Throw Away Food

My daughter used to work at a petrol garage but as it was recently bought up by Tesco, she’s had to go work in one of their Express shops while the garage is knocked down and rebuilt to suit Tesco’s needs. What she has told me about the amount of food that goes to waste there EVERY DAY is appalling.

It’s not as if I didn’t know it happened - I’ve heard all about Freegans and their dumpster diving - but to hear about it straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, kind of brings it home just that little bit more.

Tesco Express shops are small. Anybody who’s ever been in one will know that you couldn’t possibly do your weekly shop there; they’re more like a chain of what was once independently run corner shops only a bit bigger. And yet still they fill at least one, often two large skip sized containers EVERY DAY with food that can’t be sold. Food that’s perfectly ok for human consumption and that could be donated to soup kitchens, refuge centres, hostels and the likes. But no, it’s thrown away. It ends up on the landfill to rot away.

What one of the commenters on my post about Home Baked Bread said something about supermarket bread being more environmentally friendly than that which we bake at home but just how environmentally friendly it is to throw away a large number of loaves, rolls, cakes and the likes every day is highly debatable. Personally, I can’t see how it can be more sound than baking your own because not only are the products ending up on the landfill, the wrappings are too!

Why on earth do they produce so much when they know that so much is going to go to waste every day? Wouldn’t it be better if the shop was simply allowed to run out? I mean, that’s what used to happen when I was a kid. If you went to get your bread too late and they didn’t have any, tough luck. Nowadays we want everything available 24/7 though, but at what price?

I remember when me and my kids had barely a crumb to eat and how grateful I would have been for just a small amount of the food one Tesco store throws away! But it won't change while people keep shopping there. The power ultimately lies with us, but we rarely use it.

Sharon J

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Image Credit: Danny McL

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Consumer Bullying

Image: T.SC

Apparently, a survey has shown that around 55% of teens here in the UK have been bullied because they didn’t have the right products, be that the latest designer trainers, computer game, mp3 player or some other object that's considered ‘cool’.

I know what it’s like to have children bullied by their peers - it puts a LOT of pressure on parents. We have our own standards and ethics that we try to live by yet at the same time the last thing we want is to put our children through the torture of being sent to school each day to meet the bullies and live another day of hell. Because for the kids concerned, it really can be hell, so much so that some teens choose to end their lives rather than face another day of it.

How do we bring our children up to understand the value of things and that true happiness and contentment with life can’t be found in stuff when they’re receiving the opposite message whenever they set foot outside the home? In fact, they don’t even need to do that. All they need to do is switch on the television or open a magazine to be told that they should have whatever they want ‘because they’re worth it’? (The one advert that really make me cringe right now is the one for DFS furniture that uses Nickleback’s ‘Rockstar’ with all it's "I want..." messages).

I clearly remember my daughter asking for a £70 pair of shoes. This while we were living in an area where most people were on benefits and therefore couldn’t have had (shouldn’t have had?) much of a disposable income. Although I was working, I was on a low income and £70 was a lot of money, probably about what I had left each month after carefully budgeting for the bills, food and other necessities. Out of that I had to clothe my children, furnish our home (it was very basic back then) and run a car, the latter of which was important to me because of Paul, who was difficult to travel on public transport with. Seventy quid for a pair of shoes wasn’t only way above and beyond what I would have considered reasonable for a pair of school shoes, it was impossible to find. The result? She got bullied. Badly.

Eventually both girls were bullied to such an extreme that they were taken out of school. They were too afraid to go there - in fact, they were too afraid to even leave the house without me with them. Up until that point, they’d believed that the answer to their problems lay in having the right stuff, but eventually realised that no amount of worldly goods would ever be ‘good enough’ - the bullies would still find something to pick on them for.

And that’s it. Therein lies the dilemma. Do we give in and buy all sorts of stuff for our kids, supporting the consumer band-wagon and possibly putting ourselves into debt, or do we try to help our children understand that the bullying would go on regardless? That being the ‘cool kid’ isn’t always what it appears to be? That attitude is far more important than material status? How far do we let things go before we cave in to their consumer demands?

