the power of advertising

I feel compelled to blog by some adverts I have seen recently.

The first tells us how our clothes are covered in bacteria, and how washing at low temperatures does not kill this bacteria. So now that we are being green and washing at lower temperatures our clothes may look just as clean, and we may be wondering why on earth it is that we ever washed at such high temperatures. But, oh no! Wait! We are leaving bacteria on our clothes. Not to mention of course that there is bacteria on everything including inside our bodies. What sort of deadly bacteria precisely are infecting our clothes I wonder? But anyway, we now NEED a product to put in the washing machine to kill this bacteria even at low temperatures. Presumably this product is not made of natural plant oils, but probably androgenising chemicals that kill good stuff and infect waterways. Even if it doesn't do that it makes us spend money that could be spent on something better and makes us feel that by doing good we are doing bad. I have no idea whether there are bacteria on my clothes or not, and frankly I don't care. I have been washing at 30 for nearly 10 years, using only soap nuts for about 4 years and I don't seem to be dying of bacteria infestation.

The next advert to get my goat is one that I heard without seeing. Lots of people talking about all the green things they do, making dinner from scraps, turning off lights, quite a range of things. I didn't see it and it didn't say what it was advertising it just said it was "thanking the people greening Britain". Later I saw the advert and it was for EDF. What more do I need to say? I am not surprised they are thanking people for greening Britain it takes the heat off them and means people are less likely to notice that they are blackening Britain. Harumph.

vegan skill share event leads to thoughts about home schooling

I went to a local social/community centre yesterday to do a "skill share workshop", led by my friend. We learned how to make vegie burgers, and then had a little competition type thing to try changing the recipe and see who made the best burgers. I have been vegetarian for 13 years and never once made a vegie burger (*blush*). However I have also been cooking for 12 years and so general principles of cooking make sense to me.

At the start we were asked who had made vegie burgers before and almost everybody else said yes (there were a couple of other adults, and three 14-16 year olds). At one point I found myself being lectured to by a 16 year old about how ridiculous it was that I did not cook for myself until I went to university. I am not quite sure how my mum would have felt if I had started cooking and not eating her food, nor how she would have felt about paying for the extra ingredients (everything was budgeted very carefully, we had a calculator to add up what was going into the trolley and only things on the list went in). I don't suppose a 16 year old has had much cause to consider these things though. This however is another blog entirely! Anyway, despite my never having cooked for myself til i was 18, and never having made a burger til i was 30 it seems I was OK at it! I think general cookery skills were more important in the long run than having made a burger before.

Later I was asked about my organic veg box, which comes from Abel and Cole, however I was unable to say where my distributor was located. I don't think this matters as I have selected them for being ethical and for the range of products they stock which stops me from having to go to supermarkets so frequently. However, I did feel a little looked down on for not knowing this answer. Don't get me wrong everyone was lovely, but they were all far more "knit your own porridge" as Mr Green-Eyes would say (and he would barely tolerate such people as he can barely tolerate me!). Then the 16 year old tells me that there is a local box provider (the provider's name escapes her too), I explain that I am quite happy with my own. Then she suggests I do my shopping at farmers markets. Aside from the added petrol used to get to these farmer's markets I don't especially have the time. Now, I have questioned myself about whether I am being defensive. Lots of people have poor excuses why they can't do things, and generally they could do them if they really wanted, the reason they don't do them is because they don't want to. Maybe I just don't want to?

To be honest, I nearly suggested she should try having a job to go to before telling people how to live their lives or making judgements on the choices they make. I did however decide that actually though at 16 nearly everyone thinks they know everything, and actually at least she had some strong opinions. I don't think I knew any vegans at 16 or people who would have been able to/had the inclination to discuss merits of various organic distributors.

I was kind of surprised though that some of the others were home schooled, and had a friend who is steiner school educated. One of the adults at the skill-share was actually talking to another (who I happen to know to be a maintained-school teacher, I guess maybe he doesn't know that) and almost making the assumption that any socially inclusive/vegan/whatever label fits/knit-your-own-porridgers would do anything but home school their children. Apparently they have a home school group at the centre. It got me thinking... I usually align with the green-anarchistic camp at least philosophically if not practically... should I be pro-home-schooling? Am I pro-home-schooling? Strange thing for a maintained teacher to be considering, should have some faith in the system I am part of (a wall I am a brick of?)

My gut is that I am not pro-home schooling, just like my gut is that I am not pro going round all the farmers markets in the area hoping I can get enough stuff to run my house. But then I wonder whether I am just displaying the classic defensive behaviour that people show when faced with people doing something "better" than them?

Oh and this is a link to my burgers! Mine are the ones in the main picture, the little girl is not mine however! I am on the left of the picture in the middle of the second round of small pictures (follow that? Well done!)

Burgers!!!!

Meat-free Mondays? For a Vegetarian?

Meat-free Mondays are a concept of which I am aware, I didn't really know who or how it started it, but I knew it was an environmental/ethical movement to try to reduce the amount of meat eaten, and therefore the inhumane conditions, waste products and general unenvironmentalness that meat-eating entails. I think it's a good idea in principle. Why people think that just because they "can" they therefore "should" or "need to" eat meat with every meal is beyond me. I mean, plenty of people only used to meat once a week less than 50 years ago, why is that we now think we won't make it past the end of the day without meat?

So anyway, I would like to get involved with meat-free mondays, but as I already have meat-free mondays, and tuesdays, wednesdays, thursdays, fridays, saturdays and sundays I thought I would do animal-free mondays. I have a fairly animal free week already as I use soya milk and margarine and rarely eat honey. It's cheese, yoghurt and saturday morning boiled eggs that wreck it! As well as any ingredients in products made from these things.

Most of the time I think I should be vegan, and I ashamed to say the only reason I am not is because I can't be bothered, and I like eating out a lot. Not very moral or ethical reasons eh? Most of the time we are pretty much vegan at home, but as I say, things creep in.

