I hope you’ve been catching up with Costa’s Garden Odyssey on SBS Tv of late. This guy’s characterful enthusiasm really makes this the best gardening / environment show on TV by a long shot. If you’ve missed the episodes, you can watch them online direct from the SBS TV website.

On one of the recent shows, Costa showed, with the help of horticulturist and teacher Ali Rutherford how to make the perfect compost. As you might have worked out from my Goals Update post, I like compost, so any information I can find about how to make a better compost is always welcome.

Fortunately, if you’re not able to see the show, or absorb information better in the printed form (or on screen form), Costa’s website has a fact sheet with all the relevant info. You can find it here: Costa’s Compost 101. (Hey, maybe that would’ve been a better title?!)

Well, good luck with your composting efforts, I’m off to give my a bit of a stir… why not let me know how yours is going in the comments?

This is a post from: Treading Lighter - Journeys Into Sustainable Living.

Costa’s Complete Compost Compendium

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1. Treading Lighter 2009 Goals Update

My apologies firstly to any of you who may have been checking back here to see if there were any updates, the explanation is this…

About 4 months ago, I made a conscious decision to stop watching the news. Mostly due to the fact that the lack of action on environmental issues displayed by our esteemed national and international leaders was frustrating me to the point that I’d be shouting at the TV when they strated sprouting their latest piece of face-saving spin. And with an impressionable 3yr old in the house – that’s not a good look for Daddy!

Of course, what I didn’t realise at the time was that in making that decision – my passion for writing about these things also ebbed away, and so the resulting cessation of posting.

On the flip side, I have discovered my new outlet, and much like my previous post saying we should just get on with it, that’s exactly what I’m doing.

You may remember in my Goals Update around May this year I mentioned we now had some space to grow our own veggies. Well I’m happy to report, we’re now up to some 20 varieties of fruit & veg around the house (and I’m scouting for areas to put more as move into the summer months.)

So to wrap up, I hope to be bringing you (at least) slightly more frequent updates on the Treading Lighter lifestyle, but if nothing’s happening – nothing’s happening! Now stop reading and go and plant something…

(Zucchini, Baby Carrots, Lettuce, Brocolli, Basil, Spinach & Strawberries)

This is a post from: Treading Lighter - Journeys Into Sustainable Living.

Why no posts?

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The Queensland Government ClimateSmart Home Service, which started on 1st of January 2009, aims to improve energy efficiency in your household. The service operates in a similar manner to that of the successful Home WaterWise Service.

For a $50 service fee, a qualified trades person will visit your home to conduct an energy audit, provide energy advice, install energy saving tools such as a household energy monitor and a water efficient shower head, and also supply 15 compact fluorescent light globes.

When the friendly installer arrived, I told him that as we’d previously taken advantage of the local council’s Waterwise service, we already had a water saving shower head and compact fluorescent light globes. I did ask him if he had some of the softer warm lights though, as the Waterwise representative had run out, leaving us only with the harsh colder version, and in this he was happy to oblige. As I discovered though you’re better off getting him to replace them, so you don’t forget how many screw in and how many bayonet fixings you have!

I allowed him to launch into his spiel (which he was very good at), and he explained how the service worked. Unfortunately I was disappointed with the energy audit, this part of the service in my circumstance was poor and I was left with many questions unanswered. Looking back, I should have pulled him up during his pitch or written down the questions I wanted to ask for later.

He then proceeded in setting up the wireless energy monitor (this is the toy I was really interested in). The reader device is attached to the meter box and comes with a wireless LCD display that you can move around the house. I have found the monitor useful in changing the habits of household members, because you can’t argue with the facts! The numbers are right there in dollars and cents or tons of greenhouse gases.

As far as the customised Energy and Water Efficiency Plan being sent to us, we haven’t seen it yet. And also the My ClimateSmart Home, a customised online resource for more energy and water savings  hadn’t materialised either. Following up, I rang the department, only to be told the system had crashed, and they were not sure when access would be available. Unfortunately I’m still waiting – over 6 months later.

It might sound like I had a negative experience, and that the service is flawed, but even though I found the whole package was wanting, it doesn’t take away how important it is to make these small changes.

So in the big picture does this service make any difference? Well to me, it is a change I can manage, therefore I must! My tip to those about to get the service? Write down your questions and stop the installer when you need something explained.

