Pavement Parking

One of the problems we have on this estate is that visitors often park their cars with two wheels on the pavements rather than use the dedicated parking spots which entail them walking between 25 and 100 yards to the house they’re visiting. Not a long walk by most healthy people’s standards, and even I can walk to my daughter’s car in the car-park, and my legs are well dodgy.

Luckily, not being able to pass on the pavement isn’t too much of a problem for most people here because there isn’t a whole lot of traffic. We live in a cul-de-sac so there’s no through traffic and the kids are always playing in the street, relatively safely. However, this isn’t the case on the myriad streets around our town where motorists do the same thing on far busier roads.

I for one wouldn’t want to have to negotiate a pushchair out into the traffic just to be able to pass a car belonging to somebody who obviously thinks his or her own selfish needs, like parking as close as possible to a shop because they can't be bothered to walk a few yards, are far more important than those of anybody else, and if I were in a wheelchair I’d be stuck. There’s no getting them up and down high kerbs and into traffic easily!

Unfortunately, there’s no law saying that motorists can’t park on pavements. Apparently government tried to pass a law back in 1974 but the police and local authorities opposed it as they had no way of enforcing it. Understandable from the police - they’re bogged down with more important things as it is (like pen pushing), and as far as local authorities go, they’d probably have to employ more traffic wardens which would increase council tax and everybody would be up in arms. It ended with government eventually telling each authority, in 1984, to act as they thought best.

But things have changed since the 80s. It isn’t unusual for a family to have two or three cars (when Richard still lived here, we had three - his, mine and LM’s) and without somewhere to park them, most end up on pavements. And let’s face it, if they were to park ‘properly’ along the sides of streets, no other cars would get through.

So what’s the answer? Do as they do in Japan? If you haven’t got somewhere to park, you don’t have a car? Or should local authorities prioritise more parking space? Or would people just ignore those spaces as they do on our estate? Or should we just leave things be and accept that young parents with prams have to push their babies out into traffic and wheelchair users and other disabled people will find it difficult to get around (and it’s difficult enough for them as it is)?

Anybody have any ideas?

Sharon J xx

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Image Credit: Peter Ito

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So Who Does Christmas Belong To?

I’ve seen an awful lot of arguments happening on various Internet boards recently, all with the same theme: who does Christmas belong to and who should be ‘allowed’ to celebrate it? Some of those arguments have gotten really out hand, with name calling and threats to personal safety being thrown about.

I believe that Christmas should be celebrated by anybody who wishes to join in the festivities and that, as long as they’re not hurting others, they should be allowed to celebrate in whatever way suits them, be they Christians, Pagans, Jews, Atheists or whatever else.

Many Pagans will argue that Christmas (Yule) originally belonged to them with the counterargument from Christians being that the word CHRIST in Christmas makes it theirs. Everybody has their own opinion but shouldn’t it foremostly be a time when we can practice peace by showing tolerance towards other religions or lifestyles, and stop arguing over who it belongs to and how it should be celebrated?

Here in the UK we’ve been calling this winter celebration Christmas for a good few hundred years. Before that it was known as Yule, a celebration of the Winter Solstice (the rebirth of the sun). Whether or not we should or shouldn’t call it Christmas is of no real relevance to me - it’s just a name - what’s important is that we can accept that it’s a time when each and every one of us should be able to do whatever we feel is right on that day. For some, it means absolutely nothing more than presents, for others it’s a time during which they can feel close to and give thanks to their God, for others it’s a time when they can drink and be merry. No doubt there are many, many more reasons why people celebrate Christmas too. Or even why they don't, whatever the case may be.

If we choose to celebrate, can’t we at least do that in peace, without needing to justify why we choose to do so as Atheists, Pagans or Worshippers of Little Green Men from Mars? Nobody has a supreme ‘right’ to Christmas, it’s just a day really, like any other. There’s no proof that Jesus was born that day (in fact, it’s highly unlikely) and nowhere does it say that you have to believe in God (as depicted in the Bible) in order to celebrate it.

Personally, I don’t believe it really has much to do with religion anymore at all. It’s about money. Even if everybody stopped celebrating on grounds of their faith, Christmas would still live on. The money grabbing capitalists would see to that. If anybody, they're probably who Christmas really belongs to these days.

Sharon J xx

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Image Credit: Tom Stardust

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War and Loving Our Children

A recent post on Hysterical Jugglings had a list of all the wars that the UK Armed Forces have been involved in since WW2. The list is long. Shockingly long.

As far as I’m aware, none of those wars were caused by the threat of our islands being invaded so I can’t help wondering why they happened. Money? Power? No doubt the excuse was to bring peace to the world, or at least the areas where the wars were being fought, but at what price did that peace, if it exists, come?

It seems to me that as long as we’re happy to send our young men and women off to fight wars, our need to prove our power is stronger than our love for our children because in many cases, those who die fighting those wars are little more than children. People as young as 18 have died for ‘the cause’ and still continue to do so. In some countries, those fighting are much younger. Much, much younger.

I do believe that we must defend ourselves against invading forces but wars caused purely through one nation’s hatred of another or religious intolerance is surely disrespectful to those who are sent to fight? How can we expect young people to lay down their lives because one group of people believe in this deity and another group believe in that one? Or even the same deity but in different ways. It’s madness. Complete and utter madness.

