ME AND MY WORLD

Hello.......Again!

2009-05-10T05:09:00.005Z

My last blog entry was about a house warming present I had just made for The Boomerang Child, well it looks like this summer she will be back!
I shall comment no further.

Since the last time I wrote my all things green has escalated I am now a member of FREECYCLE CARDIFF and whilst I get rid of lots of things,some of the members really do push their luck by not showing up to collect things.It seems that other members also have this problem.
My favourite things to get rid of on FREECYCLE are jam jars with lids,egg boxes, used packaging and big bags of mixed items to be used for car boot sales. The car booters always show up!

And I am slowly but surely spring cleaning my house and de-cluttering.
It feels very good.

A VERY LIMITED VIEW OF THE BACK GARDEN

Last year I also managed to grow lots of things in planters and I grew all my own lettuce for the summer which is quite an achievement when you consider I am a vegetarian who loves salad!
I have begun to plant my garden and tidy it for the summer and it is looking very bright and cheery. It has lots of windmills and Gnomes and bright things just for Beauty and YES she loves them.
She may be 8 but she loves the visual stimulation of a toddler.

BEAUTY IN THE FRONT GARDEN

I wonder if I will ever achieve my goal of a perfect garden and home........I don't think so!

STILL LIVING THE GREEN LIFE

2007-07-25T14:56:00.000Z

I may not have written for a few weeks but I am still trying to live the greener healthier lifestyle and keep up with some art work.
I made collages for Beauty's teachers and teacher's aides as end of term presents and I have just completed a housewarming present for SnoWhite called The Boomerang Child which is painted using acrylics on a canvas, I shall load a photograph of The Boomerang Child when I can find my camera(Fiona usually has it!).

An example of my continuing healthy eating
today's menu
Breakfast
Fruit and Fibre with semi-skimmed milk
Snack
Mixed salad with Ryvittas
Lunch
Corn on the cob
and I still haven't decided on my evening meal yet but a mixed bean salad is looking good-nutritious AND filling.

You need to check out these recycled birdhouses

they are so beautiful.

I also love this collage very much

The Trick

I LOVE ART

2007-07-09T08:13:00.000Z

What an impressive piece of recycled/altered art. Well done to the children who painted this.
link

A broken down Iraqi army tank that children have painted on as a colourful protest against war.

Iy sits in the middle of the road from Kirkuk to Suleimaniya

You just have to check out this website-
Collectors Quest
link
the work is amazing. It has made me look at art in a different way.

Check out this website-this person has major talent

The Art of Sand sculpture
link

What is it about me and sand sculptures?

I am amazed at these artists, they must take such a lot of time to create these pieces of work.

THE UNFINISHED PIECE

2007-07-08T14:30:00.000Z

These are unfinished pieces in my collage notebook. I have heard of people who set a time limit when they create a piece but I find completion a difficult thing. I am always finding pieces that I would really like to put on a page and so it becomes increasingly difficult to know when a piece is DONE.

I'M BACK!

2007-07-07T07:14:00.000Z

When the building work started on the extension all of my art work went upstairs into the front bedroom. It is still there and as yet the room is not completely sorted but I am working on it.
I have been saying that I will do my art work when the room is sorted but I have been so inspired by artists that I have met on the web that I have made the decision to re-start my art work now. Collage is one of my favourite mediums and I have notebooks full of collage and boxes full of stuff to use.
Yesterday I began a new notebook. A note book is an unplanned thing that I work on everyday and is really more like a WE'LL SEE WHERE IT TAKES ME. As all of my stuff to collage with is still upstairs I decided to use only things that I had around me, magazines, newspapers, junk mail and the general 'rubbish' that any collage artist knows they cannot throw away and HAS to be used.
Here are a few pages that I created.

WHERE IS THE SUNSHINE?
Inspired by the fact that we are in what seems to be a rainy season
However, seeing the Baby in the Sun, Beauty re-named it
Teletubbies

I am in desperate need of a new camera, my camera is dying, SnoWhite dropped it on Sully Beach( funnily enough she dropped and broke the last one too!)

REMEMBERING
These pages are about Tony Goble from Llanover hall, I received the new Llanover Hall prospectus in the post and used the pages in the book to create a REMEMBRANCE.

TONY

TIME TO ACT
A compilation of bits and pieces found in my kitchen
Notice how Beauty gets everywhere!

PIGGY CRAFT

2007-07-07T05:39:00.000Z

A website to check out , these are such cute creatures.
A real brilliant website.

3 little pigs

You HAVE to check out HummingBird Eyes

Ooh,Ooh,Ooh..........the noise I made on seeing the above!
Ooh,Ooh,Ooh..........the noise that I make when I see something that I LOVE.
Funnily enough my girls make the same noise when they see something they LOVE.
With Fiona it is anything Cath Kidston that she sees (or of course Hello Kitty) and with SnoWhite it is anything Boyzone, Westlife or Sam Winchester!I can understand the Sam Winchester Ooh,Ooh,Ooh but I still don't get the anything Boyzone or Westlife. Sorry lads...........and this from the woman who has NEVER stopped liking Donny Osmond!

