Living WITH The Earth

Living on the earth is easy, we all do it without giving much thought to it. But how about living with the earth?

We’ve been blessed with a beautiful planet that, if treated properly in order to give nature a chance to do things the way they were intended, would provide for all of our basic needs; there would be enough nutritious food, clean water and shelter for everybody.

But we don’t.

Most of us choose to just live on the planet instead of living in harmony with it. We no longer follow the natural cycles of life, whether that’s our own lives or those found in everything natural that surrounds us. We’ve built a society where living in peace and harmony with the earth is actually the more difficult option, but surely it should be the easiest and most natural thing to do? Shouldn’t understanding nature’s cycles, including the natural cycles of our own bodies, be instinctive or at least learned through the generations so that we ‘just know’ rather than something we have to teach ourselves and strive to achieve? Shouldn’t respect for the environment be an established standard rather than something we need to reminded of? Shouldn’t we naturally prefer food that’s free from chemicals and toxins and from livestock that’s treated humanely rather than weighing up what’s best for the earth and everything that’s a natural part of it against what’s cheapest for us?

Many hundreds of years ago people lived in closer harmony with the earth but eventually man became materialistic. Once that happened, there was no stopping us and these days, those of us who still try to live as natural a life as we can, and who truly care about the environment and want to preserve this beautiful planet are still all too often seen as ‘a bit weird’. I’ve been called a new age hippie, a tree hugger, an old witch, an eco-warrior, and a green trendy and while I suppose I’m all of those things in differing degrees (except green trendy - there’s nothing trendy about me), they’ve been said in a derogatory manner as if caring about our environment is wrong!

We can’t hide behind ignorance. We all KNOW how important it is to care for this planet and yet so many still do far less than they‘re able, if they actually do anything at all.

Why?

Sharon J xx

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Daffodils at Christmas

Apparently daffodils are now blooming on Guernsey and have been since just before Christmas. Daffodils blooming at Christmas isn’t good news but yet another sign of climate change.

Let’s all do whatever we can in 2009 to try slow this down. It may or may not work but if we don’t try, we’ll never know.

Sharon J

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Living Au Naturelle

Thanks Sharon for allowing me a coveted spot as a guest blogger on your inspiring blog. I am honoured and humbled.

It’s been quite a year of discovery for me in so many aspects but one of the things I have taken on is trying to go ‘au naturelle’ when it comes to my beauty regime. I feel like an onion and over the last 12 months have shed so many layers of what I thought beauty was all about.

In my working ‘in an office’days, I wore make up every day, the hair was curled and perfect, the nails looked good, toenails painted – the works. I could not have dreamed to work in public in any other way. In fact, in the mornings when I saw myself without make up on I thought I looked ill.

And maybe I was.

When I think of the cocktail of chemicals I had put on my face, skin, nails and hair, I cringe. Have you ever noticed at the end of the day your foundation seems to disappear off your face? Well, it didn’t slide off, it absorbed and with it all the chemicals from the foundation as well – into your skin! Yuck. This is just one example but here is a list of what I used to do and what I am doing now to try to rid my own body of so many chemicals.

• Wore make up – Go without make up except on very rare occasions
• Wore lipstick – Switched to natural beeswax lip conditioner
• Spray on deodorant – Use a natural crystal salt deodorant
• Hair coloured at professional salon – Do it myself with organic herbal colouring
• Used regular toothpaste – Switched to SLS and Fluoride free toothpaste
• Wore nail polish – go without completely
• Wore perfume – rub natural amber resin on my skin instead
• Used shave gel for legs – use own homemade soap
• Used shower gel – use own homemade soap
• Used regular shampoo and conditioner – Use organic, SLS and parabens-free shampoo and conditioner
• Deep conditioning hair treatments – Coconut oil or any other oil that’s around

I know I do feel better for it. I also know the air inside my own home is better for it. It is cheaper and I’ve even re-gained a natural glow on my face.

If you would like to find out just what kinds of potentially harmful chemicals are in your own products, you can go to the cosmetics safety database here: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com

Jennifer at HomeMattersMost


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Image Credit: Indabelle

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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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Saving The Rainforest

Every day I go on Facebook. Yes, I know some of you probably think that’s a pretty lame thing to do but there’s a reason that doesn’t include throwing food at friends or sending them virtual gifts that mean nothing (although when I first started using it a year or so ago, I did do those things, admittedly).

The reason I use Facebook regularly now is because there are two applications that I feel I need to use as often as I can: (lil) Green Patch and (lil) Blue Cove.

