ingrouille. Going Solar, www.goingsolar.com.au/transport. This newsletter provides an excellent commentary on local sustainable transport issues in Melbourne.

“How would you like to fill the tank of your car for $1? That’s what it costs to charge Melbourne City Council’s latest addition to its vehicle fleet — a fully electric car. The council paraded its new purchase yesterday and has a second electric car on order for its 85-vehicle fleet, which also includes one hybrid.

The Hyundai Electric Getz can run for about 100 kilometres fully charged at a cost of about $1 in electricity. The car costs about $49,000 and requires a new $7000 battery after about eight years. Most importantly, it emits no greenhouse gases (outside of any emissions from electricity production). Acting Lord Mayor Gary Singer said the car was part of the council’s commitment to zero net emissions by 2020.

“… Ross Blade, the director of Blade Electric Vehicles, which supplied the council with its new car, said there were about 50 such vehicles in Australia, and demand was growing. … Mr Blade said the culture of petrol dependence was outdated. ‘There is no longterm alternative other than electric’, he said. While electric vehicles would not account for all car travel, they were ideally suited to urban transport, he said.”

Ref: Jason Dowling, The Age 4/06/08, URL

“Maribyrnong Council will soon be running three new Blade Electric Vehicles as part of our Traffic and Local Laws fleet vehicles. These vehicles will be powered with 100% green power and consequently provide zero carbon emissions. …

Blade Electric Vehicles from Castlemaine, Victoria are providing the high quality electric vehicles. The electric vehicles are a modified Hyundai Getz (manual with additional air safety bag features & ABS) with the petrol motor and tank removed. The Blade is powered by a 40kw 3-phase AC electric motor and energy is stored in 60 lightweight lithium-ion phosphate batteries. The vehicle has a range of 100 km without recharge and is capable of a maximum speed of 120 k/hr. The Blade can reach 60 k/hr in a little over 7 seconds which is comparable with the original petrol vehicle performance.

The Blade Electric Vehicle drives like an automatic (does not have a clutch) but has two gears one for town and one for a highway setting. Whilst driving in the city there would be no need to change gears.

The vehicles will have air-conditioning and power steering. One of the most exciting features of the Blade Electric Vehicle is the very low running costs. The vehicle has regenerative braking capabilities (similar to the Toyota Prius hybrid) which allow the vehicle to capture the energy from braking and store it back in the batteries. The cost of 100% green power to run the vehicle is around $1.50 - $2.30 per 100 kms (compared the Getz petrol at $11.50 per 100 kms). Council’s three Blade vehicles will normally be recharged overnight at the Work Centre (this will take between three to five hours). A fast charge unit will be installed at the Town Hall to give Local Laws officers the capacity to do a quick top-up charge over lunch (a complete fast recharge would take one hour). When Council recharges the vehicles we will purchase the equivalent amount of electricity from solar or wind generated
source – which has zero carbon emissions. A meter will be provided in each vehicle which verifies the amount of electricity used.”

Thanks to Gavin Mountjoy for this item (and the pictures).

“Never mind hybrid cars - and forget hydrogen power - because the future of the automobile is electric, Nissan says. The company’s best engineering brains told Drive last week the quest for environmentally sustainable private transportation in the coming decade will be plug-in, rechargeable electric cars. Nissan is backing this thinking with a firm pledge: it will have an electric car in showrooms in the US and Japan in 2010, with a view to selling the cars globally in 2012.”
Ref: Andrew Heasley, The Age, 31/5/08, URL

Comment: A must see film is ‘Who Killed the Electric Car?’ particularly in the light of the item on General Motors on the next page. And Also …

“Every 1% move in the US dollar equals a $US4 move the other way in the oil price. … Oh, and if the US dollar doesn’t snap back the global economy will shut down.”
Ref: David Potts, The Sunday Age, 1/6/08, URL

The editors from Blogged.com recently sent me this email below. This is fantastic news as there are BILLIONS of blogs and its great to hear that sustainability news from our local site is reaching such a wide audience! Please be sure to post your local urban, sustainability events, initiatives & ideas to enjoy this service. And please read on!

“Our editors have recently reviewed your blog and have given it an 8.3 score out of (10) in the Society category of Blogged.com. This is quite an achievement!

http://www.blogged.com/directory/society

We evaluated your blog based on the following criteria: Frequency of Updates, Relevance of Content, Site Design, and Writing Style. After carefully reviewing each of these criteria, your site was given its 8.3 score.”

At the recent Sustainable Cities Round Table on Sustainable Food Systems, VicUrban led a discussion / role play on how developers could contribute to productive gardening in estates. The audience consisted of 78 knowledgeable sustainable food enthusiasts who provided some very interesting feedback. Please find the raw data of the first of three role’s below.

Gardening Communities: What can a developer do to facilitate a productive gardens culture?

Role #3 - You have lived in the development for more than 10 years. What does the productive landscape look like?

• Active web of community gardens

• New land opened or sold for development should be reserved for community gardens

• 3/4 of the land used for development of some sort involving plantings, watering systems – everyone who is not able to do or is on their own to receive help via working bees & then store produce
• PRIDE in their vegie garden PLUS feeling part of community friendship
• Commitment & genuine interest in productive gardening

• Very green
• Busy (with people)
• Diverse according to area/ section of development eg. Orchard/ meadow/ fresh produce, etc.

• Shared community gardens & orchards
• Kitchen garden program ins the local school
• Redistribution of surplus produce to people in the community in need

Read the rest of this entry »

At the recent Sustainable Cities Round Table on Sustainable Food Systems, VicUrban led a discussion / role play on how developers could contribute to productive gardening in estates. The audience consisted of 78 knowledgeable sustainable food enthusiasts who provided some very interesting feedback. Please find the raw data of the second of three role’s below.

Gardening Communities: What can a developer do to facilitate a productive gardens culture?

Role #2 - You have been living in the development for 2 years. What would you see emerging over that time that could involve the active support of the developer?

Facilitate materials, storage, seedbank

Community workshops
Help set up sale of produce
Community gardens expert
More sophisticated methods of resource sharing

Community gardener – expert
More sophisticated community tool shed
Community events, workshops, festivals

Assisting to maintain #1 unitil it is self-sustaining.
Maintaining the meeting space – or is that the council’s responsibility?

Produce
Possible “jim’s gardening” contracted to run gardens if individuals don’t want to do this themselves

Waste-water treatment & recycling at community level
Productive trees planted in public space, schools
Open Gardens festivals
Childcare centres, etc

Funding enterprise body to maintain edible streetscaping

Help to improve the efficiency of the operation by coordinating the many individual actors for marketing and resource management, Waste management, composting and distributions

Planning and maintenance of public space includes community gardens

Mechanism for surplus produce to be used eg. Go to one umbrella
Community events around food
Financial contribution?

Seedbank / nursery
Distribute centre for excess food

Distribution systems for excess food
IT email network to allow sharing of plants – questions about plant, requests for new plants or information about it
Read the rest of this entry »