Regrow Qld 8 February 2023 Issue 5 Vol 4
Cyclone prep, Compost Tea workshop, Good News, Take action on wine bottles, light pollution, Tesla Dream Car blog and Greg defies death by heatstroke.
Editorial
Anna Hitchcock
As we move into late summer and the cyclone season starts, it’s time for my annual pantry check and restock.
Here are some things I make sure I do:
Frozen food
Eat through what’s in the freezer and then defrost it properly - if your freezer is working better, the food inside will last longer if you lose power and you’ll have less watery mess to clean up. I have now restocked with a minimum of raw meat and a lot of ready to eat meals. These are pre cooked so you could easily heat the contents up in a saucepan or just eat them cold.
Canned food
Many people make the mistake of choosing canned food with ingredients for meals, instead of ‘eat straight from the can’ options. If we are without power for an extended period of time there is plenty of baked beans and spaghetti in the cupboard which can be eaten cold. Soups and stews are good as well, as they take very little gas to heat up.
Fresh food
I focus on buying a minimum of fresh food so there isn’t a fridge full to spoil. I choose things that will keep easily and what’s in season. How to know what’s in season? It will be cheap! The in-season fruit and veg is often in cheap bulk bags at the front of the store. If it’s past its prime you can cut the bad sections off and use the rest for fruit salad or for smoothies.
We’re making a lot of banana smoothies lately. They’re very simple: Ice, banana, and then either a milk and vanilla combination or a fresh fruit and juice mixture. The banana makes a great substitute for ice cream and an icy cold slushie in this weather is just what the doctor ordered.
Have a quick look at what’s in your pantry and think about a little disaster prep. It can’t hurt.
Anna
Project Update
We’re excited to announce our first public workshop on the DIY Instant Compost Tea that we have been developing behind the scenes. The first session of this two-part workshop will be held on Thursday 23 February in Calliope and will show you this simple technique to better plant growth, better yields and more resilient plants (see the flyer below).
There will be a follow up field day on 9 March at Bracewell for workshop participants.
Please RSVP by Thursday 16th February to - gladconscouncil@gmail.com
Good News
This week’s Good News comes from ABC’s The Bright Side newsletter - You can subscribe here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/subscribe/
Upside down Wheelie bins protect cat traps
Christmas Island, known for its biodiversity, aims to eradicate its feral cat population by 2025. Parks Australia removed 300 cats from the island in 2022, and there are an estimated 240 cats left. Initially, Christmas Island's robber crabs tampered with the automated traps used to catch the cats. To address this, staff covered the traps with upside-down wheelie bins fitted with solar panels and a grill over the front. The use of these grooming traps helped with the culling of 300 cats last year. Feral cats have contributed to the extinction of some island species and pose a threat to the survival of 120 nationally listed threatened species. Parks Australia expects to reduce the number of feral cats to a few dozen by the end of 2023 and will use thermal vision drones, environmental DNA detection and biosecurity dogs in the mop-up stage.
Read the full article here
Colourful seaweed a valuable harvest
A Port Lincoln fishing company in Australia is farming native seaweed and turning it into liquid fertiliser, chicken feed and a food pigment worth $250,000 per kilogram. The process will also create cleaner water for nearby tuna (being fattened up for the Japanese sashimi market) and other finfish aquaculture, while utilizing the tuna aquaculture site year-round. The project is a joint SA government and industry research program, and the seaweed will be farmed for the first time in Australia. The project is expected to have benefits for the environment, the global demand for seaweed and fish-based fertiliser, and create jobs in the area.
Read the full article here
Pocket forests in the Amazon
Following on from our story last week about Miyawaki forests in Paris, pocket forests are also popping up in the Amazon. 14,734 hectares have been reforested using the Miyawaki method, which can restore nature to its original state in around six years. The secret to its speed lies in that it understands the forest as a society … a living ecosystem that continuously renovates itself. Mongabay
Take Action
In case you have not had a chance to have your say on including wine and spirit bottles in the Container Deposit Scheme
Toby Hutcheon - Boomerang Alliance
The deadline for submissions is 20th February 2023
Please have your say and Say YES to these questions
To complete the survey you will need to register and if you have registered before you will have to register again (they don't explain this)
NSW, ACT, WA and Qld are moving to add these items and SA will likely follow the others. NT, Vic and Tas will add them in later.