Basically, you grow a garden or look after a fish tank type thing (or both). Every time you send a plant or fish to a friend and they accept, a little bit of rainforest is saved. To buy plants and fish you need green bucks but you get 50 of those just for logging in every day (100 if you log into both applications) and there are various other ways of gathering bucks too. I won’t go into all the details here as it’s all explained in the FAQ attached to the application.

So far I’ve saved 29sqft of rainforest and I haven’t been using it that long. In fact, LM, who’s only been using it for a week or two, has already saved 15sqft. Some people have saved hundreds of square feet though so I've a way to go yet.

How? Well there are sponsors who put money into saving the rainforest for every square foot that Facebook users ‘save’. Again, that’s all explained when you look at the application.

If you want to save some rainforest and have a bit of fun while doing it, why not join? If you’re already a member of Facebook then adding either or both of the applications is simple. Just do a search for either Green Patch or Blue Cove for more information about them. If you’re not a member, signing up is dead easy. All you need to do then is find your friends, add them, add one or both of the applications and if they have one too you can start sending them plants and fish.

If you already have either or both of the applications but need more people to swap with (or if you decide to add them), feel free to email me at dioritt @ yahoo (dot) co (dot) uk and let me know. I won’t mind adding you :)

Sharon J

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Image Credit: Steve Lacy

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Twelve Ways to Stay Warm This Winter That Won't Cost A Fortune

Image: nortinirt

Brr... it's starting to get chilly.

If you're anything like me, you'll be looking for ways to stay warm this winter without increasing those ever rising fuel bills or wasting unnecessary resources. If that's the case, you might be interested in these tips for eco-friendly, cheap ways to ward off the cold.

1. Don’t let drawn curtains hang in front of radiators. If yours do, either shorten them or tuck them behind it.
   
   
2. If you have water fired radiators, consider fitting Radiator Boosters. They work by sucking air up and blasting it into the room eliminating the loss of heat through walls. I have a sofa in front of my main living room radiator but since fitting the booster, the warmth in the room has increased dramatically. Fitting aluminium foil behind radiators (shiny side towards the radiator) will also help reflect heat back into the room rather than straight through the wall.
   
   
3. Buy or make draught excluders to keep the cold from creeping in under your doors (and the heat from creeping out).
   
   
4. Don’t worry about becoming a size zero (or anything even close). Humans were designed to have a layer of fat on their bodies because it both bolsters us against bumps, protecting our bones, and insulates against the cold. Believe me, when I became positively skeletal (through no choice of my own, I hasten to add) I felt the cold far more than when I have a decent fat layer around me. Of course, being obese isn’t good for you either so try to strike a balance.
   
   
5. Have a bowl of soup. If you’re feeling peckish, heat up a bowl of soup instead of grabbing the biscuit barrel. It’ll warm the cockles of your heart.
   
   
6. Get physical. As long as your using energy you’ll feel warmer so get up off your bum and do some housework, dance or play chase with the kids instead. Of course, there is another way of getting physical which leads me to my next point...
   
   
7. Have a cuddle. That way you’ll be sharing your body heat with somebody else and you’ll feel so much warmer for it.
   
   
8. When you sit still, pull a blanket around you or slip on an extra woolie. You might even consider taking up knitting and making them yourself.
   
   
9. Wear a beanie. Yes, I know you might think that’s gonna feel pretty strange indoors but as 20-40% of body heat is lost through the head, it really will help you stay warm and it doesn’t have to be chunky. If possible, choose one made from lightweight wool rather than man-made fibres because not only will they keep you warmer, they’re more environmentally friendly too.
   
   
10. Dress in layers. Animals that live in cold environments generally have two layers to their fur so take a tip from nature - several thin layers of clothing insulate far better than one thick one. Again, natural fibres are better than man-made alternatives.
    
    
11. Wear socks or slippers. If your feet are cold, you’ll feel cold all over. If you can knit, try making some home-knitted socks out of wool sock yarn as they keep your feet lovely and toastie. If not, buy yourself some comfy slippers and wear cotton socks (acrylic doesn't keep you warm as it retains the moisture between your skin and the fabric whereas cotton breathes).
    
    
12. Don’t sweat. If you find yourself sweating, take off some clothes or take a rest because sweating will ultimately make you feel cold. Pace yourself and layer your clothing according to your activities instead.
    

Having lived in Norway – a country where winter's so cold that my duvet once froze to the wall – I do know a thing or two about keeping warm. My trouble is, since coming back to the UK, I haven’t been too good at taking my own advice. That’s going to change this winter, though. I’m on an energy and money saving drive so anything that’ll help use less while I stay warm gets a big tick in my book.

