Tonight at the invitation of Beth Whitworth I attended the Bundaberg Business Women's Network dinner, where the guest speaker was Alison Rickert- the Bundaberg region's own Al Gore-trained climate change presenter. Even with all that SustainaBundy has been doing, this is the first opportunity I've had to meet Alison and see in person the slide presentation that was the basis for Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth." Alison's presentation is tailored for the Australian audience with pertinent facts and figures relating to the effects of climate change here.

I'd estimate there were about 40 women in attendance, and the interest in the issue of climate change was very high- as was the interest in combating it. When Alison asked if anyone didn't believe climate change was happening, not a single person raised their hand. When she asked if anyone thought humans weren't contributing to it, surprisingly, the response was the same. I was impressed. Everyone in the room seemed to understand the seriousness of the situation, and the dinner conversation revolved around making progress towards sustainability.

After Alison spoke, I had an opportunity to talk about what SustainaBundy is doing right here in Bundaberg, mentioned the upcoming movie festival, the guidebook and World Environment Day. A steady stream of women pressed gold coins into my hand as guidebooks and movie fest flyers flew off the table, and several attendees talked to me through the course of the evening about SustainaBundy. It was an excellent opportunity to network, and it was great to see a room full of people with their eyes open.

1. Final reminder, SustainaBundy Garage Sale Party tomorrow! We've been donated two bottles of "worm tea" (an excellent natural liquid fertiliser), cloth shopping bags and a jar of tomato relish for the raffle, as well muffins, fruit and pikelets for breakfast - remember, all proceeds from the raffle and breakfast benefit SustainaBundy, so please come along and show your support!

2. The schedule is now available for the SustainaBundy All Day Movie Festival on Saturday 29th March. Make a note on your calendar and come see any of TEN full length and short films on peak oil, climate change, food and waste! Check out the full schedule here.

3. Letters have been sent out to potential sponsors for World Environment Day and we've already been contacted by the Bugle- they have agreed to provide sponsorship in the form of "advertorials" in the three weeks leading up to the WED celebration.

4. Fishprint has informed me that our 1000 copies of The 2008 SustainaBundy Directory and Guide will be shipping (in about 20 A4 cartons) today! We should receive them just in time to make the guidebook available immediately following the council elections. We'll post a list of pick up locations shortly, and we'll look to have an official "release party" at the SustainaBundy All Day Movie Festival.

5. Speaking of council elections, they're coming up next weekend. If your candidates haven't responded to SustainaBundy's questions on resource depletion, climate change and relocalisation, please direct them to this page and ask them for their responses!

More as it happens - We'll look to schedule another general meeting with all members and potential members in the next two weeks.

The Playhouse Theatre should've been bursting at the seams with a throng of passionate artists, musicians and community organisation reps, all hungry for insight on Monday night- but it wasn't. In a golden opportunity that could only arise in a regional community like Bundaberg, local media powerhouses Trish Mears from Sea FM, Renae Henry from Channel 7, Nikki Sorbello from the NewsMail, Ross Peddlesden from ABC Wide Bay and PR consultant Alisa Cork spent their evening at the "Are the Arts Newsworthy?" forum at the Playhouse Theatre, divulging the secrets of how to attract media coverage and make an arts exhibition or cultural event into news. As an enthusiastic supporter of a local arts scene as a vital part of a sustainable community, I really wanted to know if the arts are indeed newsworthy. What I didn't expect was to learn so much information that would be of great value to literally any community organisation in our region - including my own - not just artists and cultural organisations. Here then, for the benefit of those who didn't attend, are just a few of the important gems I learned from the forum:

1. The arts are indeed newsworthy when there is a human element that can be highlighted. The artist and what makes them tick is going to make for a more interesting story than the artist's scuplture, song, or play. This works regardless of the organisation or event- find the human side to it and you've found the story.

2. "Health, heart and pocketbook" are the topics that work - how does the story or event affect people's health, their emotions or their finances? Find one of these angles in the story you want to tell about your event.

3. What's the WOW factor- is it the biggest, most, largest, smallest, most expensive, first, most unusual, oldest, youngest?

4. Get plenty of coverage by giving your media contacts advance notice, but not too much advance notice- and don't forget to follow up regularly.

5. Make it easy for your media contact person, they're busy people. Call them first to tell them about it, as briefly as possible. Follow up with a well written emailed or faxed media release containing all the vital information, and don't forget to provide contact information for someone who will actually be available. Make sure the subject line is precise and to the point, and if it mentions Bundaberg, even better. Provide a photo, let them know a time and date you'll be available to be interviewed, tell them when and where to be to get the best coverage and shots.

6. Network. Attend community forums like this one! If they already know you, they're much more likely to use your release or be willing to do a story about you or your event.

7. Collaborate. In the Wide Bay region, groups and artists tend to "do their own thing." Bring together a number of different organisations or artists to contribute to an event. This minimises the work and financial risk for any one person or organisation, it raises the media profile of all the participants and it supports and encourages a stronger community.

By attending the forum, not only did I learn these useful insights, I also had the chance to chat personally with each of the panelists, as well as two councillors, a councillor candidate and a local artist. I'd like to personally thank all of the panelists for giving their time to share the information with the community, and many thanks as well to our local arts council Bamboin Inc. and the Bundaberg Players for presenting the forum. It was a unique and invaluable experience.

Andi Hazelwood
SustainaBundy

Just a reminder, next Saturday the 8th of March is the SustainaBundy Garage Sale Party! Starting at 7am, 144 Barolin Street, Walkervale (on Barolin between Walker St. and Maynard St.) Look for the SustainaBundy Garage Sale Party sign and help us promote Buying Second Hand First! We'll have plenty of tools, furniture and household items for sale from several SustainaBundy members' households.