Mary Whitehouse may have seemed a bit extreme to most of us but she did have a point when she said that television was corrupting society only these days it’s the adverts I’m opposed to. I realise they’re a necessary evil if we’re to have ‘free view’ channels but what kind of freedom is there in being drip fed with non-information about stuff we should have but really don’t need? I don’t care how much people say “It’s our choice”, It’s akin to brain-washing and unless we’re very strong, it’s easy to be misguided, especially while we‘re young and susceptible to all sorts of influences. Yes, we can turn the TV off but does that really mean our teens will never be exposed to it? Of course not.

I don’t have the answer to the problem (but oh how I wish I did!) but it’s a sad state of affairs when our children’s lives are being wrecked because of the pressures of our money oriented consumer society. All I hope is that the credit crunch will have more parents thinking twice about what they buy their kids, and that some of the pressure will eventually lift.

Sharon J

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The Problem With Plastic

Image: Mimi_K

I read quite a few simplicity and ‘green’ blogs and one thing that I’ve noticed is the number of people who are trying hard to eliminate any kind of plastic from their lives. I guess I must be the odd one out, because I don’t have a problem with plastic per se.

The way I see it is that plastic, polythene and other polymer based substances aren’t necessarily bad things - they have their place in our modern society and I’m perfectly happy to use my plastic watering-can, bucket, food storage boxes, garden trug and other bits and pieces and I realise that my telephone is made mostly of plastic, my laptop contains a good deal of it, as does my fridge and a whole host of other useful items. What I’m not happy with is the way in which so many people treat plastics.

It seems to me that the majority still view plastic as something that’s easily disposable. It’s cheap so they’re not losing much when they open the bin and dump it in. Every day,

Apparently, last year 17.5 billion plastic bags were given away by supermarkets here in the UK, equating to 290 bags per person or more than 5 ½ bags for each of us every single day. What on earth are we doing with all those bags?

Also, of the total amount of plastic produced here - around 4.7 million tonnes of it - 35% was produced for packaging alone! That’s more than 1.6 million tonnes of plastic packaging!

When you consider that only around 7% of that total was actually recycled, it’s no wonder our landfills are overflowing with the stuff, not to mention the amount of plastic that’s ‘disposed of’ in the countryside and on our streets.

Even our oceans aren’t free of the stuff. On a world basis, it’s estimated that around 46,000 plastic objects are floating within every square mile! Yepp, shocking isn’t it? Not only are our beaches being swamped with plastic debris washed up by the tides, but marine life is suffering through our selfish abuse of our own ability to create new substances. In fact, 170 different species of marine wildlife have been reported to have been fatally injured through mistaking plastic for food. Here in the UK an average of 2 plastic items can be found on every square meter of beach, either washed up or left behind by visitors.

Plastic’s durable because it doesn’t decompose quickly and therein lies the problem. Because it’s also cheap to produce and therefore acquire, it’s all too easy to just get rid of it again without a thought to where it’ll go or what will happen to it.

Thankfully, things are gradually improving. The government have given stores until next spring to reduce the number of plastic carrier bags they hand out by at least 70% or they’ll introduce a forced fee per bag with the income going to environmental projects (or so they say). Marks & Spencer have voluntarily introduced a 5p charge per bag and already the number of bags they’re handing out has been reduced by 80%, proving that if people have to part with their money for something, they’re more likely to think twice about it. Perhaps the problem with plastic is that it’s simply too cheap?

When you can buy a bucket for £1.99, it doesn’t hurt much to just ‘chuck it’ and buy a new one when the original’s looking past its best or no longer matches the décor, whereas if the same bucket cost £10, I’m sure far more people would think twice.

