A film by Tanya Curnow, 2006.

EAT THE SUBURBS takes the oil debate from the bowser to the backyard and follows Melbourne’s “permablitzers” as they prepare for the end of the oil age… one garden at a time.

Made 2006 but online for the first time now.

It’s an excellent 9 minutes, the only short film I know of which deals specifically with peak oil and food issues. Eat The Suburbs received its world premiere at the 2007 Hot Docs International Film Festival which is one of the most prestigious in the world. I got undue credit at the end, as other people speak a lot more than me including the uncredited, and most wonderful, Megan Floris and Matt Daniele.

My only minor misgiving is that Tanya happened to film it at the first young activist crowd dominated permablitz, whereas usually there isn’t a single culture or age group that dominates the blitzes. One of the things I like about them is that they do get you out of cultural ghettos and meet people from lots of backgrounds and ages. Not that I have a problem with youngish activisty crowd, some of my best friends etc etc…

Note: The film happens to take its name from this blog, and I helped Tanya a little bit develop the idea but there’s no formal connection.

Links:
Richard Heinberg: www.richardheinberg.com
Permablitz: www.permablitz.net

Hopkins’ The Transition Handbook has just been released.  I don’t have my copy yet, but knowing the history and Rob’s writing here’s what I’m sure is a suitably gushy review:

Review of The Transition Handbook

By Richard Barnett, editor of Pulse.

The newly published Transition Handbook is so important that I am tempted just to confine this review to five simple words ‘You must read this book!‘ But to do so would, of course, completely fail to communicate its message which is, I believe, so profound and inspiring that I want to do my very best to encourage its spread far and wide. Rob Hopkins is described on the book cover as ‘The Founder of the Transition Movement’. I would add to that that he is a superb communicator, visionary and one of the most important thinkers in our chaotic 21^st century world.Like many people I have been hearing snippets about Transition Towns for quite a while now. It seemed an interesting, if faintly ‘New Agey’, thing adopted by the usual suspects and really rather marginal at best. But now I know what it’s all about and for the first time in years I can feel genuine hope for the future.

The subtitle for the book is ‘From oil dependency to local resilience’ and that’s exactly the journey you are taken on when you read it. It’s divided into three sections – The Head, The Heart and The Hands – in other words get your mind round the need, become impassioned and then get working. It will engender very different reactions in readers depending on their current point of view and understanding. But I guarantee that everyone will feel a sense of change once they have read it.

The first section, The Head, starts with some familiar territory – climate change. Hopkins succinctly presents the key facts and issues that have gained so much attention in the last few years. He then moves on to what might be regarded as more esoteric ground – Peak Oil. Reactions to reading that term will have already occurred when you read it. For some it will be a reasonably well understood concept, for others something that has vaguely entered their consciousness, still others may not have come across it.

Wherever you stand at the moment I guarantee that you will learn more by reading this book. For the uninitiated, Peak Oil describes the point at which production of the world’s finite store of ‘liquid gold’ starts to decline in real terms. There is much debate about when this will happen, or indeed whether it has already happened. But one thing is certain – it will occur, and it will require fundamental shifts in the way we live. The price alone, of what will be increasingly scarce commodity, will dictate a radical new approach to energy and global economics.

Hopkins’ feels that oil has brought with it so many wonderful things that we have become addicted to it. And he invokes the language of addiction to consider how we wean ourselves of it. The ‘cost’ of our addiction in one sense is that the nature of communities and local networks that existed pre ‘The Age of Cheap Oil’ has vanished and our current world is shakily reliant on global infrastructures powered by cheap energy.

The twin threats of climate change and peak oil, which have to be viewed together, require drastic action to prepare for a way of life that can be sustainable. This is a scary prospect but Hopkins presents a positive framework within which to undertake the changes. The Transition Town model begins with the notion of building ‘resilience’ back into our villages, towns and cities so that they can continue to function without the underpinning cheap energy we currently take for granted.

