TTKD Nov 2013 meeting: Sustainable Local Food

TTKD Nov 2013 meeting.pdf

TTKD October meeting: The Story of Stuff

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October 2013 TTKD Meeting

The Story of Stuff

Thursday October 17

7.15pm for a 7.30pm start

Kenmore Library Meeting Room

TTKD July 13 Meeting: Edible Yards with Sarah Wesche

TTKD July 2013 Meeting - Edible Yards with Sarah Wesche by TransitionKenmore

Thursday July 18

 7.15pm for a 7.30pm start 

 Kenmore Library Meeting Room

As usual the meeting will be followed by supper and conversation. Please feel free to bring along a plate to share (preferably locally produced or homemade!). No need to RSVP.

Queensland electricity prices to soar by 22%, who's to blame?

Many of you will have heard that electricity prices in QLD are skyrocketing by 22% this year. For the average household this is predicted to increase bills by $268 a year, while "the average electricity bill for a family of four will increase by $343 a year".

But why? 

If you listen to Campbell Newman or the energy minister Mark McArdle you might be forgiven for thinking that this increase was due to carbon pricing or renewable energy. With McArdle complaining that "Ninety-two thousand homes don't pay any power bills at all in Queensland" - well yes Mark, that's because they produce their own electricity. 

However with the help of this article and Queensland Competition Authority price determination I've made this little graph of where the price rises are coming from:

As you can see, less than 20% of price rises are due to carbon pricing or paying people for the solar power they produce. Much greater is the price rise due to the end of the Newman government's electricity tarrif freeze, which only lasted for 12 months. This policy might have sounded great during the last state election, but there's no free lunches in this world, and we are paying for it now.

"Other*" is the biggest category, breaking this down is hard, but it includes increased network prices (ie: the poles and wires), increases in the costs of generating power and then some mind-blowing stuff like electricity companies being allowed to increase prices because power demand has been dropping and they have been making less money than they want to.

So it seems that the government is very concerned about the 20% of the price rises due to polluters no longer being able to pollute for free and for actually having to pay households who are producing clean energy from their solar panels. Instead they seem rather unconcerned (or want to shift our attention from) what is actually causing 80% of the price rises. This is like the captain of the titanic blaming the water on drinks that were spilled when the ship hit the iceberg rather than the gaping hole in the ship.

From all this I draw two conclusions:

1. All that kerfuffle from certain politicians that the (basically one off) 9% rise in power prices from the carbon price was going to ruin us all was self serving nonsense. A year later we are facing over double that rise for different reasons and the idea this will ruin us all has been conveniently forgotten.

2. We as a community are going to have to start demanding explanations for what's causing 80% of our power prices rises and then demand useful ideas for what to do about it, or we'll continue to see politicians scapegoating renewable energy and a continuation of massive price rises.

TTKD June 2013 meeting: Bryan Hacker "Towards a Natural Envinroment"

Thursday June 20

7.15pm for a 7.30pm start

Kenmore Library Meeting Room

TTKD May 2013 meeting: Reinventing the Toilet!

TTKD Meeting Flyer May 13

Thursday May 16

7.15pm for a 7.30pm start

Kenmore Library Meeting Room

Also of note:

Moggill Market Stall:
TTKD will be holding a stall at Moggill Markets on Saturday 1 June – people are welcome to bring any surplus home grown produce to share. We will also have some native plants from Moggill Creek Catchment Group for sale at $2 each.

Healthy Waterways Awards:
Here is a link to the Healthy Waterways Awards people choice voting page. Please note, our August speaker, Matthew Fullerton is a nominee in the Young Adult Encouragement award, under the Individual and Lifestyle Group (voting closes 20 May).

http://healthywaterwaysawards.org/award/peoples-choice-award/

TTKD April meeting- Permaculture: Sustainable Food

TTKD March Meeting: Waste Management: Past, Present and Future

 Deana Nichols is Brisbane City Council's Waste Management Education Officer - she will give us a comprehensive insight into waste management in Brisbane.

TTKD Meeting Flyer Mar 13 2013

Thursday March 21

7.15pm for a 7.30pm start

Kenmore Library Meeting Room

Sustainable Living Workshop - TTKD January Meeting

Next TTKD meeting Thursday 17 January: 

Sustainable Living Workshop

Our January meeting is all about you, come share your lifestyle choices and thoughts at this informal session.