One of my pet peeves is the amount of plastic that supermarkets use for packaging. I bought two small pork chops a few days ago that were packed in a relatively large plastic tray that was again covered with a sturdy plastic film. Now I realise that, unlike the local butcher, they need to pre-pack their meat while leaving the contents visible but the plastic tray was far larger than it needed to be; at least four, maybe even five, chops would have fitted into it. What a waste!

That’s the last time I buy ‘small’ from the supermarket. I prefer to buy my meat from the butcher anyway, but sometimes I have no choice. From now on, when the supermarket’s my only option I shall buy in bulk. Half a dozen chops, chicken breasts or pieces of steak packed in one piece of plastic has to be better than the same packed in three although I know I still won’t be entirely happy about opening it, dividing the contents for freezing, and then discarding the plastic. Some I can reuse to at least extend their life a little but not all of them. The butcher, on the other hand, wraps his meat in a small piece of plastic film and then greaseproof paper - very little packaging in comparison.

Any plastic carrier bags that come into the house are reused as bin liners - the council still prefers us to wrap our waste rather than dump it straight into the bin (health & safety) and I’m blowed if I’m buying special bin liners! I have a friend who only ever uses scented bin-liners but throws her carrier bags straight into the bin. What, I ask you, is the point?

As I said, plastic is here to stay and has its place in our lives - it’s the way in which we use it that I have a problem with.

Sharon J

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Musically, I'm Not Being Environmentally Friendly

Image: BlakJakDavy

I have an mp3 player somewhere. Richard bought it for me a few years ago although I’m not sure whether it was a Christmas present, birthday present or something he’d bought to keep me entertained during a spell in hospital. Either way, I didn’t use it as much as I first thought I would and right now I haven’t a clue where it is.

I just couldn’t get on with it. There was something about having music stored in a tiny gadget that just didn’t feel right to me. I like to be able to look at the designs of CD covers, read the blurbs that are sometimes in the fold-out paper bit that goes in the plastic case and check the play list. I also like the designs on the actual CDs and the fact that I have something real in my hands.

I know that mp3s are better for the environment - less plastic production blah blah, but try as I might, I just can’t like them let alone love them. In fact, I positively loathe them. I’ve downloaded a few to my laptop but I’ve very rarely listened to them, except for those that I burned onto a CD and have in the car, which is kind of evading the point.

Did you know that a CD actually contains gold? Only a tiny trace but the main problem is the amount of aluminium, polycarbonate (made from crude oil) and acrylic lacquer - yet another form of plastic - that they contain. Then there are the chemical dyes used in the printing. None of this is doing our planet any good whatsoever and yet here I am, still clutching to my CDs instead of embracing mp3s.

Then there’s the packaging. More plastic!

CDs were designed to be virtually unbreakable so you can imagine how long they’re going to be around, either at the landfill or wherever else people decide to chuck ‘em. Hundreds, if not thousands of years! And considering

When you consider that several billion music CDs are sold every year, it’s anybody’s guess how many of them are going to end up as waste. And that’s without thinking about all the DVDs, computer games and CDs used to store photos and stuff on. Piled up, I bet they’d make quite a mountain.

Knowing what to do with used CDs and the likes isn’t easy because general recycling centres don’t take them, at least not as separate waste. Of course, it’s always better to donate them to a charity shop, sell them on eBay, give them to friends, put them on Freecycle or sell them at a care boot sale but what if they’d beyond use?

Luckily there’s a company called The Laundry that recycles them. All you have to do is post them off to them and they’ll strip out the aluminium and polycarbonates for use in the manufacturing of other, new components. I shall save my ‘beyond use’ CDs and DVDs up for them in the future - they’re not exactly heavy after all so postage shouldn’t really be a reason to dump them instead.

But will I ever be converted to mp3s? Time will tell…

Sharon J

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Sales - Are They For The Frugally Minded?

“Offer must end soon” - “One day only” - “While stocks last!" - "Final Clearance"

I went into town a few days ago and there were sales everywhere. Huge stickers were plastered across windows full of items at what appeared to be hugely slashed prices. Clothes, furniture, cosmetics, curtains - you name it, it was on sale.