Resilience is a truly positive and dynamic concept. It urges us to rediscover the potential for local production of food, services and goods that was commonplace only a few decades ago. To rebuild the kind of networks and close links that enabled people to actually know who lives next door and talk face to face with craftsmen and food producers. To rediscover how best to make use of local resources for building.

This is no rose tinted pipe dream. There are Transition Town initiatives in place across the UK. It is a fast growing movement that makes so much sense. Importantly it is about change coming from the community upwards rather than being imposed from above. And the book is packed with ideas, examples and suggestions that will help us all to move in this direction.

I could write pages about what I have just read but the best way I can conclude is to return to my original idea and say ‘You must read this book!‘

More at: www.transitiontowns.org and www.transitionculture.org

Over at Transition Culture, Transition Towns founder Rob Hopkins writes: Transition Sunshine Coast has just been officially awarded its Transition status, bringing the concept to Australia for the first time. It is a real sign of how rapidly the idea is spreading, and the enthusiasm with which people are picking it up (you can read their press release here). Sonya Wallace, one of the people behind the initiative, recently wrote a piece on her website which explains how she first became interested in the concept, which she has kindly allowed me to post below. It offers an interesting insight into how this work is inspiring people in their communities. Heartening stuff.

Bringing together ideas from around the world by Sonya Wallace.

I don’t know about you, but I’m really concerned about climate change and peak oil. I mean really concerned – lay awake at night concerned.

Sometimes I feel like I’m the only person who is, but it doesn’t take long on the laptop to find plenty of other people who feel the same way.

I find inspiration browsing through my list of favourites and seeing all the other individuals and groups who are trying their hardest to do something and to make changes despite, at times, immense opposition and apathy.

These sites have become places of inspiration and kinship for me even when I don’t know the people involved. When I feel like giving up, a quick connection to the www and there they all are – busy networking, educating, offering their skills and time and most importantly of all inspiring others all hours of the day and night, every day of the year.

It’s heartening to know that around the globe people are joining together and starting to generate positive action focussed on local, practical solutions.

Like me, people are being buoyed along by texts such as Powerdown and the Oil Depletion Protocol by Richard Heinberg, groups such as the Post Carbon Institute and Community Solutions, site like this one and, particularly for me personally, the work of people like David Holmgren in Australia and Rob Hopkins in the UK.

Now some communities and councils are starting to plan, prepare and make changes for a positive post carbon future thanks to the words and actions of these leaders. More and more groups are coming online all the time and there would be a whole lot more who are online, but are still working very hard in their own communities to get action moving forward.

Here on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland Australia, things seem fine and dandy, we worship the sun and surf, we celebrate our coastal lifestyle – the envy of many who make this their holiday destination year after year.

We enjoy good rainfall at our place despite the rest of the country being in a severe drought. Our rainwater tanks are full, our soil here on our little farm is excellent and full of organic matter, plants grow overnight in our subtropical climate, our chooks enjoy a diet better than most humans thanks to our excess. We have plenty of fresh organic food to eat, clean water to drink, and the air is clean and clear.

Which makes it so much harder to convince people this is under threat and is going to change unless we do something NOW.

We are vulnerable, our food supply is fragile, water is wasted in irresponsible and immoral ways, solutions from government are ludicrous at best, downright dangerous at worst.

Not being one to sit around and complain – well, not much and not without coming up with some sort of solution eventually – a couple of us, both with permaculture backgrounds, got together to try to come up with a solution.

But what could I offer. My background is in corporate communications, strategic planning and crisis management within government agencies and universities, I left full-time work last year to put my time and energy into permaculture. Rather than ignoring my ‘past life’ skills, I’ve decided to embrace them and use them to communicate as best I can about these critical issues.

After years as a ‘book permaculturist’, that is reading all I could about the concept, I finally completed my Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) last year with local Sunshine Coast permaculture educator and now my mentor, Janet Millington.

