Just spent 2 weeks in Laos, loving the place. Also horrified at the legacy of American activities in that country in the 1960s. The Laos call it the "secret war" and it is the most bombed place on the planet. Then "I was only 19" plays on today's #Hottest100 Maybe we could NOT do that again?

F'yeah Hottest 100 of Australian Songs just started on #doublej and it's a cracker!! Trying hard to not mosh out in my local cafe. Been looking forward to this since they first announced it. Tune in on either #triplej or #doublej (has streaming). 99: Blue Sky Mining - Midnight Oil Love it!

Woo! Fossil gas ban by City of Sydney. "At a council meeting on Monday evening, the City of Sydney voted to implement a ban on indoor gas appliances such as gas cooktops, ovens, and space heaters in new residential developments." reneweconomy.com.au/city-of-sydn... #sydney #climateaction

Oh FFS, it's the WMDs all over again. I remember that moment. How horrified I was when Howard blithely tied us to a US fossil fuel resources grab. How ashamed I was to travel: I went from a neutral beloved international visitor to part of the warmongering alliance.

Last #EarthDay post. If you're Australian and you haven't yet seen the series "The Kimberley" on ABC, then do so. After 20 years in sustainability programs, I think the main way we will actually change is via love for our place, and respect for all who share it with us. This is a way to learn that

This #EarthDay I'm on my way to this: unswcentreforideas.com/event/climat... Happy to attend my evening remembering that "While no single effort can solve the climate crisis, collective action has the potential to tip the balance. Hope is not passive. It’s built, fought for and sustained."

If I could change one thing about our current society, it would be to remove the sense we need to always be doing something. Someone standing at my tram just said "oh, 3 minutes till the next one, that's a long wait. You'd think they'd have more running in peak hour". Seriously?

Today I'm delighted that it's now normal for my bus to work to be fully electric. Diesel engines ARE SO LOUD, this is a much nicer way to start the day. #electrifyeverything #EarthDay

This is a fascinating angle. Found via an associated Conversation article: theconversation.com/your-smartph... I'm still loving an anecdote I recently heard, of a tech conference being asked if anyone wanted to live in the world they were creating through addictive smart phone apps. Answer: no.

I love urban quirkiness. Like this very large statue of jesus on someone's balcony overlooking a relatively busy intersection in Sydney. #sydney

ABC's new series The Kimberley is how I want all nature documentaries to be done. It's a love letter to Country, and Mark Coles Smith's affection for all species in that country shines through. Had a deep chuckle at the mudskipper section in episode two. iview.abc.net.au/show/kimberley

@nugby.bsky.social when you are interested in this space, then i can recommend bsky.app/profile/geor... One of the most delightful amounts I've come across

This is the best analysis I've yet seen of what the Australian election results mean. In summary: Who cares what the Liberal party thinks about [issue], they're out of power for at least 6 years. Let's talk about how to get the fairer society we want. www.youtube.com/live/woXgovt... #auspol

My fave videos from the election season were both "how to vote" ones. As in literally, here's how voting works and how you can decide. Honest How To Vote Ad by The Juice Media had me giggling in delight youtu.be/zXHq04W0kBs?... So satisfying to use our system and put my shittest party last #auspol

Voted in Australian election, and my main thought is "I don't need to see the endless yellow party ads anymore!" Seriously, promising me fast trains and free education feels like the university clubs that promise free beer. I want those things, but a loony minor party isn't going to deliver.

Hanging out in Pemberton, WA for a couple of days. Got to say I'm enchanted. Delightful little town, has a tram ride through a forest, a naturally fed community swimming pool, and is an urban forager's delight. I could make some decent side dishes from the various plants I'm finding in abundance.

Last year I discovered I often share lunch with a co-creator of a queer, climate change, science fiction religion, and we hadn't talked about it until I randomly looked at an event on an art gallery site! CREATION was/is beautiful, unexpected, joyful and cathartic. iview.abc.net.au/show/compass...

Today's surprise mood: They Might Be Giants. Who doesn't need a Birdhouse in their Soul? And how cool is Dr Worm as a musician? Not yet at the showdown between Particle Man and Triangle Man

A good friend and my lock down buddy has an article on her thesis in The Conversation. It's a lovely piece on women's history & material culture. Lockdown is relevant as she was doing some of the analysis in our small Marrickville apartment. Fascinating to see how dried foods were identified.

Read my latest "History under the floorboards: decoding the diets of institutionalised women in 19th century Sydney" 🏺🗃️

Today I found out about the Portsmouth Sinfonia. A symphony for people that are not good musicians, where you are asked to leave if you 'get good' at music. So much joy that something like this existed. I am here for less polish and doing creative things together. youtu.be/RzIz4SwNwbM?...

Today's unexpected delight: listening to the first broadcast of 2JJ from 1975. The radio station that became triplej and was a core part of my musical landscape. Playing on DoubleJ www.abc.net.au/listen/doublej Can recommend if you are a musicphile or social historian at all #doublej #ausmusic

Tracing my next pattern. This time from a Japanese designer's pattern sheet the Basic Black book by Sato Watanabe. Who needs pattern weights when you have small cans around the house? #sewing

Joy is taking four Japanese custard tarts to the first meeting of the year with two of my favorite colleagues. Delighting in banter on the impossible task of cutting them into thirds (we didn't - halves like sensible people). Giggling at shove-tart-in-face then make an important statement moments.

