Written in 2021 for Australian Geographic, Your Life Your Planet uses every day language to discuss the 101 most common sustainability tips, with an accurate analysis of the impact they have (and don’t have) on the environment./
- We have had a number of questions about the soft and silky, fleshy plant that threatened to take over large sections of the community garden at the back of the property. It is Basella Alba, Indian spinach, Ceylon Spinach, or Malabar Spinach. A subtropical plant, that grows very well in Brisbane – as you can… Read […]
- Green Agenda has just published my article on the failure of the Australian Government to heed the call from health, education, and welfare advocates to place food at the centre of a positive and preventative program of wellbeing. Of 188 submissions to the Standing Committee on Agriculture’s Inquiry into Food Security, two dozen emphasised the… Read […]
- The tyranny of the majority stifles diversity. So do the rampaging trolls. Community-based regenerative food is grass-roots sustainable materialism. It is hardly a mainstream solution. Governments ignore its capacity to provide resilience because they cannot comprehend the importance of nurturing diversity. The shrill harping of trolls on the rampage make it harder to accommodate diverse… Read […]
- Beer and bread are not the only fermented food fit for humans. Fermentation a traditional method of preserving fresh food to feed us when there is nothing in the garden or on the grocery shelves. When I have a good crop of cabbage my neighbours have a good crop of cabbage. You literally can’t give… Read […]
- Growing lettuce and tomatoes are satisfying but challenging in many climates at many times of the year. Wouldn’t it be great to grow the food we eat every day? Pigeon peas are also known as Toor Daal. Lentils, and pulses in general are the staple food of around one third of the globe’s human population.… Read […]
- Pestilence hit our community garden. We had to destroy an entire paw paw crop. There I was, extolling the virtues of fungus in helping us break grass clippings down to soil and, now this. “It’s a disease!” Asperisporium caricae specifically affects paw paw; especially after rainy periods. We have had rain all summer and autumn,… Read […]
- A community garden offers pleasure and provides food. It also builds community! Jasmine and her cat enjoy the garden even when no other humans are there, but when other humans are about, they interact. The community is knit together from hundreds of small encounters. We are preparing for a Garden Party, designed to bring the… Read […]
- Mid-winter in sub-tropical Brisbane is glorious. Warm and dry instead of hot and wet, our summer norm. European plants grow, the insect count is low and I am harvesting, feeding the soil and planting as Spring collides with late Autumn in mid-Winter. The air is a crisp 17 degrees at 7am and a warm sun… Read […]
- Recent heatwaves have changed the way many of us think about Air Conditioning. It is now mandatory in Queensland Schools, for example. The Personal Story from Story Tree’s Jenni Cargill-Strong, says it all really. Its hot enough for me to put the aircon on finally tonight as it’s not cooling down. In my townhouse, I… Read […]
- Doomscrolling is depressing but wilful ignorance is dangerous. Individual action seems pointless: so where does a weary climate warrior turn? I regularly sing the praises of my community garden but not all my neighbours are converts. “With gourmet tomatoes at $3.99 a kilo, why would I battle the possums, pests and beating sun to grow… Read […]