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22.01.2022 The Tiny, Tropical, Healthy House. A James Cook University Professor of Engineering will today unveil a small, affordable and healthy house she has developed specifically for living in the tropics. JCU’s Professor Anne Steinemann and her team have created a Tiny Tropical Healthy House (TTHH) that has good indoor air quality and is resilient in tough tropical climates. It will be presented at JCU on Friday, ahead of the nationwide Sustainable House Day on Sunday 15 September.... The tiny house is constructed with stainless steel, known for its low-offgassing and inert properties and its resistance to microbial growth and infestation. We have avoided the use of any petrochemical-containing building materials, such as manufactured wood, recycled products, treated lumber or composites, said Professor Steinemann. She said the TTHH is constructed without using petrochemical glues, and instead uses metal flashing, mechanical fixings, and wall frames assembled using screws and rivets. In addition to being healthy, it's designed to be energy efficient, cyclone rated, affordable, adaptable, and transportable, she said. The TTHH rests on a large trailer and can be moved out of harm’s way if a cyclone or other environmental threat is coming. Professor Steinemann said there was a need for a healthy house suitable for the tropics. We spend most of our time indoors, and levels of pollutants in homes are usually several times higher indoors than outdoors. Energy efficiency measures that involve more air-tight buildings, lower ventilation rates, increased reliance on air conditioning, and less use of open windows can actually worsen indoor air quality, she said. Professor Steinemann said the house uses climate-sensitive design, with open windows to encourage cross-ventilation.
21.01.2022 Could Magnetic Island use a stand-alone power system and microgrid to create our own power, possibly renewably?
21.01.2022 UK-based apparel brand Vollebak launched its Plant & Algae t-shirt, which will decompose once the wearer is finished with it. The shirt’s material is made from a combination of sustainably-certified wood pulp, while the 3D-printed ink is made from algae. The algae oxidizes as the shirt is worn, meaning the print on the front of the t-shirt naturally decolors over time. Customers can compost or bury the garment outside when they no longer want to wear it; if buried, the t-shir...t will decompose in 12 weeks. There is currently a waiting list to purchase the USD 110 shirt, which was released in late August. Wow...how incredible is this innovation?! The wait-list-level demand shows consumers think so too! But it also contains two insights that will be of profoundly long-lasting value to those organizations that run with them: The Material World. Textile waste made up 7.6% of all landfill waste in the US, or over 10 million tons. You might have heard how guilt-laden fashionistas are embracing reselling and thrifting platforms in their quest to be able to still constantly flaunt fresh outfits, without the financial or environmental costs. But even reused or shared products will eventually end up in the trash. Which is why people are increasingly focused on the underlying eco-credentials of the raw materials of the products they consume. The good news? We’re seeing many exciting and novel solutions: from Ooho’s edible water ‘pods’, to Solar Foods’ protein powder made from CO2 (!), to Berkeley Labs’ infinitely recyclable plastic, to Arborea’s algae-powered solar panels So don’t delay! Are you still using raw materials that leave a negative environmental impact? Is there a new and transformative eco-friendly alternative that you could switch to? Adaptive design. Another noteworthy feature of this shirt’s design is how oxidization continually changes the way it looks. People have been so conditioned by the dynamic nature of the digital world that they now expect physical products to be as constantly changing, too. The Plant & Algae t-shirt’s adaptive design offers its wearers a novel eco-status story. But there are many dimensions behind the adaptive design trend: The Shoe that Grows is designed to help those in poverty. Shiseido’s Optune is an at-home skincare system that analyzes daily changes in users’ skin to tweak its formula. Every. Single. Day. Could your brand design a product or service that lasts longer, or gets more relevant over time?
20.01.2022 How much do you know about waste and recycling on Magnetic Island? Take this quick Zero Waste Magnetic Island Survey and help them to transform the island's waste into useful resources. > You'll find the survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8WQF2ZB... ... or visit the "Zero Waste Magnetic Island" Facebook page.
17.01.2022 Have a look at the new Arcadia Coastcare website for some fascinating reading!
15.01.2022 SUSTAINABLE HOUSE DAY 2019 There are less than two weeks until Sustainable House Day 2019! On 15 September 2019 more than 245 homes will open around the country for the biggest Sustainable House Day in the event’s 15 year history. This national event gives people a rare view into exceptional homes designed, built or renovated with healthy and environmental living in mind and allows them to speak to and learn from homeowners. There are innovative and beautiful sustainable hom...es to visit across the country, from Victoria to Queensland. All kinds of sustainable homes will be open to visit, including Certified Passive Houses, houses built from natural materials like hemp and strawbale, and homes that will also feature an electric vehicle. Help us promote Sustainable House Day: Share the event on Facebook Share the website on other social media Share on your work or community online forums Help spread to word by distributing posters/postcards. Come along on the day. Visit the Sustainable House Day website: https://sustainablehouseday.com//rowes-bay-sustainability/ Looking forward to seeing you there! Donna Luckman Renew Magazine CEO
