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Maria H |
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Tuesday, August 16, 2011 |
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For the coscious consumer, this blog is about sharing ideas and inspiration about how to live more sustainably. |
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Sustainable Living
How to compost
May 07,2013
 It’s International Composting Awareness Week this week (if you missed our intro to the initiative, read here). So, how to become a composter? How do you get started? Composting is easy. We do it. If we can do it, you can do it. Here’s how to... do it:
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Sustainable Living
10 ways to 'green' your life - made SIMPLE.
October 14,2012
 As the world becomes increasingly aware of the realities of climate change, more and more people realise the benefits of living a “green life” –benefits that are both environmental and economical. “Green” living is the concept of living life in such a way that appreciates a growing global population, limited natural resources and a decaying natural environment. By following Sustainable Table’s 10-step guide to green living, you can cut costs within your home as well as significantly reduce the environmental impact your choices determine.
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Sustainable Living
Is your life too plastic? An interview with Tim Silverwood
August 19,2012
 “It’s exciting to look at the last decade of my life and to see all the little stepping stones that have shaped my current situation. I’m really happy to be in a position now where I can be a voice for an issue that hasn’t achieved widespread attention.” Tim Silverwood is one passionate man. An environmentalist, plastic pollution spokesperson and keen surfer, Tim is dedicated to spreading awareness of the dangers plastic pose to our marine life, wild life, as well as to our own health. Tim studied Sustainable Resource Management at university and has worked in the non-profit sector for most of his career. We got to have a chat to Tim about his recent forays in implementing change for the better...
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Sustainable Living
The time is now to put a price on carbon
June 27,2012
 With the carbon price coming into play this weekend, and the political circus surrounding it, it’s time to remind people about why we need a price on carbon. Our sister company Impact Sustainability, talks us through it...
Older Posts
By Maria H on
Wednesday, May 08, 2013
It’s International Composting Awareness Week this week (if you missed our intro to the initiative, read here). So, how to become a composter? How do you get started? Composting is easy. We do it. If we can do it, you can do it. Here’s how to... do it:
Read More »
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By Maria H on
Monday, October 15, 2012
As the world becomes increasingly aware of the realities of climate change, more and more people realise the benefits of living a “green life” –benefits that are both environmental and economical. “Green” living is the concept of living life in such a way that appreciates a growing global population, limited natural resources and a decaying natural environment. By following Sustainable Table’s 10-step guide to green living, you can cut costs within your home as well as significantly reduce the environmental impact your choices determine.
Read More »
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By Maria H on
Monday, August 20, 2012
“It’s exciting to look at the last decade of my life and to see all the little stepping stones that have shaped my current situation. I’m really happy to be in a position now where I can be a voice for an issue that hasn’t achieved widespread attention.” Tim Silverwood is one passionate man. An environmentalist, plastic pollution spokesperson and keen surfer, Tim is dedicated to spreading awareness of the dangers plastic pose to our marine life, wild life, as well as to our own health. Tim studied Sustainable Resource Management at university and has worked in the non-profit sector for most of his career. We got to have a chat to Tim about his recent forays in implementing change for the better...
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By Maria H on
Thursday, June 28, 2012
With the carbon price coming into play this weekend, and the political circus surrounding it, it’s time to remind people about why we need a price on carbon. Our sister company Impact Sustainability, talks us through it...
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By Maria H on
Monday, May 28, 2012
 Hi there. We don't do this very often, but we have a little survey going... We've been powering along as Sustainable Table (prior to that we were Yaubula) for over a year now - blogging, Tweeting, Facebooking, and putting on some fun yet informative events. It'd be easy for us to keep our heads down and keep on keepin' on. But we thought it was time to look up from our daily grind and see if we're all on the same page... Are we on the same page? Do you like what we're doing? Are there issues you really really wish we would cover already?!
