This is not my... Week 39
This Section; Background; The point
31/10/2006 - Let the fun begin
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Remember when you were a child and things were whatever you wanted them to be... |
A box became a car, a tree became a house, a stick became a sword.... with which your brother would then hit you because The Musketeers (him and his two friends) secretly turned against Dartanian (you)..... *
Everything could be something else.
And some things still can be.
I was watching Newsnight yesterday and one of their reporters has been living ethically for a year. He was concerned that he had reduced his carbon emissions by 30% but was unsure what else he could do to reduce it still further.
Clearly he had never been chased round the garden by my brother and his two mates!
I was struck then by the difference a little creativity can make and - when it doesn't involve pain and battery - how entertaining it can be.
If you go to the developing world there is very little waste. Everything that breaks is either fixed or broken down and reused.
An old tyre can be made into shoes, plastic bottles are invaluable containers and oil cans become chairs, tables or storage units.
Now I am not suggesting that we start taking our old crisp packets and spend hours turning them into Christmas decorations (though actually....) just that we are creative people who can come up with creative answers to a lot of our own questions.
As a species we have made all sorts of amazing things and we continue to do so daily.
But it doesn't have to be the designers and the scientists that get to have all the fun. There is no reason why we can't get in on the action.
So as well as changing energy suppliers, getting insulation, changing light bulbs and turning appliances off perhaps it is time to get a bit more imaginative.
Make the world a playground again.
And this time we get to claim it is our responsibility as grown ups!
Brilliant.
x
*Still bitter!
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£3.68 trillion dollars.
No - not the demand of an evil overlord... |
but how much it will cost the world economy if we do nothing about climate change.
All over the headlines today is news of Sir Nicholas Stern's report into the costs of climate change is due out today and will show that it will strike a devastating blow to the global economy if we don't take action to reduce emissions now.
Gordon Brown has appointed Al Gore as his advisor on action and the Government is talking about climate taxes, emissions schemes and unilateral action.
Finally.
But - woooohoooo.
Individually there are all sorts of efficiency measures that we can take. Many of which are noted here. But this will also be a sign to businesses that they will soon start being penalised for their emissions.
So if you are a business, work in a business or would like to do something businessy to help - contacting some of these guys might be a good place to start.
The Energy Savings Trust and Carbon Trust do office audits and can help you to see how to increase efficiency.
Global Action Plan do much the same but look at individuals and how they can be included in schemes to reduce energy use.
Futerra not only have knowledge on all of the above but can focus on how you can use your good green credentials to the best advantage.
And you can always contact www.greenyouroffice.co.uk to get advice and products.
So - get printing to double sided, getting the efficient-motion sensitive lighting, checking the heating, changing the energy supplier and slashing those business flights.
Saves a lot of grief in the long-term and in the short a few pennies for an extra Tia Maria at the Christmas party.
Brilliant! x
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I try to see the good in most things but this one is a bit tricky.... |
My friend Tim - despite being lovely - is sometimes a sarcastic b*stard!
He occasionally feels compelled to try me with tricky ethical dilemma's for his own cruel amusement.
So this popped into my inbox yesterday afternoon.
"I have another ethical dilemma, is it OK to by shares in BAE Systems now that they are making ‘green’ weapons?
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6081486.stm
OK sure, blowing up people isn’t really a ‘good thing’ per se, but lets face it some people do have to be blown up, and I’d rather this be done in an ecologically friendly way.
I await your wisdom with baited breath."
Really?
Well there are all sorts of reasons not to have BAE shares.
Generally based around the premise of weapons being a major element of war and the fact that war is massively damaging to the environment has devastating effects on society and economies and - you know - involves the whole death and maiming thing...
Plus - some people do not have to be blown up!
But - BAE go green. Wow.
Who'd have thought?
Whichever way Timothy - don't you lose too much sleep.
Far easier is just to put all of your pennies into a nice ethical fund instead!
Money.net has an article on it and I'll try and find you some more tips.
In anycase you could always save a few pennies by getting those energy efficient bulbs you still haven't got round to.... ; )
Anyhow - busy old weekend ahead and - if I can find her - the plan is to track down my MP.... lucky lady!
Will let you know if I manage.
Have an amazing day x
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and utter mental shutdown... |
Slept so well that my head has now been entirely taken over by a massive piece of wool.
Would love to tell you all about a really interesting lecture I went to by Labour behind the Label and write some witty comments about my time learning Supply and Demand economic theory for my GCSE (to be fair that was always going to be a struggle!) but I can't.
Literally can't.
Even excessive blinking isn't helping. (Though is probably making me look a bit like I am demented.)
And I have to get to work. (At current state of uselessness they will be so pleased!)
So - I shall just quickly say that - though certainly no saints - I found out yesterday that Nike have made a radical shift in their policy towards their supply chain, insisting that corporate social responsibility is considered at all levels of production and manufacturing.
It is not yet enough - but it is a great start.
And it is a start that they have made due to negative press and pressure from their customers to make changes to their unethical practises.
It's a nice tale of how people power can make a difference.
According to the Independent this morning, environmental groups fear that the Government's proposed climate bill will not go far enough to be truely effective.
There is still time to make a bit of noise to demand that what we want is supplied.
So get writing to those MP's or put the 4th Novembers icount event in Trafager Square in the diary.
Might as well give it a try hey...?
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Much as I love trains.
I do sometimes wish they would come a bit more often...
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Yesterday was the third time in the last week I missed mine by less than 2 minutes and then had to loiter in Victoria station.
Have come to love Victoria station.
Or - to be honest - have come to love the fact that no one seems to mind if you read all the magazines in WhSmith while you wait for your train.
But - since I had already skimmed most of them in the two previous visits - I decided to branch out.... books!
Sadly - these are a little harder to pick up and peruse in half hour stints but I have been inspired to get down to the library.
Used to love going to the library.
It was next door to the doctors in my home town and so we got to play with the toys in the surgery (used to love the doctors too - we didn't get out much in Lincolnshire!) and then go and get new story books.
But I haven't thought about going to the ones down here.
Might start.
Hey - it could be the new thing.
Like knitting was last year.
We could persuade Madonna and Kylie to pop down to the reference section, look intellectual with flattering glasses and then start illicit affairs in the 'Authors beginning with B' aisle?
Oh it would be so much fun!
Plus, in addition to hobnobbing with the rich and famous and canoodling with gorgous men (whose sensible jumpers disguise their chiseled torso's), I might be able to track down some of the WhSmith titles for free.
Would like to have a look at a couple of the ones on solutions to Global Warming (surprise) such as Paul Brown's (imaginatively titled) 'Global Warming' and George Monbiot's 'Heat'.
And the Al Franken one looked fun. Like the title in any case: Lies and the Lying Liars who tell them!
Anyhow - just a thought.
See you in all in the reading room... 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.
