by Shannon Hernandez, 3/20/97... from Queensland
We try to minimize the garbage here at the center to reduce our impact on the
environment. The staff buys food and necessary products in bulk to cut down
on packaging. We recycle the cans, glass, cardboard, and plastic which make
up a lot of the waste. All of our food scraps and weeds from the garden get
composted and mixed with soil to make a fertile organic material. This material
is put in the garden and on the grass in the dry season.
At first our group was wasting a lot of food so we created a food "police"
which looks at people's plates when they finish eating. This has reduced the
amount of wasted food which we feel is important. Even with all of our efforts
to cut down on garbage we still produce a fair amount. It gets taken to the
landfill near the closest town.
How much does the weather in Australia change from season to
season? ...Javier R., El Paso, TX, USA
by Springer Fyrberg, 3/21/97... from Queensland
There are two really distinct seasons in Australia, the wet and the dry seasons.
As you can imagine, it rains a lot during the wet season and rains very little
during the dry season. Right now, it is the wet season, and at the beginning of
the semester it rained just about everyday. The good thing is that it does not
rain throughout the whole day, just for short periods throughout each day. The
sun does come out pretty often but not for very long periods of time. Right
now, it is the end of the wet season so it has been beautiful for several days in a
row. Most of the time it is pretty hot and humid here so occasional rain is
usually a blessing.
The seasons in Australia are the opposite of those in the US. During the winter
it is summer here, in the spring in it is fall here, the summer is the Australian
winter, and fall is the spring here. So, now it is fall, but not really like the fall in
the US because the leaves do not change colors and fall off the trees.
