20 Oct
“[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.
14 Oct
I recently stumbled across a great article “The Anti-Salmon: A Fish We Can Final Farm Without Guilt.”
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:
9 Sep
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.
15 Aug
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 Living for 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!
11 Aug
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)
11 Aug
Lemur on a green roof at Apenheul Zoo, The Netherlands. © Natassia Wijdeveld
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.
* Green Roofs | Inhabitat
* and 13 Amazing Facts About Green Roofs
10 Aug
company logo removed for copyright reasons
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.
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.
5 Aug
Yesterday President Obama gave a seemingly victorious speech claiming “the long battle to close the leak and contain the oil is finally close to coming to an end”.
“A vast majority of the spill has been dispersed or removed” but the tone of his speech seems more like a premature victory announcement.
While the 26% estimate of oil still in the ocean may not sound like much, as a percentage, when you look at in terms in actual figures “nearly 53m gallons (200m litres) of oil remain in Gulf waters, which is close to five times the amount of the 11m-gallon Exxon Valdez spill in 1989.” – BBC News
Clean up efforts so far have been a great accomplishment, and words alone cannot commend those who are out there relentlessly cleaning up this mess.
However, we must not let this “victory” distract us from the issues at hand and we must continue questioning A. How did we end up with such a mess in the first place? and B. Is now not the crucial moment to turn away from our dependence on oil and look to a more sustainable “green” energy future!
In my opinion this speech from Obama, though he mentions there is still work to be done, risks turning the largest oil spill in history into yesterdays news at the bottom of the pile, and this is clearly not the case for the millions of people and wildlife affected in and around the Gulf.
* Keep the pressure on demanding a change in energy policy and a sustainable future!
* View Obama’s speech (partly posted below) and draw your own conclusions on the issue.
* Look at ways in your personal life of how you can cut back on oil.
* Read also my blog posts – Oil Spills – China vs The Gulf and The secrete ingredient in plastic and cosmetics
FUTURE BLOGS COMING SOON:
* The unseen animal casualties of the Gulf oil spill
* Transition Town Totnes – Free from Oil by 2030!
4 Aug
It seems bitterly ironic that two of the world’s largest consumers of oil have had the worst oil spills in history at the same time.
While I am not claiming either countries is right or wrong but I can’t help but draw comparisons between how both countries are reacting so differently to the spills with stark differences in media coverage, clean up methods and public involvement.
The public absolutely should not have pay this price and I can only admire the Chinese resolute determination and spirit to do whatever is necessary to stop and clean up this spill, even if it involves, swimming in and handeling the oil without any protection, risking their health and lives.
Source: Greenpeace (http://www.greenpeace.org) “Jul 20, 2010 Firefighter rescued having been submerged under a thick oil slick. This happened during an attempt to fix an underwater pump following an oil spill in Dalian – one of China’s largest ports. One man is still missing.
© Greenpeace Read more“
We have reached and incredible potential turning point in history. Now is the time to end our dependence on oil now! It’s time to put pressure on policy makers and demand a future of sustainable energy!
* Besides making changes in your personal dependence on oil we all need to push for change by writing to governments and signing petitions and encouraging all your friends to do the same!
* Contact your local environmental group to find out who to write to and what petitions you can sign. as Greenpeace Energy [R]evolution Pledge to pledge your “support [for] the Greenpeace plan to achieve 95% renewable energy by 2050.”
* View this video on BBC – I’ve watched various media reports on the Dalian spill but this one seems the most compassionate to the Chinese people and explains the situation well.
19 Jul
Since my last couple of blogs have been a little heavy I though it was time for some light-hearted inspiration!
Today I found (another) story of a couple who have pledged to go garbage free for a year!
I find it so inspiring to read these accounts, last year I found a similar story of a couple in New Zealand who had just finished a garbage free year and there is taking it even a step forward is the No Impact Man. An inspiring documentary, book and internet project from a family living in New York who for a full year, cut back their negative impact on the environment to a little as possible, which included unplugging from the electrical grid, only eating local produce, producing no rubbish and of course not driving a car.
It is so inspiring to see examples like this of people proving we can live happily when we disconnect from our mass consumerist, rubbish producing wants and desires and these people became healthier and grew much closer as a family in the process.
17 Jul
Mmmmmmm….
When you walk past a local florist and catch a wiff or sight of a beautiful bouquet of roses do you ever stop to contemplate where they were from, and how they ended up there, ready for you to buy.
While many of us, myself included, love roses we seldom consider where they have come from how their production and trade impact on the environment and human life.
Some facts that may shock you:
* In many cases large transnational corporations reap huge profits from the trade in roses. Often these profits are not distributed evenly (ie wages for workers) or reinvested back into the community nor used to clean up the resulting pollution and toxic residues.
