Going green at the grassroots

Korten's people-centred development comes to mind. Or what Melbourne environmental consultant Tim Doeg calls "nana-technology". That's nana, as in nenek (grandmother). Nothing to do with atomic or molecular particles, as with nanotechnology.

Live as nenek used to live - simply, but efficiently.

It's not rocket science, and it need not be expensive. Doeg, 51, has been living it since he was captured by nature bushwalking in his university days. A career spanning the physical and ecological sciences has culminated in a green-inspired home, which Doeg and partner Carolyn Crowe have maintained for 10 years.

They have invested in big-ticket items such as rainwater tanks and solar panels. But nana inspires old-fashioned ideas at every turn, which brought them to the attention of The Age.

Doeg and Crowe are not alone. Movements such as Sustainability Street and the Alternative Technology Association have risen from the simplicity of living of people such as Doeg and Crowe.

People have split hairs over the science and the economic cost in the climate change debate. At the grassroots, as Doeg tells the New Sunday Times, people get on with the demand side of the equation - using less, reusing, and recycling.

Attitudes of mind have to be changed before political and economic superstructures on the supply side can be transformed.