I know that my voice is just one amongst a growing clammour for us to behave differently and to change our old ways. I have fairly recently discovered this interesting project, 'No Impact Man' over in the States, look out for the film in the Autumn. It feels good that I'm not alone in trying to raise the awareness of the biggest threat to our continued wellbeing; ourselves! I hope I've shown that having a tiny carbon footprint can be just as enjoyable and fun (if not more so!) than someone with a profligate lifestyle.
As for my impact, my positive impact, well, it is up to the individual reader,ie YOU, to decide whether any of what I've written about has helped you or moved you at all in the right direction! I only know about the few comments posted which have thanked me or asked me for more information, or told some of their story about downsizing or moving towards a more planet-friendly way of living. I'd like to think that a lot more of you have enjoyed my ramblings and have taken some of the sentiments to heart... but I am an optimist.
We have to be optimistic about the future. Human beings are, in the main, amazing and not out to hurt others, despite what a lot of social workers see and experience. We are capable of so much, including looking after each other and our environment, and developing ways to improve our lot. Concentrating on the negative doesn't make us feel good, and I appreciate that it must be difficult to remain positive whilst working in some environments.
I must remain positive about what I do, as I too can feel pessimistic about all sorts of things but it doesn't help. So I am now feeling optimistic about finding some more paid work as a writer, and about having more time to finish my book, and more time to keep the house tidy (dream on, John, dream on!) Any advice (on who to write for, not cleaning) will be gratefully received.
Should any of you want to keep up with my daily activities, however mundane, you can read my daily diary blog http://lowcarbonlifestyle.blogspot.com/ or find me on Facebook where I will regularly share interesting links with you but never participate in stupid applications. Alternatively, you can email me direct and I promise to answer!
So, thank you all for the good work that you do helping others, and for any 'green' changes you have made or are planning to make.
John Cossham, York, UK, 22 June 2009.
]]>
I found this out because I attended a workshop at the Transition Network Conference about how certain chemical/physical feedback mechanisms are accelerating climate change. These so-called 'positive' feedbacks (actually not very positive, and better known as accelerating feedbacks) include some which are quite easy to understand, for example: we all know that dark colours absorb more heat than lighter ones, so imagine the north pole of a planet covered in snow and ice. That reflects sunlight and heat and the area remains cold. Now warm it up a bit and melt some of the snow and ice, revealing dark rocks and dark sea water. This allows more heat to be absorbed, so the area warms up some more, and more ice melts. This is one simple accelerating feedback, and Earth has several, amplified by our CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions. Anyone interested in learning more about this could check out this 27 page pdf or other bits of the Apollo-Gaia website, such as the video resources. The main thing we must take from this is that we have no time to lose if we're to stop ourselves making ourselves, and most of the other species on Earth, extinct. We are on our way to making this planet uninhabitable.
I attended another Film Premiere last night, that of a very educational documentary called The End Of The Line which is about the situation facing our fisheries, and overfishing. This is a powerful film which anybody who eats seafood needs to see. I thought that by not eating seafood (I've been vegetarian for 25 years) I was doing enough to reduce my impact on the World's oceans, but I could be doing more. I firmly believe that we in the developed countries, with access to lots of fruit, vegetables, grains, seeds and beans, do not need to eat any animals, but I understand that the majority of people like eating fish, and for between 1 and 2 billion people, fish is a key part of their diet. So, if you want to be able to continue eating fish (and this film shows that there won't be any left by about 2048, as we will have eaten them all) you can do your bit by asking your supplier about where the fish came from, how they were caught and are they from sustainable sources? There is a great website called fishonline which has a list of fish which are not endangered (fish to eat) and those to avoid.
And don't think that eating farmed fish is the answer either, as one kilo of farmed salmon uses 5kg of anchovies as food. Far better to use the anchovies direct, if you eat fish at all, that is! Some fish farmers are exploring using vegetable protein to feed their fish, and this means soya beans, often planted where rainforest used to be. So your farmed fish might be responsible for destroying the oceans or the rianforests... which do you prefer? You might now understand why I don't eat fish!
The film is now on release and will probably be on our small screens soon. Well worth watching as it has lots of information which should help us to preserve fish stocks for future generations.
