Walkable cities scores #54 on the Drawdown 100 Best Solutions ranking. Part of my last challenge for the Eco Challenge is to send my support in regards to walkability of our city. I live in Sandgate to the north of the city and I actually think its one of the most walkable parts of Brisbane. Although it doesn't rank in the top 10 (https://about.homely.com.au/blog/2016/4/21/brisbanes-10-most-walkable-suburbs), it gets a pretty high score for Walk Score of 84/100. (https://www.walkscore.com/apartments/search/AU-QLD/Brisbane). Its good to know that the City Centre and the Valley are ranked 1 and 2 out of the Brisbane locations. Given this great outcome for walkability where I live, I think if I do need to contact someone to show support I would probably go through our local councillor. But for now I am happy with walkability (especially as its easy to get to our local train station too for public transport to the city). 

There's a bunch of Drawdown solutions related to food and its interesting perusing them. One that stood our for me is composting. A compost is of the things I have been able to set up in our house since we moved here last year. Great to know this ranks #60 among the Drawdown solutions. Also, its great to read the information about composting that Drawdown presents as I think it helps explain what you need to do with your compost to ensure it is benefiting the climate - through reducing methane that food waste generates in landfill. The main things that you need to do are to provide air, moisture, and a little heat. I think aeration is especially important as its the breakdown in the absence of oxygen in landfill that leads to the methane generation: 

I will let Drawdown explain it as it does it well: 

"Much of it ends up in landfills; there, it decomposes in the absence of oxygen and produces the greenhouse gas methane, which is up to 34 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a century. While many landfills have some form of methane management, it is far more effective to divert organic waste to composting.

Composting ranges in scale from backyard bins to industrial operations. The basic process is the same: ensuring sufficient moisture, air, and heat for soil microbes (bacteria, protozoa, and fungi) to feast on organic material. Rather than generating methane, the composting process converts organic material into stable soil carbon, while retaining water and nutrients of the original waste matter. The result is carbon sequestration as well as production of a valuable fertilizer.

Human beings have long used compost to feed gardens and fields. Today, it is especially useful for managing growing urban waste streams. In 2009, San Francisco passed an ordinance that makes composting the city’s food waste mandatory. Copenhagen, Denmark, has not sent organic waste to landfill in more than twenty-five years, reaping compost’s win-win-win of cost savings, fertilizer production, and reduced emissions.
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I like how Drawdown groups and presents in solutions in different ways. In investigating building and cities solutions presented together, I happened upon Water Distribution ,ranked #71. By reducing leaks in our water pipes we can reduce emissions especially due to all the energy used to pump water along the pipes (from source to treatment plant to storage and distribution). . http://www.drawdown.org/solutions/buildings-and-cities/water-distribution

According to Drawdown "A third of the food raised or prepared does not make it from farm or factory to fork."... (http://www.drawdown.org/solutions/food/reduced-food-waste)

In the USA, these are the commonly used phrases: 

However in Australia, there are only two dates to worry about, and their names differ in definition slightly to the USA versions. (http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/labelling/dates/Pages/default.aspx): 

In Australia: the two types of date marking are use by dates and best before dates. The food supplier is responsible for placing a use by or best before date on food.

Foods that must be eaten before a certain time for health or safety reasons should be marked with a use by date. Foods should not be eaten after the use by date and can’t legally be sold after this date because they may pose a health or safety risk.

Most foods have a best before date. You can still eat foods for a while after the best before date as they should be safe but they may have lost some quality. Foods that have a best before date can legally be sold after that date provided the food is fit for human consumption.

So I will now know that whereas I do need to try to eat food by its use by date I don't need to eat it before its best by date unless it shows food deterioration. 

Small and quiet micro wind power generators are particularly suited for rural and remote locations that don't have access to electricity otherwise. As they operate they do not generate emissions. (http://www.drawdown.org/solutions/electricity-generation/micro-wind). 

Micro wind is a relatively expensive option for renewables, especially compared with larger scale wind turbines. But for structures with a long expected life time they could be useful as well as raising awareness of renewable energy technology.  The use of micro wind on the Eiffel Tower (https://cleantechnica.com/2015/02/24/eiffel-towers-custom-painted-micro-wind-turbines-will-wow-millions/) could be mirrored in my home of Brisbane... but where? Possibly on the roof of our Gallery of Modern Art or Queensland Museum? It doesn't really count as micro wind I'd say but I just read that there is event a camping wind power generator in the works (http://www.thegreynomads.com.au/accessories/leisure-recreation/wind-powered-generator/)