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#163 Sustainability Street Approach Comes To Phillip Bay!!

posted by Gregory Olsen on September 19, 2009, in postcode 2036

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I am pleased to announce the initial stages of a Sustainability Street Approach initiative starting at Phillip Bay.  My wife, Leeanne, and I plan to extent an invitation the households in the three blocks surrounding our newly rebuilt local park, the Fred Williams Reserve.

Quoting from the Sustainability Street website, “the Sustainability Street Approach view is that the two greatest challenges facing our species in all of our human history are to ...

1-  get along better with each other and

2 - get along better with all the other lifeforms.

Getting together and enjoying each other’s company is hard wired into the human motherboard.  When we do team up and co-operate the results are astounding!!  A Victoria University three year evaluation reported Sustainability Street Communities achieving an astounding 49% greenhouse gas reduction (among an array of other sustainability accomplishments) and a salve for the times: each other & nature “I can’t clean up the whole world, but I can sure clean up my little bit of it!”

Most folks in community don’t have access to the big environmental stuff like Copenhagen, fish stock diminution, land salinity, etc, etc.  However research shows that people are deeply concerned (perhaps bordering on traumatised?) about the state of the wider environment.  Working together and creating projects locally for a better future, with like minded friends and neighbours provides a huge comfort and produces serious eco-results.”

Here is My Sustainability Street Mission Statement:

"I have long been aware of our obligation to tread lightly on the surface of our life-giving planet.  This began way back in the 1970s, when the shortage of food across the world became apparent to me.  Back then I bought Recipes For a Small Planet and started cooking with beans, lentils and rice.

Since then I’ve become aware of so many more global issues, feeling somewhat swamped and angry at the same time.  The west still has slaves.  They are the poorly paid third world workers who provide our consumer goods.  Enough of ideology!

As a middle class Australian, I am in the best position to support the retro sustainability making of my home. We’ve just installed a solar hot water system and will be installing a 2 kW PV system.  These will supply almost all of our electricity needs!  We’ll also be installing a 5,000+ litre water tank for flushing toilets and use in the washing machine as well as out mainly native, drought resistant garden.

I wish to proclaim the wisdom of these actions to all Australians and encourage every household, which can afford it, to do likewise.  The cost is around $10,000 after Federal and State Government rebates.  The savings generated will pay back that outlay in around six years.  After then, a profit will be made that can be put to more environmental uses!

Of course, these steps are the privilege of the middle class.  But hey, we have been able to get wealthy by world’s standards because of the subjugation of the third world and our environment. It’s time now to repay our debt."

In addition to the large cost, green retrofits above there are so many low cost and simple ways in which we can reduce our demands on our planet’s resources. I’ll be actively encouraging our neighbours to implement these as well via gatherings, information events and community actions.

The Federal Government now provides $10,000, cost free and interest free loans, Green Loans, over four years for any household making the sorts of financial commitment outlined about to greening their home.  They are delivered through a financial institution to eligible applicants.

Please follow the path of our vision here.  Post below as you wish.  I'll be updating as regularly as necessary.

Please also visit our other Live Local pages, Making Our Home Sustainable, Permaculture East Comes to Phillip Bay!!! and The Compost Revolution Comes To Phillip Bay.

Sustainability Street, Phillip Bay

This is a Google Eath map of Fred Williams Reserve and surrounding rsidential blocks which I plan to  invite to be a part of the Phillip Bay Sustainability Street Approach inititative.  Our house is marked with the "A".

Our Native Nature Strips and Gardens: 23/12/09

Here you can see the wonderful improvements that can be made to the usually boring nature strips that front our homes. I believe that this is an important part of creating a sense of community as part of SSA.

February, 2010, Update ....

Well, February 2010 has arrived and I'm getting my plans together for a start on SSA Phillip Bay.  Leeanne and I are attending two Sustainable Living courses offered by Randwick Council. I'm doing Living Smart and Leeanee Sustainable Gardens.

I can see Living Smart as forming a basis of my main thrust for SS along with their own materials.

Two weekends ago I did a letterbox drop for Food Connect, a "community supporting agriculture (CSA) enterprise that connects farmers with city folk".  We are City Cousins from whom subscribers pick up their boxes of fruit and vegies.

I printed 100 leaflets and delivered them to all of the homes in my three SSA blocks.  I found one amazing house in Bunnerong road which had a huge stainless steel water tank and at least three large vegie gardens.  I'll be personally visiting them in due course.

I don't know if any of our locals signed up with Food Connect so it appears we might have a tough job on our hands spreading the sustainability message.

Sunday March 28, Our First Event!

Now that our three major sustainable retrofits are completed, we've decided to officially kick off our Sustainability Street Approach initiative on Sunday, March 28 (also Neighbour Day) by inviting the 120 households in our triangle of blocks to pop around for a squizz at what we're doing between 1 PM and 4 PM and to discuss how we can form a Sustainability Street Village in our neighbourhood to work together for the future wellbeing of our planet and play our part in combating global warming and climate change.

