Monday, April 27, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
some eat green websites
The Food Forest
This website is about a local SA place in Gawler. It has heaps of good tips.
The Organics Directory
This place has some great info on organic food.
Ethical Consumer Guide
Go here to find out what companies provide ethical products. It ranges from food, to toiletries to computers.
Fairtrade Association of Australia and New Zealand
For info on what and where to buy Fair trade products
Farmers Markets
Find your local farmers market to buy local goods
Adelaide Central Market
Gardenate
A great website to remind you when to plant what veggies
This website is about a local SA place in Gawler. It has heaps of good tips.
The Organics Directory
This place has some great info on organic food.
Ethical Consumer Guide
Go here to find out what companies provide ethical products. It ranges from food, to toiletries to computers.
Fairtrade Association of Australia and New Zealand
For info on what and where to buy Fair trade products
Farmers Markets
Find your local farmers market to buy local goods
Adelaide Central Market
Gardenate
A great website to remind you when to plant what veggies
Monday, April 20, 2009
eat green
hello friends!
Going back to last weeks Consumption Atlas from the ACF website, you'll remember that SA number 2 contributor to greenhouse gas pollution is food!
So what can we do to make a difference?
(apologies now for using the ACF as my primary source for info again but it's just such a great website!)
ACF gives 5 top tips for eating green
1.Reduce Animal Products (This doesn't mean you have to become a vego!) "GREENHOME FACT: If you reduced your dairy intake by just 2 cups of milk (or equivalent) per week, you would save 13,000 litres of water and 250kg of greenhouse pollution in a year" www.acf.org.au
2.Choose unprocessed or unrefined foods. The more processed a food is, the more water and energy has gone into making it. So things like packet chips and wrapped lollies. go for fresh vegies instead of frozen etc.
3. Eat what you buy, don't waste it
This is how much we as a nation threw away in 2004
■ $2.9 billion worth of fresh food
■ $630 million worth of uneaten take-away food
■ $876 million in leftovers
■ $596 million of unfinished drinks and
■ $241 million of frozen food.
4. Choose organic foods
5. Buy locally
Check out these farmers markets
For meat, go to your local butcher and ask where they get their meat from and weather it is grain or grass fed. Grain fed animals use a LOT more water and energy to be fed, so if possible buy grass fed.
go here to find out more on the top five tips for eating green
So based on these five tips I'm going to list 5 things that I am going to do in order to help reduce the greenhouse gases I produce from food.
1. Instead of eating cereal with milk everyday for breakfast, I'm going to alternate with toast or something that doesn't include milk.
2. I'm in the process of starting a veggie garden at our house. (As soon as Dad has time to give me a hand :))
3. We are also getting a compost bin, so that we don't throw our waste away and so it can help our new veggie garden.
4. I'm going to change the cereal that I eat (Uncle Toby's) to an organic Muesli.
5. We actually already buy our meat from local sources (it also helps that we get our lamb from the sheep off of our farm). But we also aim to buy products with the Australian label.
So if you have decided that you want to change some of the things you eat to be a little bit greener, post a comment about what you will change. I challenge you to make 5, but seeing as the title of this blog is 'just one thing' i understand if it's just one. It still makes a difference.
Carly
Going back to last weeks Consumption Atlas from the ACF website, you'll remember that SA number 2 contributor to greenhouse gas pollution is food!
So what can we do to make a difference?
(apologies now for using the ACF as my primary source for info again but it's just such a great website!)
ACF gives 5 top tips for eating green
1.Reduce Animal Products (This doesn't mean you have to become a vego!) "GREENHOME FACT: If you reduced your dairy intake by just 2 cups of milk (or equivalent) per week, you would save 13,000 litres of water and 250kg of greenhouse pollution in a year" www.acf.org.au
2.Choose unprocessed or unrefined foods. The more processed a food is, the more water and energy has gone into making it. So things like packet chips and wrapped lollies. go for fresh vegies instead of frozen etc.
3. Eat what you buy, don't waste it
This is how much we as a nation threw away in 2004
■ $2.9 billion worth of fresh food
■ $630 million worth of uneaten take-away food
■ $876 million in leftovers
■ $596 million of unfinished drinks and
■ $241 million of frozen food.
4. Choose organic foods
5. Buy locally
Check out these farmers markets
For meat, go to your local butcher and ask where they get their meat from and weather it is grain or grass fed. Grain fed animals use a LOT more water and energy to be fed, so if possible buy grass fed.
go here to find out more on the top five tips for eating green
So based on these five tips I'm going to list 5 things that I am going to do in order to help reduce the greenhouse gases I produce from food.
