This is not my... Daily
21/05/07 - The most amazing barbeque
This Section; Background; The point
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straight over to fast cars... |
Ah the bank holiday - the perfect time for a weekend away.
And - assuming that you don't end up spending most of it on the M25 - then what could be finer than hopping in the car and getting away from it all?
Traveling by car is - in general - more environmentally friendly than traveling be plane (especially if you have a full car). Which is good. But it does, of course, still use fossil fuel.
So how can we get away with cruising about with the least impact?
Well - if you happen to live on the west coast of America and have a spare £50,000 then getting a cheeky little Tesla would probably be a good idea. (See Autocar review)
But - since I imagine that this isn't the case for most of us - then what are our options?
The Green Car Guide gives us an ideas of those that are more environmentally friendly than others - but for someone as lazy as I am - I reckon car clubs offer some of the best deals.
If you join a car club you get to use their cars (not entirely sure I had to qualify that but nevermind) which means that you can forget the expense of buying the car, getting it taxed, updating the MOT, procuring the parking permit, insurance etc and just use it when you want to.
So - although you might spend a couple of days burning about - you will use the car less, pay less and wont contribute to the energy intensive manufacture of your own vehicle.
Brilliant.
There are quite a few car clubs in London, including WhizzGo for electric ones and - if you are looking for something a bit more fun - then the Classic Car Club.
So - why not get out your driving gloves and head for the country?
Yes indeed.
Saving the planet is sometimes trialing...
Have a good'un x
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who makes loads of money through S & M... |
which wasn't entirely expected at 8.30 in the morning whilst tracking down my rogue barbeque delivery.*
But he does - I have been reliably informed. (I am afraid that my powers of investigation failed to procure this information from the man himself in a two minute chat so I can't confirm it personally... but I am now wondering how my friend can...)
Anyhow - he was a lovely bloke and it got me thinking about sex.
Naturally.
And the 'Sex and Climate Change' event I went to on Monday. Really interesting idea (though more talking than actual sex in case you were wondering) and an event at which Sam Roddick, founder of Coco de Mer was speaking.
Coco de Mer is an erotic emporium in Covent Garden. It is pretty expensive but the only erotic emporium where the spanking paddles are made from sustainable wood and whose sex toys are endorsed by the World Wildlife Fund. (For more details on Coco de Mer try this Guardian article or for a look at ethical sex in general take a look at our articles from last year.)
Which I reckon is brilliant.
In fact - might go back round at the weekend and let my new mate know where to get his kit!
Right - best get to work and the more mundane I suppose.
Have an amazing time in the sunshine!
x
*Yes - did manage to get the most AMAZING pink barbeque the world has ever seen!
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And on... and on... |
Generally, getting nagged is a little grating.
The whole - "Tidy your room!", "Take the bins out!", "Stop scaring your sister with that unfeasibly sized cabbage!" - sort of thing.
But, The Nag (Anti-Apathy's new 'reminder to do good things that you may otherwise put off') is really far less nagging than gentle reminder with a bit of quirky humour thrown in.
So sign up and get a friendly nudge to do something easy and helpful once a month. (Changing your energy supplier, buying local food, etc.)
Anyhow - see you later and enjoy the sunshine!
x
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Nice and secure but - it can be pretty dull... |
Just been reading a report on positive behaviour change.
Very interesting indeed.
Lots of good points about motivation and opportunity etc and specifically an intriguing mention of habit.
It went through the explanation that that if you do something and get a good result (eating a bit of cake and it tasting nice) then you do it again and if you do something and you get a bad result (eating a cake that I have made for you) then you don't.
Which is all quite straight forward - but then went on to talk about creating a mental space for change.
If we just do what we normally do we don't get those moments that let us think about alternatives.
It gave an example of someone moving their office bin so that when they habitually went to throw something in it and it landed on the floor, they would be reminded that they had moved the bin in order to recycle more. Thereby giving themselves the mental space to think about why they were changing that particular habit.
Which made me think that really - what we all need is a day where we can take time out and do something totally different which will - as a consequence - make us more aware of people and planet and all the things that hippies go on about.
And... as if by magic (and certainly not because there is pretty much a day for everything) I found that it is 'World Environment Day' on the 6th June.
Which strikes me as the perfect day to kick a not-really-all-that-brilliant-for-the-environment habit in order to think about and try out something much more exciting.
(Well - that or move the bin away from the desk at least.)
Anyhow - will have a think about fun things to do. Suggestions always welcome though!
Right - best stop trying to pretend to read educational tracts and get some breakfast.
Might go crazy and have something other than toast*. Who knows where it might lead...
Susie x
*Especially considering it isn't Toast Day
21/05/07 - The most amazing barbeque
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the world has ever seen... |
Having a barbeque next weekend.
Been a bit disorganised and so haven't really thought about planning but - well - there isn't much you need for a barbeque is there?
Well, apart from the actual barbeque....
Argh!
I hopped on-line to see if I could get one ordered in time and to find out which one would be the best.
The Grist reported that, environmentally, gas wins hands down over electric or charcoal.
So the hunt for the best gas barbeque was on.
And - it didn't take long to track it down.
Hopped onto ebay and found...
The retro memphis!
Brilliant.
No idea what it does or doesn't do but it's gonna look amazing in the 'garden'!*
x
*A bit of patio with some wilting plants counts as a garden, right...?
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 plenty more to lure you back to the site on a regular basis. So come back to have a wee look.
Plus we will be working on video's, events and curious antics to keep important issues in the public eye – and provide us with much entertainment and amusement at the same time.
Give us a shout if you want to get involved!
Anyhow - take a look. Explore… investigate… probe away.
We hope you like it; we hope you use it.