This is a post from: Treading Lighter - Journeys Into Sustainable Living.

Queensland’s ClimateSmart Home Service Review

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This is a post from: Treading Lighter - Journeys Into Sustainable Living.

Solar Feed In Tariff Update

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Growing Veggies

I’m happy to say that this has so far been going well – definitely aided by the fact that we moved house about 6 weeks ago. Aided in the sense that we actually now have a garden, as opposed to what is euphemistically known as a “nature strip”

(Yes, what you see in the two pictures here constituted the entire green space at our previous house!)

And this is what we have now:

Actually we have cheated a bit in that the previous owners of the house were fans of home grown themselves – we’ve got oranges, lemons, passion fruit, paw-paw, chili’s and pineapples growing about the place. So far we’ve added the obligatory tomatoes & basil, which will be followed by some more herbs and some strawberries a bit later this afternoon. (We’ve also noticed that the neighbour’s mango tree has a bit of an ..ahem.. overhang…) There’ll be more posts on how this is all going over the coming months.

Building a Compost

I have to say for me, one of the biggest revelations so far has been the compost bin. Composting is a concept that I’ve not been around since my age was well in single figures, so to watch a pile of something previously destined for landfill slowly become a useful product is simply amazing! And therein lies the secondary reward of building your own compost heap – I would comfortably say that we’ve halved our landfill bound output since introducing the compost – imagine if everyone could do that! I’m going to feature some more articles on composting in general in the next few months, but my recommendation for now is that if you don’t yet have a compost or compost bin, you owe it to yourself to get one.

Use Less Chemical Products

This one has been a bit of a winner for me also. Since picking up a few random books from the library on natural cleaners, remedies and the like and discovering just how easy (not to mention cheaper) it is to replace multitudes of harmful chemicals in the household, I’ve been on constant look out for replacements.

(My caveat here is that while seasoned ecologists may say it’s been this way for years, I’m approaching this from the point of view of a product being commercially available. The average modern day consumer is not going to go out of their way to get an environmentally product if there’s a chemical alternative already sitting on the shelf in front of them.)

So far I’ve replaced shower gel, shampoo & shaving gel for my bathroom products; washing powder, washing up liquid, dishwash powder and kitchen handwash in the rest of the house. I’m quite confident this list will expand through the second half of the year, and my ultimate goal will be to make chemical products the second or even third choice for any situation I may have previously used them.

Using Car Less (Get a bike, use public transport, walk)

I’m going to call this one a grey area! Due to the house move, I feel I am actually using the car less – e.g. I now walk to the beach for a surf, or to the shop for some milk, whereas previously I would have driven. And as far as surfing is concerned, this is augmented further in that I now live in the village that I would have more than likely driven too before getting in the ocean.

Of course, the flipside of this is that I’m now further away from my workplace, and in factors of distance that it’s now unpractical for me to consider riding a bike or catching public transport. But the cloud hath a silver lining: as a much greater percentage of my driving is now on the highway, my average fuel efficiency has improved by some 2 – 2.5L/100KMS, which personally I think is a pretty good acheivement!

I’d love to know how you are going with your own goals, so please let me know in the comments.

This is a post from: Treading Lighter - Journeys Into Sustainable Living.

Treading Lighter 2009 Goals Update

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1. Costa’s Complete Compost Compendium
2. Treading Lighter now featured on Green Maven
3. Solar Feed In Tariff Update

The founders aims are to spread the green word by the “collective power of the internet”; and so to that end, the site also features the latest news feeds from Digg, environmental videos on YouTube and what is apparently the latest must-have – a Twitter feed.

It’s these resources that in my view make Green Maven stand out from other web directories that, lets face it, are all over the place these days, and rarely offer much value past a company’s telephone number.

If you have an earth-friendly website, you can submit it for free, and once your site is vetted, it should appear in a couple of days (they do ask that you link back to them somewhere on your site though – and who am I not to spread the link love?!).

And just in case you were wondering what a maven is, it’s a: “trusted expert who wishes to pass their knowldege onto others”. You learn something new every day!

This is a post from: Treading Lighter - Journeys Into Sustainable Living.

