Monitor green sea turtles in the Northern Territory’s remote Cobourg Peninsula, work with local Aboriginal landowners to conserve a nature refuge behind Broome’s Cable Beach, or spend an afternoon restoring remnant bushland around Brisbane. Australia’s largest practical conservation group, Conservation Volunteers Australia, teams volunteers with short and overnight-stay conservation projects nation-wide. With over 10,000 volunteers a year and over 2,000 conservation projects under its tool-belt, there are stacks of unique opportunities to contribute, learn and explore. Connect to a local opportunity, or plan a trip to the other side of the continent.“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes.” - Marcel Proust
Monthly Archive for September, 2007
get dirty
inspiration is everywhere
Today, at a glorious Friday forum of like-minded souls sharing tales and support, I heard many stories of how young Australian scribes, illustrators, bloggers and editors have arrived at their current place in life. The tale of an individual’s journey in the world has always fascinated me; where someone came from, where have they been, what have they learnt; how they ended up where are they now. Especially when I aspire to similar heights.
This is a mere snapshot of two of the many people who inspired me today. Continue reading ‘inspiration is everywhere’
I suspect that making a significant lifestyle change is not something that comes easily to most. Fear of the unknown can be paralysing. Doing it anyway is exhilarating. This photo was taken a few days ago at Cook’s Lookout on Lizard Island, at the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef. The likes of Nicole Kidman spend $2,000 a night to stay here. I’ll try to be modest, but it’s a fact: I was paid to visit. Here’s a few personal observations about taking the plunge, or downshifting (which despite the connotations, is not a descent, but a decisive entry into new waters)…It is possible to get paid a lot less and have more. You realise the things you truly need, and these number few. When you love what you do, it isn’t work. You realise that over the years you’ve developed a surprising grab-bag of skills. The more people you meet, the better you become with people. Watching the sun rise and set puts many things in perspective. When you declare and commit to your dreams, opportunities and support just seem to come your way. Positivity breeds positivity. The possibilities before you seem endless. You wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.
Did anyone take a moment to look at the sky today? If not, here’s what you missed…
love the hub you’re in
I may regret what I’m about to do. If I do in fact know a secret that few of my peers are privy to, I am about to let the cat out of the bag.
A year ago I felt like I was wandering in the mist of the job world, not sure what section of the careers paper I should be looking at in order to find things I might be suitable for. Has anyone ever seen an ‘interdisciplinary creative half qualified to write, act and speak French’ column? Us in the Arts world, we are told that jobs for us are as rare as hens’ teeth. And indeed, I believe ‘Arts’ has only recently become an industry choice on Career One or Seek. Even now when I bother to look on the afore-mentioned sights under Arts/Entertainment, I must sort through 10 pages of ads offering nude model, ‘dancer’ and bit part auditions before finding that, yes, there is nothing for me.
Then last Christmas, a friend said to me, ‘Have you heard of Arts Hub?’ Well, ladies and gentlemen, now I have and there is no turning back. Apart from being a central hub of jobs specifically in my industry (whatever that is) and other creative disciplines, Arts Hub collates new jobs in an email bulletin once a week, delivers interesting and otherwise unheard of industry news once a day, and goes a step further to organise industry cross-promotion and special offers where previously there was none. Continue reading ‘love the hub you’re in’
Featuring emerging and established designers, design led retailers and design universities, the National Design Centre’s Melbourne Design Market held in the Federation Square Car Park, has become a hugely popular event that was attended by over 15,000 visitors when it was held in July. I was one of those visitors and thought they were really fantastic markets. Not only is it a very cool way to use a relatively ‘hidden’ urban space, but their stringent standards ensures a great mix of high quality and cutting edge design products (covering everything from homewares, furniture, clothing, stationery, to jewellery). They are running a Christmas market on 2 December 2007, and applications are now open for stallholders. Applications close on the 17th October 2007. I didn’t see any criteria that said you had to be Melbourne-based, and I reckon there is a lot of talent in Brisbane (and elsewhere) that is worthy to take on the road and be part of this. If you are making or selling great design apply here.