So from tomorrow onwards I am doing animal-free mondays!

It was only after starting to write this post that I discovered the website for MFM:
http://www.supportmfm.org/index.cfm

And thus discovered they recommend animal free for vegetarians.

adventures

As regular readers will know I like to take my holidays without the use of an aeroplane. This is a somewhat recent occurrence. In December 2007 I flew to Amsterdam for a friend's 30th birthday having never properly considered the impact of flying (I know, late to the party). It was while we were there that another friend, who had also flown, said they were surprised that I had chosen to travel by plane. Apart from getting to france by ferry or chunnel I hadn't even considered the possibility you could get on holiday by anything other than a plane (d'oh! I would like to add thought that despite this I have not flown many times as a consenting adult). I was mortified to discover that we could have travelled to amsterdam by ferry or train for less money and only slightly more time than a plane.

Since them I have taken 2 holidays by ferry/chunnel and car to france, one holiday by train to russia, mongolia and china, and then on by ferry to japan, and one this year to brussels and amsterdam by train. This year I will be travelling to the south of france by train.

I am now starting to daydream about future holidays. I may have a baby by next summer so who knows how far in the future I am dreaming! My most desired holiday destination at present would be somewhere in southern africa, botswana probably. I have found a fantastic overland tour of south africa, botswana and zambi, starting and ending in johannesburg. I would love to do this, but how to get to Jo'burg? Freight ship appears to be the answer, but as the journey takes 30 days I am not likely to be having this particular holiday anytime soon.

I started to read more about travelling as a fare-paying passenger on a cargo ship. It sounds most adventurous! So, the next trip I have planned is in South America... Freight ship to mexico via new orleans and the bahamas! Once in South America I would like to see mexico, peru and chile (and visit my friend in Bolivia). But as the freight ship alone takes 22 days again, I don't think I'll be doing that for some time.

So maybe north africa then? Morocco is on a serious list of a holiday that I hopefully really will do in the near future. You can get to morocco via train and ferry with a day in Madrid along the way, in only 48 hours.

However I have just found this great Egypt to Istanbul journey that I think I would like to take. You can get to egypt by eurostar to paris, and then train to venice, then ferry to cairo, arriving in cairo on day 3 (you can make the journey overland which sounds very exciting, but does involve a 19 hour bus ride and takes a total of 19 days and sounds like it has the potential to go a bit wrong!). Then I would spend 22 days travelling from egypt through syria and jordan to turkey. i would then like a couple of days and nights in istanbul, before taking the train home. Train home would take in Bucharest, Budapest and Vienna. I like the sound of this for my next "big" trip, whenever that may be.

I hope I never have to step foot on a plane again, overland travel is so much more fun. I just wish I had endless amounts of time.

it's a cat's life

You may recall I discussed my thoughts on the newspaper article about how your pet can be more environmentally un-friendly than a 4x4.

After careful consideration I am getting 2 cats. I still have some issues to work through. When they come to me they will still be kittens (i know i know, why not recycle a rescue cat? I was going to, and then these ones needed homes, so they are all cats aren't they, they all need homes? Maybe I should have left the kittens to someone who would never get a rescue cat? Well, I haven't. I am having kittens) so many of these questions don't need answering just yet.

The biggest question for me was should they be allowed outside? My dearest Mr Organik believes it is wrong to keep cats indoors. I believe it's OK especially if they have never been outside and you provide them with adequate facilities. My garden is very meadow like (where is this going? Hang on in there, I come back round to topic!) and attracts all sorts of wildlife. We had a "pet" fox one year, we have 2 squirrels regularly although I have only seen 1 recently, bees, birds, butterflies, and my favourite of all slugs, sometimes they even decide to join us in the house for a party. Had to nip that one in the bud! So anyway, we are a bit lazy and this is why the garden is as it is, but I am not a fan of the heavily manicured garden anyway, and a happy coincidence is the wildlife we support. So it seems a shame that my cats will lay that to rest. So I have decided they will be in at night, and certainly at dawn and dusk when cats do most of their killing. So, point one compromise with me and the mr reached, compromise with the environment reached.

Next point is cat litter... If I keep them in at night they have to have a litter tray. Most traditional cat litter is mined exclusively for the purpose of making cat litter. Hmmm. Not sure about this. So I looked into more environmentally friendly option, biodegradable pellets, shredded paper (my bills maybe?!!) but apparently they don't like this as much. There are complex environmentally friendly litter tray solutions, but these are all made of plastic, plus I am being given a litter tray and do not wish to create additional waste. I am considering training them to use the toilet. Everyone seems to think this is a crazy idea, but surely this is the most environmentally friendly option?

Next food... I am vegetarian. I do not intend to raise my cat as vegetarian. I think this is wrong. Everything I have read says cats, unlike dogs, need a meat based diet. But again, many cat food brands are either subsidiaries of evil companies, and/or they source meat as purely for cat food that would have been fit for human consumption, whereas there is meat left over from the human meat industry which could make cat food. I need to read more about this to decide.

I am trying to get natural cat toys and bedding and things too. Not things made of plastic and man-made materials. There is a brand at Pets at Home called Willow, where it all looks natural, but as it makes no claims to be organic or anything on it I am suspecting it is trying to cash in on the organic market without being that at all. Of course I can see it is made from sisal and hessian and things and not plastic so I can see with my own eyes it is less artificial than some of the toys.

So many questions, what are the answers?!

my poor neglected blog!

I ave neglected this a little. I haven't stopped the environmental cause though. I had a miscarriage, but while pregnant I was debating with myself the environmental impact of a child in a western, northern hemisphere country.

My considerations were - do I as a vegetearian eat fish to ensure my developing baby gets enough omega-3 for brain and eye development (I was eating a spoonful of flaxseed oil everyday anyway, bleurgh! But there are some question marks over whether this short chain omega 3 is useful even given the poor conversion rate to long chain omega such as that found in fish).