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By Maria H on
Thursday, May 24, 2012
 Growing our own veggies is probably one of the most efficient ways that we can keep our food miles and packaging waste down. But, the reality is, a lot of us aren’t blessed with a beautiful big back yard. Heck, many of us don’t even have access to a sunny balcony. Does that mean we should give up on the idea of growing our own food? Not necessarily so... Trying to live more sustainably is not an all or nothing game. It's a make do game - you take what you've got and make the most of it. Even if that is simply a window sill...
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By Maria H on
Tuesday, May 08, 2012
 It’s
Fair Trade Fortnight! For the next two weeks, the Fair Trade Association Australia NZ will be drawing more attention to the plight of the world’s
producers of coffee, tea, cocoa, nuts, fruit, flowers, soccer balls... the list goes on. So what does Fairtrade actually
mean? And is it always all that it’s hyped up to be? We start by taking a look
at how Australia’s most popular fairtrade item, chocolate, is produced,
conventionally and under the Fairtrade label...
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By Maria H on
Monday, April 30, 2012
 After attending a food waste seminar last week, hosted by Sustainability Victoria, our Research Coordinator Sofia Strandberg discovered her food waste scorecard isn't as clean as she once thought. And she's not alone...
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By Maria H on
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
 In celebration of the Australian Year of the Farmer 2012, we're featuring interviews with farmers from all over Australia who are doing the right thing by the environment, their livestock, and ultimately by us. Meet Therese and Andrew Hearne, who packed up their inner city life in Sydney to start their own organic vegetable and egg farm. Because they wanted to know where their food came from...
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By Maria H on
Monday, April 02, 2012
 This year is a very special year. It marks the year that farmers are celebrated for the brobdingnagian (that's immense, to you and me) contribution to our way of life. From the food that we eat to the clothes that we wear, farmers are intertwined in our daily lives in ways we tend to forget, or take for granted. So this year, the Australian Year of the Farmer, we are celebrating and honouring them...
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By Maria H on
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
 Do you know the story of the little supermarket tomato? His life is pretty grim. Growing up, he'll have been subjected to regular sprays of petroleum-derived pesticides, fungicides and fertilisers. As if that wasn't enough ill-treatment, he'll have been ripped off Mumma Tomato Plant before he's even had time to blush. Baffled? Read on...
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By Maria H on
Monday, March 19, 2012
 Lately, we’ve talked a lot about making meat and fish a treat and sourcing it from organic, free-range farms and sustainable fisheries. Little have we talked about the social conundrum your new eating habits may cause... Sustainable Table's Sofia Strandberg explores how and why.
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By Maria H on
Friday, March 16, 2012
 In honour of Sustainable Seafood Day Australia Sustainable Table’s volunteer Jen Bryant has put together a few tips on how we can lend the environment a helping hand by making more sustainable seafood choices...
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By Maria H on
Thursday, February 09, 2012
 In developed countries we throw away up to half of all food produced. In Australia alone, that equates to 4.45 million tonnes, or 936kg per household, every year. That's $7.8 billion worth of food Australia-wide. It represents a criminal amount of waste, not only of food, but of all the resources that go into producing it - think of all the oil, water, nutrients, land, labour and animals' lives. And consider this - food that is thrown away ends up in landfill, where it produces potent methane emissions as it decomposes in the oxygen-starved environment of landfill... Read More »
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By Maria H on
Monday, January 30, 2012
 The term ‘free range’ is an important one for people wishing to make more ethical meat and egg purchasing decisions, but (and it’s a big but), what does the term actually mean? Proposed industry changes may see already voluntary free range farming standards diluted even further, meaning that the term used by many consumers as a beacon to more ethical produce may be nothing more than empty words. Sustainable Table’s Sofia Strandberg explores the current ‘free range’ controversy... Read More »
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By Maria H on
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
 Backyard gardening is all the rage these days, and rightly so. Growing your own food just makes sense. Don’t have a backyard, you say? No worries, books on balcony gardening are aplenty! But what if you don’t have a backyard or a balcony? For many apartment-dwellers, a window sill is as good as it gets, so they can be forgiven for feeling a tad perplexed by how to join the grow-your-own-food revolution. Table Talk guest contributor Yee-Fang Lu shows us how you can grow a veritable bouquet garnet of herbs regardless of a lack of outdoor space. Read More »