Sharon J

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Bottle & Can Deposit Schemes

Image: Chris_J

A lot of countries in Europe (and probably elsewhere for all I know) have a deposit scheme in place when it comes to plastic and glass bottles and aluminium cans. You pay a couple of pence extra on top of the normal price but when you take them back to the bottle and can banks you get that money back.

I first moved to Norway in 1980 where the system was already in place. Every large supermarket had an automated collection system that issued a payment slip that could either be exchange at the check out as payment for part of your shopping or as cash and the smaller supermarkets and grocery stores had manual systems. It worked. Far fewer bottles and cans are found littering the streets and countryside there (although that could also have something to do with a difference in mentality too) and they few that do get thrown away are foraged by those looking to earn themselves a few bob extra. Kids especially can generally be seen hunting through the litter bins at zoos, outdoor swimming pools, lakes, picnic areas and the likes, looking for discarded bottles and cans that they can get a themselves a bit of extra pocket money from. Sounds gross I guess but there isn’t usually any dangerous litter in the bins in those places.

When I was a kid we had a deposit system on glass bottles (I can’t remember plastic bottles being used at all then and cans still weren’t anywhere near as commonplace as they are now). I’m not sure when that disappeared but I imagine it was when plastic bottles and cans took over. But why not bring the deposit system back? Surely that would increase the number of bottles and cans that are recycled which in turn would lower the cost of production and, obviously, leave less of a footprint on the planet.

It seems odd to me that the UK - a place that likes to think of itself as one of the world leaders - isn’t doing something that simple.

Sharon J

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Getting Rid of Electrical Equipment

Image: rwfuend

I’ve noticed a trend on Freecycle recently: more people are offering electric gadgets.

It seems to me that this can only mean one thing, that an increasing number of members are opening their eyes to the amount of energy these gadgets use and that they can actually live perfectly well without them. Of course, I don’t know how many takers there have been as only a handful ever post ‘taken’ messages; it could be that these energy using gadgets are simply changing hands and will continue to suck up electricity unnecessarily but whole it isn’t good that they end up on the landfill either, I’m kind of hoping that a lot of them are being ignored.

During the past few days there have been:

An electric coffee grinder
A smoothie maker
An espresso maker
An electric warm plate
Hair straighteners
An electric blanket
A toaster
A trouser press


Of the above I have to admit to having a toaster and LM has hair straighteners. I can kind of understand why she’d want the hair straighteners - at 19 it’s important that you look the part and even though she’s my daughter, I have to say she looks beautiful when her shiny dark hair is perfectly straight. Mind you, whereas she used to use them every day, she only uses them when she’s dressing up now, otherwise the hair tends to go up in a pony tail. As for the toaster, I’d get rid of it tomorrow and use the grill - it’s just a waste of space as far as I’m concerned - but LM insists on keeping it because it’s quick and I guess she doesn’t have much time to make breakfast when she’s on a 7am start.

Sharon J

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The Battle of the Batteries

Image: frcsyk

Batteries! I hate them! I can never find one when I need one, they cost a fortune and my charger for the rechargeable ones gave up the ghost ages ago.

Batteries are dangerous. Depending on the kind of battery you use, they contain zinc, mercury and all sorts of nasties that leak out and get into the environment, damaging wildlife and ecosystems.

Around 30,000 tonnes of general purpose batteries thrown away every year but only about 2% of them are ever recycled. Apart from the leakage, that’s a lot of waste that has to be put somewhere.

I very rarely bought my children toys that needed batteries, and would ask others not to buy them for them either but eventually decided to go one step further by trying to avoid anything that I have to use batteries in. In the cases where it’s unavoidable, I look for products that have rechargeable batteries (like cameras, for example). As a last resort, I’d use my own rechargables but since my charger died on me a year or so ago, because I use so few batteries, I haven’t yet needed to buy a new one. However, if you use a lot of batteries, there's a gadget available now that let's you recharge throw away batteries. To find out more, click here.

I don’t have a personal CD player and I haven't used my mp3 player for several years. I have no hand-held games console (or any games console for that matter), a battery driven handbag sized hair dryer or any other unnecessary battery driven gadgets but I do have a torch. It's not particularly reliable though so I'm on the look out for a decent wind up version. Oh... hold on... the wall clock has a battery in it. It’s only been changed once in five years though so it’s not exactly making me a big battery consumer. No doubt there are other things but the batteries are changed so seldom that I can't even think what they might be! Except for the remote controls, that is. They drive me up the wall so I really must put a multi-purpose remote (or whatever they're called) on my wish list and maybe somebody will buy it me for Christmas (note to close friends and family: big hint dropped there).