-what nappies will I use?
-will I use washable wipes?
-what about toys etc?

Then I had a miscarriage and had to wear pads (sanitary towels) while I was bleeding and spotting - 18 days. I normally use a mooncup and cloth pads at night, but I didn't have enough cloth pads, so I felt awful contributing to landfill. My wonderful husband points out that this is better for the environment than having a child! Hmm.

Anyway, we are getting cats so that throws up it's own issues. I have blogged on pets before, and my next post will either be about volcanoes and lack of planes in the sky (yay!) or about cats. I'm not sure yet, but let's hope it doesn't take so long as this post to happen!

January was my "buy nothing new" month. I did actually fail a bit - I "accidentally" bought an umbrella. That said not having bought it wouldn't have done much because I did need one, so not buying it for the whole of January would only have delayed me buying it til february, and then I may not have seen the charity umbrella that I ended up buying. There were also several other things I needed which I put off buying until February (for instance a new eyebrow pencil, the good shopping guide etc). Most of these I have actually still not bought, but I don't think the challenge will reduce my consumption of those things, I have not been using my eyebrow pencil any less for instance, so buying one in january would just have meant i had it ready to start using sooner. There were a few items I probably would have bought if it hadn't been the challenge, which I have now forgotten about and no longer want, so the challenge was successful with those things.

Talking of things which haven't been bought and therefore have slipped from the mind, hence I didn't really want.... I wonder how many of the possessions in my own home are actually category instances of that that just managed to get past the first filter. Which of the things in my home would I not have missed had I never bought them? Time to find those things and get them out, free up the house and mind, and try not to fill it with these things again!

I think a challenge is a good way to focus the mind. Obviously I was already aware that everything I buy has a carbon and a waste value associated with it, both post consumer and in production. In fact production is something that has been bothering me more and more of late, but I think i will leave that barely touched upon for now, and will come back to that issue another time.

So even though I knew all that, and do think about it when I buy things I think sometimes I push it to the back of my mind, whereas the challenge brought it to the front of my mind (most of the time, except when I was in tescos and bought the umbrella). So, even though I am not continuing with the challenge this month, I am still thinking about all new purchases and trying to decide how necessary they are. I am trying to buy predominantly used where possible, or not at all. Most of the things we buy we were living perfectly happily without for many years before, we don't really need them at all. Of course part of being a human is having some things we don't need, but do like, and I am happy with that. I try to make these things things which make me feel happy, and if possible fair trade and sustainable. Where this isn't possible I am not going to beat myself up for tiny things. I am on a journey and doing the best I can, and doing better over time.

A small problem? No, a micro-problem!

My microwave is broken, well maybe it isn't even very broken, but it's making funny noises and doing weird things with the lights, and basically I'm a bit scared of microwaves so we haven't tried anything since then.

I have tried calling every microwave repair person in the city, and just outside and they either never answer their phone and don't call back, or the wrong number is listed on yell! If I travel too far it will become a toss up which is more environmentally friendly, repairing the microwave and driving to get it done or just buying a new one.

Apparently currys will recycle my old one, but that doesn;t help all the resources and waste it will take to make my new one, plus the energy expended to get the other one recycled.

I read a thing a while ago that said if you already owned a microwave then it was environmentally sound to use it as they use less energy than conventional ovens, but that if you didn't have one already it was doubtless unethical to buy one. But now I am trying to find out how bad they are, and pretty much drawing a blank.

At first it was OK, but now I am starting to wish there was one. I don't use it loads, but I do steam veg in it, and reheat meals which have been made the day before. I think it is less environmentally sound to keep using the cooker to reheat, and to use extra washing liquid and water to clean things which have stuff baked on.

The last microwave has lasted about 8 years, so it;s not like it's an everyday purchase, but not a once in a lifetime one either.

I don't really know what the best thing to do is. Nothing until January and the buy nothing new challenge is over!

What a load of bog roll!

With regards to Going Paperless I decided to monitor how much toilet roll I used. Crunchy Chicken reckons that the average american uses 8.9 sheets on average per visit to the throne room, adding up to a total of 57 sheets per day. Wowzers!

Since monitoring I have found that it varies, or can vary greatly, day to day, even (hopefully this won't be TMI) if there are similar jobs to be done on the throne each day. However, either Americans use single ply loo roll, or they do more poos or something because my daily average is 13.25 sheets.

This does admittedly add up to 4836.25 sheets in a year, which with rolls of 200ish sheets is 24 toilet rolls a year. Which actually is 2 per month, which I would have thought would be more than I used, but there you go.

Of course this doesn't take into account blowing your nose and the like, but I do try to use a hanky. I do that partly just because I prefer the feel of real cotton on my face, and not toilet paper, but now I am actively trying to reduce paper wastage I shall make sure I use that.

Nothing New there then!

So, since January 1st 2010 I have been on a self-set challenge to buy nothing new. However if you read my last update on this challenge you will be aware that I did rather intentionally buy somehting new (some fairtrade christmas crackers for next year) and somewhat accidentally and without thinking about it a bottle of water, although this remains arguably within the rules as I didn't state anything about water consumption. I do however have some vaguely coherent internal rules about buying bottled water, and such a purchase would normally be one I would try to limit, however on that particular day I had forgotten to take a bottle of water with me, and I did need a drink, so is it better or worse to buy a bottle of water or a bottle of fizzy pop? There weren't a great deal of highly ethical options in the motorway services shop.

