26 maj 2013

March Against Monsanto

What a great turn-out! I am thrilled to have seen so many people come out and join us to stand up against Monsanto. Apparently over 2 million people have marched in cities around the world. In Perth the last count stated around 1600 people joined the march!

Josh from the Greens joins the march before his flight back to Canberra - dedication!
Walked pass a jazz festival - some cool things going on in Perth... 

Please don't think that these are just activists who don't care about the economy blah blah blah. These are farmers, parents, workers, retirees, students, environmentalists - people from all walks of life - coming together for a common concern for the future of our food supply. All we want is the choice between organic, GMO-free food and GMO-food. We also want farmers who choose to grow organic, non-GMO crops to be protected from companies such as Monsanto. If a farmer's crop in contaminated by Monsanto's GMOseeds these farmers face a potential law suit for "infringement" on Monsanto's patented crops in addition to a risk in losing their organic status. It should not be the responsibility of the organic farmer to protect its crop against Monsanto's seeds, it should be Monsanto's responsibility to refrain from contaminating other farmers' crops. There is an app called BUYCOTT that helps you identify products that contain GMOs. I don't care about the science saying that there is no difference between GMO and regular crop, all I know is that the pesticides that Monsanto requires you to use are killing bees, affecting biodiversity and ruining the soil. I do not want these pesticides in my body. Do you?

On a more pleasant note, Claire and I went to see Matt Corby the other night at the Astor in Perth. What a singer that man is... Wow.
On the way home we passed this children's playground in the cultural centre with all these musical instruments, we just couldn't help ourselves....

On another positive note, Friday night a bunch of us young people met up in Senator Scott Ludlam's office to brainstorm how to secure his seat in the senate. It is incredibly important since it is likely that the liberals will win and if they win both houses we can kiss the environment goodbye... But that won't happen because this awesome bunch of people will get the Greens some more seats this term!

Your vote counts - don't ever forget that.

22 maj 2013

What is your vision?

It is obvious that it is the end of the semester as suddenly all my assignments are due. I thought I was on top of them but turns out that I am very much underneath them... and the weight is slowly crushing me. Slightly melodramatic, it's not that bad! I'm sure this is how every student is feeling at the moment...

How I will miss this beautiful location!

Oh what a spontaneous and insanely good failed night.
Walk-walk back, squeeze into one car-take two, go in to the café-'harass' (Andrew!) waitress-walk out, find a bottleshop, go to the wrong IGA, go to the right IGA, car alarm goes off. and off. and off. Classy wine, custard and trust exercise hahaha

FILTER COFFEE! Too bad they didn't let me put milk in it.....

Ah, the voice....

My new friend whom I haven't had a chance to play with yet =(
 Insane dancing
 Venn Bar
 Snapchat! - the most useless app

Hands Across the Land - NO to fossil fuels YES to clean energy

It makes me cry when I think of all the harm we have caused this Earth.
Tell me how neo-liberal capitalism have improved life for humans? For all humans. 
How can the state correct for these 'externalities' when neo-liberal capitalism promotes privatisation and decreased state-control? It is a
No, this system is for the lucky few.
While their wealth keeps growing our civilisation is in crisis.
Man has never lived in a world where the CO2 levels have been over 400 ppm.
We are drilling for oil in the deep-sea, planning coal-mining stations 50 km from the Whitsundays in the Barrier Reef, fracking up our country-side and water supplies, destroying huge ecosystems, fishing out the ocean and more all in the name of PROFITS.
Call me an environmentalist, socialist, feminist whatever you would like. 
I am proud to be all those things but I refuse to let that define me.
I have a vision of a better world where materialism is not the driver of society. A system that does not rests solely on the continuous consumption of worthless goods and services or it will fall apart. We made this system and we can change it.
The world I want to live in is a world where people care about each other, communities support each other and you are valued for the content of your character rather than the money in your pocket. This is a world where we respect and appreciate the limits of our Earth and the species that share this planet with us. A world run by clean energy, cities that are water-sensitive and green, beaches that are plastic-free, healthy forests and a rich biodiverse world. 

What is your vision?


