Earth hour

Are you joining the world in earth hour this weekend? Saturday the 29th at 8pm, in over 20 cities around the world is Earth Hour.

Earth Hour is run by WWF. It is a global climate change initiative which calls on individuals and businesses around the world, to turn off their lights for one hour on Saturday March 29 2008 between 8 pm and 9pm.

Over 230,000 people and 17,000 business have already signed up to join in Earth hour this year.

On 31 March 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour. If the greenhouse reduction achieved in the Sydney CBD during Earth Hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year.

It’s not too late to sign up and join Earth Hour 2008 on Saturday at 8pm.

Landscaping with natives

Let me preface this article by stating that I am not a gardening guru. I have a distinctively black thumb and I am constantly astonished that there are green things in my garden at all. But I love native plants and I love the Australian bush, so I like to try and recreate even the smallest patch of it in my own backyard.

There are many reasons why you should predominately plant natives in your backyard:

• Once established, they are water misers and will survive on whatever rain falls from the sky.
• Native vegetation is extremely hardy and you are more likely to kill them with kindness rather than neglect.
• Most natives do not need a fertilising regime because they have evolved on low nutrient soils
• Birds are attracted to many species of flowering natives.
• If you live in acreage area or close to remnant bushland, you are less likely to accidentally cause damage to the local ecosystem by having a native garden.

I’d like to elaborate a bit further on that last point. Before you decide to plant any kind of plant (native or introduced), please check with this website to make sure that you are not about to plant an environmental weed. There are many plants that look lovely but can have an incredible impact upon different types of ecosystems. There are other plants which are fine to plant if you are an avid gardener and plan to spend a lot of time ensuring spread is contained to only one area of your garden. But for the lazy gardener, they are a definite no-no. So before you buy it and put it in the ground, do a little research first to make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into. The majority of reputable nurseries have knowledgable staff who will be able to advise you well.

Hedges are very popular in my area and for obvious reasons, you want a fast growing plant that tolerates closeness with other plants. A lot of people opt for Sheena’s Gold (native to Central America) and it is a really lovely plant which makes a fantastic hedge, particularly in formal gardens. A great native alternative to Sheena’s Gold is the humble lilly pilly (pictured at right) which is doing fantastically as our driveway hedge. It tolerates an astonishing amount of neglect and now that it is established, it no longer requires any watering at all to maintain its current appearance. Despite not having had much rain over the past few years, our row of lilly pillies have grown from tiny seedlings into a thriving hedge.

Other types of natives that are suitable for hedging or clustering include:

• Melaleuca linariifolia (”Little Red”)
• Callistemon (”Bottlebrush”) dwarf varieties
• Dodonaea viscosa (”Hop Bush”)

As far as stand-alone plants go, I love grevilleas, bottlebrush, banksia and eucalyptus varieties. All of these natives flower so they will attract birdlife to your garden and the different cultivars available mean that there is a wide variety of colours to choose from. You don’t even have to worry about the space requirement of some of these trees. Gone are the days when you needed acreage to grow a couple of eucalyptus trees. The majority of nurseries now stock dwarf varieties which don’t grow to 30m high and threaten to damage your house in a big storm. Some of the varieties, such as the “John Evans” grevillea can even be grown in pots - so no backyard required!

(Clockwise from above left: Eucalyptus “Summer Red”, white plumed grevillea, an unknown variety of bottlebrush and Ashby’s banksia)

Remember earlier I said there are plants that you just shouldn’t plant if you do not want a high maintenance garden? This plant here is a perfect example of that. I’ll have to be honest and say I have no idea whether it is native or introduced or even what it is. But from this one isolated patch here, it has sprung up in tiny seedlings all over my lawn, garden beds and as far as six doors up the street. I might add that this particular plant is not even on my block - that is how easily it is propagated. While it serves as a mere nuisance to me, it grows quickly and could be a significant problem in a nature reserve or patch of remnant bushland where there are few people to actively maintain the area, if any at all. If for some reason you actually like this plant, do yourself, your neighbours and the surrounding environment a favour and keep it in a container instead.

Environmentally friendly cleaning

It is refreshing to see that environmental issues are getting more of the spotlight in recent times. Even more so, the changes that individuals are prepared to make in their own homes so that we have a beautiful environment for future generations to enjoy. This week I want to focus on what is going down our sinks and storm drains while we are cleaning. Ultimately, these products will end up in our waterways and can cause a multitude of problems - particularly when the majority of households are also contributing to the problem.

