I’m back!
It’s been a while since I have posting anything on my blog but I have been thinking about how I can both get the most enjoyment out of it and also hopefully inspire others.
I think the way I write postings from now on is going to be a little different as I have personally found that, the scientific aspects of issues I would like to share with the world, are difficult to bring across in the medium of a blog and are perhaps better expressed in another type of format. I have come to learn that the best blogs are ones driven by passions and people’s personal experiences so that is what I will be focusing on from now on.
So I welcome you on a new journey with me and I would love to hear from you if you have any thoughts or comments on things you hear about not only from my blog but in the general world of green living and sustainability.
Here’s already a little sneak peak into some of the topics I plan to blog about soon:
* Green Smoothies (The life changing fruit, vege but most importantly greens smoothies, convenient, easy, fun and life changeingly healthy!
* Transition Towns
* Chicken keeping in an urban garden. (Coming soon to my garden)
* Happy Cow vegetarian network.
* Aloe Vera – one of the world’s most medicinal plant.
* Tea from the garden
* Window gardens
* Permaculture (This one may be at a much later stage as I am i the early days in learning about this.)
and much more….
By the looks of these topics you may have noticed that they are relatively light hearted and the will hopefully prove to be fun and inspiring.
To keep posted feel free to sign up to the newsletter which I now will be sending either once a month or once a fortnight.
For those who haven’t seen this video it’s a must!
To compliment the Willie Smits video clip below, this video brings to light the problems of palm oil production and was part of a succesful Greenpeace campaign, back in 2008, confronting the multinational corporation, Unilever, who then was the biggest “single buyer of palm oil in the world”, but is now working toward “clean[ing] up the industry that’s behind so much forest destruction.”
The Wildlifelines Foundation has recently uploaded a neat little film clip about the work of Dr Willie Smits, orangutan protector and wildlife specialist.
There is a significant chance that the orangutan, one of our closest relatives, could become extinct within the next 5 years because of human activities and consumer patterns. The biggest threats are deforestation and habitat loss due to an increasing rise in monoculture palm oil plantations. Palm oil is a product used in over 1 in every 10 supermarket products (and in most cosmetics, as it is used to make glycerine). It is seldom listed as palm oil on ingredients labels and is often disguised as ‘vegetable oil’.
For more information about the plight of the orangutan and what you can do to help please visit the Orangutan Page on www.wildlifelines.organd view the clip below.
“[Annie Leonard] has teamed up with PBS Kids and WGBH to create eight short, animated videos to show kids how to think more deeply and creatively about the world they live in, and how to make choices based on what they discover. The goal is that as kids look at objects and activities in their daily life, they will begin asking: Where does it come from? What is it made of? What happens to it when it’s thrown away?” – Mother Nature Network
For a taster, here’s a clip on the issue of Garbage:
If you haven’t yet seen the Story of Stuff, I highly recommend you view it below, it’s a highly inspirational free, online, short animated film about all the ‘stuff’ in our everyday lives, where it comes from and how it impacts on the environment.
If the world is to continue eating fish, without creating a total crash of ocean life, then solutions such as these are increasingly important to ensuring a sustainable future for ourselves, our oceans and all the species that live on Earth.
See also my previous postings about the state of our oceans and ocean species:
DEFRA (The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs), ”a UK government department responsible for policy and regulations on the environment, food and rural affairs.”, has recently published the discussion paper An invitation to shape the Nature of England.
This open and honest method and form of environmental policy making is an inspiration and great example to all councils and governments around the world. Despite the final results and legislation which may result from this document I believe the very fact that that DEFRA have published this a document, with openness and a request for public opinion, is a positive step in environmental policy making. We have been given the key but it is now our responsibility to open the door.
If you yourself are a UK citizen I would highly recommend reading through the document and sharing your opinion. This is an aspect of environmental decision making where people power matters and together we can demand a better world, a thriving and healthy environment and a sustainable future.
If you are not a UK citizen you may also like to submit your opinion and/or encouragement. I personally encourage anybody, anywhere in the world to demand from your local councils and governments a open, honest and inclusive system of environmental policy and decision making.