]]> Those who have seen this film, or are trying to move towards a more ethical way of living will be considering their diet, as it makes up such a lot of their overall impact.A vegetarian diet, which includes plants and some animal products like dairy, eggs and honey, is a lot lower carbon than one with meat. If you want tips on how to be vegetarian, you could start with the Vegetarian Society. They have lots of recipes and information.
More ethical still, with no animal use/abuse, and the lowest carbon footprint, is veganism. This diet just uses plant-based food, and vegans might also not wear leather. Advice and information from The Vegan Society.
If you don't want to commit to going vegetarian or vegan for 7 days a week, you could follow the example set in Ghent, Belgium, which has now set an example and is vegetarian for one day a week. See the BBC report, and the Guardian report.
I am approaching my last column and blog entry with Community Care, so if there is a subject you'd like me to cover in the next couple of weeks, please drop me a comment and I'll try to include it before I say goodbye.
]]>I've written about Credit Unions before, but my news today is bigger than York Credit Union. This weekend, York Credit Union opened for business as North Yorkshire Credit Union!
This means that anyone living or working in North Yorkshire can join
the Credit Union. Savers can put in a lump sum, or as little as a
pound a week, and on this they receive a dividend which last year was
2%, but this rate is decided after the year end. The real benefit of
having money saved with a Credit Union is that it is used to help
others, as it is lent out at competitive rates, undercutting 'High
Street' lenders and 'loan sharks' by miles.
For instance, if you borrow £300 from the Provident Personal Credit, and pay back £9 every week for 56 weeks, that makes an Annual Percentage Rate (APR) of 183%, meaning the interest you pay is £204, a total of £504. This is legal and quite typical. The Provvy isn't the most expensive lender, here's a report of a £250 loan over one month, (a 'payday loan') with an APR of over 1200%, and a local example of a staggering 2.6million% APR loan. These are all legal... figures for illegal loan sharks can be just as horrifying and often more so.
Credit Unions, however, offer a £300 loan over 37 weeks, weekly
payment of £9, making a total payable of £326.51, an APR of just
26.8%. You can see why I'm so positive about the service Credit Unions
offer! And, as there are many areas of North Yorkshire with pockets of
poverty, I an very happy that these people will have access to lower
cost loans.
Regular readers will also know of my love of growing some food crops. Well, 'tis the season to be planting things outside now, as the risk of frost is now reducing so tender plants can be put in their permanent position. However, things grown on a sunny window sill in a centrally heated house would get a shock if put outside without a slower transition to outside temperatures.
So, harden your plants off for a week or two, either in an unheated greenhouse or a cold frame, or a sheltered corner near the house where the cold nights might not bite so hard. This way, your tender tomatoes, beans and courgettes won't get a sudden chill which might halt their growth or even kill them.
Good luck with any attempts towards self sufficiency this summer!
]]>Someone was enthusing about Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe and saying how he effectively deconstructed television and some of the inane programmes that are made and broadcast. So, this morning, I watched, randomly, this YouTube clip of the programme which happened to be about spiritualist mediums and gullability. Which was interesting as one of the other conversations was about when journalists pick something up on a blog or Wikipedia, and believe it to be true, and then have to retract that info as it isn't, such as in Ronnie Hazlehurst's orbituary. Here, some journalists fell for a scam that was posted onto Wikipedia, saying that the composer responsible for some of the best known sitcom theme tunes had also co-written a song for S Club 7. (see 'The Register')
Wikipedia is great, but only if you check the information from several sources, especially the original journals etc which are often listed at the bottom of the page. But this takes time and effort, and many journalists don't have the time to do this, many are not paid enough to really care that much and do the job professionally.
What happened to having experts writing about their subject? This is one possible answer to the problem of having to look stuff up specially, and, working to a deadline, copying and pasting the first 'fact' you come across is quick, easy, and prone to errors. I'm delighted that Community Care has been employing me since spring 2007, as their 'green and ethical' specialist, and have published my 'take' on a wide variety of subjects, many of which I've had to research for hours. But all good things must come to an end, and later this summer, I will cease to be a columnist and blogger for Community Care. I have mixed feelings about this... it has been a joy to be able to tell you all about things which I think are important, and the cheque after each column has been most welcome. But it has been very time consuming and hard work. Each blog takes between 1 and 4 hours, and I'm glad that I've been given the flexibility to not have a blog deadline, and haven't been censured for missing the occasional week!