Financial members, if you'd like to sell your second hand stuff at the GSP, contact us ASAP to reserve your spot! Members keep their profits from the day. Help us promote Buying Second Hand First by bringing your used items only for sale - no plants, crafts, new items or food. We will have breakfast available for $2 donation with proceeds going to SustainaBundy, so we welcome you to bring breakfast items (fruit, baked goods, tea, coffee, etc) to donate! Not a member yet? Click here. Also, we've received a donation of cloth shopping bags to raffle off - if anyone else would like to donate raffle items please contact us!

I don't know about you, but we got 170mm of rain at our house yesterday - that's nearly 7 inches! In the heaviest part of it I hung out the bedroom window, taking photos of the whipping wind and rain as cars passed our driveway, which had become a river, rushing to the storm drains. Coincidentally, the Burnett Mary Regional Group is running a stormwater photography competition to help people to understand what stormwater pollution means for the environment, and for us. The competition closes on the 17th of March, and you can enter up to five photos of stormwater problems or their solutions. Based on how the weather has been lately there should be a few more opportunities for capturing your most impressive stormwater photos before the competition ends! First prize is a $500 gift voucher at Camera House, and ten finalists will have their photo enlarged and printed on canvas by Brilliant Prints, to be displayed in the Bundaberg Arts Centre during April and May! For more details, rules and further information visit stormwater.org.au.

There's no better time than Valentine's Day to put into action the relocalisation concept of reducing consumption and increasing experiences! Let's explore some of the ways we can make an utterly romantic - and sustainable - Valentine's Day celebration.

1. STAY IN! Cook dinner together, light candles (soywax or beeswax candles are best), put on a Nat "King" Cole record and dance in your lounge room. Swoon!
2. GIVE BETTER GIFTS! Don't spend a fortune buying flowers that will die in a couple days - give a live native bush, shrub or tree. Give a massage, a bottle of local wine, or some home made bubble bath - and hop in the tub with your loved one while you're at it!
3. MAKE IT FROM THE HEART! Don't buy a boring card written by someone else that doesn't really express how you feel anyway. Take the time and use your creativity to make a card yourself, from found things, and written in your own words. Even better, write an old fashioned love letter.
4. COMPROMISE! If you prefer to dine out support Bundy and the environment by going to one of the locally owned restaurant that serves locally produced food in a wide variety of styles. Make a wildflower bouquet from your backyard (enlist the help of your neighbours' backyards too if necessary, but be sure to ask them first!)

These ideas will cost a lot less and mean a lot more than the traditional Valentine's Day - and you'll be treating the environment like a loved one too!

So much to catch up on! First a quick reminder, tonight is our SustainaBundy general meeting! Get all the details here. We'll talk about all our upcoming events, so we welcome everyone to attend!

In case you missed it, SustainaBundy Movie Night III had a big spread in Saturday's paper! (I'll have the SustainaBundy scrapbook on hand tonight if anyone would like to see it - and all our other articles - in person!) The response to the movie night has been so positive that we're doing it all over again next Monday. Read more about Movie Night IV.

Very excitingly, The 2008 SustainaBundy Directory and Guide: how to live a GREENER life in & around Bundaberg is COMPLETE! I'll be sending the files to the printer today and we'll have the real thing in our hands very soon. This feels like a huge accomplishment, at least to me. Though on the surface this little hundred-page booklet will look pretty basic and simple, many many hours and days and sleepless nights of work have gone into it's making. As I mention in it, "We published this guidebook because it needed to be done, not because we have any expertise in creating slick publications. It isn’t perfect, but it’s important." Next year I hope we can get some more people involved with the guidebook project to make it even better.

Also, did everyone enjoy Australia Day and Chinese New Year? Some people on this list probably know that as passions go, mine are my husband, sustainability and photography (in that order). For some months now I've been posting photos to my Flickr page. Lots are from before we moved to Bundy, several dozen are photos of our dogs Rhythm and Blues, but I also have 60 photos from around Bundy - events, weather, scenery... Including some from Australia Day and Chinese New Year. I think Bundy deserves a lot more attention than it gets and we (as residents and SustainaBundy members) should be proud of it- flickr is a great way to show off that pride! As SustainaBundy continues to pick up new, enthusiastic members and we have more and more events and activities, we'll be able to use flickr as another tool (along with our own site, our MySpace page, our YouTube page and our Facebook page!) to promote a sustainable Bundaberg. It can easily be argued that these networking and marketing tools (and photography and the internet themselves!) aren't sustainable - but they are invaluable in helping us make the transition to sustainability, particularly when it comes to reaching people who haven't yet heard what we have to say.

That's it from me for the moment- feel free to hit "reply" in your email or "add comment" on the website if you have something to say!

Hope to see you all tonight!

Andi Hazelwood
SustainaBundy

For the benefit of all the new SustainaBundy subscribers, I'd like to mention that our group - and our website - is part of an international Relocalization Network, made up of nearly 180 groups around the world, each working towards the relocalisation of their own communities. This allows us to learn from and share information with all of the other groups in Australia and elsewhere that share our goals and have acheived their own successes. The network is a program of Post Carbon Institute. (As operations manager for Post Carbon's Global Public Media program, I am a Post Carbon Institute staff member, but because I believe so passionately in this work, all my SustainaBundy work is done on a strictly volunteer basis. )

Another Post Carbon Institute program is called Post Carbon Cities, whose aim is to prepare local governments for energy and climate uncertainty. The Post Carbon Cities Guidebook was written specifically for mayors, councillors and other key decisionmakers to help them better understand these challenges. In addition to providing a concise introduction to the issues, the guidebook also includes case studies of a number of local government responses and information on making the transition to a post carbon world.

