This is not my... Week 31
01/09/06 - A little less conversation
31/08/06 - A day in the country
25/08/06 - Feeling much better
This Section; Background; The point
01/09/2006 - A little less conversation
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A little more action... |
Actually - I would imagine that it is quite a lot of conversation but just quite a lot of action as well.
The bank holiday saw the start of a Climate Camp where hundreds of environmentalists from around the country were able to meet to discuss issues facing the UK and the planet.
I would have loved to have gone but - as with so many other things - time was not on my side.
They held lectures on all sorts of fascinating topics. And then did a little bit of protesting on the side, culminating in yesterday's action outside Drax power station.
I have been to a few protests in my time so I know that there are many people who think. "Oh look over there at the crazy hippies chanting again" and then discount the whole thing.
Which is a shame.
The only reason that the protests are taking place are because these individuals have been learning and absorbing what leading scientists and politicians etc are telling us about climate change.
As it is a concern to them, they are drawing attention to the problem. Which is something that will benefit you and I just as much as it will them (plus we don't even have to risk the rain, running out of tea, arrest generally...)
So I would like to thank anyone who does it. Crazy hippies or otherwise. (If only we'd listened in the 80's.. blah blah blah... )
Al Gore, Thom Yorke and David Attenborough are all saying the same things - just in suits, through concerts and on the telly.
But listening to normal people is important too.
Or - I guess - I think so as I am a normal person and hope that people don't dismiss my concerns when I want to highlight something.
Which is why, today, I would like to highlight just how vital it is... not to put too much chili in your cooking!
Oh dear.
Ollie is now back from holiday (so I have one of my partners in crime back - woo hoo).
To mark the exciting occasion I offered to cook him a vegetarian feast last night.
He insisted that it wasn't necessary... repeatedly... (he's had my cooking before) but I was convinced that I could make a Nepalese dhal and associated condiments.
I have now learnt that - while you can 'add a bit for luck' with most ingredients - under no circumstances should you do this with hot crushed chili seeds!
Sorry Ol!!
Anyhow - loads to be getting along with.
My friends Meena and Sophie have offered to take up a new Angel or Devil challenge and I'm learning more about my voluntary carbon rationing which starts today.
Then - of course - it's the weekend!!!
Hope you have a great one x
31/08/2006 - A day in the country
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Unscheduled.
But never the less very nice indeed... |
Work sent me to the village of Cardington yesterday.
What a nice place!
To be fair most of the other people there were over 70 so it may never be top of my 'wild nights out' list but it was gorgeous to be out in the English countryside.
With the absence of any wing walking offers (see yesterday) my days of flying are coming to an end (or to a diminish - if it is possible to come to one of those....) so the UK holiday will feature more often in my plans.
Something that I am happier and happier about the more time I spend appreciating all of the things that we can do close to home.
Wandering around the countryside on a summers afternoon being just one of them.
I keep coming across entertaining pursuits that I will undoubtedly go on about here as soon as I get chance.
But I am a bit behind this morning, after a random evening spent deliberating camera angles for vaseline pots and grown men playing with barbie dolls (?!) so will have to potter on for now.
But - as Organic Fortnight starts next week I did manage to get a focus together on that the other day so if you haven't read it then feel free to get distracted with that instead!
Have a lovely day and see you tmrw x
30/08/2006 - Only two more days
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till I take up voluntary carbon rationing.
Which means... |
In the next 48 hours I have to track down my ex-boyfriend's mate who said he'd take me wing walking!
From September 1st I will be noting down each and every journey I take and assessing all of my bills.
If I use too much energy I will have to make a payment for it to my Carbon Rationing Action Group.
Which means - unless I want to get fined - all unnecessary travel needs to take place before Friday.
Years ago I was asked if I wanted to go wing walking.
What an amazing thing to try!
But I never got round to it.
So now the pressure is on. I'm working today and so there is only tomorrow upon which I can strap myself to the nearest flying object.
I'm not sensing success but then - stranger things have happened.
So - if you have been let down by your usual Thursday wing walker - feel free to get in touch!
Quite looking forward to the rationing actually.
I think that I am pretty good at saving energy but it will be interesting to see if I use more than my fair share in daily life*.
Apparently the whole of a years rationing can go in one return flight to Australia.
Hmmmm. Tricky.
But - Nigel (who is rebuilding everything I have knocked down in my house) was telling me all about Kon Tiki - a book written by Thor Heyerdahl about his 1947 expedition to raft from South America to the Pacific Islands.
