PLASTIC FREE JULY - AND BEYOND

If you're interested in reducing the amount of trash - and particularly plastic - that you and/or your household produces and you're not quite sure where to start, it can seem like a daunting task.  Once you stop, look around, and tune into the problem, it suddenly seems like plastic is simply everywhere - from tea bags to tracksuit pants, to those tiny but annoying stickers on the fruit you buy or the straw that you asked them to leave out that still turns up in your drink anyway.

INDEPENDENCE

A couple of weeks ago, the Northern Territory has its annual Territory Day celebrations. Much like the similarly timed Independence Day in the USA, the Northern Territory has developed its own tradition of celebrating self governance through the detonation of fireworks (somehow the standard total fire ban that's in place around this time always gets waived). Personally, I've always found it kinda strange how DIY explosive devices have become synonymous with declarations of geo-political autonomy.

DOWN BY THE WHARF

Once a year Darwin has a harbour clean up day, which I'm lucky enough to be allowed to get involved with through the organisation I work for (though 'lucky' might be a matter of opinion, in proper 'oh god I'm getting old' fashion, I managed to properly strain a thigh muscle during the course of my day).

BIG YELLOW TAXI

I'm probably what you'd describe as a lukewarm activist. Never one for crowds, slogans and rallies, I prefer to let my consumer persona do the talking. I have steadily imposed a personal bouycott on so many unethical and/or environmentally damaging brands over the last 20 years that there are certain supermarket aisles I now no longer even bother with. Then there's my attempts to live life 'plastic lite'. The fact that I don't own a TV. Trying to support small businesses. Cleaning up beaches. Buying a lot of goods secondhand. Donating to environmental groups. Writing letters. Getting three degrees in environmental science...that kind of thing.

Still, I've always tried to bring a scientific balance to my inner knee jerk hippie that likes to commune with nature and eternally wonders where 'everything else' is meant to live. I try to consider the reality of development in the face of a growing global population as well as recognizing the mineral, petroleum and energy resources that, as a citizen of a developed country, I use every day.

CORNER OF BISHOP AND SNELL

There's not a huge amount of street art in Darwin unfortunately (though we do have an active collective of decent artists in the city). So whenever I see anything clever or insightful, it tends to catch my eye. I spotted this illustration in Darwin's industrial area of Winnellie during my commute home. Pretty on point for a Buy Nothing New Month I think!

A WOE THAT IS MADNESS

I’m going to take a little time out of my Friday night schedule (*cough* packed as it is) to talk to you about whales, whaling and why Australia – and the global community – needs to step up and tell countries that persist in the commercial hunting of whales to sit down and have a cup of chai already.

For context: articles like this one  that I read this morning are less interesting to my mind for a supposed ‘slip’ by the Japanese Fisheries Minister where he openly admits whaling is not happening for scientific purposes (but it’s their whale-meat catered party and they’ll hunt if they want to) but rather the reason behind why they think the rest of the world are hypocrites that should mind their own business. By the way, ‘scientific whaling’ is just a loose term for destructive population monitoring (apparently DNA samples aren’t enough and it’s just better off to kill the whole thing because science). In short they need to kill some whales, so they know when there’s enough whales, so they can kill lots more of them again.

BURNING SEASON

Every year from around May until July is when most of the annual burning is done in the Top End. Once a landscape that was managed according to a long and unbroken tradition by the indigenous peoples of this nation, these days it's more of a ramshackle affair that tries to tie in modern science, traditional knowledge, diverse land practices and the problem of increased fuel loads from invasive grasses.

GO BIO

One of the things I love about food shopping in French supermarkets (or the old fashioned outside ones, when I get the chance) is the lovely choice to 'go bio' (organic) with almost all products on the shelf - particularly the important staples of rice, flour, coffee, sugar and milk. I kind of like it when my fresh produce doesn't come with a side serving of pesticides either, but you really need to go to produce markets for that.