Earthsharing » Past Events

The True Cost of Food

K2 — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 02:36:41 +0000

A kilogram of beef contains between 15,000 and 100,000 litres of embodied water. For every kilogram of wheat grown in Australia, seven kilograms of topsoil are lost. We give lip service to concerns about peak oil and greenhouse gases, yet our agricultural industry is utterly dependent on unsustainable quantities of polluting petrochemicals.

There’s no reason why this insanity can’t be quickly and effortlessly changed to a geoist system of economics which inherently recognises the true value of natural resources. The major obstacle to change actually lies with the peddlers of our current neoclassical economics. You can side with these peddlers and relax, ignore the food riots, have a beer and flick on the TV, or you can come and be prepared in the knowledge that will help in the transition away from the consequences of our dietary choices.

Speaker: Karl Williams (a.k.a. Mr. Ed)
Time: 7 pm, Friday August 1st
Venue: EarthSharing Australia, 1st Floor, 27 Hardware Lane, Melbourne

All welcome, light supper provided, gold coin donation,RSVP appreciated to Karl Fitzgerald or via 9670-2754

Global Haywire Film Night

K2 — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:38:20 +0000

Tuesday July 22nd at 6.45pm for 7pm, Level 1/ 27 Hardware Lane, Melb

Join us for a warm night of films! See the Earthsharing Challenge film Who Owns Anglesea? This 10 minute short film shines a spotlight on housing affordability and how this effects the seaside town of Anglesea.

Following this will be legendary Australian cartoonist Bruce Petty’s inspiring new doco-animation, Global Haywire, a must see for those concerned about the plight of the world and wanting to see a refreshing, humorous documentary.

Beyond the typical critique of the Washington Consensus, Petty looks into the eyes of the Enlightenment and asks if we’ve stuffed it up? The development of systems and statehood, rationality and reason have been distorted. The multitude of inventions, the white goods revolution, computing and bio-technology have done little for genuine liberty. Read a review here.

The usual drinks and nibblies will follow. We haven’t seen you or so long, we hope to see you for a social night.

$5 entry to cover the royalties.
RSVP appreciated

Diary Dates

The True Cost of Food - Karl Williams presents on Fri August 1st, 7pm
Economics for Activists - Karl Fitzgerald presents on Tuesdays nights 6.30 - 8pm, Aug 5 - 26th
117th Annual Henry George Dinner, Tues Sept 2nd, 6.30pm featuring Terry Dwyer (ANU) @ Pumphouse Hotel Function Room

Winter Film Night

K2 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 05:00:09 +0000

Winter Film Night
Tuesday July 22nd at 6.45pm for 7pm sharp, Level 1/ 27 Hardware Lane, Melb

Join us for a warm night of films! See the premiere of the Earthsharing Challenge film Who Owns Anglesea, giving a Georgist perspective upon the problems society faces. The focus was on housing affordability and how this effects the seaside town of Anglesea.

The usual drinks and nibblies will follow. We haven’t seen you or so long, we hope to see you for a social night.

$5 entry to cover the royalties.
RSVP appreciated

“The Tools of Sustainability” Tour Overview

K2 — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Frank De Jong - Tools of Sustainability Tour
July 13 - Aug 3
Melbourne - Sydney - Auckland - Full Tour Itinerary

Frank De Jong, leader of the Ontario Greens (Canada), will be touring to discuss and demonstrate the economic tools the planet so desperately needs. Frank has a long history of campaigning, having competed in 12 Canadian elections over 20 years. He is renowned in Canada for having coined the term ‘the invisible green hand’ of market forces.

Frank will bring to audiences a positive message on how we can stay ahead of the greenwashing brigade. What are the latest sustainability trends in the Northern Hemisphere? How can we lobby for more environmentally efficient economic policy? Isn’t that true conservatism?

Beyond economic theory, Frank loves getting his hands dirty, having led protests against the largest nuclear power station in North America (Darlington), been arrested in Northern Ontario’s old growth forests and cycled through much of Canada.

Frank is an engaging speaker, making economics easy to understand.

Itinerary:

Sat July 14th, National Greens Convention*
Tues 17th, “Speculating on the Earth’s Future”, Whitehorse Greens, Place: Meeting Room 1, Box Hill Library (Entrance just to left of main library entrance in Whitehorse Rd), 7.30pm
Wed 18th, “Costing the Earth”, Selby Community House, Wombalana Rd (Enter Charles St) MEL 75 K11, 7pm
Thurs 19th, “Return to the Source: Preventative Policy”, Federal Campaign launch for Priya Carey, Candidate for Batman, Northcote Townhall, High St, 7pm
Fri 20th, “The Invisible Green Hand versus the Time Famine”, True Cost Economics Forum, Swanston Hall (Melb Town Hall), corner Swanston & Collins St, 9.15 - 1pm
Fri 20th, “International Wedge Politics”, Melbourne Greens, CII Restaurant, 470 Little Collins St, Melb
Sun 22nd, “Campaigning on Climate Change: A Canadian Perspective”, Sydney Greens, Venue TBA, 2pm
Tues 24th, “Climate of Change - Warming to Green Economics”, Warnambool Greens, Regal Cafe, Timor St ($10 p/h for a curry plate), 6.30pm
Wed 25th, “Economic Rent - Where’s our Money spent?”, Earthsharing Australia, Level One, 27 Hardware Lane, Melbourne, 6.30pm
Thurs 26th, “Combatting Greenwash Locally - Is less bad good enough?” (PDF 93kb), VLGA, 60L Building, Leceister St, Carlton, 7-9pm
Mon 30th, “Will Carbon Trading save the day?”, Auckland Greens, Wellpark Naturopathic College, 7 Francis Street, NZ, 7.30pm

Frank’s Biography (PDF 420KB)

All talks are free, RSVP appreciated

*(Green Members only)

Unlocking the Riches to Oz - 15th June

K2 — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Unlocking the Riches of Oz - Fri June 15th, 7.15pm
The launch of Bryan Kavanagh’s (LVRG) groundbreaking report.

