Angel or Devil?
How hard is it to live in an ethical way?
September/October: Turning the boat green...
Sophie and Meena live on a barge on the Thames.
They have taken up a two month challenge to turn it into a lean green machine and to make a few purchasing changes too. |
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We have promised to help. Check out how they get along...
Previous challenges and results
01/09/06 - Week 1
I was sitting on the train the other day, thinking about life, as you do. And it occurred to me that I have this massive false sense of belief that I play my part in looking after our world.
The truth is, the most effort I've consciously made is to become a member of the 'Litter Bug Society' (when I was 7 yrs old - don't mock! I still hold this close to my heart :O).
It's not that I don't make an effort, because I think about it all the time, I just presume it's pretty inconvenient. I get home at 7.30pm - go to the gym - eat - and then go to sleep.
Being ethical seems to be something that "I'll do tomorrow!"
So me and Soph have decided we need a kick up the bum!
We live on a boat, which is a tad different to living on a house!
Basically, we want to adapt our lives to become more ethical and environmentally friendly.
Why?
Well first off my mum will be happy, secondly, I will be happy, thirdly I can teach my kids... and fourth and most important, Mother Earth will love us too, and won't strike us down with lightening before our time.
Here's a list of the good things we do:
1. Electricity - though, admittedly this isn't through choice. Because we live on a boat our electricity is powered through a generator, the electricity will automatically switch off if we are using too much of it at any one time.
2. Heating - again, this isn't through choice! We don't use any heating as we don't have any hot water on the boat! We use electric heaters during the winter.
3. We grow our own chilli peppers - that must be good?
4. We recycle bottles - we have recycling bins out in the bin block, so it's easy for us to sort our rubbish and throw it into the correct bins. Actually, if I'm being honest, we don't really do this all the time. But we're going to set up three different bins to make it more 'convenient' .... I hate that word, it's basically a nice way of saying "I'm so lazy".
5. Lighting - we don't really use a lot of lights as we have lots of windows. But we should use energy efficient light bulbs, aren't these more expensive and where do I get them from?
6. We don't have a shower on the boat at the moment - so we don't use a lot of water - but we're looking into getting one built. Is there anything environmentally friendly we can look at? (P.s we have access to showers so please don't think we're smelly!)
7. We have a gas oven - is that good?
Ok - so that's where we're at right now... I don't know if it's good or not.... but we want to get better!
It's not just energy efficiency in the house (err... or boat), but we also want to re-evaluate our personal shopping habits i.e food, drinks, clothes, shampoos, deodorants, washing detergents, make up, and general every day products.
So feel free to tell us about good brands and bad brands too. There are so many ethically crap ones like Nestle (I don't eat shreddies anymore) that people aren't aware off. Help us to help you to help the world!!!!
Could you do a weekly shopping list for us?
Maybe we can start with "Household" products like light bulbs, electrics, water - i.e shower. etc.
And then we can move on to beauty products (ha ha won't take long cos... well we're beautiful anyway....)!
Big love
Meens and Sopha x x x
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Angel - 0% Devil - 0% |
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Susie's Comments:
01/09/06
Great work with the 'the electricity goes off if you use too many things'!
I know you have no choice but it is a brilliant energy saving measure - though from my experience when visiting - does mean that you can't do much else if you want a cup of tea!
Anyhow - will have a wee think over the weekend and get back to you on some of your questions....
Thanks for taking up the challenge guys!
Ollie's Comments:
Lara's Comments:
Results of June / July challenge - Turning the house green
Results of week 16 challenge - Ethics in the unknown
Results of week 15 challenge - Ethics under pressure
Results of week 14 challenge - An impressive package
Results of week 13 challenge - Listen and Learn
Results of week 12 challenge - No TV
Results of week 11 challenge - Use, use and use again
Results of week 10 challenge - Slow as you go
Results of week 8 challenge - Saving Water
Results of week 7 challenge - Eating seasonal food
Results of week 6 challenge - If you don't ask you'll never get
Results of week 5 challenge - It's all talk
Results of week 4 challenge - Smiling
Results of week 3 challenge - Create things
Results of week 2 challenge - Energy efficiency
Results of week 1 challenge - No meat
