Author Archives

Writer & blogger on environmental & social sustainability issues. It'll take a lot more than ten easy steps to save the planet, so let's start today.

• Using eye contact to help protect endangered species

  By Pip Marks on October 19, 2014 • ( 0 )

  

  Eye contact is our strongest form of non-verbal communication and plays a critical role in initiating emotional relationships between people (and other species). Photographers, for example, know that getting subjects to look directly at the lens of the camera is… Read More ›

• Pardon the water puns

  By Pip Marks on October 16, 2014 • ( 2 )

  

  Today I attended a conference about sustainable energy, water and waste management in Melbourne and couldn’t resist the temptation to publish a few of my favourite quotes. Tap into water data ‘We need to tap into big data to facilitate smarter… Read More ›

• Locative literature in a third place (Public art at a Melbourne tram stop)

  By Pip Marks on October 12, 2014 • ( 7 )

  

  I love to discover obscure, unexpected and ephemeral delights – such as temporary art installations. Hence my excitement when I chanced upon some ‘locative literature’ while waiting for a tram near Flinders Street Station in Melbourne last week! Sixteen very… Read More ›

• Day of the Orchids – Fact really is stranger than fiction

  By Pip Marks on September 28, 2014 • ( 1 )

  

  I spent a lovely afternoon at the Canberra Spring Orchid Show last Sunday. What an incredible and diverse family of plants! It was great to see these magnificent plants in the flesh – including a spectacular Sydney Rock Orchid sporting large spikes… Read More ›

• Competition for tree hollows in a suburban backyard

  By Pip Marks on September 17, 2014 • ( 3 )

  

  In case anyone is unconvinced about how serious the competition is for tree hollows in Australia, I have made a short film about something that really happened in my neighbour’s backyard in Canberra yesterday morning! It also acts as a warning for people thinking… Read More ›

• Orchids – Sordid tales of lust, deception & unrequited love 

  By Pip Marks on September 14, 2014 • ( 15 )

  

  Orchids go to great lengths to attract the insects that are vital to their survival. Like humans, they put on a pretty dress, slap on some lipstick and perfume, flirt and promise sexual favours and gifts (but do not always… Read More ›

• A neighbourhood within a neighbourhood – Avian squatters at Eucalypt Hollow

  By Pip Marks on September 8, 2014 • ( 2 )

  

  Spring has arrived in Canberra! Gardens and parks are bursting with the glorious colours of wattle, blossom and bulbs – and are every so often topped with a rainbow halo after much-needed seasonal showers. The large eucalypt outside my living room… Read More ›

• Post script re ladybirds, dung beetles & cane toads

  By Pip Marks on August 24, 2014 • ( 2 )

  

  I am very excited to report that my copies of ‘We go to the gallery’ have just arrived!! Some of you may remember my previous posts about Miriam Elia’s satirical look at contemporary art in the form of a 1960s ‘Ladybird Book’… Read More ›

• Warm Trees 2014 – Dragons, scarves & spiderwebs

  By Pip Marks on August 17, 2014 • ( 2 )

  

  The highlight of the ‘Warm Trees’ exhibition (25 July – 31 Aug 2014) at Canberra’s National Arboretum was a single tree on Dairy Farmers’ Hill near the ‘Nest’ sculpture. Here, some inspired yarn bombers created beautiful silvery cobwebs that glistened in… Read More ›

• Hidden talent – homeless art & poetry

  By Pip Marks on August 8, 2014 • ( 1 )

  

  This week I saw an exhibition of homeless art, stories and poetry that was displayed in shop windows along Carlisle Street, Balaclava and Fitzroy Street, St Kilda in Melbourne. It was both uplifting and heart-wrenching at the same time. The ‘No fixed address’ community… Read More ›

• Do sculptures really need development approvals & building permits? At what cost?

