Earth Hour 2012

I was so excited to find the new video for Earth Hour 2012.

It is one of my favourite times of year and I love the connection with the rest of world.
Earth Hour asks one small thing, turn off your lights from 8.30 to 9.30pm on Saturday March 31st 2012. We usually go further and turn all our power off but that is our personal choice.

Last year I spent an afternoon in Mikayla's class the week of Earth Hour,we looked at the history of Earth Hour, did activities on food miles and planted up heritage seeds in handmade tubes.
This year we will be throwing a huge Earth Hour party with activities for kids and adults.We might even try to build a new wicking bed or a pond that I would love to incorporate into the garden.

Last year Earth Hour incorporated Beyond the Hour. What could you do beyond Earth Hour to continue your commitment to helping the planet? Our commitment this year has been the No Supermarkets Challenge. By avoiding shopping centres and supermarkets we have reduced our packaging waste, created more business for local suppliers and taken another step close to the connection with our food/products.

So spread the word, we have time to let everyone know.This is one small thing that we all can do to show the world our support for a better planet.

Earth Hour 2011

Lighting the tealight 60!

Games of UNO by candlelight

What will you be up to on March 31st 2012?

Summer 2012 plus some before and afters

A little update on the garden this summer. I hate that I am forced to not plant during this season but it would be a ridiculous exercise in this heat.

Sharing some of our fruit with a "local"

Pomegranate fence

"The Orchard" Oct 2008

The Orchard January 2012 (3 years 3 months old)


Apple trees under nets so we actually get some fruit

The Seven year bean has gone crazy

Carrots that actually survived repeated attacks from the chooks

Nursery area cause I just can't stop myself from sowing seeds!


The long view March 2009

The long view January 2012

On the no supermarket front we are 19 days in and still going strong (LOL huge achievement I know). Even managed to shop for a weeks camping without succumbing.

New Years Revolutions

So here we are in 2012!!
Wow where did the last year go?
We have had a great year and achieved some of our eco challenges.

• The solar panels have been installed for nearly a whole year and I am happy to say that 2011 was a no electricity bill year...woohoo!!
• We put in a few rainwater tanks but much more are needed.
• The garden grew taller and the soil seems just a little more water retentive.
• We achieved nearly 9 months of buying nothing new

So onto 2012!! What are the challenges for this year.

• To coincide with the nothing new challenge that we started last year we will continue to buy nothing new unless it is replacing something large that is broken/worn out. Even then we will look at second hand options first.
  
• We are joining the Little Eco family in not buying food/supplies from supermarkets, shopping malls and super chains.
  
• We are uping our green lunches with new Kids Konserve lunch packs to create waste free lunches now that all 4 children will be attending school ( scary I know) We have been fairly good in the last few years but this will eliminate the plastic element.
  

• We are majorly cutting back the kids extra activities to just piano ( walking distance) and one sport. This will give our family more time together and cut our travelling miles down immensely.
• We will start looking seriously at a new house with larger space for our children to enjoy the outdoors more often and take a step closer to a more sustainable lifestyle.
• Increase the use of our solar oven. We just received an upgrade from the builder of our solar oven ( posting soon on that development) that will increase our oven temperature by another 15 degrees. Will be using that to it's full advantage.

We will do a fair amount of air travel this year so I am very keen to offset that impact with our daily living choices. So here's to a fabulous and greener 2012!!