Check out the Bag Snob

A website you will love girls.

You lucky citizens of California will be spared this eye sore from Carlos Falchi when shopping at Saks because California state laws prohibit the sale of python skin (I do apologize for assaulting you with these images online though). I burst out laughing when I read the description of this unsightly bag on the Saks website, "a seductively luxurious mix of anaconda and snakeskin". What kind of drugs are they on? Who would be seduced by this? What they should have written is "a repulsively overpriced and deformed collage of reptile scraps". At least then consumers like yourselves will be able to make an informed choice. By the way, they are asking $2,995 for the bag, can you believe it?

As a vegetarian I find it just unacceptable, I just can't imagine why a person would want to buy it, PLUS it is ugly!

WHEN I AM OLD I SHALL WEAR PURPLE

2007-07-06T07:58:00.000Z

A beautiful piece that I found on a website called NZ ART ELIZABETH LOVE

LOVE Hearts (48)
July 2007
Mixed media on canvas
150x150x35mm
POA

I have always loved hearts in art, I really don't believe that you could call me a romantic but heart inspired art does it for me.

Even the heart art of Frida Kahlo does it for me. In a different way though.
link

Las Dos Fridas by Frida Kahlo
Exhibited in Conaculta (Mexico), Museo de Arte Moderno

I love this papier mache art

Hoodies - the positive side
link

Local young people have put on a brilliant art exhibition at 334 Caledonian Road. They have taken the demonised 'hoodie' and used it to express the influences on modern young people. The hoodies (papier mache and collage) make a huge impact. Photographic flash emphasises the shadow of the empty head spaces and give a sinister air that is offset by the hope and optimism of the magazine cut collage that coats them. When you see the hoodies up close up in real life the shadow isn't there - the camera flash brings it out. To me this contrasts the press reporting of young people with the reality when you meet and talk to them face to face.

Hoodie Art- what a brilliant statement by the young people that produced it.

Has anyone noticed that I love so many different forms of art?
I just cannot comprehend how individuals can like one thing to the exclusion of everything else, there is so much out there.
Take music for instance, Pianoman loves Jazz and classical music, to the exclusion of everything else, what a waste, there is so much out there to listen to.
I personally CANNOT listen to jazz as it does nothing for me though I find modern Jazz singers pleasant enough to listen to. Listening to jazz music for me is as excruciating as listening to an M&S food advert, sorry but I just can't do it. And this from the sad person who loves Brutalist architecture.
Perhaps it is that I am sadly lacking in any taste, I watched My Name Is Earl last night and I found it hilariously funny when Randy used the urinal in the art exhibition.

Yet I am a huge fan of found art

Fountain by Marcel Duchamp. 1917

Perhaps now that I am growing old(50 is the next big birthday) my behaviour should mature-we shall see.

SWEET SUMMERTIME

2007-07-05T15:57:00.000Z

Check out the website of Lila Spence, I think her work is so original-excellent stuff.

WHAT IS A SKIP?

2007-07-05T06:08:00.001Z

The following is for my Dumpster Diving friends.

This is a skip

Some skip diving

And this is a SKIP

(just kidding around-but it is a Skip none the less) The Vermont Mountaineers' mascot is a woodchuck named "Skip."

And this

And this

The majority of skips seem to be outside of houses where building work is going on-I am looking for old wood at the moment, preferably of the old floorboard variety.

Shops and industry do use skips but their bins are usually of a different type.

Unfortunately a lot of houses now have these little treasures - I am ashamed to say that I have them. It is meant to look tidier and keep rats at bay but according to a TV news report, rats can easily chew through them.

NOT my wheelie bins!

Shop bins

I may not like the obviousness of these bins but they are certainly better than fly tipping

PRETTY PAGES

2007-07-05T05:52:00.000Z

I always turn to the sports pages first, which records people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures: Chief Justice Earl Warren

CHECK OUT THIS AMAZING WEBSITE

Candy wrapping as collage paper

July 4th, 2007 by iHanna

A bowl of candy on the table. Mom got this candy from a visitor from Thailand recently, and the whole family dug in to enjoy it (except me).

Though I didn’t eat much I saved a couple of the transparent and colorful candy wrapping papers and flattned them.

And then I did a collage in my present diary, the Moleskine notebook. This is the first collage in a diary for me, I made it in between all the writing. It was really fun, and the candy paper was great to use here - I’ll have to do more collages in this book before I finish it. Colour collage perhaps, I love those!

Another fun new thing I did recently was keeping my diary by my side when I was surfing on the internet. I had a nice pen and added some good quotes to my Moleskine diary, like this:

New method (for me) of filling a page, but great. I adore a good quote, and I’ve allways collected them but not in my diary like this before… Kind of neat though, to see what kind of quotes I’m drawn to right now in my life when I look back at them later.