SustainaBundy has three copies of this guidebook, which we will make available to the mayor and councillors following amalgamation. In the meantime, I welcome you to read the executive summary, the table of contents and the abridged version of the guidebook. If you're more of a video type of person, you can watch an interview with the author, Daniel Lerch, here. (transcript available too.)

There are other examples of cities that are setting the course for the sustainable future. Councillors, mayors and local members would be wise to learn from these successes:

A Convenient Truth: Urban Solutions from Curitiba, Brazil (we have ordered this film and intend to show it at our movie festival - in the meantime you can read the site and watch the trailer)
PBS' (America's Public Broadcast System) website dedicated to Curitiba's urban sustainability
Bogota, Columbia: From living hell to living well
Designing cities for people rather than cars
Bogota vs. Curitiba

SustainaBundy invites everyone to explore these examples and to continue with us the discussion of transitioning to a truly sustainable Bundaberg.

When most people familiar with the concept think of relocalisation, they think of localised food production, local currencies, local energy, perhaps even local manufacturing. But what about supporting local music, local art and local culture? Of course, artists and musicians want to travel, and we want to see shows that come to our town from elsewhere - but those artists and musicians also need a healthy support system at home, from the venues and from the locals. With fossil fuel resources becoming less available and traveling to shows, performances and exhibitions becoming more expensive with the rising cost of petrol, we must rely on local talent to entertain and enrich us - and they must rely on us to support them.

Just as it's necessary to encourage local production of healthy food, we also have to encourage local production of good music and art! Art and music education needs to be taught consistently in schools (see these important stats about music education - it increases brainpower!) When budding artists and musicians are children, their passions need to be rewarded and encouraged by their families and friends. As they begin to produce and to perform they must have local venues willing to support them and an audience willing to receive them.

The other day I found a couple of Bundaberg bands on YouTube and on MySpace. A lot of the music may not be your style, but a lot of it does show some serious talent - and that's what's important! Last night Dean, Jacqui and I went to see Bundaberg musician Ryan Giles perform at the Bucca Hotel after I found him on YouTube and was mightily impressed. He didn't disappoint - he's extremely talented, played some great covers and some even better originals - including the one now terminally stuck in my head, "Invited". Check it out on YouTube and listen to some of his other tracks on his MySpace page.

I've been thinking lately that perhaps starting a SustainaBundy radio show on one of Bundaberg's community radio stations would be a good use of my skills from my "previous life" - it could include interviews and discussions of sustainability, and a showcase for local musicians. This merits further exploration.

Managing waste should be a major concern for all of us - I decided to find out more about how it's done here in Bundaberg. If you don't live in this region, why not do some research and find out waste management differs in your area?

Bundaberg is exceedingly lucky to have James Stanfield. He is the Bundaberg city council waste management officer, and he is passionate and downright cheerful about managing the mind-boggling volume of stuff we reject from our households every day without a second thought. Stanfield may be the single most environmentally responsible person in our region!

Yesterday Dean and I toured the Bundaberg Waste Management and Recycling Facility on University Drive near the airport and talked to James Stanfield for about three hours.

Watch a video interview with James Stanfield on household recycling on YouTube: Part 1, Part 2
(This will also become a "how to recycle" article for the guide.)

Listen to the audio from the interview. (mp3, 19 min, 9MB)

Check out the photo tour (I can only imagine how Edward Burtynsky must feel, photographing the world's Manufactured Landscapes.)

Stanfield and his team currently manage rubbish and recycling from about 90,000 homes (not to mention business, construction and industrial waste) in Bundaberg, Burnett and Kolan Shires - this will increase when the shire amalgamations are complete. Disabled people and work for the dole participants hand sort our waste to the best of their ability to ensure that only actual rubbish is buried at the new landfill. We produce a prodigious amount of waste, however, and that $4 fee to take stuff to the facility only stretches so far. As such, each of us must do whatever we can to manage our own waste, before James Stanfield and his team even see it:

1. Thinking of packaging before you buy something is key. Buy in bulk, buy compostable packaging - and just plain old buy less.
2. After you've used something, think long and hard about whether there's any possible way to reuse the packaging before you toss it or recycle it. Stanfield made a great point: "we need to get away from using the word waste. It's actually surplus resources."
3. If you do get rid of it, clean it (rinse with dirty wash water when you've finished doing the dishes). If it's recyclable, don't put it in the rubbish and vice versa.
4. Sort it before you take it to the facility. If you're leaving it kerbside, don't bag your recyclables, leave them loose in the bin.
4. Think of the many individuals that will have to deal with your waste- treat them kindly.

Our rubbish is buried in the earth, left for future generations. The landfill at University Drive is nearly full, and the new facility 20km outside of Bundaberg on the Isis Highway is expected to last 30-35 years - which isn't very long in the greater scheme of things, particularly with a growing population.

Recycling is very energy intensive. Australia has no recycling facility for plastic so all recyclable plastics are sent to China. We're happy to use the stuff, but we don't want to deal with it here when we're done - we pollute China instead, with it's looser environmental restrictions.

Remember that there's no such thing as "away" when we throw something away - every place is someone's backyard.

Reduce, reuse, recycle. It's not just a catchphrase!

View photos of Bundaberg's waste management facility.

On Thursday morning Dean and I visited Northey Street City Farm in Brisbane. Look for a SustainaBundy video interview and farm tour with Rob McGuigan coming soon, in the meantime click here for a photo essay.

