The past few weeks have been very interesting for Green Renters with a trip to Sydney and a presentation at the Sustainable Living Festival, so what’s next? (more…)

CDs have become a bit obsolete of late with the increase of digital downloading, so what do you do with them then? They can’t go in the normal recycled (only a couple councils let you do this) and if you throw them in the bin then they will end up in landfill… not a good option.
Ever wondered what to do with you old, scratched or unloved CDs and DVDs? Most people have a stash of old data CDs at the back of their drawer that are in need of a good recycling! So Eco Innovators has organised the first CD Swap Meet Melbourne to be held on Thursday 4th march 2010 at a nice little drinking hole called the Edinburgh Castle Hotel in Brunswick.

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The Festival raises awareness and provides tools for change by showcasing tangible solutions to the ecological and social challenges we face.

In 2009 the Festival at Federation Square attracted over 124,000 visits and engaged more than 450 community volunteers.

In its eleventh year, the Festival is getting even bigger!

The 2010 Festival will include 2 programs, the Main Event at Federation Square (19-21 February 2010) and the Local Events Program (6-21 February 2010). The new 2-week format will enable individuals and communities across Australia to host and promote their own sustainability event, extending the reach of the sustainability message even further.

The Main Event at Federation Square in the heart of Melbourne will continue to celebrate the very best examples of ecological and social sustainability. The event will fuse interactive workshops, talks, demonstrations, artworks, exhibits, films and live performances. In recognition of the climate situation, the Main Event will be inspired by the theme: Get Ready for the Safe Climate Decade!

Our pics (most relevant/interesting to Renters)

Top 10 Reasons to Grow Your Own

How Car Dependence is Turning the Suburban Dream into a Nightmare

Sustaining Fashion? An Open Forum Exploring The Darker Side Of Fashion

GM Free is the way to be

Living Zero Waste

Life Time Affordable Sustainable Housing

Consumer Power-Making the Change

Sharehood Communities

And of course… How to Live Sustainably in a Rental Property yep, we are presenting a talk. It’ll be lots of fun with pictures, samples and demonstrations of things you can make yourself, so please come along . You can also chat to us as part of the Sustainable Living Library

Monsanto is an American-owned international agro-chemical and foods conglomerate. It employs about 45,000 people and peddles over eight billion dollars a year in chemical products all over the world. While Monsanto has been critised for some time for their production of NutraSweet and the genetically engineered rBGH (Bovine Growth Hormone), the latest criticism is for it’s moves into the world of GMOs (genetically manipulated organisams). They produce ‘RoundUp Ready’ soya beans that are genetically altered to be resistant to their chemical herbicide ‘Roundup’ (the biggest selling agro-chemical in the world with sales totalling more than $620 million a year), which provides 40% of the companies operating profit.

You can view afantastic documentary on Monsanto, why they are evil and why you should say no by clicking here

You also might like to attend the following rally:

Farmers and Shoppers World-Wide say No ! Monsanto !

WHEN : 7 am on Thursday 18th February

WHERE : Hilton on the Park, 192 Wellington Parade East Melbourne (near Fitzroy Gardens) 

 Monsanto spokesperson Peter O’Keeffe will address the Rural Press Club at the “Hilton on the Park” promoting farmers’ “choice” to grow GM canola and Monsanto’s role in the future of agriculture.

 In solidarity with majority world farmers who are fighting for sovereignty against multinational control of their land and patented seed monopoly, we will rally outside the Hilton to say “No! Monsanto !”

Profits, seed monopoly and patenting are Monsanto’s real agenda.

From the cotton fields of Indonesia, where the company was fined $US1.5 million for bribery while trying to influence a GM cotton approval, to India, where over 100,000 people fasted in January against seed monopoly and GM eggplant introduction, world-wide awareness of the threat of GM crops is building. Corporate spin will not convince us that Monsanto’s patented seeds will “feed the world”.

We don’t want unstable, untested GM food products on our plates while GM canola spreads and contaminates our paddocks, in the name of a farcical “choice” which destroys our choice to farm and eat GM free.

Join us for a GM free breakfast rally with speakers and debate.

Rally sponsors : MADGE info@madge.org.au LASNET lasnet@latinlasnet.org Friends of the Earth Australia realfood@melbourne.foe.org.au

I’m a big fan of Gardening Australia. I love learning about plants I’ve never even seen before, let alone attempted to grow. Jerry provides great insight into how to create a workable organic garden (I know we were doing ok up until the snail infestation!). I also like the step by step projects suitable even for the blackest thumb, all presented in a factual interesting format without the condescension of some television presenters.

The ABC Gardening Expo is a great chance to learn and enjoy all things gardening. Lots of things to buy, people to talk to and information to gather.

I really like the idea of the  Ask It, Solve It Stage – An informal, intimate Q&A panel format featuring ABC TV’s Gardening Australia presenters as well as other industry experts talking on specific plant care and answering all gardening related questions.

As as far as workshops go, we’d be particularly interested in attending Sally Wise’s workshops on making your own jams and preserves from garden produce.

When: October 2-4, 2009
Where: Caulfield Racecourse
Time: 10:00am – 4:30pm daily

pic from here

November 26 – 29
Tickets soon to be available online.