  By Pip Marks on August 7, 2014 • ( 8 )

  

  A large outdoor sculpture in a small Australian country town has faced more than its fair share of debate over the past two decades. The sculpture, known as ‘Dreamer’s Gate’, provoked a series of complaints from members of the local community and… Read More ›

• Charity begins at home – with a pair of knitting needles or crochet hook

  By Pip Marks on July 24, 2014 • ( 9 )

  

  Knitting and crocheting are no longer just for the blue rinse set. These crafts are enjoying a renaissance across all age groups and are being used to help others and to create cheerful and creative temporary art installations. The knitters and crocheters also receive benefits through… Read More ›

• We can all be cheerleaders

  By Pip Marks on July 19, 2014 • ( 3 )

  

  Apparently competitive cheerleading is becoming increasingly popular in Australia. Some Melbourne schools even offer this sport as an elective subject. However, cheerleading is incredibly dangerous – with high levels of catastrophic and other serious injuries (as well as rivalry between contenders for the limited positions… Read More ›

• Altered perspectives & foreshortening in the real world

  By Pip Marks on July 12, 2014 • ( 2 )

  

  Most people who have studied art or tried their hand at life drawing in the past 500 years or so will probably have learnt about perspective (the optical illusion that causes objects close to us to appear larger than those… Read More ›

• Using art & social media to raise awareness about deforestation

  By Pip Marks on June 27, 2014 • ( 3 )

  

  It was great news that UNESCO unanimously rejected Australia’s bid to delist a large of area of old growth native forest in Tasmania earlier this week (especially as these areas were only awarded World Heritage status last year). However, the… Read More ›

• Uno due tre quattro – what’s next? (cinque-generation & 5D printing?)

  By Pip Marks on June 2, 2014 • ( 0 )

  

  Do you ever feel overwhelmed by all of the information available at your fingertips? Or find yourself totally blown away by what new technologies can do and how they are changing our lives? No sooner do I begin to get my head around… Read More ›

• Car faces & body language

  By Pip Marks on May 30, 2014 • ( 8 )

  

  Humans have a fascinating tendency to see faces in random things, such as clouds. This phenomenon is called ‘paleidolia’. We do the same with cars – and often ascribe personality traits to these inanimate objects based on their front end features. “Even if people don’t… Read More ›

• Let’s do the blog hop!

  By Pip Marks on May 23, 2014 • ( 2 )

  

  Thank you to the fabulous (three) mothers at 4mothers1blog for inviting me to participate in a blog hop asking bloggers why they write. Carol, Beth-Anne and Nathalie have already shared the ins and outs of why and how they write (here, here and here)… Read More ›

• Dandelions – weed or feed?

  By Pip Marks on May 18, 2014 • ( 9 )

  

  I was gardening the other day and pulled out a whole lot of dandelions (Taraxacum officinale), planning to give them to the neighbour’s chooks. Next I was going to re-establish the vege patch and start growing my own spinach and other greens again. Then it occurred… Read More ›

• Using wombats to promote your blog and support good causes

  By Pip Marks on May 10, 2014 • ( 8 )

  

  I am a big believer in the power of ‘word of mouth’ marketing and ‘peer to peer’ referrals. These models rely on trust and are especially well suited to blogs – where a recommendation, link or other promotion via a blogger that you… Read More ›

• A cruel irony – When comfort food & pets make you feel guilty

  By Pip Marks on May 8, 2014 • ( 7 )

  

  If faith is where you turn when there seems to be no place to turn (to paraphrase Zig Ziglar), then comfort food is what you eat at that time. So what happens if you already feel bad and then you feel worse because… Read More ›

• Every cloud really does have a silver lining

  By Pip Marks on May 6, 2014 • ( 0 )

  

  What do you do after a bad day at work? Some people eat or drink to excess. My friend Peter draws. Those who choose to over-indulge end up with a hangover or overweight – while Pete ends up with great… Read More ›

• Watered down green buildings vs the whole truth

  By Pip Marks on May 3, 2014 • ( 4 )

  

  When I visit buildings and developments that claim to be ‘green’, I like to ask the building owners and facility managers about the details. Not details like ‘What type of corner joint did you use here?’ or ‘Did you use recycled PVC… Read More ›

• The end of the line – Sydney’s mortuary train stations

  By Pip Marks on April 25, 2014 • ( 2 )

  

  Just as every life has a start and an end, so too does a railway line. Given that my last post (here) talked about a train station that used to be at Sydney’s Rookwood Cemetery (and is now a church… Read More ›

• Train station turned church – A fabulous example of adaptive reuse in Canberra

  By Pip Marks on April 19, 2014 • ( 1 )

  

  I love to watch shows like ‘Grand Designs’ – but I often find the people behind these ambitious projects to be far more interesting than the architecture. In general they are either quite naive (‘No. I have never done anything like this before’)… Read More ›

• Why not celebrate Easter with green eggs, chocolate bilbies & protein balls?