The PDC uses Bill Mollison’s text: Permaculture, A Designer’s Manual, as its basis and applies permaculture principles to the landscape to create sustainable human settlements – needs such as food, water, shelter and energy are all addressed in a way that not only complements but also aims to improve the land.

Just prior to my PDC I attended a presentation by David Holmgren, co-originator of permaculture, at the local university. He spoke about ‘regional sustainability in an energy descent future’ and mentioned the Kinsale model of action planning – he inspired me to ‘do something’.

Also, Andi Hazelwood from Global Public Media was in my PDC group and she spoke about relocalisation and I started a group in my local area.

Dots were starting to join up for me. Solutions were on the horizon. There was light at the end of the tunnel and it wasn’t a train!

Reading Holmgren’s book, I found his seven domains of action compelling. It addresses everything we need to fix. the built environment, tools and technology, culture and education, health and spiritual wellbeing, finances and economics, land tenure and community governance and land and nature stewardship.

Here was the basis of the practical framework we needed for social reorganisation to prepare for energy descent. Excellent, the blueprint was there, all we had to do was put it into action.

With the support and guidance of Janet and her expertise in curriculum development, we began working together, fleshing out a course that would apply Holmgren’s principles to regional energy descent preparedness.

I discovered Rob Hopkins’s Skilling Up for Powerdown course on the internet and we used that as a model for a course focusing on climate change and peak oil. We were on our way…

The course

So, the Time for an Oil Change course began to really take shape. The trial 10-week course started in July this year.

Each week we examine an area of our society that will be affected by energy descent. Each issue is discussed as to how it applies to our region specifically and how we can use permaculture to not only survive, but thrive. Permaculture principles are applied each week to determine the feasibility of solutions. We will look at – what is the current situation, what is the ideal situation and how do we get there?

Similar to the Skilling Up for Powerdown course, but specific to our region, weekly sessions cover;
Week 1 Social breakdown or social breakthrough? Permaculture, climate change and peak oil.
Week 2 You can’t work on an empty stomach – food production and supply, school and community gardens, home food production, community support agriculture.
Week 3 Waste not, want not – water, energy and waste management – household to bio-regional levels
Week 4 Setting foundations for the future – infrastructure and transportation, using existing oil supplies to the best advantage to prepare for the post-carbon future.
Week 5 A roof over our heads – new homes and retrofitting older homes, materials, developments, local industries
Week 6 Healthy communication – health systems, community health issues, hospital and emergency services, communication systems, information retrieval
Week 7 You can teach an old dog new tricks – education, re-skilling,
Week 8 Money, money, money – economics, finances, employment
Week 9 Finding common ground – community governance, land stewardship, public land use, community development, emergency preparedness.
Week 10 From little things big things grow – attitudes personal and community, future strategies and outcomes – where to from here?

Energy Descent Action Plan

Throughout the course, students work on developing individual and group projects as installments of the first Sunshine Coast Energy Descent Action Plan, and we have the support of our local council for this plan.

While developing the course it soon became apparent that we needed ongoing support for students to continue to progress the EDAP after the 10-week course. I didn’t like the idea of getting people all fired up and then not giving them an avenue to use that energy and to try out their ideas.

Also, I volunteer every Saturday morning at our local community gardens and I found visitors there were starting to link home food production with energy and water issues (we are currently on water restrictions with Australia in the midst of an extended period of drought). Offering the community the chance to learn more about energy and water issues from a permaculture perspective was appealing and the idea for the Sunshine Coast Energy Action Centre was born.

A community education centre is born

The Sunshine Coast Energy Action Centre (SEAC) operates out of an old Queenslander (a timber house built off the ground, common here in Queensland). The house is at our one and only community garden here on the Sunshine Coast.

SEAC is open every Saturday morning and our aim is to raise awareness in the community about peak oil, energy descent and the positive and practical solutions on offer.

With my background in communications and community education I’m following the path of; awareness – information – education – action – and hoping it makes a difference.