How many young people, I wonder, have lost their lives fighting wars based on intolerance or threats that never even existed? How many mothers have lost their children? How many children have lost a parent? Why, why, why?

Until we overcome our love of power and become more tolerant of other people's views and lifestyles, how can peace ever exist?

Sharon J

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Image Credit: Dunecasher

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You Come Into This World With Nothing

As posted on Wednesday, I’ve recently attended a funeral. There were tears - tears from the family for the loss of their mother and grandmother and tears from friends of those who’d lost somebody they loved because they were hurting so much. It’s hard to see somebody you care about hurting like that and knowing that apart from offering a shoulder to cry on, there’s absolutely nothing you can do to ease their pain. But such is the nature of a funeral and the grieving process is important.

What I really want to write about though is something one of the family friends said at the wake. She’s a 90 year old Jamaican woman who I’ve also known since I was a teenager and who’s one of the wisest, wittiest ladies you could wish to meet; a real scream and even at her advanced age, she hasn’t changed one bit.

A group of us younger (!!) ones were stood in the garden when she came out to join us. At that point we were talking about the garden, which is terribly overgrown but with its old brick walls and some wonderful climbers and shrubs, could be turned into a real haven for both humans and wildlife. Leigh, the lovely old Jamaican, speaking to my friend Carol, who lives in the house with her Dad, said something along these lines:

“Don’t just stand there talking about it, do something about it. You come into this world with nothing so be prepared to leave with nothing. Make every day special and enjoy life while you have it because what you’re left with when you leave will mean nothing.”

So true.

Sure, somebody else might be able to use what we leave, but is that what life’s about? Gathering stuff and money to pass on to others? Or should we be getting the most out of the time we have on this planet, enjoying every day for what it’s worth? That doesn’t necessarily mean spending like a maniac, but if you want that garden and you have the money and resources to do it, then get it done! If you want that holiday in the Caribbean and you can afford it, then go. If you want to learn to knit then don’t just talk about it, get an instruction book, some wool and needles and start knitting! Do the things you want to do while you’re alive and well and able to do them.

I try to live by that philosophy myself and have done for most of my life but even more so since coming close to death myself. I realised just how quickly it can all be over and I’m damned if I’m going to just sit around waiting to do things “some day in the future”.

If there’s anything left over when my time comes, then hopefully my children will put it to good use themselves, but I’m not planning on leaving anything. I have my life to live and if anybody happens to think that’s selfish then tough. I’ve passed on my genes, for what they’re worth, I’ve fed them, clothed them, taught them and nurtured them - the rest is for me to enjoy in whatever way I see fit.

You do indeed come into the world with nothing and no matter what you do, you can’t take a damned thing with you when you leave.

Sharon J

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Image Credit: Clarity

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Halloween & Samhain

I quite like celebrating things that I feel are worthwhile but one thing I shan’t be celebrating this year is Halloween. At least, not in way it’s celebrated these days. I’ll light some candles in honour of those ancestors who have moved over to the spirit world - those who I loved and knew and those that I didn’t but who are each responsible for my own existence. That will be the extent of it though.

I really don’t like what Halloween has become. Sure, it’s fun with spooky stories and such like, it’s not that part of it I have a problem with, it’s the commercialism that’s developed around it that I hate.

These past couples of weeks the shops have been spilling over with tacky, cheap polyester costumes that probably won’t even last the night, let alone be brought back into use again next year, along with a plethora of plastic pumpkins, spiders, skulls, skeletons and lord knows what else. Pumpkins will be carved but few will actually be eaten and far too many won’t even bother to compost the flesh that’s removed. The impact on the environment thanks to this one night and the way we’ve accepted that it should be celebrated because that’s what the shops want us to do, has far too great an impact on the environment for my liking. Whatever happened to making costumes out of old sheets, recycled clothes and the likes and dressing the house with old twigs made to look like witches broomsticks, etc?

And then there’s those who will actually be scared on Halloween. Here on our estate we have flats and houses that are specifically earmarked for people with special needs. Some of those living in these properties were very frightened last year by kids who were banging at their doors in the dark, making strange noises outside their windows and generally larking around. Some understood what was going on but others didn’t and even some of those who did were still worried because, as we all know, kids can sometimes go too far, especially when they’re preying on the weak and vulnerable. Halloween can have the same effect on many older people.

This year the housing association have arranged a ‘walk about’ around the estate with the kids. Hopefully this will ensure that those who are vulnerable won’t be visited and the whole trick or treating process will go smoothly. There will also be games and prizes, the main one being for best ‘home made‘ costume. Hopefully it’ll be a success and parents will put themselves out to make their own costumes instead of nipping down to Asda for a witches dress or skeleton outfit and the plastic rubbish will stay on the shelves because there won’t be a need to decorate the house. And of course, the special needs people won’t be bothered by it. Unfortunately it won’t lessen the impact in the greater scheme of things but as they say, every little helps.

