Sustainability Beyond Traveston Dam

The Queensland government has been humiliated by the rejection of the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam on the Mary River. But in proposing the dam the government has also ignored key opportunities for sustainable, responsible development. Instead of squandering over $500 million of taxpayers money on an unviable dam project, the state government instead could have…

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Honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder: Brought You By Bayer CropScience

Nine years after it was reported that due to the use of neonicotinoid pesticides at a landscape level that within years the honeybee may be extinct in England, the European Union agreed a total ban on these bee-killing, bird-killing, fish killing pesticides. Read on…

Save The Mary!

THE THIRD ANNIVERSARY FLOATILLA Today we drove to Traveston Crossing to take part in the dryer parts of the third anniversary floatilla. Nicholas de Boos, a photographer friend from Sydney, came along too. Here are some impressions of the day.

Why Your Vote Can Save More Than The Mary River

As an Executive Member of Queensland Conservation, I wholeheartedly support the Save the Mary campaign. I am deeply concerned that any government could consider building the Traveston Crossing dam for several reasons.

Growing And Cooking Plantains (and other green bananas)

Plantains are big bananas. While they may be unfamiliar in Australian home gardens and restaurants, plantains and dessert bananas are important foods in tropical and subtropical regions. Their starch has a low glycaemic index (low GI) and also gluten free, so they are a source of sustained energy for physically active gardeners as well as…

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How Do I Prevent My Garden From Spreading Mosquito-Borne Diseases?

Is gardening fashion fanning ill health? Cairns City Council has increased on-the-spot fines for homeowners found to have mosquitoes breeding on their property to $400. John Pilspanen, of Queensland Health, says the disease will keep spreading until everyone takes the necessary precautions. Queensland Health is concerned about the increasing infection rate of the current dengue…

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What Can I Grow As Stock Feed In SE Queensland?

Question We live on 1 acre of land at Boonah, Qld approx same temperature as Ipswich, Qld, in black soil country. We run our own poultry and a pig and are working towards a reasonable self-sufficiency with substantial vegetable garden, orchard, plus a food forest. What I am wishing to do is try to cut…

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Book Review: Outdoor Classrooms

‘Outdoor Classrooms, a handbook for school gardens’, by Carolyn Nuttall & Janet Millington. Publisher: PI Productions Photography. ISBN: 978-0-9752177-3-3 (pbk.), 2008. The sharply rising interest in school food gardens is being driven by children, who are generally more keenly aware of 21st century global environmental issues than many adults realise. So if you’re a parent…

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King Tides Now – Commoners By 2050

Rising sea levels have major implications for coastal gardens. Yesterday’s king tide gave us the perfect opportunity to see what will be commonplace by 2050. One corner of the world that is experiencing greater than average sea level rises is north eastern Australia. Even if all greenhouse gas emissions ceased immediately, oceans respond more slowly….

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Polar Connection

“Dear Residents of Bellis, I just discovered your web site and blogs yesterday. I’ve enjoyed making myself homesick reading them. I thought you might get a kick out of getting fan mail from the unlikely South Pole. I grew up on a dairy farm in the Fassifern Valley outside of Brisbane. I dream of moving…

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Lood Mitigation For Southeast Queensland Starts Here

Today Tamworth is cut into two by floodwaters from falls of over 150mm rain. Storms are predicted for southeast Queensland and the Northern Rivers of NSW, and southeast Queensland continues to mop up and count the cost of flood damage caused by two nights of rain. NSW State Emergency service’s Namoi division controller Kathleen Caine…

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