Art Show and Launch on Thursday 12 November

Thursday 26 November – Opening night and Bike Movies
Friday 27 November – Bike Movies
Saturday 28 November – Bike Movies
Sunday 29 November – Street Party and Bikes Rock

The ‘In the Hot-House’ festival combines the celebration of music, art, craft, dance, films and food with an exploration of the environmental and social challenges that exist in our own backyards and around the world. Learn how to take action on climate change as some of the best of Melbourne’s environmental and community groups show you ‘What you can do’ and present alternatives perspectives on the crises facing us today.

The festival program continues at the picturesque and inspiring CERES Environmental Park. The program is busting at the seams and consists of art, music, workshops, food, drink, films, children’s entertainment and much more including the premiere performance collaborative performance project with two Moreland based schools, Voices of our Future.
Festival Highlights Include:

Music from The Conch, Orkeztra Glasso Bashalde, Radiant City and more.
Collaborative art projects across the site including Photography, Sculpture and Found Art with contributions from the ‘Outsiders Guide’, Sudeep, Ero, Peter Hutchinson and more coming
‘Voices of our Future’ schools drama performance

Children’s Clown, face painting and kids workshops

Food and drink from local and sustainable companies, including the infamous Good Brew beer bike
Workshops on a wide variety of subjects from environmental issues, open source technology, radical craft, alternative thought, green renting, Slow living and activism.

Run a workshop
Community stalls to inform and educate. Apply for a stall
Film night showcasing short films on environmental and social issues (6.30pm, Sat 18th)
Chris and I are running a “Green Renters” workshop and i am involved in a huge craft installation teaching people to embroider! Stayed tuned for more details.

Turn off your lights and any non-essential electrical appliances between 8.30pm and 9.30pm on Saturday 28 March, 2009.

Earth Hour 2009 will only be a success if we have wide support from every section of the community – households, businesses, governments and not-for-profit groups – and huge participation.

We have a target of one billion people worldwide to “switch off” but we need your support.

Please register you support at www.earthhour.org/australia

The first Earth Hour in 2007 reached more than 2 million people in Sydney. In 2008, it’s estimated that between 50 and 100 million people around the world joined Earth Hour by switching off their lights and turning appliances off stand-by. Earth Hour 2009 aims to reach 1 billion people in over 1,000 cities.

This global vote for action in the lead up to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen helps prove to world leaders that the public wants strong action to be taken on climate change.

In 2009, Earth Hour will be truly global.

After having between 50 and 100 million people around the world taking part in 2008, we’re now setting ourselves a target of reaching one billion the world over.

More and more countries will register their participation as the campaign continues.

 Is Earth Hour just for the big cities?

I’ve been intending to do something about my pot plants for some time. I have quite a few cuttings(mostly succulents) that I potted a year or so ago and conveniently forgot about last summer as it was so hot everything in a pot except these died. We got a heap of new pots and pans for a wedding present so I decided to do something with the old ones. They don’t look particularly pretty yet, but once they are thriving I’ll post some decent pics.

The benefits of reusing the old pots are that you get to remove the crappy ‘terracotta’ plastic pots that so many plants are invariably housed in. These were cracked so they went in the recycle bin. Further, the pot handles make them easy to move and rotate when it’s really hot (even putting them inside) so you don’t kill them off.

You need:

• old saucepans/pots/big lids
• seedlings
• cuttings
• potting mix/succulent mix
• water (grey ish)
• power drill

Directions:
1.Get out power drill only to release the battery has died and it will require several hours of charging. Relax on the couch with the newspaper and a cup of tea.

2. Assembly motley crew of pots in the meantime to demonstrate productivity in between cups of tea.

3. Water all plants you will be repotting. I used water that had been used to rinse garden veggies for the veggie seedling and herbs and a little that had been for some mild cleaning for the rest. The succulents are pretty hardy and dont really know the difference.

Here we have thyme, cucumber, baby lettuce and baby spinach

Various succulents and some tired looking pelargoniums.

Do you like this watering can? Make Gardens Not War! Awesome wedding present!

3. Remove plants from their pots. If they are root bound like mine, chop em up as you wish.

4. Drill holes in pot and lid bottoms. Realise it is impossible to take an action shot by yourself. If you don’t have a drill you could try a hammer and nails but that may only work on tin cans and olive oil containers.

5. Realise you forgot to take shots of soil filling and plants due to chatting with husband.

6. Fill pots with soil. If you are feeling really excited you could buy potting mix specifically for succulents which is a bit more sandy.

7. Cut and tidy succulents and replant in their improved glory along with the seedlings.

8. Arrange decoratively as you wish. These will be significantly more decorative once I get some more plants so I can make more pots.

I love the lid full of succulents here: The box is for our new bbq-the old bbq will be used as a herb planter once I buy more herbs.

You can see my pelargonium collection down the bottom. The pots were decorated by the wonderful Craftea Chat participants as a wedding present!

Close up of succulents. The jelly bean ones are cool.

Marvel at wedding present pots again. I still can’t believe Rayna got asked for ID when she bought the spray paint for decorating the pots!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, give it a try and let us know how it goes.