We run free weekly events including; dvd screenings, we have presentations by guest speakers from sustainable businesses, the local university sustainability section, and from within the permaculture network We offer free workshops (composting, worm farming) and free consultations. The Time for an Oil Change course runs straight after the SEAC information sessions.

My hopes for the Centre is that it becomes a one stop shop of information about action groups and activities on the Sunshine Coast, somewhere people can be inspired and find some respite from the mainstream material world and some hope for the future.

We provide resources and information so visitors can join an existing local group (such as climate change action or a relocalisation group), or – with support and guidance from SEAC – start their own group. Information about permaculture, re-skilling and related courses across the Coast is also available.

We plan to gradually retrofit the old house to demonstrate how that can be done while maintaining a high standard of living within a home. Being sustainable doesn’t mean sitting in the dark, in the cold and being hungry!

We offer the community a range of resources; books, dvds, web addresses, courses (from free community courses right through to university level), networking and social events will be organised with the aim of raising community awareness, informing, educating and empowering and hopefully inspiring the community into action. I hope one day, SEAC will emulate the Solar Living Institute in the US.

Richard Heinberg’s texts; Powerdown and the Oil Depletion Protocol also feature highly at SEAC and I am currently working on developing a way to enable individuals, businesses, organisations, communities, and councils to sign up to the protocol in our region.

Research

This all fits with my own personal aims too and a new direction in my life I didn’t expect to be taking. I am doing my Master in Communication, with the support of a great supervisor, and I plan to base my thesis on these projects; how we can best communicate the urgent need for action in the community, while at the same time empowering them into positive solutions rather than alienating them.

I hope to produce a document that is useful and user-friendly to others and can be shared around the place. A document that helps crack that forcefield of apathy in the community and finds ways to make people see the need for urgent and complete action.

Bringing all these ideas from around the world is made possible with time, energy and the internet! By applying permaculture principles to my time and energy – this was the best way for to obtain maximum yield.

I see a future when, as more and more people come ‘on-line’ looking for solutions they will be able to access websites with models of different action approaches from different bio-regions from around the world. A real virtual community of information sharing, support and extraordinary resources.

Being able to pick and choose the most appropriate scenario for their situation and add their own take on what works for them – we will be able to build a useful resource of information while networking and supporting each other as we develop these ideas and work together finding inspiration and information to bring the world into a successful energy descent region by region.

Despite being very concerned, I’m just as hopeful that we as a species can get ourselves out of this mess we’ve created and that we do have a very real chance at making a much better world for generations to come.

For information on the Time for an Oil Change course or SEAC email info@seac.net.au or visit www.seac.net.au

By; Sonya Wallace SEAC Coordinator & Relocalisation Coordinator Queensland Australia

Sonya lives on a couple of acres of permaculture food gardens at Eudlo on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland Australia with her husband John, their dog Barney, a stack of chooks and heaps of other creatures – wild and domestic. Determined to do as much as she possible can in her lifetime to raise awareness about peak oil, climate change, relocalisation and permaculture, Sonya is inspired to keep going by a great mentor, great networks and by her trusty www connections.

Links for further information and inspiration

SEAC www.seac.net.au
David Holmgren www.holmgren.com
Richard Heinberg www.richardheinberg.com
Global Public Media www.globalpublicmedia.com
Oil Depletion Protocol www.oildepletionprotocal.org
Eudlo Relocalisation Group www.relocalize.net/groups/eudlo
Transition Towns UK www.transitionculture.org
Solar Living Institute www.solarliving.org

What are permablitzes all about? How did they begin?
A permablitz is basically a permaculture-inspired backyard makeover where people come together to share knowledge and skills about organic food production in urban gardens while building community and having fun.

The basic idea is that by converting their lawns into organic food producing gardens, people will be able to back away from a dependence on industrial agriculture and the shipping of food back and forth across the world. At the same time, it makes organic eating accessible to more than just the upper-middle class. 

