TAKING CHARGE – everything you need to know about owning an electric vehicle

charging

We’ve known for decades our transport choices are impacting the health of the planet and its inhabitants. So where are we at right now in terms of EV ownership in Australia?

Australia is massive; a land of sweeping plains and very long roads. With our relatively low population and mostly underwhelming public transport system, it’s no surprise that as a country, we love our cars and are often dependent on them. We have the second-highest rate of car ownership in the world, behind the US, to prove it.

But it’s coming at a huge environmental cost: last year the transport sector made up 19 percent of Australia’s emissions, according to the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Passenger cars and light commercial vehicles contributed 60 percent of that (and over 10 percent of Australia’s total emissions). The department’s website states that ‘without intervention, the transport sector is projected to be Australia’s largest source of emissions by 2030’.

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LIVING IT UP – how we can live long and happy lives

gardening

Many answers to how we can live long and happy lives can be found by looking at the common traits of the communities in the world with the longest-living populations.

There has been a lot of talk lately about what helps us live to a ripe old age and how we can enjoy health and happiness along the way. And it seems that the answers are surprisingly simple.

It doesn’t require fancy diets, expensive supplements or well-intentioned gym memberships. If we look to the ‘blue zones’, which are regions of the world with the highest concentration of centenarians, we find common traits exist across these communities. And although genetics does play a part in the likelihood of us living longer, it only accounts for 25 percent of factors that affect ageing.

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PLAN & PREPARE – Preparing your home for bushfire season

bushfire
When we think about fire preparation, our first thoughts are usually about cleaning up around the house. But as we head towards what’s tipped to be a particularly hot summer, there’s plenty we can learn from people who have survived catastrophic bushfires. The unseasonably warm and dry spring Australia just experienced has followed a triple La Niña weather event. The increase in rainfall during the last three summers has contributed to thick forest undergrowth which, as temperatures increase, is drying out. There’s nothing we can do that will have any bearing on the extreme temperatures Australia is expecting this fire season, but there’s things we can do to prepare, and designs we can implement that can put you and your family on the front foot if the unthinkable happens in the future.

LIZ WALKER – The environmental artist who is practising what she preaches

liz

After years coveting a better way of life, environmental artist Liz Walker has found the home, time and space to do just that.

If you didn’t know better, you’d peg Liz Walker as an incurable hoarder. Countless boxes of rubbish fastidiously and lovingly collected from the beach and streets nearby her Mornington Peninsula home are dotted around her work spaces, while the downstairs room housing her stores of preserves would be the envy of the most earnest of doomsday preppers.

But Liz Walker is nothing of the sort. A highly accomplished artist, the piles of plastic, rope and objects – all washed and meticulously sorted – play an important role in her artwork which probes at the social and environmental issues affecting us all. And the storeroom? Well that’s just a labour of love.

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DIY WORM FARM – How to make your own worm farm

Because worms are so low-maintenance, it is easier than you might think to make your own worm farm.

There are plenty of reasons to have a worm farm. Not only are they a hugely efficient way to process organic waste from your kitchen and around your home, but the high nutritional value their castings and leachate, or ‘worm wee’, can provide your soil and your plants makes them a must- have for any productive patch.

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NOTICEBOARD

CREATIVE HARVEST

Victoria’s West Gippsland region will play host to the sixth annual Creative Harvest, which brings creative minds and green thumbs together in a celebration of sustainability. Held over 27–28 January, there’ll be 15 open food gardens to visit, plus 30 artists and producers in attendance, as well as workshops, talks, market stalls and refreshments. To keep across the gardens and creatives lined up for the 2024 event, visit www. creativeharvest.org.au.

PIP TIP!

Turn a much-loved button-up shirt into a kitchen apron by cutting off the sleeves, back panel and collar, but leaving the base of the collar intact. Cut two strips of fabric from the back panel, attach them to the sides to form a back tie, and you’ve made a useful item that you can love for another decade or more.

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PIP PICKS

Pip prezzies
CHRISSY GIFTS!

Get a jump on your Christmas shopping with our popular Kitchen Garden Calendar as well as our new range of tea towels and shopping totes, available on their own or in a bundle. A must-have for every Australian gardener, the calendar features delicious recipes, beautiful photography and all the information you need to grow food at home. The tea towels and totes are made from 100 percent organic, fair-trade cotton and are designed, made and printed in Australia.

Calendar $19.95. Tea towel $22.95 (or 3 for $60.00)
Totes $12.95. Free postage on orders over $50.00
www.pipmagazine.com.au

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INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS

MYCOSYMBIOTICS LAB

MYCOSYMBIOTICS  LAB

mycosymbiotics.com

The Mycosybiotics Lab was created as a citizen-science project by young permaculture designer and international educator William Padilla Brown, who sees mushrooms and algae as biological aids for permaculture systems. Based in Pennsylvania, William hosts forest foraging tours, sets up urban mushroom micro-farms, shares films, speaks around the world and has even established a mobile DNA lab to collect valuable fungal cultures for preserving and sharing.

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FIVE OF A KIND – 5 Ways To Deter Pests

EDIBLE FLOWERS

Just as much as we love good homegrown vegies, so do many pests species and as the weather’s warming up, now is the time to be on the lookout for them and to do what you can to prevent them.

As a general rule, pests will be attracted to sick or diseased plants, so your first line of defence is to keep your plants as healthy as you can, and this starts with healthy soil. As well as unhealthy plants, pests can be attracted to older plants that may have started to flower, or which have leaves touching the soil that may be starting to break down.

By removing the lower leaves of plants, spacing out your planting so as to not stress them and at the same time increase airflow, you’ll have a better chance of keeping your food-producing plants pest free. Of course, if you can hold your nerve, you’ll often find the arrival of pests can also attract pest-feeding predator insects that will look after the job for you.

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BRAINS TRUST – Australian Native Bees

Australian native bees

What is a native bee?

Different to the European honey bee most people are familiar with, Australia has around 2000 native bee species which are found all around the country. Nearly all of our native bees are solitary bees, meaning they nest on their own and only provision cells with enough pollen and nectar to feed their young. Interestingly, 70 percent of our native bees nest in the ground.

Do native bees make honey?

Only 11 of the 2000 species of native bees live in communities we could call hives. These are our stingless bees and can be kept in hives, and in some cases you can collect their honey. Native stingless hives only produce around one kilogram per year versus around 50 kilograms per year from a honey-bee hive. Bees that store extra honey that humans can harvest is actually extremely rare among bee species across the world.

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