beauty at your fingertips
Time-crunched lasses and gents who like to stay looking good but can rarely spare the time to browse the plethora of skincare and grooming stores for the ultimate moisturiser, serum, fragrance, gloss, etc., will be relieved to hear that kit: has finally launched its online retail space. For those who haven’t yet discovered the glorious wonders of kit:, it could be best described as a grooming-inspired candy store for grown-ups. The younger, sassier offering from the people who bring you Mecca Cosmetica (if Mecca were Barbie/Batman, then kit: would be Skipper/Robin), kit: is a one-stop shop for some of the world’s most coveted beauty products, including Antipodes, Cowshed, Korres, Mudlark, Jemma Kid, Task Essential and Too Faced, to name but a smattering. With an infinite range and speedy delivery, you’ll no longer have to slink out of the office after a hard day’s work, just praying that nobody catches a glimpse of your dishevelled appearance.
meanwhile in burma.
Up to 100,000 people over the last few days have walked the streets of several Burmese cities in peaceful protests against the military rule of the Junta who have oppressed its people for more than four decades. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the situation would improve when Aung San Suu Kyi, whose opposition party won 1990 elections but was never allowed to govern, “takes her rightful place as the elected leader of a free and democratic Burma”. American president George Bush, stopped short of declaring the loss of hope because Mandela’s dead, amped up pressure by imposing fresh sanctions against key regime figures and their backers. The world is sure to watch this closely. Continue reading ‘meanwhile in burma.’
Via Get Up: More Australians will be watching Saturday’s AFL Grand Final than any other TV show this year. With your help, Get Up will air this ad during it – reminding literally millions of Australians not to swallow Government spin on climate change! Help make our ambitious plan a reality, and donate now to neutralise harmful Government advertising emissions!
Due to the overwhelming response to this campaign, our server is struggling to keep up with your enthusiasm. Your donation will be processed even if a ‘busy server’ or ‘operation timed out’ message appears.
map magazine just donated $50 to help the cause.
social intercourse.
Apologies for the size of this post, but I thought it was important to share this with you. This image is a letter from Campbell Newman to Emma Rose, whose car sharing company G-Whiz launched earlier this year and has cars available to hire in South Brisbane/West End/Highgate Hill and now New Farm and the Valley.
The letter is in response to Emma’s request for an allocated car space in the CBD for one of her cars. This would enable businesses to sign up as members, which would not only be a valuable addition to Emma’s business, but would also function as a change agent for the men and women who would drive the G-Whiz cars. One car space with signs. Imagine the effect that would have on people in the CBD and on Brisbane’s image as a progressive, environmentally conscious city.
Instead, Campbell has indicated that in twenty years time, there will be twice as many bus stops and so there can’t be any room for one allocated car space. Brisbane has all the opportunity in the world to take bold steps in a number of areas including transport, and yet there is still this reluctance to support not only local business, but great ideas. Continue reading ’social intercourse.’
a country run on wind
Via Greenpeace: Government support has removed Denmark’s dependence on fossil fuels – in just 20 years. Across the Danish countryside and coastal waters large wind turbines are whirling away in the North Sea breeze, feeding clean energy to households across the Scandinavian nation. Denmark has become one of the global heavyweights in the world’s fastest growing renewable energy market - wind.
The Danish wind energy industry has been a phenomenal success story since its implementation just 20 years ago. The national enterprise has an annual turnover of $2.6 billion (with a growth rate matching that of the Internet and mobile phones.) The spin-offs include employment for 20,000 Danes locally and a further 8000 jobs in component installation and supply around the world. And, of course, there’s the environmental benefits. Continue reading ‘a country run on wind’
shh, the candles are listening.