The deadline for responses is 30 October 2010 so don’t delay. This is our chance to be heard and make a positive impact for our environment and future.
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“This document aims to encourage debate about how best we can protect and enhance our natural environment, and the valuable services we derive from it. We are looking for a wide range of views on all of the issues set out in this document, or any others that you think we have missed. ” – An invitation to shape the Nature of England.
Firstly just a quick note to apologize for the lack of postings at the moment. I am currently revising for an exam which will be held in October thus my time is very limited at the moment, but will do my best to post when possible.
As promised a quick posting about re-usable sandwich and snack bags.
Out of interested, and while trying to find the re-usable snack bag I read about a couple of years ago, I ran a simple internet search and to my pleasant surprise I found dozens of sites dedicated to re-usable snack bags.
For example one of the first examples I found was Reuseit.com which has many different styles and varieties on offer!
And for those who are feeling creative there are many online tutorials on how to make your own sandwich bags/wraps such as this one on Craft stylish.com.
So ditch the millions of meters of plastic wrap and switch to a reusable version. Not only will you be doing your bit for the environment but you and your family will have the most stylish lunch wrap around. It’s also a great talking point and tool to inspire and encourage others around you to do the same. Imagine how many millions of tonnes of non-degradable, plastic wrap would no longer be going into landfills, if every colleague at your work and every kid in school switched to such a funky reusable snack wrap. Its always so inspiring that such little changes in our daily lives can ultimately have such a great impact.
Finally, though slightly off the topic, but worth a mention as it is also related to recycling and reducing waste, I recently found a great website called Recycle This, it’s a community site full of tips and ideas on how you can recycle those odd items such as wine bottle corks, old video tapes etc.
With the latest report regarding supermarket distribution of plastic bags across Britain going up, instead of reducing to the 50% reduction pledge, you may start to question why don’t all the supermarkets switch to paper bags, like the good ol days?
I was please to see the amount of paper bags floating around Ireland on a visit last year but have recently been diving into the world of the paper bag and it turns out the environmental impact is far greater than one may initially think, as a section from an article in The Independent states:
“Yet, in many ways, paper bags are much worse for the environment. Paper bag production emits more than three times the amount of greenhouse gases that plastic bag manufacture does, according to a Scottish government report. An estimated 14 million trees a year are cut down to make them. The result is a very sizeable carbon footprint. Even when they’re made from recycled paper, the process still uses 91 per cent more energy than plastic recycling. In addition, paper bags are anywhere between six and 10 times heavier than lightweight plastic bags and, as such, cost more to transport. And if not recycled, they take up more room in a landfill site”
So the answer to the bag issue? The best and most true environmental solution to the insurmountable waste build up by plastic bags and the high environmental impact of paper bags is to switch to re-useable bags.
Pop a simple material bag in your handbag, backpack, briefcase, or car boot or if you do have a few plastic bags lying around keep them handy and use them over and over until all life is gone from them.
While recycling may be better for the environment than dumping into landfills, re-use is by far the best way to go, cuts back on not only the energy used in the recycling and transportation process but also in the production of that item in the first place!
The GiiA Blog is currently undergoing some maintenance and thus there will be no daily Green-up tips over the next few days.
The reasoning for this is that I am looking at the best options of combining the daily Green-up tips with the, at times more in-depth, standard blog posts which at the moment seem to be getting swamped by the Green-up tips which are also valuable but are of a different nature.
Various options include making a separate blog for the Green-up tips or having them on a separate page.
Over the next few days I will be looking into these options. If you have any suggestions, your comments are very welcome.
A few blog postings ago I posted a tip about recycling your mobile phone. Today’s tip is about recycling your used printer cartridges, which can be done in a similar way to those old mobile phones.
So why should we recycle our ink cartridges?
When a cartridge ends up in landfill the left over ink (which is a surprising large amount) can leak out and pollute the environment.
The plastic casing is made from oil and takes many thousands of years to break down, releasing global warming causing CO2 in the process.
We must also not forget the amounts of energy, water and other resources needed in production, packaging and transportation. So any item we can re-use rather than re-produce another is going to significantly benefit the environment.
