April 2010
Remember this name - Waratah Community Land Trust Association
An early inspiration in the Transition Sydney search for people with meaningful solutions was Dr Louise Crabtree, who has been researching Community Land Trusts as a real and workable model for taking property speculation out of the equation of the toxic mix of financial motives making housing unaffordable for many Sydney people. Community Land Trusts have been operating successfully for many years in the USA and are being used in providing affordable housing and businesss premises for the people.
Now a motivated group of Sydney people have created the beginnings of the Community Land Trust solution here in New South Wales, the Waratah Community Land Trust Association Inc. It is going to be an important part of the greater mosaic of sane, sustainable and ethical initiatives that take us toward a resilient community better able to handle the challenges of the future.
Here's a brief video introduction to this inspiring new group
Watch this space for further news and contact details to get involved
"Peak Minerals" in the Australian context
While peak oil is a headline grabber, peak minerals (part of the "peak everything" story) has not received much attention to date. As a major exporter of minerals to the world, Australia's economy is vulnerable to this peak story. Good to see the issue receiving attention. The Institute of Sustainable Futures at UTS in collaboration with Monash University has just released a paper on the subject. You can download and read the article here
Australia's current population debate ignores climate change, based on delusion of endless growth in prosperity - SMH article
Today's Sydney Morning Herald carries an article by the well known Clive Hamilton, in which he suggests that the debate on the prospect of a future Australian population of 36 million or so is ignoring the facts of climate change and the probability of immense "internal migrations" as it bites into the viability of certain parts of the country.
Read the article here
From the Story of Stuff People - the Story of Bottled Water
Another punchy little episode from the people who brought us the Story of Stuff
And good on our "Bundy on Tap" cousins who have taken the obscene waste off the menu. Let's see a few more places do the same!
The debate about preserving Sydney's "Food Bowl"
An interesting example of differing views on the importance of Sydney's peri-urban "food bowl" - the rich alluvial lands in the Hawkesbury and Nepean flood plains to the west and north west of Sydney - was enacted at a daytime seminar run by the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) last week.
Speakers at the seminar were Lynne Saville, president of the Sydney Food Fairness Alliance, Aaron Gadiel of the Urban Task Force and David Mason from the Dept of Primary Industry.
Each speaker was armed with a lot of statistics about the importance of Sydney's peri urban agricultural lands in the supply of fresh vegetables, eggs and poultry. Naturally there was some debate over whose statistics were the right ones, but that was the side show. (click read more below to continue reading)