But up in all this mayhem, I wonder how many actually know what Halloween really is? Well originally, in the Christian sense, it was All Hallows Eve - the night before All Hallows Day, the day that Christians honour the saints. But it was around long before that. Samhain is the night before the Pagan new year, so you could call it their new year’s eve. It was, and still is, considered to be the night when the veil between this life and the after life is at its thinnest. The old Celts believed that the spirits of the dead could possess their bodies so they turned out the lights in the hope that the spirits wouldn’t find them but also dressed up as ghouls just in case they were found but would hopefully be able to scare them away again. Nowadays it’s more a celebration of the lives that have gone before and to remember with blessing the year that’s passed.

The catholic church didn’t much like pagan traditions though, so in an attempt to stop all the ‘afterlife’ malarkey they decided to turn Samhain into All Hallows Eve instead. What emerged, however, was Halloween as we generally know it today - a blend of the two. We no longer believe that the dead will come back tonight, but still we hang on to the pagan traditions by telling ghost stories and dressing up in scary costumes. And then the fat cats got on the bandwagon and everything went tits up for the environment!

And yes, I’ll hold up my hand and admit I’ve also dressed up in tacky costumes and bought plastic pumpkins and other such rubbish. I did it when the kids were younger and I wasn’t giving a whole lot of thought to the environment, but then again we didn’t know then what we know today so although I wouldn’t proclaim my innocence entirely, I’d still say I wasn’t being less caring towards the environment than I am now because everything’s relative to your knowledge. I wouldn’t do it now though. No way.

Sharon J

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Image Credit: Darin

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Bloody Celebs!

Jade wrote something in her poverty post last week that really caught my attention. How comes bloody celebs and their antics get more press coverage than the starving people of Haiti, for example?

What is it with them that makes it so worthwhile for newspapers to write stories about who they’ve been seen with, where they’ve been seen, what they were wearing and all the other crap that’s associated with them? Why would we care more about what they’re doing than the terrible plights of the people who are living in the real world - the world that affects a HUGE percentage of the population and not just the favoured few?

Who’s behind all this? Is it the big cats who are pushing to get their products noticed? If a celebs wearing a new Gucci dress, it’s in the magazines and the day time telly shows are ‘teaching’ us how we too can look like Ms Alltits at just a fraction of the price. If a celeb hits the headlines then it’s highly likely they’ll sell more records, or more people will go see their films. If another’s seen coming out of a fashionable London nightclub with her skirt up her backside and lipstick smudged, are more of us likely to want to frequent said nightclub too?

Celebs are used to sell everything from crisps to sofas these days but why? Would anybody really prefer a sofa that’s been endorsed by a celebrity than one they’ve chosen because it actually suits their taste and comfort requirements? And do kids really prefer crisps that famous footballers eat (or do they?) over other brands? Why? Why? Why?

What on earth has happened to make us have such hero worship for a few people who just happen to be good at the jobs they do? Why would we have more interest in them than world events?

Ok, so maybe it’s a bit of escapism but how far do we need to escape? As it is now, it seems we’ve closed our eyes to a lot of the problems that our fellow human beings are suffering in this world so isn’t it time we accept reality and start doing something about that instead?

Sharon J

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Greed = Stupidity

Image: I See Modern Britain

I’m getting tired of the credit crunch stories now. Every day we hear of cases where people are having to sell their homes because they can’t afford their mortgages, even though they’re in negative equity and will still be paying for something they no longer have for a good few years to come.

Yes, I think it’s sad when hard-working people who are simply trying to create a decent home for themselves are hit by this but isn’t it a fact that if you take out a mortgage that you can’t afford to pay, then you’ll have to forfeit your home? Didn’t these people know that before they went to the bank?

Once upon a time you could borrow around 3 times your income up to about 80% maximum to invest in a property. In other words, you had to actually save for a deposit and BE ABLE to repay the loan but 100% mortgages eventually became the norm, being offered to all and sundry regardless of income and repayment ability. Surely, if somebody borrows more than they can reasonably afford then it’s their own look out when they can’t keep up the payments? And similarly, if the banks are stupid enough to lend money to people who don’t have the means of repayment, shouldn’t it be their loss when things go tits up?

Yes, I know that interest rates have risen but anybody with any sense surely knew that was a possibility when they take out a mortgage? Shouldn’t they have calculated with that possibility before they dived in? Or is the desire to own property so strong that we’re willing to risk anything for the sake of it? People say they want the security of owning their own homes but in all honesty, I feel a whole lot more secure in my rented property (housing association with secure tenure) than I would in a mortgaged house that I couldn't afford.

Just a few days ago I heard of a case where a woman was offered, before the credit crunch, a ‘self assessment mortgage’. Her mortgage broker put her income down as £95,000 even though she actually earns just over half of that. Shouldn’t mortgage brokers who advocate this kind of procedure also be held responsible when problems arise? And what have credit institutions been thinking when they’ve been willing to throw money at people without even checking their income? Not that those who took out self-assessment mortgages based on fabricated figures are innocent - far from it - but why on earth should the tax-payers have to bail out the banks because of their own stupidity?

If people had just stuck to what they can afford (and I’ve lived beyond my means before so am not entirely innocent either) instead of thinking they deserve a big house, better car, luxury holidays or whatever, then this housing crisis would never have arisen. Banks wouldn’t have had the opportunity to lend more money than people could afford to repay and nobody - with the exception of the few whose circumstances have changed drastically since taken out a mortgage/loan - would be in danger of losing their home or spending sleepless nights waiting for the bailiff to knock.

