Monthly Steering Committee Meeting of Bathurst Community Climate Action Network, held in the Council Chambers, third Monday of each month, 5pm-7pm.

They say the squeaky wheel gets the oil. I know from my own experience that this is true. I will respond the "loudest" problems (or people, or Labradors) first, even if there are other people, problems or animals with greater needs.

I have just read an account  on the ABC website by a Sydney woman, Lindsay Soutar, who became so concerned about climate change that she made an appointment to see her local member of parliament, Anthony Albanese. She made an impassioned case while "Albo" listened carefully. Then he told her that he understood and even agreed with her but "until people on every street corner, in every community, all around the country are telling us they want more, we're not going to be able to do it."

At first Lindsay was a little depressed. If he agreed with her, why couldn't he show some leadership? But then she understood what he was saying: this is how politics works. If you want the oil, you need to squeak.

Over the last couple of weeks, we've seen people power in action in Eqypt, with spectacular results. A dictatorship that existed on "emergency" powers for 30 years has been overthrown. On the home front we are coming up to a state election. Our election campaigns may seem dull by comparison, but they're always a good time to "squeak". The very least we can do, if we think more needs to be done, is to write to each candidate and ask them what they are doing about climate change.

Better support for renewable energy in New South Wales is one outstanding issue to raise with candidates. At the moment we have many projects poised and ready to go. The only barrier to becoming viable is an unfriendly regulatory framework. For example, it is technically feasible to connect a solar precinct (a combination or network of solar systems) to the mainstream electricity grid, but current policies make this enormously difficult.

Another outstanding issue is the state government's lavish support for coal mining, including on valuable agricultural land.
 

By Tracy Sorensen

The flood. It started with a trickle of water, and then the level rose. I'm not talking about Queensland or Pakistan; I'm talking about the flood in my laundry. The washing machine was bung. That much was clear. With the excited dogs looking on, the tradesman lifted the machine and examined its underside. He said a hosepipe was old and worn and had popped off.

"It needs a new pipe," he said. "I've screwed it back on as well as I can but it's only a matter of time before it pops off again. You might get one more wash out of it, or ten, but it will definitely come off again."

He left, and I did a load of washing. We've done two or three loads of washing since then. And you know what? Because everything seems normal, it's quite possible to forget, or at least file away in the back of the mind, that one's washing machine is in urgent need of a new hosepipe.

All of which, I think, is a great metaphor for the global response to climate change. The scientists are like the polite tradesman. They take a careful look and turn to us and say: "Right. There is definitely a problem. We're not sure exactly when or how this problem is going to play out, but unless we take action now, disaster is quite likely."

We digest the information, but everything seems to look normal and there are other pressing demands on our time, so we file the information away at the bottom of the "in tray" of our minds.

Of course the metaphor only stretches so far. In the case of the washing machine, the remedy is clear. In the case of global warming, the nature of an effective response is as clear as mud. Grow vegetables? Sit on top of a coal-fired power stations singing We Shall Not Be Moved? Write a letter to the local member? Just enjoy oneself because the world is going to the dogs?

If you'd like to do something but you're not sure what, Bathurst Community Climate Action Network will be holding its first meeting for the year next Monday at 5pm in the Committee Room in the Bathurst Regional Council chambers. The meeting will attempt to nut out a strategy for action for this area. All welcome.
 

A bike which can carry your shopping and  take the kids to and from school is a very tempting proposition.

Seeing images of them in Copenhagen and Amsterdam, I knew it would be just a matter of time before they turned up in Australia.

Attempting to get my employer, Charles Sturt University and Bathurst Regional Council to be ahead of the game, I put forward proposals to each, on why this would be a good idea. My reasoning was that the cargo bike is a very distinctive mode of transport and is very likely to catch the eye and plant the idea of the extended usefulness of the bicycle.

Alas, neither the university nor the council have taken up the idea yet. After much deliberation, I decided to launch myself deeper into poverty and purchase one myself. My own motivation was to use the bike as a travelling billboard to promote the idea of Bathurst Becoming Cycle Friendly.

Fortunately for me, a company in Melbourne, Dutch Cargo Bikes, had become agents for Bullitt cargo bicycles (as well as other models of cargo bikes plus many variations on the commuter bicycle).

Jurgen and Emmy from Dutch Cargo Bikes did all the organisation or importing my bike and transporting it to me. I assembled it via a very ammusing three part video put together by the manufacturers of the Bullitt (www.larryvsharry.com/english/LarryvsHarryTheAssemblyMovie.html)

The instructions were good and I eventually was able to take it for a trial ride with Hannah and Emma in front.

The next day I took it to work and showed it off to my work-mates, in particular Andrew McGrath who has been a real supporter in getting this bike. With the Farmer's Market due on the following Saturday, I was under a fair bit of pressure to get my cargo box made, painted and assembled in time for my first serious cargo assignment.

I ran  out of time to get the designs painted on the side promotiong Bathurst Becoming Cycle Friendly, finishing up with some hastily scribbled chalked on signs done late at night.

The next morning, Emma and I were up early and  headed off on our bikes to the market, where Emma does some flute playing for the enjoyment of patrons and I was on my new cargo bike ready to carry all my purchases home.

I bought up big and when it was time to pedal home the bike took it all without one complaint. If anything the bike was easier to pedal with the load than without.