Treading Lighter now featured on Green Maven

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With the recent changes to the solar panel rebate (surely only a Government could make it this complicated?), the Australian solar industry is having a hard time getting a decent head start against its coal powered competitors; so a petition has been launched calling for the introduction of a national feed-in tariff.

What’s a feed-in tariff? It’s a rebate awarded to a household for the electricity it generates from its grid connected solar panels. Essentially, an ongoing reward for installing them.

There’s two models of tariff – net & gross. The net model currently favoured by the individual states that have a tariff (VIC, SA, NT, QLD, TAS) only rebates for the surplus the house feeds back to the grid. As Gavin shows with his quick calculations based on the Victorian program in this post, that’s about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

The gross feed-in tariff sees each household rebated instead for all the electricity it generates. The ACT is currently the only supporter of this model. (WA & NSW are yet to decide.)

So, why is a gross feed in tariff better? Well, we Australians are a simple lot really, dangle a carrot and we’ll take it. Dangle a bigger carrot, and we’ll take that instead. And put simply, a gross feed in tariff will produce a bigger carrot.

The opportunity for a bigger carrot higher rebate will create more demand, benefiting both the domestic solar power industry (by helping kick start a ‘green’ economy, thus providing jobs and job security), and Australia (by reducing our reliance on fossil fuel generated electricity, thus reducing our carbon emissions). It’ll also help us meet those 2020 renewable energy targets (PDF).

If you’d like to join those wanting to see Australia launch a national gross feed-in tariff (which as at an update of this morning has collected more than 4000 names in under 7 days), head over to feedintariff.com.au.

What are your thoughts about a feed in tariff? Should it be net or gross? Should it be National or State administered? Leave us a comment below.

(Update: As at Feb 5, the petition is now nearly 7000 names long. Great work, people!)

This is a post from: Treading Lighter - Journeys Into Sustainable Living.

Australian Solar Power Needs A Gross Feed In Tariff

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Since 1990, Clean Up Australia Day has seen some eight million Australians take part, and collected over 200,000 tonnes of rubbish.  With an estimated 80 million plastic bags and 7 billion cigarette butts (that’s over 300 per person!) being thrown or dumped every year in Australia, ending up in waterways, streets and parks, it’s a ‘must-do’.

Check out their TV ad below:

Don’t forget, it’s also a great way to get out into your community and meet some like minded people! I’ll be taking my family along to our local site and will be posting some pictures of the day here on Treading Lighter. See you there!

This is a post from: Treading Lighter - Journeys Into Sustainable Living.

Get Involved With Clean Up Australia Day 2009

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Hailing from the US, a quick glance over some of their product range looks impressive. Covering a wider range than is normally seen from one manufacturer in the environmental line; there are baby products, household cleaners, laundry products and dish-washing items to name a few. And with one of this year’s goals for my family being to reduce the amount of chemicals in our home, their transparency about the ingredients they use is particularly welcome.

The company’s name is derived from the Great Law of the Iroquois that states, “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations”.

Please go back and re-read that last sentence. Would I be right in thinking that’s the first time you’ve ever thought of your great great great great grand-kids?

The packaging goes on to say:

“every time you use a Seventh Generation product you are making a difference by saving natural resources, reducing pollution, keeping toxic chemicals out of the environment and making the world a safer place for this and the next seven generations.”

which is pretty much what we all should be striving for, no?

My only gripe (and it’s a small one), is that they’ve yet to update their packaging for the worldwide market; most of the environmental messages are US centric, and I can see this putting off some potential purchasers.

Currently I’ve found a couple of products from their “Free & Clear” range being stocked, but will definitely be looking out for more. We’ll post a review of some of the products when it’s time to restock the cleaning cupboard.

Do you have any experience with Seventh Generation products? Please tell us about it in the comments.

This is a post from: Treading Lighter - Journeys Into Sustainable Living.

Seventh Generation On A Supermarket Shelf Near You

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Personally I think this is fantastic news, as it really shows that renewable energy is starting to be seen as a viable source of power in Australia.

And lets face it, given the abundance of the stuff, it surely has to be a no-brainer?

What really caught my eye though was the headline of the story, which strangely, wasn’t promoting solar, but rather nuclear, with a result of just 20%.

Funny how the media works…

Photo: Solar Power

This is a post from: Treading Lighter - Journeys Into Sustainable Living.

26% Believe Solar Is The Way

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