Sustainable Seafood

Three quarters of the world's oceans are already officially over-exploited or fished right up to their limit. There are literally too many boats taking too many fish, often by methods that are damaging to both fish populations, other marine wildlife and ocean habitats. Once considered inexhaustible, our oceans are now in a state of global crisis, and they really need a break.

The good news is that we can lessen our impact on our oceans by choosing our seafood wisely. The fish you choose affects the health of our oceans.

If you love our oceans but also love seafood, then you need Australia's Sustainable Seafood Guide. The Sustainable Seafood Guide is the country's first independent national tool to choosing your seafood wisely. Australia's Sustainable Seafood Guide has been developed in response to growing public concerns about overfishing and degradation of our seas, and helps ocean lovers make a responsible seafood choice. The Australian Marine Conservation Society has published a pocket-sized sustainable seafood guide to help us make better choices.

Planting the Seeds of Learning – BFA Organic School Gardens program

In response to popular demand, the Biological Farmers of Australia (BFA) is proud to announce the launch of a free organic school garden program – the first of its kind in Australia – available free to all Australian primary schools from today.  The BFA engaged the services of Lyn Bagnall, esteemed organic gardener, farmer, author and educator to research, design and write the program, which is a free on-line resource for teachers and students.

Ms Holly Vyner, General Manager of the BFA, says that gardening programs are being adopted in schools around the world as educators recognise the benefits to their students and the relevance of these programs to other subjects in the school curriculum.

“School gardens provide practical applications for nutrition, mathematics, the sciences, the environment, social studies and art, and makes learning more meaningful for students,” she says.   “As well, reviews indicate that children who grow their own food are more likely to understand good nutrition and eat fresh fruits and vegetables, work well as a team and demonstrate positive behaviour. Increased parental involvement in garden programs is an added bonus.”

Ms Vyner says that the many advantages of organic food, as well as the record levels of childhood obesity and poor nutrition, make teaching organic production an excellent advantage for encouraging long-term health.

Lynn Bagnall, who has recently published the second edition of her popular book “Easy Organic Gardening and Moon Planting”, says that children are the future guardians of the planet.   “Sharing our knowledge of organic cultivation will provide the younger generation with the skills and enthusiasm they need to face the challenges of producing delicious, healthy food, in a sustainable manner, for an increasing population on a warmer planet,” Lyn says.

“This program differs from other available resources, being based upon Australian organic standards, written for Southern Hemisphere growing seasons and, while lessons are provided on nutrition, the focus is on environmentally-friendly growing more so than home economics.”

The program will be available to view and download within the next day at the link: http://www.organicschools.com.au/

Koalas abandoned by Peter Garrett

This week there is every indication that the Australian Government is not going to list the koala as ‘vulnerable’, under the EPBC Act, but rather as ‘conservation dependant’.  This is flagged in the initial pages of their document on their website in Question 13, and also in Section 1, where they have ticked both the ‘Vulnerable’ and ‘Conservation dependant’ box.  The protection of koala habitat will be left in the hands of the States as before, and it is the Federal Governments viewpoint that this is where it should stay.  The Koala Campaigners website has a  letter available for you to write to both the Minister and our Prime Minister. With a Federal election coming up, I would encourage you all to contact your local members of all political persuasions and say that you insist - insist that the koala is protected by Federal environment laws.

NO TREE, NO ME !