This is not my... Story
Week 1
25/01/06 - Andavadoaka and sponge brain
24/01/06 - Anxiety and candlelight
Background to This is not my...
25/01/06 - Andavadoaka and my kind of gym
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Got to go on my first investigation out of the house today!
Hopefully that doesn't make me sound like I am generally not allowed out... but anyhow - I was.
So I went. |
The lovely people at Blue Ventures (well technically Blue Ventures Expedition, Blue Ventures Conservation, Blue Ventures Renewable's and Travel Roots...) invited me up to say hi and to see what they get up to.
Or even more exactly, Ol and I met Ellie from Blue Ventures the other night after we had both drunk lots of wine, and somehow this meant that today I ended up in a being psychometrically tested with a lovely bunch of people somewhere near Archway.
Blue Ventures was set up accidentally by Tom and Al who wanted to go on conservation trips while they were at uni. They decided that the best way to do this was simply to set them up themselves. (Man, to have been even vaguely as motivated at uni - Tom must have come out as 'Driver' in the test...)
From these humble beginnings Blue Ventures has grown into an organisation which has sent over 250 volunteers to Madagascar to research and conserve the reefs, fish and octopus populations.
They eventually decided on one specific area in which to set up their project, Andavadoaka. Thankfully, if you decide to be one of their volunteers in future, it was mentioned that Andavadoaka is the the area without the 'big waves and sharks'... which is good!
Now Blue Ventures Expeditions has new ambitions. It was obvious that running a conservation project in a small village would impact on the local community. So they have worked with the people of Andavadoaka to manage this impact.
They have also captured the views of the villagers on film, so that they can use this to highlight both the pros and cons of their project to other villages in the area, and are concerned about minimising their own impact on the region.
Hence - Blue Ventures Renewable's.
The next step is to trial a new bio gas system and to investigate ways of making their projects self sustaining using this, as well as solar and wind applications*.
So, if anyone has loads of cash they just have no idea what to do with (you might?) why not spend it creating renewable technologies. Surely resources that wont run out have to be an even bigger money spinner than ones that will... dont you think?
Ooh I am running out of time and I never mentioned Travel Roots. (You should call them if you fancy one of the worlds best eco holidays. - In case you were wondering.)
But those guys were great and so if you are interested in any of this stuff give them a call.
I am sure I did other things too but my head is mush. It's late as we have been putting new fun stuff up on the site.
Either that or my brain has been surreptitiously replaced by a large sponge... come to think of it La did have a shifty look about her... thought it was because she had been leaving doors open again but maybe it was more sinister...
Hmm whatever - I hope that you have awoken this morning full of the joys of the world.
I am off to help out at the Gate restaurant.
I burn oven food...
Often...
They are in trouble! Will let you know how they get on.
x
* Demitri if perchance you are reading this - you should get in touch.
24/01/06 -Anxiety and candlelight
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I hope that you made it through the most depressing day of the year without to much trouble.
I was so stressed and anxious I didn't even have time for depression... |
.. though there was a moment when Simply Red started playing that I could have tipped over the edge (the radio is broken and permanently fixed to cheese fm).
Anyhow - if you didn't know this week is... Farmhouse Breakfast Week so I hope you are all getting up early to make an array of proper breakfast foods with which to start your day, rather than those 'no fat' - i.e. suspiciously sweetened - muffins on the way to work...
It has been proven that bad diet can lead back to that whole depression thing (if you read that link can I please point out that I saw that fact somewhere else before I googled it and it came up in 'Senior Mag'!) and that it can be beaten with a good dose of fruit and veg.
I failed to have breakfast and so supplemented with sweets. They were fruit sweets but I think it might be pushing it to suggest that the 'fruit' element would have increased their nutritional value.
Actually as I type I realise that it might be the general sweets, chocolate and bread diet I have been following of late that has lead to the anxiety. That or my mother visiting....
Anyway my mission for the day was to see if I could sneak into the lead on this weeks Angel or Devil challenge to live life in a more energy efficient way.
Firstly, I absolutely did not get someone round to fix the stairway lights. A cynic might suggest that this was a result of laziness rather than anything else. I prefer to look at it as a studied decision since a) you're not in the stairway for long and b) it is an exciting adventure to traverse three flights in complete darkness. (I found a brick I didn't even know was there!)
Other than that I spent much of the afternoon working by candle light (probably not so easy re. health and safety if you don't work from home) and called to change our electricity supplier to Good Energy.
I found that I can't do this immediately as I do not have my electricity supply number (most people do). However, I got to speak to the nicest lady ever who - despite the fact that it was already 5 o'clock - apologised profusely that she might just miss the post today to send it out for me.
(Moral of that tale being that if you did have a depressing day yesterday and now need to talk to someone lovely - you should change your electricity supplier!)
Actually it looks like it is a very simple process to change over to a supplier that will give me 100% renewable energy but I will tell you more when I do next week.
I will also investigate a bit more about the different types of 'green ' energy you can get. (Some suppliers don't actually guarantee you renewable energy, rather, that some of your tariff goes to research into renewables).
Anyhow - will let you know more when I do. Better go for now.
The candle is getting low...
x
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A whale in London? Incredible.
But whales in general are pretty damn amazing....
