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Aug 09

It rained at last

We had rain this morning after 19 days without any. The previous rain was 19 days before that, 7 days before that and 19 days before that, all just a few milimetres.

I was hoping that there was enough this time to put a significant increase in the rain water tank but, as usual, the rain went away after a bit and we only got 4 mm (16 points). This did put a few days water in the tank but we really need some heavy rain to get the tank full again.

It will ran properly some time, it always does eventually.

I find that I am a Pacifist

Even though I have been identified as a warmonger by some because I worked in defence industry, I find that I am really a pacifist at heart.

I get really miffed when I view TV programmes or advertisements which present aggressive role models to viewers. An ad just screened showed a young woman shouting and screaming at someone because she was not getting what she wanted.

I find the world of the 21st century particularly tainted with unethical behaviours, Osama Bin Laden and his followers deem it appropriate to kill anyone who doesn't belong to their religion, George W Bush deemed it appropriate to wage war on Iraq even though he knew that his excuse, the existence of weapons of mass destruction, was not true. I believe Bush's "war on terrorism" is actually fomenting terrorism by those who hate the USA because of its aggressive behaviour.

A documentary on TV tonight told the story of men in Bangladesh punishing females for their own behaviour of for the sins of their menfolk by throwing acid on their faces. This horrified me and I was forced to criticize the moral leaders of this society as extreme hypocrites, They claim to be doing "what is right" and then behave in an extremely immoral fashion to support their positions of power.

I would by extremely happy if those who are given the power to rule our societies were to apply good moral principles in their work. I know that aggression is a common characteristic in human beings but civilisation depends on these aggressive urges being suppressed so that we can all live in peace.

More Culture in Barraba

We had another concert at the Playhouse. This time with lunch which was delicious.

The music was by the Wheelers and Dealers, a jazz/folk group with Christine Wheeler as the lead singer, Michael Kerin on violin, Tinker Duffy on piano accordion, Michael Vidale on bass, and Ged Corben on guitar. All of them have remarkable CVs which include playing with world famous artists and groups.

The music was absolutely wonderful with a whole range of different styles. One of the songs hit a bit close to home because it was about a young child who lost his mother. I told Christine after the concert that it had hit home and she apologised but I said "No, it was really good, we enjoyed all the music".

Once again I embarrassed Jean by thanking the musicians and Andrew. I was once again congratulated and thanked for expressing everyones feelings.

A Night of Culture in Barraba

We had a concert in the Playhouse Cinema this evening by a world renowned pianist, Roman Rudnytsky. He played Rachmaninoff, Grieg, Beethoven, Babajanian, Ravel, and Liszt with Chopin and Copeland in his encores. The audience of about fifty people were impressed with the beauty of the music and the artistry of the playing.

After the concert I proposed a vote of thanks to Roman for coming to Barraba, and for presenting such a wonderful program of beautiful music played with such exquisite artistry. I included Andrew Sharp for providing such a great venue and organising the concert which will add a beautiful piece of musical tapestry to the cultural cloth of Life in Barraba. I was congratulated for the merciful brevity and absolute aptness of my comments.

We now have Ceiling Insulation

Because the government are offering rebates for house insulation, there are firms prepared to work here in Barraba. We tried earlier in the year to get quotes without success.

Home Insulation Australia, the firm that is doing our house were here in town at the last Queen St Market and we picked up their leaflet, rang to get them to come, and talked through the quotation process.

The material they use is recycled and treated cellulose which is blown in to make a continuous layer of fireproof and effective insulation.

The crew came yesterday and got into the job without any problems. I was worried that the manhole in the ceiling was very small but they didn't mind that at all. They cleaned up the space, removed the birds nests and then blew the insulation in. I was most impressed with the excellent way they did the work and the short time they took.

We put all the birds nest material on our "compost heap" which will be good when we get into making our vegetable garden.

We will see what the effect of the insulation is when the winter weather kicks in again and we expect to feel significant benefit in the summer as well.

My Latest Sustainability Project

I have been getting some criticism because I use letters to communicate with some of my colleagues in the Transition. They claim that an A4 sheet of paper has a significant carbon footprint compared with a telephone call. I plan to research this claim to quantify the carbon footprint of letters, phone calls, and emails.

I thought it would be good to do something visible to the townsfolk that demonstrated a scheme to reduce my carbon footprint.

My first idea was a project which has three benefits. It will reduce the consumption of petrol, it will increase my daily exercise and it will be a visible demonstration of my Transition commitment. The plan is to buy an adult tricycle with a carrier so that I can go to town to do the shopping without using the car and without having to carry a heavy load while walking.

My research so far has revealed a problem. The saving in petrol cost would be about $100 a year but the cost of the tricycle would be about $800 giving a payback period of 8 years. If I can find a cheaper tricycle I might be able to put the plan into operation.

Another Market Day

We have established an Transition Information Table at the Queen Street Markets in Barraba which take place on the first Saturday each month.

There aren't a lot of stalls at the market because there isn't a lot of people in the town who want to sell their wares. Most of them provide their wares to various charity street stalls which take place most Fridays.

We thought it would be useful to operate an information table on market day as people come to town anyway and expect to be able to see new things. While they are walking up and down Queen Street, we can attract their attention and talk to them about the Transition.

Today we attracted a fair amount of attention by giving away low energy light bulbs which had been donated to Towards Transition Barraba by Philips as a result of a plea from Sarah to several light bulb manufacturers for support for out Transition.

People were impressed and were happy to stop and talk about the Transition. We were very happy to get lots of positive feedback from those who talked to us.

We need to raise the awareness of as many folk as we can get to so that the community will be prepared for the later effort of developing an Energy Descent Action Plan, a blueprint for the future of a sustainable and resilient Barraba.

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