To help everyone keep up to date with the Blog we have added a Followers widget.
For those TTKD members who might be new to blogs and blogging, there are two advantages of becoming a follower. Firstly, it allows you to show your support for the blog and the group in general. Secondly, it will help you keep up to date with new material. Your Google account allows you to follow not just this blog, but any others that take your fancy, and see which blogs you follow have updates without having to check them all individually.
For everyone else, we just hope you'll become a follower for the street cred, if nothing else ;)
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Age of Stupid
We found time(in between packing boxes,preparing to move)to see The Age of Stupid. This film is currently screening at the Balmoral in Oxford St Bulimba. The Age of Stupid is the new four-year epic from McLibel director Franny Armstrong. Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking - why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?
Get together all your networks, families and friends, as this is a critical call to action. I have to say, I found this more compelling than
Inconvenient Truth, which was compelling enough, albeit in a different way. I know I can not look my granddaughter in the eye and say it was too hard to take action!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The best way to support active transport is.... to actually support it
Despite improvements, and a lot of rhetoric, recent decisions by the State Government shows it still has some way to go before sustainability and promoting pubic and active transport become central to its decision making.
Locally, the newly announced Kenmore Park n Ride is a good example. While we thoroughly support new facilities such of the Park n Ride, (which should help to ease congestion along Moggill Road and give local residents a chance to decrease their carbon footprints). It is disappointing that the plans for the Park n Ride do not include any bicycle facilities, even though the addition of such facilities is now becoming common place at other major public transport facilities such as QR train stations and Busway stations.
Adding secure and covered bicycle parking facilities to this (and any future) Park n Rides would greatly enhance the facility at a minimal cost. Benefits of adding bike parking would include increasing the number of people able to park their “vehicles” in the same amount of space (likely to be important given that demand for Park n Ride parks often exceeds supply). Providing an option for people travelling by bus to get to the bus stop in a healthy and carbon neutral manner and the promotion of cycling more generally.
The newly released Draft SEQ Regional Plan, Section 12.3 states that plan “strongly supports public transport and active transport modes such as walking and cycling”. Adding bike parking to public transport hubs would allow the government to do both at the same time and at least start to address the serious lack of cycling infrastructure on this side of town (ignoring for the moment the similar lack of public transport infrastructure). After all, the best way to promote cycling as a credible way to get from A to B is to actually make it convenient enough for this to be true.
Ps: TTKD has been in touch with our local state representative about this issue, but if you feel the same way, feel free to get in touch with the member for Moggill Dr Bruce Flegg.
Locally, the newly announced Kenmore Park n Ride is a good example. While we thoroughly support new facilities such of the Park n Ride, (which should help to ease congestion along Moggill Road and give local residents a chance to decrease their carbon footprints). It is disappointing that the plans for the Park n Ride do not include any bicycle facilities, even though the addition of such facilities is now becoming common place at other major public transport facilities such as QR train stations and Busway stations.
Adding secure and covered bicycle parking facilities to this (and any future) Park n Rides would greatly enhance the facility at a minimal cost. Benefits of adding bike parking would include increasing the number of people able to park their “vehicles” in the same amount of space (likely to be important given that demand for Park n Ride parks often exceeds supply). Providing an option for people travelling by bus to get to the bus stop in a healthy and carbon neutral manner and the promotion of cycling more generally.
The newly released Draft SEQ Regional Plan, Section 12.3 states that plan “strongly supports public transport and active transport modes such as walking and cycling”. Adding bike parking to public transport hubs would allow the government to do both at the same time and at least start to address the serious lack of cycling infrastructure on this side of town (ignoring for the moment the similar lack of public transport infrastructure). After all, the best way to promote cycling as a credible way to get from A to B is to actually make it convenient enough for this to be true.
Ps: TTKD has been in touch with our local state representative about this issue, but if you feel the same way, feel free to get in touch with the member for Moggill Dr Bruce Flegg.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Dealing with denial
This blog is not primarily about dealing with the science but rather about what to do locally so I am not going to post a lot about that here, but I invite anyone with an interest in the science and debunking denial to visit my blog, Opinionations, where I’ve accumulated a fair amount of material. Search on tags like climate change, climate denial, climate inactivism, real science and peak oil.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Global Climate Change Mapping Project
I think everyone recognises the value and validity of empirical evidence, but is global climate change the exclusive domain of ‘expert’ scientists? What if we could harness the power of millions of observations from ordinary people from around the world? This project is all about using the anecdotal evidence of the community - what an opportunity!!
If you believe that what you have observed in your local weather patterns/events can contribute to the worlds knowledge of global climate change, then go to http://www.landscapemap2.org/wikiclimate/index .
You will have to request an access code, but once you have done this you can freely enter the site and enter your observations.
If you believe that what you have observed in your local weather patterns/events can contribute to the worlds knowledge of global climate change, then go to http://www.landscapemap2.org/wikiclimate/index .
You will have to request an access code, but once you have done this you can freely enter the site and enter your observations.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
JULY in AUGUST
The year is racing away from me - it is August already but I am just finishing up stuff from July.I have harvested my lemons and made little cakes with them. The photo is not particularly kind, they are delicious. I am also getting good rocket from the garden at the moment, almost
everything else has been taken by the possums.
Speaking of really unkind photo's - we had our first birthday at Transition Town Kenmore District in July. We actually did have fun. I have enjoyed getting to know my neighbours this past 12 months. I've also learned a lot about gardening and am starting to re learn how to make things rather than buying everything from China. As a group, our main achievement perhaps has been to connect with other transition groups both in Brisbane and beyond. Going forward, we are close to starting the action part of our local community garden in Kenmore.
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