Category: ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

The top 5 questions to solve your first-time plant parenting problems

Houseplant 1

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Updated: 16/11/2022

During these times of isolation, we have seen more people than ever busying themselves with new veggie patch ventures, making their own compost, and looking for ways to bring the outside world of nature indoors with plants. As a horticulturist and owner of Leaf an Impression, as well as an avid plant collector for over 10 years, I’m passionate about sharing the benefits of greening our living spaces and helping newcomers get started, so here are the top five questions I commonly get asked by new plant enthusiasts and the answers to get you on your way to that urban jungle dream. What’s so great about having indoor plants? Plants are seriously great for our health and wellbeing and as the Plant Life Balance simple science notes, this is something that has been deeply researched for over fifty years – research which has found that plants remove airborne toxins from the air and can create feelings of relaxation, inspiration and positivity. Plus, plants are a great way to finish your interiors – they soften a space and help tie all the elements together. How do I know what plants to choose? There is plenty of inspiration to be found in the plant-realm of social media, but before you buy, tail it to your local nursery with screenshots of your favourite plants along with where you plan to put them in your home. It pays to understand what conditions your prospective new fronds will be growing in – is the room brightly lit, does it only… Read More

Category: ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY, FEATURES, LIFESTYLE

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International Composting Awareness Week: How you can do it, too

Worm compost

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Posted: 05/05/2020

Composting is a weird concept, right? Throw your scraps into a plastic bin and let nature do its thing. But, have you ever really thought about it? Aside from essentially being a microcosm of the very way the world is meant to work harmoniously, composting is a fun passtime enjoyed by hundreds of thousands around the world. And the best thing? It’s refreshingly easy; you just need the right kit. It’s mad that more people don’t do it when you consider that 60% of Australian household waste is organic and 10.5 million tonnes of total organic waste goes to landfill. Organic waste in landfill creates Methane, a greenhouse gas 30 times worse than Carbon Dioxide (CO2). If we all composted this waste, it would be equivalent to taking out the pollution of 750,000 cars off the road. Composting is a simple and easy way to reduce your household waste and can help mitigate climate change. By using a compost bin in your garden, backyard or balcony, you can create a rich resource for your outside space and divert your kitchen scraps away from landfill. Here are some super easy ways to go about introducing yourself: Bunnings Beginner’s Guide to Composting Collect your kitchen scraps in a kitchen caddy or indoor composter. Add the kitchen scraps to your composter with some ‘brown’ scraps to balance the organic waste. ‘Brown’ scraps can be items from your home or garden such as brown leaves, paper or cardboard. The aim is to get a mixture with a consistency that… Read More

Category: ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY, LIFESTYLE

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Acre Eatery is one of the inner west’s best kept secrets

Breakfast at Acre Eatery

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Updated: 18/11/2019

The Acre Eatery in Sydney is probably one of the inner west’s best kept secrets. A stunning farm-to-table establishment located in Camperdown Commons, this venue now stands where the Camperdown Bowling and Recreation Club once existed. The beautiful thing is that this farm-like eatery is now a community hub for locals to gather and feast. What could have been developed into another block of bland high rises, is now a feel-good urban farm in the city. The establishment is located within Camperdown Commons, which is also home to not-for-profit organisation Pocket City Farms. Pocket City Farms take neglected spaces in Sydney and turn them into sustainable, urban farms. The venue boasts three areas to dine in – a sunny garden terrace, a takeaway section (known as the ‘Container’) and an impressive, country-style dining room that is fit for a wedding. And yes, Acre Eatery does cater for such events. The funky Spritz Bar is located on the Garden Terrace and is a great space to sit around with friends and share a meal over a few drinks. Breakfast is served in the Garden Terrace five days a week from Wednesday to Sunday and is the perfect location for a relaxing weekend breakfast, overlooking the community garden.  Breakfasts don’t get any heartier than the ‘Country Breakfast’, which includes homemade pasture-raised pork sausage, butter mushrooms, bacon, grilled tomato, free-range poached egg, toast and pickles. For something a little naughtier, you may want to consider the spelt flour ricotta hotcakes with macerated berries, maple butter and caramelised banana…. Read More

Category: AUSTRALIAN FOOD, CITIES, COFFEE, ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY, FOOD & DRINK, LIFESTYLE, SYDNEY

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Simple ways to live an eco-friendly life, starting in the kitchen

