This is not my... Wk 27/28 07
18/07/07 - Finally
This Section; Background; The point
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Getting a little worried... |
Helping my friend John out this weekend.
He is raising awareness of a crazy expedition he is taking part in navigating from the Pole to Pole.
I would imagine that you can probably guess roughly what that entails but the full info is:
"...a team of young people from around the world will embark on the journey of a lifetime. They will set out from the South Pole, travel 18 months and 35,000 kilometers across ice, tundra and sand, through rain, extreme cold and heat, with only their bodies, minds, and fellow team members powering the expedition. These team members will ski, sail, bike, kayak and walk the entire route. They are the members of the Pole to Pole Expedition Team and this will be their journey. They will inspire millions to take on Climate Change and other critical issues of our time.
Two international teams made up of 10-12 young people will undertake the expedition. The first team will leave the South Pole in November 2007. They will work their way up to Mt. Kilimanjaro, then they will hand the journey off to the second team who will continue on to the North Pole. Two members of the first team will accompany the second, creating a continuous connection from one Pole to another.
Along the route the Expedition Teams will unite with Advance Teams who will be working on charitable programs for six to ten months in Africa and Europe. The Expedition Team will work with the Advance Teams for three to seven days on each project. During this time Education Teams will be traveling throughout North America and Europe. They will give presentations to schools and other youth organizations, linking students with the Expedition and Advance Teams in real time.
All three teams will work together to inspire, connect and empower the young people who come in contact with the Pole to Pole experience."
Pretty hard core stuff - which means that he is usually out and about dragging tyres, kite surfing the channel, etc.
"Oh I didn't know you kite surf?"
"Well - I don't yet."
"Is a busy shipping lane the best place to learn...?"
This weekend, though, he is taking time out for a spot of promotion. I was - of course - more than happy to help.
Only problem is... I don't know what we are doing.
The last time I agreed to help out with something uninformed I ended up in a peach coloured leotard and tutu combo (not a good look).
I innocently mentioned my weekend plans to a mate last night. He stopped, looked at me and laughed.
"Brilliant. Wish I was there."
"Why?"
"Well - when else will I get to see you dressed as the ars* of a polar bear!?"
Oh no....
Have a good one x
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It's all going wrong... |
Had a work night out last night and - as my boss lives out of town - I offered for her to stay at mine.
All no problem at all...
Until I forgot to get us off the train.
So we had to trek round lots of dodgy back streets as I tried to navigate home in the dark.
Eventually we arrived only to find that the lights weren't working.
And if have just got up and broken the shower.
Argh!!!
Anyhow - having one of those mornings so best get back to trying to fix it with a kitchen knife and a screwdriver from a Christmas cracker.
This could go a bit badly... but if it does - at least I know that I will have been electrocuted by, Ecotricity (green energy provider).
Every cloud...
Susie x
18/07/07 - Finally
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After 8 months... |
They have given me a pass to get into the building at work. (Figured if I turned up enough eventually they would have to let me stay.)
Which is brilliant as I can now avoid the daily paper one and - possibly more excitingly for me - go to the loo without telling the whole office so that someone lets me back in!
While it may not be a massive saving, it does at least fit in with the drive to use less paper at work.
Many companies have had the 'think before you print' logo on their emails for a while but mine only got it the other day.
Still, it is a very good point as (cue random fact about America as I couldn't find a UK one):
"Americans discard about 4 million tonnes of office paper a year, enough to build a 4m high wall of paper from New York to California."*
Which is quite a long way. 2462 miles in fact.
And - as they say - every little helps!
x
*I also couldn't find a very good picture... hence the one of a bit of road I'm hoping is at least in California...
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It's a good one.
Honest... |
Finally managed to get home (yeay) and so was in last night to see the 'Great Green Smokescreen' on Channel 4.
Thought it was really good.
Most of it was spent assessing the pros and cons of carbon off-setting and then a wee bit of time on the difficulties of measuring the carbon impact of various goods.
Re. the second, while I can see the point that it might be difficult to measure the exact CO2 footprint of every product in the world, surely a species that sends people to space/speaks across oceans and created the raspberry mocha frappacino can come up with something. Broader categorisation perhaps?
