Our journey towards a syntropic food forest has started a couple of months ago.
Sustainability
Category: Sustainability
People
Sustainable Adventures
I have been looking at business sales websites for many years, approached a few sellers, but nothing ever come of it. That changed because
Sustainability
First Motorised Vehicle I Own (in 4 years)
When we came back from our journey around the world in 2017, we decided to further reduce our footprint. One decision was not to buy a car, but instead share cars from friends. Living in Noosa means that there are no car sharing services here. We were lucky and forever grateful to two friends who live in the same road as we do and were happy to share their cars. We write down all our km and calculate $0.30 per km, which we mostly offset by buying petrol. The communication around who uses which car when, has created even…
Sustainability
The only reason to be in business is to make money!
When I hear people say that, it reminds me of bees. Their only reason of existence is to collect honey (ok, pollen). Of course I can’t hold still and have to talk about my truth: that there is more to business than making money. That it is a vehicle to increase the wellbeing of everyone connected to the business (the employees, the clients, the suppliers, our planet). The argument comes back: “Maybe. But without money none of these other things can be done. So it all comes back to money. Therefore the only reason to be in business is…
Sustainability
World Environment Day
I have recently started to support the Sunshine Coast Environment Council in the preparations for World Environment Day. I am just hovering around the edges and helping to call a few green companies who might be suitable as exhibitors. 31 May at the University of the Sunshine Coast. 5,000 people are expected with Professor Ian Lowe and Mayor Bob Abbot talking in a forum. Entertainment for adults and children, 20-30 community groups, lots of displays. When you compare it to the number of people living in Melbourne and on the Sunshine Coast, it is probably bigger than the Sustainable…
Sustainability
Nature Knows No Waste
On the last day of the Sustainable Living Festival I sat near the Yarra River with a friend I had not seen in four years. We had a wonderful time and suddenly she spotted a bike in the water. Rubbish! How could anyone do that? It was probably stolen, too. Just dumped into this pristine nature (well, pretty clean anyway). So I got it out. And what wonder it was. It could not have been in there for too long, the wheels were still turning. But it was full of life. Lots of tiny water plants and shells were…
Sustainability
Noosa Population Cap, is it really Sustainable?
I had an interesting conversation with one of our local councillors two days ago. Noosa (the community I live in) has been really innovative and forward thinking and worked out how many people can be sustained by its resources. They looked at water, infrastructure and giving nature enough space. Taking all this into account, the number of people that Noosa can accommodate was calculated. This figure was called the population cap. It is nothing enforcible by law, not directly anyway, just the number of people who can sustainably live in this shire. To make sure the population does not…
Finance
Raise Profits: Become More Sustainable
If you want to raise profits, becoming more sustainable is a great way to achieve that. This was probably the biggest message I got from the Sustainable Living Festival in Melbourne last weekend. And I also got a better insight into the most important step for becoming sustainable. Build Your Community At the very core of all companies that presented was the realisation that it is all about people. Rather than seeing staff as numbers who contribute to the bottom line, an appreciation of the individual and their contribution is needed. Tim Cotter, a psychologist showed that human values…
Sustainability
Sustainable Living Festival, Melbourne
The first day of the Sustainable Living Festival is drawing to a close. I’ll be writing in more detail, here just a quick summary of what my impressions are so far. Even though the Festival is in its 6th year right in CBD Melbourne, it is still mainly converted that visit it. That might change on the weekend, though. Small companies are run by people that believe in the importance of sustainability. They cannot answer any questions with regards to the financial bottom line: What do consumers save? Larger companies are really onto the savings that can be achieved…
Sustainability
From $714 million to $5.18 billion
2001: $714 million 2002: $899 million 2003: $1.7 billion 2004: $1.8 billion 2005: $2.5 billion 2006: $3.6 billion 2007: $5.18 billion No, this is not how much money Bill Gates has made. It is the investment in Green-tech over the last few years (in North America and Europe). Sounds promising at first glance. But one detail Cnet News Green-tech Blog added struck me: “Energy generation was the most active sector with 172 deals, totaling $2.75 billion.” It struck me, because of another post in there: “Do environmentalists contribute to global warming?” It is about how clean nuclear energy is.…