If you ask me, greed is synonymous with stupidity, whether it’s on the part of the banks or the borrowers themselves.

Sharon J

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Do You Throw Away Over £400 A Year?

Image: Steve Wampler

Everywhere I go these days, people seem to be whinging about the credit crunch and the soaring food prices. Some are insisting that they can barely afford to eat, while another has said that his child can’t have his 5-a-day because they just can’t afford so much fruit and veg. Yet another is saying that eggs from caged birds are the only affordable ones and then there’s the one who insists that everything should be served with potatoes and carrots because they’re the only veg that are still relatively affordable.

Well I don’t know about everybody else but I’m on a low income - lower than some of those who are doing the whinging - and yet I manage to give my daughter her 5-a-day and never ever buy anything other than free-range eggs. We eat good, balanced meals that include a good variety of vegetables, usually as an accompaniment to meat although we do eat veggie meals too, and occasionally I'll even get to have fish (LM isn’t keen on seafood, unfortunately). The fruit bowl is always full and there are plenty of healthy snacks to be had. How comes then, that I can do it but the whingers can’t? Maybe I have a money tree growing in my back garden that I'm not telling anybody about? Or perhaps I have a magic purse that just keeps putting the tenners back in whenever I take them out? Nah... no such luck. I'm just thrifty and mindful of what I buy, that's all.

For me, the answer lies in priorities. My main priorities are shelter, food and adequate clothing. Everything else comes after that with entertainment being furthest down the list. Yes, I do like a tipple now and then and a visit to the theatre or the cinema are things I love doing but I won't do them at the expense of what we eat. The second point is, that because I prioritise food, I’m mindful of what I buy and how much I need. I hate food waste and try to use up as much as I can. Sure, some of it ends up in the bin but very little - most of what doesn’t get eaten by me, LM or my guests is either fed to the worms or one of the four-legged furries.

Apparently, each of us throw away an average of £420 worth of food each year. Imagine chucking four hundred pound coins in a bin bag, tying it up and then throwing it on the landfill to slowly rot away. You just wouldn't do it, would you? Together we're chucking away 10 billion pounds here in the UK alone! 6.7 tonnes of food, all going to the landfill! If that isn’t sickening in a world where people are still starving, then what is? Where are our consciences when we’re allowing this to happen?

What really riles me is that most of those who are complaining about the rising cost of food fill their shopping trollies with frozen microwave meals, ready made sauces and lord knows what other rubbish. Food that’s full of salt, sugar and hydrogenated fat. They’re happy to buy a couple of take-aways every week and then say fruit and veg is too expensive! Or that it costs too much to cook from scratch!

Exactly where they get that idea from is anybody’s guess. I’ve recently been keeping a running tally of the cost of each meal I make and most have cost far less than a shop-bought ready-made version. The few that have cost more have been far superior, with a greater variety of healthy ingredients. And even the food that isn’t particularly healthy, like meat pie, tastes a whole lot better than the cheap versions from Asda and the likes.

Cooking from scratch is also far more satisfying. I love experimenting with flavours and trying new veggies, spices, meats, herbs and whatever else I can lay my hands on. And having put real work into preparing a meal as opposed to warming it up makes it far more rewarding to eat; I feel far more grateful for my food that way. And time doesn’t have to be a factor - there are lots of meals that can be put together and cooked in under half an hour and with everybody having a freezer these days, batch cooking makes things even easier for those who are pressed for time and slow cookers are great for preparing a meal that's ready when you get home, although I'd imagine getting everything ready in the morning can be a bit of a bind.

I can only guess that most of those who are moaning just can’t be bothered to cook properly for themselves. “I don’t like cooking” really isn’t a good enough excuse either when children are going without a decent, balanced meal.

Vesta have a lot to answer for. It was their frozen curries that started this whole "fast meals" thing.

Sharon J

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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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Boredom - The Root To All Evil?

Image: Svenwerk

It’s said that money’s the root to all evil but I personally think boredom has one up on the dosh. When people are bored, all sorts of trouble occurs.

Unfortunately, what we’ve created is a society of boredom and THAT, in my opinion, is what needs to be addressed because I really can’t see crime figures falling otherwise.

We think we’re lucky these days because we have all sorts of entertainment laid on for us in order to prevent boredom but the truth is, unless we actually use our imaginations and get out there and do stuff for ourselves, boredom will continue to reign. Computers, Tvs, games consoles and the likes, they all take away a huge part of our ability to be spontaneous and imaginative. I mean, we’re even lured into thinking that social networking sites like ‘Facebook’ and ‘MySpace’ will keep us connected with our friends, when in reality we’d be far better off actually going out and spending quality time with those friends instead of sending them silly, meaningless messages and ‘gifts’ through a website.

When it comes to fashion we’re told that this season we should be wearing this or that. Follow the trends and end up looking like everybody else - how boring is that? It certainly doesn’t take much imagination to dress well when we let others dictate our wardrobes.

Walk through just about any town these days and they’ll all pretty much look the same. Whereas once there was a diversity of small, local shops, these days the majority of shops are part of huge chains and all look the same. W.H. Smith, Woolworths, HMV, McDonalds, Greggs the bakers, New Look, BHS, Domino’s Pizza, Subway, River Island, Evans, and so forth - if you've seen them in one town, you've seen them in them all. They look the same and they sell exactly the same things. Even charity shops have a ‘corporate identity’ these days.