We have our two immediate neighbours on board, already sharing the compost bin and subscribing to Food Connect Sydney.

Great news!  The home with the stainless steel tank and garden beds are now also subscribers and have already visited our place. 

I can't wait to see who comes along on the 28th!

Letterbox Drop Done, Now We Wait For Sunday ...

Last Saturday, March 19, Leeanne and I letterbox dropped our Open House Day invitations to about 130  of our local neighbours.  Here is it's contents:

Sustainability Street Comes To Phillip Bay!

Greetings and salutations from your neighbours, Greg and Leeanne Olsen.

Like you, we're concerned about the consequences of global warming and climate change and want to do our bit to help ease the pressure on our wonderful planet. To that end, we've linked up with a grassroots movement called Sustainability Street, <http://www.sustainabilitystreet.org.au/>http://www.sustainabilitystreet.org.au/, who believe that waste, water and energy are at the root of every decision we make and are connected to the giant natural systems that support life on earth.

Our journey started in 2006 when we campaigned to stop the Anvil Hill open cut coalmine in the Hunter Valley. We joined in the Walk Against Warming that year and started researching how we could be more proactive at home by reducing our impact on our environment. In 2008 we purchased 100% Green Power from Origin and in 2009 installed a solar hot water system. During the past month we've installed grid connected solar panels that generate electricity and a rainwater harvesting system that provides water to our whole house!

In addition, we've undertaken conservation and economy measures such as growing our own vegetables and sharing a compost bin with two neighbouring households reducing landfill and providing nutrients for our gardens. We've joined a community supporting agriculture (CSA) enterprise that connects farmers with city folk called Food Connect, reduced our use of plastic bags and planted natives on our nature strips and in our gardens which require less water and provide habitat for native bees and other small creatures.

We would like to invite you to visit our home in Phillip Bay, on Sunday, March 28, from 1 PM to 4 PM, for a chat over a cuppa about how we can form a Sustainability Street Village in our neighbourhood to work together for the future wellbeing of our planet and future generations. Of course, we'll show you what we've done to make our home more sustainable as well!

If you wish to accept our invitation, please phone us for details on 9311 3857 or email me at <<mailto:sustainability@exemail.com.au>sustainability@exemail.com.au> We'd love to meet you!

Photo #1: Open Day At Our House, March 28, 2010.

Here we have the final group of visitors to our Open Day. I forgot to get the camera out earlier.  However, this fine bunch stayed for dinner until 9 PM!!  From left to right we have Jan, Leeanne, Indra, Ania and Greg (not I!).  We had a total of 17 visitors during the afternoon.

Photo #2: Open Day At Our House, March 28, 2010.

Here you can see our PVs and SHWS on the roof as well as our guests on the pavers.

Leeanne and I Under the Susty St Sign

Here we are at the end of the day, exhausted but feeling great, under our Sustainability Street sign sent up to us by the inimitable Frank D. Ryan. We met a lot of great people from near and a bit further out today and hope they were infused with purpose and energy for moving forward sustainably.

Sustainability Street Phillip Bay's Open Day Movie #1

This is the culmination, and yet also the start, of many month's research and work.  Our Sustainability Street Phillip Bay's Open Day at our place went off like a treat with 17 visitors checking out what have done to make our home more sustainable.  This is the first of two vids showing our completed project.

Sustainability Street Phillip Bay's Open Day Movie #2

It's getting dark but that didn't stop me!  I'll do another under-the-house vid in the middle of a sunny day soon so you can see what's there!!

Our Native Nature Strips and Gardens Update: 13/12/2010

It's been nearly a year since I dug up the weeds on the street front of our house and planted some natives. Here is the update of how they have been going, the small extension I added on Friday and the new plants Leeanne an I planted yesterday.

Sadly, we've been unable to get the vegies going fully this spring but we hope to get started on those early next year.  Leeanne did get some seeds from the Diggers' Club, which didn't do too well,  and some strawberry seedlings which haven't produced much :-)

2010 Winter Seed Planting (Not Very Successful) .....

Indra, Ania, Leeanne and I sowed winter sowing seeds that Leeanne purchased from the Diggers Club in July 18, 2010.  We used Indra and Ania's north facing garden beds to sow sugar snap peas, snow peas and parsnips as well as potting the seed recommended for potting before sowing.

Generally, we had poor success with the seeds.  The potted seeds never really got 'off the ground', probably through a combination of us not looking after them properly and not planting them at the right time. Indeed we had to ditch them as they didn't really sprout at all. :-(

We managed only a very small harvest of the beans as they went mouldy and we had to abandon them.  The parsnips were very small, hardly worth the effort.  So, in general, we were quite disheartened and have decided to go back to planting seedlings from Arcadia Nursery in the new year once I've prepared the beds a bit more.  Although, Leeanne just told me that she's going to have another go at the seeds since we have them and we don't want to waste them. Perhaps a bit more self education will help us get it right next time.