The 14 year old, 10 acre permaculture farm has a nursery, a weekly organic market, a cafe/kitchen, several different demonstration garden areas, a food forest, chickens, an extensive composting operation, worm farms and much more. Accredited permaculture courses are run regularly at the farm where there is space for discussing theory as well as practical application.

Like any long running project, Northey Street City Farm has grown and changed over the years, and some times it looks better than others to the general public. But there are some important things that make Northey Street an inspiration and a demonstration of what good things are possible in terms of community gardens. I'll get into more detail about those points later; right now I'm off to do another interview for the guide!

View photos of Northey Street City Farm.

Wednesday, Dean and I left Bundaberg for four days visiting friends and family in Brisbane and along the Sunshine Coast- a part holiday, part SustainaBundy scouting trip. We've toured community gardens, met with relocalisers in Maleny and along the Sunshine Coast, and tonight will meet with other like minded folks as well. This is the first of several blog posts about what we learned and brainstormed about along the way- look for more stories in the coming days.

Wednesday as we drove south towards Brisbane, Dean and I talked about the SustainaBundy movie night coming up on Wednesday- and that it'd be really good, whenever we have an event of any kind, to always have another one upcoming that we can promote. To that end, we've decided to hold the first SustainaBundy Garage Sale Party at our place on Saturday December 15! We'll promote the environmental benefits of buying second hand instead of new, keeping stuff out of the landfills and extending the life of stuff while we socialise, have fun, talk SustainaBundy with the public and make a few bob!

This first one will be a SustainaBundy Garage Sale Christmas Breakfast Party! On Dec 15, official SustainaBundy members* are welcome to come along to our backyard with their second hand stuff to sell (no new items, please, that defeats the purpose!) at 6am, we'll open the gate to the public at 7am. We'll have Christmas music, baked goods, tea and coffee. Members are also asked to bring chairs, card/trestle tables and any shade-making accessories (umbrellas, tents, gazebos, what have you.)

We're thinking we'd like to get green and yellow balloons to have on the street, and see if we can get sponsors (Foodworks? Local bakery?) to donate the breakfast items, with the proceeds from the breakfast going to SustainaBundy.

All proceeds from the garage sale will go to the members themselves, but donations to SustainaBundy would be welcome!

*At this writing, SustainaBundy membership is free. It will be necessary to create a membership fee before the Garage Sale Party to ensure that the sellers are willing to help work for a sustainable Bundaberg. We want to have these Garage Sale Parties on a regular basis (perhaps monthly?) To that end, we're thinking the membership fee will be valid from the time it's paid until January 1 2009, and thereafter will be due every 12 months. In addition to voting rights, paid membership will allow members to sell second hand items at any SustainaBundy Garage Sale Party during that time. We'll have an individual fee and a family fee, to be determined by the group.

Your thoughts (on both the Garage Sale Party and membership structure) are welcome, more blogging as time permits!

Yesterday I got a call from Pam, who is with the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland (WPSQ, which was pronounced as "whipskew!"). She attended the movie night last week and heard me on the radio. One of their guest speakers for their meeting (which was today!) had cancelled and she was wondering if I'd be able to come talk to them about sustainability? Of course I said yes! So today Dean and shine_on and I attended the meeting in our SustainaBundy work shirts (even though they aren't yet printed). I told he group about relocalisation, and mentioned our guide book, our upcoming movie night, and some of our future grand plans. The response was very positive, a number of people were keen on our ideas, and we made a lot of good contacts with all sorts of different people. They even bought us lunch at the pub next door! After lunch we learned more about the proposed development at Maira just outside of Bundaberg, and WPSQ's campaign to get the area set aside as a nature refuge instead. We also talked about Traveston Dam. It was great to hear about WPSQ's current concerns and to make even further contacts for SustainaBundy. As we've always known, the people are out there, it's just a matter of connecting them all!

Today Dean and I spoke about SustainaBundy at the Tourism Skills Forum Management Committee Meeting. There were probably 20 people in attendance, including representatives from Across the Waves, the Australian Industry Group, Bundaberg Brewed Drinks, the Bundaberg City Council, Wide Bay TAFE, Bundaberg Community Development, Central Queensland University, Bundaberg Region Tourism itself and many others.

I opened with a brief explanation of "why" SustainaBundy exists: I asked the group, "can you think of any aspect of your business or personal life that doesn't require oil for its manufacture, transportation or storage?" Of course, the room was silent. I asked if anyone was familiar with the concept of peak oil - no, no one was. I have to admit this surprised me! I explained how world oil production would peak, plateau and begin to decline while world demand continued to increase, which would mean rising prices for oil and everything that depends on it - to the point of creating severe economic breakdown - and that experts are now saying that oil production peaked last year. I also mentioned that our overconsumption of fossil fuels is contributing to what Tim Flannery calls "an unacceptable risk of dangerous climate change," which would mean rising sea levels, increased temperatures and more severe storms, floods and droughts. I explained that SustainaBundy feels that these issues are worth dealing with right now.

I told the group that our response is called "relocalisation," and it's based on the two simple ideas of reducing consumption and producing locally - that we need to reduce our consumption of fossil fuel energy and "stuff" while increasing our consumption of experiences, activities and culture. And also that we need to source our daily needs- food, water, shelter, clothing, art - as locally as possible to reduce transport emissions. I explained how relocalisation promotes and encourages local producers, local businesses and services, local food, local sport, local arts. It reduces our dependence on fossil fuels and our planet-damaging activities while at the same time strengthening our economy and boosting tourism, as we highlight and take advantage of the best Bundaberg has to offer, instead of exporting it and importing cheaper options that pale in comparison.