The whole permablitz thing started with a group called Codemo (Community Development Multicultural Organisation), a local community group composed primarily of South American immigrants. A permaculture geek named Dan Palmer started hanging out with the Codemo crew and after hearing him rave about the wonders of permaculture and the joys of having a backyard full of practically free organic vegies, and going round to see the amazing and beautiful permaculture system Dan and his housemates, Cat and Adrian, had created in their infamous Thomas Street backyard, some of them expressed interest in growing food in their own backyards.

The first permaculture backyard makeover was held in Dandenong at the home of Vilma from El Salvador. And permablitzes have been spreading all around Melbourne since.

Do you think permablitzes and similar DIY projects have the ability to enrich local communities and culture?
Definitely! Permablitzes involve a combination of learning, practicing and socialising. I'd say the social community-building aspect is just as important, or even moreso, than the garden makeover itself. In our socially atomised suburbs, with our tall fences separating our yards from our neighbours', its rare to get to know those living closest to us.

The permablitz I had at my place last Sunday gave me an opportunity to introduce myself to the old Greek couple next door and invite them round to share some of their gardening skills. A guy down the street who has a concrete yard has even been dropping his food scaps over so i could build up the castings in my worm farm in preparation. And a local lawn mower was dropping off his clippings at my place for the compost building workshop. On the day itself, I met quite a few local people for the first time who had heard about the blitz through the grapevine. On top of this, because it was Codemo who seeded off the permablitz concept, they have also offered fantastic opportunities to meet and spend time with a fun and diverse bunch of people – 76 year old Willie from Chile, for example, has been one most regular blitzers.  He's also one of the hottest dancers of the 'permasalsa' — most of the Codemo permablitzes end with drink and a dance.

After hearing about the permablitz idea, the coordinator of Jika Jika, a community center in Westgarth [an inner Melbourne suburb], has also requested a mini-permablitz be held in the gardens of a local public housing estate. The people who live there are supposedly pretty socially isolated so it will be interesting to see what comes out of holding a blitz and building a community garden with them. [I went along to this, and the tenants rock and are keen to get some tomatoes in, and we're going back to work with them some more next weekend. -AF]

Do you think it's important for people in urban areas to have an engagement in food production and learn how to grow their own food?
Living in a 'modern' society promises that we shouldn't actually have to think about our food, or any other basic necessity. We've 'developed' to the point that we now get to spend our time thinking about modern issues like ring tones and tax returns. So today the majority of the food we eat is grown by a handful of huge agribusinesses and sold in a handful of supermarket chains. Through this process, aside from disconnecting us from our food and all that its been through to get to our plates, we have also become completely dependent on multinational corporations for our basic necessities, and therefore have lost the very foundations of political autonomy.

I think that growing food, along with rebuilding community (to counter the individualisation and social atomisation faced in this corporate-driven society), are some of the most important and subversive activities we can do today.

“Political independence and the ability to engage in society has a lot to do with from what position of autonomy do we stand. And if we stand totally dependent on a one or two or three day food supply chain we don't really have any position of political autonomy.”
— David Holmgren, Permaculture co-orginator (quote taken from greening the apocalypse)

"If your experience is that your water comes from the tap and that your food comes from the grocery store then you are going to defend to the death the system that brings those to you because your life depends on that; if your experience is that your water comes from a river and that your food comes from a land base then you will defend those to the death because your life depends on them. So part of the problem is that we have become so dependent upon this system that is killing and exploiting us, it has become almost impossible for us to imagine living outside of it and it's very difficult physically for us to live outside of it."
— Derrick Jensen

Where's permaculture at at the moment? As a movement is it as vital as ever?
To be honest, i'm only just starting to learn about permaculture after having been working on issues around trade in food and agriculture so I don't think I can really give much insight here. Personally, though, while searching for alternatives to the global industrial agriculture system, I've become excited about what permaculture and food localisation (producing and consuming food in the same area) have to offer. But then when adding peak oil and climate change to the mix, and the likely consequences of these on today's food and agriculture systems, it looks like food localisation using permaculture principles and design is going to offer more than an 'alternative' — it will become a necessity.