  By Pip Marks on April 15, 2014 • ( 3 )

  

  Once again Australians are being encouraged to buy chocolate bilbies instead of Easter (feral) bunnies. (To learn more about bilbies, an endangered Australian marsupial that looks a bit like a rabbit with a long nose and tail and a pouch, check out this Radio… Read More ›

• Edible versus Fit to eat – Are insects the answer to global food security?

  By Pip Marks on March 30, 2014 • ( 5 )

  

  For fans of ‘Charlotte’s Web’, imagine if Wilbur (the pig) had instead watched Charlotte (the spider) being taken away to be slaughtered and eaten? Would animal welfare groups such as PETA and the RSPCA have objected and fought for spiders’ rights… Read More ›

• Unsung heroes in environmental management

  By Pip Marks on March 23, 2014 • ( 6 )

  

  Someone commented recently that property managers are the unsung heroes of many organisations. Most people don’t think about these quiet achievers until something isn’t working or a utility bill hasn’t been paid. In promoting energy and water efficiency, we encourage… Read More ›

• We play in the garden – where art meets the corporate world

  By Pip Marks on March 13, 2014 • ( 4 )

  

  It is a sunny day. Jack and Jill go outside to play.* Mummy is working in the garden. ‘Look at the pretty flowers!’ says Jill. ‘I love flowers!’ ‘Look!’ says Jack. ‘A ladybird!’ ‘I love ladybirds,’ says Jill. ‘Oh! The… Read More ›

• Is Canberra’s latest bogong moth sculpture the next big thing?

  By Pip Marks on March 9, 2014 • ( 3 )

  

  My last post (here) explained that millions of bogong moths pass through Canberra each spring. The moths fly at night and become confused by the city’s lights that make them think that the sun is rising. As a result, the… Read More ›

• Bush tucker 2 – How do you prefer your witchetty grubs & bogong moths?

  By Pip Marks on March 3, 2014 • ( 14 )

  

  Moths, grubs, ants and other insects were important sources of energy for indigenous Australians whose traditional bush tucker diet was high in carbohydrates, protein and nutrients, and relatively low in fat and sugars. Witchetty grubs, for example, were a staple… Read More ›

• Bush tucker – I say potato, others say yarla

  By Pip Marks on February 24, 2014 • ( 6 )

  

  Apart from macadamia nuts, most people (including many Australians) know very little about Aussie bush tucker – despite the fact that we have an amazing variety of edible plants, such as lilly pilly, quandong, wattle seed and lemon myrtle, on… Read More ›

• Did you know that some ladybirds are dangerous to humans and might sue you?

  By Pip Marks on February 15, 2014 • ( 11 )

  

  I have always loved ladybirds. I grew up repeating a nursery rhyme about them whenever I saw these insects in the garden (but never really understood the line about their house being on fire). Gardeners know that the common spotted… Read More ›

• A guilt-free Valentine

  By Pip Marks on February 14, 2014 • ( 5 )

  

  This post (and the amazing cloud that I saw a couple of weeks ago) is dedicated to all those who conscientiously object to the crass commercialisation of this saint’s day, didn’t receive flowers or chocolates today (but would have liked to),… Read More ›

• What do pop art signs & a gasworks redevelopment have in common?

  By Pip Marks on February 13, 2014 • ( 5 )

  

  When I was in Melbourne recently, I noticed some public art on the footpath that proves that signs do not have to be boring and can even reflect the function (and potentially the character) of the destination they are promoting…. Read More ›

• Great walls & fences of Australia 2

  By Pip Marks on February 9, 2014 • ( 2 )

  

  Anyone who read my last post about wild dog, dingo, emu and rabbit-proof fences in Australia, will hopefully appreciate the humour in my favourite TV commercial that encourages parents to invest in an Internet connection to help their kids with… Read More ›

• Great walls & fences of Australia

  By Pip Marks on February 5, 2014 • ( 5 )

  

  The avenue of poplars (mentioned in this post) in the Tuggeranong Town Park follows the line of a heritage-listed dry stone wall that once marked the boundary between two rural properties in Canberra (one of which was featured in another post – here)…. Read More ›

• Play equipment for everyone & colourful road barriers

  By Pip Marks on January 30, 2014 • ( 2 )

  

  I found more sound sculptures by Kim Bowman in a playground at Black Mountain Peninsula in Canberra (mentioned in this post). There were two rain wheels, gong drums and a sonic bench. It turns out that there was lots more for kids who find it… Read More ›

• Do verbs make you tense or put you in a bad mood?