It is also rather dolefully that I admit to accidentally buying an umbrella. I know, I know, how can one accidentally buy an umbrella? Well, my umbrella has been around for a good few years and has been half way round the world with me and back again, it has been well loved and well used for some time now, but is also broken. One of the arms/spokes? won;t extend. It catches in my hair, and drips onto my neck, and the taggy bit then hangs in my face, trying it the other way round seemed far worse in terms of how dry i was keeping, or rather how wet I was getting. This I have been putting up with, but now it is getting tempramental in whether it will actually let me open it up and stay opened. The mechanism seems to be gone. It's a shame because it has been good for not turning itself inside out in the wind, it also folds up really small making it not only a great companion for travelling, but also an easy addition to my bag.

So, I saw this teensy umbrella reduced in (argh, dare I say it? I am reducing the amount i go there) Tesco, it was perfect. I left it on the shelf thinking of my (not ethically related) new year's resolution of having a budget per month, and thinking an umbrella was a particularly unsexy way to spend my limited budget. Then at the cash desk I decided that I do in fact need an umbrella and so should get it. Proceeds to Marie Curie too (although I do know that it's probably about 10p they got). It was only on the way home that I realised my mistake.

Still, I was going to buy a replacement umbrella soon enough, resisting buying it wouldn't have really changed anything about the world, just ever-so slightly delayed it.

There are some things on my want list though, they will have to wait til February though. 12 days to go until I can have:
-a glass drinking straw from http://www.glassdharma.com/straws.html
-the good shopping guide. This year I want to get a lot better at avoiding products from unethical companies

Travel

...the romance and sense of adventure is undeniable...

So says Time Out's Great Train Journeys of the World about 5000 mile journey on the trans-siberian railway. This is a journey I took this year. We left home by bus, then first class train to London, where we had a champagne (not very ethical I'm sure!) in the longest champagne bar in the world. We boarded Eurostar that lunchtime, and arrived in Brussels in the afternoon. A short train ride later and we were in Cologne for dinner and the rest of the evening.



Later on day 1 we boarded our first sleeper, bound for Warsaw





Day 2 we arrived in Warsaw, and had lunch and some chill out time there, before boarding our second sleeper train to Moscow, through Belarus. So, 48 hours of travelling time and 1924 miles later and we were in Moscow for 3 days.



Then we started the third day of travel. Yaroslavsky station in Moscow saw the start of, arguably, the greatest train journey in the world (and said to be the longest, except we went trans-mongolian, which is slightly shorter. At 21.35 Moscow time we boarded Train number 4 bound for Beijing.

















The train travelled through western Russia and into Siberia, and then into the steppe land of Mongolia. You go to bed one night and wake up the next to the rolling green hills, desolate except for the occasional ger





Then gradually the scenery shifts as you enter and traverse the Gobi Desert



We were even lucky enough to see wild camels. I had pretty much given up hope, and then there they were!



The sunsets on the Mongolian plains





Later that same night we arrive in China to a fanfare! Literally. The bogies then need to be changed, which is a lengthy process. We then have a quick shop in the station shop, which is possibly the most exciting thing I had ever done in my life before that moment. Words cannot describe how excited I was to be in China. Then I somehow managed to sleep, and woke up to China proper. People in conical straw hats line the edges of the railing, digging and planting and tending to things



Later that same day we arrived in Beijing station. So 6 days and 4735 miles later and we are at our destination of Beijing (this so far makes 8 days of travelling and 6659 miles totally)





After 3 days in Beijing the journey begins again with an overnight train to Shanghai





10 hours and 914 miles later and we are in Shanghai (total so far 8.5 days and 7573 miles)





The next day we left China on a ferry found bound for Kobe, Japan





So, 2 days and 1093 miles later and we were in the land of the rising sun. So far we have spent 10.5 days travelling and 8666 miles have been traversed. What an adventure!




From Kobe we travelled to Kyoto, and then after a couple of days in Kyoto we travelled by Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo







On the last day we took a private railway line up to the lakes of Fuji. Unfortunately Fuji was surrounded in low lying cloud that day, so despite climbing some metres upwards, on foot, not cable car, we could really only see the foothills of Fuji, and the space in the sky where the summit would be




It's hard to be precise, but I think we travelled about 1636 miles within Japan on trains





So about 10.5 total days of travelling time, plus odd couples of hours here and there, and just over 10000 miles travelled, by train, bus, underground train, boat, ferry, monorail, coach, minibus, rickshaw and pink swan shaped peddle boat! And that gets you half way round the world!

Unfortunately we didn't have time to make the same journey home again, so we had to fly. But I am committed to eradicating flying from here on in!

Of course this does still have a carbon impact, but it is lower than by flying, and happening at ground level, and is not compounded by some of the additional gases in aviation pollution.

Go paperless?

It's what all the eco-types are doing, and what all the big businesses are doing to greenwash the rest of the shady practices, encouraging you to go "paperless". I have gone paperless with my bank accounts, credit cards and several utility bills.

Then I started thinking about reducing other paper products... I currently use kitchen roll (for holding my boiled eggs, cleaning up spills in the kitchen, wiping the grease off my hands if we have a take away, and as the first absorption layer when pressing tofu) and of course, toilet roll.

I was reading Fake Plastic Fish and Beth was recommending some cloth alternatives to kitchen roll. The particular ones she recommended were totally natural (no plastic hiding in them like most cloths and cloth wipes) and biodegradable/compostable when the end of their life is reached, and come in minimal card packaging. Unfortunately they only seem to be available in the US. I am sure there must be some sort of equivalent product in the UK, I need to do some research to find it, but I wanted those, I liked the look of them.

Then I was thinking about the bog roll (I would never say that out loud, I call it "loo paper" normally!) and actually said to someone, "don't worry we won't be getting rid of that" (except I probably shouldn't have said it out loud because experience has taught me that many of the things I now do, think and like are things I have previously said "never" to). I actually didn't really even think anyone (except in countries where bidets are the norm, or people are very poor) didn't use it.

We buy 100% recycled paper. But then I was reading on Crunchy Chicken about her cloth wipe challenge. Strange I would read this at the same time I have been thinking about it. She and her family use cloth for "#1s" and paper for "#2s" but plenty of people apparently use wash and wipe even for number 2s. This would be very impractical for us as throne room is quite distinct from the washroom, so to speak.