Any large town has its share of housing estates where each house is exactly like the next - if you've seen one Barrett's home you've seen all of those too! What's worse, these days even the front gardens are less likely to have individual flair because boundry markers in the form of low fences and hedges are often banned on new estates. Open plan is the 'in thing' with just a patch of lawn and a driveway, each and every one of them pretty much the same. When it comes to interiors we're told which colours we should decorate with this year in order to be 'hip' and appear 'successful'. How boring and unimaginative!

A huge percentage of our jobs are automated to the point where we perform them in an almost robotic like manner, from the check-out people at Tesco and those working on factory production lines to the ‘cooks’ at McDonalds and those working in call centres. Mind numbing work that leaves us looking elsewhere for ‘happiness’, usually by spending the money we’ve earned through the work that caused our boredom in the first place.

When people are bored, they have a greater tendency to do anything to break the monotony, whether it’s something relatively innocent like throwing paper balls at their fellow workmates or something far worse, like turning to drugs and alcohol or hanging about on street corners looking for ‘a laugh’, although often their idea of a laugh is at the expense of somebody else. Violence often stems from boredom, too.

We don’t even really need to think that much anymore. We’re governed by countless rules and regulations that do our thinking for us, leaving us without the need for personal responsibility through common sense.

I know how I've felt when I've been bored, because even though I think I'm pretty good at avoiding boredom, there are some situations that just cannot be escaped. Like being left in a miserable waiting room, totally alone with nothing to do for absolutely ages at the hospital! What a way to help people get better! I've wanted to throw something, jump on something, scream, rip something.... anything to make whatever I'm doing a little less tedious. I'm sure you've felt the same way, too.

I don’t have all the answers to the problem but I do believe that people need a greater sense of personal worth, to have diversity, responsibility and spontaneity brought back into their lives and to build a stronger sense of community, otherwise boredom and the problems associated with it will never go away.

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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Harking Back To The Past

Image: madalena-pestana

I spend a considerable amount of time thinking about the past. My own past and our collective pasts - pasts that we didn’t experience but that we know happened. History. Personal, national and global history.

Some would say I should stop ‘living in the past’ and look to the future instead and while I agree that we can’t get too stuck in our ways or we’ll never evolve, I believe that the past can help us understand which path the future needs to take.

For me, finding simplicity in my life again has been largely dominated by a time in my past where I lived much simpler than I have been doing for the past decade or so. I look back and compare how I felt in one stage with how I felt in the other, how my different choices affected both me personally, my family, the community around me and the planet as a whole. What changed? Did it change for the better or not? Was I happier? Did I have more or less time to spend with my family? Was I under more or less financial pressure? How was my relationship with my friends? These, and others, are questions I ask myself and the answers let me learn and develop as I move forward through the changes I‘m implementing now and, because we‘re continuously evolving our lives and attitudes, they help me map where I want to go.

When I listen to my mum tell stories from her past; from a time when reusing was the norm and recycling just happened without needing a name, I’m learning ‘new‘ ways of wasting less. When she tells me how the neighbours all rallied around for one another, looking out for the elderly and making sure the new or sick mum had the help that she needed, I realise that we intelligent, evolving humans have built a society of loneliness and isolation; we close our doors and the rest of the world can just ‘get on with it’. She has so much to tell me and I have so much to learn.

Yes, we can hark back to an ideal and imagined past when everybody was happy and all was well with the world and long for a utopia that hasn’t and never is going to happen, and yes, there are some who do just that, but reflecting on what has been doesn’t have to mean we’re living in a dream state, exiling ourselves from reality, but that we’re learning from the mistakes and triumphs that we’ve experienced personally, or that our ancestors experienced before us.

And yes, the past has happened and we can’t go back there, but we can build on certain elements of history, incorporating them into our lives in order to create a better, more fulfilling future where contentment and freedom from commercialism, debt, isolation, endless rules and regulations that strip us of our personal responsibility, and the constant need to keep up with the elusive Jones’ can again be enjoyed; a life where stress, anxiety, depression and exhaustion are no longer part of ’the norm’.

The past was what set me on my path to rediscover a more simple way of living - I knew I’d been happier without credit cards, fast food, endless rounds of shopping, expensive holidays taken just for the sake of it, closed doors amongst neighbours I barely know and ‘stuff’ cluttering every corner of my life. By looking back I could identify what had changed, how it had changed and what I needed to do in order to incorporate some of my past ways into my present life. I can’t turn the clocks back to become young and healthy again but I can find some of that past contentment and happiness that had been lost amongst the endless ‘wants’ I’d developed - wants that had led me to a life less pleasant.

The past has happened and we can learn from it - the future is nothing more than fantasy.

Sharon J

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How Simple Living Can Be Damaging

Image: Sunfrog1

There isn't a day go by where I don't think about what simple living means to me and how I might be able to simplify my life even more. Today I got to thinking about how the extremes of anything can be more damaging than they’re productive.

