tonygoodson

Food needs a fundamental rethink

Do you think a state government, or federal government, or a world body/government can change things?  No, neither do I!  It’s so disappointing that in the current age of interconnectedness, we can’t effect change, even if we know we’re heading down the plughole.

Food needs fundamental rethink, is reporting on a talk given by Professor Lang from City University London

"Global food production will need to double just to meet demand…..We have the knowledge and the technology to do this, as things stand, but the perfect storm of climate change, environmental degradation and water and oil scarcity, threatens our ability to succeed."

Our food supply system is based on the 1940s.  Which politician is going to develop a 40 year plan to feed a country or the world?

What have I done this year to save the planet?

Not much! We’re using one car, to save money, as much as to save the planet.  I use less water in the shower when it’s summer, but use the shower to warm me up when I’m chilled to the bone.  I don’t police the rest of the family on their water and energy use, and I’m not religious about unplugging all those electric chargers, or powering off all items on standby.  I sometimes leave my laptop on when I go out (but I do switch it off at night).  I could survive at near freezing temperatures in the house, but it seems the rest of the family can’t!  Our biggest sin, is keeping our old refrigerator working, having bought a new refrigerator 2 year ago.  Oops.

My greatest achievement this year was to organise a tour for a group of people of the CH2 building in Melbourne.  It was the first 6 Green Star rated building in Australia, and an inspiration to what is possible in sustainability. Designed by Mick Pearce.  I highly recommend a visit and tour of the building, if they’re still doing the tours.  At least I’m inspiring others, when not being a leading example of sustainability!

I love being on my bike, and using public transport.  The bike lanes of Melbourne could be improved and grown, sometimes at very little cost.  There is massive demand and growth for cycling.  Public transport in Melbourne….don’t get me started!  That’s another blog entry.  We who use and want to use public transport more and more, want to see improvement. 

We understand that there are only so many trains you can fit on the network at peak times but surely there can be some big innovation at low cost.  I’ll give you an innovation.  If you’re going to pack us into the trains, then please can we have some more handles and straps to hang on to!  Surely, seat layout, and standing safety can be improved, even with the current trains.  Me thinks that the public transport price rise, is straight 101 economics to reduce demand by putting prices up and making more money in the process.

We all say we want better public transport, but this government won’t pay for it.  Why aren’t tramlines extended beyond their current endpoint?  Just another thought.

So what is my green commitment for 2009.  More cycling, less water in the shower on cold days, and I’d like to a few seminars that encourage change and sustainability in the corporate world, especially at the grass roots.

Water Water everywhere and not a drop to drink

Just reading a great booklet, on water in Australia, Our water mark – Australians making a difference in water reform, published by Watermark Australia.   A complete guide to water, where it comes from, where it goes, and what we can do about it.

Something that I hadn’t realised is that the water on the planet is based upon a closed system, whereby, it’s the same water that has been there for 4 billion years, it is neither created nor destroyed, just existing in different forms, with salt or pollutants added. Okay, there may be a fraction of a percent of water created and destroyed, but it’s insignificant compared with the planet’s water that has always been around.

It kind of gives me hope knowing that we can get water from somewhere, it’s just a matter of how, and how we look after the fresh water we do have.

Australia has the eighth highest footprint of water consumption per capita, and the largest per capita domestic footprint in the world!!  Most of our water is consumed in agriculture, but it’s interesting to realise that on top of our proportionally small domestic consumption, it’s our food demand and economic lifestyle that puts the most demand on water.

Our demand is only part of the story.  It’s our collection, recycling, and stopping the evaporation of water, that contributes to the supply of water.  Like many things on this sustainability dashboard, it’s a gradual deterioration of availability of water such that we don’t notice, until it’s too late.  What can you do?

1. Read the Water Mark booklet or pdf
2. Work out how you are going to save water at home
3. Work out how you are going to save water in your working environment
4. Educate the next generation
5. Read the 20 Principles guiding water reform, and act!!

I want my new ticketing system now!

Grrrr, why do public transport things get me so wound up and passionate.  Passengers Face $500m Ticket Chaos. 

MELBOURNE is facing a public transport ticketing disaster, with the ageing Metcard system close to collapse and the state's transport officials considering abandoning the troubled $500 million myki smartcard system.

How difficult can it be to implement a new public transport ticketing system?  Brrrring Brrrrring....Hello London Transport, can we copy your Oyster ticketing system please?  Or Hong Kong or Singapore, or any number of matured systems.  I can't believe Melbourne/Victoria's ticketing needs are so unique.

I guess one problem must be to take advantage of the latest technology, which maybe no current ticketing system uses, but you might never get a system implemented if you look for the latest technology.

I remember reading about and following the British Army's Bowman communication system.  It's taken them nearly 20 years to procure and replace their battlefield communication system.  Amongst other problems, is every time they procure the system, the technology moves faster than the procurement procedure, hence Bowman stands for "Better Off With Map and Nokia!".  And they want to pack in the latest technology which sometimes makes the system inoperable in the field.

I'm not sure what you do to incorporate the latest technology and have it usable and operable, quickly.  I'm grouchy about it, because I'm excited to use it.  I want a card I put credit on which lets me travel easily on a public transport system, and calculates the lowest price.

Going Green

I'm going green.  I've been going green for a while.  My epiphany as I've written before, is reading about Peak Oil earlier in the year. I've slightly changed my stance on Peak Oil. It's not quite that we're running out of oil, more that the cost of recovering the remaining oil reserves will rise astronomically.  You think $100/barrel is high, from the $30 we used to think about....well I reckon it's going to at least triple to $300/barrel in a short period of time, and any remaining oil reserves will cost even more to produce.  And that's because demand is rising to overtake any new discoveries.

And we need the remaining oil to manufacture plastics, burn in jet engines, and bomb people (joke!), but it's the military who will need and commandeer the most oil.  We don't need it for cars, which is where we burn the largest proportion of oil.

My own contribution is to get rid of my car, so we're down to 1 car in the family, and I mostly cycle, train, tram.  I've also cut my water usage especially in the shower, and I'm looking at alternatives for our light bulbs/globes, and in the meantime, switching off lights all the time, and not leaving the air conditioning on when no-one is in the house.

I'm far from perfect in my green ways, and I need legislating against!  Another area is I've started working alongside friends and colleagues at Green Innovation to develop and distribute products and services to make this world a greener and more sustainable place.

And you know what?  When you start to get into this green stuff, you meet some amazing and really nice people, who care.  And I've not met any beardy tree huggers yet!