Now that I have the battery problem more or less sorted, I really need to sharpen up and stop leaving my mobile phone charger in the socket. Either that or I need to buy a new extension lead with individual switches.

Sharon J xx

Confession time: I did once have a multi-function remote control but I threw it in temper and... well, suffice to say, it no longer works.

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When It Comes To Organic Food, I’m In A Bit Of A Quandary

Image: Kaptein Kobold

I’ve been thinking about organic food versus non-organic for a while now and although I’m still convinced that organic food has to be better for our health, I'm not so sure about the environmental side of things because, while there seemed to be no doubt that spraying the countryside with pesticides is damaging animal habitats and upsetting the balance of things, the fact that it’s a less efficient means of farming than the conventional non-organic way is worrying me. We have a growing population in this world that needs feeding so surely we need to be looking at ways that will increase food yields rather than reducing them?

Because organic farming is less productive, organic food naturally costs more. The farmer still has to make his living, after all. Now that increase in price is all very well and good for the middle-classes with a reasonable disposable income and those of us who are naturally frugally minded but what about those who are at the poorer end of the scale and who aren’t frugal in the same way? Those who don’t understand how to cut costs elsewhere in order to be able to afford the best possible quality of food? And not everybody can grow their own, either. Some live in flats without so much as a balcony, others may simply be physically incapable of growing much other than few herbs and salad leaves. These people still need to eat a good, balanced diet that’s affordable. Not to mention the starving millions who’d be ecstatic to have a diet that comes anywhere close to the one we generally enjoy.

Here in the UK, our children are suffering from obesity. The government have warned parents about the dangers of the fats and sugars that kids are being fed with (microwave meals being a HUGE culprit), but if the price of fresh fruit and vegetables continues to rise and production continues to decrease, the obesity situation isn’t going to get any better. I personally know families who honestly believe they can’t afford to give their children 5-a-day already, let alone buy organic pasta, rice, bread, milk, meat, fish and use organic herbs and spices, and although I could easily re-budget for them, making it possible to at least ensure 5-a-day of organic fruit and veg, being on a low income myself I know it isn’t possible to buy everything in its organic version and still have money to save for other essentials and a rainy day fund. Choices have to be made, and if the organic lobby get their way, those choices will surely become increasingly unavailable?

Of course, one answer is to stop all production of animal food products. No more beef, pork, lamb or poultry. No more eggs or milk. We all know that isn’t going to happen, though. Even though I’ve cut back on the amount of red meat we eat - especially beef as cattle are a big environmental problem - the hardened carnivores amongst us (of which I have to hold up my hand and admit that I am one) are never going to just sit back and quietly accept that.

While we’re on the subject of meat, this is the one area where I do believe organic really is best. While I’m still on the fence regarding the environmental consequences of organic crop farming - the pesticides that leech into the environment versus the growing need for food - when it comes to livestock, only the best possible methods of raising them is, in my opinion, acceptable. That means no stuffing them full of anti-biotics or keeping them in conditions that restrict movement and their ability to act naturally. Unlike fruit, vegetables, corn and the likes, animals have feelings and should never be raised or slaughtered under inhumane conditions just so that we can stuff our faces. We carnivores will just have to put up with a little less meat and fewer eggs, it’s as simple as that. We CAN get our protein elsewhere and if I can accept that I can’t have an egg for breakfast every day and I have to make my meat go further by adding more veg and cereal to stews, casseroles, meatballs and what have you, then so can others. Making do with less isn’t such a hardship and it beats having to give it up entirely.

Anyway, what do you think? Apart from the health benefits of eating organic food, should we keep focusing on organic food production for the sake of the environment or not?

Sharon J

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The Damaging Extremes of Going Green

Image Source

While trying to live in an as environmentally friendly way as possible is a good thing, going green doesn’t necessarily mean you have to stress over everything you’re not doing; taking things to extremes can be more damaging than it’s worth.

These days we’re told that we should be driving hybrid cars, using ‘A’ rated electrical appliances and heating our homes via solar panels or wind turbines. We should all have water butts installed, preferably one that has our grey water rerouted into it and our gardens should be turned over to the production of vegetables.

Now while all of those things are good, stressing over the ones we’re not doing isn’t going to change anything and actually doing them could cause us further problems. Is there any point to getting ourselves into debt in order to switch out our perfectly usable fridges, cookers and washers or exchange our not particularly environmentally friendly old banger for a brand new hybrid car? Surely it’s better we wait until we need to change these things rather than feeling guilty because we haven’t?