Scandi kitchen

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Updated: 17/12/2020

Sustainable living seems to be the ‘in’ thing at the moment. It’s not an unfortunate trend to participate in, and it doesn’t even require too much commitment or effort. Just a few small changes here and there from as many people as possible can make a world of difference when it comes to taking care of our home – Earth.  Here are a few simple things that can be done at home – let’s start in the kitchen. Coffee A morning coffee might seem like one of life’s only pleasures, but it shouldn’t be at the cost of the Earth. While using coffee pods in specialised machines is the easy, cheaper option than spending your hard-earned cash on a coffee shop espresso every day (not to mention the single-use paper cups!) they, too have their negative impact on the environment, as they are seldom recyclable, and often end up in the landfill. An old fashioned coffee pot with ground coffee is just as delicious and brings the joy of sharing back into drinking coffee. Just make sure you don’t have to clear blocked drains by not disposing of the granules properly. Coffee grains make excellent compost for homegrown tomatoes as well. Simply fill the pot with water and use the grainy water to feed the plants–never put them down the sink. Water bottles  Drinking water is good for you and hosts many benefits to the body. But can you imagine how many plastic water bottles you get through in a week, month, YEAR to get… Read More

Category: ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY, LIFESTYLE

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Meet the man swimming across the dirtiest part of the ocean

Ben Lecomte 2

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Updated: 06/09/2019

Ben Lecomte has always loved the water, his love for swimming and passion for the ocean, brought to his attention the cost that plastic was having on our oceans. 10 years later he has transformed his passion into his life mission swimming over 300nm across the dirtiest part of the ocean, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, in a bid to raise awareness for plastic pollution around the globe. “Playing in the sand when I was a child was a different experience than playing in the sand with my kids, we now always find plastic it doesn’t matter where we are. Marine plastic pollution is an important issue that should not be passed on to the next generation.” Launching from Hawaii on June 17th, 2019, so far on the Vortex Swim in partnership with icebreaker, Ben has swum 331nm (235 hours) and counting, through the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. RELATED: Why Jaden Smith is just what the world needs right now “On one of my favourite days, I was swimming with a pod of whales while in the centre of the garbage patch – sadly, we also had our largest collection of microplastics up to this point on that day. It’s sad to see these creatures swimming through an area of such high concentrations of plastic. The effects are unknown but our contribution to research will hopefully help to understand the current situation.” 300 million tonnes of single-use plastics are produced every year around the world, which rarely are recycled so end up in landfill or in our oceans. One of… Read More

Category: ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

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V&A goes green: Supporting Extinction Rebellion with a new display

Extinction Rebellion 1

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Posted: 02/08/2019

The Victoria and Albert, V&A, Museum in London has announced something new: they’ve newly acquired work that supports the movement of Extinction Rebellion (XR). The group is known for their non-violent demonstrations of civil disobedience and disruption, who’ve busied themselves since 31 October 2018, urging the UK government to declare a climate and ecological emergency and commit to reduce emissions to net zero by 2025. They have grown into an international movement with over 363 groups active in 59 countries around the world. And now, the V&A is putting them on show. Given by the Extinction Rebellion Arts Group, a coalition of graphic designers, artists and activists responsible for XR’s Design Programme, the objects reveal how XR has harnessed the power of open-source design to develop a coherent and impactful visual identity and sought to foster a collaborative ‘do-it-together’ movement recognisable across the globe. The objects have been acquired through the V&A’s Rapid Response Collecting programme that enables the acquisition and immediate display of design objects that address questions of social, political, technological and economic change. The collection includes: A digital file of the Extinction Symbol – the logo designed by east-London artist ESP in 2011 and adopted by XR in 2018 The Extinction Symbol website where the symbol is available for download for non-commercial use The first printed pamphlet issued by XR group outlining its ‘Declaration of Rebellion’. The immediate popularity of these pamphlets makes this example from the first print-run extremely rare, while the screen-printed text and graphics outline the emphasis XR placed… Read More

Category: ART, ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY, LIFESTYLE, LONDON

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Sydney coffee brand Seven Miles launches recycling program in the right direction

Coffee cup

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Updated: 16/11/2022

To say that Australians “enjoy a cup of coffee” would be an understatement. We guzzle over six billion cups of coffee every year. Manly roaster, Seven Miles are not only committed to roasting the best but being the best in sustainability. Seven Miles has partnered with Terracycle on Australia’s first free-to-use coffee recycling program. The program allows consumers to recycle used coffee bags and coffee pods, free of charge.  CEO of Seven Miles, Jenny Willits explains “everything we do is in the pursuit of exceptional coffee, and for us that includes the journey from bean to cup, and beyond. It is expected that the new sustainability initiatives at Seven Miles will reduce landfill levels by a whopping 16 tonnes over the next five years. The 7 Miles in the Right Direction initiatives include: 1/ A free recycling partnership with TerraCycle for coffee bags and capsules 2/ The use of RecycleMe™ cups which can actually be recycled (standard coffee cups can’t be). 3/ The installation of 264 solar panels on their Manly Vale roastery 4/ Collecting used coffee grinds and using them as fertiliser on local farms 5/ The coffee bean sacks are reused in animal enclosures at Taronga Zoo Jenny continues “We know our consumers want to make more sustainable choices, and our exciting new TerraCycle partnership means this can now include even the bags their coffee comes in!” You can purchase Seven Miles coffee online or visit them at their Manly Vale roastery, 75 Kenneth Rd, the espresso bar is open 7:30am – 11:30am, Monday to Friday. Lottie Dalziel is resident… Read More