I must try this “note taking” more. Why press “print” everytime you see something nice? Why not write it down with a pen in a real book and make it last longer than a little post-it-note? Or maybe add the post-it to your journal? Give it a try!

These pages are brilliant. I am so going to have to finish my art studio so I can carry on with my art work. I LOVE COLLAGE. Oh I wish I were so talented.

PICTURE PERFECT

2007-07-04T22:38:00.000Z

What an amazing piece of recycled art on the CIVIC CENTER blog

The band shell is an ingenious assemblage of recycled materials...

...that includes car hoods, computer motherboards and plastic bottles.

The above reminds me of the Magic roundabout in Cardiff.

This a piece of wall art that I photographed today in Pontcanna, I love Boo.

At the moment I am experimenting with drift wood art, I created this cross yesterday from drift wood that I picked up on Sully Beach. I am considering what more I can add to my driftwood sculpture as yet it is unfinished-my 16 year old(in an emo moment!) suggested that I spray it pink! Any ideas?

Photographs from my visit to Sully beach yesterday

I love flowers, these were at the edge of the beach

Rubble on the rocks

More rubble

And yet more rubble

Beach rock

My dream house.......the cottage on Sully Beach

Sully beach

Fiona's latest cake creations

Wonderfully filling........ and fattening.

Cake delight

My next visit will be to the Knap to search for more drift wood.

BEAUTIFUL BROOCH

2007-07-04T11:55:00.000Z

Another site to check out, this is so realistic, SUJATI ART.

Violette's Brooch

COLLAGE

2007-07-04T11:42:00.000Z

I really like this collage,check ou the artists website

LOVE Letters (I)
July 2007
Mixed media on canvas
100x100x35mm
$60
Icehouse Gallery, Methven

I really love doing collage, I shall have to include some of my work.

WEEE

2007-07-02T00:06:00.000Z

Not being a hugely clever person I am trying to figure out the implications of this one.
It looks good but I shall have to figure out how good and what it really means.

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)
WEEE is the fastest growing waste stream in the UK. The WEEE Regulations aim to reduce the amount of this waste going to landfill, and increase recovery and recycling rates.

There are certain requirements for WEEE relating to:

separate collection, disposal and recycling
standards for its treatment at authorised facilities
collection, recycling and recovery targets.

Key dates
The regulations came into force on 2 January 2007.
Producers had to join a compliance scheme by 15 March 2007.
Producers have to mark electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) from 1 April 2007.
Full responsibility for treating and recycling household WEEE begins on 1 July 2007. In this guideline:
What is WEEE?

Do the WEEE Regulations apply to your business?

Exemptions from the WEEE Regulations

Why do we need the WEEE Regulations?

Producers of equipment – what you must do

Equipment distributors and retailers – what you must do

Your business’s electrical and electronic equipment

WEEE that is hazardous/special waste

Further information on WEEE

DRIFTWOOD

2007-07-01T17:02:00.000Z

I was brought up on the South Wales Coast where there are
huge amounts of driftwood. I am a driftwood art fan

I have linked all the following art work to their original
web pages

What amazingly talented artists

ATLANTIC MIRROR

Driftwood Mirror

Nativity

The Holy Family
(Alabama)
This lovely driftwood nativity was created
by Mildred Hanson of Gasque, Alabama.
Mildred came across an unusual, small knotted
and dented piece of driftwood while walking on
a beach and thought it resembled Mother Mary,
with her hands lifted in prayer, looking down at
Jesus in the manger. Over many years she
collected other interesting little pieces of driftwood
in the hopes that she could build the manger scene
with Mary and her family. The shape of the driftwood
dictated the posture of each figure. Mildred interfered
little with the forms. Diluted acrylic paint, brushed on
in thin coats, reveals the unifying flow of the driftwood
grain from figure to figure. Imperfections in the wood
are not “corrected” but allowed to stand proud.

Alice Cabinet

Driftwood Sunburst Wreath

ARE CROCS ECO FRIENDLY?

2007-07-01T05:42:00.000Z

After my last purchase, I am now the proud(YES PROUD) owner of 3 pairs of Crocs.
I now have Gold, Sage and pale Pink, I have worn my gold Crocs constantly since Christmas with very little signs of wear and I now have Sage and Pink to alternate wear. They are the most comfortable shoes that I have ever owned, great for my back AND being wide shoes they are very comfortable because I have wide feet.
Many people do not like Crocs because they say they are ugly but I feel that is a purely personal opinion because there are many shoes that I find hideous and would NEVER wear. I also like wearing them because I am a vegetarian. Some of the Croc colours maybe overly bright but I personally chose Gold and Sage because they are more subtle colours. Pink maybe bright but pink is DEFINITELY not a colour that only Crocs use in making shoes.
BUT the question is ARE CROCS ECO FRIENDLY?