Digging over the garden and turning it into a vegetable plot may come easy to some but that doesn’t mean we can all do it at the drop of a hat. Not all of us have the ability to garden on that kind of scale and paying somebody to come in and ‘landscape’ it would mean more paying out and the possibility of even more debt. The same goes for installing grey water channelling, solar panels and the rest.

Of course, if somebody went out and bought a huge 4x4 to drive around town in rather than buying something more environmentally friendly then that would be thoughtless but I'm talking about those who have a green conscience and who really do want to make a difference here.

What’s important, in my opinion, is that we focus on the things we are able to do and know that no matter how small they are compared to what some others are doing, we’re doing our bit to help the planet sustain life as we know it whilst improving the quality of our own and others' lives.

If or when the time comes that we can do more, so be it, but none of us can do more than we’re able. And stress is never a good thing.

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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Why My Fingers & Toes Are 'Au Naturelle'

Image: Eszter

For ages I’ve wanted a professional manicure. My nails grow reasonably long but they never look as good as those of the ladies I see emerging from the nail studios around town, and if I’m honest, I’ve been a bit envious of them. I’m not so fussed about my toes - my feet are ugly and a pedicure wouldn’t do much to enhance them, but a manicure…

I also used to wear nail polish a lot. Well, by a lot I actually mean all the time. Every single day I’d remove the polish from the previous day and apply a new colour. I had a bit of thing about it - it was almost an obsession I suppose.

But then I started to think about things. What’s actually in all that colourful varnish I keep slavering on my nails, and what about the acetone in the nail varnish remover?

Nail varnish contains all sorts of phthalates, formaldehyde, toluene, alcohol and acetates. Apparently, one of those chemicals, called nefarious dibutyl phthalate (or NDP for short), has been linked to cancer in laboratory tests and to underdeveloped genitals in baby boys. Now I know that most of us know plenty of women who’ve used nail polish during their pregnancies without having weird things happen to their son’s ‘downstairs areas’ but even so, I don’t like the sound of it and is it really worth the risk?

You really only have to get a whiff of wet nail varnish to know that it can’t be good for you. Christ, you can even get high on the stuff! And there we are, happily painting our nails with what’s basically a poison, in badly ventilated rooms and thinking nothing of it.

Then there’s the remover, which is basically pure acetone, a chemical that’s harmful when absorbed through the skin (and how many of us manage to remove our nail polish without getting it on our skin?). Ok, so you’d need a lot for it to be fatal, but it can make you ill, especially if you spill it over your lap or down your legs, like I’ve been known to do on occasion. When it comes to the environment, acetone’s said to deplete aquatic systems of their oxygen because it causes some kind of microbial activity that simply consumes it.

There are a few ‘environmentally friendly’ nail varnishes on the market, including Suncoat, but it’s relatively expensive and really not something I can afford at the moment.

No, I’ve decided that I’m giving up nail varnish for all but very special occasions. It doesn’t actually enhance my life in any particular way so I really don’t need it. If people don’t like looking at unpolished fingers and toes - the way nature intended them - then that’s tough!

Maybe I should consider hanging some silver bells from my toes instead? Or decorating them with henna?

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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Organic vs. Local vs. Imported vs. Fair Trade

Image: Mister Scratch

Gosh, hasn’t buying food become an ordeal these days? Should we choose organic over non-organic but locally produced produce, and what about when a fruit or vegetable’s out of season but still produced and available locally, should we choose that rather than an imported version?

With our own health, the health of the planet and the local economy to think about, just doing a grocery shop can be something of a challenge these days.

The way I see it is that each of the above - organic, local produce and imported produce - have their place on our tables and this is why.

Organic
According to the Food Standards Agency, "evidence does not show that organic food is any safer or more nutritious than conventionally produced food." I'm not entirely convinced though, so if I can find locally produced organic produce then that will generally be my first choice. Organic food may not be any more "safe or nutritious" for us but it's certainly better for wildlife and the soil in general as organic farming promotes crop-rotation rather than mono-agriculture (see my post on soil for more information about this).

However, if buying organic means leaving a large environmental footprint due to shipping and the petrochemicals involved, I'd rather choose locally produced, non-organic food.

Local Produce
Agriculture is an important part of the British economy and unless we support local farmers and small-scale producers, a lot of people will eventually be out of work and the countryside will go to pot. By sticking with food that’s produced locally we’re helping support the local economy as well as cutting back on the carbon miles that our meals are leaving behind them.

