The Canberra Environment and Sustainability Resource Centre has developed “edible garden starter kits” designed specifically to suit Canberra’s climate and urban spaces. 
Growing some of your own food reduces “food miles” and the environmental impacts of conventional agriculture.  It also provides you with delicious fresh food that is generally more nutritious than what is available from the supermarket.
If you [...]

[First filed: December 05, 2008 @ 23:18]

Laurel Waits came across this scene in civic this week.
RiotACT readers had already speculated on the ways these things could be brought down.
More scary is that if it wasn’t dragged down by drunks it fell down on it’s own.
Good luck to anyone they land on.

I’ve been noticing an increase in big scary, native (I think) hornets around the place.
We first noticed them walking up the big hill in Lyons some weeks back, but now they’re in the garden. Haven’t been able to get a snap yet, but they are very big – at least 5cm long and with a [...]

If you’re heading to Mt Ainslie, please take a camera.
There is a huge ladybird invasion up there.

I noticed today that the illegal asbestos dump in Bruce (see this earlier RiotACT coverage) has now been cleaned up, with the site scraped completely clean.
I guess, sometimes, the system really does work.

The Chief Minister is having a little hissy fit over being forced to compromise by no longer holding a majority in the Assembly.
In particular he’s petulantly noting that there is a site in Hume proper where the accursed TRE data centre with power generation could go.
“At the request of the consortium behind the data centre [...]

ACTEW have sent word that with Canberra ignoring the existing water use targets they’re aiming up and lowering the bar.
““As a city, we need to aim for an average consumption of 139 megalitres (ML) per day between December and February,’ said ACTEW Managing Director Mark Sullivan.
“This is up from the spring target of 112ML, which [...]

The lessee of the Giralang Shops, Nikias Nominees, has advised GRAG that it favours the Woolworths proposal over other possibilities and those parties have been involved in commercial negotiations.
Both Nikias and Woolworths have independently indicated to GRAG that they are close to reaching final agreement.
GRAG’s position continues to be that it will support [...]

Pommy Bastard has braved the wrath of a certain commenter with strong views on photography to ask a question of you all about the pictured insect:
“Could you please post at the RiotAct the accompanying image of a weird assed bug, shot on my porch yesterday morning, and ask if we have any lepidopterist members [...]

Good news green lovers!
It might be clashing with the santa claus pub crawl but the ACT Greens are having a night of green trivia.
“The ACT Greens are hosting and end of year trivia night extravaganza – celebrating a historic year for the party.
Come along for a fun filled night of great questions, games and prizes, [...]

The Federale Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson, has pushed out a media release congratulating Canberra Airport Group for a ground breaking environmental initiative at the Majura Office Park.
Minister Ferguson said: “This trigeneration plant sets new standards for buildings and infrastructure showing that increasing energy efficiency can provide significant savings for business.
“Success here at [...]

[First filed: December 02, 2008 @ 08:42]
I’m sure that some of you have used Google Maps. The latest versions, including the one for the iPhone can plan a route for you using public transport, as well as the “traditional” car and pedestrian route planning. In Australia right now you can only do it for two [...]

With the Foreshore festival choosing to use iconic public locales there’s a legitimate public interest in the clean-up.
To that end I wandered down this morning, three days later, to see how they’re going.
Most of the site is still fenced, and there’s a lot of heavy machinery still hard at work.
You can get down into Commonwealth [...]

The Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Simon Corbell, is worried that you’re all going to be too busy getting shickered this Christmas to prepare your properties for bushfires (OK, his exact words were: “Once Christmas day arrives we usually spend most of our time with loved ones, meaning bushfire preparations are not necessarily a [...]

The ABC reports that we’ve just had the wettest spring in three years with November high above the average for rainfall.
“Bureau of Meteorology figures show 85 millimetres of that fell during November at Canberra Airport.
That is more than the November average of 65 millimetres but not as wet as the same time last year.”

Who can tell me if I am allowed to (legally) cut down a tree that doesn’t allow my garden to grow?
It’s one of those huge pine needle dropping Pines that cover and kill my lawn and anything I plant underneath it or near to it. All the needles that fall from it clog the gutters and cover half [...]

Actew has announced an exciting summer water saver pack, available for free if this stuff excites you.
The pack includes such goodies as:

a 4-minute shower timer,
stickers for the kids,
an outside tap hanger to help you to be a waterwise gardener,
helpful tips for saving water inside and outside your home, and
more.