Here is an article from Tree Hugger

Crocs. Birkys for a New Millenium?

by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 08.25.06

When I first saw Crocs on people’s feet I wasn’t sure what struck me the most. The garish colours, or the seemingly extra wide fitting. What I did observe that the next day I saw twice as many as the first day, and the same the day after. Their popularity is just phenomenal. Exponental. According to one report they have factories pumping out about 3 million pairs a month and still can’t meet demand. And their adoption seems to be beyond the usual fashion fad. Wearers just rave about the comfort. One retail shop staffer told me she was on her feet all day, but kept her Crocs on when arriving home ‘cos they were just so damn comfy. But are they green? Well, the material is called Croslite PCCR (proprietary closed cell resin), which tells us nothing at all really. Other than it is a petroleum based foam. But two aspects do give them at least a verdant tinge.

1. Apart from the rivets on the straps they are made entirely of the one material. No adhesives, no structural weakness with one material wearing out before the others. And 2. they weigh next to nothing. While the material may come from finite fossil reserves, it achieves maximum functionality with absolutely minimal resource use. I doubt it is possible to make a lighter pair of shoes. But these two unintended eco-design attributes somewhat conspire against themselves. The simple manufacture leads to a modest price, that in turns creates over-consumption. Fans buy multiple pairs, just to have other colours and brag about how many they have. It is certainly an interesting phenomena. ::Crocs.

So maybe yes and maybe no.
Here are a few opinions that were posted on Tree Huggers site.

A +1 green: The shoes are maintainable. My daughter has broken a rivet twice now and she can just go to the kiosk and get a new rivet.

I don't understand the problem with petrolium products, we are not pumping more petrolium to product these items, they are byproducts of crude. If we didn't produce anything from the byproducts they would simply be dumped. Would you rather raping of the environment.
I do believe in less waste and better treatment of garbage (turn it into energy).

One thought about the use of petroleum for these shoes...it seems to me you get much more 'mileage' out of the amount of petroleum used in these shoes than you would if it were in your tank.

This product is recycleable

And as for the shoes ending up in landfill sites as many people seem to worry about.........well not my Crocs, I will use them in a recycled art project before I would just dump them.

Well from what I have read I think that I will carry on wearing my Crocs, they seem as eco friendly as any other pair of shoes AND in many ways more eco friendly.
Other advantages-good on the beach, in the garden and in the house and because of the holes they have brilliant ventilation and my feet smell sweet.
Sounds good enough for me.

GOODBYE AND THANKYOU

2007-06-29T03:16:00.000Z

Well this is something that has shocked me and I didn't expect and somehow seem to have missed in the news.

Tony Goble
link
Allegorical painter and champion of the visual arts in Wales
Published: 01 May 2007

Anthony Barton Goble, artist, teacher and gallery director: born Newtown, Montgomeryshire 20 October 1943; Artist-in-Residence, Llanover Hall Art Centre, Cardiff 1979, Project Worker, then Tutor 1980-99, Gallery Director and Centre Assistant Director 1983-2007; married 1965 Janice Morgan (two sons, two daughters); died Llantrisant, Rhondda Cynon Taff 13 April 2007.

Tony Goble was an influential, charismatic and highly respected figure in the visual art world of Wales. Projecting a stylish image, with his red braces, wide-brimmed hat and long white beard, he was chair of prominent artist groups, an inspiring art teacher, a key figure at one of Cardiff's liveliest art centres and a shrewd champion of the visual arts. In addition, he was a Christian, family man and supportive friend. The imagery of his paintings was inextricably bound up with his life.

Tony was one of my favourite artists and his work reminded me of the paintings that I saw in New Orleans last September."Byzantine Birds" by Tony Goble

Tony's work
link

READ IT AND WEEP!

2007-06-28T16:25:00.000Z

I have lots of Google alerts that show up in my email box but nothing prepared me for this one.

On the 6th of April 2002 (21 days before my 16th birthday!) a young female minke whale washed up onto the beach at Normandy in France. The contents of her stomach were: 1x plastic/aluminium crisp packet, 2 English supermarket carrier bags, 7x various colour dustbin bags, 7x transparent plastic bags and 1x food packaging wrapper.

I hear you ask huh why would a minke whale eat plastic bags. No-one knows how long these plastic bags take to biodegrade as they have only really been in use for the last 3o years, but they already cover the earth - globally humans consume 1 million plastic bags PER MINUTE!!!!!!!! they photodegrade - they break down into smaller and smaller toxic bits. SO back to the Minke - whales and other marine wildlife get confused and mistake the plastic bags for jellyfish. the whale or other animal/mammal then dies and decomposes around the plastic bag, the bag then floats of to catch it's next victim.
Now i hear you saying what can i do? You can do bits like buy a fabric bag for life at the supermarket - and reuse it.

How can this happen? I am just shocked.
How can we do the to the world that we live in and the creatures who live in it?

