Environmental Ethics

Like Kermit the frog once sang “It’s not easy being green”

There are a few ‘wine related’ things you can do to lessen your impact on our earth. Firstly, virtually all wine packaging is recyclable, so please don’t let this end up as landfill. The cardboard boxes & dividers, rinsed out empty bottles & caps can be placed in your kerbside recycling bin (if your local council provides this service) or most municipal councils will have a recycling facility. Secondly, by buying Australian grown & made wines, you are lessening the amount of fuels burnt & pollutants caused by not creating a demand for imported wine.

Climate change, global warming, ground, air, sound, & water pollution, habitat destruction, animal & plant extinction (& the list goes on) are brought about directly by humans inhabiting & continuing to (over) populate the earth. I’m not in denial of this, & nor should you be. It’s hard for me to not be overcome with guilt, as my existence has forced other living things out of existence, & continuing to live a modern lifestyle & sell the product I do will put further pressure on the planet. I am doing something to offset my existence, & what I’m selling to you, by helping to save what’s left of Tasmania’s mighty forests & wilderness areas. $2.00 from every carton of wine I sell will be directed to Tasmanian Land Conservancy. When I die, the Mates Rates Wine business, including all stock on hand is being willed to them, as a going concern. If you’d like to follow my lead, or to get more information, please visit www.tasland.org.au.

There are quite a few other things I’m doing to lessen my impact on the earth, & I’m happy to receive input from individuals or organisations out there with similar values to my own - please contact me. I’m currently a member of the Alternative Technology Association, (www.ata.org.au) Sustainable Living Tasmania, (www.tasmanianenvironmentcentre.org.au), & Tasmanian Land Conservancy, (www.tasland.org.au).

My timber Hobart home is undergoing a slow retrofit, to make it more energy efficient. Heavy curtains & pelmets have been fitted to all windows, helping to capture heat entering the house during the day & generated by internal systems. Heating (& cooling) is handled predominantly with a high efficiency inverter ‘heat pump’ (reverse cycle air conditioner). Tasmania generates the majority of its electricity from hydro electric schemes, (& wind farms) so it was logical to use electricity, rather than a carbon dioxide & fine particle releasing wood heater.

I’m now also generating a proportion of my own electricity – I’ve fitted six 80 watt solar panels to the roof, with the resulting 12 Volt DC being fed to a battery bank. Through an inverter, the 240 volt AC is fed to the lighting circuit of my house. This, along with the installation of compact fluorescent & LED lighting, has led to an energy saving of about 10%. Plans are in place (once finances allow) to upgrade the system to at least a 3kw ‘grid connected’ solar system, so that my excess electricity can be used by other Tasmanians (& Australians, via the Bass Link).

A huge twin wall polycarbonate skylight was fitted to my office (which has the best solar access of the entire house) & I’ve also set up an exhaust fan, (connected to the inverter) which pushes the hot air from the (very hot) attic, to the lower levels of the house. On a cold day, the living area can be warmed by up to 8 degrees above normal, using this system. Once finances allow I’ll be replacing the existing electric hot water service with an evacuated tube solar heater, replacing the 240 Volt AC fridge with a far more efficient chest style 12 Volt DC one, and continuing to insulate the underfloor areas & make other efficiency improvements.

Consumables are purchased (not necessarily in this order of preference) if they are –

My household & office also recycles & re-uses all consumables, whenever possible. Non consumable goods within the house & office are used for as long as possible, with no cosmetic or ‘latest & greatest’ upgrades. Special attention is paid to electrical goods with low power consumption. Excess furniture & clothing is donated to Lifeline.

The front garden is a well mulched native one, planted predominantly with Tasmanian species, many of which I grew from seeds & cuttings myself. It’s extremely water efficient; usually the new plants are only sporadically watered for the first season, then not at all. The heavily mulched rear garden is full of fruit & nut trees, berries, vegetables, & herbs, all grown organically, & with the principals of Permaculture in mind. Excess produce is given to my friends & neighbours. A poly tunnel shelters my winter vegetables, herbs & carnivorous plant collection from heavy winter frosts & a family of frogs has also taken up residence in it. Generally, Hobart does not suffer from the water shortages that most other cities in Australia endure, however as we become a drier planet, I’ll be installing water tanks, & possibly a grey water recycling unit.

My vehicle is small & fuel efficient, but living so close to the centre of Hobart means I rarely drive it. I particularly don’t drive at dawn, dusk, or at night on country roads, as Tasmania has mostly nocturnal animals, that can easily become road kill. I look forward to a day when ‘fuelling up’ a new generation of vehicle will mean plugging into my rooftop solar system.

Like many people of our earth, I’m constantly discovering new ways to lessen my impact, which is why this section of the website will be constantly upgraded, as new ideas are put into practice.