As we all know, the United Nations was founded “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” The words can only elicit deep regret when we consider how we have acted to fulfill that aspiration, though there have been a few significant successes, notably in Europe.
Consistent with Muste’s “revolutionary pacifism,” the Sydney Peace Foundation has always emphasized peace with justice. The demands of justice can remain unfulfilled long after peace has been declared. The Santa Cruz massacre 20 years ago can serve as an illustration. One year after the massacre the United Nations adopted The Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which states that “Acts constituting enforced disappearance shall be considered a continuing offence as long as the perpetrators continue to conceal the fate and the whereabouts of persons who have disappeared and these facts remain unclarified.”
The massacre is therefore a continuing offence: the fate of the disappeared is unknown, and the offenders have not been brought to justice, including those who continue to conceal the crimes of complicity and participation. Only one indication of how far we must go to rise to some respectable level of civilized behavior.
Watch the full 6 days’ transformation from an ex-flowerbed in Hedgemead Park, Bath, to a beautiful community vegetable garden – ‘Vegmead’ – with the fantastic power of Transition Bath volunteers. A huge thank you to all involved, and be sure to stop by and say hello if you’re passing Hedgemead Park. Source; Transition Bath
Video capturing much of the action from the recent Permablitz in West End on National Permaculture Day 2011. You can see a series of swales being built, a pond for future aquaponics installation, the floating chook shed, taro bog and the first of many raised garden beds being constructed. For more info on permablitz and to see lots of great photos from the day be sure to visit the Permablitz Brisbane website: http://blitzbrisbane.org
Caught in the act – this is a record of a supposed ‘native title’ meeting staged by the iron ore miner, Fortescue Metals Group (FMG).
It shows how FMG, its agents, a lawyer and an opportunist splinter faction tried to destroy the unity of the Yindjibarndi people and give open slather to FMG for its Solomon Hub project. The video demonstrates the unscrupulous actions of a miner trying to bully traditional owners into a land use ‘Agreement’ that will see massive disturbance of country and will swindle several generations of Yindjibarndi people.
FORTESCUE FORCES GAG ORDER ON NATIVE TITLE MEETING VIDEO
Fortescue Metals has threatened legal action to remove a video of its recent native title meeting in Roeburne.
Entitled “FMG’s Great Native Title Swindle”, the video is of a meeting which shows Fortescue head Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest speaking to the local Yindjibarndi people regarding the Solomon Hub development in Western Australia’s Hammersley Ranges.
A lively, accessible book that intermeshes the theories of social movements and non-government organisations with everyday events occurring in the environmental movement in Australia. The book’s focus is on non-institutional politics, considering informal networks and groups as well as more formal non-governmental organisations.
The Food Forest is a permaculture farm producing 160 varieties of organically certified food; it is a busy centre for people interested in learning skills for a sustainable way of life through short courses and it is the base for a consultancy service specialising in the design of ecologically sustainable properties.
The Food Forest is being developed by Annemarie and Graham Brookman and their children Tom and Nikki, to demonstrate how an ordinary family, with a typical Australian income can grow its own food and create a productive and diverse landscape.
A DVD from The Food Forest is available for purchase: Design For Life
Keynotes Hollywood star and environmentalist Daryl Hannah, Major General Michael Jeffery, former Governor General of Australia, father of permaculture Bill Mollison, Costa of SBS TV’s Costa’s Gardening Odyssey, Mexican sustainability entrepreneur Eugenio Gras, Petra Schneider of IDEP Foundation and many others.
Daryl Hannah and Paul Watson, behind the Sea Shepard ship Steve Irwin
Our chance to get together to discuss Permaculture in depth, improve our skills, share our expertise and explore new interests with like minded peers. We will also discuss issues concerning Permaculture training and the networking required for the movement to maximize its influence and involve Permaculture in initiating powerful change in Australia. By the end of the conference we will have the backbone of a document – a resource for us all to help us manage change.
Our discussions will be more detailed and in depth and will assume you are familiar with the basic principles of Permaculture. This 2 day segment of our 4 day event is aimed at members of the Permaculture community, usually people with a completed Permaculture Design Course(PDC) or recognised equivalent.
As a video blogging (vlogging) pioneer, Daryl created the sustainable living video blog, and website dhlovelife. www.dhlovelife.com deals with sustainable solutions and features weekly five-minute inspirational video blogs, daily news updates, alerts, community and access to goods and services. Dhlovelife.com has a large avid consistent group of viewers and unique visitors.