Without going into complex chemistry and boring you all senseless, many of our popular household cleaners contain some form of ammonia or ammonium. Any product containing ammonia (NH₃) or ammonium (NH₄+) will have a detrimental effect on water quality because it increases the nutrients available for algae and bacteria. The increased nutrient level (eutrophication) combined with natural sunlight results in really good conditions for the growth of harmful algal blooms. These blooms affect fish breeding cycles and aquatic ecosystems but also have a great impact upon our water supply for drinking. They can also make people sick merely through skin contact sustained during recreational activities, such as fishing, swimming or water skiing. Fatalities of livestock after drinking water contaminated with harmful algal blooms have been recorded. The good news however is that we all can help to improve our waterways by being mindful of what goes down our sinks.

There’s something for every budget when it comes to environmentally friendly cleaning products. The majority of these tips I have gleaned from the AFW Home Sweet Home board, from Keep Australia Beautiful or what I do in my own home. My nanna used a lot of these combinations, as does my mum - I guess they have stood the test of time well!

• The Cinderella range - I really love these products! They aren’t the cheapest cleaning products around but they do the job well, last a very long time because I use a lot less and they make the whole house smell divine. They are available in Coles and BiLo in Australia and you can order online.
• Bicarb soda and cleaning vinegar - you really can’t beat this simple combination and you can use it for so many purposes. It’s great for cleaning vanities, shower recesses and toilets and can even be used to unclog drains. The vinegar by itself is good for rinsing your washing machine, kettle, dishwasher and other appliances which get a buildup of mineral scale after use. Some people even use bicarb by itself as a carpet deodoriser and stain remover prior to vacuuming.
• Oil of cloves and vinegar - not one I was overly familiar with until recently but it can be used as an alternative to traditional mould removal products, such as Exit Mould
• Eucalyptus oil - apply with newspaper or paper towel to mirrors and it will stop them fogging up.
• Borax and lemon juice paste - providing you are not on a septic system, you can use this paste to clean your toilet.
• Boiled water - this can be an effective cleaner in itself, especially if you are wiping down surfaces that aren’t visibly dirty but may have bacterial contaminants (e.g. kitchen surfaces).

Have you got any ideas that I haven’t mentioned? I’d love to hear them.

How you can help put a stop to Japanese Whaling in the Southern ocean.

We have all seen the disturbing pictures of Japanese whaling taking place in the Southern Ocean. Just this week, the Australian customs vessel, the Oceanic Viking released the brutal pictures of an alleged mother minke whale and her calf, their bloody bodies being hauled up the slip way into the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru.Since the moratorium in 1986, Japan has slaughtered over 7000 minke whales in our “backyard” the Southern Ocean under the guise of “scientific research”.

But Japan isn’t alone in their barbaric slaughter of these majestic animals. Iceland and Norway are also taking 1000’s of whales each year.

The amount of whales being taken each season is on the increase. Along side the large numbers of minke whale being taken, vulnerable species, such as Fin (Balaenoptera physalus), Sei (Balaenoptera borealis) and Humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) whales are also on the whaling shopping list.

The Japanese government says that whaling can be sustainable, one minister once calling minke whales “cockroaches of the sea”. They claim that without whaling, whale populations will grow too large and pose a risk to fish stock (these whales predominantly eat krill, not fish). However, for any whaling industry to be sustainable, more reliable population numbers would have to be known. In 1983, the International Whaling Commission estimated that there were around 700 000 Southern minke whales in existence. The current population is unknown, however it’s speculated that true numbers are much less than this.

Whales are not prolific breeders and it takes a long time for populations to recover following culling in large numbers. Depending on the species, it may take anywhere from 3 to 10 years to reach sexual maturity. Gestational periods of around 11-12 months and suckling their young for a further 6-12 months a single female may be unavailable for breeding for at least a year after giving birth.

Who is helping protect the whales in the southern ocean?

• The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel Steve Irwin has been in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary putting preasure on the Japanese whalers making life and whaling very difficult for them preventing the killing of many of the whales on the Japanese quota. They have recently returned to Melbourne for refuelling and urgent repairs and hope to return to the whale sanctuary in just over a week.
• The Greenpeace vessel Esperanza has been following the Japanese whaling fleet since November. They spent 2 weeks at the end of Janurary tailing the Nisshin Maru, preventing any whales being killed, saving 100’s of whales. The Esperanza has now left the Southern Ocean and will not be returning.
• Australian Customs vessel, Oceanic Viking is in the area of the Japanese whaling fleet hoping to collect evidence of illegal activities to help build a legal case against the Japanese whaling. Considering the Japanese are illegally slaughtering whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and in the Australian Antarctic Economic Exclusion Zone, more needs to be done by the Australian Government to uphold these laws.

