Reading an old edition of Nannup’s local paper "The Telegraph" from 2004 in the heat of the day ( yes, the 34 degree heat and humidity of early November, following severe wind storms in August, a bone dry September and a bone chilling October ) I was struck by what a caring society we were. We were worried about climate change. People in high places were talking about sustainability. The Carpenter gov. had not so sustainably decided to install a de sal plant but at least the Yarragadee was saved from watering Perth's lawns, hooray! Recycling was a big deal in Nannup and Rosco Bartrop who had volunteered week in week out for years to sort rubbish and receive and deliver recyclables from householders, wanted to be paid $15 an hour for some of this work because the shire now had a grant to deal with waste. Sadly he was turned down when he should have been rewarded for his huge contribution. Back then, the shire was in the act of building a gravel hardstand to receive and process green waste at the tip. Yep, PROCESS. 
How things have changed….and how jaded we have become. Virtually nothing is recycled now, Australia wide. If you missed 4 Corners on how the maffia are paid to dump our rubbish in the bush through a company called Clean Away….http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-24/trashed/8839920
I’ve read that the Nannup Shire intends to engage the now infamous CleanAway  here in the near future! 
Today the Yarragadee water from the Thomas Rd NAnnup bore is sent to 10 towns where there are no water restrictions. We are rapidly draining the aquifer but as long as the voters can wash their cars and dogs without a care, that's all that matters. Today Nannup burns the communities ever- increasing piles of green waste , green waste grown with aquifer water?. A veritable mountain accumulates as trailer load after trailer load of grass, leaves, branches and whole logs arrive daily. Those August storms mentioned brought down dozens of huge trees, ten in our street alone, ironically during my speech to council calling for saving old growth Barrabup forest. Remember this: Forests moderate everything. 
Merri Bee and Stew and now Paul have been collecting as much green waste from the tip as we have time to, composting it and using it as mulch. My garden is a picture , have a look.

 Thanks to proper composting I can grow fuschias, hydrangeas, mint…all my faves that use to grow like weeds pre 1997, but since 2008 have been impossible to grow. I had given up any hope of growing them again and turned to succulents and cacti. In 2013 we learnt how to make quality compost and it is awesome. We have taught many the art. The garden has recently gone from grim to great! 

So we put our precious organic matter up into the blue sky. We are so lucky to have a blue sky, China doesn't .  I have been at the tip near the heat and smoke , furiously shoving piles of grass clippings in bags while a big grabbing machine was working right next to me dumping this wonderful organic matter on a blasted fire. These days a man with a dump truck, (he seems contracted by the shire?) brings tons of large branches to the tip for burning , not processing. I am so distressed at this contribution to CC that we just spent a fortune buying a bigger chipper and have invited everyone to bring their green waste to our place for processing. Only 3 people have done this so far. What happened to the Shire's plans to process green waste? Excuses given that people will dump naily and preserved timber, but has there been any attempt to educate? I try but am edited down to 300 words .. A lighted match is the cheapest option but take a look at the smoke, these choking green house gases were seen all the way to  the coast. Thanks for photos of the Nannup tip inferno by Rachel Wedd 

Can this even be legal to do? Shame Nannup, shame on us all .

The view from home.



Im tired of JADED and IGNORANT people making dum decisions with no regard to the environment and climate change. 
Im SO GLAD Margs council is looking greener , and Im glad some nice people have got back onto council in Nannup and that one jaded councilor Ann Slater who couldn’t care less about Barrabup forest is rightly GONE. Other right wing conservatives got in by the skin of their teeth. A few more good people on council and we might get wise decisions. I want Nannup to walk our sustainable talk and be a leader in this area. Build us a road and hard stand and pay a few guys full time to put green waste through a chipper, we will compost it. Rosco, do you want a job mate?