Then I handed the floor to Dean, who outlined our upcoming projects and goals, going into a bit of detail about items of particular interest such as tomorrow's movie night, the directory and guide, community supported agriculture, community gardens and of course, the Bundy Bob.

When we opened it up to questions from the group, the first was "how will you have time for all of this?" We talked about how these were aspirational goals and that their success would depend on the involvement of businesses and organisations and individuals like them. There was a question about "greening" event planning - a valid concern, when you consider how many meetings, shows, conferences, seminars, markets and other events happen in Bundaberg every day. We talked about carbon offsetting, onsite recycle bins with volunteers telling attendees into which bin to put their stuff, and of course catering with local food. We were also asked about funding. We mentioned that we'd applied for funding for the printing of the guide, and that any profit from advertising and guidebook sales would go to future projects and future editions of the book! At the end of the meeting, Craig Spackman, the catering manager from Across the Waves, mentioned that he had orchestrated a deal with the Salvation Army to purchase produce grown at the Tom Quinn Community Centre Garden (once it's built) for use at Across the Waves - I was thrilled to hear this and pointed out that this was, in essence, community supported agriculture.

When the meeting ended we chatted at length with a number of the attendees, exchanged business cards, and brainstormed a bit. It was obvious that the response was positive, and with any luck we got some wheels turning, widened our network, and made some friends. A very successful day in my view.

Your comments are welcome - if you aren't a member of SustainaBundy and you'd like to join our discussion list please register here! be sure to choose "SustainaBundy" under "join a group.")

This morning I had the brief opportunity to talk about sustainability on ABC Wide Bay radio with Ross Peddlesden, before the station switched to the cricket game. I touched on the SustainaBundy Directory and Guide and our plans to get involved in food, transport, waste and energy sustainability in the region, then Ross took a few calls. One gentleman talked about getting the electricity company to mulch tree branches they cut away from power lines, another discussed his company's solar streetlights, a third talked about decentralising our communities, and a lady called to talk about how she reduces waste in her home. I got in a few words about the 7:30pm showing of "The Power of Community" on Wednesday and got in a final mention of the website before we had to sign off. Whew - what a whirlwind! It was great to be able to talk up SustainaBundy and hopefully the opportunity will arise again soon!

Andi Hazelwood & Ross Peddlesden, ABC Wide Bay Radio

I have the audio from the chat (18 min 33 sec, 8MB, mp3) - if anyone would like to hear it please email me. We don't yet have permission from the ABC to post it to the website but we are working on it!

Just thought I'd let everyone know where things stand with the contents of the 2008 SustainaBundy Directory and Guide. I am still wading through the heaps of article submissions we've received - thank you so much to everyone who has stepped up to the plate to provide us with some fantastic content. I really think the people in the Bundaberg region are lucky to have us, we have a goldmine of practical, valuable information in this book - it'll be a steal at $2 a pop!

So far, I have edited, formatted and laid out (subject to lots more fiddling I'm sure):
1. Intro
2. Printing and acknowledgments
3. What is relocalisation?
4. The grand plans
5. How it all began: peak oil and climate change
6. 101+ things you can do to save the planet
7. Quotes to live by
8. The low impact woman
9. The eco-friendly man
10. The environmentally responsible office
11. Water: harvest it, store it, conserve it!
12. Win the weed war with Landcare
13. Real food for hyperactivity
14. Fresh is always the right price
15. Gardening for our lives: the transition to sustainability
Total: 47 pages (out of 96!!!)

Received - yet to be edited, formatted and laid out:
16. The recycled food garden
17. The uses of vinegar (and bicarb)
18. Natural resource management projects (BMRG)

Yet to be received/completed:
19. Chef profiles (on camera interviews x2)
20. Camreay profile (on camera interview, scheduled for Wednesday)
21. How to recycle
22. Walking Bundaberg (shine_on, I can't find your first draft - are you still working on it, and if not, can you email it to me again?)
23. BMRG & the community
24. Single line directory
25. Web resources
26. Table of contents

I'm seriously thinking some of this stuff is gonna have to get chopped down to fit everything in.

Advertising to date:
11 ads have been booked/promised
-4 full pages
-3 half pages
-1 quarter page
-3 uncertain (don't know what size but definitely want to advertise)

The full colour inside covers front and back are still available - I haven't had time to do the hard sell for some of the bigger advertisers we're hoping to secure. Our ultimate goal is to make $4000 from this project by selling about 20 pages of advertising (at least $2000) and to sell out the guide (1000 copies at $2/each = $2000). This would cover our printing costs and give us enough money to incorporate, if other funding options for printing the guide don't come through. Obviously we need to make ad sales a priority for this to be a fully successful project.

Issue: Today Alice at BMRG provided us, free of charge, with high resolution maps of the Burnett region for our roadside stands map and directory. However, there are two difficulties with this project. 1, the lack of manpower to physically get out and find enough roadside stands to make it worth the space it would take up in the publication. 2, a recent conversation with someone in the industry indicated that it's entirely possible that the owners of said roadside stands might not exactly want them publicised, for fear of scrutiny by the authorities. A valid concern if the stands aren't formally licenced. This may make the roadside stand project more trouble than its worth, and leaves our centre spread vacant. I'm up for suggestions, thoughts and comments - should we keep trying on the roadside stands, or come up with something else worth mapping? Being a 160km radius directory, it'd be hard to fit our advertisers and/or single line listings all onto a map in the centre spread.

