environment

2020 – time to be brave and strong

| poppypeach
Firework blur – New Years Eve in Melbourne reminds me of the many bushfire photos I am seeing in the media

The first post of the year is taking a stance on how I really feel about the state of the nation. I usually write in a neutral tone as I do not want to upset anyone, but this year I feel it is important to be brave and stand up for what I believe in. Now is not the time to give up or give in as Australia is on fire and the leadership in this country is pathetic and hopeless! I lived in America with that orange fool as the president and everyone in California felt the pain daily with no hope for reprieve. Now I have come back home to Australia with the hope of a little progression but alas there is none! Currently, the news is on the current bushfire crisis stating that these fires are unprecedented which means “never having happened or existed in the past”. The destruction of what is happening now cannot be compared to what has happened in the past but according to our PM ScoMo he has no idea and feels that Australians should just carry on and face the challenges as they have done in the past!

According to what I have read about the current state of the climate in Australia we are dealing with a national emergency. Today I checked my Instagram to see videos posted of victims of the fires in regional NSW and the PM going in to shake hands and apologise — seriously no amount of apologies will bring back the homes and livelihood of these people. ScoMo has no clue, as he speaks to one of the residents and says that these people who are now homeless, are tired! Yes, of course they are but they have also lost everything. Where is the empathy in this person and why can’t he listen to the scientists, the chief fire officers and environmentalists who are calling this a climate emergency. We have not even hit peak summertime and most of Australia is burning and it is only January.

The post below rings true of my time in America after mass shootings and the NRA with their stranglehold on guns but what is the driving force in Australia? Is it the natural resources and coal driving the agenda, heck there will be nothing left if the country continues to burn.

Source: The Guardian

Last night I found it hard to sleep as I got up in the middle of the night and started thinking how on earth can we find a solution to these losses. It is so hard to comprehend these tragedies and how we as a community can fix them. Yesterday we had a neighbour come by and collect food for people in the Gippsland fires in Victoria. She came by with a cart and asked if we had any food to share. This is what I love about community we come together to help each other, but knowing that this national emergency in Australia is hurting everyone in this country is so frustrating – what else can we do to help? Those poor defenceless animals as well.

When I couldn’t sleep, I had this picture in my mind of a fire fighter and a koala looking at this bushfire. I am finding it hard to concentrate when I know every time I look at the news something worse is happening! How much more can we take when the whole country is on fire even in places that were rainforests and beaches cannot escape the fires. There are tourist fleeing these places.

Extinction Rebellion states, “this is not business as usual” and this year it is the time to get these people in government who are blindfolded to notice what is actually happening. Carrying on like this level of catastrophe has happened in the past is just ridiculous and I will continue to write to my members of parliament and ask them to declare a climate emergency in Australia. This behaviour of ignoring the truth, will not be tolerated by our generation and generations to come we will continue to fight for our lives.

I remember living in Northern California when the wildfires destroyed thousands of homes and was spread over 99,148 hectares, the state was then declared a state of emergency by Governor Jerry Brown – the day after the tragedy! I remember the air quality living in the SF Bay area, the skies were misty and the EPA stated children could not go out to play (I was working at a school at the time). Now I am witnessing these horrific bushfires in Australia where just in Queensland alone 180,000 hectares have burned and that was November 2019. It is hard to even conceive the amount of land lost now in January 2020 as now the state of Victoria burns.

I am supposed to be studying but trying to focus is extremely difficult but I needed to write my thoughts down so I can process this nightmare to try and think of ways to help. I know that from Monday I will be volunteering with CERES, my favourite place to be in the north of Melbourne to help in their vegetable garden. Their mantra is fall in love with the earth again. When I am with others who fight for the cause at a local level it helps me process the bad stuff. Now to continue to study, I can promise my future students one thing is that they will be educated in climate change and science where everyone deserves the truth to do something positive for our future.

I am happy to have found some places where people can help with donations for people and animals in need:

https://www.facebook.com/arfsncrafts/?eid=ARBALQaZxuuxnXAi3_Vi73PpxB5Ldc7gNoy1z6xASmIsPoWeQOGrE2_W1N6mJ-Gb50-kwJjsgQZd746e

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/here-s-what-you-can-do-to-help-those-on-the-frontlines-of-the-devastating-bushfires

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-01/bushfire-relief:-how-you-can-help-frontline-services/11835156

https://chuffed.org/project/organic-farmers-bushfire-appeal

Saving the Planet one rally at a time!

| poppypeach

So last week I went to my first rally in Australia – it was so good as it was an organised kids rally known as the Strike for Climate Change. The (high school) kids were encouraged to take a day off school to go to the city and get out in the streets to say to the Government stop, look, listen this is our planet and you are screwing it up. The numbers according to the Climate Rally Facebook page was around 30,000 people in Melbourne. I had such a fun time making the signs and the kids made theirs too as soon as they got home after their morning tea at school. The signs were very creative and it was such a wonderful energy to be out in the streets with little kids in strollers, kids at primary school to kids in high school! We as humans need to keep this energy going and tell the governments to stick the coal back in the ground – it is time to rise up and take notice of what is happening around the world. No use sticking your head in the sand and selling off our country for piece meal resources because I know when it is election day this year I will not be voting for the current political party – they have given me many reasons not to vote for them!

As we were coming back home on the train with the kids I took them down Hosier Lane in the city for a bit of street art inspiration!