Re. the first, I also agree that carbon off-setting can be negative.
I off-set but only the carbon that I can't avoid emitting by cutting down (though I am sure there is a certain element of guilt assuaging too) and do so with a company called Pure Trust.
As well as assisting carbon reduction projects, Pure Trust buy carbon credits in the carbon trading system. (Despite some of the problems of the early carbon trading systems, to me at least, it seems imperative that we have one.) Which is all quite positive. As long as it doesn't encourage people to continue to waste energy.
Which is one of the reasons many environmentalists are skeptical of off-setting schemes.
But despite popular opinion saving energy is often pretty easy and can save money.
Woo hoo!
So I reckon that if, instead of offsetting, everyone bought energy saving light bulbs and insulated their homes we would cut back on shed loads of energy loss, help our bank balances and live happily ever after.
I mean, once you, or your business has efficient bulbs / insulation then you buy some for a neighbour / charity / old peoples home etc forge better relationships in the community and the country becomes the beautiful rose tinted paradise of an Enid Blyton novel it once was.
See - a great idea!
Man, best have a sit down and a bottle of ginger beer after that one.
x
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Celebrate.
It will be so nice... |
Ah - to be back at work.
Well, technically, to be back at a coffee shop eating cake because it was too late to get home last night - but sort of at work.
Had a bit of a muddled up week last week.
Headed to my parents and then a wedding in Guernsey.... so clearly all of the things I planned to do went out of the window.
Nice to have a break though.
Even if it was exhausting.
Took the ferry over in a bid to avoid flying. Which actually wasn't that bad (once you got past the fact that the rest of the boat was taken up by a hundred sea scouts from Norwich... the energetic little dears...).
I am not 100% sure how much better it is than taking the plane though. Will have to investigate properly. It did seem to spew quite a substantial amount of black smoke as we set off...
Oh dear.
Anyhow - much more environmentally friendly was the cyclo that took the bride and groom from the church to the reception.
It was an amazing contraption that they had rigged up themselves and convinced the bride's brother to drive. So great was it, in fact, that we felt it only fitting to show it off again... by driving it into the marquee across the dance floor and crashing into the side!
Actually - may not need to worry about the most efficient way of getting to Guernsey again if the bride's mother has anything to do with it....
Hope you have been having a brilliant start to the week.
Susie x
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For the radio silence.
A few trials and tribulations... |
Scooted up to my parents for a couple of days.
Ostensibly to get some work done and head to the dentist (had an unfortunate golfing on the roof accident... holding the tee with my fingers seemed such a good idea at the time...) but in reality it has was more a case of sitting in the sun, reading and eating chocolate.
Yes, through no fault of my own (surprisingly), the internet connection in my parents house was broken. Taking decisive action I hopped on the bus (was hoping to make that sound dramatic - not sure it quite worked...) and made my way to the nearest town in a bid to locate some.
A trickier proposition than imagined.
"Internet cafe... hmmm well I have heard of that."
"Really do you know where there is one."
"Oh no dear. Maybe Margorie will know."
"MARGORIE"
"The lady wants to know about the internet?"
"The internet?"
"Oh I'm not sure I know anything about that?"
"She's trying to find a cafe."
"Has she tried Betty's/Old Bill's/the fish and chip shop?"
"Yes dear, and that new place for the young ones but none of them have it."
"Well - actually one of them does but I need to use my own computer so I need wireless."
"Wireless? What's that?"
"Sounds like a type of bra dear."
"Oh Eric, you are wicked. Talking about underwear. Well I never. It's not a bra... is it dear...?"
Etc etc
Not in Kansas now Toto.
After locating a bar that looked promising I was happily informed that though they thought they might have wireless no one had ever used it before so they didn't know how it worked.
Grrr.
Anyhow - I did get to spend some time writing new action pages for the site overhaul (should be in a couple of weeks... sure I said that a couple of weeks a go...) and to get a full run down of non-harmful household cleaning products from my mother.
Just found this site which lists a few if you are interested.
Not 100% sure about the 'pet urine' though....!?!
Anyhow - hope that the week has started fabulously and be back soon with loads of illuminating facts and meanderings.
Susie 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 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.
