Painting the town white is green!

After a hot, still day parts of the city can be up to seven degrees hotter than the surrounding countryside. Dr Andrew Coutts, of Monash University's Centre for Water Sensitive Cities, says a phenomenon known as the ''urban heat island'' effect means that built-up zones are often warmer than rural areas, particularly after dark.

''Urban areas store heat during the day and slowly release it during the night,'' he says. ''Meanwhile, rural areas can cool rapidly because soil and vegetation don't store as much warmth.''

The urban heat island effect is present all year round, but it becomes a problem during the hotter months.

Click here to read the full article and find out what can you do to sink the heat island.

Community sows seeds of open gardens

Agriculture in the Sydney basin, the food bowl of Australia's largest city, is shrinking at an alarming rate.

A study by the New South Wales Department of Industry and Investment shows just over 1,000 vegetable farms remain, covering an area of just 2,000 hectares - less than the Sydney city government area.

The report predicts half of these farms will disappear when the north-west and the south-west growth areas earmarked by the State Government are developed in the next 20 years. Read full article on Chippendale Gardens here.

Farmers of the urban footpath – design guidelines for street verge gardens

FARMING THE FOOTPATH—it’s been going on for some time in our cities but the last few years have brought an upsurge of interest.  It’s one of those ideas that is now capturing the public imagination and we are starting to see more and more street verge gardens, many of them growing food.

Most verge plantings have so far been created by gardeners who know what they are doing, but the recent burst of popularity suggests that a little thought before acting might be a good thing. There is concern in local government, which is responsible for public footpaths, that street verge gardens might be planted to inappropriate species and could interfere with underground services such as water, gas and sewage pipes or block easy access to and from the street.

There are design solutions to these reservations.

It can be confusing for local government when they are approached by people wanting to make a verge garden or who have already turned their nature strip to citrus and cabbage, nuts or natives. Rather than think how this could be done well, there have been incidents where councils have ordered the removal of verge gardens or removed them themselves.  However, for councils willing to creatively engage with citizens in this new use of public land, a little design thinking can ensure that planted street verges—edible and otherwise—are made to a high standard of safety, access and finish. Where councils decide to go with the flow of public interest and enable street verge plantings, publication of a set of design and planting guidelines can be a great help.

This article introduces current thinking on street verge gardening. Read the full article.

Homes made from Plastic Bottles + Greenhouses, too!

Check this places out!

Eco-Tec's Ecoparque El Zamorano, Honduras.
Ecological House: Constructed with 8,000 bottles with composting toilets and a solar water heating system. The green roof can weigh 30 tons when wet and has been supported by the walls without any extra reinforcement. It is the first house in the world made from PET bottles without using cement in the walls.

Ecological Bottle House, near the Iguazu Falls, Misiones, Argentina.
Alfredo Santa Cruz and his family built this house and matching play house out of used plastic bottles, Tetra Packs and CD cases. They used 1200 PET plastic bottles for the walls, 1300 milk and wine Tetra Pack boxes for the roof, 140 CD cases for the doors and windows, plus 320 PET bottles for the furniture.

Water bottle wall in Danone office, Tokyo.

Great idea as partitions in an office!

Eco-Tec's aquaduct...

See more here: InspirationGreen.org

Read more about it here: Eco-Tec.com

Plastic Bottle Homes

80% of the 160 billion plastic bottles produced every year are not recicled! See how can we use them!

Vegetable patches to go

Neighbours Amelia James and Emer Diviney live in tiny houses with tiny gardens in North Fitzroy, Melbourne.

So they decided to turn the dead-end lane next to the house Ms James shares with husband Peter Kudlicki and daughter Rose, 8, into an inner-city oasis. Read the full article.

 Little Veggie Patch Co - Edible gardens to go!

CarriageWorks’ Sustainable Works

CarriageWorks’ Sustainable Works is a series of free community workshops exploring creative sustainability on the last Saturday of every month from 10am to 12pm.

Each month there’ll be three different workshops that you can join in on – it’s your pick!

Workshop topics will be vast and varied, including no-dig gardening, bush tucker basics, bike safety, public art, bartering, revamping your rethreads, soil prep and much more.

To participate in a Workshop you must register on the day. You can register from 8.30am at CarriageWorks’ barn doors, opposite Eveleigh Markets. Class sizes are limited, first in best dressed.

If you're really interested in creating or maintaining a kitchen garden, you can come down a little earlier at 9am and join our Kitchen Garden Club. It’s an informal discussion led by garden experts where you can swap gardening notes, wax-lyrical about organic home grown veggies, composting, soil prep and more, and trade excess food. More info here.

Saturday 30 April Workshops 

Workshop 1. Earthly Delights
Is your dirt being difficult? Expert Ichsani will teach you the basics to getting the most out of your soil.

Workshop 2. Getting Weedy
Diego from Weedy takes you foraging for common weeds that can be used for food and medicine.

Workshop 3. Reverse Robots
Get robotic with it! Create retro, rad robot masks and outfits out of recycled and repurposed goods with Reverse Garbage. 

Upcoming dates for your diary:
Saturday 30 April
Saturday 28 May
Saturday 25 June

Compost Cocktails Anyone?

To celebrate Compost Week head down to Bondi FM Café for Compost Cocktails and nibbles. Try our compost quiz and share your ideas for a sustainable future full of compost and worm love.

Bondi FM Cafe, Curlewis St, Bondi

When: April 30, 2011, Saturday 30 April, 6-8pm

View full invite click here

More details click here

Fresh organic and chemical free produce from local farms

Food Connect Sydney is a social enterprise that links farmers with city folk. It sources organic and chemical free produce from local farms within five hours of Sydney. Food Connect Sydney Subscribers receive a weekly box of fruit and vegetables that is picked up from a City Cousin in your neighbourhood.

Food Connect Sydney wants to challenge conventional, profit-driven food supply systems and to become thought leaders in the fresh food market, providing consumers with food with integrity.

Their aim is to challenge people to:

• think about where their food comes from
• what food quality means to them and
• the impacts of chemical farming on their health and that of the farmers and the natural environment

VISIT: http://sydney.foodconnect.com.au/

Food supply causes the second highest greenhouse pollution after power stations

According to the NSW government: "In Australia, the food supply chain is responsible for approximately 23 per cent of Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions, making it the second-highest emissions generating activity after power stations. This includes direct emissions from agriculture, and those attributed to energy, transport, food production, processing and distribution."

Read there full acticle HERE