Smile on...Pylon!?

depression, headaches, miscarriages, cancer, leukemia.....
I lived for 17 years with a pylon in my back garden and there's nothing wrong with me...... (twitch.... twitch... @?@?)

Eco Ice Cream??

Weirdly enough I am thinking about Ice Cream.... maybe it's because I've just watched The Apprentice on BBC iplayer and they've just been making and selling it, but anyway, in a beautifully random way I thought....."I wonder if there's such a thing as Eco Ice Cream" and, I think you can guess what I'm gonna say......
THERE IS!!!!
Mackie's of Scotland produce Eco Ice Cream!!
Mackie's ice cream is made with fresh milk, cream and 100% renewable energy.
..and how do they do this?
Ice cream manufacturers Mackie's of Scotland have their own energy supply - three Vestas V52 wind turbines - referred to as "Mackie's", "Ice" and "Cream". Each of these graceful machines have a 45 metre turbine and three 25 metre blades on the turning propeller and capacity to produce 850KW of power - so a total capacity at the farm of 2.5 MW.
The ice cream tubs show a wind turbine icon with the declaration "made with 100% renewable energy". This is important to Mackie's and is part of their ongoing commitment to have a carbon neutral site and become the greenest company in Britain.

Mmmmmmm......I want some!!!!

Ah, unfortunately they sell all their Ice Cream to all the big supermarket monsters in the UK, so maybe we won't be sampling it very soon... (I'm still in shock from my last supermarket visit)... oh well, can't win 'em all I suppose, next up.... an ethical, organic eco ice cream...am I asking too much??

1000 fruit trees!

It's done!
Around Boscombe and Springbourne there are now an extra 1000 fruit trees and bushes; in people's gardens, in the local church's and school's grounds and, of course, in the prime position of the Sovereign Centre's grounds!! Can't wait for next year when they all start blossoming and fruiting!! Have a look on www.500-fruit-trees.org.uk all the sites are on google maps if you're planning a scrumping session!! Wonder if Alex James is impressed, although there's no little orchard on The Crescent......

Boscalicious Boscombe!

The future's orange, the future's Boscalicious! Well for Boscombe it is anyway!! I've just been looking through the green pages on the Boscalicious website, Boscombe's hot new website.
I never knew we were so green here in Boscombe...we've got organic veg box deliveries, Blackspot trainers, SourceD clothing, Hasty Waste rubbish removal and some great healthy wholefood cafes, to name just a few!
www.boscalicious.co.uk

Green car, red car, blue car....NO CAR!!!!

I just read a funny article it was called 'Give your car the green treatment with an eco car clean' (it wasn't funny, ha ha it was funny, odd)
.....I'll tell you how to give your car the 'green treatment'... don't use it!
seems obvious really, eh??
http://www.ecover.com/NR/rdonlyres/019DF1F6-6C45-4972-902E-3A18F0C6B8B9/4147/CarWashFINAL.pdf
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What on Earth!!

In less than an hour everyone participating in Earth Hour 2008 UK will be switching off all electrical appliances and ...um..... finding something else to do instead!!
I think it's great when people all do positive things as a 'collective' and last year on 31 March 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour. But what about the statistics??
Well apparently...If the greenhouse reduction achieved in the Sydney CBD during Earth Hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year. (um....wouldn't it've been better to have taken the 48,616 cars off the roads and let normal people get on with their lives?!?!?)
So, building up to the moment I start to wonder what people will do when they turn off their electricity... and of course my mind wonders to the obvious.....food!!
No, seriously now, I'm slightly worried about the real statistics.... I wonder if anyone noticed an upward trend in births in Sydney 9 months after Earth Hour 2007?? What is the environmental impact of a significant increase in pregnancies and births compared to people turning off their lights for an hour? What if 'more babies' is actually far worse for the environment that keeping your lights on for an hour.....am i missing the point here? I guess so....
Right, so if you're lighting candles.. be careful! (mmmm, 2.2 million candles, global warming...don't get me started...)
If you're getting frisky, be especially careful! (2.2 million extra babies)
If you're off to someone else's house who's not participating in Earth Hour, you cheat! be very careful you don't bump into anything in the dark. (2.2 million extra A&E admittances)
Anyway, whatever you do.....enjoy, it's not everyday we get an excuse to do nothing for an hour! x

Bags of Fun!!

Oh dear!! I've just been shopping......to a supermarket!
I've been quite spoilt of recent, with the Boscombe Wholefood Co-op, the local Boscombe Market and butchers for everyday things and, of course, my friendly corner shop for milk. I haven't endured the pain and suffering of supermarket shopping for a long, long time.
So armed with 2 or 3 cloth shopping bags I begin my shopping mission, I won't tell you which multi-national giant I went to because I'm so ashamed, it rates 0.5 on the ethiscore (see previous blog: have you ethiscored yet this year?)
So, relatively painlessly I make it past the billion products that I never intended to buy but somehow seem weirdly drawn to because, put like that, I'd be a fool not to buy 2 for £2 of anything now wouldn't I, especially dog worming tablets... I might get a dog one day... because the dog food is on special offer too and.....oh my goodness.....I snap out of my trance... is it the piped music? the lights?....1,2,3 back in the room. To the check-out. Quick!!
I choose a 'do it yourself' lane because I have my daughter with me and she likes playing shops, and rather smugly place my 'oh so eco-friendly' jute shopping bag in the bagging area in place of the plastic bag.....
'UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA, PLEASE REMOVE'!! I look around helplessly.... 'I'm afraid I can't'....I offer back to the mechanical voice, 'its my shopping bag!?' The machine repeats itself again and again til, rather deflated, I put my shopping bag back in the trolley. My daughter scans the first item, 3 times, I smile apologetically at the assistant who is 'master of all self-service tills' and she saunters over and silently voids the items. I place the packet in my shopping bag, which of course is in the trolley, and try to scan the next item. But I can't!! It seems that the machine is unhappy that I have not bagged my goods and will not proceed until I have done so. Slightly confused I take the item out of my shopping bag and place it in the bagging area ....'UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA, PLEASE REMOVE'. Helplessly I gaze over at 'the master' who, without flinching, presses a button on her till and I am free to carry on. I hastily scan my last few items, I think the assistant is secretly pressing the same button on her till with my every action, and throw it all back in the trolley. Trundling past the 'master till' I peek over..... I think the button is labelled 'fool'.