Please find information about the screening + discussion with the producer, Tim Anderson. A fascinating topic which illustrates the many different aspects of sustainability - health, community and action - by people who have much less wealth than we do in Australia and yet somehow achieve the extraordinary.

‘The Doctors of Tomorrow’- A film about how the people of two countries, East Timor and Cuba are working together to build a health system.
Thursday July 3: 7pm
Victoria University City Campus, Room 11.01 (11th floor), 300 Flinders Street, Melbourne.
Organised by Green Left Weekly and Victoria University Community Development Students’ Association - in cooperation with Tim Anderson.

Cuba’s international medical missions are world famous and form a key part of its cooperation with other countries of the Global South. Australia’s nearest neighbour, East Timor currently has 300 volunteer Cuban health workers (220 of them doctors), who have been playing an important role in helping build the country’s health system.

As part of Cuba’s commitment towards sustainability, 850 Timorese students are studying medicine in Cuba and in East Timor under Cuban medical trainers and with scholarships provided by the Cuban government. This documentary features interviews with some of those Timorese students studying at the biggest medical college on earth. From 2010 onwards, these 850 young people will begin to take control of their country’s health system.

Filmed in East Timor and Cuba, this film was produced by Tim Anderson, activist, filmmaker and academic. Discussion with Tim Anderson will follow the screening.

Entry by donation
All welcome
Inquiries: 9639 8622 or 0407 023672 (Vannessa)

Melbourne Sustainability Drinks has become one of Melbourne’s most highly regarded and successful monthly events. An open invitation is extended to all who are “passionate about sustainability”!

Held on the first Wednesday of every month - it is essential to RSVP as space is limited so please do so at: www.sustainabilitydrinks.com

The event is non-sponsored (ie : you buy your own drinks!) and the atmosphere enables people to introduce themselves and feel comfortable with meeting new people and exchanging ideas. Please join us and invite your friends and colleagues who share the same values.

Please find details below about an upcoming Climate Emergency Rally.There’s a long list of environmental agencies supporting this rally - see the list at http://climaterally.blogspot.com/

Climate emergency rally: No desalination plant, No new freeway [tunnel], Stop dredging the bay - Brumby & Rudd get serious! July 5
Renewable Energy not coal power
Public Transport not freeways
No desalination plant

Join the Climate Emergency Rally on July 5 to send a wake up call to state and federal governments. New coal, new freeways and expanding sea freight, and desalination plants all increase our use of fossil fuels at a time when we must cut back dramatically. We must halt these irresponsible projects, and demand real action on climate change. Speakers will start at 1pm (including Senator Bob Brown) before we March to Alexandra Gardens.

We call on all community groups and individuals to join us to send this important message to the government. We are going to form a 140-metre-long human sign to spell the words “CLIMATE EMERGENCY”.

Full details at: http://climaterally.blogspot.com/.

WORKSHOP WITH NEIL CAMERON - HOW TO DESIGN A BRILLIANT FESTIVAL IN COMMUNITY
For Artists, Directors, Producers, Community Activists and Local Government Cultural Workers

“Humans have held celebrations since the beginning of time because they are essential for a healthy community, without them we are lost in the ordinary.” Neil Cameron

Sunday 27th July - 10:00 - 4:00 and Sunday 3rd August - 10:00 - 4:00
The two weekends are progressive (refreshments included ) $121 Full / $99 conc (single workshop), $231 Full / $187 conc (both workshops), (CERES members concession price)

Neil Cameron is well known for his commitment to cultural development and is one of Australia’s leading authorities on the role that festivals and celebrations play in a healthy community. His impressive career spans over thirty years both nationally and internationally, and CERES is proud to invite him to share his knowledge with our community. To do this, he has agreed to take time from his study (a doctorate on celebration and festivals at Flinders University) to present these rewarding workshops for the first time in Melbourne.

The workshop will inspire and give a contextual and archetypal “toolkit” with which to vision artistic ideas which have a relationship to community and environment. He uses myth, the arts, archetype, anthropology, cultural development theories and cognitive studies to determine what happens to people in cultural experience and celebration, thereby designing enriching festivals and events.

CERES has staged over 15 award winning festivals including the Return of the Sacred Kingfisher and Harvest Festivals. CERES is a 4- hectare community environment park which has the experience in staging small and large scale outdoor successful community celebrations and is committed to developing, exploring, and making innovative community arts.

