Today a Craig and I travelled out to Latrobe’s Bundoora campus. Which was massive compared to Australian Catholic University. Because of their size and therefore funding they were able to organise this event with a range of guest speakers speaking about sustainability in terms of climate change and the upcoming Copenhagen summit. Pamphlets were handed out during one of our lectures but I don’t know enough faces to say I saw any other ACU students there.
I was expecting a larger crowd, and to some extend I think they did too, as the guest list was pretty full on and the workshops were also wide ranging, from fixing bike to civil disobedience. I got the feeling funding dropped on the day as many workshops did not run, mainly those run by students still ran and a few from local guests.
The entire day still managed to link in to the unit and more importantly my own desire to understand and combat wasteful practices. Thankfully that desire was scrubbed clean off my mind. Many of the speakers spoke very politically and most switched between rousing a mob and boasting their own work. It was all good and proper but I feel the main thing I realised today is that my own efforts are going to be more effective than ranting and raving to the government, I do not feel I should be telling others what to do because at the very least at this point in time I do not have enough knowledge to make it worth the effort, as much as I relish the idea of “sticking it to the man”.
I do like the idea of being a part of a bigger movement but not now, not without a clear purpose in my own mind. (And from recollection groups tend to fuzzy a clear mind)
What was really interesting was the DUMPSTER DIVERS. Much of the day’s food was recycled or dumpster dived freegan style. It’s a method of getting food for free and without leaving a heavy mark on the environment. Mostly I think it’s popular because it’s free but I’ll go with the environmental message anyway. The photos they showed the workshop where rather amazing, massive loads of food collected in one night of dumpster diving. This is all sorts of food from fresh to processed and they seemed rather picky about what was touching, temperatures and other conditions. It is rather horrifying that so much is thrown out by restaurants, cafes, supermarkets and so on but what makes it even stranger is the amount of food which is 100% good to eat. Most food is gathered and thrown into a separate plastic bad before meeting the dumpster, so unless there is a rip there is no worries. And from what they were saying many places don’t even get their food to the dumpster before they pick it up, city trends.
At one point there was some odd information, like a bloke convinced that Coles was compacting their fresh produce as he told the tale of trying to get into the compactor. I work at Coles and they throw food waste into dumpsters and cardboard into compactors. Compactors full of organic matter would be rancid; at least the dumpsters get taken away. But other than some small issues dumpster diving seems rather interesting. Craig and I have joined a mailing list to go for a tourist dumpster dive with a few from the day. I think it is something I should see for myself as the simple idea really puts the statistics thrown around lectures into light.
P.S
Another thing that pulled me away from joining any protest then or in the near future was a random comment off a very enthusiastic girl referring to the campus vending machines…something along the lines of:
“I hate those vending machines, they are always on! Lets head over and smash break into them…REBEL whooo!”
At that point there was a rather awkward silence until the presenter moved on.
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