There wasn't much in last night's federal budget for our climate. With defence getting more than forty times the funding allocated to climate change initiatives, critics are questioning the Rudd Government's commitment to future climate security.

I've found this wonderful book for urban gardening in Austrailia - "Backyard Self-sufficiency". Written by decorated Austrailian author Jackie French, who is probably best known for her children's books, this book is full of practical and relevant advice for growing food to eat in your own garden year-round.

My youngest child is seven now so I am definitely beyond the baby years, but I've been noticing how much *Stuff* mums with young children seem to be lugging about with them nowadays ...

Planet Ark's annual http://treeday.planetark.com/ >National Tree Day, Australia's largest community tree planting event, is taking place on the 27th July. This event encouarges people to plant native trees to maintain biodiversity and combat climate change. You know, I love the sentiment, but I've got a half a box of native trees that I bought for my own yard back in February, still waiting for someone to put them in the ground. If I can't get around to planting my own plants am I realistically going to get out there to plant some other trees? Something like this seems more suited to someone with a lot less on her plate ...

Get up is running a new campaign in the lead up to the federal budget. Apparently an unholy alliance of climate polluting industries including coal, aluminum, cement, electricity generators, and mining, are collectively lobbying the government to derail urgent action to combat climate change.

Despite almost universal agreement at the UN climate convention in Bali for developed countries to adopt post-Kytoto emissions cuts by 2020, Japan, Canada and the US have rejected such cuts flat-out. Avaaz is running an emergency petition calling for these three countries to stop blocking serious targets to reduce emissions, and for the rest of the world to refuse anything less. Sign Here and encourage everyone you know to do the same.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference is taking place right now (3-14 December 2007). The Bali meeting comes at make-or-break time for the climate. Experts agree that we need to limit greenhouse induced global temperature increases to less than 2 degrees, or we face dire consequences of climate change. To effect that, it is imperative that world adopts a strengthened and rapid response to climate change. There are a number of current climate petitions on the web, making it easy for climate campaigning mums like us to have our voices heard at Bali. Tell your family, friends and acquaintances to get involved too! It only takes a minute to make a difference ... read on!

I've just stumbled across this great website that helps people who are concerned about climate change to make an informed decision about which candidate to vote for in the coming Australian federal election - The Big Switch.

One of the easiest ways to reduce your carbon footprint is to limit the amount of meat you consume.

I've finally got around to dealing with the organic matter that has been fermenting away in the lovely bokashi bin supplied to me by Todae for our EarthMums road test. Mmmm. Delicious ...