What can I do to help save the whales?

Sign the petition.

Greenpeace, The Daily Telegraph and the Today show have joined forces to petition the Japanese people and politicians to pressure their government to stop all whaling. Put your name on the petition.

Letter Writing

Signing online petitions is a great start, but often direct individual messages especially snail mail can be more effective. Politicians get 1000’s of emails a day, but actual letters can be a harder to ignore. Unrelenting pressure needs to be put on the Australian Government to do more to protect the whales

Sea Shepherd have a sample letter that you can print out and snail mail to Kevin Rudd PM and another you can send to Peter Garrett, the Environment minister.

They also have advice on writing your own letters, other samples, and how contacts you can send to in Japan and other whaling countries to voice your disgust at their fake research programs.

Does Canon support shooting whales?
Canon is the number one digital camera company in the world. They support many environmental and wildlife initiatives. Their products are used by millions world wide who care deeply about whales. Send this email to let the head of canon know your disapproval of whaling and you want him to step up and put pressure on the Japanese government to stop whaling.

Greenpeace also have another email you can send to the Japanese Prime Minister and other ministers to plead they reconsider building a new factory ship that will replace the Nisshin Maru, hold 3 times as much whale and could mean Japan will be whaling for another 40 years.

Donations

There are many organisations calling for donations of not just money, but volunteer and supplies.

The Steve Irwin has a list of supplies they are in need for when they return to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary to resume their campaign against the whalers. You can post or drop in your supply donations to their Melbourne office, or send a monetary donation.

Working together, we can put a stop to Japanese whaling and hopefully whaling worldwide.

Do you have ideas for helping save the whales?

“But what can I do?” - ten ways you can support conservation efforts in your local area

If you’re lucky, you’ve spent your holidays out and about in the great outdoors, enjoying all that nature has to offer. Unfortunately, it won’t always be there for you to enjoy if we don’t look after it. There are many government programs and volunteer organisations doing great things for our environment but they could use a little help. So I’ve compiled a list of things you can do as an individual to help. There’s even some ideas for getting your kids involved!

#1 - Say no to toads!

Cane toads (Bufo marinus) are a menace in Australia, particularly in the northern tropics where they threaten native populations of frogs and reptiles. Cane toad populations have exploded. From the original 100 or so cane toads introduced to control the sugar cane beetle (which failed abysmally), we now have millions of cane toads on the march across Australia. They breed prolifically and can do so at any time of the year. Unfortunately, each stage in the life cycle of the cane toad is highly toxic to potential predators. By becoming a ToadBuster, you can actively contribute to halting the march of cane toad across our country. Even if you don’t live in known “toad territory”, you can help the ToadBusters by looking out for toads in your local area.

Information on obtaining a toad trap for your backyard can be found here.

#2 - Let the kids ‘Go Bush’ for the holidays

What better way for kids to learn about the environment than to immerse themselves in it during the school holidays. The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service has a host of activities for kids and families to enjoy while learning about different species, vulnerable habitats and conservation efforts. The ‘Go Bush’ activities are a great day out and you don’t have to be a kid to benefit from it. Although the summer program is drawing to a close, these activities run during the other school holidays of the year - keep an eye out on the EPA webpage for future activities.

For those of you living outside of Queensland wanting to participate in other nature-based activities, check the following web pages for details:

• NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service
• WA Department of Environment & Conservation
• Parks & Wildlife Service Tasmania
• Parks Victoria
• SA Department for Environment and Heritage
• NT Natural Resources, Environment & the Arts

#3 - Take part in Cleanup Australia Day

Join Ian Kiernan and help get rid of the trash from your local area on 2 March 2008. Most suburbs and localities have some sort of activity for Cleanup Australia Day - whether it is cleaning up the local park, removing litter from creek and river beds or making sure our beaches are as clean as a whistle. Of course, it would be fantastic if people didn’t litter in the first place and simply put their trash in the bin but unfortunately some people are still not getting the message. The organisation also has some helpful suggestions for cleaning up our climate as well.

#4 - Enter a Land for Wildlife agreement

Do you have a nice parcel of acreage with valuable wildlife habitat? Would you like to know how to manage it so that wildlife benefits as well as you? Then perhaps you would like to consider a Land for Wildlife agreement. These types of agreements between government and community/individual are not permanent - you retain control over your land and can opt out at any time.