Anyways, for the time being I don't think I will be making that change, and I doubt I ever will, but as I say, I used to say I hated dreads, thought washable menstrual wear was a bridge too far and wouldn't want my lip pierced, I didn't like soya milk and thought it was ok to fly.

I used to think paper wasn't that bad... it biodegrades over time, it comes from sustainably managed forests or it is recycled. Then I learned that it degrades anaerobically in landfill and produces greenhouse gases, so I stopped throwing any paper away at all. For many years now it has all gone in the recycling, been used up, or gone in the compost. Then I stopped buying paper that wasn't recycled as far as reasonably possible because of the higher energy costs in virgin production as compared with recycling. But of course the energy costs of recycling are far higher than not using it at all.

Crunchy Chicken states that on average US citizens use 8.6 sheets of paper per trip to the toilet, which she equates to 57 sheets per day, which I calculate to be 6.63 toilet trips per day. Much as I love her blog, really? US citizens go to the toilet more than 6 times a day? Using 8.6 sheets even just for a wee? Maybe that is single ply figures so really it is 4.3 of our usual 2 ply, but even that sounds like a lot, even for an average across #1s and #2s. Some people must be using hella toilet paper!

Anyway, an effort to reduce toilet paper consumption for the sake of the paper, the waste, and the costs of cleaning the water seem like a good thing all round.

TMI? I have used 7 sheets so far today. I haven't been trying to use a minimal amount. I thought I would just see, for curiosity's sake how much I use in a day, and then maybe try to reduce. How much do you use each day?

The buy-nothing new challenge....

Half way through... I meant to update weekly, but life kind of got in the way of things.

My challenge to myself was to buy nothing new for the whole of January. My self-set rules allow me to buy used second-hand.

15 days into January, what have I bought? Have I bought anything new? How is the challenge going?

Well, disappointedly I tell you I did in fact buy something new only 4 days into the challenge. I was in Oxfam, and saw the fairtrade crackers I wished I had known about before I had bought non-fairtrade ones for christmas just gone, but also kind of pleased I hadn't known about, cause if I had have done I would have bought them, and at twice the price for half as many it would have been 4 times as expensive. So there they were in the January sale at half price! So, 2 boxes in hand ready for christmas coming which I will no doubt be hosting (hopefully with a BabyOrganik) I remembered my challenge. I left the queue to put them back. Then decidedly stepped back into the queue. I thought that if there is a BabyOrganik at christmas I may decide not to spend the extra cash and so no fairtrade crackers would get bought, I also thought I didn't want them to go to waste and wanted Oxfam to sell them. I basically decided on the spur of the moment that fairtrade of somehting you actually *want* to buy beats self-set challenge.

On the day before that I also bought some things, but I don't think they can count - I bought screenwash and deionised water for the car... as I had been driving along at 70mph I got a load of snow on the windscreen, so went to clear it and smeared muddy slush all across the windscreen hampering visibility. Pulled the wash stick to squirt it and nothing happened. Cue mega anxiety and semi-immediate (as soon as safely possible) stoppage to resolve the issue, hence screenwash and water. Surely safety also beats self-set challenge? Stop me if you think I am just talking myself out of all my purchases and therefore rendering my challenge void.

What probably wasn't okay was the bottle of drinking water I bought at the same time to try and cure the anxiety induced dry mouth I was suffering from. I didn't specify at any point to what level foods and drinks would count.

I have made a few other purchases this month, but they have all been used items, or experiences, or consumables - a used purple cord skirt, 2 cinema tickets, a drink in a bar, a used white stuff gilet, that's all I think. Although, now I come to think of it, one of the cinema tickets was for Avatar 3d and I had to purchase 3d spectacles. I think that probably counts. That only just occurred to me.

So, now we know the mistakes I have made, has it made any difference at all? Have I avoided buying anything or are these the only things I would have bought anyway?

Well, I said "no" to curry at from the take away across from work today, partly based on the excess packaging issue, although that isn't strictly in this challenge. I have avoided bidding on ebay on a few things I actually would have quite liked - a pink spotty cord skirt, some ethnic style leggings and a pair of fairtrade gloves as a present for Mr Organik. I really need a new measuring jug, but for now I am making do with guestimating multiples and fractions of tea mugs! I also nearly bought a replacement for my waning eyebrow pencil, until I remembered. I will have to eke that one out!

So half way through and my fails are as follows:

• 2 boxes of oxfam fairtrade crackers


• bottle of drinking water


• 3d glasses at cinema

Adventures with an organic veg box!

So my first Abel&Cole organic box arrived today. It arrived just as I was leaving for work but i didn't have time to do anything with it. Even though I had looked at what was on the list I was still excited to see what had come.

I feel really good about this new lifestyle change. I hope I can keep up with all the cooking that it demands. I love the fact we are no longer buying eggs or milk from the supermarket, and hopefully the bread will be nice and will freeze well so we can buy bread from them too. I am considering giving up eggs and milk entirely, especially after reading this article which admittedly is about slaughterhouses, but the poor cows and chickens do all end up somewhere, not to mention the majority of the male offspring. I originally became vegetarian because of video footage showing (not quite as bad as) this sort of thing. I just don't want to be responsible for that sort of treatment to animals. Anyway, that is totally another post!

So, I got home and we have carrots, leaks leeks (that was a total typo, there are no leaks, that I know of, although apparently in glasgow many people's pipes are busting with all this freezing weather), potatoes, onions (although I kind of think maybe they came from somewhere else as they are not on the receipt, but they certainly weren't there when I left the house this morning!), fennel, ramiro pepper, cherry tomatoes, oranges, kiwis and bananas. I am a bit slow on the uptake and was really surprised to see the mud still on my vegies!! lol!

