What will fill the hole left by coal?

 Latrobe Valley power worker Greg Dunn.
 ‘I love the fact that I generate electricity,’ he says. 

Greg Dunn, coffee in hand, has just finished a 12-hour night shift at the Hazelwood power station. He is tired, but in his low-key way, he is resigned, too. He rattles off the members of his family who have worked in the electricity industry in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, a list that almost certainly will end with him.

Dunn’s father worked as a boilermaker in the valley. His grandfather worked here too, back in gentler days when electricity was thought an essential service for governments to run. In the valley, it was the state electricity commission (SEC).

“My mother’s father, he was a rigger in the SEC,” says Dunn. “Three of my uncles worked for the SEC. My mother worked for the SEC in the front office, that’s where she met my father.”

Dunn is 47. His life, like thousands of people in towns throughout the valley east of Melbourne, has been defined by an accident of nature – beneath the earth lies one of the world’s largest deposits of brown coal.

He grew up in the SEC town of Yallourn, with planned streets, swimming pool and art deco cinema, the pride of the valley until it was decided that it should be demolished to dig up the coal beneath the houses. The town was gone by 1983. Dunn is resigned to something similar happening to valley towns like Morwell, Traralgon, Moe and Churchill, if not physically, then slowly, and perhaps more painfully.

Read the story by Gay Alcorn and Kate Stanton on The Guardian - “What will fill the hole left by coal?”

Be a part of the future and explore a life of frugal abundance

Work on an earthbag dome
 - not the one near Moe.

Are you a passionate and knowledgeable permaculturalist? Would you like to live in a developing ecovillage for a year 'rent free' as part of a documentary project? Do you want to explore a life of frugal abundance? If so, read on!

Over the last 12 months the Simplicity Institute has been involved in the development of an ecovillage permaculture farm out near Moe, Victoria, Australia (nearly two hours from Melbourne). To date the communities involved have built a small Earthship, a beautiful cob cabin, and last week we made great progress on an earthbag dome and a pizza oven. There are bees buzzing, beers brewing, water tanks collecting, and communities forming. We've also planted 40 odd fruit trees and have established some large vegetable gardens, with more to come. The 20-acre property has a large dam, a large shed, a large greenhouse and chicken coop, as well as a more conventional house.

These are early days, but much has been done over the last year with many more plans and projects in the pipeline. Our primary aim is to explore what 'one planet' living looks like, to demonstrate it as far as possible, and to use the property as an education centre and activist hub to promote pathways to a radically 'simpler way' to live. We don't want to escape the system; we want to help transform it. Would you like to be part of this adventure?

The Simplicity Institute has been approached by a documentary filmmaker and we are now conspiring to turn this project into an inspiring educational documentary, which records the evolution of the property in these early stages and demonstrates the nature of a highly localised, sufficiency-based economy. We are currently seeking applications from people interested in living out on the property for one year, starting in January 2015, to be part of this documentary.

We are seeking creative, passionate, good-spirited and knowledgeable permaculturalists, who are prepared to explore a lifestyle of radical simplicity and who are committed to making this property and this documentary project a success. The documentary will be filmed over a one-year period, with the participants being filmed exploring the various aspects of 'one planet' living. Among other things, it is hoped that the documentary will demonstrate organic food production, renewable energy production, radically reduced energy consumption, alternative technologies and building methods, composting toilets, low-tech solar hot water, making and mending rather than buying, home production, minimizing waste, building community and local economies, and so forth. We aren't interested in documenting 'light green' living. We are seeking applications from people interested in exploring the 'deep green' alternative. If you are ready to challenge yourself and inspire others, be in touch.

If you're interested in applying, please send a one-page application to entropiaecovillage@gmail.com. Tell us who youare, why you want to be involved, the skills you could bring, and anything else you feel we should know. Applications close 10 November with interviews and decisions soon thereafter. We're aiming to invite up to 6-8 people on the property for the year to establish the small community for this project.

Like all documentaries, this one will require funding. For the rest of the year, the Simplicity Institute will be donating all proceeds from the sales of Entropia: Life Beyond Industrial Civilisation http://www.bookofentropia.com/ and Simple Living in History: Pioneers of the Deep Future - https://www.createspace.com/4907640

Please support this important project by buying copies of these books and sharing these links. We can't do this alone. Christmas is coming up, so perhaps rather than buying junk we could all buy our families and friends copies of these books to spread the important messages of simplicity and permaculture while also supporting this documentary. Thanks for your support.

If you are able to financially support this project in more significant ways, please be in touch at: entropiaecovillage@gmail.com

Simon Ussher and Samuel Alexander

Directors of the Simplicity Institute

513 Dana Street,
Ballarat Victoria 3350,
Australia.