Make a Simple Tote Bag

PRESS ABOVE FOR PATTERN

TOY ART

2007-06-27T16:58:00.000Z

Look what I found.
What a brilliant website about recycled art.
Really inspirational, I already have some ideas.

Re-Toyed Trash: Recycled Toys, Monsters, Robots, Dolls and beyond

Workshop in the exhibition

Wednesday, June 27th, 2007 in WORKSHOPS

It’s the last day of the exhibition at Leeds college of Art & Design today. Yesterday, we had an impromptu workshop in the studio with some new creatures being made.

Here’s Donna Walker’s completed Giraffe 2…

Bryony made a badge for her favourite module tutor, Bridget to give to her as a present.

Sophie and her penguin (I need to find out what name she gave this one)…

Here’s Kelly Pollard’s toy. I like how she’s stitched her initials on the creature.

Helen Williams created an outfit for Lil’s ‘Floppy Drunks Friend’ toy.

Bryony also made Kelly-Jelly fish

Here’s Bav’s creation. Nice use of a zip for a mouth.

And this cutie was made by Kate Harrison…

MODERN ART IS RUBBISH

2007-06-25T08:29:00.000Z

I did my GCSE Art 4 years ago in the Llanover Hall Art Centre.
I have decided that in September I will do the A level course but this time I may do the exam in Coleg Glan Hafren.
I have said before that I really like the work of Banksy but I also like the work of other types of street artists.I feel their imagination and creativity have inspired me.
This is the kind of street art that I love.

I find this kind of street art less inspirational.

For my final piece of work for my GCSE I made a shrine, shrines weren't so big in the art world then and it was made totally out of recycled stuff, junk, whatever.I loved it. I got an A and I was way impressed with myself.
I love street art, recycled art, collage, found art,I love Brutalism -it may be a form of architecture but it is pure art to me. Yes I know the love of Brutalism makes me certifiable but I can't stop myself loving it, Brutalism has a post-apocalyptical world vibe to it which inspires me. You look at a Brutalist building and it screams 60's Brave New World.

This is The University Hospital of Wales where I trained to be a nurse and 4 of my girls were born. Much of its brutalist past is now gone, due to constant renovations and the need for more space it has been re-built, renovated and built upon.

After reading about recycled art on Olympia Dumpster Divers I am going to write to the council and suggest activities that schools and the community might like to get involved in to encourage art and recycling(thank you for the link Ruby, a brilliant site. I am reading my way through your posts). I really need to sort out my art studio so I can get down to some serious art work.
I first came across a schools recycled art competition in the late 90's in Spain and I was just plain amazed at what you could do with junk.

THE BEAUTY OF RECYCLED ART

2007-06-23T07:34:00.000Z

This morning I came across this blog, OUR LITTLE ACRE in my search for recycled art. The photographs on this blog are beautiful, all the photographs, not just the recycled art work. You have to take a look.

I WISH THE GLASS HOUSE IN OUR CITY WERE HALF AS PRETTY

EAT , DRINK AND BE MERRY

2007-06-22T16:56:00.000Z

Today I read No Impact Man's blog

Can capitalism survive environmentalism?

A radio journalist called to talk to me about this question yesterday. I think it is one of the most important questions going, since so much of the eco-discussion centers around how we can save the planet while keeping the way our economy and society functions exactly the same. But the question is, do we really want more of the same?

I’ve heard that the Chinese character for “crisis” is the combination of the characters for “danger” and “opportunity.” I think about this a lot: how the fact that our current environmental crisis is an opportunity for us to take a step back and take stock of the way we live and whether we are really heading in the direction we want.

The assumption in western politics seems to have been, for the longest time, that economic growth is what’s most important. The priority, on both a societal and personal level, in other words, is to get more efficient, do more work, produce more goods, and get more money.

On a societal level, the idea is that a growth in economy will trickle down to the poorest of the poor and that the quality of life for all of us will improve. On a personal level, the idea is that more money means more comforts. We’ve used the idea of growth in income—and resource use—as a surrogate for growth in personal and societal happiness.

It made me think about how my life has changed over the years.

When I was younger I thought many times about what I could do with extra money and the list was always endless and mostly centered around food and clothes for my children. Now that Fiona, Ariel , SnoWhite,Belle and Anastasia are all over 16 they can all work part-time or full-time and provide for themselves(well that's the theory). Beauty is quite happy with everything she has and is not like a normally developing 6 year old and doesn't constantly whinge for things. As well my girls have great difficulty buying me presents because if I feel I need it then I have already bought it. I feel that as I have grown older and I have more(don't get me wrong,as far as income is concerned the government would be happy to tell me that I am on the bread line) my desires seem to have got less and less.I seem to have lost attachment to things in the way that Buddhism suggests, when I went on holiday last I remember thinking that if I lost my suitcases there would be nothing that I would miss.
If I could purchase anything it would probably be property for my children, I can't think of anything that I would go out and purchase, well maybe some Chasseur pink cast iron saucepans when my current saucepans need replacing.