All in all I'm pleased with the progress, though of course I wish I were ahead of schedule instead of behind!! Recently we've been wondering if it might be wise to push off the publication date until after the council amalgamations are completed in March.

Sorry, giant post. Your comments welcome!

This morning while I was replying to emails and getting ready to make another round of phone calls on behalf of SustainaBundy, Wendy, one of our members (though not yet a user of the website), called me and said that ABC Local was doing a story right now, about Coles and Woolies refusing to stock Australian avocados and selling New Zealand avos instead. "Nobody's really calling the talkback, you should call and tell them about SustainaBundy!" I quickly turned on the radio and fought with the antenna to try to get a decent signal. I heard a few callers talk about how the supermarkets work, the demand for perfect produce regardless of season... but nothing about the original topic, other than what Wendy told me. What the heck, I called anyway, and while on hold I scribbled some notes of things worth mentioning. I hope I'm on the right track and it makes sense!! All the while Dean was frantically trying to figure out how he could record the bit! When the presenter, David Dowsett, picked up the phone and asked my thoughts, I pointed out that we shouldn't just be eating Australian, we should be eating as locally as possible for the benefit of the environment and the local economy - and that we've started a local group called SustainaBundy to promote just that. David asked how the response has been. I talked about how the farmers and chefs have both said they'd like to work directly with each other, instead of produce being trucked to Brisbane and back. I said that the dollar cost of a piece of produce isn't the only cost to consider, that we have to think of the environmental and other aspects as well. At least, I think that's about what I said. Even though I did years in radio in my "former life," for some reason I was horribly nervous and could hear my voice quavering as my thoughts fought with each other to get out of my mouth. David asked me to wait on hold a moment so they could get more information from me. Interesting, they didn't ask anyone else to do that, I must've done something right...

The station manager Ross Peddlesden popped on the line immediately and asked for my name and phone number, and said he wanted to learn a bit more about the group and possibly do a story about SustainaBundy! I made sure to give him the web address and he said he'd be in touch. Then, pandemonium.

Dean said I sounded great, it came across really well. While I was on the phone with the ABC, one of the people I tried to contact yesterday called our other line and Dean took a message. As soon as I hung up with the radio, I immediately called Wendy back and thanked her profusely - it turns out she taped it! Yay! Oh wait, we don't have a cassette deck... must ask Ross if we can get an mp3 of the bit! Anyway, she said it sounded great too and she had lots of ideas for getting the ABC involved with SustainaBundy! Definitely worth talking about with them, if and when they call!

I then called back the contact from yesterday and poured out the SustainaBundy story, at top speed since I was still bouncing off the walls about the ABC. Probably not the best time to call, but what the heck. I think I overwhelmed him, but it's a conversation he won't soon forget I'm sure! Coincidentally while talking with him, the other line rang again, it was shine_on scheduling to come over for lunch tomorrow! (Anyone else care to join us? 11:30am!)

Then the phone rang AGAIN. Dean took the call, from a local banana farmer who heard me on the ABC and called the station to get our phone number. They talked about the difficulties farmers have doing business and he agreed to have a look at our website. Wow, talk about instant response!

Whew!!

On top of all of this, tonight I'm giving a presentation on permaculture at the Organic Gardeners group meeting, so I'd best prepare for that! When it rains it pours! (6.5mm here last night...) More as it happens.

That's what I feel like I've become, the sustainable sales lady, selling sustainability to Bundaberg!

On Saturday we had SustainaBundy flyers and business cards on a table at the Organic Gardeners group fundraiser with Tom Wyatt from ABC Radio, and by the end of the day nearly all the flyers were gone - welcome to our new members, and to those who might be thinking of joining us! Please feel free to reply and introduce yourself to the group!

Last night we had dinner at a local restaurant who sources a lot of their food locally - of course we gave them a business card and told them about the guide! Which reminds me, we now have generic SustainaBundy business cards with our logo and web address on them, with space on the back for members to write in their own information when they're talking to people in the community. Don't hesitate to contact us to get a stack for your own use. Anytime you visit a business within a 160km radius of Bundaberg (this includes Hervey Bay, Childers, Biggenden, Gin Gin, Miriam Vale, 1770, the lot!) be sure to suss them out and see if they're appropriate for the guide - let's develop those relationships! We also have unlimited @sustainabundy.org email addresses - if you would like one, just drop me a line.

I've taken this week off of work, so I can concentrate on pulling together advertisers and content for the 2008 SustainaBundy Directory and Guide. I spent the morning on the telephone with about 10 potential advertisers, giving them the SustainaBundy spiel and asking if I could email them some information about us and our guidebook project. Then of course, I emailed out several copies of the Information Sheet and Rate Card. I have another long list of people to contact tomorrow.

Dean worked on writing one of his articles for the guide (we still have some unassigned articles, if you'd like to contribute please don't hesitate to reply and put up your hand!) while I tracked down what information I could about legitimising SustainaBundy (getting an ABN, a TFN, a bank account, incorporation, etc). Dean and I are scheduled to meet with the folks at Bundaberg Community Development Friday morning to learn more. It may be necessary to incorporate or seek auspicing before we can accept money from advertisers. This may make it necessary to push all of the guide deadlines back a bit to accommodate. I'll keep you all posted.

While we were out running errands, we dropped off our application to become members of BMRG (cost: $1) and stopped in to a couple of local businesses and dropped of info sheets and rate cards. Coming from 13 years in the broadcasting industry in the US and spending a lot of time around advertising salespeople, this all feels awfully familiar - with the exception of the fact that we're not simply selling a bit of air time or some space in magazine or newspaper. This is much, much bigger than that, and we have the power to vastly change our region for the better. Chip in!