Most inspiring.
I could build a raft.... I like rafts....
But not as much as wing walking!!!!
Ah well - maybe some dreams can only be just that.
So - base jumping - that doesn't need a plane....
x
*Well fair share inexactly for the UK and discluding the complicated argument surrounding the rights of future generations.
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Well - if I HAVE to... |
Wrote up some new horoscopes the other day.
Thought that I had best get some inspiration first and found a trashy magazine lurking in the living room. (Occasionally they mysteriously sneak in beside the more cerebral texts...)
Checked my sign.
Capricorn:
Take time out from strict diets and hellish exercise regimes, because Saturn's influence is in danger of turning you into one of those disciplined types the rest of us prefer to avoid (if only because you make us feel like feeble-minded, wobbly thighed losers). A brief delve into self indulgence won't harm you.
Brilliant.
Love it when - despite not believing a word of your horoscope - it allows you to justify decadent and reckless actions!
Since I am training for a marathon I can't quite stop the exercise but - as we are all about doing what you can, even if it is only a step in the right direction - I feel that I should at least attempt the self indulgence.
Obviously there is the wine, chocolate and time out but what I really need is.... some shampoo!
Got some the other day which is 70% organic (and spent the whole journey home wondering what is in the other 30%.... evil toxic chemicals which will undoubtedly kill fish and lead to the untimely demise of humankind as we know it...?)
Anyhow - despite the 30% margin for all sorts of nasty chemicals it just didn't work on my hair.
The conditioner was better but came with an added work out as it was nearly impossible to get out of the bottle.
Anyhow - thankfully it has now run out and I need a new one.
There is some posh stuff out there...
One friend suggested that I try Cowshed. All of whose products are:
"100% vegetarian made from hand picked herbs from our very own walled garden at Babington House."
Very nice indeed.
Another likes Ren, whose range is made from 100% natural Bio actives with no unfriendly chemicals. (Chemicals that steal your favourite CD's and sleep with your boyfriend?)
And I have always loved the smell of Aveda. Who have a great sourcing policy for their products, carbon off set and give money to environmental charities.
Sadly though - they are all a wee bit too much of an indulgence till I get paid so I went to search out an alternative and came across Australian Organics.*
It smells divine and - as an added bonus - it works!
It is still not as cheap as some of the ones you can pick up in Boots but only a pound or so more and available from Holland and Barratt.
Lovely.
Anyhow - better get back to eating chocolate cake, watching old movies and sipping champagne...
Hope you are having a lovely start to the week x
*Not to be confused with Aussie which is made by Proctor and Gamble and doesn't do too well on the Ethiscore rating.
25/08/2006 - Feeling much better
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After a good sleep and a little cry... |
Woke up feeling really well today.
I was meant to be working but it got cancelled and so I got a mini lie in.
Can't remember when I last slept past 7.
So so so nice.
Plus - woke up with the sun streaming through the window, realised it is a bank holiday and had the most amazing sleep too.
Brilliant!
I think it might have been a result of releasing any pent up stress and emotion after a little cry last night.
Not - I should add - because of any sadness, injury or angst but because.... I watched the end of Armageddon.
Oh the shame.
To shed a tear over a something which competes against Mission Impossible 2 and Independence Day for 'the most vomit inducingly cheesy film' ever made.
I still can't fathom why I got so engrossed.
Anyhow - thought I'd try to redeem myself by focusing on some slightly better ones coming out soon.
First round the corner is Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth' out on the 15th Sept.
It highlights the problem of climate change but - rather than give us doom, gloom and instructions on how to build a raft - 'offers a passionate and inspirational look at one man's fervent crusade to halt global warming's deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it.'
Definitely worth turning off Bruce Willis and big asteroids for.
Another documentary with an environmental slant is "Who Killed the Electric Car" . This highlights just why we don't have a profusion of these, more efficient and environmentally friendly, vehicles on our roads.
A worrying indictment of how the world can work if we let it and - possibly - more enlightening than the knowledge that Ben Affleck would have jumped down the mine shaft to set of the nuclear reactor if he had been able!
Still - since they aren't out yet - it may have to be Pirates of the Caribbean instead.
Trying to think of any justification whatsoever for claiming it to be an incisive and educational work but let's face it. Just fancy Johnny Depp.
Anyhow - hope that you have also woken up full of the joys of summer and ready for a brilliant long weekend.
Have an amazing one and see you on Tuesday when Ol will be back.
Woo hoo 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.