Let’s say you’re staying at a hotel that’s less than green and you can’t find anywhere to put the rubbish that you know should go to recycling. You don’t have a car to drive to a recycling point and as you hardly know the area, finding one on foot isn’t easy. Because you’re so determined not to go against your green principles you could well end up spending the best part of your holiday obsessing over what to do with the said items and fretting over the hotel management who just aren’t doing their bit.

Or perhaps you’re intent on eating only healthy foods but the hostess who invited you to dinner has cooked a meal that’s far from what you would have chosen. What do you do? Sit and pick at your food because there’s no way you’re going to eat something that’s less than healthy? Start a discussion with hostess about her choice of menu? Or might you just eat and enjoy it, knowing that one ‘bad’ meal now and then isn’t going to kill you?

Maybe you’ve promised yourself that you’ll only buy locally produced fruit, veg and meat but when you get to the shop, all they have is imported stuff. You’re tired because the kids have been moody and you really just want to get home but, even so, you stalk off the next shop even though it’ll take you an extra 15 minutes and the kids will be even moodier because there’s no way you’re feeding them imported food!

There are myriad situations like these where obsessing over our lifestyle choices can be damaging to our ability to live quietly and with contentment and that really can’t be the best way forward when living a simple life.

There’s such a thing as the 80/20 rule. Basically it means that we should all live by our own standards 80 percent of the time and accept that the remaining 20 percent may not be exactly how we’d prefer it.

Sometimes we eat things we don’t feel we ought to, whether it’s because we’re eating out or simply because we fancied that indulgent bar of chocolate; sometimes we throw something that could have been reused and at times we might buy something we didn’t really need. Then there are times when we might spend more on something that we feel we should have or watched more TV than we promised ourselves we would.

Beating ourselves up over these situations is non-productive. We’re human and no human’s perfect. We don’t live ‘perfect’ lives.

We’re allowed to make the odd mistake, take a shortcut or indulge ourselves occasionally - I know I certainly do and i don't feel guilty about it, either. I used to, but I've learned not to. It really is just a matter of keeping everything within reason - that 80/20 parameter.

Sharon J

PS: No spend days so far this month: 5/16 (lost one on Monday as wasn't well so ordered a take-away to save cooking a meal - it wasn't even nice!)

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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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Must We Always Answer Our Phones?

Image: DarwinBell

When I was growing up, few of my friends had house phones and mobiles were yet to be deeveloped. Nowadays, everybody seems to have at least one phone in some form or another and we all seem to be expected to be available at any given time.

I’ve no idea how many times my mobile’s gone off while I’m visiting with friends, having dinner in a pub, or standing in a supermarket checkout queue. My house phone has rung while I’m up to my elbows in washing, have my hands full of dough, or am in the middle of eating dinner. Yet time after time the caller has refused to respect that I didn’t want to or couldn’t talk right then. “Just let me tell you about…” seems to be the standard response to my “I can’t talk right now”.

I find it rude when my guests spend 10-15 minutes or more on the phone while I’m sat there like a dumb banana twiddling my thumbs and hearing half a conversation. In fact I once had I guest spend more than an hour on her mobile, talking to her other half who she'd be seeing the next day anyway!

When I’m socialising, I concentrate on those I’m socialising with, not those who are making unnecessary demands on my time and I expect other reasonably sensible people to do the same.

Do we really believe we’re so important that we have to take every call? Do others really have a right to demand our time in any situation?

Phones obviously have a place in our modern society but the fact that the UK has 115 mobile phones for every 100 inhabitants* (and we're talking the civilian network here - business phones aren't included) says a lot about how important we think it is that we should be contactable at any time and in any place. When Lise arrived for a visit I had no idea which number she'd be contactable on because she has THREE! One that she sends texts with, one that she calls with, and one "just in case...". I have enough trouble finding my single phone half of the time so how I'd get on with three is anybody's guess.

It’s years now since I’ve been dependant on answering the phone. If it isn’t suitable to talk - and that could be just because I don’t feel like talking - I don’t answer it. I figure that if it’s important they’ll either leave a message or text me; if they don’t then they couldn’t have wanted to get hold of me that badly. Nowadays, being less dependant on my phone helps keep my life simple. I'm not stressed by a ringing phone that I'm unable to answer in the way some people are.

Some say I’m being ignorant and selfish by ignoring a ringing telephone but I say I’m protecting my right to privacy. We do still have that right, don’t we?

Sharon J

* Source: Eurostat

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Young People

Image: Jeff Epp

I’ve been reading up a bit about money usage amongst the population of the UK and one thing that surprised me was that 16-20 year olds are apparently the group that generally save the most, both in terms of the percentage of their incomes they save and the percentage of the group that are actually using savings accounts actively, even if it's just to put in a little each week.

There’s hardly a day passes where I don’t either hear or read something detrimental about our young people: they’re all a bunch of layabouts with no manners, no respect for others or their property, no care for the future, and no willingness to learn responsibility. I hate listening to that kind of thing because while some youth do fit those categories, it certainly doesn’t apply to all. There are a lot of fantastic young people out there and although some of the friends my daughter brings to the house could do with getting their arses into gear and actually doing something, most are wonderful kids who I love chatting with.

Now when you think that approximately sixty percent of young people are in some form of higher education, for them to be the largest group of savers, a lot of them must be working part-time (I know almost all of my daughter’s friends do). That hardly makes them useless layabouts does it?