Oh and I wanted to share some insights about how I like to save the planet:

  • Reduce, reuse and recycle – OK we hear this all the time but the idea is to reduce the amount of stuff we consume. My focus is on food, so each week I plan our meals and make sure I keep the leftovers for lunch. For the last three months I have been living very minimally out of two suitcases and using stuff that was given to me in my storage from 12 years ago and it works.
  • I have discovered some basic essentials to live; here is what I have been using in the kitchen… I love our economical fridge at 490 Kilowatts a year, our gas stove, glasses, teacups, a crockery set, rice cooker, cast iron pan, Nutribullet (great for the fruit you buy in bulk), toaster, soda stream (from my friend) and kettle. I don’t have a saucepan as I use the rice cooker to cook pasta, rice, quinoa, couscous and boiled eggs (who knew!), cutlery and of course food items to your liking.
  • Recycle – Think about your rubbish and recycle what you can – even recycling bread bags and lightweight plastic at the supermarket. Nearly everything has a number on it for recycling which makes it easy. For extra textile scraps I use it to stuff pillows and for rags.
  • Food – I like to support local food suppliers and Ceres Fair Food is my favourite as I can get everything that a vegetarian would love! Their selection includes pantry items as well as local fruit, vegetables and eggs – it is so good to support the local farmers and community jobs. Of course I will go to the supermarket to get extras like ice blocks for the kids and sustainably sourced seafood
  • Clothing – Now being here and living out of the supplies I bought with me from our move from California in my two suitcases have been expanded by going to the second hand shop and buying jeans or t-shirts and up cycling to create something unique to you. Obviously sewing skills are necessary so I plan to do some classes with the local community in the future. Now my quirky wardrobe has been expanded to included a few more mid season pieces for Autumn.
  • Home decoration – Well to add some life to our house I have screen printed (it helped that I had some screen printing supplies in my stash of crafting supplies!) some denim to make very durable pillows for the couch and I used my excess fabric from sewing to make a patchwork pillow. This week I wanted to make a crystal hanging so I crocheted a piece of wood from the garage to make a wall hanging for some hooks that were looking bare. All you need is a bit of imagination and some bits and bobs hanging around the house and some creative energy.
  • Getting around – as my hubby is not too keen to get a car at the moment I have registered for Car Next Door so I can borrow neighbours cars to get around. So it is possible but most likely costly in the long run to hire cars and take taxis when the public transport is not working in your favour. I am getting a lot of exercise walking everywhere. To get into the city or to friends places there is the train and tram. I am patiently awaiting the arrival of my beloved bicycle so I can get to the gym quicker! I was pretty impressed on the cross trainer the other day when I increased the resistance and it said I saved 19 minutes energy to power on a 4.9 kilometre walk/run.

It has been an interesting with being back home for nearly three months and living this minimalist lifestyle has taught me you don’t need too much stuff to get by day to day if you have family and friends to help you get organised. Next thing I need to deal with is all the stuff that is coming here by ship, yikes!

Check out the video of the death of this spider when she came down too close for comfort the other day!

Oh and the Redback spider came down from her web the other day and is now toast!

Wanderings

| poppypeach

Over and out for now with my crafting and sewing and to wrap it up I collected all the pieces from my work and made a another pillow which is stuffed with the smaller scraps as a memento of my time with my machines. I am now back to studying two subjects Developing Literacy and the Theories of Teaching and Learning both have a LOT of reading and now I am in planning mode so I can get my assignments done on time and balance the rest of my life living as solo parent with two tweenagers.

Last week was a long weekend so we went and did some house research as we are going to leave our lovely house sometime in the near future for the remodel. So as we were in a different part of the neighbourhood we checked out an amazing cafe The Boot Factory on Pentridge Boulevard. The crushed avocado, preserved lemon whipped ricotta with a poached egg was divine and their coffee was the best I have had so far. My favourite part of lunch was the vintage inspired decor complete with comfy couches and old wooden chairs and this gorgeous table lamp. I will have to visit again soon!

This lovely dress is from the same pattern a 1970s dress that was paired with the skivvy on the pattern picture so I thought excellent it can be layered or not for the changing weather. The dress was created for an up-cycled sari fabric which was once a maternity skirt. With the swing in the A-line, I felt it needed pockets so I added a couple of decorative pockets – I would not put my phone or anything valuable in there but it is fun for your hands!

This dress was another old pattern from the late 1990s I reckon that I used to wear a lot in many fabrics back in the day as it is pretty versatile. The skirt of the Japanese fabric was sewn together randomly and saved from the landfill as it was older and stained so I screen printed over the discolouration on the fabric pieced it together and voila a skirt with a top made from a $4 XL t-shirt.

The grey dress is a $2 Muse concert t-shirt cut up and mixed up with the XL tee and the skirt is from a dress I wore for my 30th birthday at Misty bar in Melbourne which is now permanently closed. It’s location was on the very cool Hosier Lane which is a huge tourist attraction with street art covering the walls of the laneway – I may have to go and check it out again and perhaps finally go to Movida to eat. This pattern is super comfortable and works well on hot days.

Looking around the neighbourhood I found the Penal Establishment of Pentridge with its bluestone walls and behind this huge entrance is another development with apartments and I am looking forward to how this all looks in the future with its inner city high density vibe going on. I love how heritage listed elements are combined with modern urban architecture.

Better get back to work as I have a couple of kids wanting the day off school so they can strike for Climate Change. It should be big with many kids taking time off school to show the government what they stand for as it is their future after all. Last rally I attended was the Womens March in San Jose, looking forward to my first rally back in Australia!