I didn't buy a thing other than what I went in for. Plastic beakers for our picnic that are good enough to last for years at 77p for four. I bought eight.

Sales are designed to separate us and our money. They tempt us into buying stuff NOW because if we wait, we’ll miss that fantastic bargain. They don’t want us to have a cooling off period while we think about how much we really want or need the item in question, they want us to flash that credit card and walk out of the store carrying with us what might, if we’re lucky, give us a few days of pleasure. If we’re really unlucky, it’ll give us a lot of regret when the credit card bill arrives and we’ve had time to realise that the new sofas didn’t quite fit in with our room design, or the dress that looked fantastic in the shop emphasises every lump and bump.

In order to make use of sales, you have to be very confident about what you need and whether or not this particular item is the right one. Unfortunately, few of us are actually that confident and most have experience of gadgets, clothes, ornaments etc that have spent most of their lives hiding away in the darkest corners of our cupboards. I know I have - I’ve chucked out enough of them during my de-cluttering process.

Luckily some of us learn not to fall for it, even if it's the hard way.

Sharon J

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Other posts you may be interested in:

• Bargains - Be Warned!
• 50 Money Saving Tips
• Tightening The Belt - 12 Ways To Save Money

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If Paper Waste Were a Person, Mine Would Be Obese

Image: Wim

I really must stop being so fastidious about perfect hand-written copy.

If I make a list and the margin’s too wonky, I tear it up and start again.

If I copy down a recipe and the page doesn’t tear neatly from the pad, I tear it up and start again.

If I jot down notes, I’ll re-write them ‘tidily’ before I file them.

I can’t re-use the paper because I hate writing on something that’s already been written on. And all those loose pages just seem like clutter to me.

And woe betide if I make a spelling mistake!

I guess it’s the autism in me kicking in. They say we all have it to some degree. It all seems a bit OCD-ish to me and it actually gets on my nerves. I get fed-up rewriting stuff.

What’s more, I actually think a folder full of quickly jotted down recipes on the back of an old envelope and the likes is far more interesting to look through than one where every page is neatly written on the same size paper and with the same style of heading, etc. How totally lacking in personality!

I really want to try changing this. I think about the trees that have been chopped down just to satisfy my need to bin page after page of writing paper. I think about how I could be spending that time doing something either more productive or more enjoyable. Sometimes I could read a whole chapter of a book in the time it takes me to write out a recipe!

Once my daughter leaves in September, I’ll be able to take over her printer, which will definitely save paper and hopefully some time, although I do tend to re-arrange the page a few times before I’m happy with it. But what do I do in the meantime? Keep nagging her to print stuff out for me (every shopping list, to-do list, reminder list, menu plan, etc etc) or do I bite the bullet and try to accept imperfection?

If I can accept it in other areas of my life, surely it can’t be too difficult to adjust this one little bit of my life?

I’m gonna give it a try.

Sharon J

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Proctor & Gamble’s Latest Gimmick

Image Source

Have you seen the advert on the telly? For every pack of Ariel we purchase, Proctor & Gamble are going to donate 10 litres of safe drinking water to children in developing countries. Commendable - or so it appears.

Before you start clapping and dashing out to buy your pack of Ariel (it’s a laundry soap, should you be in a part of the world where this stuff isn’t sold), stop and think for a moment. While you’re supporting the children of the third world and their need for clean water, you’re adding to the pollution of our own waterways.

Commercial washing powders like Ariel contain carginogens and reproductive toxins, amongst other things, that pollute our environment. Some have been known to change the sex of fish so Lord only knows what they could be doing to us. Wouldn’t it be better if they started producing an environmentally friendly washing powder and donate water to the developing countries whenever we choose the green alternative instead? Not that what they’re doing in those places isn’t laudable but it isn’t enough and, to me, it smacks of a gimmick more than anything else; if it boosts sales, the share holders get richer.