The best bet is to shop at farmers’ markets, farm shops, local independent grocers and the likes because their produce is likely to be local in the sense of coming from within a 20-30 mile radius hence having a lower pollution factor due to less transportation. Apparently, by buying food that’s genuinely locally produced, the country would save over £2 billion in environmental and congestion costs.

When it comes to meat, I always try to buy British and if we're talking beef, preferably grass fed.

If locally sourced produce isn’t available then buying British grown produce is the next best option. Usually.

Imported Produce
Whereas local produce is generally the better alternative, if a fruit or vegetable is out of season and being grown in heated greenhouses - often heated by fossil fuels - or kept in long-term cold storage in order to provide for market demands throughout the remainder of the year, an imported alternative can actually be better for the environment. Better, but not good.

Fair Trade
Of course, we can't forget the myriad fruits that simply don’t grow here. Oranges, bananas, mangos, pineapples and so the list goes on - all of which are good for us. If they're what I'm after I try to look for Fair Trade foods, preferably Fair Trade and organic but if I have to choose, I tend to go with Fair Trade. It’s important, I feel, that farmers and their workers in third world countries are also given the chance to develop a sustainable economy.

Having said that, I tend to go for a combination of Fair Trade and fruit supplied by local grocers, because most Fair Trade stuff tends to be found in supermarkets and I really don't like buying more than necessary at those places. Give me a farm shop over Tesco any day!


As I said earlier, making the ‘right’ choice isn’t always easy but I do feel that as much as our own health is important, if we don’t stop polluting the planet it won’t make much difference in the long run. In my opinion, buying a combination of organic food, local produce and Fair Trade imports is the way to go although I have to admit that sometimes my purse steers me in a direction I’d rather not have to take.

Sharon J


Other posts that may be of interest:

BBQs - An Eco Friendly Way of Preparing Food?
Tesco, Asda and The Others
Plenty More Fish in The Sea?
Baby Cows - Should We Eat Them?

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Christian The Lion

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Take a look at this video…




An amazing story, don’t you think? One that should never have happened because Harrods should never have sold exotic, wild animals in the first place, but they did and the video shows that an extraordinary bond can be created between man and one of the most dangerous wild animals on the planet. Even George Adamson, of 'born free' fame and the man who re-introduced Christian to Africa had never seen anything like it.

Lions, of course, do not belong in our living rooms, back gardens or driving around in Bentleys, as Christian did while he was living in ‘the lap of luxury’ with his owners. Thankfully, its now illegal to sell and keep wild animals as pets but until the ban in 1976, keeping lions, pumas, leopards and other big cats was quite popular.

Unfortunately, after the ban was introduced, few actually tried to have their pets re-introduced to the areas where they belonged, releasing them instead in the UK countryside. Even today there are regular sightings of big cats in various areas and as late as in 2000 a young boy was attacked by a “leopard like” animal in Monmouthshire. Apparently, sightings in the highlands of Scotland have become common occurrences. It's believed that these sightings could have a direct connection with the 70's mania for keeping such animals.

In Africa, the number of lions has fallen by around 70% during the last decade alone leaving no more than around 16,500 of these magnificant creatures. Every year, over 600 are illegally hunted and killed as ‘trophies’ and illicit trading in lions still goes on. Habitat loss and the depletion of their natural prey has also taken its toll of them. Many are still kept under dreadful conditions in poorly managed zoos, circuses etc.

Man has a choice as to whether or not our species will have a chance of long-term survival; the animals we share the planet with do not. What we ruin for ourselves we also ruin for them and as I’ve always said: “mess up your own life if you want do, but don’t mess up others’ lives for them.”

Surely we owe it to those creatures who can’t make their own choices to do what we can to help keep the world a beautiful place where we can all happily survive?

Sharon J

For more information about Christian the Lion, see:
Wikepedia Entry
Daily Mail Story
The Born Free Foundation


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This Green and Fertile Land

Image: WouterKvG

A friend’s neighbour recently gave his garden a bit of a revamp, like you do from time to time. The new design has now left the garden mostly covered in slate chippings where there was once lawn and while I personally preferred it how it was, I can understand his choice. Lawns demand water, fertilizer and a lot of TLC if they’re to look half decent, whereas the slated area is very low-maintenance. There was one thing I had a problem with though; he removed and DUMPED a lot of top soil.

Good soil is actually a precious commodity. This beautiful planet of ours is actually losing fertile soil at a rate of somewhere between 10 and 20 times faster than its able to replenish itself. Think about that. For every square meter of top soil we dig over, up to 20 square meters are disappearing somewhere in the world - soil that is vital for the production of food. And then some people go and dump it amongst hardcore and other stuff where it won’t be of much use to us at all.