Daryl Hannah has been passionate and committed to practicing a low impact lifestyle for over 20 years. From her small footprint, passive and active solar home complete with grey water systems and organic garden, to being an early adaptor of biofuels, Daryl Hannah has been actively spreading the good news of how well it all works and how good it all feels.
Among some of her most memorable films, many have become classics such as Blade Runner, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Splash, Roxanne, Steel Magnolias, Wall Street, Grumpy Old Men 1 and 2, as well as the Kill Bill series Vol 1 and 2.
Daryl has worked with Woody Allen, Neil Jordan, Fred Schepisi, Oliver Stone, Robert Altman and John Sayles to name a few. Her first strong impression on audiences came when she was cast as the acrobatic android, Pris in Ridley Scott’s science fiction classic Blade Runner.
The Food Forest is being developed by Annemarie and Graham Brookman and their children Tom and Nikki, to demonstrate how an ordinary family, with a typical Australian income can grow its own food and create a productive and diverse landscape.
Steve Cran gives NGO stakeholders a field briefing on the village zone permaculture design strategy.
“My system of the “5 rings of sustainability” is adapted from permaculture for community development. From tribal people to aid officials this system makes sense. In each ring we know many “best practices” that will improve that community or household. The rings are interconnected.”
In the new village garden, set-up by Steve on his arrival, he draws in the dirt, with a stick, the basic 5 zone permaculture strategy. He explains how the basic unit of food security is the home food and medicinal garden, and how this expands out through the village to the hunting lands, with the outermost zone being the “eco-zone” for regeneration and wildlife.
During 2009 Nicholas Roberts and Kirstie Stramler visited permaculture, transition and cooperative sites throughout Australia, California, New York City, Spain, France, England, Scotland and Denmark. An earlier draft of this presentation was given to the Swansea Heads Sustainable Neighbourhood on Saturday, 6th February, 2009. Thanks to Kate Beswick and Tom Toogood
Create post This article reprinted with permission from Bollier.org. So another climate change summit (Durban, South Africa) has produced no action, even in the face of mounting evidence of the deterioration of the planet's atmosphere. Climate change denial has now moved from the right-wing, wacko fringe to the pinnacles of “respectable” power as top go […]
As a gardener, Winter Solstice holds much more meaning for me than the conventional new year marker of January 1. Even here in Southern California's year-round growing season, we observe the slowing of plant growth into semi-dormancy as the Solstice approaches. We witness the acceleration into new growth once the Solstice is past. Animals know it too […]
Original Berkeleyside Article By Nathan Pensky Even in a community as amenable to progressive values as Berkeley, there are few small businesses so powered by idealism as BioFuel Oasis, which this month is celebrating its eighth birthday. An environmentalist mainstay since 2003, the company specializes in the sale of biodiesel fuel chemically rendered from r […]
Are you part of a social change organization that needs to update your logo that a friend put together 10 years ago in Microsoft Word? Are you confused by all the terminology, or where to begin when designing or redesigning your logo and identity materials? Would you like to read a book more relevant to the world of social change than to the corporate busin […]
Create post The City of Davis, California, is blessed with two things: an abundance of sunshine and lots of beautiful, mature trees to provide a natural refuge from it. These trees, carefully planted by several generations of Davis' residents, helps to keep energy costs down by protecting homes and businesses from the direct heat of the sun. Unfortunate […]
For this month’s Transition Book Club meeting, we used Paul Gilding’s The Great Disruption: Why the Climate Crisis Will Bring on the End of Shopping and the Birth of a New World as a springboard for a wide-ranging conversation. [For a synopsis of the book, skip to the bottom; continue reading for more on our discussion.] read more […]
Create post It all started innocently enough. Following the Holidays and New Year of 2007 we emptied out all of our garbage and recycling to clean up for the New Year. Many months later (May 14) it was time to put out our first bag of garbage and it dawned on me that in over four months we had only created a single bag of garbage. I wondered where could we t […]
Last week, Design Action sent out a letter to the Oakland City Council, some local businesses, and to local newspapers, in support of Occupy Oakland. The Oakland Tribune published the Op-Ed today (11.15.11) with the headline: “Banks cost Oakland more than protesters” We are a downtown local, cooperatively-owned and managed small business, and residents of Oa […]
In her visit to Los Angeles, Vandana Shiva reminded us how Gandhi had the symbolic actions -- sitting in protests -- but with that he also had the cotton -- the tangible actions. Dr Shiva said that along with the protests, people need to grow food, to build connections within their communities, to make changes in their lives. read more […]
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