* The chemicals used in rose production are among the most toxic in the world, us there are very few regulations because they are not for consumption. For example 20% of the pesticides used in the rose trade in Colombia are not permitted for use in USA or UK because of their risks to human health.
* Residues from these chemical often leach into the soil and local water supply forcing small independent farmers to abandoned their land as it becomes to toxic to maintain.
* Fertilizers are another key concern in the such industries because a great amount of fossil fuels are required to mine, process and transport. For example to produce 1 kilogram of nitrogen-containing fertilizer approximately 2 liters of oil are required.
* Large scale rose plantations require significant amounts of irrigation often placing immense pressure on local drinking water supplies and over time can causing a dramatic loss of soil quality and the resulting salinization (the accumulation of salts near the surface of the soil) renders many farmlands useless.
* The trade in roses has become a dominant industry in countries such as Colombia. This singular style of industry does not provide locals with alternative options and as a result workers, in order to survive, have little choice but to take on the low waged jobs despite the harsh condition and known health risks. Liberalized “free” trade, reduced tariffs and the low level of regulations are the key contributors in the lack workers rights and have made the use of poisonous chemical cocktails of fertilizers and pesticides possible.
What are the alternatives?
While the facts above are shocking and confrontational they do not suggest you should never buy a bouquet of roses again. While working conditions are tough and the environmental impacts are significant, many national economies rely on this trade and to completely eliminate this would have devastating consequences for many communities. However, the current situation must be changed and there are many alternatives that give us to the power to influence this change. For a variety of examples of actions you can take to make a difference see the list below. One of the most “easy” options, which is gaining in popularity, is to change your consumer habits to support Fair Trade. (visit the World Fair Trade Organization website here). Fair trade products ensure a high standard of working conditions (including reducing the exposure to toxic chemical fertilizers and pesticides) and fair wages. Many fair trade projects invest a percentage of the profits back into the local community and encourage research into environmentally sustainable options of trade and production. Many countries have an official fair trade organisation and can provide you with the relevant information to help you improve your consumer habits.
So next time you walk past that florist, perhaps you will stop for a moment to think, and you will realize that this new knowledge has empowered you to make an informed consumer decision that will have a positive impact on our world. You are the consumer, and you have the power!
* Buy Fair trade! Create a demand for fair trade by using the power of your pocket. Next time you are planning on buying roses for a loved one, or are planning a special event try to source fair trade roses. A simple internet search should help you locate a supplier in your area. My local supermarket even is offering fair trade roses now.
* Talk to or write to your local flower sellers and ask them, where their roses come from, if they sell fair trade rose and if not are they able to start offering them. Once again an example of he power of consumer demand.
* Inform others. Talk to friends, family and colleagues about the trade in roses and the impact it has on people and the environment.
* Forward this blog posting onto others who want to make a difference. – https://giiablog.wordpress.com/2010/07/17/roses-environmental-impact
* Grow your own (or give a living rose plant as a gift) if you have a garden, balcony or even a spot on a windowsill you can grown your own roses. There are hundreds of sizes, colours and variety and there’s bound to be something to satisfy your senses plus if you look after them they can last years!
* Sign petitions and place pressure on corporations and governments to regulate working conditions, monitor chemicals used and ensure corporations take environmental responsibility.
* If you have any other suggestions please leave a comment below as we are all in this together and we can empower positive change!
14 Jul
OIL!
Yes it may seem bizarre and hard to believe, but oil is not only whats being guzzled in your petrol tank it’s literally all around you even in those innocent looking plastics toys.
Take a look around the room you are in now, almost every item made of plastic you can see is made of oil. Next time your in the bathroom take a look at your cosmetics, do they contain petroleum, or mineral oils? Then yes they too are essentially made from oil as petroleum is a by-product of oil, and we smear it on our faces, YUK!
Why are we never informed by oil companies that oil is used in so many products? Well, oil companies fear consumer power as it has the potential to greatly interfere with their profits, thus they go to great lengths to keep us stupid.
So what can we do about this?
You’ve probably heard it all before and to many people the environmental drone of “cycle instead of driving, carpool where possible, avoid plastics” etc etc seems to be getting lost in the busyness of our everyday lives, but where the key really lies is in our CONSUMER POWER!
When you stop to think about it you realize how powerful we really are as consumers, sure it may not seem like that when you are the only one on your street serving up veggie burgers on vintage styled crockery plates on your street, but it just takes a few people who say “Look we CAN do things differently” then people start, feeling inspired and often join in (ultimately becoming a “Green Revolution”).
If we create a lack of demand for environmentally damaging products and a new increasing demand for locally produced, fair trade, environmentally sensitive products then we can essentially control the market (Yes thats right you and I can control the market, not the advertisers and not the profit driven multinational corporations). Afteral, It not out of a whimsical hope that many major supermarkets are starting to included locally produced organic products in their range, it is because of consumer demand!