I’m tired of the manufacturing giants pretending to be full of care and concern whilst actually doing very little to change anything. Proctor & Gamble are, in my opinion, just another of those.

Sharon J x

Proctor & Gamble’s Ariel website
My blog post looking at the impact of commercial washing powders

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Ding Dong - The Bells are Ringing

Photo: Scarlatti2004

It’s 28 years today since my one and only wedding. The marriage hasn’t lasted all those years but we’re still friends and I don’t regret having married him.

Although wedding back in the 70s weren’t anywhere near as expensive or lavish as they are these days, they were still big events where the bride’s parents were expected put on a good show. I, however, wanted to keep mine simple.

I laugh when I think about it now. It wasn’t simple in the way I’d consider a simple wedding to be these days, but we didn’t know much about environmental issues and the likes back then so in comparison with most other weddings I’d been to, it was actually very simple. Not registry office simple as in sign the book and nip down the pub for a swift pint and a G&T but as far as church weddings with the full works afterwards goes, it was.

I found the cheapest wedding dress I could. Mum and I went shopping for the dress and an Edwardian style dress and hat were chosen over the more tradition veil and train get up and whereas cousins and other family members who’d married before me had had half a dozen bridesmaids, I had just one. A close friend who would do the job of holding the bouquet and what have you. No little ‘uns who’d cry during the service and no stroppy pre-teens who’d refuse to wear their dress. My groom wore a regular suit and everybody was told to come dressed in whatever they felt comfortable with. One guest arrived in jeans and a leather biker’s jacket.

We didn’t decorate the church with loads of flowers and we didn’t have a choir. Dad wanted me to get married in the big church in town (where my cousins had got married) but I insisted on a small Baptist church. Much more my thing. I’d already agreed to drop the registry office because he’d dreamt of walking me down the aisle but a compromise was needed.

The ‘do’ afterwards was out of my control, though. Dad insisted that as long as he was paying, he’d do it his way. 120 guests arrived (yes, that was pretty small compared to most East End weddings), a sit down meal was enjoyed, the bar flowed freely, a DJ had everybody up dancing, the buffet included traditional jellied eels and a good time was had by all. Except that I didn’t even know half the guests - they were all Dad’s mates.

I’m not sure what I’d do if I were doing it today but I do know I wouldn’t spend huge amounts of money on one day. I can’t think of any reason why people would spend thousands on a dress, hundreds on a cake, hold the reception in some posh place they can’t really afford etc etc etc other than that they want to impress their guests. Why is that? Isn’t it supposed to be about making a commitment? And isn’t being sensible with money part of that commitment?

Weddings are big business but no amount of luxury on the big day will make a marriage any stronger and, try as we might to impress others, the wedding will soon be forgotten by most.

There’s nothing wrong with trying to make a wedding day special, but at the expense of what?

Sharon J x

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Plenty More Fish in the Sea?

Photo: f10n4

We’re partial to a portion of fish n’ chips in our house but about a month ago, Richard went off to get what was once our weekly treat only to come home with haddock instead of cod. Cod, he’d been told, had become increasingly difficult to get hold of leading to prices sky rocketing so our local chippie was no longer using it.

What? No more cod and chips? What’s going on?

I had to look into this and what I discovered wasn’t nice.

Our seas have been so badly over-fished that many of the food species that we once took for granted are now struggling to sustain their populations to the point where they’re becoming increasingly scarce.

Apparently, in order for us to continue following the Government’s guidelines regarding eating more fish for health reasons, it’s important we buy only fish that’s caught in a less wasteful manner than has, until now, been the case.

Fishing with nets leads to the loss of way too many young, unusable fish that are already dead by the time they’re thrown back in. It also causes the death of other marine creatures that aren’t used for food but that are important in upholding the balance beneath the waves. In fact, net fishing is considered the biggest and most indiscriminate killer on the planet! Long-line fishing isn’t innocent either.

So what can we do?