Soil takes a long time to develop into the kind of stuff that plants like to grow in. Weeds and other less fussy plants, insects and worms all need to do their bit by living in or near the soil, dying and then rotting down in it before the nutrients can develop enough for most food plants, whether food for us humans or for the wildlife share the planet with. And we’re not just talking ten, twenty or even a hundred years here - we talking tens of thousands of years just to make about 6 inches of good topsoil.

During the time it takes to develop decent soil, a lot gets washed away and the sun’s parching effect depletes it of nutrients, slowing down the process. In some parts of the world, soil just doesn’t get the chance to develop and although there’s plenty of unused ground around, it just isn’t able to support plant life.

Apparently, soil has been disappearing at an increased rate during the past 50 years, and there are no signs of it slowing down. This isn’t just through natural causes either - man has left his mark through hundreds of years of poor soil management and now we’re paying the price.

Greed has been the cause of much of the problem. We wanted as much as possible from as little as possible so mono-culture became ‘the thing’. Year after year, the same crops were planted on the same land - cotton, corn, tea, opium poppies, potatoes, etc - while we sat back and enjoyed the profits of the bounty. When the ground became so depleted that it no longer produced a decent yield, we simply moved on to other areas leaving the barren wasteland behind us and did the same thing all over again. What’s more - it’s still happening, only now we’re running out of ‘new areas’ to cultivate. Corn, especially, is still being mono-cultivated in order to produce animal feed and fuel (ethanol).

And then some people go and dump top soil!

It’s all very well and good to say “we don’t have a problem here - what’s the difference whether it’s under my lawn or on the landfill?” but the WORLD has a problem. If we don’t stop abusing our resources we WILL have a food crisis, and I don’t just mean food costing a few pence more in the shops either! There are enough starving people in this world as it is, mostly thanks to the greed of the prosperous, and without enough fertile land to support food production, the problem will only increase.

Sure, we can say “bung fertilizer on it”, but that’s too easy an answer. Natural fertilizers won’t be plentiful enough to improve the amount of soil we’d need and we just don’t know enough about the long-term use of chemical fertilizers (by long-term I mean longer than we’re able to test them for). What we do know is that the Mexican Gulf already has a ‘dead zone’ thanks to fertilizers being washed into it and anyway, chemical fertilizer’s made from natural gas, and that’s not going to last forever either.

My garden is full of clay and ‘builder’s rubble’, making it incredibly difficult to cultivate. I’d love to plant fruit and vegetables and lots of pretty, nectar rich flowers but to get it into the condition it’d need to be in first would mean far too much work for me. And top soil’s expensive.

I felt like crying when my friends told me about the ‘soil dumping’ episode. If only he'd 'chucked it' my way instead but I can only assume that he didn't know better.

Sharon J

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Other posts that may be of interest:

• Boiling Frogs
• I’ll Have Mine Medium Rare - Sod The Greenhouse Gases
• Would You Miss The Buzz?
• Plenty More Fish In The Sea?
• Houseplants & Clean Air

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BBQs - An Eco Friendly Way of Preparing Food?

Image: FredArmitage

Now that we’ve actually been able to enjoy some real summer weather, people all over the country have been flocking to the shops to buy stuff for their barbeque. Meat, salads, charcoal, fire lighters, dousing liquids, throw-away one-time-use barbeques and more. A year ago I would have been amongst them and wouldn’t have given a thought to the environmental impact.

I love a good barbie as much as the next person, especially as I spent so long in a country where BBQ-ing is almost a summer sport, but this time I’ve stopped and given some thought to what I’m doing (it's amazing how often I've done that since starting to train my brain to actually think first!).

For one, I don’t have an outdoor grill and as I can’t afford a decent one at the moment, I thought I’d just buy a couple of throw-away ones so that we could at least have a taste of outdoor cooking this year. But hold on…. Stop there, Sharon! Throw-away? You don’t do ‘throw away’ anymore! Forget that one. Right, off I went in search of a cheap ‘proper’ grill. I found one for around 12 quid but on closer inspection of the box, discovered that it was made somewhere in Asia. Hmm… loads of carbon miles and no doubt made available to us through exploitating cheap labour. No thanks, I'll just put that one back. Further perusal of the aisles of several shops turned up one that was produced in Germany and selling at around £50 but that, I’m afraid, was well outside of my budget. Oh well… I’ll just have to wait until next year. I'll survive.