14.01.2022 This box is for anyone who wants to live off the grid...
14.01.2022 HAVE YOUR SAY ON MAGNETIC ISLAND'S FUTURE before this Friday 13 September! With the first round of community consultations already completed, the team from Earth Check are currently in the process of going through the Future-proofing Magnetic Island survey submissions they have collected so far. YOUR INPUT IS INVALUABLE!... If you haven't yet had the chance to have your say, the survey will be open until close of business this Friday 13th September. If you live, work or interact with the local Magnetic Island community we invite you to fill out the survey. HAVE YOUR SAY VIA THE ONLINE SURVEY: https://www.research.net/r/MagneticIslandGBR The next step? Earth Check are looking at coming back to Magnetic Island to present the results of the data collection and the options for de-carbonisation in late October/early November. (We'll let you know closer to the date.) ______________________________________________ If you missed our last post here is the overview: Future-proofing Magnetic Island This Queensland Government funded program is all about assisting Magnetic Island’s transition to a low carbon economy, providing community opportunities and strengthening resilience to climate change impacts. The key areas of focus will be energy production, energy efficiency, waste management, water, transport and resilience. The aim of The Project is to help plan for the future and increase resilience to climate change.
13.01.2022 95% of the funding has now been spent, but there is still time to be part of the Council’s $10 million Water Smart Package.
07.01.2022 We would be delighted if you can join us at the Zero Waste Wine and Cheese Christmas Party on 3rd December, to help us celebrate the first year of MICDA’s enthusiastic, fun-focussed waste-reduction working group. The aim of the group is to reduce waste from Magnetic Island going to landfill. Christmas Party Venue: 58 Mandalay Ave. Nelly Bay. (Rose Gordon’s place) Date: Tuesday 3rd December, 2019.... Meeting Time: 5:00pm-6:30pm, party starts after that. BYO drinks & nibbles. Please let others know if you think they might be interested. We would like to build our network. If you just want to come for the celebrations, and skip the meeting that’s fine! We have some inspiring members who are teaching us all sorts of interesting things such as: Creative use of materials for art and useful household items; Repairing clothes that may otherwise end up as land fill; Turning food scraps into rich organic soil for growing food, eliminating the need to apply fertilizers; Separating waste into materials that can be turned into useful things such as artificial limbs and wheel chairs; Repairing household goods; ..and so many other things. For further information look for Zero Waste Magnetic Island on Facebook. and the Threads Zero Waste Magnetic Island facebook page. We have many things planned for the rest of this year including two more threads sessions and still more events in 2020.
06.01.2022 Date: 11 September 2019 Community update - Smoke from Magnetic Island National Park Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) and fire agencies are constantly monitoring the planned burn on Magnetic Island. The burn is progressing as planned. It is slowly moving along the hill sides and is now reaching our existing fire tracks in several places.... All fire agencies have been working together to manage fire as it reaches fire tracks. The aim of this burn is to reduce risk to life and property from wildfires and provide favourable conditions for natural forest regeneration. The burn will reduce fuel loads and create a mosaic pattern of burnt and unburnt areas in open woodland communities. To date this has been successfully achieved. For more information, please call QPWS North Tropical Coast Marine Park on (07) 4722 5343 or (07) 4778 5378.
05.01.2022 Hi Everyone, MICDA IS MOVING! We're inviting you to join our new "MICDA Group" Facebook page so that we can all share inspiring ideas (and informative documents) that will work towards making Maggie even better!... Simply like our "MICDA Group" page for all the latest news at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/micda/ #thisismagneticisland #magneticisland
02.01.2022 Have your say about the Port of Townsville this Monday 25th November at the MI Bowls Club from 5pm to 7pm.
01.01.2022 Island Green Waste??? JCU is a world leader when it comes to managing food waste. JCU is working with local Townsville company VRM to use the Bio-Regen system to convert thousands of kilograms of food waste into valuable bio-fertiliser every year.... JCU’s kitchens produce a large volume of food waste. Common practice is to place the scraps in the waste bin which ends up in landfill and produces many tonnes of CO2 and methane emissions and is a wasteful use of what can be a valuable resource. Previously hundreds of tonnes of food waste was sent to landfill every year from JCU’s kitchens as there was no cost effective or easy alternative to allow recycling of the food waste until recently. To avoid this wasteful practice TropEco commenced a world first trial of the Bio-Regen system at its University Halls kitchen in Townsville in 2013. The innovative Bio-Regen unit takes food waste and converts it into a liquid bio-fertiliser through a simple and hassle-free process using a special mix of effective microbes to drive the process. The success of the trial saw the Bio-Regen system outgrow its place in the Uni Halls kitchen so in 2018 a major upgrade and relocation of the Bio-Regen system took place so that food waste from all JCU owned residential kitchens could be undertaken. An additional complementary process called Groundswell was also implemented, which allows for processing of large organic materials in large bays, similar to a composting process but with superior results due to the microbial innoculants used. In 2018, over 15,000 kg of food waste was collected and processed through the Bio-Regen and Groundswell systems, with further expansion expected in 2019. The liquid end product from the Bio-Regen system is collected by VRM and refined into a valuable bio-fertiliser, with several thousand litres of the JCU product on-sold to customers across Australia, the Philippines, USA and Indonesia. JCU also uses a small amount of the product on its sporting fields and community garden to help enhance soil health and reduce water use.