I really do believe that society does fuel our desires to buy more and more and the global economy will collapse one day under the weight of itself. We cannot go on.

I recently read this about RECYCLING in Japan
The following entry is brilliant and makes me want to travel to Japan just to buy the VINTAGE Kimonos

It's a symptom of the disease of our disposable age. I know you're used to coming over here and listening to me rant about everything that's wrong with America, and let me assure you, America is very, very sick with disposabilitis, but it's not terminal. I think. Japan, however, has a much worse case. Here in America, nearly every town, no matter how small, has a thrift store or a junk store or a used appliance store. Something that hints at our once proud tradition of use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. In Japan, the very idea of used is dirty.

Take kimono. Used, vintage kimono are unwanted, despised even, by most Japanese people. On one of my weekend trips to Tokyo (to get a break from the rice paddies) I found a used kimono shop. It catered strictly to gaijin (foreigners), and of the three trips I ultimately made to the shop, I never saw a Japanese person beyond the sales clerk and the "fabric advisor." (Many people bulk buy old kimono to turn into quilts and yarn. The fabric advisor is there to advise them on what fabric type it is.) On my first trip I bought a young woman's dress kimono, which are not like the elaborate geisha kimono, but that are still beautiful, with long fluttering sleeves. The sort of thing an unmarried woman wears for a formal occasion. It was pure silk, of course, and based on the type of fabric and design, it had been woven, dyed and hand sewn sometime in the very early 20th Century. It's dusky blue with a chrysanthemum and firefly motif--breath-taking and in perfect condition. No stains, no rips, no moth holes. I paid ¥40. At the time, about $43. At the big department store Ito Yukado Marudai, I bought the necessary undergarments, which cost me ¥80. At Ito, a new polyester kimono (machine dyed, machine sewn, mass-produced) sold for more than ¥600. That's where Japanese women went to buy kimono. When I wore my vintage kimono for a graduation dinner, everyone ooh'd and ah'd over it, but of course, I could get away with it--I was gaijin. No Japanese woman would have shown up wearing an old kimono.

Not only does Japan not do used clothing, they don't do used appliances. There is actually something of a national obsession for new appliances. Most refrigerators in Japan look like those little half-size affairs you sometimes see in work lunch rooms. They are very expensive, more expensive than a new American refrigerator. My apartment came furnished, and my fridge was "too old," according to my boss. More than 10 years old, I guess. My boss had complained to the landlord about it, and they were still negotiating over when the landlord would replace the fridge.

One morning, as I walked home from the train station, (I'd come home from a party on the first train, but the buses weren't running yet), I saw a nearly new refrigerator sitting on the curb, waiting for recycling pick-up. It was much newer than mine, maybe only a year or two old, and it looked perfect. I opened it, and found that inside it was spotless, as though the owner had washed it out before putting it on the curb. It had a layer of dew on it; it had sat there all night, unmolested. I was less than a block from my apartment. I ran home, dropped off my backpack and ran back. Fridge was still there. Still shiny. Still clean. I fished a piece of cardboard out of the cardboard recycling pile--the packaging for a new refrigerator, what do you know--and dragged the fridge down the block. Then I wrestled it up to my apartment, plugged it in, and found that it was in perfect working order. The person who'd thrown it out had simply gotten a new one.

A few weeks later, my boss was at my house and he noticed the new refrigerator. He said, "Oh, no, you did not buy new cooler? Landlord should take care of."

Pleased with myself (I was still new to Japan), I told him about the miraculous new fridge. He gasped in horror. "No, no. Used appliance not good. Should not have used appliance." It took me weeks to convince him that the used fridge was fine, better than my old one, in fact, and distinctly less used. (My old fridge had been haunted by the icky odor of some previous occupant's natto.)

I also saw part of a program last night about how our children are watching too much TV.
The families involved in the study had their TVs, computers games and PSPs etc removed for a period of time to see how well they coped and the results were quite encouraging but what shocked me most was the actual AMOUNT of electrical goods these really young children had. The girls once had a SEGA , and Anastasia and Fiona have had Game Boys and at present we only have one TV that actually shows TV programs, we have one that is also a DVD player and one plays only videos and we seem to cope fine. However, we do have 2 computers which have to be shared between us all( many fights over that ).
Most of the parents admitted that they used the TV, Games and Computers as baby sitters but I don't think it is just that. Media and peer pressure are responsible for making children want more and more and I have seen a number of articles about people in financial trouble because they want to live the Celebrity Lifestyle.
Sometimes Fiona asks for things and I say that I cannot afford it and she accepts what I say and I think that is really good, I think that is the way it should be.
Society will have to change sooner or later and surely it is better to do it out of choice.

THINK BEFORE YOU FLUSH

2007-06-20T15:12:00.000Z

However, here is something recycling centres will take. My local recycling centre has bins that takes clothes and shoes for charity.