• What do you do to try to live sustainably?
• What would you like to do?
• What hinders you from doing what you’d like to do?
• Is there anything local, State or National authorities could do to help you to make sustainable choices?

At the conclusion of the discussion we will compile a list of questions and suggestions to send to the relevant authorities.

Bring your ideas and some food (preferably locally sourced or home produced!) to share

Kenmore Library Meeting Room

Kenmore Village

corner Moggill and Brookfield Roads

7:15 pm for 7:30 pm start

light refreshments provided

Contact transitionkenmore@gmail.com for further information

Community renewable energy - locally owned renewable power stations

Community renewable energy is something we will hopefully be hearing a lot more about in the future. The idea, which is popular overseas, is for members of a local community to get together, combine their money and build a much larger renewable energy "power station" than they could individually afford. The proceeds from selling the electricity created then provide a return on investment.

The classic example of this in Australia is Hepburn Wind in Victoria where roughly 2000 people got together and installed a ~4MW wind farm. Recently another project has been announced for Sydney where a community scheme will put 400 kW of solar panels on the roof of the new convention centre in Darling Harbour. Helping drive this (and many other proposed projects) is Embark a not for profit group aiming to spur along community renewable energy by providing know-how and also seed funding.

Although community owned renewables are unlikely to generate a large percentage of the electricity we produce any time soon, they provide an opportunity for people who can't otherwise create their own electricity (renters, people living in apartments, home owners whose roof isn't suitable for solar panels etc etc) to get involved. Importantly they also allow the local community to own and benefit from their local renewable energy resource (whatever that might be) and for people to make money out of being green.

For a more detailed look at community renewable energy and it's benefits and possibilies, see this article in Renew Economy.


So what about in QLD? Well, recently Energetic Communities, which aims to develop community renewable energy in SEQ got up and running. Hopefully I'll have more to say about them in the near future.

Common Spaces: Urbanism, Sustainability and the Art of Placemaking (from thisbigcity)

More links from the "This Big City" blog:

Common Spaces: Urbanism, Sustainability and the Art of Placemaking

A little to get your started:

"Whilst the majority of individuals in our society would hesitate to label themselves environmentalists, there is a growing appreciation of natural beauty and an eagerness for harmony in our urban design. Most of all, there is a core desire to live somewhere safe, happy and healthy – now and in the future. Nowhere is this shift more evident than in the design process for the renovation of public spaces. This is becoming far more inclusive and community-led; much to the benefit of both the planet and the populace."

  see the rest of the article here.

TTKD October meeting: Men's Shed (not so secret) Men's Business!

Chris Wright from Shed West Kenmore will discus the role of Men's Sheds in promoting men's health and wellbeing and helping to create sustainable communities.



*What are Men's Sheds all about?

*What do they get up to in there?

*How can Men's Sheds help towards a sustainable community?

Thursday October 18

7.15pm for a 7.30pm start

Kenmore Library Meeting Room

TTKD Meeting Flyer Oct 12

Reality Bites from Rachel Smith

Interesting article from Rachel Smith on her blog:

Reality Bites: Mass redundancies & sharing. 5 easy steps to ‘spend less + have more’

"The average power drill is used for between 6 and 15 minutes in its entire lifetime. We don’t actually need a drill we just want a hole in the wall. So why do we all spend large sums of our hard-earned cash and savings on things we rarely use?

In last Saturday’s Courier Mail Kathleen Noonan commented that people across Australia are too scared to spend money. That’s why in this week’s ‘Reality Bites’ I’m discussing sharing, renting, bartering and borrowing – or what some people describe as ‘access rather than ownership........."

Go here to read the rest.

September TTKD Meeting - Sustainable Transport for Kenmore

The TTKD September meeting will feature sustainable transport planner Linda Fullerton talking about sustainable transport for Kenmore.

When: Thursday 15 September from 7.30pm
Where: Kenmore Library (meeting room 3)

Linda is a transport planner who focuses on providing sustainable and integrated outcomes. For most of her career she has been employed by consultants but her recent professional experience includes strategic planning roles at TransLink and Brisbane City Council and guest lectures for UQ and QUT students.

Her presentation will cover:

• What is and isn't sustainable transport
• The impacts on urban living and society by continuing current practices
• The economic, environmental, community, health and social benefits of sustainable transport
• How to change travel behaviour
• What we need to do to encourage sustainable choices by decision makers

Hope to see you all there!

Brissie's own TRANSITION PICNIC - Sat 9th July

Click image to expand

From noon, Saturday 9th July, at New Farm Park rotunda (or nearby). BYO picnic lunch. See flyer for more info.