How can we recycle our used cartridges?
* There are many charity organisations (a simple internet search will help you find them) that collect used printer cartridges for recycling with the money raised going to a good cause.
* Some organisations can send a free post envelope that you can send off in the post.
* You’re local grocery, stationary or electronics stores may have a box where you can drop your used cartridges, if there is none in your area write to or talk with the manager (of a store which sells printer cartridges) and ask if they would be willing to offer this service.
* A final option is to personally take them to be refilled at one of the increasing number of companies that offer this service, it is often a cheaper than buying new cartridges so you are saving not only the planet but your pocket too.
I know that people have busy lives these days hence the need for heavily packaged convenience foods.
The easiest solution to avoiding this is to prepare/package your own convenience foods, ahead of time, when you have a few moments free.
Lets take a simple example, raisins in a box for school lunches. (while these do not have such a high environmental impact as say, individually wrapped biscuits or chips, carrot sticks, mini tomatoes etc, they are a simple example which can be applied to any similar product.)
Step 1. Buy (a one time only investment) some small/mini sized plastic washable containers.
Step 2. Buy an organic bulk bag of raisins (bulk is cheaper, organic is healthier)
Step 3. On an afternoon, evening or weekend that you have a few moments free round-up the kids (if you have any) and set up a fun family assembly line and have them helping by putting a single portion of raisins in each container. Close the lids and voila you have a weeks or even month supply (if you have enough containers) of self packaged, eco friendly, convenience food! If you have more than one child, each child could have their own set of containers (decorated to their hearts desire, which makes the process even more fun!)
Involving the children in this sort of preparation or in any cooking or baking is great not only as a fun way of bonding but it also teaches valuable life-skills such as learning where our food comes from and how to prepare it. If the experience is fun they will also be excited to eat it later, which means no food wasted, which is good on the pocket and the environment.
Another great tip is for hummus which I always make at home for a 10th of the price and ‘ingredients control’ of what goes in it (ie. no artificial additives or preservatives) and I’ve recently read a tip in a great book called Low Cost Living by John Harrison.
Up until now I was using chickpeas from a can but have been wanting to use dried ones instead but would always forget to soak the night before. In his book John Harrison suggest pre soaking and cooking the chickpeas and then freezing them! What a great idea, the chickpeas will always be on hand and half the work will be done ahead of time. Thanks John!
I highly recommend visiting his website Low Cost Livingfor many great tips and recipes!
And remember the key to successfully avoiding convenience highly packaged food is to buy in bulk, package (with reusable packaging) yourself, and enjoy the many rewards including a happy, healthy family who knows about their food and great economic savings which ultimatly means having to work less, less need for convenience food and more time to prepare your own food. What a great circle of life!
Did you know there are hundreds of millions of discarded mobile phones lying in draws and cupboards around the world.
And did you also know that mobile phones contains many natural resources such a gold and a mineral called Tantalum which is mined in the Congo, Africa. The mining of Tantalum is significantly threatening the endangered Eastern Lowland Gorilla and pushing them to the brink of extinction.
Not only this but the amount of un-recyclable waste from used cell phones is polluting our environment, leaching into our water, soil and atmosphere and causing global warming which affects all human and non human species across the globe.
WHAT YOU CAN DO?
* Recycle your mobile phone! There is no point having 5 mobile phones sitting in a draw taking up space. There are many organisations around the world who will happily recycle your cell phones for you and you can also send them to various charities (via a free-post envelope) who are able to sell them on to recyclers to raise some much needed funds. (just make sure you erase any personal details before you pass them on). There are also some charities that will fix the phones and distribute them to needy people in rural communities for making emergency calls, for example in remote villages in Africa.
* For more information on cell phones and what you can do view the video, The secrete life of cell phones, posted below or visit the Inform website.
* For more information about the Eastern Lowland Gorilla visit theWildlifelines website and follow the Gorilla button on the left of the page.
While doing your individual bit for the environment is great, saving the planet with your family, friends or colleagues is even better!