I'd like to remind readers, as if you need it, that looking after your own mental health is really important. So my 'Green and Healthy' tip of the week is to give yourself some time off, some 'me time'. This could be as simple as a walk in the country or a couple of hours pottering about in the garden (with your phone switched off!), or perhaps a good ol' social down at the local, remembering to be moderate with your consumption, and free with your conversation.
Have a good Bank Holiday.
]]>So, at the 'Springboarding' of Kirkbymoorside Transition Town this weekend, I was pleased to see a bunch of women with sewing machines busy making cloth bags. Every time they finished another, one of them rang a little hand bell and a cheer went up. When I'd gone around all the stalls about energy efficiency, local trading, permaculture and saving bats habitats, I said hello to the 'Kirby Baggers', a local pod of Morsbag makers. They gave me a lovely cloth bag, in curtain green... it was in fact a recycled curtain made into a good strong bag with sturdy handles which don't look like they'll come off, even with the weight of stuff I tend to carry around!
Morsbags was founded by Claire Morsman who was moved to do something about the disposable plastic bag problem after first finding a dead sea bird with a plastic bag wrapped around its legs, then seeing the contents of a whale's stomach, which included a handful of discarded poly bags. She describes these as 'serial killers', causing the death of one animal, then floating free of that decomposing carcass to kill again. She also lives on a houseboat in the Grand Union Canal, and despairs about the number of 'urban jellyfish' that float by.
Like Rebecca Hosking, founder of Britain's first 'plastic bag free town', Claire is also a solutions person. Despite not being adept with a sewing machine, she used her great-aunt's old machine and a design her mother came up with, and the (rather excellent) website skills of Joe, now her husband, to start morsbags.com 'sociable guerilla bagging'. There are now over 800 individual baggers using the forum and 850 'pods' registered,all over the world. I also like the fact that morsbags are always given out free and use material given to them or reclaimed from charity shops. The forum has a guide to starting a pod, and I see this as an excellent sociable activity for perhaps young mums, or excluded older people, and could even be seen as theraputic. 10/10 for morsbags, I'll use mine with pride!
Once adept with the relatively simple task of making a morsbag with a sewing machine, repairing clothes should be quite easy too. This activity saves money and saves resources. It is part of the portfolio of being green and ethical... in fact, I saw a patch on a friend's trousers recently, and said 'did you mend that?'.. the answer was, 'no, I bought them like that', so having something which looks patched or mended is presumably now fashionable too!
]]>]]> So I was curious to find that it is International TV turnoff week, hosted by whitedot.org, the international campaign against television. So, what are the benefits of not watching TV?
Well, televisions run on electricity and may be left on for hours at a time, sometimes when not even being watched. Many modern TVs use a lot of electricity, for instance, plasma TV's use twice the power of LCD, and LCD uses more than old CRT types (source, Sust-it.net). Some TVs when left on standby (some old-fashioned people still leave them on overnight!) continue to use significant amounts of power, although some modern ones use less than a watt. So, when not watching TV, what else could you be doing?
Whitedot suggests some of these:
Invite friends or family over
Go out and see some live entertainment
Go for a bike ride, or go for a walk
Go to bed early with your lover, or a good book
Sort out stuff and sell some things on ebay or a car-boot sale
Listen to some music
Pay someone a surprise visit
Check your cookery books and create something tasty
Participate in a local event
Join a political party.
And I'd add one of my favourite activities, plant some seeds and grow some vegetables.
For those of you who like doing things on a particular day, and knowing that other people are doing something similar on that day, April 22nd is 'Earth Day' and there may be events or activities near you (there's a search facility on the website) to participate in or inspire you.
Happy Earth Day and happy TV Turnoff Week!
]]>
But this blog isn't about policing, however interesting that is. It's about Coal. Coal is fossilised plant remains from millions of years ago, and as such, is carbon which was sucked out of the atmosphere by those plants. When we mine coal, and burn it, that carbon is released right back into today's atmosphere. Whilst coal is underground, it is in an oxygen-free environment. When we dig it up, the methane (natural gas or 'firedamp') which is in the coal also gets into our atmosphere, and this gas is even more powerful than carbon dioxide for the global greenhouse. When the coal comes in contact with the air, reactions take place on the surfaces oxidising the carbon, so releasing carbon dioxide even before the coal is burnt, which of course releases ALL of the carbon it contains.
