SustainaBundy

Bundaberg 2008 World Environment Day Celebration

ahazelwood — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 23:55:21 -0800

World Environment Day 2008 is Thursday, June 5! The theme for this year’s international United Nations celebration is CO2 – Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy.

On Sunday 1 June 2008, SustainaBundy, Bundaberg Landcare, Bundaberg Community Development, the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland Bundaberg Branch, the Hinkler Burnett Greens, the Bundaberg Community Garden Committee and other organisations in the region will celebrate World Environment Day 2008. On offer from 9am to 4pm at the PCYC on Maryborough Street will be outdoor food and product stalls, live entertainment and free workshops and demonstrations, inside we'll have speaker presentations, Q&A sessions and film screenings. Best of all, entry is FREE and the entire event is CARBON NEUTRAL!

Visit the events calendar for all the Bundaberg World Environment Day events and information!

Watch this page for regular W.E.D. updates as they happen!

SustainaBundy

Meeting this Wed- volunteers wanted!

ahazelwood — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:42:19 -0700

Just a reminder, this coming Wednesday the 21st at 5:30 in the School of Arts building is the next SustainaBundy meeting! We'll of course be talking about World Environment Day (and actually will be having a WED meeting directly before the SB meeting) as well as the SustainaBundy Annual General Meeting on the 16th of June, where we'll elect our new management committee. Yep, we still need a secretary!

Just to give an idea, here are some of the volunteer jobs that need filling for World Environment Day:

-between now and June 1: WED flyer distribution - let's get this publicised far and wide!

-day before: selling SustainaBundy stickers/guides and promoting WED on May 31 at University Drive waste mgmt. facility for Mulch Madness

Day of:
-setting up tables and chairs
-marking stall locations
-stallholder greeters to help with directing stallholders, setting up and tearing down stalls and tents, etc
-help setting up signage, posters, banners
-programme distributor/collector (to make sure they get recycled or given to other attendees rather than rubbished)
-general "runners" to assist
-manning the SustainaBundy stall - selling stickers/guides, talking about SB, signing up new members
-help with the Local BBQ - cooking and taking money (SustainaBundy will be running a BBQ as a fundraiser on the day, with sausages made by local chef's apprentices using local meat, locally baked bread and locally grown onion. Bundaberg Brewed Drinks and Cooroy Mountain Water will also be available. Thanks to the Bundaberg RSL, Zac's Meats, Kele Bros, the Hot Bread Shop and Bundaberg Brewed Drinks for their participation in this fundraiser and helping us reduce transport emissions for the Local BBQ!)
-clean up crew

If everyone pitches in and does a little something, the day will be a success and we'll all be able to enjoy ourselves! Oh, and all volunteers get a free sausage and drink! So come along to the meeting on Wednesday and get an assignment- see you there!

SustainaBundy

SustainaBundy in the community in May

ahazelwood — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:06:01 -0700

SustainaBundy

Bundy Region Kicks the CO2 Habit

ahazelwood — Fri, 09 May 2008 14:59:15 -0700

SustainaBundy

Hinkler/Burnett Greens Meeting

ann — Sun, 04 May 2008 18:50:33 -0700

Start: 2008-05-12 17:30

End: 2008-05-12 19:00

SustainaBundy

Tullamore Farm Mangoes

ange — Fri, 02 May 2008 02:23:13 -0700

SustainaBundy

Farm Gate Buying Group products

ahazelwood — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:29:02 -0700

Following on from the posts by Heinz about the olives and Ange about the mangoes being available to the SustainaBundy Farm Gate Buying Group, I'd like to ask that any producers that are willing to make their products available to us add their information to the directory on the website - this will make it easy for everyone to keep track of! Click here to add a directory listing. Please do the following when you add your listing:

-For title, please list the name of your business - or at the very least your name and product (ie, Askerman Mangoes)
-list "Farm Gate Buying Group" as the focus
-provide the season or months that your product is available and any other important info about your product or how to order it
-enter as much information as you can in the "location" fields so everyone knows where your product originates
-provide your contact info!