Selection of Neil Cameron’s projects:

• RECOVERY EVENT. Theatre project victims of Mt Macedon bush fire 1983
• CELEBRATION OF WELCOME. Group devised theatre with Vietnamese community, Melbourne 1984
• FIVE SEASONS. The first Yarra River Parade for Moomba with the western suburbs of Melbourne. 1985
• THE MELBOURNE PEACE VIGIL. An international peace festival sponsored by the Melbourne City Council. 1986
• WOLF IN THE FOLD. Theatre for the physically disabled. Sydney 1989
• RIVER OF DREAMS. Theatre event with the Pitjinjara people & community on the Todd River. 1990
• MACBETH IN THE KATHERINE GORGE. Theatre with the community of Katherine. 1991
• OPENING OF MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL 1994
• FESTIVAL OF JOURNEYS. An event at Port Arthur to reclaim the massacre site for local people 1997
• MALENY/WOODFORD FESTIVAL. Large community event staged over fourteen years celebrating New Year. 1989- 2002
• FESTIVAL OF VOICES. Choral Festival in Tasmania 2005

Proceeds go toward staging the 16th annual Return of the Sacred Kingfisher Festival Saturday 29th of November 2008.

For more information please contact CERES festivals and events Cnr Roberts and Stewart Sts, East Brunswick. Tram No: 96 (last stop): Merri Creek Bike Path: Melways Ref: 30 B7 See www.ceres.org.au for more information, including an
organic café, market, nursery and education centre.

Please see a message below from the Vox Bandicoot team.

Sustainability Street … It’s A Village Out There, Business Streams, SeeOS workplace training, the ecological fingerprint, Sustainability Live, Clockwork. ecological*fingerprint … optimism & inspiration through commitment making

Hi All,

Some fantastic coverage today in the Sydney Morning Herald, which has really captured the Sustainability Street Approach kernel. Check the link: http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/saving-the-world–one-street-at-a-time/2008/06/03/1212258826353.html

If you’d like to get to know a bit more about this program, please also check our website http://www.voxbandicoot.com.au/ or get a program manual online http://www.voxbandicoot.com.au/virtuemart.html

Yours Sincerely
Vox team,
Vox Bandicoot Pty Ltd

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”
a 228 Kerr Street Fitzroy VIC 3065 AUSTRALIA • t 03 9416 1066 • f 03 9417 2859
abn 41 007 046 933 • w www.voxbandicoot.com.au • e team@voxbandicoot. com.au

Please find below some more news about the wonderful local work with the Sustainability Street program!

Another SSA Village SnapShot
The Sustainability Street Approach – Newlands
Sounds like a plan.

“Eating and Meeting” is a staple of Sustainability Street. Newlands got together for a BBQ and planning session last week.

Sam Starr, Sustainability Street’s “Entertainer in Residence” kept the kids happy so their parents could concentrate on devising a few projects to strengthen the community and help the environment. Not content with one project, the group decided on a range of projects.

• A community market
• A kitchen garden – working with Newlands Primary
• Community data base / intranet to allow; skill share, tool share, car pooling, book swapping
• Area history group to record local history
• Nature strip plantings
• Linking with and assisting local advocacy groups.

Then it was “hands up, names down” because a project is only as good as the people who make them happen. Stay tuned for project updates.

*The Four Stages of The Sustainability Street Approach are,

MULCH – Lifelong learning for sustainability
GROW – Do it and measure it,
HARVEST – Feel proud and celebrate,
SOW – SHARE YOUR WISDOM, NOURISH THE NEW CULTURE.

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 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.”

The Globalism Research Centre RMIT, Friends of the Earth and the Latin American Solidarity Network present Defending Community and Ecology In Ecuador

A public talk with:

• Carlos Zorilla, Decoin, - Ecuador, Glen
• Kuecker - De Pauw University, Indiana,

Date: Tuesday June 24, 6.00pm
Location: Bella Union Bar, Trades Hall (cnr Lygon and Victoria Streets), Carlton South

Free admission

Carlos Zorrilla is the founder and executive director of DECOIN, a grassroots NGO dedicated to the conservation of the cloud forests of the Intag region of northern Ecuador. The area has long been under threat by government and corporate attempts to establish a large-scale copper mine, which have been met by determined community resistance and direct action. Glen Kuecker is co-founder of the Intag Solidarity Network, which runs a human rights program in Ecuador, and is Professor of Latin American History at De Pauw University. For more information contact Yael at yael.zalchendler @rmit.edu.au