Our French friends October 30, 2007

Just a quick one this - it actually happened last week but my RSS feeds have been a bit skewiff and taking a while to download onto my computer so I’m a little behind on news. But the French president says:

“From now on every major public project, every public decision will be judged on its effect on climate, and on its carbon cost. Each public decision will be judged on how it affects bio-diversity. The onus won’t be on ecological decisions to prove their merit, but on non-ecological projects to prove they can’t be done any other way.“

Hooray! I’m pretty pleased with this, as France is so close, I hope maybe there will be some influence on our government? Although the cynic inside me says that whatever the French do, the Brits seem to oppose, so there may be no hope. However, I’m still very pleased at this step forward, especially as on a clear day I can see France from my house so there will be a reminder not to give up. So let’s hope the British government takes note!

Monthly whatnots October 30, 2007

Eugh. Time of the month today! As it goes, not too bad just usual feeling snappy and a hurty tummy but otherwise not too bad. Anyway, I’m sure nobody’s really interested in the gory details of my reproductive cycle but I do think its really important to get to know your monthly fluctuations, to notice if anything is different, or wrong and what may have affected this. I’m particularly spotty this month which is not appreciated! (I hope you are listening hormones!) But what’s this got to do with the environment? I hear you cry. Well, like one of an increasing group of women I’ve switched from using disposable sanitary products to a reusable menstrual cup (a Mooncup in fact). It’s blooming brilliant. I don’t think I could ever go back. I feel so much cleaner and can wear whatever underwear I want (strangely enough I never got on with tampons, not too keen on shoving a bit of cotton wool up my you know what). Anyway, I thoroughly recommend one. Saves you a whole heap of money - depending on what brands of sanitary products you normally buy, a Mooncup generally pays for itself in about a year (they are recommended to last about 10 years). Oh, and the people on the website are really nice and helpful and will answer whatever question you have no matter how odd it seems.

And obviously the environmental aspect is cool, no more throwing away, or (heaven forbid) flushing away nasty bits of material full of bleaches and all sorts. And I see nowadays they do fragranced tampons as well! The mind boggles. (Actually, nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to human ‘hygiene’ the other day I saw an advert for a toilet roll fragrancer to make your loo roll smell pretty!)

Apologies for the wiffling nature of this post, I’m not on top form (hormones, eh) but its probably nothing that chocolate can’t fix. But my main point is get a Mooncup! They’re brilliant, save the environment, save you heaps of money and that. Probably one of the best inventions ever, especially as I would never be able to deal with rewashable towels. (Actually I have heard of a few people who swear by them but it seems pretty labour intensive to me).

Go the Mooncup website, or feel free to ask me any questions about it as I’ve been using one for a while now so feel fairly knowledgable on the subject!

Getting better October 14, 2007

Today I feel a whole heap better (mood wise and illness wise). I’m still being quite lazy in the not going out except to go to work, although my excuse is that I’m helping sort out stuff for a jumble sale.

At work, I noticed that Walker’s crisps have started noting on their crisp packets how much carbon is accrued when making a packet of crisps. My first thought was, ‘what the bleep?!!?!’ I don’t really know what to make of this, other than the fact that it’s just lip service to the Green Movement; but is it good that they’re making the effort for whatever reason?* Everyone has gone carbon crazy. It’s like a mad trend! What really bugs me is that many people seem to think that they can carbon offset their deadly carbon sins! I found a website which sums up this carbon con pretty well. Go to Cheat Neutral and see (and laugh). Basically it just says how you cannot offset carbon emissions, its just another money making venture to take advantage of those who can’t be bothered to change, and think money can solve our problems. But in a pretty amusing way.

But this whole carbon trend, still annoys the hell out of me, because it’s not just about carbon emissions. It’s about a whole change of lifestyle. Stepping back from the Industrial Revolution and all the problems of consumerism, globalism and mono culture it brought. We need to get back to basics. Learning skills, cooking, growing, raising animals, building a local community, a trading system which doesn’t rely on money. I don’t necessarily mean going back to the Dark Ages, but taking the good, useful inventions of modern culture and mixing it with traditional skills. Some may say this is regression, but I feel it would be real progress if the human race had the ability to say STOP! and change, so that the race may continue, and we can have children without worrying whether they’ll be the last generation on Earth.

