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!