One of only two mammals that can live under water we need to protect them and - with the ice caps melting - get some tips! |
Known as intelligent animals, whales have a sophisticated social system and communicate with each other using sonar language.
No one can doubt the sheer magnificence of the largest animal on the planet. Whales leap, jump and play. The Humpback is renowned for its staggering arial displays.
Yes - basically – the whale is a fine break-dancer!
Ok so occasionally the whale can get an eeensy bit carried away - as one busting a particularly tricky move did in Australia – but if your boat doesn’t get crushed under the body of a 30 ft mammal then their moves seem pretty impressive.
More important, though, is the fact that ‘saving the whale’ is a wide reaching endeavour. The Save the Whale song (a fine song indeed..!) tells us that the whale 'songs of love can put an end to hate’ and ‘war’.
While this might be a bit of an ambitious assertion I would agree with the song’s claim that saving the whale can help us to ‘save our planet’.
Climate change and the resultant effect this has had on traditional habitats in the arctic has already led to a change in whale feeding patterns. Whales do not breed as much in warmer waters and, as many types of whale are endangered, this does not bode well.
Humans kill whales directly but also as a consequence of pollution in our seas and destruction of marine ecosystems - it would be no bad thing to stop doing so. Find out more from the Ocean Alliance.
(N.B. also if you want to add your voice to the campaign against whaling it costs nothing and takes two minutes – check out the Greenpeace initiative.)
So there you go – a marine focus for the days ponderings.
Other than getting carried away reading about whales my weekend was exceptionally low key and well behaved for once… my mother was staying!
She is getting very excited about the possibilities of enlightening me about ways to save in the home. Apparently she is a fount – FOUNT (her repetition and emphasis) – of knowledge about the many attributes of bicarbonate of soda.
I have told her she will have to show me when I come to visit her.
I can only put her off so long though…
Man alive…
Oooh one last thing. Apparently today is traditionally the most depressing day of the year. Don't give in! Dance round the office, sing in inappropriate places and buy everyone lots of presents!!
Hope you have a good one x
* Sorry sorry - it was an unstoppable urge to pun so badly.
* The blue whale is larger than any of the dinosaurs were.
Hi hi hi - well - what a day. Any bid to look into the ethical minefield was somewhat superceded by the general drama of getting news of the site out.
Which didn't quite go to plan.
So, if you heard of the site yesterday you are very lucky indeed!
My apologies as my investigations were limited to figuring out how a hyperlink works on my computer (or - to be honest - not figuring out how a hyperlink works on my computer) but I did at least stick to this weeks challenge. As did Lara. Ollie though.... If you haven't looked so far - check out the Angel or Devil section.
I wont go on too long as most of you wont have seen the stuff below but we will be exploring away all weekend - so come back and see what we can rustle up and uncover by Monday.
Have far more fun than you should until then x
This section will be a daily, well - Monday to Friday daily, editorial. (Have to keep some time aside to keep up the ritual wine drinking / dancing as if being chased by bees.)
I promise to make it my mission to investigate something each day on exciting forays to find new stuff, fun stuff, ethical stuff and anything involving break dancing men with extremely toned physiques.
Let me know if you think of something I should go and visit or if you have any great ideas or information. (Any dodgy suggestions will be politely declined... or not so politely, depending entirely on what they are!)
For today, though, please just have a look below to find out how this whole thing came about. I hope that you are having a lovely morning.
See you tomorrow,
Susie x
Background to This is not my...
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What is this site all about?
Well, as all good ventures do, it started in the pub with the ominous words "I know, why don't we...?" |
What was different, though, was that it still seemed like a good plan in the morning (and somewhat less injurious than trying out extreme ironing, the other suggestion...)
Anyway - once again we had been supping beers and putting the world to rights when someone mentioned the unmentionable, despite our disaffection with the state of the world, none of us was actually doing anything positive to change it.
Whether this was complacency or apathy, who knows - but we were definitely leaving it to others to make decisions and take action for us on issues about which we felt strongly.
We live in a free society, but often things seem to happen as a fait accompli. The war in Iraq, ID cards, the fact that we will eventually succumb to watching some of Big Brother no matter how hard we try...
And we just go along with it. But that is ok, right? I mean, we aren't exactly encouraging the abuse of others - are we?
Ok - so maybe my new top might have been made under less-than-perfect conditions and I suppose that means I am supporting those conditions, but - I have to buy something to wear, so what other choice do I have?
And that was the problem. What - and where - are the choices?
So we decided to investigate. Surely in this free society we have other options; we just need to know how to find them.
So we went online. There are some great directories already for ethical and/or environmentally friendly products, but for us these didn't go far enough. We were on a bit of a roll and decided that these products deserved more active promotion.
We wanted to make as many people as possible aware of the practical things they can do to live life in a better way.
So on this site we will provide information about easy, positive and ethical consumer choices. These are choices that won’t necessarily cost you more, either.
In our directories you will find environmentally friendly and ethical companies and products across the following categories:
Clothes
Energy
Food and Drink
Health and Beauty
Home and Garden
Office
Recycling
Restaurants
You will also find debates, downloads, fun stuff and plenty more to lure you back to the site on a regular basis.
We’d love you to get involved with some curious antics to keep important issues in the public eye – and provide us with much entertainment and amusement at the same time.
So - take a look. Explore… investigate… probe away.
We hope you like it; we hope you use it.