And as for responsibility, aren’t they showing that they ARE being responsible by saving? My daughter has refused point blank to get a credit card because she knows she won’t be able to handle it sensibly just yet - the temptation to spend what she doesn’t have would just be too great. Isn’t that showing responsibility? And she isn’t the only one; several of her friends have said the same. Unfortunately, one has gone mad with her credit card and doesn’t understand that the minimum payment is designed to keep her in debt for a very long time but there will always be some.

Also, if the figures are correct and more than half of our young people are either attending college or university, doesn’t that show that they’re they do indeed care about their future? Amongst those I know, most are now preparing to head off to uni after finishing their college courses, one's taking a gap year to do voluntary work somewhere in Asia and LM's off to Norway to rediscover her roots. Only one failed her course and is now kicking her heels (yes, that'd be the same one as has the credit card).

Yes, my daughter and her friends go out on the piss now and then, only to roll in legless at stupid o'clock but LM's never taken her car when she's gone drinking and neither do most of her friends. To my knowledge they've never caused anybody any trouble through seriously inconsiderate behaviour either. And aren't we just a little inconsiderate at times, anyway?

Not all kids hang out on street corners, carry knives, steal or find pleasure through defacing other people's property and although there are some who will never contribute anything worthwhile to society, we really shouldn’t put them all over the same barrel. Sadly, they’re the ones that make the news and the ones that get noticed the most but I really think there's more good amongst young people than they're generally given credit for.

I personally love the company of youths and they seem to enjoy coming to our house so I guess it’s mutual. I certainly hope so, anyway. I shall miss that once Linn Marie leaves, but life goes on and a new chapter starts.

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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Tesco, Asda & The Others

Photo: Route79

I’ve just finished doing my online shopping with Tesco and once again I felt a bit saddened as I pressed the ‘order’ button. I really don’t like shopping with them, or any of the other supermarket giants for that matter, but needs must. I’m just not able to get around the shops easily enough to do my shopping at the market and in local, independent stores so Tesco it is.

Richard’s good. He goes to the local butcher to buy most of my meat and often dashes all over town looking for something in particular that I’ve asked for, but I can’t expect him to rush about doing my fortnightly shop that way. Or even send him off on a more regular basis, for that matter. He has his own life, too. And anyway, I couldn’t even get everything locally if I tried - there just aren’t enough independents left.

The trouble with Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda and the likes is that they’re ruining local economics. Farmers can barely afford to survive on the prices they’re paid and with the giants selling about 70% of food in the UK, they don’t have a lot of choice other than to sell to them on their terms. Local businesses are pressed out of the market leaving our towns filled with clothes shops, mobile phone shops, and other ‘chain stores’. There are few independent grocers, butchers, bakers, or candlestick makers left. And apparently, for every superstore that opens there’s a job loss of around 200-300 thanks to the small traders and their suppliers being put out of business. Is this really what we want? Has the convenience really been worth the consequences?

As well as their suppliers, they pay their floor staff a pittance. Let’s face it, the minimum wage is NOT a decent income. Whereas an independent store owner and his staff are merely making a living, the supermarket giants sweep up our money and pack it off to the shareholders, far away from the local community. How much money do the Walton family have? More than £100 billion, that’s how much! (In case you don’t know, they own Wal-mart, which Asda is part of). Just how selfish are these people?

Sure, they all like to be seen to be doing their bit for the environment. They offer to recycle our plastic bags and our local Tesco even has a wind turbine to provide the energy it uses but they still over package their products, and they still pay their suppliers and employees far too little. And they still import too much food. And they still deliver my shopping with some carrier bags containing just one item!

Apparently, Tesco are now considering removing their logo from their trailers because, with the rising price of fuel and the ever looming oil crisis, they don’t want to be seen on the roads too often. Crafty devils!

Still, my shopping will no doubt arrive safely and once again I’ll have been part of the problem rather than the solution. Sigh….

Sharon J

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Rising Prices

Photo: Iocto

I’ve had enough!

I’m sick of hearing people whinge about the rising cost of fuel, food and a variety of other products and then laying the blame on the government, expecting them to do something. As much as some like to believe it, the truth is, in this case anyway, the government do not have us by the bollocks.

In fact, more than anybody else, the blame belong with us.

We’ve long been warned that oil supplies won’t last forever yet far too few did anything to curb their usage. Now that we’re close to using peak supplies, we’re fast heading up the creek without the proverbial paddle.

What really gets my goat, though, is that EVEN THOUGH WE’VE BEEN TOLD CLEARLY WHAT THE PROBLEM IS, people are still consuming far too much oil. Just yesterday, as I drove around town doing some necessary errands, I passed several huge 4x4s that guzzle fuel at a horrendous rate. Talk about “sod you, Jack”. While many of us are switching to smaller, more energy efficient cars and driving less, these people are adding to the problem by using more than their fair share. They’re contributing to the coming oil crisis and polluting the atmosphere but they just don’t seem to care. How you can need a car like that in a town like Crewe is beyond me.

Then there was the person who complained about the price of food these days and wondered how on earth she’d ever manage to survive on her meagre income and yet she’ll happily admit that she prefers plastic articles (bowls, buckets, garden pots etc) over more traditional materials because they’re cheap and lightweight. I tried to explain that oil is used in the production of polymers and that the more oil we use the more food and fuel costs will rise, but she wasn’t having any of it. “The government ought to step in and do something about it then”.