Flushed bra causes sewer collapse

The offending article

A bra and a pair of knickers have been blamed for a flood and road collapse in County Durham.

Northumbrian Water said the underwear was flushed down a toilet and caused a blockage in a sewage pipe in Middleton-St-George, near Darlington.

Heavy rain, together with a build up of grease and fat, caused the pipe to burst and the road above to collapse.

The road will remain closed for days and Northumbrian Water estimates repairs will cost more than £15,000.

The company has now urged residents to think carefully about what they flush away.

THINGS YOUR LOCAL RECYCLING CENTRE WILL NOT RECYCLE

2007-06-15T15:36:00.000Z

All I can say is OOPS!

By Daisy Wallage

STAFF were evacuated and a 150-metre exclusion zone set up after a live hand grenade was found in rubbish taken to a Lynn recycling centre.

Bomb disposal experts, police and two Lynn fire crews were called to Horsley's Fields recycling centre after staff discovered the device – which still had its pin in place – just after 10.15am on Wednesday.
The centre and Horsley's Chase were closed for around four hours and three members of staff were evacuated from the site.
It is thought the grenade was taken to the centre in good faith by a local man who had been helping a relative clear out his loft.
Recycling adviser Darren Barker was helping the man, thought to be in his 20s, dispose of the waste, when he came across the grenade in a bag of rubbish.
Mr Barker (26), of South Lynn, explained: "I was just doing my usual job when I came across a bag which felt heavy – I thought it was just a piece of metal, I picked it up to look inside and there it was.
"It was rusty and still had its pin in it.
"I was a bit frightened –- with those sorts of things you don't know if it's alive or not.
"I called my supervisor over and we took it to the hut and shut the door before we got everyone evacuated.
"We are one of the busiest sites in Norfolk and we've had to turn a lot of people away today."
Area supervisor Mr Simon Walpole, of Tilney All Saints, said: "I phoned the fire brigade straight away because you can't take a chance, can you?
"We've found bullets here before, but never anything like this."
Speaking at the scene, sergeant David Bankart said the man had been acting in good faith and his relative had believed the grenade was de-activated.
Bomb disposal experts from RAF Wittering, in Cambridgeshire, removed the device to detonate it and the centre was re-opened at around 2.45pm.
Mr Mark Allen, waste resource manager at Norfolk County Council, said: "We would like to praise the staff for their quick thinking in identifying a potentially hazardous situation and their immediate action.
"Site staff are training on a range of health and safety issues but we again urge householders to think carefully about what they bring to the sites."

OLYMPIC ALLOTMENTS

2007-06-15T11:22:00.000Z

WHY COULDN'T THEY HAVE LET THEM DO THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE?

Olympics allotment action averted

The site has been cultivated for more than 80 years

Allotment holders being forced to make way for the Olympic Park in east London have reached an agreement allowing some of them to harvest this year's crops.
Plot holders at Manor Garden Allotments had been due at the High Court to seek a judicial review to stop the London Development Agency (LDA) evicting them.
But the LDA has now agreed access for some gardeners until September.
They will then move to a temporary site in Waltham Forest and can return to Hackney Wick when the Games are over.
On Monday, Waltham Forest council granted planning permission for the gardeners to cultivate 64 plots at Marsh Lane until 2014.
Compensation and support
The LDA said it would be taking ownership of the Hackney Wick site on 2 July, as planned, but a limited number of allotment holders would be allowed supervised access for two days a week until September.

All the allotment holders I have ever met work really hard at their gardens and to temporarily take their gardens away is bad enough but to make them loose their crop for this year is plain mean.

SEED ON A STICK

2007-06-14T17:18:00.000Z

WHAT A GOOD IDEA

Ice lolly plant stick a cool idea

Once the lolly is eaten the stick can be planted

A student at a Devon university has come up with a novel twist on the traditional children's ice lolly.

University of Plymouth student Alex Worswick's Plant Me Ice Lollies have a seed at the end of the stick so once the lolly is eaten it can be planted.

Alex and six other students from the designer-maker course will show their designs at the New Designers Business Design Centre in London next month.

All their products use sustainable and recycled materials.

Climate information

Third year student Alex, who is 22 and from Somerset, said the seeds would be easy to plant and look after.

He used coriander seeds in his prototype and plans to use other herb seeds too.

"They are usually easy to grow and grow relatively quickly so for children they will see a quick result," he said.

"The sticks and packaging have information on climate change and other issues and it would be great if they could be sold at places like the Eden Project.

"It's turning what is usually rubbish into benefits."

Other products on show include Joe Stoneham's energy-saving, low cost polystyrene window shutters and Sam Murat's rocking chair dubbed Rocking Sheep, which is made from sheepskin.

RECYCLED ART

2007-06-14T17:04:00.000Z

I LOVE BANKSY-I THINK HIS WORK IS BRILLIANT.