Supporters of he coal industry talk about 'carbon capture and storage', an experimental technology in it's early infancy. The theory might look good... take the carbon dioxide out of the gas leaving the chimney, pressurise it into liquid and pump this into empty gas fields, oil wells and aquifers... But large scale CCS is years if not decades away, and we really don't have that kind of time scale to continue trashing this planet. We have existing technology which would stem our carbon haemorrhage... insulation, switching things off, A-rated appliances, renewable generation... and I believe that some of the investment in CCS could (should) be spent on these proven technologies. I think that CCS does have it's part to play in a sustainable future, but I despair about disinvestment in renewables (for instance, what happened to Pelamis).
So, I want to invite you to participate in the Coal Caravan, a cycle trip from Nottingham to Blyth, starting on 24th April and finishing on 5th May, and taking in some of the biggest of the UK's coal mining communities. There's cycling during the day, and nature walks, visits to open cast coal mines, and then meetings with discussion or film showings in the evening. I hope to join them as they pass near to York, just for part of the day, to support the riders.
If some of you think that I'm being alarmist about climate change, then read what experts say in this website, 100 months. Some of the so-called' tipping points' seem to have already started... for instance there are disturbing reports of permafrost melting and raised methane levels in the arctic.... So, time is short. What are YOU doing to be a responsible ancestor?
]]> Big Green Gathering as I'm volunteering to help keep the place tidy (actually managing the biodegradable/compostable stuff!) I'm a bit late with some of my seedlings but have got some growing, to reduce my use of fossil fertiliser. And this afternoon I'm off to my allotment to prepare to put in my potatoes! That's after washing up with water heated on my wood stove...]]>This is the financial argument: profits made by local, independently owned shops are more likely to be ploughed back into local concerns than profits that are distributed to shareholders or a head office somewhere else.
And money isn't the only argument. Food grown locally spends a shorter time travelling to the consumer, and so will be fresher. In the case of fruit and vegetables, this means the consumer benefits from more vitamins and nutrients because these start to degrade as soon as the produce is picked. Salads are crunchier, fruit is firmer, and it might even be more tasty.
With less time spent in transportation and refrigeration, the food-miles footprint is bound to be smaller. I find it ridiculous that some supermarkets truck produce from one end of the UK to the other in order to grade and pack it, and then transport it back to near where it was grown for sale in their big soulless warehouses. With farm shops and markets, and many locally owned greengrocers, the food comes with a much smaller carbon footprint.
Many areas have campaigns to buy local. If you want to know about the local, independent suppliers and traders in your area, go to a website called BigGreenSwitch.co.uk: just enter your postcode into its search box, and it will list the nearest registered with it.
If we don't use these local independents, they will disappear from our neighbourhood, undercut by the convenience and "pile it high sell it cheap" approach of the big chains.
I urge you to buy less from supermarkets and multinationals, and to support local outlets. It's good for our environment, your health and all local communities.
And you'll be able to add it to your green credentials!
]]>
I see Post Offices as an essential cornerstone of local communities, and their closure has meant that people who used to walk less than a mile to get to their local Post Office might now have to go by car. Their loss isn't just the Post Office facilities, but the other things the shop sells... newspapers, sweets, basic groceries (our local one sells milk, sugar, teabags, basic stationery and birthday cards etc). The weekly trip to the Post Office, for some, used to be an important part of their social lives, as some people living alone don't have a lot of human contact and their weekly pension collection is the contact they need to feel part of society. If a Post Office closes, other shops nearby might lose trade too, so putting them at risk.
The House of Commons Business and Enterprise Select Committee is conducting an inquiry into the future of the Post Office, and this includes suggestions about a Post Office Bank, able to offer cheques, credit/debit cards, overdrafts and other financial services. My MP, Hugh Bayley, suggested a number of other possible services (after consulting with sub postmasters and the City of York Council) including allowing branches to process some other financial products such as council tax and rent payments, insurance etc, and issuing things like bus passes. Some Post Offices could have internet terminals to allow access to services currently being promoted as easily accessible on the web, like TV licences and car tax. Many people still don't have domestic access to the 'net and access at a post office might be one way of keeping the local offices open. Hugh Bayley also suggested a Post Office Travel Agency... something I'm less keen on, but my suggestion would be being able to link with the local Credit Union so payments could be made easily, instead of the current arangement (in York at least) of the CU having a room in the Council Treasury Building twice a week. And, of course the main (perceived) reason that Post Office use has declined, being able to issue pensions and benefits.