On a personal level, I find I’m getting more and more disgusted with buying processed foods, partly because most pre-prepared supermarket stuff seems to have lactose in which makes me feel worse each time I have it, but also because it is such an effort to find out whether it meets with my principles, and don’t have unnecessary poisons in them. Mum and I had a chat and decided we would make more of an effort to make meals from scratch from now on. Usually Mum is quite good at this, but she admits she has slipped lately so hopefully together we will make more of an effort. She let me make the bread today. It wasn’t as much of a disaster as my previous ‘bread’ attempts have been (not even the seagulls would brave it), but had more of a cakey texture. But it’ll do for me!

This evening (after work) I’ve been having a good old giggle at some self sufficiency blogs. I’ll find the best ones and post them here in the future. But hopefully they’ll give me some good ideas!

*In my eyes, they should really be working on a recyclable packaging. Seems more relevant to me. There’s only so many shrinky dinks a person needs. But an interesting article - the band ‘Recoup‘ used old crisp packets (washed of course!) as cd cases for their single.

Down in the dumps October 12, 2007

Bit of a miserable day today. Mainly as I feel all achey and fluey but not actually fully ill, just that annoying stage. So I’m tucked up in bed with the laptop (on a Friday night! the youth of today!) reading blogs and news pages. There’s quite a lot I’ve wanted to draw attention to, so I’ll just summarise briefly.

Firstly, the Lammas project in Pembrokeshire failed to get planning permission on Tuesday. I’m fairly surprised and disappointed as I recently watched a documentary about it, and thought it was a wonderful project. The Lammas project is hoping to be the first planned eco village in the UK, so that it can act as a model for further eco villages. However, local residents were very much against it, and unfortunately there was not enough support in the local area for Lammas. The proposal was rejected on the grounds that there did not seem to be enough detail on business plans for the members and on travel and traffic in the area. However, the planning officer agreed that Lammas would make a social, environmental and economic contribution, which is a step in the right direction. There will be an appeal against the planning decision. Paul Wimbush, one of the founders of the project presented part of the documentary ‘Eco Village Pioneers’ and appears to be a very positive chap, eager to change people’s views and come to a satisfying arrangement for all and I wish the project the best of luck.

In other news, Al Gore won the Nobel Prize for his work on climate change. I won’t bore you with the details as it is all over the news, however unfortunately there is some misleading news by the BBC regarding the verdict of the High Court case against ‘An Inconvenient Truth‘. For further info please go here. Again, I won’t go into too much detail as I expect this will be all over the news shortly. But it does annoy me that the BBC reporting misleading news articles will cause climate change sceptics to jump onto the verdict as ‘evidence’ that global warming does not exist and is not a danger. Many seem to quote ‘The Great Global Warming Swindle’ film as an alternative to ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ however, this is not without its own faults, and many scientists who were involved in its making, have in fact complained that their data and opinions have been misrepresented. See here : Channel 4

I guess what I’m trying to say here is that I see so many people trying to ‘debate’ whether we have a planetary emergency on our hands, and it’s just because they do not want to make the change, and face up to the very scary fact that if we don’t change the human race is going to be in for a serious cull. After all, nature always wins. If you lay down concrete, after a couple of years, plants will push through. Nature rules. We are at war with the planet and we need to retreat. NOW. In my eyes, even if we have got the science wrong and don’t fully understand how the planet works, there is still something inherently wrong with messing with the planets chemistry by burning huge amounts of fossil fuels and expecting it to stay the same. There is also something wrong with dumping toxic substances, and consuming resources we don’t need to. Think about it, if somebody came into your home and used up everything consumable, then broke and vandalised everything else you had, you would do something about it. That is what the planet is doing to us.

*breathe and calm down* Anyway, in other news, I was sent a film about nuclear waste today. Turns out it’s been leaking into the Champagne region of France. Into the water that the local people use. And possibly into Champagne. Personally, I don’t have the budget to be drinking Champagne on a regular basis, but I do like it on a special occasion but it makes me really uneasy to think that something I drink (or eat, the nuclear waste leakage is not a one off in this region only), may contain radioactive waste. See here for the video : Green TV

I could go on and on for pages and pages with all the stuff I’ve read today and how angry I am, but I’ve managed to restrict myself to the brief overview above. But it just struck me that there is so much wrong and it’s ALL humankind’s fault. And all in the name of ‘progress’.

