Sustainable Tucker

Bron hooked up a mean Coq au Vin while we were waiting out the snow yesterday. Bron runs the chooks & the garden. Two of our immediate neighbours have chooks as well. We're the only ones with a rooster, George Orpington:

George is a busy fella. He looks in on next door's ladies now & again. Recently two chooks hid a stash of eggs & we had eight new chicks. We kept some, gave some away & bumped off the roosters when they started crowing.
The best meals we've eaten come from food we've grown or caught. Our Coq au Vin had carrots Bron dug out of our neighbour's veggie patch, herbs from our garden & home made stock. It was cooked on top of our woodburner.
The Coc au Vin included red wine from Australia, it probably travelled 4000km before we got it. We used some Henderson's bacon - probably from unhappy pigs in a feedlot. The butter we used probably came from a dairy that has contributed to river degradation. Who knows where the onions came from? It's a tough gig being rigorous about ethical, sustainable, healthy, cheap & accessible food.

Why we don't believe science

I read an interesting article by Roderick Aldridge in the Green Party's newsletter Te Awa (issue 30 May 2011), "Let's accentuate the positive"
He refers to this report about the science of why we don't believe science:
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/03/denial-science-chris-mooney

The argument might include something like this:
The message about climate change is fundamentally bad news. Folks tend to react with an emotional response far more quickly & powerfully than a logical analysis. We tend to push threatening information away from us because of this emotional reaction. It's a fight or flight reflex to data, a survival instinct.

On the basis of Mooney's report the Green dude Aldridge reckons the Greens should carefully use language that prioritises a positive aspect of a message rather than hitting off with the gloomy facts. This might counter the tendency to switch off the Green message because it's seen as threatening.

eg. "we are the ones who know how to build a sustainable future with a better quality of life"
cf. Climate change is 'gonna be a bummer & the deadshit National government aren't doing jack about it.

'Gotta vote Green I reckon.

Getting to & from work

My partner Bron & I live 20km from our workplaces, Otago University & Otago Polytechnic.
Half the time we cycle to work, mostly on recumbent bikes I have built recently:

The Random Tandem

The bikes are made from recycled donor bikes, second hand parts & a minimal amount of new stuff.

Recumbent bikes are more comfortable to ride. I am hoping that people might think a bit more about cycling as a transport option when they see us commuting on these unusual treadlies. We are hell keen that the Dunedin City Council extend the Harbour Cycleway out to Port Chalmers. Commuting is a political performance action.

I teach Jewellery & Metalsmithing in the Dunedin School of Art. These bikes are part of my professional practice as an artist/maker/designer. I would hope the students get the implicit message of sustainable transport when they see me pull up & park the Random Tandem.

 When we're not cycling we drive the Wombat, a Toyota Succeed. It uses bugger all petrol, 6l/100km.