#5 - Plant more trees

National Tree Day this year is July 27th but why wait? Pop down to your local nursery and pick up a tree. You don’t even have to have a huge backyard to plant it in. There are some beautiful dwarf native species available at the moment and others which are easily kept in pots. They are very hardy plants and miserly when it comes to water and you don’t have to spend all your spare time looking after them. I’m the worst green thumb in existence and all my native plants are thriving from whatever falls from the sky.

#6 - Make your problem possum a lifelong friend

Possums are one of the few marsupials who have coped well in an increasingly urban world. There are a few inhabiting trees around the carpark at work and it’s not unusual to see them scavenging half-eaten apples off the ground. They often find roof spaces an attractive place to sleep - after all it’s nice and warm, sheltered from the wind and the possibility of food is no further than the household wheelie bin. Consequently, home owners who have a resident possum often consider them a pest. But you can live in harmony with your possum without too much of a headache - just get yourself a “possum box” or, if you are reasonably handy, make one yourself following the instructions here. Once your possum has vacated your roof and settled in its new possum box, don’t forget to seal up the place where it got in to begin with!

#7 - Join a Landcare group

Volunteering a few hours of your time once a month with a Landcare group is a great way to meet like-minded people and give something back to your local community. Landcare groups work together to revegetate damaged areas, remove weeds and rubbish and help care for our coastline and waterways. LandcareOnline has a database of groups operating throughout Australia or you may want to start your own group. Many local councils also have organised bushcare groups to help maintain remnant bushland in their area.

#8 - Sponsor an endangered animal

Many species of Australian native animals have become endangered or locally extinct (see here for definition) since European settlement. Captive breeding programs at zoos and wildlife sanctuaries have the potential to reverse this situation. By sponsoring an endangered animal at your local zoo or wildlife sanctuary, you can help contribute to the success of such programs to bolster wild populations or re-establish populations in areas where the species has become locally extinct.

#9 - Help buy back the bush

Bush Heritage is a non-profit organisation working to reclaim the bush and maintain reserves throughout Australia. You might not be able to buy a large tract of land yourself to form a reserve but each donation helps expand their reserves. Or if the purse strings are a little tight, perhaps participating in one of their working bees would be more up your alley.

#10 - Visit a National Park

National Parks are a refuge for wildlife but they are also there for our enjoyment. Whether you want to take the kids for a bushwalk, get some exercise on a challenging hike, have a picnic, relax on the beach or spot for some wildlife, chances are there is a National Park nearby that can cater to your needs. Take the time to visit every so often and remind yourself of all the reasons why Australia is such a great place to live!

1200 kilowatt hours

With summer just around the corner here in Australia, our energy consumption is about to go through the roof with all manner of cooling devices switched on to help cope with the heat. It doesn’t help that the warmest months of the year also coincide with Christmas and the lighting of houses to share the spirit of Christmas and goodwill towards others.

The lights are gorgeous and many people go to considerable expense setting up elaborate displays, some on timers, others co-ordinated with music as well. Lighting displays can go from the sublime to the absolute ridiculous and lighting competitions, such as the one conducted every year in Brisbane, really do not help matters. Some people can be insanely competitive with neighbourhoods wanting to outdo others or individual neighbours wanting the biggest and best display so they can rub it in other people’s faces. I can’t say I’m surprised - it’s called the silly season for a reason.

So what has that got to do with 1200 kilowatt hours? Kilowatt hours are a measure of energy consumption and you can usually find your household energy consumption on the reverse of your quarterly electricity build. Our quarterly use over last summer was 1200 kilowatt hours with an average of 13 kilowatt hours per day - the highest during the year as we do not use heating (other than warmer clothes) during winter where I live. Is 1200 kilowatt hours a lot of juice though?? Let’s look at it in a little perspective.

I always see Rockefeller Square (New York City) in Christmas movies playing on TV at this time of year. No doubt gorgeous and lovely for the residents and tourists but I really wouldn’t want to pay their electricity bill. Last year their average daily consumption was more than double what I used over the entire quarter for the same period. Comparing them both on a daily figure - they used a staggering 260 times more electricity in a single day than I did in my home!

That’s a HUGE amount of electricity and as most people should know by now, more electricity used = more electricity produced to meet demand = more natural resources used = more pollution. The extent of pollution caused of course depends on how the energy is produced in the first place - one of the main reasons I am a vocal advocate of renewable resources for energy production.

But there’s some good news coming out of Rockefeller Square this year - they are going green! Instead of using wasteful incandescent bulbs for lighting, they are using LEDs instead. They have also installed solar photovoltaic cells on their roof to help supply their daily energy requirement. The estimated daily savings in energy consumption is quite significant - a reduction of around 2000 kilowatt hours per day. It’s refreshing to see corporations setting an example for the public and I hope that the trend will carry over to residential displays in coming years.