My hobby: correcting headlines on our office newspaper. I'm sick of the hyper-politicisation and inherent division created by articles like this that flows into society as a whole. It's a very small step to a better world. One with less clickbait, less gotcha journalism.

Sewing project update: linen shorts are finished. They're comfy, and will be a great addition to my casual wardrobe. Such a good colour! Project included my first ever zipper fly. Enjoyed learning this technique, and know what I'd do differently next time - the facings are too long. #sewing

In 2024 I set out to sew more clothes and to get a functioning apartment food waste system going. Results: 3.5 garments made. Functional bokashi system working. Filled two tubs this year, with the nutrients going back onto my balcony garden, not landfill. #balconygarden #sustainableapartment

Up early this morning to rendezvous with some friends in Wollongong in time for breakfast. My reward: spotting a native blue-banded bee in a #cityofsydney nature strip. First one I've spotted in a while. 😍🐝 No photo, chose to enjoy the moment. #nativebees #urbanecology

Love this time of year in Sydney, the light quality lulls me into thinking there's hours until I have to prep dinner. Time check: nope, it's almost 7pm, shoulda started already.

Sewing project update: fittings completed. First time adjusting trousers! I present to you the frankenpattern. This was an interim stage, I didn't need the horizontal shortening. A benefit of patterning on cartridge paper - it's durable so I could easily revert the horizontal fold. #sewing

"Questions From A Worker Who Reads" by Bertolt Brecht:

Christmas break: First thing I did was create a new shorts pattern from my lutterloh kit. This was my Christmas present to myself last year. As an experienced sewist who HATES tissue paper patterns I'm really happy with it. Love that I now start my fabric projects with some paper craft. #sewing

So far this year I've avoided #whamaggedon. Noticing less Christmas music overall this year. Except for Mariah Carey's song - that one keeps randomly popping up. Like just now in my Thai coffee shop, of all places.

A few weeks ago I played this game with @crumpetty.bsky.social and had a ball. I now own it, for ongoing fun. Liked the combo of good mechanics and excellent research. Bonus catharsis, for me, in hamming up my 20 year career in sustainability policy in response to the game's events.

Renaming my skin tone to "Gumtree". I've been sitting in an inner Sydney park for 45 mins, this is the 14th bug that's landed on me. Looking around, I am the same colour as the trees here. This one loves me so much it's landed on me twice and tried to get into my bag 💚🪲💚

Petition for King St in the centre of Sydney to be renamed. We all know that King St Newtown is the true King St. So next time I get an uber early on a Sunday coz I'm too tired to get the 370, I don't choose the wrong one and negate the time savings of the taxi service #sydney #newtown #precoffee

This is important. I've worked in environment/sustainability for 20 years. I've come to see our romanticisation of wilderness is part of colonisation. So many sustainability solutions assume access to education and money. Then shame those that don't act, without acknowledging these preconditions.

Added a quote to my profile: "Ecology without class struggle is just gardening." —Chico Mendes #Conservation can't take place without human rights advocacy. They're intertwined. As before: "We are nature defending itself." Original context in the screenshot below. #climatecrisis #environmentalism

This was a wild ride - future fungal robots, with horror connotations. Then enslaved fungal robots doing our bidding. Then using the discovery to listen to mycelium to check on soil health. Two of those are my interpretation. I've read a lot of sci-fi. www.sciencealert.com/scientists-g...

The water in your body is just visiting. It was a thunderstorm a week ago. It will be the ocean soon enough. Most of your cells come and go like morning dew. We are more weather pattern than stone monument. Sunlight on mist. Summer lightning. Your choices outweigh your substance. #poetry

Wow, yep. Spent the year working on the difference between the fantasies I'd created of who people were versus who they actually are. Hard work. Better for it.

This is... actually a fairly reasonable takeaway from this year.

A thought experiment: If there's very little life around you, due to urbanization, then are you living in a desert? How about the inside of an office? This street has less life in it than most Australian deserts. The trees are great, now we need healthy soil, water soaks and understoreys.

My inner city balcony is an ark. It feeds the insects that feed the spiders and birds, more than it feeds my body. However, really, it feeds my soul. (What's an ark you say? wearetheark.org)

That feeling when it's raining, and so the weekly food market is closed, but the library is open, and since you're feeling contemplative and you're thinking about a creative project to lament the loss of bees, you think "why not!?".

Today's update is the bees are gone. With a white powder around the holes where their entry points to the hive were. I am sad, I am investigating, and I am reflecting on non-attachment and appreciating the small joys as they occur since you never know when things will change.

Love a summers evening in Sydney. Love the view from my apartment building. Love the end sunset light.

First post. I could write a profound statement of hope or change. Instead, here are some local wild bees that live in a street tree and bring me joy every day.