So, I look forward to hearing more about the future of the Post Office, and to knowing that their future is assured. I will also make more use of the Write to Them website, as it enables you to contact your MP, MEP, local councillor and other representatives very easily. I also pledge to use my local Post Office more often, to play my part in it's continued success.
]]>
So, I'd like you to click on this link: http://www.myspace.com/dannychivers and then click on the poem 'Consumed' by Danny Chivers, and listen, whilst you read the text. But as I'm inexperienced in this bloggy webby thing, I've discovered that clicking on this opens Danny's page in the same window so you'll have to open a new window with this page in to read the poem at the same time. Getting the message across isn't always that easy!
CONSUMED
By Danny Chivers
Plastic throwaway junk won't go away:
Sixty thousand tonnes or so a day.
The styrene shells from 'round Big Macs;
The bags from crisps and other snacks;
Teetering stacks of Tetrapaks
Forced into bulging rubbish sacks.
Landfill: a fine memento mori
Monument to our vain glory...
But this is only half the story.
Coal fuels the dark, satanic mills
That choke the air in Indo-China
Making useless dross to fill
Our homes and dustbin-liners.
This trail of fault gives a result
You might find rather strange
With every piece of merchandise
Included in the burger price
And every pack of useless tat:
"Look Mum - free climate change!"
And so we're cooking the planet
With fresh fruit packaging, gnomes with wacky grins
Odd little plastic inside cracker things
Blow-up chairs, spray-on hair,
Clothes you know you'll never wear
Low-fat grills, weight-loss pills
Electric salt and pepper mills
Garden strimmers, nose-hair trimmers
Buzzing belts to make you slimmer
Blackhead guns, rubber nuns,
Cuddly emoticons
Plasma screens, ski machines,
Ant and Dec figurines
Flashing ties, dolls that cry
Another book on Princess Di
Electronic Hang-Man
Fake tan, Cillit Bang
Bottled water, coin sorters
Stuff to make your eyebrows shorter
Fake rocks, heated socks
The complete DVD boxed
Films of Michael J. Fox
In a Teen Wolf lunch box
A robot dog called Humper who thrusts gamely at your leg
While you de-bobble your jumper and auto-de-shell your egg.
Wave goodbye to spills with this fantastic
Olive oil decanter,
And get festive with this life-sized plastic
Yoda dressed as Santa.
Every tragic item in this wretched litany is real
So please try to understand just how ridiculous I feel
Attempting to explain this to my unbelieving friends
Like some mad prophet of doom convinced the world's about to end:
"All those Kinder Eggs you buy
Will drain Botswana's soils dry!
Your room-perfumer (Alpine Fresh)
Is flooding towns in Bangladesh!
How far has the Sahara grown
For your dancing banana phone?"
Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised
They've not yet done all I advised
And of course it makes far more sense
To just ignore the evidence
And keep on wiping out the species by not turning off our PCs
Fill our kettles to the top and ruin another country's crops
Watch the coral reefs erode in the name of stand-by mode
Turn Oxfordshire into an isthmus buying strawberries at Christmas...
The methane locked in frozen bogs,
Could thaw, and push us past the brink
But we need cute hats for our dogs
And plastic stirrers for our drinks...
But why? We know the marketeers
Are preying on our hopes and fears
With pseudoscientific junk
To make us buy their bottled gunk
We know it's nonsense when they swear
We need their slime to shine our hair
And four layers round a tangerine
To keep our kids safe from gangrene
It's not too pro-vitamin complex
For us to understand
That their fun for all the family is getting out of hand
It's a crazy, one-off deal
(Blind tasters all agree)
Using mass consumer growth to run the world's economy
Try to get a New! Flexi-Grip!
On what I'm trying to say
Things that add nothing to our lives
Take others' lives away
And bring eco-armageddon
A bit closer every day
We know we can live rich, full lives
Without their junk, and waste, and lies
And sensible restraint could save
Us from our closest ever shave.