It’s suggested that in order to put a stop to this wasteful method of fishing and allow growth in our natural fish supplies we shop only from reputable fish mongers and always ask the questions: “where does this fish come from?” and “how was it caught?”. Better still, learn to fish and catch your own ;-)

Preferably we should choose locally caught fish and rather than sticking with one variety, we should vary our choices to include less popular fish such as Saithe and Pollack while steering well clear of vulnerable species . Take a look at this list from Greenpeace to find out what you should and shouldn’t be buying and why.

photo: yomi955

No more tropical (tiger) prawns for me. With 10kgs of by-catch being killed for every 1kg of prawns caught, the cost is just far too high. Not to mention the human rights issues surrounding these prawns. According to the Greenpeace list, violence and intimidation is part of the picture. Even farmed prawns are far from innocent. Nope... just give me some plain old fresh local prawns, please. Fresh because the frozen ones are often shipped to Asia first for peeling and freezing and then shipped back again. That's some carbon footprint just for a few prawns!

It’s all really quite shocking, don't ya fink?

Sharon J xx

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Evolution

Photo: Random Cliché

According to some science buffs, Darwin may well have got it wrong. Human evolution, they believe, may well have happened because of climate change.

So, the question is, will our present state of climate change, which we’ve undoubedly accelerated if not entirely brought about ourselves this time, mean we’ll start evolving again?

There are two arguments to this. One is that we will evolve in order to survive the environment created by climate change, the other is that things are happening far too quickly for homo sapiens (that’s us lot, in case you don’t know) to catch up and evolve in time. I know which argument I subscribe to.

With the human mindset of the wealthy countries seemingly being hell bent on continuing the consumer ride for as long as possible, surviving what for us humans will be an environmental crisis just isn’t possible so why the heck aren’t more people waking up and realising that changes have to be made by all of us if we’re going to have a chance of surviving in any kind of reasonably comfortable manner?

The other side say that if we really do become extinct then it was meant to be; our time had simply come to an end. Well yeah... I suppose everything has to end somewhere but that’s like saying if you’re told you’re seriously ill but there may well be a cure, you might just as well sit back and wait to die cos your time’s been called. Very easy to say when you’re not actually in the situation but something entirely different when you are. I can only think that those who are taking this side of the debate haven’t really understood the impact our selfish actions are having on the planet otherwise they surely wouldn’t take such a laid back view? Blimey, I can be selfish at times and am far from perfect but I'd hate to be that ignorant.

I’d like my children to grow old after living worthwhile, fulfilling lives. I’d like my grandchildren to grow up. I’d like my great-grandchildren to have a chance of being born. I don’t want it to end here. Maybe that’s selfish too? Maybe I just see humans as being more worthy than anything else that may evolve. I dunno... it’s possible, but isn’t the desire to procreate and keep the species alive something that’s programmed into all creatures?

Sure, the dinosaurs died out and up we popped but the dinos didn’t go around saying “shit, we’re causing problems that are threatening our survival but what the hell?” did they? They were innocent. We’re not. We’ve known for a long time that we’re pissing on our own parade but have done very little about it. Doesn’t that make us the dumbest of the ‘dumb animals’?

Oh well... I can’t change things alone but I can at least try to spread some awareness. In the meantime I’ll just carry on doing my bit, hopefully improve on it, and hope that enough people do their bit too so maybe we stand a chance of winning this race before the final line gets washed away because I really don’t believe evolution’s gonna do its thing in time.

Sharon J

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Freeganism

Photo: coreyu

Kikimonkey over at Monkey See, Monkey Do recently posted about an Oprah show she’d been watching, where freeganism was highlighted. The post really grabbed my attention, not because I’m a fan of Oprah or intend to become a Freegan but because the philosophy behind the Freegan movement really made me sit and think.

It’s not that I didn’t already know that we’re living in a society fuelled by materialism, greed and a never ending desire to impress our peers but Freegans are really doing what their heart tells them is right. They’ve completely jumped off of the consumer band-wagon to the point where even their food is obtained by rummaging through dumpsters.