Shh, the candle light whispers to his neighbour some four feet away. The flickering flame stands to attention as the guests walk in and are shown their seat; one on the cushioned four legs, the other on the soft bench couch. Redness absorbs the eyes as the wine bar, built by Fred and Elizabeth Deckers- Dutch Woodworkers with a lifetime of experience building bars in Holland - spans six metres and holds some 1,500 bottles. Reminiscent of a library, shelves line the wall behind the bar where a shape sits perched, his two leading fingers splitting a wine glass stem as he converses with the co-owner, Olivier Sofo.
Salon bar in Teneriffe, is a secluded dining experience where intimate outdoor settings merge with internal choices for an immersion in fine, tapas degustation. Here the food service is quick, and the savouring is slow. Choose from Ricotta and Pumpkin gnocchi, Fetta and White Anchovy Tartlets and Duck and Porcini Sausage Quince Pickle. Perfect for a timeless, private experience, which only the flames can listen to.
As the election fast approaches I wait in anticipation regarding what the key climate change policies are for each party. I am starting to think that the almost lack of news regarding this issue means they are both holding a card up their sleeves or nothing is changing! So I decided to go looking for the goverment’s policy on climate change and this is what I found – get ready to read the future… click on the following dot .
As I began to read the document I was amazed on page 5 in the Executive Summary by the following paragraph: Continue reading ‘where have our leaders gone?’
the best in the bin
From the name you might think there is not much to choose from, but the annual In the Bin short film festival screens the best short films in Australia - without the trash.
Since 2000, In the Bin Short Film Festival has been offering an avenue for aspiring Australian short filmmakers to have their work shown around the country. From over 600 entries, 16 are chosen to comprise the night’s screening schedule which premieres in the beautiful parkland opposite Currumbin’s Wildlife Sanctuary to keen crowds. Since its inception, Festival Director Jed Cahill has extended this original vision so that the festival now comprises 4 different mini-festivals (including Board Shorts, Cart-orts and School Shorts), lasts almost a week and actually tours the country - screening in up to 50 regional and semi-rural areas and some capital cities along the way!
This is almost a belated post, as In the Bin 2007 was supposed to kick off on Saturday night. However, it was postponed due to inclement weather so we all still have a chance to get to Currumbin for tomorrow night’s Launch part 1, gates opening at 4pm. If you need a bit more notice, perhaps a trip down the coast for Friday’s Retro Night, which screens the best of the last few years’ festivals as well as the picks of this year, might be a welcome diary addition. Continue reading ‘the best in the bin’
eco barons spend up to save the planet.
Public-spirited billionaires are buying up ecosystems and turning them into conservation areas. Jonathan Franklin reports.
Sebastian Piera, one of the richest men in Chile, has a resume that includes introducing credit cards to Chile, ownership of South America’s most successful airline and large scale real estate developments. Now he has added what every chic billionaire needs - a private ecosystem.
Parque Tantauco, which Piera created last year, is 120,000 windswept hectares on Chiloe Island, near Patagonia. Piera has promised to make conservation of offshore blue whales and inland virgin forests a top priority.
From Patagonia to Montana, millions of hectares are being bought by business leaders and placed in private charities, conservation trusts, or handed over to governments as a gift.
“It is pretty hard for a country to turn down a gift of 300,000 hectares,” explains Douglas Tompkins, 64, the de facto dean of this new class of eco barons, who has spent the past decade and $US200 million ($238 million) spearheading a new movement called Wildlands Philanthropy. Tompkins has bought or organised the purchase of some 25 properties covering 891,000 hectares of Chile and Argentina. Continue reading ‘eco barons spend up to save the planet.’
Tell friends to click today! The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on “donating a mammogram” for free. Your click on the “Click Here to Give - it’s FREE” button helps fund free mammograms for women in need — low-income, inner-city and minority women whose awareness of breast cancer and opportunity for help is often limited. This doesn’t cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram in exchange for advertising. Each year, 182,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and 43,300 die. One woman in eight either has or will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. In addition, 1,600 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 400 will die this year.
from sydney to naples via rome
After inhaling Penelope Green’s first literary offering within 24 hours, I was chuffed to discover that she has written another tale, See Naples and Die. Penelope moved from Sydney to Rome five years ago and her best-selling When in Rome captured her baby-steps in the country beautifully; learning the language, understanding the culture, making friends and fighting bureaucratic visa requirements. In her second story, See Naples and Die, Penelope has been in Italy for three years and has been offered a job in her chosen career as a journalist in Naples, a city famed for its crime and social problems.
