Between two oceans

Harvest frenzy

Community-funded solar

On the life and death of Michael Atakelt. (The full article is published in Overland – autumn 2012)

I SIT at one end of the foyer in the Coroners Court. A young blonde woman sets herself down next to me, and then addresses the two older men seated by my side. ‘I’m Sarah, from the Maribyrnong Leader,’ she says. ‘So, um, what’s happening here today?

The men say they are here to represent the Ethiopian community and to find out what happened to Michael Atakelt. The foyer is full of people, all wanting to know the same thing: how and why did he die?

THE ‘Apple Spiral Machine’ is surely one of the greatest technological advances known to humankind. Have you seen one?

Push an apple onto the prongs, wind the handle, and a miracle ensues: the apple emerges peeled, cored and sliced into a spiral.

Can community-funded solar panels transform our skyline?

WITHIN a year and a half, 400 photovoltaic panels could be glinting from a single commercial roof in the City of Yarra – and all of them will be owned by the local community.

The medium-scale solar project would be the first of its kind in Australia. It’s kicking off next Saturday, May 19, at a public meeting in Clifton Hill organised by Yarra Climate Action Now.