Subscribers, please keep in mind that because of the website bug, emailed directory listings will have the "Location" listed several times at the start of the email - please bear with it until the tech team has a chance to fix it!

For future reference, the entire SustainaBundy online directory is available here.

SustainaBundy

Posting to the website and discussion list

ahazelwood — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:37:40 -0700

I just want to send out a quick thank you to everyone that is a part of the SustainaBundy discussion list, we appreciate your subscription and your participation. An email came through last night from Heinz Unger (username Olivenunger) that list members might have mistaken for spam at first glance, so I wanted to clear things up before anyone runs to unsubscribe!

Using the SustainaBundy website can be fairly complicated if you aren't familiar with it, and occasionally bugs do pop up - this is what we saw with Mr Unger's post. When posting a new directory listing, the first field to be filled out is "Title". This has caught us out before, when people have taken that to mean their own title (ie, Mr, Mrs, Miss, etc) as opposed to the title of their content. This is why the subject line of Mr Unger's email was "Mr." I have updated the title on the directory listing to "Bundaberg Region Olive Oil" and will make sure that the description for the "Title" field is more descriptive from now on! Also, the first several lines of the email were the word "Location" over and over again. This is a bug in the software, which the tech team is aware of - hopefully they'll be able to rectify it very soon.

Mr Unger, welcome to the SustainaBundy website and thank you for letting our subscribers know about your local product!

All subscribers, we welcome your participation. There are several ways to jump in! Content posted to the website is simultaneously sent via email to all of the discussion list subscribers. You can simply hit "reply" in your email program to respond to any of these emails - your reply will go to all of the subscribers AND will be posted as a reply on the website. Alternately, if you're reading on the website, nearly all posts have an "add comment" button at the end - you can click it to reply, or if there are already comments, you can click "reply" under any comment to respond to that comment. All comments will be posted to the website and sent to discussion list subscribers.

If you want to post completely new information to the group, you can go to the website (make sure to log in on the upper right) and then you'll see "create group content" in the upper right of the screen- click what type of content you'd like to add and away you go! Alternately, on the main page of the website or when you click on any of the menu items at the top of the page, you'll see links that will allow you to "add new" - click that link to add that type of content.

Please don't hesitate to ask if you have any trouble. And in the meantime, if you haven't already, please be sure to introduce yourself by adding a comment to this post!

SustainaBundy

Bundaberg Region Olive Oil

Olivenunger — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:23:00 -0700

SustainaBundy

SustainaBundy Farm Gate Buying Group

ahazelwood — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:27:03 -0700

Okay, who wants bacon?? We all know that when we buy direct from our local farmers, we get a better product (quite often for a better price), we minimise transport emissions, we directly support a local business, we strengthen the local economy by keeping our dollars in the community, and we foster good personal relationships with our producers - this is what the "got local?" campaign is all about! There are a number of local producers that deserve our business. Yesterday we met Robert Doyle, a farmer who raises pigs and cattle just 30 kms out of Bundaberg in Pine Creek. He is offering locally grown, hormone free, free/semi free range (not force fed), whole processed pigs with accurate paddock to plate traceability for significantly less than you can buy "generic" pork in the supermarkets!

A lot of us might not have room in the freezer for a whole pig, but would love to take advantage of this great deal, get high quality meat and support a local farmer. This leads me to believe that it's time to start a SustainaBundy Farm Gate Buying Group, to share in opportunities like this one - the Doyles are preparing an order for pickup in Gin Gin in early June, so let's get organised! If you would be willing to coordinate the buying group, or would like to participate in it, please reply or contact us.

The farm gate price for a whole, local, pig (approximately 60kg) is $3.50/kg plus processing costs (which are extremely reasonable). Now compare that to a local supermarket that is advertising specials this week of $16.99/kg for pork loin steaks and $15.93/kg for double smoked leg ham - with no mention of where the meat is from, how far it had to travel, how it's raised or how much the farmer is paid!