Category: CITIES, ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY, FEATURES, FOOD & DRINK, LIFESTYLE, SYDNEY

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What to do with old fishing nets: Just ask VisionDirect

Vision-Direct-sunglasses-1

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Updated: 02/04/2021

If there’s one thing the world makes too much of, it’s plastic stuff. Smart phones, milk bottles, coffee cups and fishing nets – the list goes on – but the way we are now doesn’t need to be the way we’ll be. There are organisations out there, like VisionDirect, who’re putting their weight behind the world’s new efforts to collect the stuff we’ve been gathering inadvertently for tens of years, for good. A new initiative by the leading eyewear and glasses retailer is seeing some good steps being taken in the way of environmental action. They’ve recently teamed up with The World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia which in 2018, raised thousands of supporter donations that helped WWF-Australia buy and retire the licence for the last commercial gill net operating full-time in the northern Great Barrier Reef. Once they secured the netting, they were left with a big question mark over what to do with it, which is where VisionDirect comes in. The two organisations, by sharing the goal of making a difference in ocean plastics led to the concept of “ReefCycle sunglasses”, a new initiative by VisionDirect and WWF. VisionDirect CEO David Menning said upcycling old nets is another way to give back to the community, following on from the company’s program to donate eyeglasses in less fortunate nations. The WWF & Arise Collective ReefCycle sunglasses go on sale on July 4 at (websites). They will cost $89 for regular, $139 for polarised, and a prescription option will be available. The first 1,000 pairs sold… Read More

Category: ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY, LIFESTYLE

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Your face can save lives: WWF Australia and VisionDirect create sustainable sunglasses

Vision Direct sunglasses 2

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Posted: 09/07/2019

They’re now turning gill nets into sunglasses and the world’s bloody thankful! The World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia and eyewear company VisionDirect are teaming up to upcycle the plastic net, taking enough of the stuff to make 1,000 pairs of shades for the environmentally-minded trendsetter amongst us. It all comes after the initiative from 2018, where thousands of supporter donations helped WWF-Australia buy and retire the licence for the last commercial gill net operating full-time in the northern Great Barrier Reef. Talk about success. At the end of the day, it was all to protect dugongs and other endangered marine creatures which can be accidentally caught as bycatch and quickly drown; but not anymore. VisionDirect CEO David Menning said upcycling old nets is another way to give back to the community, following on from the company’s program to donate eyeglasses in less fortunate nations. But what will they do with the first thousand pairs they’ve made? Well, they come embossed with a marine animal whose future depends on a Net Free North, and half of the money they make from sales will go back to WWF for conservation work like advocacy for a #NetFreeNorth. For more info and to be apart of it all, head to the Vision Direct website.

Category: ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY, LIFESTYLE, MEN'S STYLE, STYLE, WOMEN'S STYLE

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The Sydney initiative giving back to the bees

Bee on a flower

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Posted: 21/05/2019

“There is now alarming evidence of a serious decline in birds, bees, butterflies and other pollinators. The research is conclusive but we all recognise we are not seeing the diverse nature we experienced as children.” “This has implications for our food supply, for life. And we should not just be thinking of ourselves – the human animals – but the other species we share the earth with. But, importantly, we can help.” We spoke with Judy, about the new BandB Highway initiative which will help birds, bees and butterflies threatened by urbanisation across Sydney.  The research also shows that cities can become biodiversity hot spots and if we encourage the right plants, we can encourage pollinators and assist in helping to make our urban environments sanctuaries for people and pollinators. The Sydney B&B Highway is one of the first pollinator highways in Australia. Judy and her team have planned, planted and started pollinating in four different LGAs in Sydney. Which “translates to more bees, birds and butterflies!” With FoodFaith planning on expanding and growing the number of BnB’s around Sydney and the rest of the country. to roll out more so it would be wonderful to generate more traction. So how can individuals get involved and help save these precious creatures? Judy shared her tips with Banish. Judy Friedlander is an academic, journalist and the founder of FoodFaith: Planting Seeds. To find more about the BnB Highway, head to the Green Future speaker series. Join Judy Friedlander from UTS to learn practical ways to combat climatechange in your own… Read More

Category: ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY, LIFESTYLE, SYDNEY

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