Yes, I know that sounds pretty gross and it’s not something I’d do but when you consider that about half of all food in the US is wasted, there’s a lot to be reclaimed. And we’re not talking slops, either. The situation here in the UK is no better.

They also believe that housing should be a right rather than a privilege, that all forms of transport should be eco friendly and that we should stop using animals as production “machines” – all of which I agree with.

I do think they take things a bit too far when they say that we should go back to the way we were intended to live – foraging for food, for example. It just isn’t feasible for everybody to do that. If we all went dumpster diving, who’d produce the products in the first place when there would be nobody to sell them to? And foraging for natural food wouldn’t work either; we’ve already destroyed too much of the planet’s resources for that.

It’s worth taking a look at their website though; it does highlight a lot of important issues that might get you thinking and the links section has some very interesting stuff on it. And even if what’s there is information you already know, there’s value in being reminded.

Sharon J

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The Story of Stuff

Some of you will no doubt already have seen this entertaining and thought provoking film called The Story of Stuff but if you haven’t, nip over there now and take a look. It’ll only take up about 20 minutes of your time but I can practically guarantee that it’ll give you something to think about.

The Story of Stuff

I thought I was reasonably clued up about ‘stuff’, but seeing things presented this way definitely gave me food for thought.

Sharon

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Making a Mockery of Green Living

Photo: BiggerPictureImages

There’s a group of people out there who get on my tits. Who? Eco-Yuppies, that’s who!

You know the type, twenty something female living a ‘successful’ life, clad in designer jeans and top whilst waving a hemp shopping bag in one hand declaring that she’d never accept a plastic carrier from a shop, and a Gucci bag in the other. Or the twenty something ‘successful’ male who drives his gas guzzling SUV home from the office to his solar powered pad in a new development that's been built on what was once beautiful woodland. You know the types, I’m sure.

“Hey!” they shout, “we’re trendy, we’re hip, and we’re GREEN!”

No they are not! They are doing a few things that are easily incorporated into their existing lifestyles because being green just happens to be trendy at the moment. And heck, they wouldn’t want to be seen as lagging behind, would they?

They aren’t all wealthy city types, though. No, far from it. Although they probably wouldn’t generally be described as yuppies, those who have to continuously live beyond their means in order to keep up with the latest trends are also jumping on the trendy green band-wagon. They don’t do much and what they do choose to do are invariably easy options, then they make sure everybody knows that they’re doing their bit for the environment although they’ll generally try to sound nonchalant about it.

“Well you’ve gotta try,” they say, smiling meekly. Try what? To sound sincere? Because you don’t, darling, believe me.

Yes, yes, yes… I know that every little helps and even if they aren’t sincere, losing the plastic bags and powering your home with solar energy is a GOOD thing, but I still have a problem with them because they’re giving a bad name to those of us who really DO care about the environment. People think we’re all either like them or we’re mad eco-warriors living in tents, eating only what we can forage for ourselves and joining every demonstration going without pause for thought.

They also do nothing to try reducing the impact of over consumption, either. Oh no… yuppies spend, spend, spend! Don’t they realise that this buy and throw culture we’ve developed is as damaging to the survival of the human species and every other living creature on this beautiful planet as plastic bags and wasted electricity? In fact, why don’t they realise that they’re deplenishing the earth’s natural resources every time they buy something made of acrylic, polyester, rayon and blends thereof? And that they’re supporting the plastics industry whenever they buy a new iPod, TV, computer, mobile phone, or one of the myriad other products they think nothing of acquiring and updating to the latest model?

Is it really any wonder that this has happened, though, when we live in a society where celebrities have become revered - deities to be worshipped - and so many of them are doing just this? What kind of example are they setting?

They jump on planes at the drop of a hat, their laptops, mobile phones and iPods at the ready, drive huge 4x4s or slick sports cars, spend their leisure time on huge power driven boats, and goodness knows what else. What are they really doing to reduce the effect of their footprint? It’d have to be a hell of a lot, that’s for sure.