1. Instead of eating cereal with milk everyday for breakfast, I'm going to alternate with toast or something that doesn't include milk.
2. I'm in the process of starting a veggie garden at our house. (As soon as Dad has time to give me a hand :))
3. We are also getting a compost bin, so that we don't throw our waste away and so it can help our new veggie garden.
4. I'm going to change the cereal that I eat (Uncle Toby's) to an organic Muesli.
5. We actually already buy our meat from local sources (it also helps that we get our lamb from the sheep off of our farm). But we also aim to buy products with the Australian label.
So if you have decided that you want to change some of the things you eat to be a little bit greener, post a comment about what you will change. I challenge you to make 5, but seeing as the title of this blog is 'just one thing' i understand if it's just one. It still makes a difference.
Carly
Thursday, April 9, 2009
consumption in australia
So last week you saw that US consumption is doing some pretty crazy things to our planet. Well guess who is placed second behind them in consumption of energy and water? Australia. (www.acfonline.org.au) Yep, closely following our US buddies.
So the ACF foundation has a Consumption Atlas that can tell us how much greenhouse gases we produce, water we consume, and our overall eco-footprint in our area.
In South Australia our average greenhouse gas emissions is 17.24 tonnes per person per year. That's like me flying from Adelaide to Amman (Jordan) and back, TWICE, plus a one way to Bali. Mind you SA is 10% below the national average. Where I live in SA, the average is 17.19 tonnes per person per year. My personal amount of greenhouse emissions in the last year was 23.9 t! (I did fly to Jordan and back = 7.7 t in green house gases)
Now SA's state average of water usage per person, per year is 670,000 litres. The national average is 722,500 litres. My personal usage is 600 000 litres. Note that our water usage includes not just what we use at home, but the use of water to produce our food and our stuff.
Now what is an eco-footprint you ask? well it is the total amount of land required to supply all the resources of a persons lifestyle. The national average is 6.4 hectares per person, per year. The SA average is 6.56 per person per year. The area I live in is 6.65 hectares pp. pa. My personal footprint is 5.4 hectares.
So what does all this mean. Well my results show that I'm close to the average Australian in my consumption. And this is BAD! Like the video said. If we keep living like this we will need 4 or 5 planets to keep us going!!! AND WE DON'T HAVE 4 or 5 PLANETS!!!
So what are the right levels of consumption to keep Australia sustainable????
Well the ideal amount of green house gases that we should each produce should be 4 tonnes!!!! That means reducing our current usage by 13 tonnes!
The ideal water consumption per person per year should be 500000 litres. And each persons eco-footprint should only be 1.8 hectares!
So this week I want you to go to this website and look at the consumption of the area you live in, and then click the link that says 'how do I rate?' Fill out the online form. It only takes a minute, and then please post a comment with your averages.
http://www.acfonline.org.au/consumptionatlas/
If we realise how much we actually consume, then that is the first step to making changes.
Cheers
Carly
So the ACF foundation has a Consumption Atlas that can tell us how much greenhouse gases we produce, water we consume, and our overall eco-footprint in our area.
In South Australia our average greenhouse gas emissions is 17.24 tonnes per person per year. That's like me flying from Adelaide to Amman (Jordan) and back, TWICE, plus a one way to Bali. Mind you SA is 10% below the national average. Where I live in SA, the average is 17.19 tonnes per person per year. My personal amount of greenhouse emissions in the last year was 23.9 t! (I did fly to Jordan and back = 7.7 t in green house gases)
Now SA's state average of water usage per person, per year is 670,000 litres. The national average is 722,500 litres. My personal usage is 600 000 litres. Note that our water usage includes not just what we use at home, but the use of water to produce our food and our stuff.
Now what is an eco-footprint you ask? well it is the total amount of land required to supply all the resources of a persons lifestyle. The national average is 6.4 hectares per person, per year. The SA average is 6.56 per person per year. The area I live in is 6.65 hectares pp. pa. My personal footprint is 5.4 hectares.
So what does all this mean. Well my results show that I'm close to the average Australian in my consumption. And this is BAD! Like the video said. If we keep living like this we will need 4 or 5 planets to keep us going!!! AND WE DON'T HAVE 4 or 5 PLANETS!!!
So what are the right levels of consumption to keep Australia sustainable????
Well the ideal amount of green house gases that we should each produce should be 4 tonnes!!!! That means reducing our current usage by 13 tonnes!