Oh, and before I forget, now that we're really getting a lot of members, I think it's time to schedule another get together. We're home all this week, so please hit reply and let us know if and when you might be able to stop by our place to talk relocalisation! Hope to see you all soon.

Yesterday I had a great chat with Bronwyn Innes of the "Mad Cycologists," Bundy's social bicycling group. 15 or 20 cyclists, ranging in age from about 2 to about 80, get together every Sunday and ride 30 or 50km, finishing up at a coffee shop. The start and end locations are always different, and members of Bicycle Queensland* can join the Mad Cycologists email list to receive weekly updates on the "when" and "where." Bronwyn suggested people join them for a Sunday ride or two to decide if it's right for them, then (for legal reasons) they need to join BQ to participate on a regular basis. She said an experienced rider is always paired with new riders to make sure things go smoothly. The Mad Cycologists have a few bikes (including a tandem bike!) they can lend for rides too!

The Mad Cycologists also organise the annual City to Coast Bike Ride. This year, nearly 450 participants rode from Burnett Heads to the Bundaberg city centre, with all proceeds going to the RSPCA. Bronwyn tells me that next year's ride, scheduled for the 30th of March, 2008, is expected to attract over 600 participants! In addition, members of the Mad Cycologists participate in Bicycle Queensland's annual Cycle Queensland ride - last month 1000 riders spent 9 days riding 530km from Miles to Mooloolaba! Bronwyn also told me about a more "head down, ride fast" bike group called the Coral Coast Cycle Club, and said they have a good relationship with them and steer people each other's way when appropriate.

The Mad Cycologists main goals are to show the local councils that there is a desire and a need for more extensive and safer bike paths for families, to get "bums on bikes," and of course, to have fun! Any way you look at it, whether it be from the point of view of sustainability, exercise, socialising, or enjoying your town, getting involved with a bicycle group makes sense. I asked Bronwyn if it is possible to ride your bike as basic transport around Bundaberg, every day - she said absolutely, that some of their members bike to work and go to the shops on a daily basis. Obviously, riding socially with a group is good practice for that kind of practical, every day riding.

To learn more about the Mad Cycologists or to join them for a Sunday ride, contact Bronwyn Innes on 4151 3377.

*Did you know, if you ride your bicycle and don't have specific insurance for it, you're completely uninsured on your bike? Car insurance does not cover riding a bicycle! Bicycle Queensland membership is $70/year for individuals or $90/year for families and includes insurance and 12 months subscription to their magazine and newsletter - not to mention, it allows you to join the Mad Cycologists email list!

SustainaBundy is not a political organisation, so we do not advocate voting for a particular candidate or party in next month's federal election - however, it is very important to us that our leaders place the environment first! The Australian Conservation Foundation has a scorecard on their website that is keeping track of the environmental stances of a number of Australian political parties - the Greens will obviously always have the highest score, but I was surprised to learn that the Democrats are quite high on the list as well. As I am not yet an Australian citizen, I can't vote next month, but it is interesting for me to watch from an American perspective (What? There are actually more than two parties? Imagine that!)

My understanding is that Bundaberg tends to be rather conservative, so strong environmental action from our political leaders is highly unlikely unless push really comes to shove. Given the latest reports on peak oil and climate change, it's hard to think push could shove any harder! In the meantime, the best we can do is to make connections with like minded people and parties, and try our best to work with the leaders that are voted in to make sure they address the issues that are important to us.

On Monday night, Dean went to the meeting of the Hinkler Burnett Greens to learn a bit more from them and to learn about their candidate, Charles Andrew Dick. I've emailed the Democrats' candidate for Hinkler, Robert Bromwich, and asked for his thoughts on peak oil and climate change, and what mitigations he supports. It'll be interesting to see if and how he responds. From the bit of research I've done, it doesn't appear that the Democrats have much presence at all in Bundaberg. Learn more about Hinkler, it's candidates and history from the ABC website. I believe the next Greens meeting is on the 19th of November, 5:30pm in the School of Arts building (working on confirming that...)

Some of the same faces are popping up at many of the meetings we're attending and in the networking we're doing, which is great - we're really getting a clear picture of who cares about the environment in Bundaberg. I note that bwithworth joined SustainaBundy following the Greens meeting - welcome, and thank you! Every new member brings valuable insight, experience and ideas to SustainaBundy, and the more people that get involved, the more likely we are to reach our goals.

Last night, Dean and I attended our first meeting with the Bundaberg Community Garden committee - in the end there were only five of us in attendance, but it was definitely worth the effort to meet Christine, the project manager, and Angela, who has just started with Bundaberg Community Development. She's very enthusiastic to help out with the community garden, and with SustainaBundy - I left feeling inspired, and like so often after these meetings, a bit dizzy with excitement. The community garden group has tons of interest from individuals, organisations and even council, but after nearly securing a site for the garden on several occasions, only to have them all fall through, the members are understandably becoming weary. I'm confident that with SustainaBundy's involvement and with Angela's experience, connections and determination, we'll get this off the ground.

A community garden will be a great place to illustrate the benefits and practicality of sustainable food production. It'll give our older community members an opportunity to share their experience and knowledge of gardening, and it'll be a tool to teach kids the importance of food and get them involved at an early age. I hope more SustainaBundy members can attend the next meeting of the Community Garden group, on Thursday 15th November at 5:30 pm in the School of Arts building (I'll add it and the next Greens meeting to the calendar shortly!)

More as it happens, in the meantime I've got some articles to write!

