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.
Showing posts with label water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water. Show all posts
Sunday, 8 August 2010
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
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.
Saturday, 16 January 2010
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?
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?
Saturday, 19 December 2009
Turkelicious... Or, On being vegetarian
The other day I heard a group of people bemoaning their Christmas poultry. Turkeys, they say, are dry. They would rather not eat them, but that is what they are given. They talk about how they leave them on the plate, or how they endure them with no satisfaction. Yet still they eat them.
As they are defiling the bird does the thought never cross their mind that before being on their plate causing such offence and displeasure it was actually a living, breathing creature? I shouldn't think the turkey much wants to be eaten, never mind being eaten by people who actually don't even like it.
I found the whole conversation offensive. I have actually been vegetarian for 13 years now (with a brief period of pescetarianism, which has long since passed, save for a very short fish eating holiday whilst in Japan, it didn't make me feel big or clever, and was only ever a foray). A few years ago I started to only eat organic dairy and eggs (except for some local eggs from a local farmer who only keeps a small colony and doesn't debeak - so essentially organic except for the feed, organic in terms of welfare) due to living conditions. The deal breaker with the eggs was when i found out that free range egg-laying chickens are frequently debeaked.
About 18 months ago though a realisation, that I think I had been suppressing, came to the forefront of my mind like a thunder clap, and it's hung around like a bad smell since, if it's OK to mix metaphors like minestrone soup. I realised that my whole moral position was invalid.
I became vegetarian after learning about the conditions in which meat animals are kept and killed. Not so much that they are actually killed, more the way in which they were. With time I felt less strongly about this, and more about the health benefits of limiting (to zero in this case) meat intake and increasing plant based foods. Now my position is a mixture of both of those and also more strongly the eco argument. I think it would be fair to say I was an environmental vegetarian.
I haven't actually read that article but in short I believe it is very inefficient in terms of food, water and fuel to eat a meat based diet. I also believe the meat industry to be more polluting, and in some cases toxic. I understand there is a book I need to read called The Vegetarian Myth which deals with whether this is actually the case. At this stage I will state that I have always said that if we were to go back to traditional farming methods and crop rotations and as such we needed animals for manure that I would not really know where I stood. Although I don't see why we would need to eat the animals until they died of natural causes anyway, and at that point there wouldn't be enough for everyone to eat... Anyway, I digress.
So, environmental vegetarian, yes? Yep. Except that then, as I was saying before, I realised my entire moral view fell down. What about the food, water, fuel and pollution associated with the egg and dairy industry? What about the young cockerels and the young calves condemned to death by those same industries? Wasn't I just supporting those? Oh dear. So I toyed with becoming vegan, and this is where I think the morality lies. It's just such a lifestyle change that I don't think I can be bothered. What a weak argument. It guilts me to think that thought let alone say it out loud or blog about it!
I decided to become a "social vegetarian", that is akin to a social smoker where one is a non-smoker except in social situations. I would be a non-vegetarian except in social situations (people's houses, restaurants etc). I would not want to use the word vegan and water down the tremendous will power and effort put in by people who do eliminate ALL animals products from their lives. I did very well for about 7 months - I did still eat eggs, but stopped drinking cows milk, only rarely ate cheese, bought soya alternatives etc. I don't eat a dairy marg anyway. I don't really know what happened with all that. I think I will start it up again. In fact I see a challenge coming on - vegan for a week, how do I do? Then I can try a month etc.
I was having a conversation with a fellow vegetarian last night, I was saying I should grow some backbone and give up eggs and dairy, and he was agreeing, saying he was from a hindu family and that he believed the hindu diet to be the most moral. Then some other people joined in, a couple, where one would like to be vegetarian and one wouldn't, and the one that would feels she can't because of the one that won't. Then someone else joined in saying, "There is no such thing as vegetarian anyway, only carnivores and vegans".
What a crock of shit. What am I then? A carnivore? Hrmmm. I mean, I know she is making my argument (with a thai chicken curry on her plate, mind), but I do believe that anything you do is better than doing nothing.
Of course even what seems to be such a simple line of reasoning such as this does throw open conundrums... Packing, storage and transportation of vegan products may be less energy efficient for starters.