It is my confident prediction that the cargo bike will be commonplace in Bathurst in a couple of years down the track as businesses see the wisdom of making their deliveries and pickups by environmentally friendly transport which can be taken right to the door of customers and suppliers. Perhaps there will be one or more cycle couriers plying their trade and minimising motor transport for the beneifit of all citizens.

Perhaps we will even have our own cycle mechanic, who will take his tools of trade to cyclists in need of attention, by bicycle.

Still not  convinced - have a look at this little film.

www.youtube.com/watch

This image was uploaded with the post Cargo bikes.

By all accounts the Evocities campaign, in which we entice people to move out of Sydney and join us in a regional centre, is going very well. Energy, Vision and Opportunity (that's where the "Evo" comes from). are promised to frazzled Sydneysiders tired of congestion, long commutes and eye-watering housing prices.
 
 
It would be interesting to know what darts through traffic-jammed Sydneysiders' minds as they contemplate life in an Evocity. Wide open spaces are no doubt part of the picture, along with roads unclogged by cars and cows dotted in green rolling fields.
 
As people are drawn to make their tree change, the residential satellites around Bathurst are set to grow. Right now, we have the opportunity to think about what the new developments will look and feel like, and how we can make them as sustainable as possible.
 
Led by local architect Tony McBuney, a small informal group of people calling itself Bathurst By Design have been meeting irregularly to discuss how we might both preserve our heritage and ensure environmental sustainability. One of the best ways of doing this, the group decided, was to make more of the "new town" look more like the "old town".
 
This is certainly not a case for faux ye olde colonial facades (heaven forbid!). No, it's a case for looking at key elements of the design of the original city and attempting to work them into the new areas of development. These include diversity, density and tallness. If you walk around the old city, you see blocks of many different sizes, houses of many different shapes and a good sprinkling of taller buildings. If you walk around a conventional new-release area, you see uniformity of housing style and block size. Above all, you see sprawl, and it is a sprawl that looks remarkably like the sprawl you get in Sydney's outer suburbs. Some variety, density and tallness in our new release areas would give our new release areas some of the energy and character of our old town, and be more sustainable socially and environmentally.
 
But what about the market? Aren't houses in conventional new-release areas what people actually want and are willing to buy? As the Bathurst By Design submission to the council's interim Development Control Plan (DCP) argues, there is a place for vision, where local government takes some risks to show people what's possible and generate excitement about living in a far-sighted, sustainable city. On the cusp of new growth, this is the best time to give it a burl.

Bathurst By Design is an attempt to imagine how urban design might ensure that Bathurst is both environmentally sustainable while preserving the unique character of the town.
To download the PDF, click the link below
userfiles/bx_X_design_DCP_review.pdf

This image was uploaded with the post Tourists.

People who tour on their bikes.

There are many ways to take your bicycle on holidays with you.

You may opt to take home with you with the full camping paraphernalia strapped onto your bike with change of clothes, library, cooker, food, bicycle repair kit and so forth, to what is called "credit card" touring. This latter type of touring requires only minimal gear to be carried as one will eat in restaurants and stay in pubs, motels, youth hostels and camping ground huts.

Tours may be taken completely unassisted or with a support vehicle which can carry all that heavy gear and changes of clothes and so on.

One may also opt to travel alone, with friends or as part of an organised touring package. The route one chooses to enjoy the world slowly, may be near to home, within Australia or a host of overseas destinations.

In the accompanying photographs cycle touring is taking place in America, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada, Hungary and Australia.

To get to one's desired first pedal stroke of a tour, one may take one's  bike by train, on a bus or by air. In the  latter two  cases, you might be asked to package your bike in a box or suitable container. In this case you usually have to dismantle your bike to some extent (wheel or wheels off, seat post out, pedals off) and then re-assembled at the other end. Experienced overseas tourists, can do this in minutes and have the pleasure of riding out of the airport, while other passengers wait in line for taxis and buses.

Alternatively, on many organised tours, the hiring of bicycles particularly for that tour can be arranged and this undoubtedly saves a considerable amount of fuss for the traveller travelling light.

In many countries in Europe it is very easy to move around within and between countries by placing one's bike in a train, ferry or bus, often in a separate compartment specially designed for carrying bicycles.

Within Australia, there is somewhat of a cycle tourism boom occuring. Some towns and cities especially cater for the cycle tourist and seem to be profiting handsomely for that.

One winning example of that is in the Northern part of Victoria centered around the towns of Bright, Beechworth, Yackandanda, Myrtleford and Mt. Beauty. The development of a rail-trail between Wangaratta and Bright with an off shoot to Beechworth, has been the beginnig of a new life in cycling and in cycle touring.

It is certainly a great confidence booster for beginning cycle touring if you can take your first pedal on a gentle gradient with no motorised traffic to concern yourself with. Some even begin their first real cycle experience as an adult in this way and for some it becomes one of life's great pleasures.

Travelling by bike is a great antedote for a winding down of what for many is a hectic pace of life. One will never "see" ten countries in ten days on a bike but you might see part of one intensely and along the way have the time to talk to others - both local and like yourself - tourists.

Links to blogs on touring.

www.patruvius.com/meg-n-gong/

www.theslowandthecurious.blogspot.com/

http://www.patruvius.com/nottwo/

This image was uploaded with the post Meg's First Mountain Bike Ride.