Last night I went to the Coffs Jetty Theatre for a screening of Greenhouse, a film by Joost Bakker. It’s about a project that built a house that was totally self sustainable when it came to food and energy.
The trailer below overviews the story well. It’s a good story. Joost is a visionary and I think the Melbourne project can best be regarded as a proof of concept in that, yes, you can build a house that is self sustaining when it comes to food and energy. It is not entirely practical, hence my terming of it as proof-of-concept. Joost in his Q&A post screening said he hoped his work acts as a catalyst for further exploration of the concepts in his work. So do I.
The film reminded me of one of the key things I learned when I did my Master of Environmental Management at UNSW, that being, there is no such thing as waste. We should never forget that.
Joining Joost on stage was legendary Australia actor Jack Thompson. Joost and Jack said they went back several decades as mates. Jack spoke about his foundation which undertakes development projects in aboriginal communities. He reminded the audience that for tens of thousands of years, aboriginal people lived sustainably when it came to food. He said the ways of aboriginal people when it came to food should be central to self sustaining practises in today’s world.
Go and see the film, it will get you thinking.
Andrew Woodward 