Lifestyle Issues
Cycling
Bicycle Victoria
Australia's largest independent non-profit cycling organisation, membership includes free legal advice, comprehensive insurance
cover, discounted ride entries and a regular newsletter. Ring them on 9328 3000 or visit http://www.bv.com.au
Critical Mass
Critical Mass bike rides started in San Francisco in 1992 as a way of bringing people together in a festive reclaiming of public space. The first Mass attracted 60 cyclists, now thousands ride every month in hundreds of cities around the globe. Critical Mass
is a celebration, not a protest "We don’t block the traffic, we are the traffic!" Melbourne Critical Mass meets outside the State
Library in Swanston Walk at 5:30 p.m. on the last Friday of every month. Be there or check it out at
http://www.ecr.mu.oz.au/~amorton/cmass.html
Car Busters
Car Busters is a magazine for everyone who is sick of these pollution spewing, road rage inducing, opening-the-door-as-you-ride-past-nearly-causing-serious-groin-injury, death machines called cars. Check it out at Alternative book shops ( Barricade Books), order it through Alternative catalogues or subscribe if ya want to know what’s going on with the movement to abolish cars.
shut up and shop
The best way to prop up a system that relies on vast amounts of human greed and an endless thirst for useless products, is to buy, buy BUY! Thus, the easiest way to withdraw your own support is simply to not buy (think ‘Buy Nothing Day’).Make every day buy nothing day! Of course, some things you need to survive. Here are some tips not only for reducing your expenditure on EVIL products lurking in this great big shiny neon mall called society capitalist., but also supplying yourself with alternatives and thus supporting exploitation free products and trade.
Things to Avoid
* agricultural products produced with bad landcare practices, salting, soil erosion, pesticides (when buying food and fibres), plant variety rights - biodi versity is also a concern
* products made from non-renewable resources
* products made with exploitative labour practices (many imported products)
* manufacturers involvement in the arms trade
* animal testing (cosmetics)
* factory farming (Chicken, eggs, pork, bacon)
* packaging (is it excessive or necessary - what are the alternatives)
*products not designed for energy efficiency when alternatives are available (light bulbs, non-rechargable batteries)
* products manufactured with high energy inefficiency (products that aren’t made from recyced materials and other more efficient sources) * non-durable (throw away) products
* pollution in manufacture, transport and disposal
* non-reuseable or recyclable
You might conclude that there is nothing that you can safely buy, especially when you take price into consideration as well!!! Don't despair! By following these general rules you can easily minimise environmental costs and increase your quality of life:
1. Buy local: saves cost on transport and storage
2. Buy organic: saves costs of pesticides and fer tilisers on you body and on the land, preserves bi ological diversity and the food tastes better.
3. Buy bulk or in large quantities: saves cost of packa- ging and reduces landfill
4. Buy food in season: saves costs of transport, glasshouses and cool stores
5. Buy durable products that can be repaired if they break down.
6. Refuse plastic bags.
Food Co-ops
Food co-operatives are stores run by volunteers and aim to provide goods that have been produced without the exploitation of
people or the environment. They usually offer healthy organic, bio-dynamic and chemically-free products in bulk so as to minimise
unnecessary and excessive packaging.
The following is a partially completed list only-
Grasslands Grocery and info Shop
205.Nicholson St Footscray (03) 9362 0830
Friends of the Earth : Co -op
312 Smith St Fitzroy. (03) 9419 8700
St. Kilda Organic Food Co-op
67a Barkly St, St. Kilda. (03) 9531 4517
Wholefoods (a Co-op)
14 Belford St, St. Kilda. (03) 9525 4858
Melbourne Uni Food Co-op
1st Floor union house Melbourne Uni ph: 9347 8716
Victorian Indigenous Nurseries Co-op Ltd.
Yarrabend Rd, Fairfield ph: (3078) 9482 1701
People for Fair Trade Association
(fair trade tea and coffee by order) Box 4636TT GPO Melbourne 3001 ph: 9642 4907 ph or fax: 9642 4542 orders@fairtrade.asn.au
Co-operative Federation of Victoria Ltd.