So please, this year if you are shopping for lighting decorations for your house, give a thought to purchasing LED varieties. They are more expensive, no doubt about that but in the long run they will save you money on your electricity bill. Even if you only purchased one LED set to replace an energy inefficient one, you’ll be setting a good example for others to follow.

Climate change in Australia

If you’re a member of All For Women, more than likely you have seen Kay (Stormy Weather) wandering around the forums wreaking havoc and know a little bit about her already. She also blogs at Moggie Madness. Kay currently works in health care, but her passions lie in wildlife conservation and environmental issues. She has offered to share some of her knowledge some articles on these topics which have become so important to everyone in todays world.

With the federal election looming in less than 24 hours, I thought it would be a good time to talk a little bit about climate change. You have most likely heard a great deal about the issue in the media or perhaps from political representatives in your electorate. There is still a significant bone of contention in the scientific community as to whether climate change really exists or whether the current trend of warming is merely a cyclic change in the long life of our planet. I certainly have my own opinion but I don’t believe it is relevant. What it really comes down to is the kind of future we want for ourselves and future generations.

It’s a common saying among meteorologists that “climate is what you expect and weather is what you get”. The premise of climate change is that those expectations will have to change to accommodate unpredictable weather patterns. That in itself is not going to affect the human race all that greatly. Of all the species on the earth, human beings remain the only species capable of manipulating our climate and environment to suit ourselves. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case for the remainder of the species that inhabit the planet.

Many species and vulnerable habitats will suffer if we do nothing to abate global warming. For example, within Australia:

• The mountain pygmy possum, an already highly endangered species, survives winter in the alpine regions of NSW and Victoria by hibernation. Its habitat and primary food source (Bogong moth) will be threatened by less snow fall and could potentially result in extinction of the species.
• 
• The green ringtail possum found in World Heritage Areas of tropical north Queensland cannot control its body temperature with ambient temperatures above 30 degrees. Prolonged and more frequent heatwaves in the north could result in significant losses of this species.
• Australian vegetation evolved on nutrient poor soils and increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leads to increased growth in many plants. Great news for the plants but not so great for the animals that feed off the foliage. Increased carbon dioxide reduces the nutrient value of the leaves – meaning species which are primarily “leaf-eaters” will need to eat more to meet nutritional requirements.
• Sea level rises could result in loss of the Australian coastline between 4-88m over the next 100 years as a result of melting polar ice caps. Coastal and estuarine ecosystems would be severely affected if this is the case.
• Changes in rainfall patterns are predicted with increased global warming. In a country that is predominantly semi-arid, this is a major concern – for biodiversity and in terms of water quality and quantity.

If you’re the kind of person who only thinks of how it will affect the human race, then I won’t disappoint you. Loss of biodiversity would make the world a much less interesting place but it could also affect how ecosystems function, resulting in:

• Degradation of the landscape, in terms of aesthetics and production;
• Reduced water quality available to human populations; and,
• Change in agricultural yield of crops and other primary industry activities.

Two hundred years of industrialisation has brought astonishing advances in technology, which we now consider being essential to our standard of living. If we want to maintain that standard of living, we really need to make better use of renewable technologies and ratify the Kyoto Protocol. If we do not ratify Kyoto, carbon trading schemes are largely ineffective as there is no “ceiling” for carbon emissions. There needs to be a cap on carbon emission rates or else there is no reason for polluters to participate in carbon trading – apart from any ethical/moral standpoint they may have on the issue. Reduction in carbon emissions does need to occur at the corporate/polluter level but there are many you can do as an individual – there’s a list of helpful suggestions here. The suggestions are all realistic for the majority of people and every little bit helps to curb our carbon emissions as a nation.

Who on earth cares?

I am Australian #9817 to put their hand up and say I care about protecting our environment at the Australian Conservation Foundation new website Who on earth cares?

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing Australians today. It’s up to all of us to act quickly and ensure we protect this wonderful country for our kids and their kids.

Who On Earth Cares is a new campaign bringing together Australians who want to see Australia reduce its spiralling levels of greenhouse pollution and avoid dangerous climate change. Who On Earth Cares shows what we are all doing in our lives to help the environment.

Put yourself on the map with 1000’s of other Australian’s who are saying I care. During the registration process, you will also be generated a letter that you can send to your local member of parliament to let them know what you are doing to reduce your greenhouse pollution and that you want greater leadership and real solutions to this issue.

So, Who on earth cares.. Do you?