fred_mouse

Below are my talking point notes from a talk I did with two friends last April. We were talking about what we as individuals are doing in response to the question 'but what can *we* do to adapt to our changing climate?' So, these are very specific to my situation, as a homeowner of a free standing house in a Mediterranean climate with limited rainfall and plenty of sun. The other two are also homeowners -- one in a first floor flat, the other in a strata unit. Thus, I'm the one with reasonable amounts of land available (for a suburban value), and the other two are working with much more restricted space.

This is a topic we have all been heavily invested in for multiple decades, and we were expecting to be talking to a mixed group of people like us (middle aged and older who had already been doing this kind of thing) and younger people who had been asking the above question at previous panels on climate change.

If there is anything here that people want more discussion on, I'll attempt to make a specific post. For now, I'm just moving them out of a folder and into the wider world.

The panel leader talked about the general principles, so those aren't included in my notes. The general guideline was

How are we

minimising our carbon footprint
using relevant technology
embracing the circular economy
working towards a more sustainable future (refuse, use, reuse, repair, recycle, re-purpose, feed to chooks, feed to worms, compost)
engaging in research & education
making decisions within our working lives
influencing the decision-makers

The notes:

• none of this is new. The house my mother got built that we moved in to in 1978 was specifically designed along the lines of passive solar. But we don't all have the advantage of building, and we can't all snap up the one in ten houses that are already well set up. Most of us are going to be in houses that aren't easy to apply these principles to, and they need to be done. Particularly when more than anything, people buy based on the location in the suburb. Every little bit helps.
• we picked - walking distance to school, incoming train line (2km to station), walking distance to supermarket. We also have a very noisy location (yard backs on to freeway, three emergency services within 1km plus Jandakot airport).
• Much of what I have to say about recent changes will be from the perspective of a home owner but I was implementing things as a poor student renting as well. It is harder, and the things you can change are more ephemeral. If you have a small space for a garden (pot plants) don't pick things you use a lot of, because you can't supply all of it. Pick things you use a little bit of at a time, so that you get the plant and the supply -- this is why herbs are such a good idea.
• front garden -- first thing we did was rip up the reticulation, then mulch the whole front lawn. We ripped out introduced ornamental shrubs to the south of the drive and put in three low-water tolerant fruit trees (Indian guava, acerola, pomegranate). Over time we have added natives to most of the front, and taken out a large Port Jackson fig (and a large cotton palm) that were not in good places. If I remember, I'll plug the 'Growing Natives' book. We've also put olives on the verge.
• back garden -- weeded by the chickens, which are mostly free range now. Their pen surrounds the mulberry tree so that it gets additional water (when the water bowl gets cleaned) and extra nutrition. We put chicken scraps around the trees to encourage chickens to hang out there
• moved washing line from being hills hoist on otherwise unused lawn to side of the house, freeing up that space to build garden beds and put in fruit trees. The garden beds are raised, but built with excess paving bricks (when we moved in the garden was paving bricks, lawn, and a section of black plastic with a smear of mulch) and then filled with whatever. We dug a place for the trampoline, and this was one place the soil went. We are on grey sand, so not a lot of nutrient after being left untended for so long.
• pergola to to the west with grape vine -- gives a sheltered low air movement section for summer.
• awning over north facing window -- house is of an age where one of the north facing windows goes out to the edge of the eaves.
• personal hygiene - the going without deodorant experiment (highly successful), going without shampoo experiment (multiple attempts have ended in failure). hard shampoo, hard moisturiser, buying locally made soap without wrappers where possible. Expensive. But, in a household with three scent sensitive people, we have to be careful of our products anyway. Taking things one step at a time, and questioning each product over years has added up to a lot less waste.
• knowing more about where your food comes from. What is water intensive and shouldn't be grown on irrigation (what is coming from the Murray Darling?). I fall down on this one, but it is one of my ongoing projects.
• craft - repurposing. Disassemble damaged jumpers (very satisfying to go rip rip rip, but frustrating because of the way the seams are usually a mess). Learn to sew buttons on.
• clothing -- cotton isn't great in water terms, but in terms of breaking down later is great.
• shopping - green bags are all well and good but they shred. Sewing on patches keeps them going. I use any old fabric, and sew on willy nilly. This can be done by hand, and can use up fabric from old favourite clothes that are in shreds. Buy things in bulk when you can -- fewer types of things at each shop. Get good storage. For furniture, avoid cheap and new -- cheap and secondhand or robust and new (cheap work/materials not necessarily cheap price)
• cooking - learn what you can make easily to reduce food miles and packaging. Work out what isn't worth it for you. Muffins to use up leftovers (including porridge) -- helps for those with small kids whose appetites are unpredictable; icy-poles in reusable moulds. Easy treats.
• taking food with you -- invest in small containers (supermarkets, discount stores, lots of places -- check op shops). Buy bulk, parcel it out. I used to have ~20 containers, and would parcel out dried fruit and nuts, and then just always have a container in my bag. Useful for keeping small children amused.
• toys - rotate them. (this goes for big kid toys as well) - don't have everything out all the time to get 'stale'. Toy libraries, put them in the garage (in sealed containers), trade between friends.
• lots of 'saving money' tips will come with bonus 'use fewer resources'. This is a place where people who are cash strapped can probably make the most difference. Unless they are time and/or spoons poor, in which case it becomes more difficult.

• I found the reference that I've been looking for for one of the PhD students. Seriously, I was down to searching my entire hard-drive for a particular phrase and looking through them all to see if they were the right one (this failed). Then I tried google, with a pair of phrases, and looked at each hit until I found something promising. Found it about record 86 (of >2000). Also found the relevant book in the library, although that is going to be a lot harder to find the right quote in (or maybe I'll just misquote it as well, as so many others seem to).
• Eldest's quilt is done - I did the last one? two? rows of quilting, got artisanat to help me hold it still while I did the borders, trimmed the excess, and then 'fringed' three of the edges (have to check with eldest what zie wants to have done with the selvedge before I fringe that side).
• We have Ticket To Ride India/Switzerland (double sided board). artisanat  collected it from the post office today. we decided not to try playing it tonight - already too much on. Very much looking forward to it!