But on the bright side, I’m trying to be part of the solution instead of the problem. I’m waiting for an allotment. And I’m exploring the possibility of getting a Portuguese Quinta so I can allay many of my food fears. I don’t/can’t/won’t drive. Don’t eat meat. Yadayadayada. But I’m only one person. I can’t do it all.

Shopping dilemmas October 10, 2007

Today and yesterday involved two supermarket trips for various bits and bobs. So I thought I’d keep an eye on food miles and whatnot. Did pretty well with the fruit and veg, managed to get only UK stuff, although I had my eye on some dates and thought if I bought organic, I might just get away with it, but as organic dates are three times more expensive than non organic, I sacrificed them. Was also faced with a choice of organic feta from Greece, or non organic feta (well, feta style) from France. Ended up going with the French one due to being 50p cheaper. But I am surprised at how vigilant I have to be. I had to pick up some stuff for Mum today so picked up organic onions, in a string bag, not plastic, and was really surprised when I got home to find that they were grown in Holland! It didn’t even occur to me that they might not be from this country. But this seems to be the theme of the week for me. I recently found out I have a problem with lactose so I’ve been experimenting with goats and sheeps cheeses and found some lovely goats cheese in the ‘local produce’ shop. The packaging was extremely misleading and it wasn’t until I really looked at the small print I found that although the cheese was packed in Kent, it was actually made in Yorkshire (it would have been more ‘local’ to buy from France). And the pesto they stocked……made in Italy. That doesn’t count as local in my book.

I think we are starting to discover that it will be difficult to make the UK self sufficient in food if necessary. It would be back to digging for victory if we wanted to feed ourselves. When looking at the local farmers market, I was struck by how little farm produce is there, and how much of the market is now dedicated to arts and crafts (this is not due to the foot and mouth crisis as there has never been a meat vendor there). It would be difficult for me to do a weeks food shopping there. Perhaps they are having problems finding producers of food in the local area? I’m certainly confused and even less trusting now of ‘local’ labelling.

I guess the only satisfying solution is to grow/raise your own food, so you can keep it to your standards, and so you know exactly what you are putting in your mouth. In the meantime, the only thing to do is compromise and try to work out what is the best option when faced with a choice; organic, local, fairtrade or cheapest?

At any rate, I made a concession. I bought a basil plant so I can make my own pesto.

Whilst googling for links to add to this post, I stumbled across www.producedinkent.co.uk which may be a big help in tracking down true locally produced goods.

The Power of Community - How Cuba Survived Peak Oil October 9, 2007

The Power of Community is an hour long film on Cuba’s Peak Oil situation and how they dealt with it. I am really pleased to see a film dealing with solutions to an oil free community in a positive way and showing that it is not impossible - certainly difficult he but definitely achievable. I particularly enjoyed that many of the interviewees were real people, not scientists or ‘experts’ advising from afar, but people who had experience the peak oil crisis and helped their community survive. There was a real insight to how life may be for us in the future, although I have a suspicion that England may have more of a ‘Mad Max’ feel to it when the oil runs out. It is clear to see that Cuba’s successful survival is based not on technological solutions but on building trusting communities and relationships with others.

However, although the film concentrates on the success of a transition to a virtually oil free economy, it skips over how poor some Cuban’s are and how some Cuban’s wish for the return of a fossil fueled society. Recently, I bumped into a friend who had been to Cuba on holiday and they said how many Cuban’s tried to ask them for money, or tried to con them out of money by charging over the odds for produce. Surely this is not the sign of a thriving country? I suspect this is due to Cuba being forced into this situation, it would be easy to look on an affluent oil driven age as desirable if you were made to do without.

Nevertheless, this is a very positive, easy film to watch. No prior knowledge is needed on Cuba, although you may want to have a quick look up on Permaculture solutions and it does not get bogged down in graphs and statistics as other peak oil/climate change films may. It reminds us that we are lucky enough to have the time to change and downshift before we are forced to. For further info, please visit the www.powerofcommunity.org. You can order the film from the Green Shopping website.

Tetrapak update October 9, 2007

Today I had a reply from Shepway District Council

“Dear Mrs G

Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding tetra paks.

A number of districts across Kent have been contacted by the producers of tetra paks to investigate the possibility of recycling them in all districts.