It would be great to know who's coming, so please RSVP here.

One little detail - BCC charges for the hire of the Rotunda - so we haven't booked it! Instead we'll just turn up and try our luck; if the rotunda is in use we can shift to the alternative area nearby (marked below on the map).

Still open to offers of entertainment, and suggestions for promotion - please add comments here.
Come along, bring a friend, and spruik for 60 seconds on your particular project.

See you at the picnic!

Garnaut releases final review - offers a prescription for a carbon price

Prof Ross Garnaut has just released his final 2011 review report, where he outlined the case for and the design of a price on carbon.

It's a hefty tome, but many of the basic details are the same as we reported on a few months ago.

1) Australia has an obligation to reduce its emissions along with other developed countries, with the proposed carbon price not committing us to more action that most other countries are taking.

2) A price on carbon is the cheapest most effective way to reduce emissions.

3) Garnaut recommends starting with a fixed price (the carbon tax) of between $20-30 a tonne before moving to a floating price (an emission trading scheme) several years later.

4) Lower and middle income earners should be compensated primarily through tax cuts by raising the tax free threshold. Other money raised by the tax will go to trade exposed industry, carbon farming and innovation.

For some expert analysis, Prof John Quiggin is blogging the chapters as he reads them and providing some commentary too. Recommended if you want more information but don't want to read the whole report or summary report.

Community Spirit Alive in Christchurch

A lovely story of a community pulling together to hang on to their local area after the Christchurch earthquake. It is only a pity it often takes such a tragedy for people to realise the important role community can play in one's life.

TTKD May Meeting - Permablitz updates and future ideas plus a general gardening discussion

At our May meeting we will get an update on the vege gardens that TTKD permablitzed in 2009 and 2010. We will hear from Louise Orr, Brenda Whybrow and Carol Shantal about what worked, what didn’t and what’s happening now in their gardens.

It would be great to start thinking about doing some more permablitzes soon!

We will also have a general group discussion about gardening in our community. Have a think about what you have grown well, what you have tried to grow but haven’t been able to and what you would like to grow but don’t even know where to start!

When: Wednesday 18 May, 2011
Where: Kenmore Library
Time: 7:30pm

Remember we are at a new venue: Kenmore Library at the Kenmore Village Shopping centre.

Here's the details for getting in:
Use the After Hours Lift Entrance on the ground floor. It’s under the library, right by the car park, behind the library’s main escalator entrance. Someone will be there to take you up to the meeting room. If you arrive late and there is no one there please press the buzzer for meeting room 3 and someone will come down and let you in.

Rally for Climate Action: Brisbane April 9th

"Next Saturday it’s time for Queenslanders to let our politicians know that we support Queensland and Australia’s clean energy future - and the many new jobs and business opportunities it will create.

On Saturday 9th at 11am we're uniting with our friends from the Australian Youth Climate Coalition , GetUp! , Greenpeace , Oxfam , Australian Conservation Foundation , World Wildlife Fund and Union Climate Connectors to support real action against climate change.

It's time to make the big polluters pay their fair share and unlock Australia's clean energy future. By acting now we can stay healthy, secure our environment, protect jobs and build new clean industries.

This is a family friendly gathering where we’ll hear speakers who understand the science and we’ll celebrate our positive message for change in Australia.

So come along on Saturday the 9th at 11am in King George Square, bring some mates and take a stand in support of fair and effective action on climate change."

Rally for Climate Action
April 9, 11am
King George Sq
Brisbane City

Downloadable poster can be found here
If you are on Facebook you can RSVP here.

Getting there:
Being in the centre of the city, King George Sq is easy to get to.
By Train: Head to Central Station
By Bus: Go to King George Square Busway, or just a short walk from Queen St Busway

TTKD March Meeting: Being Prepared for Emergencies and New possibilities for TTKD

Be Prepared!

Following our recent flood events much has been said about being prepared with an emergency kit. Garry Willett, who ran our ebike bulk buy, has put together a presentation on his personal emergency kit PLUS 3 unique items he has organised to be available with a ‘bulk buy’ discount;
a water purifier, a gassifyer stove and a bush kettle.
So come along and learn as well as share any tips you might have.

This will be followed by ‘New possibilities for TTKD’ led by Philip Machanick

Wed March 16th at 7:30pm
Uniting Church Hall
982 Moggill Rd, Kenmore

See you there!