To easy-swift-wipe clean this mess
(As proved by independent tests)
We need new rules on tax and trade
To stop this junk from being made
So join me on the barricades
And start demanding LESS!
I met Danny at a meeting of the Climate Speakers Network. Which means you can easily book Danny (or any of us!) to come and speak (or in Danny's case, perform) at an event or to a group. And in Danny's case, this would be entertaining as well as informative.
]]>
One such scheme is Earth Hour, which this year takes place on Saturday 28th March at 8.30pm. The idea is that for one hour, around the globe, all participating individuals, businesses, local authorities etc switch off their lights, computers and other electrical appliances for one hour. All well and good... it's not asking anything too difficult or complicated, it saves energy, gives people a sense of participation, and yes, this has made it one of the most popular campaigns around.
This year it is being labelled as 'Vote Earth' and the website claims that 930 cities and towns in 80 countries are participating; the aim is to involve a billion people. It started in Sydney, Australia, in 2007, with about 2.2 million homes switching off their lights, and last year an estimated 50 million people joined in. So, during that hour, a lot of energy was not used which would have been if things had gone on as normal.
The popularity of this event is evident when doing a search on Facebook for 'Earth Hour'... I counted up to 300 groups dedicated to it before I gave up. Some were for individual towns and cities, some for states or countries, some for supporters and fans. However, this search also showed a handful of groups with names like 'Anti Earth Hour', 'Earth Hour Sucks', 'People against Earth Hour', 'Earth Hour was Useless', and 'F*ck Earth Hour'. These groups fall into two broad categories, the so-called 'climate deniers' who think that the broad scientific consensus that man-made gas emissions are altering the planet's atmosphere is wrong, and that any observable warming is part of some 'natural cycle', and those who feel that just switching off your lights for one hour per year is a complete waste of time when what we actually need to do is to cut our total emissions by 80%. This view is promoted by the various Facebook groups such as 'Earth Hour Every Month' and the more radical 'Earth Hour Every Week'. Maybe I should start a Facebook Group called 'Earth Hour Every Hour'?
Unfortunately, I will be unable to 'attend' Earth Hour this year as I have a ticket to go and see the Ukuele Orchestra, and my guess is that they'll need amplification which is of course, based on electric power. I'll stick to my Earth Hour Every Hour concept, I think!
]]> One of the motivations behind Earth Hour can be seen with the following statistics, which show what an unequal world it is, and by inference, how climate change will affect different groups in different ways. Basically, the poor stand to lose most. I think that this list is very revealing and thought-provoking.
If the World Were a Village
What if we imagined the whole population of the
- 61 Asians (21 from China and 17 from India)
- 13 Africans
- 12 Europeans
- 8 from S America, Central America & Caribbean
- 5 from Canada and the USA
- 1 Oceanian
- 52 females; 48 males
- 70 non-whites; 30 whites
- 32 Christians
- 20 Muslims
- 13 Hindus
- 89 heterosexuals; 11 homsexuals
- 50 people live on $2 per day and 25 live on $1 per day
- 15 people produce more than half of the CO2 emissions
- 25 people consume more than 75% of the energy
- 18 people do not have access to nearby clean water
- 40 have no access to adequate sanitation, ie. sewage disposal
- 80 people live in poor quality housing
- 32 breathe unhealthy polluted air
- 50 people suffer from malnutrition
- 17 people are illiterate
- 20 inhabitants control 86% of the GNP and 74% of the telphone lines
- 20 people have 87% of the vehicles and 84% of the paper in use
- 24 people do not have electricity
- 9 people have access to the internet
- only 1 person has a college/university education
- 1 person dies and 3 children are born into the world-village each year
- the population of the village would be 133 by 2025
Reference:
If the World Were a Village by David J. Smith (see companion website)
United Nations and World Bank Statistics
So, how many of you are smokers? And how many thought about giving up for Lent? And if you tried to stop, how many of you relapsed and are back smoking? Well, it doesn't matter. I have two possible solutions to your negative self image as a tobacco addict! How about Fair Trade cigarettes or Organic? Yes, really!