Unlocking the Riches of Oz - the Decision Makers presentation 10am, Thurs June 21st, Hardware Lane

A night of insight as Bryan takes us through his world leading statistics, analysing economic trends over the 34 years the report covers. Bryan is an experienced property valuer of 32 years. He is one of the world’s leading analysts on the inter-relationship between land and the economy. Did you know that Australia has probably the most accurate land value records in the world?

Hear how the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party has run amok with our tax system, costing rich and poor alike many millions.

How does the sharemarket affect the property market and vice versa? What should the true role of the Reserve Bank be?

Entry: Gold coin donation. Reports available at $10.
Level One, 27 Hardware Lane, Melbourne, 7.15pm
RSVP essential for another capacity event

Economics for Activists

K2 — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

A highly successful event, stay tuned for further courses

Tuesday evenings in May, 6.15pm - 8pm, starting May 1st
Location: Level One, 27 Hardware Lane, CBD - between Bourke & Little Bourke Sts 9670 2754

Ever wanted to read between the lines of the newspaper? Arm yourself with the tools of modern warfare as Karl Fitzgerald takes you through the key understandings required to ‘follow the money’.

Topics covered:

Economic terminology - the basic framework
Economic History via: The Classical - Neo-Classical - Neo-Liberal dichotomy
Wealth gap - why is it expanding?
Climate change - can economics address it?
Housing Affordability - why are we paying so much and what can we do about it?
International perspective - WTO/IMF

Interactive games and multimedia footage will complement the learning in an attempt to keep the sessions as upbeat and interactive as possible.

Ask yourself why we have it drilled into us that economics is ‘the dismal science’? If we spend our entire life chasing the ‘elusive dollar’ then it makes sense to understand the rules to that game.

The first session is the most important. If you miss another session that is understandable, but we will be building on the first session’s knowledgebase throughout the course.

Cost: Gold coin donation appreciated

Bookings essential

Past Events

K2 — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Check out some of the events we have done in the past

Intentional Communities

Frank de Jong’s “Tools of Sustainability Tour”

2007 True Cost Economics report

2006 True Cost Economics Forum

Unlocking the Riches

Economics for Activists

Real Estate Bust of 2010

Land Supply & Housing Affordability Event report

Earth Rights Democracy Tour Report

Earth Rights Democracy Tour

Earth Rights Democracy Tour Overview

K2 — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Alanna Hartzok & Earth Rights for all

Over 12 talks and 450 plus people heard Alanna’s core message –

“We all have an equal right and a birth right to the Earth. The earth has a biological & ecological right to its future too. We are promoting a new form of property rights where what you build with your own hands, what you labour for, is your private property. You shouldn’t be taxed for something productive you are doing. What we are saying is that the gifts of nature, the land & natural resources of the earth belong to we the people. We all deserve a fair share of the profits from these natural gifts. This is a natural form of public finance policy”

Alanna was kind enough to leave a few of her keynote presentations for us to digest:

Triple Dip Plus - Oz Tour Master file (3MB, powerpoint)
True Cost Economics (2.2MB, powerpoint)

Such a direct description of this system saw Alanna give presentations to Australian Greens leader Bob Brown and the Victorian Greens State Convention. Radio interviews took place on the ABC, 3CR and RRR’s Long Grass Sessions.

RRR Interview - MP3, 15.24m, 14.4MB

Visiting Hobart’s Female Factory in ‘the Valley of Death’ (as it was once known), Alanna was shocked to read of the hardships of women sent to Australia for stealing food. She soon joined the dots. “They didn’t tell the real story, they keep suppressing the real issue, the enclosure of the commons, that’s what led to the petty crime”. Back in the days of the commons, poor or unemployed people could always find something productive to do by ‘working the commons’ by planting their own crop or grazing their herd on the unused (typically the least valuable) land. From these ‘common’ lands enough could be earned to barter with others so that a basic existence could be maintained. Sounds like a human right, yeah?”

Asked about the chances for change in today’s conservative environment, Alanna pointed out “look, imagine when there was slavery, did they ever think they’d get out of it? I mean people were actually saying that slave-holders should be compensated for giving up this ‘right’!!! Strong people said NO, there must be justice and we must move beyond this.”

“Look at women’s suffrage. Women were whipped in jails over raising questions about the right to vote These women must have thought they were in a hopeless position during the depths of those dark nights in jail. But in time they got this policy through, though it’s still not universal.”

“Now in time people will see that an Earth Rights Democracy is the way for true freedom, a true democracy. Do you think the creator planned for life to be this difficult, for some to get free rides and others to be taxed for all their hard work? For the earth to be easy pickings and polluted at the same time?”

“Now you’re not going to fully get this in a one hour lecture, ‘cause you all know how hard it is to look outside the square, especially when we’re conditioned to consider things from a capital versus labour analysis, but be patient. As a young woman I too was concerned with poverty, disease and the indigenous. With this new perspective hopefully now embedded in your outlook, you will see how much of a pivotal issue this is.”

Make sure you email us to sign up for a trial subscription to our Progress Magazine to continue your understanding of this outrageous concept - “Pay for what you take, not what you make”.