Leeanne also planted some strawberries from the Digger Club's which taste great but yield very little.  Photos and movies of these events are following.  :-)

Potted Strawberries

Looks great but not too many to harvest. Taste great though!

Planted Strawberries and Parsnips

Our attempt at planting winter seeds saw only a fews parsnips grow.  They are very small but taste great!  Here you can also see our strawberries.

Strawberries Close Up

Winter Crop Flashback ...

Here we have a very good shot of our peas and parsnips developing nicely taken on 05/10/10.  The potential looks great.  Sadly, we had limited success. :-(

The Sad Remains of Our Winter Planting .....

Here we see the sad remains of our winter planting.  Note the removal of the snow and sugar snap peas.  A very sad act Indra had to do when they became inedible as a result of mould.  However, you can see the parsnips (front of shot) and the passionfruit climber (in the middle of the shot), the only remnants of our winter planting.  :-)

Energymark @ Phillip Bay

Leeanne and I put up our hands to convene a group for CSIRO's Energymark Project, <http://www.csiro.au/science/Energymark.html>, a new free program designed to get local people together to talk and learn about energy, climate change and what we can do to help reduce our carbon footprint and power bills.

We meet every second Wednesday and have completed two meeting so far.  There are nine participants, most of whom are pictured above, discussing matters sustainable as it relates to energy, climate change, our carbon footprint, waste and water.  This is very relevant to us as we try to lead by example in our community.

Vegie Garden Update .....

We haven't done any planting since our unsuccessful winter attempts last year and because of Leeanne's back issue and many other activities in which I have been involved. However, all is not lost.

We finally ordered two 1.1 metre high galvanised garden beds, one 3.0m x 1.2m, the other, 1.4 metre diameter round. We are going to recycle polystyrene packing cases to build up the level to install no dig gardens.  We plan to plant a few dwarf fruit trees in due course.

I'll keep you posted .........

Earth Hour SMH Article!

It's with great pride that our blog here led to the Sydney Morning Herald contacting us and interviewing me for a rather large article about what we've been doing with our home as part of a wrap around for their Earth Hour edition on Friday, March 25.

Here's the link to the digital version of the story: http://smh.domain.com.au/real-estate-news/modest-outlay-for-a-model-of-s...

Wormfarm Workshop & Neighbourhood Picnic, Saturday, April 30.

Ania and Leeanne are organising our second workshop.  This is part of the Compost Revolution's Compost Week which is celebrating International Compost Awareness Week, May 1-7. 

Join us on Saturday, April 30, from 11 AM, to learn about setting up your own wormfarm.  All participants will get a voucher from Randwaick City Council to pick up a free wormfarm.  Here's a link to the website: http://reduceyourfootprint.com.au/events/neighbourhood-compost-events/

Please email Leeanne <leeannetyle (at) yahoo (dot) com (dot) au> ASAP if you wish to take part.

We are also hosting a Phillip Bay Neighbourhood Picnic Lunch at Fred Williams' Park, opposite our place, after the wormfarm workshop, from 12:30 PM.  You can come to either or both events, so please email Leeanne if you wish to attend.

We Enter Origin Energy's Sustainability Drive Competition!

Origin Energy is running a nation wide competition called Sustainability Drive: http://sustainabilitydrive.com.au

 

We have recently entered Origin Energy’s Sustainability Drive Competition: http://sustainabilitydrive.com.au on behalf of the residents of Oorana Ave, Phillip Bay.

Origin Energy is offering up to $1 Million in sustainable energy technology and expertise to winners on four Australian streets.

That's up to $250,000 worth of prizes being given away to up to 20 households on each street. This could include:

  • Solar panel system:
  • Energy efficient hot water system:
  • Electricity supply including 100% GreenPower for 12 months (up to $3,000 value inc GST):
  • Natural gas supply including Green Gas for 12 months (up to $2,000 value inc GST):
  • Home Energy Audit to assess and help lower your energy use:
  • In home display to monitor and manage your energy use.

We could also feature in Origin’s TV commercials to help spread the word about sustainability.  To get involved, please email me on <sustainability(at)exemail(dot)com(dot)au>.

 So find our entry and register your support.  It is FREE to join our entry.

The competition closes 11:59 PM, May 15, 2011, so please reply ASAP to increase your chances of winning.

 

Our New Susty St Street Sign and Two New Raised Vegie Beds!

Here you'll see Susty St Phillip Bay's new street sign, installed courtesy of Randwick City Council, and what we've been doing in the backyard to ready it for our two new raised vegie beds!

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