Peter Andrews could be a goer!

I was just watching Australian Story on the ABC and saw this fellow Peter Andrews who helps farmers rehabilitate their land using local and cheap materials and methods. He is somewhat controversial and a little eccentric, which puts off a lot of farmers and politicians. However, he obviously uses the principles of containing and encouraging condensation WITHOUT machinery in rehabilitating eroded old creekbeds and dams. I must investigate his thoughts and methods- he could help the Murray. Here’s a link:

http://forums.permaculture.org.au/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10858

Educational site water quiz

Have a go at this water quiz which is part of a Year 7 learning module from the NSW (Australia) Education Department. I got it right 100%, first time, without looking at the learning module first! How aware are YOU of the state of the earth’s water?

Help “save” the Murray River: Harvest water by condensation

I was thinking that maybe a good topic for brainstorming here in SOuth Australia would be to dream up alternate ways of conserving water. The Murray River is already so depleted that even if we manage to “save” it, we will need other sources of water. Desalination of sea water seems a good interim step to me, but what else can we do that is maybe a bit “off-the-wall” and might have some chance of working?

My first brainstorm about how to retrieve useful moisture was to somehow catch water in the soil before it evaporated again. This posting has a headstart on the idea.

Now- has someone else done something similar in Australia? Is there a project along the same lines already in place? Have we invented other ways of retrieving moisture in the soil? How could this be integrated with some sort of agricultural activity, eg. mushroom farming?

Let’s have some more ideas- any engineers out there?

Hello world!

This is the first post for the No Squares Think Tank! This is a non-sponsored think tank for underemployed people with useful brains.

We haven’t had our first meeting yet, so we don’t know each other, but I’d like to post a few ideas on how I think it might work.

a) You are a member if you want to be and if you contribute.

b) We will concentrate on issues directly relevant to trying to make the world a better place, starting with South Australia.

c) We are NOT starting a business. Only thoughts and ideas will be traded. If we come up with something that’s worth building into a business, then people who are interested in a business should take the idea and run with it.

d) There is no reason that we couldn’t come up with ideas that might provide employment for some of us further down the line, but we must not expect the think tank to lead there.

Some lines of thought that might lead us to put on our thinking caps. Please comment with a yay or nay on any of these, and we might start getting some of the think tank together to discuss ideas of common interest.

I intend to “announce” the think tank at a meeting of the Start Up Club in Adelaide, and to publicise it on FaceBook.

Idea 1:

Alternatives to the solutions proposed so far for solving the consequences of drying up of the Murray River.

Idea 2:

Community-based insurance scheme against illness and disability which provides some compensation without resort to litigation.

Idea 3:

Deciding what is REASONABLE to expect from our public health system; ie. what services, health solutions, tests and operations should be available at minimal cost to the individual and what things could be written off as optional in exchange for guaranteed help with the basic ones.

Idea 4:

How do we persuade different sorts of people to live alongside each other without overt conflict, yet able to maintain their differences in mutually acceptable ways?

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Please suggest more ideas we might work on in the future. We only need 4 or 5 people to become interested in ONE idea to get started.

Ideas grow like grass