So no more hesitating! Go out there and CHANGE THE WORLD WITH YOUR CONSUMER POWER!!
USEFUL LINKS TO GET YOU GOING!
For a fantastic start to changing your consumer habits download the Good Stuff Guide .
Available from the World Watch Institute this is a nicely illustrated, fun, factual and inspiring guide to most of the products we use and consume in our daily lives and what the alternative are.
Another great website I highly recommend is the Story of Stuff and also The Campaign for Save Cosmetics
This is a series of free and entertaining internet films that inform you on essentially what all the “Stuff” is we consume, where it comes from and how it it produced!
And in regards to cosmetics keep an eye out for any products containing petroleum also labeled as Mineral Oils, paraffin, petroleum and petroleum jelly (the only ingredient in Vaseline!). Your local organic health shop should be able to provide you more information on this. Plus we are trying to cut down on the worlds depend of oil, so if its as simple as switching face creams let do it!
1 Jun
Hi Guys
Welcome back, to the GiiA blog, I hope you’re enjoying it so far and are feeling informed and inspired. I’d love to hear from you if you have any tips, comments or suggestions.
For this posting I’d like to keep it fun and lighthearted, yet still inspiring.
So… square-foot gardening… it may sound a little goat’s-wool hippy socks but to be honest, it’s super hip and in it own way is contributing to a positive impact on our environment, plus it’s so easy!
Well square foot gardening is:
* Fresh fruit, vegies, herbs and edible flowers all year round!
* suitable for everyone!
1. Assign or build a box/area of 1 x 1 meter, and fill with a good light soil (you can find various soil “recipes” online, but I simply used a couple layers of compost underneath and then a top layer of seed-raising (which you can buy from your local garden supply shop).
2. Divide this into 16 squares.
3. Then simply sow the right amount of seeds per square (see seed spacing info below)
4. Water and watch it all grow
5. Enjoy your fresh produce!
This is pretty much the basics.For those interested I highly recommend you take a quick look at this video here which is a good summary.
Personally I find square foot garden a fantastic system and pretty much fool proof. I love, the speed and ease of it, once you have it up and running, and the fact that if you choose the right seeds the you can plant most seed straight into the ground (just keep with a plastic container, with air holes, which I make from recycled fruit containers see photo above) and then keep them covered until the seeds have sprouted and are doing well.
Then it’s pretty much a matter of watering, pulling out the occasional weed (I havent had to do this yet) and letting nature do the rest!
Every plant needs a certain amount of space. For example, if you look at the photo above you’ll notice box 3 (from top left-right) there are lots of plants, this rocket (lettuce) box and I went a little overboard with the seeds, but officially they reccoment planting about 16 seeds. and then in box 16 you’ll notice only 4 plants, these are my Calendula flowers and they can be grown 4 plants per square. (you can find guides on how many plants per square on the various website listed below, in the various square foot gardening books available or from a simple google search.
You’ll see my garden in the photo above. Because I have so many different seeds I decided to plant most of my herbs and lettuce plants in separate pots instead of in the square foot garden. So what I do have in there (from left to right, top to bottom) is:
1. Empty square (still trying to decide if I want to plant my coriander and chives which are in the plastic pot ontop of the sqaure.
2. 2x Cherry tomato plants (which don’t need support poles or excessive pruning) and around it (still to come up) I sprinkeled a bunch of basil seeds, which grow and taste good with tomatoes.
3. Heaps of rocket leaves (I pick these as I need them and they keep growing back)
4. 2 x cucumber plants (which are hiding under the plastic bottle) and the big plant is a nasturtium plant which has edible leaves and flowers with a peppery taste.
5. 4x Bushbeans (like the cherry toms these also stay low to the ground and don’t need support)
6. 4x Summer brocoli
7. 16x Spinach greens
8. 6x Kale mix
9. 8x (Half a box) Spring onions
10. 16x Beetroot
11. 16x Chard Mix
12. 16x Radish
13. 2x Marigolds (+2x self seeded rocket plants)
14. 8x Red Carrots & 8x Mini carrots
15. 16x Carrots (colour mix)
16. 4x Calendula
So for the moment thats about it! If you don’t have access to a meter squared you can start with a single box or two on your window sill. (I also started like this with lettuce) You got to start somewhere.
There are so many reasons why gardening is great for our our health and the health of the planet and I have come to realize that square foot is the quickest and simplest way to achieve this. For me, the most important reward I gain through gardening, which ultimately provides me with further tools and inspiration to protect the environment, is the connection formed with nature and the appreciation of life that comes with it.
* A simple Google or You Tube search will help you find many more interesting sites!
* And finally, something I’m yet to try out, but it looks rather interesting, is the square-foot garden i-phone app!! Yes one really exists and you can find it here!
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