Geelong Sustainability

The Contest is the project of the Real Food Media Project, a collaborative initiative using online movies and a web-based action center along with grassroots events around the country to spread the stories of sustainable food and farming. The Project is a program of Corporate Accountability International.

"Want to know how far you'd have to walk to work off your sugary drink intake? Select your gender. Select the state you're in. Enter how many of each type of drink you've consumed that you want to walk off. The calculator will tell you how far you will have to walk from the CBD in your state/territory to burn off those kilojoules."

Global Forest Watch (GFW) is a dynamic online forest monitoring and alert system that empowers people everywhere to better manage forests. For the first time, Global Forest Watch unites satellite technology, open data, and crowdsourcing to guarantee access to timely and reliable information about forests. GFW is free and follows an open data approach in putting decision-relevant information in the hands of governments, companies, NGOs, and the public.

"Global Forest Watch (GFW) is a dynamic online forest monitoring and alert system that empowers people everywhere to better manage forests. Visit GFW at globalforestwatch.org. For the first time, Global Forest Watch unites satellite technology, open data, and crowdsourcing to guarantee access to timely and reliable information about forests. Armed with the latest information from Global Forest Watch, governments, businesses and communities can halt forest loss."

Citing studies linking soda to obesity, a state lawmaker and medical experts proposed a first-in-the-nation bill Thursday that would require sugary drinks sold in California to have health warning labels similar to those on packs of cigarettes. State Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel) and the California Medical Assn. said the legislation is necessary because research links sugary drink consumption to skyrocketing rates of diabetes, tooth decay and obesity.

"Planet Forward host Frank Sesno examines how Xeros washing machines use reusable nylon polymer beads to cut water usage by up to 80%."

Another good one from Minute Physics

"Contrary to many claims, the costs of renewable energy are minor. In 2015, probably the earliest any major changes to the policy could be made, the RET would cost the average household around $1 a week."

"The Government's review of the impact of clean energy on power prices is expected to result in a cut to the renewable energy target, a move backed by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Chief Economist Burchell Wilson."

Often food companies use the word "natural" to market their products confusing shoppers with a term that sounds good but is ultimately meaningless. This frustrating paradox gets the comedic treatment in this spoof ad from Only Organic, http://bit.ly/1aWC0H1 .

"Two of Australia's World Heritage listed places have made the headlines in the last week. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority gave the go-ahead for silt from a government-approved dredging operation to be dumped within the World Heritage listed park boundaries. And the federal government announced that it was seeking to have a recent extension of Tasmania's World Heritage listed forests partially overturned. What is World Heritage listing and why is it important?"

"What happens to electronic waste (e-waste)? Watch this clip about the physics of recycling to find out the way that useful materials are captured from waste at a local materials recovery facility. Presenter Tanya Ha investigates e-waste, the products it comes from, and the sustainability challenges it poses."

"From California to the Middle East, huge areas of the world are drying up and a billion people have no access to safe drinking water. US intelligence is warning of the dangers of shrinking resources and experts say the world is 'standing on a precipice'"

Our social scientist Dr Zoe Leviston discusses some of the findings in our 4th annual survey of Australian attitudes towards climate change. Video transcript available here: http://www.csiro.au/news/transcripts/... View the full report here: http://bit.ly/1ezxUn0

Big Facts is a resource of the most up-to-date and robust facts relevant to the nexus of climate change, agriculture and food security. It is intended to provide a credible and reliable platform for fact checking amid the range of claims that appear in reports, advocacy materials and other sources. Full sources are supplied for all facts and figures and all content has gone through a process of peer review. Big Facts is also an open-access resource. We encourage everyone to download, use and share the facts and graphic images. We believe that by sharing knowledge we can aid the type of interdisciplinary understanding and collaboration necessary for meeting the challenges posed to agriculture and food security in the face of climate change.

"It's been a long, hot summer for most of us and with the run of high temperatures set to continue, air conditioners will keep getting a good workout. But many of us are wasting money through lazy energy consumption and bad habits. Australians have taken to air conditioning in a big way with an estimated 9.2 million units working to keep the summer heat away. Air conditioning is particularly energy hungry with many people wasting money on unnecessarily high electricity bills because they are ignoring a few simple ways to reduce their cooling costs."

"When I was little, my mom made everything fresh. We picked fruits in the summer, and she grew so many of her own vegetables. I knew, secondhand, that pasta sauce also came out of a jar, but I had no idea why you'd want to eat it. When I was about nine, I insisted that I wanted to eat Chef Boyardee Spaghetti-Os because my friends always got to eat them. I longed for this particular forbidden fruit, without really having any reason to want it besides the fact that other kids got to eat it. Eventually, my mother agreed, but I couldn't even manage to choke down the Spaghetti-Os I had longed for - I thought they were so gross! The handy infographic below takes a look at how important it is to educate kids about food choices and eating healthy. So many kids don't know that real food doesn't come out of a box. Keep reading to learn more."

"The UN claims climate change is 'almost definitely' caused by humans, and now Google Earth users can see the impact they are supposed to have made to temperature changes in their local area. Climate researchers at the University of East Anglia have added the world's temperature records as a layer on the mapping service. It lets users zoom into 6,000 global weather stations and see monthly, seasonal and annual temperature changes dating back to 1850."

"How can we prepare the next generations for the world and the climate they are to inherit? Rob Gell ponders the many lessons from this Summer's extreme weather events.    "

"Most Australians overestimate how much they are doing for the environment compared to others, and are more concerned about water shortages, pollution and household waste than climate change, a new CSIRO survey reveals. Taken over a period of July to August last year, it is the latest in a series of annual national surveys on Australians' attitudes to climate change involving more than 5000 people from across urban, regional, and rural Australia. (You can read about past survey results here and here.)"