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'.

Eco Shopping...

Yes Yes, I know the most important part of being environMENTAL is of course.... reduce! Do you need it? Probably not....don't buy it then!!
But......ilike, iwant, ineed.....shoes!!
So here are some very interesting eco shoes which I found whilst journeying around the world of internet shopping.
Surely this describes so accurately what every woman wants in a shoe.....
'easy to catch the last train and using all eco friendly materials do so with a good conscience.' (- aha! I did wonder what I needed for a good conscience!!)

Light Weight
An essential component of eco design is lightness - things are less energy consuming and easier to ship around the world. It is also good for you to have light footwear - take a load off.

Flex
We believe in freeing your feet. Super flexible soles allow your feet to work and walk as designed! See Vivo Barefoot!

Vegetable Tanned
Vegetable tanned leather is a natural alternative to Chrome tanning. The leather is prepared using vegetable extracts that create beautiful deep leathers.

Locally Sourced
Where possible we try to source materials local to the factories where our products are manufactured - minimising on transportation.

Recycled
We try to use as many different recycled materials as possible - from soling materials to old coats and parachutes.

hmmmm.... retailing at £90 a pair from www.terraplana.com I'd hope they'd include the train ticket too!

The death of a kettle!

I'm anticipating, with slight over-eagerness, the death of my kettle. A while ago a friend of mine showed me one of these fabulous Tefal Quick Cup Kettles.
Saving time and energy this lovely creature will fill my cup with hot water in just 3 seconds!! Bloody marvelous!
But of course being a...um...(cough)... 'real' eco warrior I have been waiting for my current kettle to pass on before I buy a new one, even an energy saving eco one!!
And not forgetting to dispose of my old electrical appliances responsibly... it's off to Milham's Household Recycling Centre for my old kettle, so it doesn't end up in the landfill where over 75% of waste electrical goods end up and where lead and other toxins contained in the electrical goods can cause soil and water contamination!!
And my first cuppa to christen my new kettle may well be a Pukka Love Tea, a sweet floral infusion of rose, chamomile and lavender to lift my spirits, which I bought from www.ecovenient.co.uk of course!