Through her job, she meets a varied and eclectic mix of Neapolitans, in a bid to understand the city she now calls home. As Penelope peppers their stories throughout the second book, a greater historical and social side of Italy is uncovered. Both books were inspirational chronicles of the life and adventures of a tenacious and curious expat working out that perennial question we all sometimes grapple with: Where is my place in the world?
cinema du ‘look’
While non-French audiences would recognise his name as director of The Fifth Element, Luc Besson’s film credentials were also in part responsible, along with Jean-Jacques Beineix and Leos Carax, for a whole movement in French cinema in the 80’s, the cinema du ‘look’. With his most recent film, Angel-A, Besson introduces that genre of film into the new millenium.
A black and white montage of Paris, Angel-A is visually beautiful, constantly intriguing and, while serious, retains an undercurrent of humour throughout the whole film, probably due to Jamel Debbouze’s comic talents (he is the gorgeous moroccan-frenchman who plays the grocer’s simple assistant in Amelie). Debbouze’s character Andre is down on his luck and owes money to what seems like most of the dodgy characters of Paris’s gangster scene. Feeling at a loss, alone, and being chased for his life, Andre contemplates jumping from Pont Alexandre III, one of the bridges which crosses the Seine. The moment before he does so, he looks to the next pylon and sees the stunning Angel-A, played by Rie Rasmussen, about to do the same. When she jumps, for some reason he is over his death wish and decides to save her instead, jumping after her. In return for his efforts, Angel-A offers to help him out with his problems and using her feminine wiles, takes on Paris’s underground scene with style. As the story develops, we learn there is a more ’saintly’ reason for Angel-A’s sudden presence in Andre’s otherwise messed up life. Continue reading ‘cinema du ‘look’’
This morning I sat peacefully enjoying a coffee, day dreaming, listening to the sounds of community chatter, the smell of fresh espresso in the air, kids laughing and birds whistling. The amazing thing about this experience was that I was literally two feet away from the the road and the thundering traffic flying down Lwr LaTrobe Terrace. My head went into overdrive about the wonderful effect and subtlety of the beauty of nature and how it works its magnificent charm. You see I was enjoying a coffee from Urban Grind, Paddington in a park! That’s right a park! What park on Lwr LaTrobe Terrace? The park that Morgan created in a two-hour car parking space, in support of PARK(ing) Day, outside his cafe Urban Grind, Paddington. As I casually chatted to all those who joined us in the park, I realised that it didn’t take long before everyone was happy and peacefully engaged in conversation – unaware of the fact they were sitting on a main road! It is interesting how good design makes us feel comfortable and removes us from the very understanding of what may be taking place. Continue reading ‘a million ideas from a car park’
peace in peace out
Today marks the International Day of Peace, set aside by the United Nations as a global tap-on-the-shoulder about the importance of peace throughout the world. As part of a United Nations Resolution, all countries within the UN uphold that September 21 will be observed as a day of peace throughout the world, including a Global Ceasefire. Apart from maintaining a generally peaceful, loving air and avoiding conflict on an individual level; there are many other proactive ways of being involved in International Peace Day, including having a Peace Day party or planning a local event.
As part of the international event, the Global Mala Project uses the peaceful practise of yoga to celebrate the event, through a collective session of 108 Sun Salutations. A group of yoga teachers will be leading a practise at Yen Yoga Studio on Saturday 22 September, with all proceeds going towards the worthwhile community organisation Rosie’s Van which provides food for Brisbane’s homeless. Namaste.
Loading ...