We ring Robert on 4157 9916 to place an order; he'll phone the week before the pig goes in; we phone the butcher on the Tuesday of the week it is processed to nominate what we want done with each section, then pick up our goods.

So who's in??

SustainaBundy

Smith's Crossing Working Bee

ahazelwood — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:41:47 -0700

Start: 2008-05-04 09:00

End: 2008-05-04 11:00

SustainaBundy

W.E.D. Library Display

ahazelwood — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:48:19 -0700

Start: 2008-05-12 09:30

End: 2008-05-22 17:00

SustainaBundy

SustainaBundy General Meeting

ahazelwood — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:01:21 -0700

Start: 2008-05-21 17:30

End: 2008-05-21 19:30

SustainaBundy

2008 Queensland Landcare Conference

ahazelwood — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:39:16 -0700

Start: 2008-09-21 09:00

End: 2008-09-24 17:00

SustainaBundy

Wildlife Preservation Society Bat Walk

susanne — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:37:44 -0700

Start: 2008-05-04 16:30

End: 2008-05-04 18:30

SustainaBundy

Future Ready Expo

shine_on — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:31:25 -0700

I attended the Future Ready Expo at Kawana Waters on Saturday and learnt a lot! Wearing the SustainaBundy shirt meant I was approached by a few original Bundabergians who wanted to know more about what SustainaBundy's doing. The second-hand, green-and-gold work shirts certainly attract attention!

The morning workshop "Surviving in the Suburbs" looked at solutions for a low-carbon future across many levels- home, food, personal and community. I got a bigger-picture perspective and realised the importance of community in responding to peak oil and climate change- we're all in this together and together we'll get through it better than alone. Anne Wensley also talked about Maslow's hierarchy of needs and how food and shelter are the most basic need- so we need to have those sorted first. Later, I was able to learn more about permaculture principles and low-energy backyard solutions such as solar and cob ovens.

From listening to the presentations of Geoff Lawton I felt a sense of hope. Geoff talked a lot about The Permaculture Research Institute's projects in "developing" countries, where permaculture techniques are used to rehabilitate land and significantly improve the residents' quality of life, by providing clean sources of drinking water and sustainable systems of producing food to prevent starvation. Geoff emphasised that many lives can be improved by sharing this important knowledge - including our own - all we need is people out there doing it!

Geoff also talked about drought-proofing areas of land and water harvesting, which I thought were amazing ideas- I didn't know it was even possible, but permaculture is clever, using knowledge of natural systems. With Australia's escalating water concerns, these solutions are now highly relevant.

All in all, it was inspiring to see many interested and knowledgeable people united to explore solutions to current environmental issues such as peak oil and climate change.

I can't wait to see more at Bundy's World Environment Day Celebration!

SustainaBundy

Bundaberg Organic Gardeners meeting

ahazelwood — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:54:09 -0700

Start: 2008-04-29 19:00

End: 2008-04-29 21:00

SustainaBundy

help needed with school garden

ange — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:14:14 -0700

Together with another teacher at the Rosedale SS we are planning on starting a school food garden as well as cleaning up and greening up the garden at the entrance to the school. I would appreciate any advice / plants / materials anyone might have that could help us. If anyone would like to assist with the planning or building any help would also be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
ange

SustainaBundy

Future Ready Expo - Building Better Soil

dino — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:34:59 -0700

The Future Ready Expo at Kawana was quite an eye opener. There was a lot to see and hear. Listening to Roberto Perez (from the Power of Community DVD) was a real treat. We all remember his quote about riding bicycles ;-) Then there was Geoff Lawton. Who hasn't been inspired by the "Greening the Desert" flash animation on the web?