  By Pip Marks on January 25, 2014 • ( 4 )

  

  I consider myself fortunate to have learnt English as my ‘parent tongue’ – but it can make you very lazy when when most of what you look for on the Internet is published in English and so many other people… Read More ›

• Little Italy in Canberra’s south – poplars & all

  By Pip Marks on January 23, 2014 • ( 1 )

  

  Anyone who knows trees may have thought that the Lombardy poplars (Populus nigra ‘Italica’) beside the woolshed in a recent post seemed out of character. However, poplars are ideally suited to Canberra’s hot, dry summers and were quite common near homesteads in the… Read More ›

• When did you last catch a real (or virtual) sunrise or sunset?

  By Pip Marks on January 19, 2014 • ( 8 )

  

  I have always loved Michael Leunig’s cartoon ‘TV Sunrise’ – where a father and son sit inside watching a sunset on their television while a real sunset is clearly visible through the window. Oslo Davis did a more recent cartoon… Read More ›

• Sisters unite – my first ever award nomination

  By Pip Marks on January 17, 2014 • ( 9 )

  

  Thank you so much to Sandy at Hoarder Comes Clean for a Sisterhood of the World Blogger’s Award nomination! I really enjoy reading about Sandy’s efforts to clear out superfluous items – but her posts frequently hit a bit close… Read More ›

• Eco-sounds

  By Pip Marks on January 12, 2014 • ( 2 )

  

  I talked about sound in a recent post and its ability to evoke memories and change how we feel. Even inaudible sounds (i.e. those outside the audible range for humans) may affect us or be felt as vibrations. As we become more aware… Read More ›

• Road signs & the Little Prince

  By Pip Marks on January 7, 2014 • ( 8 )

  

  When I visited the Royal Botanic Gardens at Cranbourne (on the outskirts of Melbourne) recently, I was struck by the numerous road signs along the entrance route that implored drivers to slow down for snakes, wallabies, lizards, bandicoots and people…. Read More ›

• Horror movie marathon – Round the clock news

  By Pip Marks on January 2, 2014 • ( 5 )

  

  In the 70s, an Australian band called Skyhooks had a hit song called ‘Horror Movie’: ‘Right there on my TV – It’s the six thirty news!’ Nowadays, it’s not just at 6.30pm. We can watch bad news from any country… Read More ›

• Sounds

  By Pip Marks on December 28, 2013 • ( 10 )

  

  We should not underestimate the potential for sound to affect us both psychologically and physiologically. Sounds can soothe us, inspire us or stress us out. They can also evoke memories and emotions – in the same way as sights and smells…. Read More ›

• Thousands of bogans, seven chain mail sheep, six Christmas beetles, five hardwood poles, three old farm sheds & a sheep dog sitting on a rock wall

  By Pip Marks on December 24, 2013 • ( 11 )

  

  I had assumed that some sculptures at my local shops were dung beetles (amazing insects featured in an earlier post) – but the artist’s website says they are Christmas beetles. The beetles are accompanied by other sculptures of sheep and a sheep dog, hardwood poles decorated… Read More ›

• Did Santa just drive down my street on the back of a ute?

  By Pip Marks on December 21, 2013 • ( 4 )

  

  A good friend of mine, Brendo, donates his time each December to spread Christmas cheer and glad tidings across the region. He bolts an armchair and two dining room chairs to the tray of a ute, dons his Santa suit,… Read More ›

• Snow domes

  By Pip Marks on December 14, 2013 • ( 8 )

  

  I was amused when a friend gave me a snow dome as a souvenir from Broken Hill years ago. I have never been there myself but I doubted whether it had ever snowed in the ‘Capital of the Outback’. This… Read More ›

• Can cricket jargon help to create a better and more inclusive Australia?

  By Pip Marks on December 11, 2013 • ( 4 )

  

  What did I just say? A few days ago I found myself saying that Nelson Mandela had ‘had a good innings’ (referring to his remarkable 95 years.) Soon after, I commented that someone was ‘on the back foot’ (even though this… Read More ›