Well, not quite, but that's what Richard my greengrocer and
musician friend described two brands of ciggies he's tried. So, the
'Organic' ones are 'Natural American Spirit',
described on the packet as "100% Chemical-Additive-Free, Whole Leaf,
Natural Tobacco without reconstituted Tobacco and processed Stems".
The packet he gave me is not actually organic, but all the tobacco they
sell is additive free, grown in the United States, and two varieties
are organic to US standards. Richard described these as virtually
taste-free and very pleasant. The 'Fairly Traded' cigarettes are '1st Nation Ethically Sourced' and
the tobacco is grown in Malawi, with no additives, and the farmers are
said to receive a fair price for their product. None of the Fair Trade
organisations will give this product official Fair Trade status, but
there is a campaign to get certification.
The cigarettes are made and packed by Mohawk Native Americans, who have also had a history of economic oppression, so the factory provides much needed work. Richard was less keen on these cigarettes as they were difficult to draw the smoke through, and this extra effort meant that it was somehow less satisfying.
I am not advocating smoking tobacco, and I have never used it. The websites above have links to sites which aim to help you quit, see American Spirit and 1st Nation. But, if you are a confirmed smoker, using either of these brands might make the habit slightly more ethical.
In my blog post in January, I mentioned a forthcoming film called The Age of Stupid. This is going to have a massive 'Public Premiere' on 15th March all over the UK, with very strict eco-credentials such as a solar-powered projector in the Leicester Square launch and heating from stoves powered by discarded newspapers!
I'll be attending the Premiere in York, and there are over 60 other cinemas particiating. The film opens for general release on the weekend of 20th to 22nd March, and there is going to be a LOT of publicity, with the Not Stupid campaign and lots more. It's going to be huge! Expect a review from me in a fortnight.
]]>Let's presume you've explored all the ways to reduce your car use: getting on your bike, taking the bus or train, working from home, lift sharing, having things delivered to you, doing "round trips" to accomplish several jobs in one journey, or participating in a car hire or car pooling scheme. You are doing all of these but still occasionally need to use a car. How can you make your driving more eco-friendly?
]]> The first thing is to look at your vehicle. Does it have an unnecessary roof rack or heavy objects in the boot? Lightening the load and reducing aerodynamic drag affects your car's performance, fuel consumption, cost to your wallet and emissions. The same goes for tyre pressure. Under-inflated tyres create more friction, slowing the vehicle and wasting fuel.Driving with the windows open causes turbulence and drag, and can reduce fuel efficiency. Air-conditioning adds to the engine load, and increases fuel consumption.
Your driving style affects your carbon footprint as well as the possibility of points on your licence, pranging or wrecking your vehicle. There is an optimum driving speed for the lowest fuel use per mile, and it's quite a bit lower than the maximum legal speed limit.
Driving slower also reduces the wear on brake pads and engine parts, and gentle acceleration and braking is more fuel-efficient than vigorous stop-start kangarooing.
If you use diesel, you could switch to biodiesel, or for the lowest carbon footprint, used (but filtered) vegetable oil but remember to modify the engine first. Converting from petrol to liquid petroleum gas is costly but could save you if you drive in London's congestion charge zone and emit less pollution.
When replacing your vehicle, consider buying a smaller, lighter one, or a petrol/electric hybrid or, better, an all-electric, charged from a renewable electricity supplier .
However, I'll stick with my bicycle!
]]>The Inside Out programme goes out on March 4th in the Tyne Tees/Cumbria area, but will be available on the BBC iPlayer or through the Inside Out web page.
I very much enjoyed another telly programme this week.. On Friday, Natural World had a programme called A Farm for the Future, about Rebecca Hosking's family farm in Devon. Hosking was about to take over the running of the farm, but the high fuel prices last year made her explore the reasons for this, the ramifications and the therefore the future of farming... and it was quite a journey! She discovered about Peak Oil and the huge amount we use, especially in the food industry, plus permaculture, forest gardening and other solutions to the problem. I do recommend watching this... try the BBC iPlayer version, available until 17th March 2009. I think it is one of the most educational programmes I've seen recently.
In the next few days my column 'The Ethicist' will be published in the printed Community Care magazine, and it's on my take on greener driving. However, I don't mention insurance. Drivers will know that having your vehicle insured is mandatory, and therefore people often shop around for the best deals and visit price comparison sites.