Sharing the experience with others is an excellent way to share knowledge and opinions and there will always be someone around to inspire and encourage you.
An effective way to join forces is to gather round the table (or campfire) over a nice organic lunch or dinner, have a good chat and making a few notes on areas in your life, as individuals and more importantly as a group, which you want to green-up a little (or a lot). Make a list of goals and meet up again in a couple of weeks to see how each of you are coming along. Your goals could be anything such as making an effort to cycle or carpool to work a few times a week instead of driving alone or to start up a small vegi garden or windowsill garden.
If you’re doing this with your family pin up the goals somewhere around the house as a daily reminder and motivation.
So to continue with the “cut back on packaging” theme, today’s daily Green-up tip is to follow the link and think of ways you can avoid these types of packaging.
Industrial symbiosis (also known as industrial ecosystems) is basically a form of re-use and recycling on whole new level and potentially the way of the future!
Taking the meaning of symbiosis and apply it to an industrial setting basically results in companies, which would have been consuming large amounts or resources and outputting mass amounts of waste, sharing their wastes with other companies to which this waste/by-product becomes an important resource of another company. Which in turn dramatically reduces both the resources required and the environmental impact caused (by industry).
Would be waste becomes a resource!
One of the first cities to make use of such a system was Kalundborg in Denmark. It requires many words to explain exactly how this system works but take a look at the diagram and links below, I hope you will feel as inspired by this as I am!
Source: The Kalundborg Centre for Industrial Symbiosis (click on the image to view the website)
LINKS
* The Kalundborg Centre for Industrial Symbiosis – Front Page (A brief description and includes diagram above)
* The Kalundborg Centre for Industrial Symbiosis – Resource Page(more detail about each step /resource in the process)
Sustainable housing (see my posting Sustainable mud houses!) is a wonderful way of minimizing our impact on the environment and the my latest research has opened up the wonderful world of ’Green Roofs’.
The benefits of green roofs are incredible and my Green-up tip for today is to take a look at the two great links below which sums up all the positive benefits of Green roofs, that would never fit into one small blog post. Enjoy and I hope you feel as excited and inspired about green roofs after reading the articles as I am.
It seems pretty straight forward to avoid packaging but I am continuously astounded by the number of new products arriving in supermarkets with unnecessary packaging particularly during a time we know we need to be cutting back on our excess consumption of energy and resources.
Last week I found the “latest greatest” means of packaging sugar (see photo) which for centuries been been successfully packaged in simple waxed paper but is now sold by one company in a milk type carton with a plastic pouring lid.
What especially concerns me about this packet of sugar is that it is easy to be mislead and distracted from the packaging itself by its “friendly to the planet” Fairtrade label and support from the Sugar Foundation.
Yes the packaging may be recyclable but the truth of the matter is that far more energy and resources has gone into producing this package and will be needed to recycle it than it’s waxed paper predecessor. It is essentially a gimmicky marketing strategy to try and sell more sugar than its competitors.
What you can do?
Besides avoiding such overly and unnecessarily packaged products you can go one step further by contacting companies and supermarkets who are supplying products this way and express your concerns (obviously in a non threatening, calm and assertive manner). Most products will have a customer-service number on the product itself or a internet search will help you find the addresses and phone numbers you will need.
Buying in bulk is a great way to save money and reduce your environmental impact. Buying bulk from bulk bins and taking along your own paper bags or glass bottles etc is even better.
I’ve recently started buying many of my regular pantry supplies this way and the amount of plastic packaging (made from oil) that I’ve managed to avoid is incredible!
Buying in bulk also means less car trips to the grocery store or organic market and you will always have something in the house to whip up a meal!
Recently I’ve been looking at ways of saving water and have come up with a simple trick.
When you plan on having a show grab a standard bucket (e.g. 10L bucket with a handel) and pop it the shower (under the shower head).
This will collect the water usually wasted while you wait for the right temperature. You can then use the water in the garden (I transfer it to a watering pail after each shower), hand washing, washing the dog, washing the car, making a cuppa tea etc. The options, are endless! It doesn’t cost a thing, will not only save water but also money and its a very simple way to green-up your life!