But one of the most intriguing discussions I attended was regarding building soil in a sub tropical climate. As organic gardeners we're always trying to build soil using compost. It helps, but in a tropical and sub-tropical climate we can easily lose our nutrients to torrential downpours leaching it away. So much we read about compost is for more temperate climates in Europe and North America that hearing a new take on it for the tropics was fascinating. Due to the differences in climate in temperate gardens 80 percent of the nutrients are held in the soil. But in a sub-tropical garden this is only 20 percent. The rest is held in the plants themselves..

Having a layer of organic matter, mulch, continually shielding the soil from blasting sun and torrential rain is a natural way of protecting the nutrient levels in the soil. Frances Michaels from Green Harvest gave a great lecture on what we need to do in a sub-tropical environment to build great soil. Remember that soil is alive. Dirt is dead. So having an active layer of mulch, leaves and other vegetable matter, covering the soil promotes this in a sub-tropical garden. Grow plenty of plants that are good to "cut and drop" to provide this nutrient rich mulch layer. Remember, we're trying to create a rain forest in your backyard.

We don't necessarily want to have too many nutrients in the soil. We want a continuous slow decomposition of organic matter into nutrients. With the weather being warm enough for this to happen with out having to pile it high in mounds we don't need to work so hard at composting as those living in more temperate climates. Obviously if we have a no dig garden or raised bed these rules will change but the natural food forest concept at this latitude and rain fall really doesn't need us to work so hard at building compost.

One of the great additions to a backyard permaculture forest are chickens. Originally forest fowl, they have been bred for maximum plumpness and egg producing capacity but are still right at home in a well shaded food forest garden. They turn the mulch while looking for bugs and can reduce bugs and leafy greens to nitrogen rich manure.

So if you are thinking of having a food forest in your backyard, you won't need to think about where your kitchen vege scraps go. Feed them to your chooks under your fruit trees, no compost turn and you have the bonus of fresh free range eggs for breakfast.

Dean

SustainaBundy

SustainaBundy 2008 AGM

ahazelwood — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:52:26 -0700

Start: 2008-06-16 17:30

End: 2008-06-16 19:30

SustainaBundy

Permablitz 1. Many thanks.

Carol Sweeney — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:23:33 -0700

Thank you to all those who attended and contributed ideas and energy to create my beautiful new back garden. Also to the washing up committee, much appreciated. Many thanks to Andi for such great promotion of the event and Dean for his practical skills. Fantastic photos also Andi!

Thank you to Camreay Holdings for donating compost for the fruit trees and to Kookabuura Worm Farms for the bags of worm castings that will be so benefical for building up my soil.

Today, I have tested the water feed to the banana circle and it works a treat!
The chickens have laid an egg each and the worm farm is busy.
Who's next? My gloves are ready.

Carol

SustainaBundy

Changing of the SustainaBundy guard

ahazelwood — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:55:45 -0700

With all that that SustainaBundy has accomplished**, it's hard to believe that we've only been in existence for 9 months! People who hear about SustainaBundy for the first time ask two questions: how are you funded, and how do you keep from burning out? And it's true, our efforts are unsustainable without lots of help. We all agreed from the beginning that the roles need to change regularly to give those "in charge" a break and give other people a chance to score their own achievements within the SustainaBundy framework.

Now that we have a number of successful projects and events underway and a larger member base, it's time to shuffle the deck and bring other people to the forefront of Bundaberg's relocalisation efforts. At 5:30pm on the 16th of June at the School of Arts Building, we'll hold SustainaBundy's Annual General Meeting to elect new committee members. Please make a note of it!

As an incorporated association, the positions that must be filled are President, Treasurer and Secretary. Other potential committee member positions can be determined based on interest. Elected positions can only be held by financial members, and only financial members can nominate or vote.

Beginning in August, Dean and I will be taking some time off, visiting my family in the US, perhaps doing some WWOOFing, and making connections in the wider global relocalisation community. As the founders of SustainaBundy, we're happy to hold advisory positions and will remain in regular contact with the committee to help guide the relocalisation efforts. Jacqui, our current secretary, is willing to take on the role of SustainaBundy President, and Carol, our current treasurer, is happy to remain in her position. I thank them both for their enthusiasm!

