Swapping thrown-away bottles for a coin is one of those practices now long gone except in enlightened states like South Australia. It is the memory of such practices that has inspired Meg Bishop and Graeme Gibson to produce their little book, Stories of Experience — learning from the environmental experiences of older Australians.

Victim of affluent times

That many of the stories collected by the authors come from the 1940s and 1950s is no accident, for it was around that time that the post-World War Two economic boom started to transform Australia’s economy and culture, as well as its environmental practices. The frugality, thrift and recycling that had been part of our culture were suddenly swept away in a flood of modernism and money. Now, however, there is a resurgence of interest in those chronologically distant practices. And while it’s genesis can be traced back to the 1970s ‘alternative’ culture, it is in more recent times that it has gained impetus.

The new Transition Initiatives movement is the latest social formation to discover the value of past experience. In part, that’s because it sees these ‘old’ environmental practices being of value in a world likely to have to deal with both the impacts of climate change and peak oil – the point of maximum extraction of global oil reserves after which prices of everything that uses oil in its production (and that’s most things) are likely to rise dramatically. The ‘rediscovery’ of how to live with less oil and less affluence may well have much to learn from those times more than a half-century ago, and doing so is recommended by Rob Hopkins in his ‘Transitions Handbook’.

Old times, new values

So, what can the authors tell us about the wisdom of the past that is relevant to the new values emerging in response to a changing world? The answer, it turns out, is plenty.

Take the experience of Dorothy Bremner of Nowra. She tells of how water was highly valued in the late 1940s when she was a child, a time when there were signs about conserving water above the taps at her school. Dorothy invokes those days by describing how her mother would heat water in a kettle on the stove, then pour it into a tin basin on the kitchen table and wash the dishes in it. And after that? The water went onto the garden. History repeats, because this is what some people I know have started to do in the present. Today, we rather grandly call it ‘greywater recycling’, but in those times it was nothing more than common sense.

Mardie Smith took the lessons of the country to the city when she moved from Eugowra. Her memories are of making jams and preserves and storing them in the household pantry… and of sharing excess. Reading this reminded me of attending a workshop at a conference in Melbourne a few years ago. I didn’t set out to attend this workshop, but my partner wanted to and suggested I come along. I obeyed.

The workshop was led by a woman from Hepburn, a small town in inland Victoria. Her name was Sue Dennett and her presentation was on something she called the ‘household economy’. What she said there resonated strongly with the activities and mentality that I found in Mardie Smith’s story and in other stories in Stories of Experience. So, it appears that either that those old attitudes and values did not pass with those earlier generations or that – and this is what I believe – they are being revived in a new iteration for modern times that we could call Frugality Version 2.0. Oh… that Sue Dennett who ran the workshop is partner to David Holmgren, the co-originator of the permaculture design system.

Interestingly, Mardie Smith talks about how the word ‘economy’ had a different meaning in those days. Rather than being the signifier of an arcane pseudo-science, economy was about making the most efficient use of things.

Small book, big ideas

In a modest 90 pages, this small book documents old and now new-again environmental practice culled from the memories of older Australians. A couple stories feature the creative slant of mixing fact and fiction, but all bring stories of water and waste, making-do and repairing, chooks, food, biodiversity and the value of neighbours and sharing. It’s about hard times and frugal times and, through its pages, you get the idea that although those times might have been tough they were lived to the fullest and people got by through a shared set of humane values based around mutual support. If we can do this again, though in a modern format, then our children and grandchildren will be well served.

Stories of Experience was published by the Council on the Ageing through a NSW Environmental Trust grant (www.environment.nsw.gov.au/envtrust).

Publishers information

Bishop M, Gibson G; 2008; Stories of experience — learning from the environmental experiences of older Australians; Council on the Ageing (NSW). ISBN: 9780 9804  22306.

Retail: Expect to pay around $10.

www.realoptions.com.au

Reviewed by Russ Grayson, April 2009

Paying very high prices for water that is merely filtered – water sold as ‘mineral’ water must comply to a standard regarding content – is being recognised for the commercial rip-off that it is. Its legacy is not only taking money from the pockets of its drinkers, it is a high-carbon product when the resource and energy production costs its PET plastic packaging, with its embodied energy, are taken into account. Then there’s the cost of cleaning the discarded, empty packaging from our beaches and streets, and the landfill issue.

Why pay high prices for what you can get free? Filling up with free filtered water at a Manly Council bubbler in The Corso.

The bottles, of course, can be reused, however there is growing consumer resistance to doing this with allegations of chemicals leaching from the bottle into its contents. Even keeping bottled water in your car can have health impacts because, as the water rises in temperature, it becomes a fine medium for bacterial growth. The plastic of used bottles, however, can be converted into other products. Adventure equipment manufacturer, Paddy Pallin, makes a colourful line of warm jackets from the material of old PET bottles.

It seems the era of the refillable bottle may be about to dawn, if the ban spreads. Manly Food Co-op, for instance, carries a line in refillable stainless steel bottles. These are lightweight and, being steel rather than aluminium (such as the popular Sigg bottles are made from), they can be filled with liquids other than water, like orange juice. You can get these elsewhere, too. Sigg also make a range of internally-coated aluminium bottles that can handle juice, however last time I checked they would not disclose the plastic they coat the inside of the bottle with, ignoring the public right to know (especially about materials users of their product could ingest and that could have negative health effects) and raising questions as to food safety assurances around whether their plastic release chemicals into the liquids inside the bottles.

As for polycarbonate bottles – those hard, durable plastic types – they have been reported to leach chemicals too, however I understand that some manufacturers have started to produce polycarbonates bottles that do not do this.

A challenge to the Bundanoon ban by the packaging industry would paint it into the same corner that its resistance to container deposit legislation (CDL) has forced it in all states but South Australia. Even such an influential organisation as Clean-Up Australia has remained mute on CDL, clearly preferring to pick up the discards rather than solve the problem at source. So has federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett.

Interestingly, the NSW government is ordering its departments to get rid of plastic bottled water.

So, what’s the solution?

Do we go thirsty in public or just drop into the nearest bar when we feel a thirst coming on?

Look no further than Manly for the answer. There, Manly Council engaged Culligan Water to install filtered water refilling stations in The Corso. Bearing a message about it being a climate change initiative, the filling stations are equipped with a tap, conveniently placed for refilling water bottles, and an adjacent bubbler. More bubblers would be a good idea in all municipalities and all shopping centres, including big box malls.

Despite its sometimes bad press, Sydney tap water, it turns out, really is safe to drink, even if it is unfliltered. If you don’t believe me, do an experiment with you as subject and compare it to drinking some of the stuff you get from the tap (where they can be found) in developing countries.