I am going to make leek and fennel risotto. What does fennel even taste like anyway? I have no idea whether I will even like this food, but how do you know if you don't try? I can always tell them I don't like it and then they won't send it.

Then as i was sat pondering what to do with the vegies there was a sharp knock at the door and there stood our local greengrocer, the one we used to get our veg from, but now we have a veg box...

Seems Mr Brown Eyes has bought up pretty much their entire shop! They sell lots of on-the-way-out-of-date food from health food shops, organic shizzle for dead cheap, most of our kitchen looks like a Holland & Barrett stock room at the best of times. I have no idea where this new stuff will go, it won't fit in the kitchen. I wonder what it even is!

Anyway, often to find out whether I like fennel!

A time for reflection

A new year seems to be a good time to reflect upon what it is I already do, and where I would ultimately like to go, or maybe what the next steps are.

My ethical journey all began about 13 years ago I guess, when I turned vegetarian. Well, I suppose it probably began before that as I first turned vegetarian when I was 11, some 19 years ago now. It didn't last long. I used to sneak things made of meat as though it mattered whether anyone else knew, not whether I knew. My mum at that time said she wasn't prepared to cook two different meals. At that point I don't think I even really knew why I thought it was wrong to eat meat. I went back to eating it properly and kind of pushed the idea to the back of my mind until I was 17 when I decided I could no longer carry on doing what I thought was wrong. I then knew why I didn't want to eat animals any more and from that point on I haven't. From there I went to university and I don't know as ethics figured much in my life.

Then there are other things that I have always just done I suppose, energy saving light bulbs, recycling glass and drinks cans and washing at 40 degrees. I guess the rest of the journey started about 2 and a half-ish years ago, when I started to think I was into ethical living but didn't know much about it. I then bought flights to Amsterdam for a friend's birthday at new year, rather ashamedly I admit I didn't even think there was an alternative. Then that Christmas I received the Rough Guide to Ethical Living, which was the starting point for many of the subsequent changes in my life. Including the guilt I felt for taking that flight to get to Amsterdam, which is where I was when I read that book.

So, what do I do?

House and Garden

• electricity from 100% renewable supplier Good energy


• Insulation in roof was increased this year


• Energy saving light bulbs used throughout and in lamps


• Heating used sparingly (we only use it in the evening, and daytime at weekends, never in the morning, and only once there is a real need, this year we didn't have it on at all until the last week in November for 1 day, and then not until December)


• We only flush the toilet when necessary


• No hosepipe used


• Garden in semi-wild state to encourage wildlife (OK this has come about more through inactivity than plan, but I do prefer it, it just needs a little more planning to introduce wild flowers and such)

The bad or the to-do

• we only have single glazing so that leads to some heat loss, Mr Brown-eyes wants uPVC, but I don't, but I would like some sort of secondary glazing, and some better curtains


• I used dulux paint last time I decorated, and I have half the paint for the next time, so I will do then too, but after that I want to use an eco-paint company


• Sort out the garden to keep it tidy, but increase wildlife, particularly bees


• would like a new boiler and heating system with thermostatic control

Cleaning and Laundry

• We wash at 30 degrees and never use the tumble dryer


• we use soap nuts to wash in, no softener


• we use ecover toilet cleaner, parsley kitchen cleaner and some sort of natural bathroom cleaner


• we use all recycled paper products - toilet roll, kitchen roll etc

The bad and the to-do

• I have a fair few less environmentally friendly cleaners, although to be fair, that Mr Muscle oven cleaner has been under the sink (well this sink and the last) for the past 8.5 years, I don't use much of it!


• I plan to buy no more bad cleaning products, but I don't really know what to do with the ones I already have... Just use them up I suppose and not replace them. Throwing them away would cause harmful chemicals to leech into landfill, is this better or worse than very slowly putting them into the water supply? I just want them gone from under my sink, but I find myself looking at them and not using them. I could give them away to someone who uses those sorts of products, thereby ever-so slightly reducing the number of them that they would buy, hmmm....


• I would like to get into making my own home cleaners. I do use vinegar occasionally (I actually don't clean very often!) but have not used bicarb or borax for cleaning ever!


• Get some heat retaining curtains


• Only use environmentally friendly paint after I have used the paint I already have and for the jobs already planned for with that paint


• reduce paper products - I have seen some cloth alternatives to kitchen roll


• switch to sustainable cleaning cloths and brushes - no plastic, biodegradable


• There is still a bottle of fairy and a bottle of anti-bac soap - no more fairy, no more anti-bac, no more liquid soap (sure Mr Brown-eyes will agree with this)

Travel

• We own one small energy-efficient car which I only use on longer journeys


• I walk to work and get the bus for short journeys


• I get the train where possible and almost always for journeys where I am a sole traveller. I do this even when it costs more and is more inconvenient


• I limit flying

The bad and the to-do

• would like to travel by train more, I just wish the train companies did not make this so hard, for instance to do the 42 mile journey I wanted to do tomorrow would cost us about £9 for the round trip between the 2 of us, door to door. To get the train would cost us £31 EACH, plus the bus tickets to the train station, plus it takes longer, and we could only leave here at 12.39 or later and we wanted to get there in the morning. It doesn't make the train a very viable choice a lot of the time. I don't know the way around this. In the example I have just given we are simply not travelling, but this isn't always an option


• I would like to say I will never fly again, but that is probably unfeasable. I would definitely like to say as well that I will never fly again in Europe. We aren't too bad with this... in 9 years I have taken 5 short haul return flights and a single long haul flight. Some of those were before I started trying to restrict flying. I want to take my holidays by train from now on. I started this year with the train to China (yes, train all the way to China, then the ferry to Japan. We went all the way to Japan without stepping on a plane, unfortunately this is where the single long haul flight came in for the return journey)

Food and drink

• I am vegetarian


• I am committed to reducing dairy


• I try to buy local and reduce supermarket shopping, shopping mainly with ocado


• I try to cook food from basic first ingredients


• I buy some things organic


• bananas, tea, coffee and sugar are all fair trade


• I partially switched to fair trade only chocolate and supported some traffikfree events which have resulted in more major brands being traffic free

The bad and the to do

• Start using an organic box scheme


• ALL dairy to be organic, or non-dairy, if that makes any sense!