Please use this forum to discuss who should hold what position, what positions should be created, and ask any questions you may have. If you received this via email you can simply hit reply and your message will be received by all registered users. If you're logged in on the website simply click "add comment" at the bottom of the original post to put in your two cents.

As for committee positions, in addition to the top three I suggest Permablitz coordinator, Movie Night coordinator, Garage Sale Party coordinator, Media coordinator and advisors (and VP if anyone wants it), but there are plenty of possibilities - especially if we want to pursue the subgroups idea - each subgroup will need someone to head it!

As we determine which positions will be created (and have some assurance they'll be filled!) we'll officially open the nominations and begin posting forms to financial members - nominations will close on the 2nd of June, two weeks before the AGM.

If you like what SustainaBundy is on about and you have an understanding of our goals and the reasons for them, we welcome you to put your hand up and help guide the group's future!

**Granted, we've only been incorporated since December 2007 - but we made a lot of headway before that happened. Right from our very first meeting last July, people have been supportive of our relocalisation goals. Just to recap everything we've accomplished since we started and to give ourselves a little pat on the back, here's a short list:

-We've gone from two members last July to 24 financial members, 70 registered website users and hundreds on our contact list
- Produced our pride and joy, The 2008 SustainaBundy Directory and Guide
- Kicked off the "got local?" sticker campaign
- Laid the groundwork for positive relationships within Bundaberg Regional Council
- Been covered several times in the NewsMail, Guardian and Bugle
- Been featured twice on ABC Wide Bay radio (listen for me again Tuesday morning)
- Given several talks at local community group meetings and fostered relationships with many organisations
- Hosted several movie nights and an all day movie fest
- Had two successful garage sale parties to promote "buying second hand first"
- Organised charity tomato picks
- Kicking off the Permablitz project
- Organising World Environment Day for 1st June!

SustainaBundy

Climate Change Leaders Network

ahazelwood — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:40:33 -0700

SustainaBundy

Ethos Foundation

ahazelwood — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:26:48 -0700

SustainaBundy

MULCH MADNESS!

ahazelwood — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:37:22 -0700

Start: 2008-05-31 09:00

End: 2008-06-01 17:00

SustainaBundy

Great Sandy Biosphere

ahazelwood — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:16:08 -0700

Start: 2008-04-10 19:00

End: 2008-04-10 21:00

SustainaBundy

TV- Permaculture on Landline, Peak Oil on Insight

shine_on — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 20:38:18 -0700

A couple of interesting episodes on TV for your information:
Landline, ABC (replay Monday 7th, 11am)
The Food Forest
Segment about a permaculture farm in Gawler, South Australia growing over 150 varieties. Included an introduction to the concept of permaculture and an interview with David Holmgren (featured in the SustainaBundy guide!) talking about his permaculture courses. Was inspiring to see this success story. The transcript should be online in the next few days.

Insight, SBS, (replay Monday 7th, 3.30pm)
Australia: A Car-Dependent Nation
Discussion revolved around how much Australians love their cars. Guests included representatives from an oil company, a car manufacturer and NSW Greens party leader. There was talk about peak oil, emissions, climate change and health effects. Unfortunately, the only solutions discussed were electric/hybrid cars and hydrogen fuel. The Greens leader talked about public transport, but there was no mention of reducing transport and food miles, relocalisation or serious discussion of public transport. I felt like the program was driven by 'popular' opinion, led by industry present, that if we just buy a different car, we won't have to adjust our lifestyle. Regardless of the shortfalls, it was still good to see the topic of peak oil on TV. Read the online discussion here .

SustainaBundy

Going Local Convergence Brisbane

ahazelwood — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:55:42 -0700

I know Beth has said she is planning to attend this three day conference, and Dean and I are hoping to participate as well. If anyone else wants to take part in what looks to be the best convergence of relocalisation minds to take place in the entire country, please register your interest with the Ethos Foundation and let us know ASAP so we can begin planning. This conference will be particularly important to anyone interested in shaping the future of SustainaBundy and the Bundaberg region. Further info below.

