Home of Sustainable Shopping Streets of the World

This is the home of Sustainable Shopping Streets of the World - your guide to finding all the best sustainable shops and eateries across the Planet. Thankfully, there is an increasing number of green businesses setting up in this post-mass consumption era of sustainable living and many of them are locating next to each other in some of the nicest urban precincts you'll find.

Check out the East Village, New York, NY

Check out Melbourne, Australia

Check out Brighton, UK

Check out Berkeley, California

Check out Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia

Check out Portland, Oregon

ABC Radio Interview

Listen to Michael's recent interview with ABC Radio's Bush Telegraph Program in which he provides his take on how to have a sustainable holiday in Australia.

Monday

Making Tracks All Over Australia



In Sustainable Australian Travel For Dummies, I highlighted the role that Australia's rail network can play in transporting you more sustainably over longer distances, especially compared to flying. I suggested that if you build some train travel time into your itinerary, then trains not only get you to your destination with the lowest carbon impact of any of the transport modes (other than cycling and walking of course - I assume most people don't have THAT much time), it can be an enjoyable and worthwhile travel experience in its own right.

Some people that do have the time might like the idea of travelling comfortably the old fashioned way, seeing much of Australia's vast outback from the comfort of your window seat. If you are one of these people then you should check out the Great Southern Railway (GSR) Web site. The GSR connects Australia’s west coast (Perth) and east coast (Sydney) via the Indian Pacific service over the Nullarbor. Sydney, Adelaide and Darwin are also connected via the Ghan service and Adelaide and Melbourne are connected by The Overland. These services are now marketed and priced so as you can "travel in style". GSR have recently enhanced their reputation by announcing a new luxury rail experience called the Southern Spirit, which provides you with two touring experiences: the Grand Tour and the Coastal Epic. These tours are more than just a train trip - the Southern Spirit escorts you to several iconic attractions along the way (by bus) from Alice Springs to Brisbane via Melbourne and Sydney, including Uluru and Kata Tjuta, Kangaroo Island, Phillip Island, and the Blue Mountains.

You can also use the extensive intrastate rail and connecting rail-bus networks in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and Western Australia. Queensland might be the pick of the state rail systems as it includes the newish Tilt train between Brisbane and Cairns; the older but classic Sunlander, also between Brisbane and Cairns; the Spirit of the Outback between Brisbane and Longreach; the Westlander between Brisbane and Charleville; and the Inlander between Townsville and Mt Isa. And they've also got the beautiful old Kuranda Railway between Cairns and the hinterland town of Kuranda via Barron Gorge.

Western Australia also has some great rail journeys worth taking, including the Prospector between East Perth and Kalgoorlie; the Australind between Perth and Bunbury; and the Avon Link between East Perth and Northam.

All the state railways are supported by an extensive rail-bus network that enables you to connect from the railway to outlying rural communities (most communities were once serviced by railway lines that went just about everywhere but now are just distant memories or used purely for freight purposes). The following state rail agencies are where you'll find out where they travel and how long it will take you to get there:

* NSW CountryLink - www.countrylink.nsw.gov.au
* Victoria V/Line - www.vline.com.au
* Queensland Rail (QR) - www.traveltrain.com.au
* Western Australia Trans WA - www.transwa.wa.gov.au

All aboard!

Posted by Michael Grosvenor at 3:00 AM
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G Magazine Review of Sustainable Australian Travel For Dummies

It's generally agreed that holidaying at home is a greener option than flying to the other side of the globe for a couple of weeks. And considering how alluring a destination Asutralia is to people from all over the world, we have a pretty amazing "backyard" to explore.

Author and urban planning consultant Michael Grosvenor has put together a great guide book that makes it easy for you to make sustainable choices when planning your next domestic trip, with Sustainable Australian Travel for Dummies.

The information is specific in that all the information comes from a green perspective, yet broad in that it caters to a range of budgets and age groups.

A great deal of thought has gone into the structure of this book, making it very user-friendly. For example, there are masses of cross-references throughout the text so that you can jump to the relevant section without having to flick through the whole book.

The first third of the book deals with general travel issues: researching, planning and booking a green holiday, how to spot greenwash, supporting local economies and indigenous communities, alternatives to driving and flying, and carbon offsets.

The last two thirds address 12 regions with information about getting there, public transport and cycle paths within each region, eco-friendly accomodation, sustainable shopping, natural wonders, cultural attractions and eateries that serve organic and or local produce.

There are reasonably detailed maps of each region but not of individual towns or cities.

If you like Grosvenor's no-nonsense approach to green issues, check out his other book, Sustainable Living for Dummies.

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