• Less supermarket shopping


• Eating out in small businesses only


• ALL chocolate to be fair trade


• I want to grow some of my own veg

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

• We recycle all doorstep stuff which includes certain plastics, paper and card, glass and metals


• We save our tetrapaks to take to the nearest tetrapak recycler when we go


• I take our vegetable waste to work to put in the compost bin


• I compost brown card and paper, except some of the paper bags which I keep to take to the supermarket to put veg in


• We have reusable bags, and should we accept any bags we keep them and reuse


• I buy recycled, upcycled and second hand goods


• I save all wrapping paper and packaging to reuse


• We have some dynamo powered electrical products


• I would like my own compost bin, and water butt

The bad and the to-do

• The biggest thing for me is that I buy too much. I like to look nice and have a passion for clothes and shoes. I do need to reduce this though if I am to stop hidden waste from production and transportation. This is biggie for me.


• Find somewhere to recycle broken plastic bags, batteries (which are currently saved in a pot in the kitchen) and foil (which I have just started saving even though I don't know who will recycle it!)


• There are still too many plastic bags in my house. They should be used up and then eradicated completely. To be fair though many of the bags are years old though!


• Too many of the products we use have too much packaging, I should stop using these and write to the manufacturers to tell them why. Unseen packaging is however a concern for me


• switch all battery powered products to rechargable batteries

Health, Hygiene and Beauty

• Switched to the Mooncup ages ago and have never looked back; health, environment, waste, finances, it's a winner all round!


• started using cloth pads, my favourite sort being Luna Wolf, I also like that buying these generally supports small female run businesses


• switched all cleansers, soaps, moistursers, toners and deodorants to Lush


• All cosmetics are non-animal tested - Bnever, Urban Decay and Barry M
  
• switched to zero packaging shampoo, deodorant, and make up remover all from Lush


• switched to washable cloths and pads in place of cotton wool for make-up removal


• Some natural remedies for hayfever, insect bites, headaches etc


• I take showers not baths

The bad and the to-do

• My hair - is made from plastic and dyed with chemicals. I tried to use henna but it didn't do anything. I don't really know how to resolve this situation, but it is top of my priorities to find a solution for


• There are still a few disposable menstrual products, want to not use these at all


• Stop using shower gel as much, even though it is from Lush, to reduce packaging, see it as a treat only


• Nail varnish and nail varnish remover - I don't know of an ethical nail varnish remover, except chipping it off, which is what I do frequently resort to!


• Reduce cosmetics I suppose.... argh

I think this post got very long and complicated, far more so than I had ever envisaged. I suspect I have forgotten many things. My main targets beyond those set above are:

• To become more involved in activism


• to ensure that if and when a baby green-eyes comes along that we maintain what we have already started

This post is not attempting to be a pat-on-the-back congratulatory post, more of view of where I have come from, where I am going to, and what there is to do to get going in that direction.

(no tags because it will only let me have 200 characters which isn't enough for all the tags and i can't decide which to include, I shall just tag it challenge, because overall it is a challenge to improve)

Local or Organic?

As a vegetarian I eat a reasonable amount of vegetables. I buy most of these from the local greengrocer, who sources as much stock as possible from local farmers, but not all. I buy top-ups from asda. I also buy bits and bobs from waitrose. We do a big shop either by going to Tesco, or more frequently these days from ocado online (we are going up in the world!), and will always get some veg in that shop too.

I have some thoughts - don't we all? - about supermarkets. Most of them negative ones. I have some thoughts about supermarkets specific to fruit and veg too. A friend of mine's dad is a farmer and he was telling me about some of the things that supermarkets do to farmers. One such example was that they over-fruit and then insist the farmers buy back the rotting stock that didn't sell. Of course they buy it at ridiculously cheap prices to start with. Farmers are in lose-lose. Leo Hickman's ethical auditors said anyone trying to live more ethically should avoid supermarkets. He switched to an organic veg box scheme.

We have been considering an organic veg box scheme for a while, but weren't sure we wanted to take money away from the local greengrocer. However, they used to deliver to us, but were a bit useless at it, now they don't do it at all. We have to remember to go and get things from them, and they aren't just "over the road" like they used to be. I find I am increasingly buying things from supermarkets and this somewhat distresses me. The supermarket though is more convenient (for me, if not the planet). Leo Hickman's ethical auditors (in his book "My Life Stripped Bare") say that anyone trying to live more ethically should try to reduce their supermarket shopping. I have some friends who manage to not go to the supermarket, except waitrose. So I feel I should try.

Looking into box schemes I read a story about a farmer who was given a large rush order by a supermarket, and he paid people to pick and pack his lettuces, and just as they were ready for delivery he got a call from the supermarket saying they no longer wanted them, they had overestimated. Now picked the lettuces would go off (except this story has a happy ending - the box scheme people bought them all, and presumably they won't make him buy any rotting ones back again, so he won on that one).

Add to this that the supermarkets insist on certain cosmetic characteristics for their veg, they also charge a premium for organic foods thereby making them less available to lower income people. I haven't even touched on the packaging they use, or the even higher amounts of packaging they use on their loose fruit and veg...

So, I have had to weigh up buying locally from a very small business to buying organic from a larger business, but one which does support smaller local farmers, reduces packaging, and has zero air miles.

It will be a big change, harder to plan meals in advance, having to eat seasonally, but a step that feels like the next logical step. We can cancel if we find it isn't working, but I feel like it is really my duty to make it work. I think we will go with Abel & Cole. They also sell milk, bread, ecover washing products, toilet roll, tofu, beer, wine etc etc etc. There is almost no need to ever go in a supermarket again.