This May the Ethos Foundation will host an Australian visit by Judy Wicks, co-founder of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), now a nation-wide movement across the United States. Starting with her famous White Dog Cafe in Philadelphia, Judy has been a pioneer of the relocalisation movement in the US. Her work over many years has been recognised by a host of national and international awards and she has been featured in numerous books, magazine and newspaper articles, and on conference platforms around the world.

Going Local
A highlight of Judy's visit will be a three-day convergence in Brisbane between 23rd-25th May entitled: Going Local: Building Resilient, Sustainable Communities. The aim of this gathering will be to share learnings from the great diversity of local projects that focus on the nexus between resilient communities, vibrant local economies, and environmental sustainability. Ethos is calling for expressions of interest from organisations and individuals involved in such relocalisation initiatives in Eastern Australia. You will find more information about this in the attached PDF (click here) and at www.climateleadership.net.au

How will participants be selected?
There is a limit to the number of people our venue and process can cope with, so if it becomes necessary to select participants this will be done in such a way as to ensure the widest possible representation of regions and project types. People from beyond the greater Brisbane metropolitan area will be given first call on places at Going Local. We are also hoping to offer accommodation in private homes to non-Brisbane participants.

Will there be a cost?
There will, of course, be a registration fee for Going Local. This will be advised when our venue, catering, organising and overhead costs are finalised. We will also be announcing details of work scholarships for Brisbane residents and young people.

Registration of interest closes April 16
If you are interested in being part of Going Local, it is important that you register your interest as early as possible. You can do so by going to the Climate Change Leaders Network website www.climateleadership.net.au and clicking on the Going Local banner or link on the home page.

I look forward to hearing from you before April 16. The first round of places at Going Local will be offered that week and delegate information packages will start going out at the same time.

Ken McLeod
Ethos Programs Development
ken@ ethosfoundation.org
0412 871 789

SustainaBundy

Bundaberg Community Garden meeting

ahazelwood — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:12:23 -0700

Start: 2008-05-01 17:30

End: 2008-05-01 19:00

SustainaBundy

Community Garden meeting

ahazelwood — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 19:54:55 -0700

Start: 2008-04-03 17:30

End: 2008-04-03 18:30

SustainaBundy

Permablitz #1

ahazelwood — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 18:32:17 -0700

Start: 2008-04-13 09:00

End: 2008-04-13 13:00

SustainaBundy

SustainaBundy's Big Weekend

ahazelwood — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 03:42:21 -0700

SustainaBundy

What a Weekend!

ahazelwood — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:21:55 -0700

This is shaping up to be a big weekend! Starting Saturday at 9am at the School of Arts Building on Bourbong Street, it's the SustainaBundy All Day Movie Festival - click here for the schedule and details. Al Gore trained climate presenter Alison Rickert will be on hand after 1pm to talk about climate change in Australia, and from 2:30 to 5pm Christine Sorbello will be available to talk about the Bundaberg Community Garden Project! At the festival we'll also celebrate the release of The 2008 SustainaBundy Directory and Guide - stop by and pick up your copy for just $2 (that's an incredible value!!) That night from 8pm to 9pm, turn off the lights for Earth Hour. Then Sunday is the City to Coast Bike Ride!

Contact us for more information about any of this weekends events, or for details on how you can volunteer to help out during Sunday's bike ride. See you this weekend!

SustainaBundy

Earth Hour

darcie — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 17:00:42 -0700

Do not forget Earth Hour.
Turn off your lights on Sat March 29 for 1 hour at 8pm.
Encourage your friends and work places to participate. The website is www.earthhour.org.

SustainaBundy

Bundaberg Business Women's Network

ahazelwood — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:10:52 -0700

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.

