Take the GROW Challenge

Oxfam Australia has launched a six month campaign - The GROW Challenge - to promote sustainable and fair eating to help ensure that everybody has enough food, always.  

One in eight people in the World goes to bed hungry every single night. That’s 870 million of us.

And that’s not right.

The Grow Method is a better way of thinking about food – how we buy, prepare, eat and dispose of it.  Signing up to the GROW Challenge involves making commitments to:

• Buy food that’s in season - reducing greenhouse gas emissions
• Support small farmers - to ensure that they get a fair deal
• Eat less meat and dairy - reducing both greenhouse gas emissions and water use
• Reduce food waste - making the most of the precious resources that go into growing food and reducing the pressures on landfill
• Cook smart - saving energy
• Grow and eat sustainably - avoiding the use of chemicals & restoring the health of our lands and water systems

This month's challenge is to support small scale farmers by visiting a local farmer's market or community market, taking a photo of yourself or your friends and posting it on Oxfam Australia's Facebook page.

Beachology

'Beachology' is a marine ecology education program designed by Griffith University to encourage children to see the beach as more than just a playground.  The aim is to teach kids about the coastal environment, the plants and animals living on the beach and their importance to the ecosystem. 

The marine biologists who run Beachology workshops have a wonderful way of making a complex subject interesting and accessible to young children.  

Workshops are fun and interactive. Our kids love the activities, which include walking along the beach hunting for treasure...

Sorting & classifying marine organisms, into animals, plants, rocks, shells...

And, unfortunately, RUBBISH!!

One of the highlights of the program is sampling for marine worms & crustaceans in shallow water along the shoreline...

And using a pipette to place delicate animals into a petri dish, then checking them out in all their detail under the beach microscopes.

Beachology workshops are free and are held on Gold Coast beaches several times throughout the year.  To find out more and join the mailing list, check out the Griffith University Centre for Coastal Development website or contact marine biologist and program co-ordinator Deborah Duncan on 0419 449 454.

Food Waste Challenge

This week's challenge is to eliminate all of our organic food waste from the rubbish bin. In Australia, 50% of household waste and 30% of all the waste we throw away is organic.  This is harmful to the environment because when organic waste breaks down in landfill sites, it produces: a) methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas; and b) acids, which leach into the earth and contaminate groundwater.

Elimination of food waste can be done by:

• Reducing the amount we produce;
• Feeding leftover food to the chickens and worms as appropriate;
• Disposing of all other food waste (in our household, mainly citrus peel, onion and avocado skins, egg shells, bones and bread) in a Bokashi bin. The pickled contents can be added to compost or buried in the garden when it's full.

We've done it!!

For the past two weeks, we've reduced our kitchen waste to half a small bag per week. That's a significant change for us and was very easy to achieve. 

Everyone in the family has been enthusiastically involved. Recycling even featured in the list of 'challenges' the children set for themselves... along with DON'T BOUNCE THE BALL IN THE HOUSE!

Recycling Challenge

This week, we've set ourselves the challenge of reducing the amount of waste we produce to one small bag of rubbish per week. The aim is to:

• Avoid the accumulation of waste;
• Recycle 95% of food waste through the chickens and worm farm;
• Recycle all hard plastic, paper, cardboard and aluminium by placing it in the household recycling bin provided by Gold Coast City Council;
• Recycle all soft plastic by placing it in the Coles supermarket recycling bins.

The Coles supermarket scheme is worth a special mention. They've got together with recycling company RED Group and manufacturer Replas to turn plastic bags and packaging into outdoor furniture for Australian pre-schools and primary schools. What a great idea!!!

Southern Migration

Local aboriginal artist Jason Passfield has painted this remarkable picture for us - of humpback whales and other marine creatures migrating South.

According to Jason, the whale is regarded by coastal communities as the chief lawgiver and, as such, occupies an important place in their culture.

Ruby's Buffalo

To celebrate her 7th birthday, Ruby set up a fundraiser with Oxfam Australia to buy a buffalo for a Cambodian farmer.  She asked her friends to contribute to this fund rather than buy her a present.

A “buffalo bank” works by giving a poor family a buffalo to help them plough their fields and use for breeding. Once the buffalo has bred, the new baby buffalo is returned to the bank so that another family can benefit from these gentle giants.

“Having a buffalo is important for me and my family. We use it for ploughing and to transport things. Before, when I had no buffalo, I had to rent a buffalo from another farmer in the village. First, I would have to help him plant his rice crop, then I would rent his buffalo. Sometimes I would pay in rice, sometimes I would pay in cash. Now that I have a buffalo, I no longer need to pay rice to another farmer to rent his buffalo.” Mr Phao Bontim, Sma Koh village, Cambodia. 

Thanks to a wonderful response from friends and family, Ruby was able to contribute $625 to the Oxfam buffalo project.