11 maj 2013

Balance

Time goes so fast at the moment. Too quickly for comfort... Last weekend I pretty much just worked. 6.30 - 4.30 Thursday - Saturday plus Sat night & Sun morning shift at Harvest. Phew glad that's over! That week was certainly not balanced in terms of study, internship, work & general well being.

Friday night was reggae night. Oh good ol' reggae, there's no better music to dance to.
You can't help but to love life with this view.
 We're jammin' at Mojo's

 This photo was just a mistake, trying to do too many things at once, but I like it.
I blame Shane & Snapchat.

My internship at The Wilderness Society is the highlight of every week. It's what every job should be like. Just getting paid to do what you are passionate about with awesome like-minded people.
Things can get pretty crazy at the office........
TWS fundraiser for the Court Case against EPA & State Govt is coming up on Oceans Day 8th June and invitations are being sent out! (if you want to come you can buy tickets at bit.ly/waves2013)
Looking pretty suave if you ask me!
Awesome WAG meeting at Gordon St Garage Café - revealing each others most embarrassing moments. (mine was when I spilled beer on Luke from Beverley Hills, but Sat night I walked into a tree which was pretty embarrassing as well....)

 Wednesday night was pretty epic. One of those spontaneous nights that just turn out to be awesome. My housemate and I went for a glass of wine at the Wine Store in East Freo. (they have $2 tapas every Wednesday!), followed by another drink at the French winebar Whisper before going to see Kon-tiki, a Norwegian film based on real events. It was really good, can recommend it! *thumbs up!*

I've been trying to figure out what I will/want to/can do now that I am graduating in a month. Scary & exciting! I'm looking for jobs here in Perth and have pretty much exhausted every possible contact I have. I don't want to jinx anything so I won't say anything else about that. If I don't get a job here in Perth I might work during the Swedish summer, apply for a master and go travelling a bit. Who knows what will happen.

Making someone's day is one of the best feelings in the world...
You should try it.

Off to the work again. I am slightly over hospitality. Slightly...

02 maj 2013

MAAAAH

There's too much going on at the moment! But in a good way!
I have to give myself some cred before embarking on updating y'all. I study full-time, intern 12 hrs/w and I work two jobs. I think I'm doing pretty well!

Been hanging out at TWS (The Wilderness Society) and went to the Pone Express for some good coffee the other day. This mural is so awesome!!
 Seen a fair few amazing sunsets lately. Not so much tonight though, it started to piss it down when I was half way through my run but I always say I love the rain (by that I mean to listen to it from inside with a cup of tea) so I ran on with a smile.

Woodside's AGM.
We celebrated the win on JPP and congratulated all the shareholders on their "good" decision to leave JPP alone. We also encouraged them to give the money that they promised to the community as they are still going to extract the gas, just not build a gas plant where the indigenous burial sites are located....

I'm getting hell into my headstands, handstands and elbowstands! Any stand except the conventional I suppose! Marc, Rosie and I had a wicked session at the Esplanade park practising headstands etc the other day! Poor Marc got a couple of kicks in the head but that's all part of it haha

After the session in the park Marc and I headed to Murdoch for Senator Scott Ludlam's lecture on Sustainable Perth 2029. Really interesting! Check out the app Bike blackspot if you are in Perth! It allows you to tag all the dodgy places around the city to alert the councils to do something about it!


I've been hanging out with this lovely lady lots and lots. Gorgeous Naz who is the most beautiful person inside and out! 
 Naz and I did some café hopping in Maylands Wednesday. First Sherbert(?) for some lunch then Mrs S for more lunch as we were still hungry. We had cake and coffee as well and walked away with a food baby. And to make it even worse we went into Marcs café where you can have 'bottomless' tea for $5.5! But since we coldn't fit ANY more in we ended up having just one tea and completely not getting the best out of that deal. Oh well.
We should not be left alone for too long though or it starts to get silly. Silly bean. Beans. Where are we?!

Afraid those are all the photos I've managed to talk the past couple of weeks. Pretty poor effort, I will ahve to get better. Waaay past my bedtime now though as I have a 5.30 wake up tomorrow and REGGAE NIGHT!

Note* Got to talk to Micha a couple of days ago and crikey(!) how I miss this wonderful friend!