SustainaBundy

Sweet release: The 2008 SustainaBundy Directory and Guide

ahazelwood — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:25:17 -0700

SustainaBundy

SustainaBundy's First Permablitz

ahazelwood — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:30:15 -0700

SustainaBundy

Bundaberg Youth will make Bundaberg Sustainable!

shine_on — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 16:52:25 -0700

Here are my thoughts on creating a sustainable Bundaberg: work with Bundaberg's young people and give them reasons to stay in Bundaberg.

My 26-year-old impression of "young people" these days is that they are intelligent and aware of world issues. They are great at expressing their opinions and not afraid to take action! Young people have energy and enthusiasm, something that every project needs! We have something very important to offer!

Energy needs an outlet however, and without a direction, trouble can result. I've heard people say that there's nothing to do here in Bundaberg... but why can't we make our own fun? Get your hands dirty and help create something! Learn how to do something! For young people, getting involved in the community builds confidence and skills, and enhances employability. There's SO much we can do, and youth-development groups like Lead On and The Oaktree Foundation are already doing it.

As member of SustainaBundy, I personally want to meet and work with young people on more projects and I'd like to facilitate a link between SustainaBundy, youth groups and schools. This is what community is all about!

I'm excited about the idea of Bundaberg schools showing off their environmental efforts to our community on World Environment Day. I know people will be impressed when they find out what our local schools are doing! Just look at Gin Gin State School's Wicking Bed garden and St. Luke's solar vehicle successes. And that's only a glimpse of what's happening in schools.

We need to engage youth in being actively involved in the community, to strengthen it and make our efforts sustainable. There's another issue that needs to be addressed too: Why do many young people leave Bundaberg after they graduate? What will encourage young people to stay in town?

I'd like to hear what others think, and I'd ask that we use this opportunity to discover solutions: so if you identify a "problem", please also suggest a solution! And if you're a young person with ideas, please get in touch with me by replying to this post, or emailing me directly at jacqui@sustainabundy.org

Looking forward to hearing from you!

SustainaBundy

Meeting

ann — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 00:14:56 -0800

Start: 2008-03-17 17:30

End: 2008-03-17 19:00

SustainaBundy

Garage sale recap

ahazelwood — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 16:06:18 -0800

Thanks to the members and supporters who found the time to come to the SustainaBundy Garage Sale Party yesterday to promote "buying second hand first" to reduce consumption, keep items out of landfill and raise awareness of SustainaBundy. There was a strong, steady stream of buyers through the gate, and with such a small number of members on hand it was nearly impossible to run a garage sale and get the SustainaBundy message across all at the same time. I hope we'll have more hands on deck at the next event to help hand out flyers and talk to the general public about SustainaBundy and what we're trying to achieve, even if they don't have items to sell themselves. Happily, we managed to sign up a new financial member and got a couple new discussion list subscribers who seem keen to get involved!

The breakfast, raffle, and financial membership raised $55.50 for SustainaBundy. Congratulations to Beth W. who won the raffle: two bottles of worm tea natural liquid fertiliser, a jar of home made tomato relish, and two very well made, reversible cloth shopping bags! Thank you to everyone who bought tickets and breakfast, and thanks especially to those SustainaBundy members and supporters who donated the breakfast and raffle items.

Unfortunately, one event illustrated that SustainaBundy still has a long way to go to getting the whole community working together on sustainability issues: two teenagers on bicycles visited the garage sale party, one proudly noting that he'd purchased his bike second hand for only $2 - these boys sounded like they were really on the right track. They spent a good amount of time at our 50 cent table, finally purchasing a partially used can of polyurethane expanding foam sealant. This morning we found the can in the gutter directly in front of our house, with the expanded, hardened foam sealing it to the kerb. It appears they'd run over it with their bikes to explode it for fun.

SustainaBundy

busy update

ahazelwood — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:17:06 -0800

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.

SustainaBundy

Community Garden Update

dino — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 14:21:08 -0800

Last night was another meeting of the Community Gardeners. We met on site at a potential community garden location just behind the Coronation Hall near the corner of Barolin and Walker Streets. It is council owned land but presently unused. With proximity to the Coronation Hall facilities it has some great potential.