Try to [...]

The weather predicting ants of my driveway have become something of a cause celebre.
A reader has suggested that I add a beer can to the mound photography to provide perspective and I have obliged.
After Saturday’s rains the mounds are still and plugged closed.
It might be because the ants are now satisfied the weather will improve [...]

[ 6 December, 2008; 11:30 am; ] Saturday 6th December
11.30am
City Walk (near the fountain at the front of the Canberra Centre)

Another drop-in to my intray.  Last time I went to one of these, I was stunned at the number of cars!

The Walk Against Warming kick-off events in Sydney and Melbourne attracted huge crowds attempting to influence the Australian delegation heading off to [...]

[First filed: November 27, 2008 @ 16:37]

The ants may be quiet but their existing fortifications are enormous.
The radar, however, suggests big storms coming in and there’s a severe thunderstorm warning out.
[Insert safety platitudes of your choice here]
If you get any good pictures of wild weather feel free to mail them in to images@the-riotact.com
UPDATED: Ant has [...]

We got home tonight to our place in the inner-south and found 24 – count ‘em – 24 separate items of junk mail* in our letterbox. Is this some sort of record?
In one way it’s tempting to contact the advertisers to let them know that the scumbags they have delivering their junk are ripping them [...]

[First filed: November 25, 2008 @ 13:03]

The ACT division of the Property Council has announced their wishlist of the top ten boondoggles pump priming money could be hosed at in the ACT.
They are:

Very Fast Train (VFT)
The Property Council proposes that the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments investigate the economic viability, social value and environmental [...]

I have a friend from America coming to visit me just after Christmas.
One of the things she said that she wanted to do was to see a platypus in the wild.

So, does anyone know of any places around the ACT area where the platypi hang out?
Are they even in the area?
Any other information regarding the [...]

On Friday morning the ants in my backyard successfully warned us of truly horrible weather on the way.
For those worried about how the ants endured the cyclone-strength low pressure system which flung us back into winter over the weekend allow me to present the above photo.
If anything the ants’ mound is even higher than [...]

Hey All,
I’m finding myself in the position of having a need to visit the local tip this weekend. But I can’t find any info online about how much it costs to dump there etc…
I just need to take my slat bed and mattress that I am replacing, and my old sofa bed that the cats [...]

Have seen a number of posts about asbestos dumps being found around the place. 
Does anyone else remember when the ACT Government was dumping asbestos just off Gundaroo Drive where it joins the Barton Highway – adjacent to where the sewerage vent stack is now? 
I wonder how close it it is to the newer [...]

The ABC local news has just posted this:
“When the 1.8 metre fence is completed it will run for 11.5 kilometres and enclose 484 hectares of rare yellow box redland forest on the doorstep of the new suburb of Forde.
It will also provide protection to the endangered burrowing bettong by keeping out the foxes and cats [...]

Yesterday there was a normal sized ant mound in the driveway, this morning they’ve raised the ramparts significantly. This despite the clear blue skies we’re enjoying this morning.
The BOM forecast reckons 20% chance of late showers.
But the ants seem to think differently. I guess we’ll see.

Peter Garrett has announced that the ACT’s “iconic rivers” will “benefit from a share of more than $28.5 million from the Rudd Government”.
By which he actually means the Murrumbidgee and Molonglo Rivers are getting a bit over $300,000 each for improvements.
$335,386 is going to TAMS for Molonglo River Rescue.
$358,973 will be spent on the ‘bidgee [...]

I’m sure this has been covered before, but as I was walking past an oval the other day with the sprinklers on, I stated to wonder, which can’t we use recycled water on the ovals rather than potable “town water”.  This plan seems so simple that there must be some massive defect I haven’t thought [...]

Back on 28 August the Chief Minister promised to do something about the shabby state of Civic.
In particular he promised:
“To complement the Floriade in the City entertainment, the ACT Government will beautify the heart of the city with the installation of new flower displays and fairy lights through the trees on Northbourne Avenue.”
Over the last [...]

Here’s one for the doubters: the shelved HIA was released late yesterday.
You can download it from the ACT Health website
Or directly.
Be careful before clicking that last link: it is a 23MB pdf file. So much for ACT Government web accessibility guidelines.