The fact that Sydney’s water reserves have hit an all-time low (below 40 per cent), and that the city is said to only have two years left of stored water really freaks me out. This trend is also reflected throughout most areas of Australia.

According to non profit consumer organisation CHOICE, Australia is the driest inhabited continent and predictions are that the future is likely to get hotter and drier. Plus, per person, Australians are the biggest water consumers in the world.

Therefore the next big ticket item I plan to strike off my wish list is a water tank. (more…)

I’m right in the middle of environmentalist/scientist Tim Flannery’s book The Weather Makers.

So far it’s an excellent read. He has just been named the 2007 Australian of the year.

Green blog Treehugger recently launched its Green Guides. The guides aim to help people easily green their lives and understand why they need to make the change.

So far Treehugger has guides on greening your: work, gifts, electricity, wardrobe, meals, water, lighting, car, heating and public transport. Keep checking back because they aim to eventually have over 100 guides. So go on, get greening!

Imagine giving up money, your car, electricity from the grid, town water, supermarket goods, junk food and chocolate for six months! Linda Cockburn, her partner Trevor and son Caleb did just that as an experiment and adventure into domestic sustainability.

While living in their suburban Queensland home, Linda writes her experiences in a book called Living the Good Life. During this journey Linda and her family grow their own food, draw electricity from the sun, water from the heavens, transport power from bike pedals, goods from bartering and health from their lifestyle. (more…)

You’ve heard of red light districts, well what about green light districts?

The Greenpeace folk over in The Netherlands have been at it again. They have moved on from toxic sex toys to greening Amsterdam’s red light districts by replacing the red light bulbs with green, energy efficient ones.

It’s all part of a Dutch campaign to get 1 million extra energy efficient light bulbs installed in the Netherlands. Now that’s what I call creative and effective campaigning.

I’m back after a nice break. Besides the usual Christmas and New Year’s cheer, the garden has been a hive of activity. The highlight this Christmas is my fabulous new greenhouse, which my husband and father-in-law built me.

It’s awesome because I now have a place to raise my seedlings, store my gardening tools, regenerate struggling plants and just potter about. My father-in-law even installed a light so I can play during the evening, and just about spend my life out there.

We have also had a lot of rain so the vege patch is coming to life with tomatoes (seven different types), basil and cucumbers. The pumpkin, capsicum, zucchini and passionfruit plants are also taking off. Check out my summer garden.