We then traveled over to the St Mary's site near the corner of Maynard and Barolin. Partnering with St Mary's is also an option. The Girl Guides presently meet on site and may also be interested in participating. The site also has access to kitchen and toilet facilities.

Then it was back to the school of arts for a real treat - and shared dinner! - Sue from Gin Gin State Primary School came in with a presentation from the schools garden.

They originally started the idea as a fairly small project but it grew significantly. My description can't do it justice. They had 70 volunteers onsite to help put it all together. Each class has their own vege patch to manage and each year group learns different things about gardening, composting and worms! Some kids have even started wanting to eat broccoli after tasting it grown fresh in their gardens.

It was a good evening filled with positive ideas and enthusiasm.

Dean

SustainaBundy

Are the Arts Newsworthy?

ahazelwood — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:05:25 -0800

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

SustainaBundy

Garage Sale Party coming up

ahazelwood — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:50:37 -0800

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!

SustainaBundy

Insight on SBS- Building Sustainable Cities in Response to Climate Change

shine_on — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 02:38:59 -0800

Did anyone see Insight on SBS tonight? It featured a forum discussion about building sustainable cities in response to climate change, involving Minister for Environment Peter Garrett, a demographer, a town planner, a developer, and others. Public transport, energy efficient buildings and relocalisation strategies were discussed.

It will be repeated on SBS at 1.30pm on Friday and 3.30pm next Monday. Check it out!

SustainaBundy

farm fresh

chop — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:25:06 -0800

im am an apprentice chef in bundaberg and am wonderin why bundaberg has no local fruit and veg ? why do we pay for transport when we fram it locally

SustainaBundy

The Case for a Sustainability Emergency

Andi Hazelwood — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:39:42 -0800

Creating a Sustainable Sunshine Coast - Nambour to Mooloolah

General Meeting Report- February 11

shine_on — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:45:14 -0800

The first SustainaBundy General Meeting was held on February 11.
Topics covered:
-progress update on the SustainaBundy Directory and Guide;
-future projects and events.

Guide Update
Content was submitted to the printer on February 11.
Promotional 'got local' stickers will also be printed to promote businesses selling local.

Future Events
Please note that not all events were discussed at this meeting. Watch the Events noticeboard on this website for a complete list.

Garage Sale, March 8
144 Barolin Street
Some guidelines were discussed; no new objects or anything made especially for the Garage Sale, no plants or food. The message is, "Buy second hand first".
Possible venues for future garage sales were also discussed. If anyone would like to host a SustainaBundy garage sale, please contact Andi or Dean (details below).

All-Day Movie Festival Saturday March 29
6+ movies will be shown at the School of Arts, with a discussion room set up next door. It is essential to have at least 2 SustainaBundy members present at all times throughout the day.
Anyone who is available to participate on the day, please contact Andi or Dean (details below).

World Environment Day, Saturday June 1
The group brainstormed activities for the day.
A WED committee is meeting next week to organise the event, including representatives from SustainaBundy, Bundaberg Community Development, Community Garden Committee, Hinkler Greens, Landcare, and WPSQ.
If you would like to be on this committee, please contact Andi or Dean (details below).

Future Ready Expo, Sunshine Coast April 18-19
Roberto Perez is a guest speaker at the event (as seen in 'The Power of Community').
Some SustainaBundy members are carpooling to attend. Anyone who is interested, please contact Andi or Dean for details.

For more information about any of these events, please contact Andi or Dean on 4196 0043 or email sustainabundyNOSPAM@gmail.com (remove the "NOSPAM" part).

SustainaBundy

Bogota radical urban reform: Radio National

pekadillo — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:00:37 -0800

Start: 2008-02-16 21:00

SustainaBundy

Future Ready Expo

ahazelwood — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:51:06 -0800

Start: 2008-04-18 09:00

End: 2008-04-19 17:00

SustainaBundy