At present the recycling of tetra paks is being trialled in one area. I envisage that this trial will take place for approximately 6 months. The trial they are completing will take place at recycling banks and will not take place as a household kerbside collection.

Once the trial is complete we will receive feedback advising whether the trial was successful.

If successful we will look to introduce the recycling of tetra paks to the Shepway area. If the recycling of tetra paks becomes increasingly easier we would hopefully look to incorporate this into our kerbside collection scheme.

In respect of your question about the fortnightly waste collection service, talks are ongoing whether we will return to weekly collections, and a final decision has not yet been made.

I hope this answers your queries, if I can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.”

I’m pleased with the quick response, although no real answer has really been given. However, I was pleased to note that they haven’t actually decided to go back to weekly landfill collections as was reported in the local paper. So I’m guessing I need to write a further letter to let them know my thoughts on going back to weekly landfill rubbish collections, and encourage others as well. (If anyone cares, I think we need to stick to fortnightly collections as the idea is to encourage people to think about reducing their waste, and at any rate, we don’t actually have enough landfill space in the local area to keep going past the next 20 years, if reports are to be believed).

Anyway, that is another matter, which I shall update on when I have further information. For now, back to Tetrapaks…..for those interested in crafts or are unable to recycle Tetrapaks in their area, have a look at this site which has some suggestions for recycling Tetrapaks at home, by making them into bird feeders.

Recycle This

From the Tetrapak recycling website, you can also download a leaflet which tells you fun, craft type things to do with Tetrapaks at home - visit here to download.

Or a fun, home made wallet from Veggies.org.uk

Tetrapak recycling October 5, 2007

I very rarely have Tetrapak’s as I’m not a huge fan of juice, but I have accumulated a few in recent weeks when I’ve had friends over and they keep getting in the way as I’m a real hoarder and hate putting anything in the landfill wheelie bin until I know it can’t go anywhere else. I had a little play around on the Tetrapak Recycling website to check the nearest place to recycle Tetrapaks near me but was dismayed to find that the nearest place is either Medway (North Kent so miles away) or the next county. Again, impractical. I could pop them in a box and post them off but postage is not free, and as I have just finished a long spell of unemployment (approximately 9 months), it is just going to have to wait. However, my new job involves unpacking a lot of boxes which get crushed up for recycling, so I’ve swiped a couple before crushing so when I get paid I can send off my Tetrapaks like a good little mouse.

Still I don’t think this is enough, so I finally got my bum in gear and wrote to Shepway District Council yesterday evening, advising them about Tetrapaks recycling scheme and how they will cover costs to set up a bring bank for Tetrapaks. I even suggested a site for them. In fact, it took me longer to find out who to contact than to collect the information. I’m currently waiting on their reply, but I have had a system message to say they received my email and will contact me shortly. So fingers crossed! To be honest, knowing the area I live in, I’m willing to bet barely anyone will recycle their Tetrapaks, but I’m fairly certain this is partly down to ignorance, so if I can help raise awareness and make just a few more people recycle, then I’ll be happy. And I will certainly do my bit.

Don’t know what a Tetrapak is? It’s the design of carton that fruit juice comes in, also soya milk and other similar products.

In the deep end October 5, 2007

Finally I’ve decided to jump in at the deep end with this whole blog thing. I’ve had numerous personal blogs, livejournal, xanga, myspace and now settling with facebook (technically not a blog but easiest to keep in contact with friends), so now I’ve decided to go for something slightly different. It’s pretty hard to start though. I’ve cogitated ideas for the past few months, written notes for the past few weeks, signed up for a blog at the beginning of the week and have finally sat down to actually say hello to everyone who is watching.

Mainly, the point of my blog is to document green and alternative living activities and ideas and also address certain issues in my local area (Shepway district, Kent, UK) and keep track of my journey in exploring these ideas. I’m hoping to share ideas and get some ideas from others and generally start putting into action more of my ideas instead of sitting around waiting for something to happen. I’m also intending to review books, films and other things of relevant content and generally try to create a bit of an interactive resource library for myself and others. First I considered a website (and that isn’t completely out of the question) but I have little experience with web design and it’s already taken me some time to get the first post of my blog written so I guess I’ll just start here and see how it evolves!

Hello world! October 2, 2007

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