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By Maria H on
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
 Sustainable Table's former project manager Nicole Morris gives us a taste of Spain and an insight into what we can learn from the land of tapas and afternoon siestas. My sister and I recently returned from a 7-night self-guided bike tour through the La Rioja wine region of northern Spain. Not your usual tourist trail, but the area is famous for one of our shared loves: vino. The food also exceeded our expectations; all of it fresh, local, seasonal, ethical... Read More »
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By Maria H on
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
 Here at Sustainable Table, we like simple living, mindful living, ‘careful use of resources’ (not wanting to sound frugal, or anything). We rarely use the office airconditioner, we compost all our food scraps, and we reuse tea leaves until we may as well be drinking hot water. So when we find others who share our ethos of consuming less and making the best use of what we have, we get excited... Read More »
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By Maria H on
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
 Welcome welcome! It’s a fresh new year, time to hit the restart button, make lists, do a little spring cleaning, a little detoxing, and look forward to new beginnings. It’s also the perfect time to put any slip-ups you might have had during the silly season behind you (snuck in a prawn or two?), and look towards what you can do for the future. We’ve listed some great green ideas below. We’re not calling them New Year Resolutions (they’re usually made to be broken, no?). They’re just some great ideas to set you off on a fabulously sustainable year... Read More »
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By Maria H on
Monday, December 19, 2011
 It’s Christmas, and tis the season of splurging on lobster and prawn. It’s ‘pop another prawn on the barbie’ time. Now more than any other time of year (or decade for that matter) our crusty little friends from the sea have reason to scamper and hide... Read More »
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By Maria H on
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Have you seen our 5-minute clip on the global food crisis? We developed this short video as a way of communicating an important message in a simple way - our food system is broken. We need to fix it. Our central issue today is not the global financial crisis but whether we can produce enough food for civilisation to survive when faced with...
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By Maria H on
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Wednesday 12 October marked an historic day for Australians when Julia Gillard and her government successfully passed the carbon tax legislation through the lower house.
This is one of the most significant environmental reforms we have witnessed in this country, and although not perfect in its current state, it is no doubt a start.
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By Maria H on
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Sustainable Table’s Hayley, Nicole and board member Penny Cottle recently returned from a self-funded trip to Kenya to visit two of the projects funded by Sustainable Table.They were not only inspired by the progress of the projects, but also by the willingness of communities to protect their natural environment.
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By Maria H on
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
 Echuca Farmers' Market can be found on a modest reserve down
the main drag of this Murray-side town. Peppered with stallholders, a breakfast
caravan (you can pick up a grinders coffee with your egg and bacon roll) and a
swath of friendly folk, the market offers the best of local produce ranging
from olives, cheeses, fruit, boutique sausages, organic meat, a variety wine,
and some of the largest cabbages I have ever seen.
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By Maria H on
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
I have a friend who rolls her eyes whenever she hears the words green, eco, organic, or sustainable. To her, ‘eco-friendly’ conjures images of unshaven, patchouli-smelling hippies coming out of the bushes smoking joints and humming Puff the Magic Dragon, wearing rainbow tie-dye. Personally I love that image (minus the joints of course, say no to drugs kids), it makes me giggle. But my dear friend reels, as do many who have drawn the association that to call yourself an eco-warrior is to strap yourself naked to a tree.Read More »
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By Maria H on
Friday, August 12, 2011
By Sophia Konstantyniuk
It is difficult to clarify one universal meaning of sustainable living. Overall it is a lifestyle choice and by default it is based on a personal perspective. Sustainable living is a personal journey of discovery and ultimately defined by living a life according to individual moral and ethical beliefs.
The concepts presented below are by no means new or invented by me, they are just three simple reminders of what we can do from a consumable perspective to support the quest for living a sustainable life.Read More »
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