Do permablitzes attempt to take permaculture out of institutional settings and straight into our homes?
From what I understand, the permaculture movement has made a conscious effort to be taught and shared primarily outside of institutional settings. The idea of permablitzes, though, is to make permaculture more accessible to those who live (and rent) in an urban environment, rather than just those who own a couple of acres of land out bush. The message is that as long as you have a yard (even if its covered in concrete), or a verandah, or a rooftop then you can produce food, and that by using permaculture principles and design, it can be reasonably easy.

Are permablitzes also about getting permaculture into, not only the backyard, but also the front manicured lawn, the medium strip, the roundabout?
Yes yes!! I'd love to see more edible front yards, nature strips and roundabouts! Di from Box Hill held a permablitz at her place, which was held mostly in her backyard, but that was because her whole front yard was already brimming with vegetables and chickens. It was designed really beautifully with lots of different coloured vegies making it seem like an ornamental garden until closer inspection (and until you heard the squawkings from the chicken dome in the corner)… who needs daises eh?

Favourite pick of the crop this season?
We didn't have a very happening garden until the blitz last sunday so the only things ready to eat at my place at the moment are the green leafies – rocket, spinach, different lettuces, silverbeet, and the herbs. Post-blitz, though, i'm probably most looking forward to the raspberries and strawberries, ooh and sweet corn.. and snow peas… and capsicum… water chestnuts… passionfruit… mmm… basil… we even planted some watermelon seeds… i think i'm mostly looking forward to being able to wander around my garden and just bite at random plants.

She coined the term 'permablitz', a contraction of permaculture backyard blitz. (Backyard Blitz is the name of popular gardening and lifestyle show in Australia involving rapid backyard makeovers).  Dan defined it thusly:

Permablitz: A informal gathering involving a day on which a group of at least two people come together to achieve the following:

• create or add to edible gardens where someone lives
• share skills related to permaculture and sustainable living
• build community networks
• have fun

At a recent peak oil and food security conference in Melbourne with David Holmgren and Richard Heinberg, the permablitz concept was one of the most enthusiastically talked about ideas amongst participants.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Community lunch questions future

How to plan to live better and more economically, high levels of consumerism, and questions of future energy use, were just several of the topics covered at a fascinating community lunch, held at Mitchell Community House in Wonthaggi last week.

Guest speaker and member of the Bass Coast Sustainability Education Group. Jessica Harrison, led a lively discussion outlining the Kinsale Community Energy Descent Plan. Kinsale is a small seaside town in Ireland, similar to Wonthaggi in many respects.

The townspeople are among the first in the world to take charge of their future, by developing a step by step plan to take the town towards sell-sufficiency in energy and food production by 2021.

A captivated audience participated in discussion on the possibility ofusing such as plan in Bass Coast. Many people indicated that they were keen to be involved in future meetings to discuss various ideas and approaches.

Anyone interested in more information can contact Mitchell House co-ordinator Jan Bourne, on 5672 3731.

The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil is absolutely must-see doco on Cuba's transition into a lower energy society. Richard Heinberg, peak oil guru and recent visitor to these shores, said:

"Everyone who is concerned about Peak Oil needs to see this film. Cuba survived an energy famine during the 1990s, and how it did so constitutes one of the most important and hopeful stories of the past few decades. It is a story not just of individual achievement, but of the collective mobilization of an entire society to meet an enormous challenge. Lest the point be missed, I will underscore it: this particular challenge – the problem of energy scarcity is one we will all be facing very soon."
Richard Heinberg, author, The Party's Over, Powerdown, and The Oil Depletion Protocol

Incidently, Richard's book The Party's Over was recently read by Bill Clinton who reportedly left it "full of underlinings and what looked like the most serious undergraduate’s markings, with lots of exclamation points."  So by implication I think it's fair to say that Bill Clinton recommends this as the best and most important movie he hasn't seen yet.