Thankfully, there are a few celebs that ARE actually doing what they can for the environment. They’re driving hybrid cars, cutting their consumption levels, eating in more instead of frequenting the ‘right’ restaurants, buying Fair Trade, etc. These people are to be admired because, in the circles they move and work in, being faithful to an environmentally friendly lifestyle can’t be easy.

I’ve always said that we should all do as much as we can based on our individual circumstances but the very least we can do is be sincere about why we're doing it.

Sharon J

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Junk Mail - What a Bloomin' Nuisance!

Photo: YanivG

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably fed up with the amount of unsolicited mail that’s delivered to you every day, and all those take-away leaflets and such that are regularly pushed through the letterbox.

If I want a credit card, I’ll go online and apply for one. If I want insurance I’ll do the same. I don’t want to enter competitions to win luxury holidays in Tahiti or Brazil or buy a set of useless miniature china teapots. I’ve no intention of changing my bank and I don’t need another loan. I have a couple of take-away menus from places I know deliver decent food (decent as in edible, that is), the rest are of no interest to me. They can just go stuff their junk mail, but the place I'm thinking of having them stuff it most certainly isn't through my front door!

As things stand today, stopping all that junk mail from landing on the mat isn’t easy. You need to sign up with the Mail Preference Service which will stop some of the unsolicited post that arrives (sadly, not all), put a sticker or plaque on the door to tell leaflet delivery people that you don’t want their junk and contact Royal Mail to let them know that you don’t want the leaflets that their postmen deliver along with your general mail, either.

In Holland they have a simple system. You sign up with one organisation that takes care of the whole thing. Apparently any company that intends to make an unsolicited mail shot must register with them, whether they’re sending their mail directly or via the postman in the form of leaflets or “to the occupier”. This is then controlled so as those who have opted out of having paper spam pushed at them won’t be bothered by it anymore. They also send every member a sticker to place on their mailbox, making it clear that they don’t want leaflets from private delivery services either, i.e. pizzas, taxis etc.

There’s a campaign at the moment that’s petitioning government to adopt a similar service in the UK. Why not nip over and sign it, and let them know that you’re also fed up with being bombarded with useless information printed on paper made from trees that have been wastefully killed. The shiny ones can’t even be easily recycled!!

You’ll find the petition here: Go Dutch Petition

Here's the link to the Mailing Preference Service, who you really should sign up with and if you want to contact Royal Mail to stop the postman bringing rubbish with him, contact the Door to Door Opt Out Service by email.

Another thing you should be aware of is whether or not you're on the 'full voting register' or the 'edited voting register'. If you're on the edited version, anybody can gain access to your details and businesses often use this for their mail shots. Next time your fill out your electoral registration form, make sure you tick the right box and at least some of that junk will disappear.

Here's to a clutter free life without masses of unwanted paper floating about!

And here's to a few more trees being left alone to do what nature intended them to do!

Sharon J

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Chicken Out

Are you one of the good guys and gals that only eat free range chicken and eggs? If you are, well done because you're amongst the still very small minority.

Believe it or not, 92% of all chicken products bought in the UK are still intensively farmed! Isn't that shameful? I mean, it's not as if we can't hide behind lack of knowledge because unless you've been living on another planet (there is one? You mean we don't have to save the world, after all?), you'll know exactly what goes on in the lives of those poor chooks.

Tesco are currently selling whole chickens at £1.99 per bird and, quite honestly, anybody buying them really ought to question their values. Are we really happy to treat other living creatures to a lifetime - albeit a short one - of misery for the sake of saving a few pounds? It doesn't make sense to me at all. Nike trainers £59.99 - a whole chicken £1.99. Nah. There's something wrong there. Folk must have their priorities mixed up, surely?

Anyway, enough of my waffle. If you'd rather see chickens running about on grass, enjoying the feel of the sun on their backs and being fed appropriate food at regular times, nip over to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's "Chicken Out" campaign and sign the petition.

Sharon J
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