It doesn’t stop there though. While browsing the many barbeques on offer, I wondered why so many people are still buying the gas fired types. Haven’t they read the newspapers? Don’t they know that gas isn’t going to last forever and that a charcoal grill has to be a better alternative? Or is it, I wondered.

Apparently, using charcoal isn’t as great as it sounds either, because a whopping 97 percent of the grilling charcoal consumed in Britain comes from NON-sustainable forests, a lot of which is from our rain forests and is contributing to the deforestation problem. Not good. Not good at all.

On top of that, briquettes, which are the most popular form of grilling charcoal, are often doused in petroleum solvents. I know that probably won’t make a humungous difference to the oil problem but it certainly isn’t good for us to be breathing in the fumes. When I think back at how many times I’ve sat coughing because of the smoke I’ve breathed in, smoke that tastes of petrol! Not only is it bad for our respiratory system, it also irritates the eyes and can apparently cause some long term damage to them. And if the briquettes aren’t ready doused, people buy petroleum based firelighters or squirt lighter fluid all over them instead.

So what’s a girl to do? Am I doomed to never enjoy a BBQ again?

The best solution, it seems, is to buy a grill that’s been manufactured in a country as close to the UK as possible and then use only British charcoal that’s made from properly managed native woodland doused in as little lighter fluid as possible. Eco charcoal may well cost a bit more than the cheap and nasty stuff, but frugality and simplicity aren’t about cutting costs at all costs, they’re about cutting costs where we can and should. This is one area where we shouldn’t.

Eco-charcoal’s available at Tesco, Sainsbury’s, B&Q and some Co-Op stores. You may well find it elsewhere and there may be some branches of the above that don’t carry it, but at least that gives you something to be working on.

Next year I shall have my BBQ ready in spring because it’s going to be a beautiful summer. I can feel it in my water. Please don’t disillusion me… dreams are important :)

Sharon J

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A Can is A Can, Whichever Way

Photo: MrTickle

My recycling bin gets emptied today.

My two daughters and Lise's boyfriend have, between them, managed to get through so many cans of drink (Carlsberg, Red Bull, Pepsi... you name it, they've probably had it) in just one week that my normally half full recycling bin has been full since Tuesday. I was gobsmacked by the fact that three people alone could produce that much aluminium waste so decided to have a nosey around the 'Net to see what would actually happen to all those cans.

A lot of us use aluminium cans – and by that I mean those used for beer and fizzy drinks, not the tin cans that soup, dog food and that sort of thing come in – at some point. Some of us only use them very occasionally, others use them on a daily basis. And guess what? I’m not gonna preach and say “stop using them”. Ok, so it would be best if we never used them but as they’re one of the waste products we produce that are easiest to recycle, there’s no reason to feel mega guilty about them or render people working in the industry jobless.

Apparently, once cans are sorted from our recycling bins, they’re pressed into huge bales and sent off for melting. Their decoration is then stripped off through a burning process before they’re moved into high temperature furnaces where they’re melted along with previously unused aluminium. The molten metal is then cooled and rolled into thin sheets ready to become new cans. And best of all, the whole process from the cans being picked up at the kerbside to being ready to refill takes just 60 days. That’s efficient recycling.

The downside of using drinks cans is this – if you don’t recycle them but throw them in the general household waste bin or, worse, chuck them along roadside verges, in woodland, fields and similar, they’ll still be there in 300 years time! Can you imagine somebody who’s one of your descendants by 18 generations cutting himself on a rusty can that you once threw away? That’s like you being hurt by something that somebody threw away in 1708! Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? Certainly there are still original cans laying about that date from the 1950s when they were first introduced in the UK. What’s more, aluminium can leech into the ground (where we grow our food) and waterways and as its been connected with Alzheimers disease, every can that isn’t recycled is a potential toxic hazard.

Another interesting fact is that if every can sold in the UK were sent for recycling, there would be 14 million fewer general waste bins to empty every year. That alone gives a darned good indication of just how many cans we use.

Another interesting point that I picked up is that the production of virgin cans (no, that doesn't mean cans made by one of Richard Branson's companies and neither does it have anything to do with sex) leaves a HUGE footprint while recycling a can uses just 5% of that energy.

At the moment we’re recycling around 30% of aluminium cans here in the UK so we could do a lot better. Before people throw a can anywhere other than into the recycling bin, I wish they'd ask themselves whether they're really happy for it to hang around the environment for hundreds of years, harming wildlife and potentially humans. Is that really too much to expect?

Sharon J

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. ~Native American Proverb

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Other posts that may be of interest:

• The Story of Stuff
• Thoughts on Littering
• Junk Mail - What A Bloomin' Nuisance
  

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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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