And, of course, there are those who simply don’t or won’t ‘get it’. Those who just can’t see how the price of food, that isn’t made from oil, can be affected by this. Do they think that food just magically appears on the supermarket shelves? Or that it’s transported by air fuelled trailers, airplanes etc? Buying local produce and supporting local traders will help more than any amount of whinging.

Surely now is the time for everyone to start realising that this IS a problem and it isn’t going to go away. If the only way to encourage people to use less oil so as to give researchers more time to develop viable alternatives is by increasing the price, then so be it. We have to learn to start tightening the belt and become more self-sufficient because soon, there probably won’t be any choice in the matter. Simple living will be something everybody but the very rich will be forced into.

The trouble is, we humans are generally very ignorant, even to our own needs. Even though we know that our actions are harmful, as long as they’re not actually affecting us too much, we just carry on as usual because that’s the most comfortable way. And then when the roof falls in, we wonder why. It must be somebody else’s fault, though - couldn’t possibly be our own. It’s the government, the oil producing nations, the oil refineries, the Chinese and Indians for wanting their share of oil too… anybody but US.

Of course, other knock on effects of the oil crisis are also affecting us now. Small businesses, from the local grocer to haulage companies, are starting to struggle as prices increase and their chances of competing with the market giants are even further reduced; interest rates are increasing as lenders fear our inability to repay loans; property prices are falling as general spending power decreases and an increasing number of potential buyers fear even higher increases in interest so are keeping their backsides firmly on the fence; the demand for social housing is rising as more and more homeowners realise they can no longer afford their mortgages and associated outgoings; the cost of public transport is increasing; and that’s just the start of things. If we don’t curb our usage on a global basis, things are only going to get worse.

Isn’t it about time we stopped laying the blame at somebody else’s doorstep, expecting them to sort it out and accept that we have responsibilities ourselves?

• Buy British to avoid unnecessary transportation, preferably locally produced goods.
  
• Grow your own food as much as possible.
• Avoid oil based packaging & products (plastic and polystyrene are the main offenders).
• Switch to a smaller, more fuel efficient car and drive less.
• Cook double portions when the oven’s in use.
• Turn the heating down by a couple of degrees.
• Mend and make do.
• Reduce, reuse and recycle.
• Spend within your means to avoid becoming yet another victim of the credit crunch.

It’s no more than 50 years ago that all of the above were the norm. My grandparents grew fruit and veg in their garden (organic and they didn’t even know it), used very little plastic, had no car while my dad, who was from the same generation, always studied fuel efficiency before replacing his car, they were thrifty with the heating, used the cooker sensibly, mended and made do, and had no idea what a credit card was. If they could do it then, surely we can do it now?

Sharon J

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Three Point One Planet Earths

Photo: Woodleywonderworks

I’ve just tried this carbon calculator for kids. It’s easier to use than the adult versions because you don’t need to know exact figures but I suppose, for that reason, it isn’t as accurate either. It does give a pretty good picture of where you stand on doing your bit for the environment though.

What I found interesting - assuming the figures can be trusted - is that if everybody were to live like Brits, we'd need 3.2 earths in order to support the average person’s lifestyle. And despite my efforts, we’d still need 2.2 earths if everybody did the same as I do.

I suppose it shouldn’t really come as a surprise; I’ve known for a long time that we Brits, along with the rest of the industrialised west, are inconsiderate of the needs of the rest of those sharing the planet with us. We want what we consider a decent standard of living while much of the world struggles to find fresh water, adequate clothing and food. Hopping in the car to nip to the supermarket is something much of the world can't even imagine, as is sticking the washing machine on, turning over land to the luxury of growing flowers, etc etc etc.

But, according to the carbon footprint calculator, we’re far from the worse offenders. The average Australian needs 3.6 planet earths but Americans need 5.3!! That I really found shocking. Yes, we all know that the average American jumps in his car at every opportunity and that they have huge fridges but five point three???

Just because we’re not the worse doesn’t mean we can rest on our laurels though. Our German neighbours only need 2.5 so are outdoing us considerably on the green front; the Japanese are slightly lower at 2.4; and Mexicans are at 1.4. Not that any of those figures are good enough - we do only have 1.0 to 'play with', after all.

People in India and China are both below needing one planet but that could be because there’s such a large percentage of poor there, who aren’t contributing much to environmental problems simply because they can’t.

It's clear that if the human race is going to survive on this planet, we must learn to lower our own consumption and start sharing more.

I predict the following:

• Food and fossil fuel prices will sky rocket, forcing us to lower our consumption (what we're experiencing now will be nothing compared to future prices)
• We'll have to start growing more of our own produce whether we like it or not and re-learn to cook from scratch
  
• When we do plant flowers, they'll need to be native species in order to support important insect life
• Meat production will cease and the land used for arable crops instead
• 'Mend and make do' will once again become the norm

Although there are some things I can’t do to reduce my footprint, like walking or even using public transport instead of using the car, and growing my own veg would just be too physical for me, I’ll continue to do as much as I can, and hope that one planet will prove enough for all 6.8 billion of us (and that figure's rising by the second).

Sharon J xx

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