Soya has its own anti-arguments, but there are other alternatives to soya. Not Tiger White though, my god, that substance sounds like the answer, but tastes like the devil! I am a firm believer that you can make yourself like anything if you just keep eating it. Anything except Tiger White.
As they are defiling the bird does the thought never cross their mind that before being on their plate causing such offence and displeasure it was actually a living, breathing creature? I shouldn't think the turkey much wants to be eaten, never mind being eaten by people who actually don't even like it.
I found the whole conversation offensive. I have actually been vegetarian for 13 years now (with a brief period of pescetarianism, which has long since passed, save for a very short fish eating holiday whilst in Japan, it didn't make me feel big or clever, and was only ever a foray). A few years ago I started to only eat organic dairy and eggs (except for some local eggs from a local farmer who only keeps a small colony and doesn't debeak - so essentially organic except for the feed, organic in terms of welfare) due to living conditions. The deal breaker with the eggs was when i found out that free range egg-laying chickens are frequently debeaked.
About 18 months ago though a realisation, that I think I had been suppressing, came to the forefront of my mind like a thunder clap, and it's hung around like a bad smell since, if it's OK to mix metaphors like minestrone soup. I realised that my whole moral position was invalid.
I became vegetarian after learning about the conditions in which meat animals are kept and killed. Not so much that they are actually killed, more the way in which they were. With time I felt less strongly about this, and more about the health benefits of limiting (to zero in this case) meat intake and increasing plant based foods. Now my position is a mixture of both of those and also more strongly the eco argument. I think it would be fair to say I was an environmental vegetarian.
I haven't actually read that article but in short I believe it is very inefficient in terms of food, water and fuel to eat a meat based diet. I also believe the meat industry to be more polluting, and in some cases toxic. I understand there is a book I need to read called The Vegetarian Myth which deals with whether this is actually the case. At this stage I will state that I have always said that if we were to go back to traditional farming methods and crop rotations and as such we needed animals for manure that I would not really know where I stood. Although I don't see why we would need to eat the animals until they died of natural causes anyway, and at that point there wouldn't be enough for everyone to eat... Anyway, I digress.
So, environmental vegetarian, yes? Yep. Except that then, as I was saying before, I realised my entire moral view fell down. What about the food, water, fuel and pollution associated with the egg and dairy industry? What about the young cockerels and the young calves condemned to death by those same industries? Wasn't I just supporting those? Oh dear. So I toyed with becoming vegan, and this is where I think the morality lies. It's just such a lifestyle change that I don't think I can be bothered. What a weak argument. It guilts me to think that thought let alone say it out loud or blog about it!
I decided to become a "social vegetarian", that is akin to a social smoker where one is a non-smoker except in social situations. I would be a non-vegetarian except in social situations (people's houses, restaurants etc). I would not want to use the word vegan and water down the tremendous will power and effort put in by people who do eliminate ALL animals products from their lives. I did very well for about 7 months - I did still eat eggs, but stopped drinking cows milk, only rarely ate cheese, bought soya alternatives etc. I don't eat a dairy marg anyway. I don't really know what happened with all that. I think I will start it up again. In fact I see a challenge coming on - vegan for a week, how do I do? Then I can try a month etc.
I was having a conversation with a fellow vegetarian last night, I was saying I should grow some backbone and give up eggs and dairy, and he was agreeing, saying he was from a hindu family and that he believed the hindu diet to be the most moral. Then some other people joined in, a couple, where one would like to be vegetarian and one wouldn't, and the one that would feels she can't because of the one that won't. Then someone else joined in saying, "There is no such thing as vegetarian anyway, only carnivores and vegans".
What a crock of shit. What am I then? A carnivore? Hrmmm. I mean, I know she is making my argument (with a thai chicken curry on her plate, mind), but I do believe that anything you do is better than doing nothing.
Of course even what seems to be such a simple line of reasoning such as this does throw open conundrums... Packing, storage and transportation of vegan products may be less energy efficient for starters.
Soya has its own anti-arguments, but there are other alternatives to soya. Not Tiger White though, my god, that substance sounds like the answer, but tastes like the devil! I am a firm believer that you can make yourself like anything if you just keep eating it. Anything except Tiger White.
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