What is Light pollution and why does it matter?
Read the original article by Phil Plait in Scientific American here
Summary:
Light pollution is defined as the excess light that is thrown into the sky from ground lighting, including streetlamps, cities, and houses. The problem with this is that it makes the sky glow and washes out the stars, making it harder to see the stars at night. A recent study showed that light pollution is increasing by 10% per year globally, which is a concern for astronomers.
The shift from incandescent bulbs to LED lights has had a negative impact on light pollution. LED lights are brighter and have a bluer cast than incandescent bulbs. The measurement of light pollution has mostly been done using satellites, which are not very sensitive to blue light and may undermeasure the amount of light. Blue light scatters more than red light, causing a lot of the light to be reflected back to the ground, making the sky glow even brighter.
The author expresses remorse for not considering the impact of the bluer lights on light pollution when they were first introduced and further research and action are needed to address the growing problem.
Light pollution steals the stars from us and it is imperative to take action.
Editor’s note: Dark night skies also an important for beach nesting turtles as excess light from land can disorient both adults and hatchlings.
Tesla Dream Car blog #70
Arthur Hunt
As I write this blog, my wife and I have already commenced a car trip to Tasmania which I will report in my next blog. We have booked the car on the Spirit of Tasmania to cross Bass Strait. It is no problem to drive long distances with the aid of cruise control and autopilot.
Recently, we have been making frequent short trips between Yeppoon and Emu Park along Tanby Road. After we leave the roundabout at Yeppoon, we use the lever on the right-hand side of the steering wheel to activate cruise control. This makes the car accelerate up to the speed limit of 60 km/h. We then click it twice more to select autopilot which steers the car. As we pass the 80 speed sign, we click the lever again to select the higher speed, then repeat this at the 100 speed sign. When the cameras read the next 80 sign, the car slows automatically and then speeds up again when the next 100 sign is read. This is repeated in other speed zones. Finally, the car slows to 60 approaching Emu Park. It is thus possible to travel from Yeppoon to Emu Park without using the brake or the accelerator or any steering input. On a divided highway, when the turn indicator is activated, the autopilot effects a lane change automatically. All this assistance makes long trips much less tiring.
Updates to our car software and to the Tesla app continue to provide improved features. Since the contact list in our mobile phones are now visible on the car monitor via Bluetooth, it is now possible to select a destination for the GPS system from the addresses in the contacts list.
Sales of electric vehicles in Australia are increasing rapidly. David Waterworth has reported in Clean Technical newsletter, that “the penetration of EVs into the Australian new vehicle market now sits at approximately 6%. This is almost triple January 2022’s figure. Tesla accounted for two thirds of these sales.”
The Tesla Model 3 was the third highest selling vehicle in January, behind the Ford Ranger and the Hilux. This is good news but it has brought some problems. Some buyers have rushed into a purchase without doing their homework.
Recently the Courier Mail reported that social media personality Luke Erwin took to TikTok to complain about his new Tesla Model 3. He complained that the cabin was hot due to the glass roof - he had not investigated the shades which are available on line or made use of the effective cabin pre-cooling. He complained about the cost of the autopilot options – he had not investigated the option packages before purchase. He complained about the cost of using Tesla superchargers because he mistakenly thought they were free. He also complained about the time needed to charge from zero to 100% although a full charge is rarely required. Finally, he complained that the monthly $10 subscription to entertainment streaming packages was a surprise although it is explained in Tesla marketing. There is a huge amount of information available online about electric vehicles, starting with the Tesla website. Readers are encouraged to research the facts if they are considering a purchase. Our experience and that of most EV owners has been very positive.