PO Box 356 Beechworth 3747 ph: 5728 2005 fax: 5728 2005 cfedv@netc.net.au
Cruelty Free Living
For a list of products that do not use animal testing in their production, contact:
Choose Cruelty Free
PO box 120005 A’ Beckett st, Melbourne 3000 ph: 9328 1377 fax: 9328 2117
admin@choosecrueltyfree.org.au
www.choosecrueltyfree.org.au
also try
Animal Liberation Victoria
PO Box 12838, A’Beckett Street Melbourne 3000, (03) 9419 5188, Fax: 9419 5100
Vegan Wares Footwear and Clothing
78 Smith St Collingwood Ph 9417 0230
Alternative Living Stuff
Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies (CERES)
8 Lee Street, East Brunswick 3057, (03) 9387 2609, Fax: 9381 1844, e-mail: ceres@enternet.com.au; Website:
CERES is a non-profit community based organisation on Merri Creek. It aims to raise awareness and promote action in environmental and social issues, through such displays and projects as the Low-Energy House, and an animal farm.
Alternative Cleaning Products
BATHROOM: -Vinegar is an excellent all round disinfectant to wipe over all bathroom surfaces. For extra clean-out sprinkle in some bicarb soda too. Leave one cup of vinegar in the toilet bowl and scrub (Bicarb for extra power). -Substitute bicarb soda for toothpaste, add drops of peppermint oil for taste and avoid the sugars, colours, chemicals and packaging of conventional toothpaste.
KITCHEN: -wipe off general kitchen grime with a damp cloth, a sprinkle of bicarb soda and a spray of vinager. -add one cup of vinager to half a bucket of warm water to clean your floors. -clean burnt saucepans by heating a mixture of vinegar, salt and water on high gas for ten minutes-wash when cool.
-use biodegradable dishwashing detergent.
-vanilla essence wiped inside a smelly fridge, or a small amount of bicarb soda will deoderise it nicely.
-if you have ants, place cloves in their path and/or lemon juice around the sink.
-if you have cockroaches, use cucumber peeling to deter them. -mice are repelled by peppermint oil LAUNDRY: -bleach is deadly. Try soaking clothes in one cup of lemon juice to half a bucket of water.
-eucalyptus oil is a great all purpose stain remover. add on teaspoon to each load to make clothes smell yummy and kill dust mites and bed bugs. (From: melbourne uni environment department)
rad pad
Made from 100% colourful cotton fabrics, rad-pads are completely washable and re-usable menstrual pads. Secrecy and shame have shrouded menstruation in the past, but there’s no room for secerecy or shame when using rad-pads. They’ll be in the wash; they’ll be on the line; they’ll be tucked away in your draw, freshly laundered and ready for next time. Using rad-pads means supporting the liberation of menstruation form the negative attitudes of the past and replacing them with a celebration of womanhood. Rad-pads are a healthier alternative for you and the environment to using conventional pads and tampons that contain chemical residues and plastics. As well as reducing landfill you’ll be avoiding the use of a product that goes through a bleaching process in production in which effluent is released into the waterways contaminating water and the food chain with pollutants. It will also be a lot cheaper for you over time if you give up on corporate sponsored menstruation and buy pads that can be used over and over again. Rad-pads are sold in some co-ops including FoE and the Melbourne Uni food co-op (usually), and at Bliss in Lonsdale St.
For more info contact:
Rad-Pads PO Box 786, Castlemain, Vic 3450 ph: 903) 5472 4922 or enquiries@fertility.com.au
WWOOFing
Willing Workers On Organic Farms (WWOOF) is a form of cultural exchange in which WWOOFers live and work as family with host farms, and learn about:
the skills of organic growing
the area they are visiting
WWOOF Australia and their hosts make WWOOFing in
Australia easy, safe and more fun for both Australian
and Overseas Visitors to explore.
Contact - www.wwoof.com.au
LETS (Local Exchange Trading System)
A LETS system is a trading network supported by its own internal currency. It is self-regulating and allows its users to manage and issue their own 'money supply' within the boundaries of the network. There is a growing network of LETS groups through out Victoria and represents a way of local communities reclaiming control of their economic lives.
The following site provides in depth discussion of the LETS system
Check out the following for a list of Victorian based LETS groups
www.borderlands.org.au/viclets/letscontacts.htm
Check out the Monash Environment Group's Green Guide for much more detailed info on lifestyle issues
http://yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au/groups/meg/index.html