The Green Queen

First Lady of Change

I was so inspired to read about the vegetable garden being planted at the White House, overseen by the inspiring Michelle Obama.

The last vegetable plot was there over 60 years ago as part of the WWII Victory Garden campaign.

The garden will use a 1100 square foot plot to grow vegetables, berries, herbs and salad for use in the White House kitchen. Two bee hives will supply honey. Some of the fertiliser will come from their own garden compost.

This rings my bell for several reasons:

Health: This is what Michelle is championing here, using the garden to educate children on healthy eating. Particularly important as childhood obesity rates are sky-rocketing. Getting people to eat more fruit and veg and less meat and dairy would make a profound difference to the health record of the developing world.

Hard work: Once again the Obamas are talking about seeing the fruits of your labour, reward for hard work and the joy of seeing something growing, not instant gratification.

Grow locally: Wouldn't it be awesome if this sparked off personal and community gardens? Vertical gardening so everyone could grow their own salad.

Sustainability: I suspect it's easier to go for the obesity angle at first, rather than talking too much about global food supplies, food miles, carbon footprints, whatever, but it's an ease into the discussion later down the track.

I imagine the only people who would be annoyed at this would be suppliers of fruit and veg to the White House. Not that it will be self sufficient overnight, but what a great start!

So, now all the White House need to do is put on a green and living roof, solar panels on the White House (again), a wind turbine, maybe some ground heat pumps and they'll be good to go!

Maybe after the Obamas screen The Age of Stupid (as they are rumoured to soon), they'll be inspired to go even further.

Ok, I'm off to have a lunch of salad and foraged dandelion leaves from my neighbourhood weed patch!

Photo: Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

Fire and Rain

Australia is dealing with a lot right now. Victoria had devastating bush fires with almost 200 people dead. One of my High School friends is a firefighter and I'm sure she's been sent off to help. 

My home state, New South Wales has torrential rain which could lead to flash flooding on the East Coast.

It's a timely reminder to Australians just how helpless humanity is in the face of natural disasters. No amount of technology saved people and their homes when the bush fires hit, and you can't stop the rain from falling. Especially when a big percentage of a town's annual rainfall falls in one day. Even drought affected areas don't welcome this kind of deluge. 

The damage from these two opposing forces of nature have cost lives, hundreds of people have lost their homes and all their belongings, and the cost of repairs to these towns have not been fully calculated yet. And this is happening in other parts of the world too. Flooding in the UK, fires in California, not to mention earth quakes, landslides and others. 

It's easy to blame Australia's current problems on global warming, and I have no doubt it's a big part of it. Whether or not natural cycles are playing a part, it worries a lot of people. 

Recently I've been looking at what kind of house Mark and I would like to build one day. Eco will be a certainty, materials will be up for discussion (earth ship, or hay bales), but a big question is exactly where we will end up. Where will be safe to live over the rest of our lifetime, potentially close to 70 years. Is Australia going through a natural cycle, or will the weather and natural disasters get worse?

When I'm being incredibly selfish, I worry I won't be able to sell my flat if London becomes a flood zone. I also worry that Australia won't be safe either (unless I build inland). 

The irony is, that I am incredibly lucky because I'll have a choice. I have reasonable means to find a safe country to live in. If humanity has to end up on floating man made, sufficient islands, then I'll probably be able to afford a place on them.

What about the poor of the world? What about the animals? How will they cope?

Please spare a thought for Australians right now, and I hope you are safe wherever you are right now.

Flooded ... Lavenders Bridge, which runs through Bellingen, is submerged by water, top. Below, how it normally looks. Source: SMH Photo: Tim Fry