Five gifts from the garden for Mothers Day

By Michael Smit in Gardens, Living on 8 May 2013

mothers-day-600x240pxWe want to thank the Mums this weekend for all their hard work with some gardening gift ideas. Breakfast Our daughter makes this breakfast on Mother’s Day and it never fails. Not gardening related? Think again! You’ll need your herb garden for this one.

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8
MAY
2013

Reading between the pixels

By Luke Gibbons in Videos on 1 May 2013

ebooksAnyone over 20 years old visiting a school library these days will ask, “Where did all the books go?” The technology and online revolution has without a doubt, changed the way we read and learn. New devices come out every year like the kindle, kobo and iPad.

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1
MAY
2013

Earth Day 2013

By Xavier Gonzalez in Our planet, Videos on 22 April 2013

Gaia ShineHappy Earth Day 2013! This year Earth Day‘s official theme is Climate Change, The Earth Day Network is aiming to bring awareness to the very real effects climate change is having on people around the world through a visually powerful campaign called The faces of Climate Change. The campaign encourages

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22
APR
2013

Where does your plastic go?

By Luke Gibbons in Heroes, Living, Videos on 12 April 2013

Turtle from Take 3We all know that we should be using fewer plastic bags – you only have to see them overflowing from your kitchen draw to know that. Pauline Whitehead, Chairperson of Naragebup, an environment centre in Rockingham, Western Australia knows that it is not just our kitchen draw is affected by these temporary

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12
APR
2013

Wishing You A Sustainable Easter

By Hayley in Our planet on 27 March 2013

Hot Cross BunsI was time wasting on Facebook the other day when a photo of the ingredients of some hot cross buns came up from a large Australian supermarket chain. Alongside the photo was a description: “Avoid palm oil products this Easter!” I had given little thought to palm oil deforestation and Orang-utan habitat loss over my last

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27
MAR
2013

Waste not, want not

By Hayley in Living, Our planet on 15 March 2013

Plastics in landfillThis week I started back at University. One day as I was sitting down munching on my lunch purchased from a certain sandwich chain, my eyes fell upon the plastic bag and paper wrapping the sandwich had come in. These two items, although small and fairly insignificant, were only going to be used

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15
MAR
2013

World Water Day 2013

By Luke Gibbons in Our planet on 8 March 2013

World Water Day by Sam McGownWorld Water Day 2013 is fast approaching on Friday, March 22, and will focus on the theme of water cooperation. Back in January we spoke a little on the theme of water cooperation here on the ripple effect, but the topic is definitely worth more discussion. If, like me, you are more of a visual learner, then the following

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8
MAR
2013

An Elephant Getaway

By Hayley in Living, Our planet on 1 March 2013

Rumruay the elephantAcross Asia, there are less than 33,000 elephants remaining in the wild. Since the logging ban in Thailand in the 1980’s, elephants and their mahouts, or keeper, have had to struggle to survive. An elephant is expensive to feed (it costs over 600 baht a day to feed an elephant) and to care for, and if they are unable to make any money an elephant can become a financial burden on the mahout and his or her family.

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1
MAR
2013

Meet our new community blogger

By Luke Gibbons in Heroes on 28 February 2013

Hayley with RumruaySince the ripple effect launched way back in 2011, we (the savewater!® team) have been posting about some of the programs we have developed for you, along with some tips for sustainable living. That’s gone well, but the ripple effect was never meant to be just about us, but a community where we can all share our ideas. With that in mind, we’re bringing on

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28
FEB
2013

Gardening in the Desert

By Michael Smit in Gardens on 22 February 2013

Sturt's Desert PeaIt’s 40 degrees in Alice Springs with bright blue skies. It is raining in parts of  northern Australia  but Alice doesn’t get rain every year and with high temperatures and low humidity anything damp is oven baked pretty fast. Clothes dry on the line in the time it takes to have a meal. How do you garden in the desert? I was wondering how plants survive at all but there are

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22
FEB
2013