I have veg for this week, so I think I will start it next week. I am really looking forward to it.

Factory Farmed Organic chickens?

This would seem to follow naturally on from yesterday's "Chicken or Egg" post. And it does. Mr Brown Eyes and I were talking about whether one needs to own their own chickens in order for them to live in good conditions, or whether we can just pay someone else to do that for us, such as in the case of buying organic eggs.

We used to buy all our eggs free-range until I found out that free-range eggs are fairly routinely de-beaked, because of the unnaturally (if a chicken is at all natural) large flock sizes they live in. Since then we buy free range from a local farmer who does not debeak, or organic if we are elsewhere.

Mr Brown Eyes was saying that industry standard may even move towards organic, that actually there is nothing inherently wrong with large companies and even maybe monsanto (or someone equivalent in size and stature) could farm organic eggs. The thing is that I do not trust large capitalist organisations. They wait for us not to be watching, and then they cut a corner. When that has gone unnoticed they cut another one.

I also felt that I probably couldn't pay anyone to keep chickens as well as I would keep them if I had just 2 in my garden. I presumed an organic (the highest standard of animal welfare) chicken would not have as much space as they would if I just kept 2 in my garden. Or maybe some might, but certainly it would not be assured to be the case. I went using my friend "google" to try to find how much space they would have.

Before finding the answer I got distracted by the very thing that was my initial concerns - big companies not only being outside the law but actually writing the laws themselves (just wait til I get round to writing my GM post!).

I have just been reading an article in times online, admittedly dated in 2007 but nonetheless, stating that organic chickens are typically bred in windowless sheds, given vaccines and fed chemically treated food. Some even have their beaks "trimmed". Hmmm. Apparently this is allowed because of pressure from supermarkets which has resulted in the standards being changed to suit the big companies. I don't much like the fact I live in a country where rules are not made by politicians for people, but are made for profit for companies.

These chickens can be kept in conditions with 14 birds per square metre, they would definitely be better off as 2 in my garden. They are moved to more "organic" conditions as we know them only once they are economically viable.

The Soil Association seems to have the best welfare conditions, so i am going to beware anything organic that is not SA, which only accounts for 30% of organic eggs apparently.

I think I may actually adopt some ex-battery hens:
http://www.bhwt.org.uk/adopt_some_hens.php

I think there was more of a point to this post when I started writing, but I seem to have totally lost the thread!

My buy nothing new challenge

I had been debating having a "green" new year's resolution, but couldn't think of one that I thought was meaningful, or significantly challenging or worthwhile for this year at least.

I decided on something quite separate for an entirely different reason. I made two:
1) look after the house and garden more
2) live more frugally.

It is the second which is or interest to this particular post. So, I have already decided I am to live more frugally. As I say this is not for green purposes, but does come after the consideration and rejection of some similar green style resolutions:
-buy no more new clothes, only second hand
-buy less
-only buy basic clothing etc

I dismissed these for various reasons.

Then today I was reading about the compact whose aim is to buy nothing new. I don't want to permanently go down this route since lots of the new things i buy are fair trade which will directly impact on the lives of others if I stop buying them (don't worry I am not deluding myself by how much it will or won't help - but it certainly won't help people in poor communities if people in rich communities all stop buying their products and instead start living off the waste products of other rich people). Mr Green-Eyed also tells me that we have to consume more in order for the world to carry on turning pretty much. Which I accept, but I actually think that world economics is wrong and we should switch to a non-growth economy. Either way, I don't believe in excess consumption, but I don't think just switching to buying other people's waste is the answer either. The reason there are such good "waste" products in charity shops and on ebay is because people are consuming more new things, so a reduction in consumption in general would be more my speed.

However, I like a challenge, even one riddled with ethical nightmares such as this!

So, my January challenge is to buy nothing new. Nothing new for one month.

Things I am allowed to buy:
-used second hand items
-food and drinks
-food and drinks which come with free gifts so long as the food or drink item would have been bought regardless of the gift.

I will keep you updated :)

Chicken or Egg? Or Cat?

I have been vegetarian for over 13 years, getting towards half of my life. For the past year or so I have been considering taking this to the natural conclusion of veganism. Last year I gave up cows milk (although somehow it crept back in, I think it might go out again this year). I only eat organic dairy when I eat dairy.

My eggs come from a local farmer, who doesn't use organic feed but does meet all the welfare requirements for organic, so I am happy with that. I couldn't see the problem with eggs on a small scale... the hen lays the egg whatever, in fact I do believe, but this could be myth, that they lay more the happier they are, so there is motivation to keep the hen on your side! The eggs they ave laid are not fertilised and so were never going to be chicks. Obviously in large scale farming them some chicks are hatched in order to get new hens and the cocks are killed. There are also welfare issues in standard farming, and even in free-range farming colonies are often too big and hens are de-beaked. (If you don;t know about de-beaking you should google this).

I started thinking I would like my own chickens. They are funny anyway, I quite like to watch chickens. Plus if I kept them myself I could ensure good diet, good conditions and love. Plus I would get eggs and could eat them guilt-free.

Then yesterday I was reading about how tiring it is for hens to lay eggs, and how really if their egg is not fertilised they like to eat it themselves in order to regain some of the lost nutrients. So, even if i kept my own hens maybe i still shouldn't eat the eggs? Maybe I could collect a couple of the eggs and let them have the rest? Would that be a compromise?

Then what about the cat I want to get? Pet owning was discussed in a previous entry. I could hardly have a cat and chickens, that wouldn't be very fair on either of them.

I just watched a video of a man who keeps chickens because he doesn't want a pet like a cat or a dog that just eats food and gives nothing back. Maybe I should get a chicken or 2 instead? I would have to construct somewhere safe so the foxes don't get them though...