The ideal water consumption per person per year should be 500000 litres. And each persons eco-footprint should only be 1.8 hectares!
So this week I want you to go to this website and look at the consumption of the area you live in, and then click the link that says 'how do I rate?' Fill out the online form. It only takes a minute, and then please post a comment with your averages.
http://www.acfonline.org.au/consumptionatlas/
If we realise how much we actually consume, then that is the first step to making changes.
Cheers
Carly
Thursday, April 2, 2009
the story of stuff
So my first blog is a link to a little movie called 'The Story of Stuff'.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/index.html
For my arabic speaking friends go to:
http://www.storyofstuff.com/international/
Some of you may have seen it. Some may not have. Even if you have already seen it, watch it again. It's a powerful little clip and it's full of some devastating information about where our stuff comes from and what it is actually doing to the world.
A few facts:
The U.S has 5% of the worlds population but uses 30% of the world's resources and creates 30% of the world's waste. (quoted in Global Environmental Issues by Frances Harris (2004).
If everyone consumed the way the US does at the moment, we would need 3-5 planets to keep up with demand!
In the past 30 years 1/3 of the world's natural resources have been used!!!!!
So this is just an intro into consumption and next week we'll start looking at ways we can do small things to help.
Carly
http://www.storyofstuff.com/index.html
For my arabic speaking friends go to:
http://www.storyofstuff.com/international/
Some of you may have seen it. Some may not have. Even if you have already seen it, watch it again. It's a powerful little clip and it's full of some devastating information about where our stuff comes from and what it is actually doing to the world.
A few facts:
The U.S has 5% of the worlds population but uses 30% of the world's resources and creates 30% of the world's waste. (quoted in Global Environmental Issues by Frances Harris (2004).
If everyone consumed the way the US does at the moment, we would need 3-5 planets to keep up with demand!
In the past 30 years 1/3 of the world's natural resources have been used!!!!!
So this is just an intro into consumption and next week we'll start looking at ways we can do small things to help.
Carly
not everything, just one thing.
Hey guys.
So I have started a new blog. I decided to start one for several reasons. The first is to provide information on issues that are close to my heart such as fair trade, poverty, anti-slavery, climate change and consumerism. The second reason is to suggest everyday things that you and I have the power to do. The third reason is so that I myself find out more information about certain topics, and so that I can share it with you.
Last year I took part in a camp called 'Slum Survivor' and also got involved with Tear and attended the Youth Summit that they held last year. One of the main things that came out of these two experiences for me is that there is so much unfairness and injustice in the world that it is very easy too get overwhelmed by all the issues that face us. But one thing we must realise is that we can't do everything! But we can do one thing. And that one thing can and does make a difference. One example that has just come up this week is Cadbury (in the UK only) changing it's dairy milk to FairTrade. This is a great example of what people can do when they lobby for change.
Why my motivation for all these issues anyway? Well most of you who will read this will know that I am a Christian and therefore I believe that I am called to love others and love God. For me, the meaning of 'loving others' is using the resources God has given me, whether that be money, possessions, time or my voice, to help people who are oppressed, poor, lonely or in some other desperate situation. But you don't have to believe in God to have a heart for the human race or the environment to see the awful things that are going on in this world and want to change it.
So each week I'll post up something new for you and I both to think about.
Peace
Carly
So I have started a new blog. I decided to start one for several reasons. The first is to provide information on issues that are close to my heart such as fair trade, poverty, anti-slavery, climate change and consumerism. The second reason is to suggest everyday things that you and I have the power to do. The third reason is so that I myself find out more information about certain topics, and so that I can share it with you.
Last year I took part in a camp called 'Slum Survivor' and also got involved with Tear and attended the Youth Summit that they held last year. One of the main things that came out of these two experiences for me is that there is so much unfairness and injustice in the world that it is very easy too get overwhelmed by all the issues that face us. But one thing we must realise is that we can't do everything! But we can do one thing. And that one thing can and does make a difference. One example that has just come up this week is Cadbury (in the UK only) changing it's dairy milk to FairTrade. This is a great example of what people can do when they lobby for change.
Why my motivation for all these issues anyway? Well most of you who will read this will know that I am a Christian and therefore I believe that I am called to love others and love God. For me, the meaning of 'loving others' is using the resources God has given me, whether that be money, possessions, time or my voice, to help people who are oppressed, poor, lonely or in some other desperate situation. But you don't have to believe in God to have a heart for the human race or the environment to see the awful things that are going on in this world and want to change it.
So each week I'll post up something new for you and I both to think about.
Peace
Carly
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