I've been contacted by ibuyeco 100% Carbon neutral car insurance, and as well as offsetting your carbon emissions, they offer a list of greener and cheaper driving tips, some of which are different to mine.
They include:
*estimating your annual mileage and avoid guessing, as this might save you money in the long term with ibuyeco;
*choose your next insurance carefully as some will cost less for smaller engine sizes;
*many car modifications increase the premium on your insurance, as well as increasing air resistance and fuel use;
*Having a 'Thatcham Approved' alarm professionally installed can save you money on your premium;
*Parking your vehicle off road or in a garage can cut your premium;
*Young male drivers have the highest premiums. If a parent or female partner is added to the 'named drivers', this may reduce the cost;
*If you have the choice to increase the 'voluntary excess', some insurers will allow additional discounts if you do this. However, make sure you can afford the excess payment in the event of you havng to make a claim;
*Build up your no claims bonus... being a careful driver saves money and resources!
*Choose the level of cover carefully, based on your needs, budget and vale of vehicle. Do you really need comprehensive insurance, or will a lesser cover suffice? Get several quotes and consider which option is best.
*Become an 'Advanced Driver' by enrolling on one of the DVLA's courses. This may increase your confidence, safety on the road and lower your premium, and help your no claims bonus if you avoid accidents.
This list is something I know very little about as I've never had to buy car insurance... but my approval of it is connected with safety, reduced resource use and othe ethical aspects, and the fact that if your insurance is cheaper, you are more likely to get it. Some people don't bother buying insurance, and I feel this is immoral and unethical. And although I am skeptical about carbon offsetting, I think that once someone has reduced their emissions as far as they can, then offsetting the rest is probably a good thing, so long as they don't use the offsetting as an excuse to continue polluting.
]]>One such project is FareShare and it's sister project, FareShare1st. These link food waste with food poverty and seek to begin to solve both. In a nutshell, unwanted but wholesome food is collected and redistributed to the needy. Simple, but effective. The statistics are impressive: in 2007, for instance, the food 'rescued' by FareShare contributed to more than 4.5 million meals, that's 25,000 people a day. But this number is small compared with the number of British people estimated to be unable to afford a healthy diet, which may be as many as 4 million. FareShare also run an educational and vocational programme to help the disadvantaged people it works with learn to prepare food and understand about food hygiene and nutrition, called Eat Well Live Well. What a wonderful project!
FareShare does have corporate sponsors but also needs donations, and has a comprehensive portfolio of ways in which people can give financial help. They ask individuals to help, with a one off donation, regular giving, sponsored events or from salaries before tax is taken off... or by remembering them in wills. There are ways in which organisations can support FareShare, with their Corporate Partnerships scheme, and anyone can volunteer to help the project run... from drivers to sorters to office angels!
I would like to thank Sally Walker for telling me about FareShare.... I met her through my involvement with the UK Freegans and associated Forum as she is doing a dissertation on reducing supermarket food waste.
Many 'Freegans' grow their own food... and this is the time of year to start with tomatoes, peppers, broad beans and even calabrese.
Sow individual tomato seeds in low-nutrient seed compost (make your own with some soil mixed with leafmould and a bit of rich garden compost) in small plant pots. Put these in a South-facing window and keep them moist. As the seedlings grow over the next month or two, pot them on into bigger pots and stake them to stop them falling over. By May you'll be able to put them in a sheltered spot.... perhaps a sunny conservatory or just a porch, and by June when the chance of frost has gone (hopefully!!!) they can be put into the garden. Fresh tasty tomatoes shouldn't be far behind.
Peppers and chillies are much the same... they need a long growing season and can be started off now. Broad beans are frost hardy and can be planted out now (well, wait for the snow and ice to go!) but will do better and avoid getting eaten by mice if you plant them in pots and give then a little shelter, planting them out when the weather is a bit better. These may be planted in a cardboard toilet roll inner rather than a plastic pot... just fill with an appropriate growing medium, bury the bean just under the surface, and when, weeks later, rootlets show out of the bottom, plant them out so that the top of the cardboard is level with the surface of the soil. The roots will easily grow through the card and by summer, you'll be picking broad beans. Yummy.... and fresher than any supermarket or even Farmers Market will provide!
]]>