The other problem that has arisen from increased EV sales is that queues have formed at EV charging stations, especially during peak holiday travel times. The installation of new chargers is lagging behind the increase in EV numbers and this has been made worse by delays in repairing faulty chargers. For example, the public charger near the Rockhampton library was out of action for some days. It is expected that these teething problems will be solved in the next 12 months, but new owners need to check the availability and location of chargers on the Plugshare app.
In the USA, the Energy & Capital newsletter (27/1/23), the writer argues against government support for electric vehicles. “In an honest free market, progress always wins — and without any help from Uncle Sam. It’s why we now drive cars instead of horses and buggies. It’s why we now use cellphones instead of rotary phones. It’s why we use over-the-counter pain relievers to treat headaches instead of leeches and blood-letting. This idea that the government needs to “guide us” to “go green” or buy electric cars is absurd. We’re already buying them!” The writer expects to profit from investment in electric vehicle companies; he just doesn’t agree with government support. But this argument ignores the fact that governments have introduced many public safety regulations in the past – compulsory seat belts, increased taxes on tobacco to discourage smoking, lead-free petrol to improve air quality - to name a few.
Support for electric vehicles is no different, with governments aiming for essential reductions in air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions to benefit current and future generations. A free market alone will not bring change fast enough.
Arthur
Opinion
Greg Bray
Death Defiance is NOT Cool
Folks, I regularly dabble in Death Defiance and, apparently, my three-year-old grandson is a chip off the ol’, thick, block.
Look I’ve gone through this topic before (Hullo Regular Readers!), so it’s no secret I really don’t enjoy February in Queensland.
Actually, February anywhere on Planet Earth is a bit of a ‘blah’ month.
In the northern hemisphere, they’re ticking off the cold, grey, days til Spring comes, and below the equator we’re sweatily lolling about until Autumn returns.
Anyway, last week, as the grass was growing like Triffids on steroids, I left the cool, air-conditioned house, and swaggered into Hell’s Kitchen to fire up the whipper snipper.
Sure, it might kill me to keep the yard looking trim and neat, but nobody at my funeral could say I was the slacker who let down the tone of the street!
Also, I like to think of myself as the Mowing Evel Knievel.
In no time at all I was giggling as the scorched lizards on the retaining wall sang along with the Disney tune ‘Frozen’ rattling through my foggy brain.
One of the first symptoms of heat stroke is ‘Reason’ going MIA. Which was why I didn’t turn off the mower, go back inside and cool down. Instead, I decided mowing faster was the answer, so I sped up.
The only thing I ended up doing quicker was, slowing down.
Soon I was mowing like a zombie. And through the watery, humid, haze loomed a little figure pushing a plastic mower.
It was my grandson.
Sweat was dripping off his hats’ brim and his feet were sloshing about in his tiny gumboots.
‘Have a go at this little lunatic!’ I thought and immediately shut down the mower.
I picked him up, staggered inside and sat under a fan.
I wasn’t sure if you should give kids hydrolytes or beer (but he’d bloody well earned it!) so I poured several glasses of water down his throat instead.
As I waited to see if we needed hospitalisation, I ruffled his hair and said, “Good job little mate,” and vowed never to put him through that exercise again.
As the blood trickled back to my brain, it occurred to me he might not have a choice, because I’m fairly certain things are going to get a lot hotter, much sooner, thanks to our generations casual attitude to rectifying climate change.
So, by the time my little lawn apprentice is my age, in another 50 years or so, things might have reached the point where 40-degree days, with blinding humidity, will be the norm not only in February but for several months of the year.
What that will be like to live with is almost unthinkable.
For starters, any pets living outside will die in that sort of heat. Actually, most things that aren’t cacti, camels or Triffids are going to die in that sort of heat.
Working outdoors, or even walking to the mailbox in the middle of the afternoon, would be almost impossible.
Perhaps it’s time to teach the young bloke smarter habits, starting with mowing at a much cooler, less sunny, time of the day?
Of course, the neighbours might get a bit tetchy about me firing up the whipper snipper at 1am, but it would scratch my itch to dabble in Death Defiance.
Cheers,