I love it when things start to snowball. When we spoke at the Landcare meeting on Monday, we were given the names of a few people in town who might be interested in SustainaBundy - and today we met with one of those folks, Jacques, at the Teaspoon. Funny, we were just there day before yesterday talking about SustainaBundy, not to mention the first SustainaBundy meeting back in July! And today before Jacques arrived, we happened to see Kate Wilson from the NewsMail there - she's going to try to put a call out to local businesses that are right for the guide in Saturday or Monday's paper! I swear, the Teaspoon is becoming the official SustainaBundy hang out!

Anyway, back to Jacques... it's so exciting to meet people who already think like us, people to whom it isn't necessary to explain why "green is good". Next week I'll record an interview him, the content of which will become an article about water conservation for the guide! (By the way, welcome to SustainaBundy, Jacques! It's a pleasure to have you!) It's getting to the point where we have enough people to begin forming some of the SustainaBundy subcommittees we've been discussing. One thing is for certain, so far everyone wants to talk about food and gardening! Which leads me to the second part of our day. But first, back up to yesterday...

Yesterday afternoon while I was working on an article for the guide (I find myself doing that a lot lately) Brad, the president from the Organic Gardeners group, stopped by to check out our garden (what there is of it. So much to do, so little time!) We got to chatting about the community garden idea, which we'd also talked about with BMRG on Tuesday. Apparently the Salvation Army is getting one up and going at the Tom Quinn Community Centre in Norville, and there's another group in town (The Bundaberg Community Garden group, strangely enough!) that's been talking about doing one for a couple of years now. Since one of SustainaBundy's goals is to get involved with existing efforts whenever possible, rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, we thought we'd better go sticky beak.

So today we stopped by the Tom Quinn Community Centre, and the lady at the front desk said she'd get Charlie for us, since he knows all about the garden. Lo and behold, it's Charlie that we know from the organic gardeners group! Small world... Charlie took us to the site - it's a good sized, lightly treed patch of ground adjacent to the community centre, with a creek running nearby, and already the donated parts to build a shed and lots of timber to turn into various things are onsite. We met Tom, the Community Service Manager, who told us about the plans for the garden. He's got plenty of labour ready and willing to get it built and operational, and it looks like in time it'll be a great resource, learning tool and community gathering place. We'll watch with interest.

Oh, and in between the Teaspoon and the community garden, we walked past Royal Tea, a teashop on Quay street that sells some organic teas- we went in and I talked poor Emma's ear off about SustainaBundy while Dean got himself a bag of organic Earl Grey. Ha!

Tomorrow is the worm farm working bee and barbeque, another chance to hang out with likeminded folks! Every day proves that SustainaBundy was a good idea.

SustainaBundy's voice is being heard. Yesterday Dean and I had several very inspiring meetings to get us connected within the wider community, and to talk about what SustainaBundy wants to achieve. In the morning we spoke with Alana, Nick and Carl from BMRG, and in the evening we met with new SustainaBundy member Carol. In order to get a handle on just some of the things we talked about throughout the course of the day, I made this partial list of some of our goal activities. On top of that we have a long list of people to contact, articles to write, and businesses to talk to!

Today I gave a presentation to the local Landcare group about SustainaBundy - there were, I think, 13 people in attendance, two of whom were apparently new members. The group seemed, overall, to be on the same page as us. Maureen, the president, mentioned that we're preaching to the converted! Which is true, but one of the main reasons for giving presentations to local groups is to develop interest and involvement in SustainaBundy. Involvement is hard to come by these days, as we're finding not only with SustainaBundy but all the groups with which we've been meeting.

Maureen agreed to write an article for the guide about how caring for natural areas like Baldwin Swamp directly benefits local residents, and a few people came up to talk to us after the meeting was over- so definitely a positive outcome, and a great networking opportunity.

Wednesday we'll have another meeting with BMRG, along with Burnett Catchment Care Association and someone that works with the city council. Next month we'll give a presentation at the Bundaberg Regional Tourism meeting. Whew! And in amongst all this, finding time to work for a living AND write the guide!!

Recently I went on a wildflower walk with the Bundaberg Landcare group to Vera Scarth-Johnson Wildflower Reserve off Coonarr Road in Burnett Shire. It was a lovely day and was great to see some of our region's native flora, which desperately needs protection from further suburban development. Click here to view the photo gallery.

A lot of people take the natural environment for granted, not realising that a healthy environment is a requirement for a healthy us! Landcare works hard to protect and maintain our region's rivers and waterways - beautiful natural areas like Baldwin Swamp and Smith's Crossing on the Kolan River. I've asked Landcare if they would be interested in participating in the SustainaBundy guide - I would be pleased if we could "partner" with this likeminded community organisation.

Today reporter Kate Wilson from the Bundaberg NewsMail and photographer Darren came by to talk to me about "Change a Light Bulb Day" tomorrow in Queensland. Look for an article in tomorrow's newspaper, along with a mention of the 2nd SustainaBundy meeting in the gossip section! Ha!

Anyway, we sat down and Kate asked a few questions while Darren took some test shots of a light bulb! Then we spent a lot of time photographing me being silly with a lamp. It was actually a lot of fun, and afterwards I turned the tables on Darren and Kate and got them to pose for me!

Or rather, Kate posed and Darren hid. Suddenly the photographer found out what it was like to be the photographed!

Kate Wilson, serious Bundaberg NewsMail reporter.

Darren hides behind his big ol' Nikon.

I am pleased that there are folks on staff at the NewsMail who are interested in environmental issues - and now they know we can have fun talking about them too! I hope other local media will get in on the act of supporting SustainaBundy and other environmental initiatives around town. Thanks Kate and Darren, looking forward to seeing the article!