So 'Eat The Suburbs' screened it a couple of times in the city (Melbourne) recently with good crowds and good times. 

It worked really well with a 15 minute excerpt (the last 15 minutes) of A History of Oil by comedian Robert Newman, as a warm up vid.  It's brilliant comedy, bringing the message of peak oil with equal parts sugar and medicine.  You can watch the whole thing online at google video.

The wonderful Pamela Morgan who has worked in Cuba for a several years in urban agriculture/permaculture efforts, joined us for the second screening on 7th September. She was a little emotional, seeing so many friends in the film. The Q&A with her afterwards was really enlightening, and not a single person left after the film and hung around to hear it.  Her insights into the Cuban culture and structural systems really fleshed out the film.  I've recorded an interview with Pamela which I'll post on the site soon.  Pamela also set up the wonderful Collingwood Children's Farm starting in the late 70s with a single cow and a paddock.  It's now a functional urban farm with community garden plots and lots of educational stuff for kids.  It's probably the nicest place in Melbourne to escape the urban gloom.  She's heading back to Cuba soon, and also going to Argentina to look at some Havana-like urban agriculture projects there, and how they work within a capitalist system.  Very important research!

Anyway the film is a great way to show that peak oil doesn't have to be a total disaster, nor do the solutions have to be big, centralised and polluting.  One of the Yarra City Councilors came to the first screening, and now Yarra is doing their own screening at the Richmond Town Hall, that and other event details below. 

More info and ordering The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil

The following are also FREE events hosted by City of Yarra

‘Don’t reinvent the wheel’, lessons from Europe and North America for sustainable transport planning by Susie Strain (Metropolitan Transport Forum) and Chris Loader (Bus Association Victoria).
Monday 16 October, 6.00pm – 8.00pm at the Richmond Town Hall.

‘The Power of Community’ – How Cuba Survived Peak Oil (DVD 53 minutes) kindly provided by local resident Glenda Lindsay – www.communitysolution.org/cuba.
Monday 30 October, starting at 6.00pm at the Richmond Town Hall.

‘End of Suburbia’ – Oil Depletion and the Collapse of The American Dream (DVD 78 minutes) – www.endofsuburbia.com
Monday 20 November, starting at 6.00pm at the Richmond Town Hall.

Sustainable Ireland will be launching a 'Powerdown Project' in the near future in response to Peak Oil.

Watch the video (Quicktime – 4MB)

Calling all Westgarth residents …

Let's make Westgarth's streets Sustainability Streets!

Would you like to have friends round the corner, grow your own vegies, or
have fun learning about how to care for our environment whilst saving big
time on bills? People from Westgarth are getting together to chat about
joining in the council's Sustainability Streets program. We'd love you to
join us.

Via Sustainability Streets, other communities have done things like start
community gardens, food cooperatives and frog ponds and run projects with
local schools. After three years, they consistently report 20-30% reduction
in waste, water and energy, and wonderful new connections and friendships
with neighbours and other local groups. We feel that lots of people in
Westgarth will be interested in Sustainability Streets – for themselves,
for the earth and for future generations. If you're one of these people,
or if you'd just like to know what Sustainability Streets is all about,
please come along to this first discussion:

EVENING OF WEDNESDAY JUNE 7
Come at 7pm for a mug of soup or a cuppa with your neighbours. We'll start
at 7:30 and aim to finish by 9.

Venue: Jika Jika Community Centre, cnr Plant and Union Streets, Westgarth

The centre is a child-friendly space and children are very welcome.
RSVPs would be helpful so we know how many to cater for. We'd also like to
hear from you if the time doesn't suit you, or if you need any help to the
gathering (for example, if you need transport).

For more information, check out the Sustainability Streets website at
www.voxbandicoot.com.au or call us: Elizabeth (Knowles Street) on 9481
2641 or 0425 763 677 or Ferne (Westgarth Street) on 0405 537 015