An installation by Guerilla artist Banksy has appeared in the Sacred Space field in Glastonbury. The structure, which echoes the nearby Stonehenge, is built from reclaimed public toilets. The Glastonbury Music festival runs from 22-24 June.

PIZZALICIOUS

2007-06-12T18:23:00.000Z

Did you read this one Anastasia?

The truth about recycling

Jun 7th 2007
From The Economist print edition

T IS an awful lot of rubbish. Since 1960 the amount of municipal waste being collected in America has nearly tripled, reaching 245m tonnes in 2005. According to European Union statistics, the amount of municipal waste produced in western Europe increased by 23% between 1995 and 2003, to reach 577kg per person. (So much for the plan to reduce waste per person to 300kg by 2000.) As the volume of waste has increased, so have recycling efforts. In 1980 America recycled only 9.6% of its municipal rubbish; today the rate stands at 32%. A similar trend can be seen in Europe, where some countries, such as Austria and the Netherlands, now recycle 60% or more of their municipal waste. Britain's recycling rate, at 27%, is low, but it is improving fast, having nearly doubled in the past three years.

I use fabric napkins at mealtimes, even when we go on picnics and I have always thought that they were environmentally better than paper napkins but Triple Pundit believes that environmentally paper are better and explains why.
The calculations here may be true for Triple Pundit but for me I cannot see how environmentally they are the better way.I make napkins out of cotton garments that I no longer need and I wash them with the daily towel wash which happens anyway(so many mucky children) and so an extra wash is not needed, so there is no extra cost or energy used.

A good hour spent this afternoon going to charity shops. I bought a lot of books and fabric, I made our evening meal from one of the recipes in a vegetarian cookbook that I bought. A vegetarian, organic pizza which Beauty insisted on eating half off, I was totally amazed. Well that widens what she is prepared to eat. I would show you a picture of the pizza but the computer is not cooperating.Sorry.

HOW GREEN IS THE SWIFFER?

2007-06-09T09:27:00.000Z

I thought that you might be interested in this article Anastasia

June 9, 2007

SWIFFER SUSTAINABILITY: The swiffer designer speaks up

by Jennifer

Our story “Greenwash Your Floors with the Swiffer” launched an interesting debate on our site about greenwashing and eco design . A commenter named Kim called on us to move beyond criticism and contact the designers directly:

If we can educate the product producers about holistic sustainable design systems and principles and give them better solutions, we can effect much more change on a larger scale than we could by simply calling them out on their greenwashing.

So we decided to contact the designer of the Swiffer, Gianfranco Zaccai of Continuum, directly to ask him to explain the Swiffer as an example of sustainability. The interview that came out of this was extremely interesting. Read on for the full debate >

Jennifer Van Der Meer interviews Gianfranco Zaccai about his swiffer design and sustainability

Jennifer: In your argument about the Swiffer’s environmental impact, you cite the fact that your design uses less water, energy, and toxins than a conventional mop. How did you analyze these impacts?

Gianfranco: The development of the Swiffer was the result of our analysis of what average American households actually do to clean their floors. We discovered—by doing a lot of research and observation in people’s homes—that, on the average, kitchen floors are washed once a week and that it requires a lot of hot water and detergent for washing and then more hot water for rinsing. We further realized—just by watching a lot of people mop their floors—that people spend more time cleaning the mop than cleaning the floor.

We also discovered that most of the so-called dirt on the floor is not sticky, adhering dirt, it’s dust. And water turns out to be a particularly bad way to get rid of dust because the dust will just float to the surface and then settle down in the form of mud. Again, we found that out by observing and analyzing—in excruciating detail and many times over—exactly what happens when someone mops the kitchen floor. We also learned that almost no one enjoys washing the floor and touching a dirty mop. Probably anyone could have told you that, but we verified it and, instead of ignoring it because it was so obvious, we really paid attention to it because it was so universal. This is key to what I’m trying to say: Water and energy and chemicals and all that are essential to analyzing this activity for its environmental impact. But so are frustration and boredom and house-pride and resentment of spouses who never do the mopping. Because those are the keys to designing a solution that is profitably sustainable because it is something people will willingly—even joyfully—do.

We put all of this information together and proposed that a single sheet of paper could entrap dust—since dust was most of the problem—by means of an electrostatic process and by modulating the surfaces of the sheet to increase entrapment. Basically, these two processes replace the water, the chemicals in the detergent, the time and back strain associated with filling buckets, and the energy needed to heat the water. And that became the Swiffer. Of course, the Swiffer has some environmental impact. That single sheet of paper goes into the trash. But compared with the many gallons of hot water and detergent used in the old system, this is obviously a lot better. Of course, we also created the Swiffer WetJet, which uses a spray of cleaning agent to spot-clean caked-on dirt, if and when necessary. But we believe that, even here, the total impact of energy consumption and chemicals in the waste stream is better.

By addressing both the technology and the users’ desires, we helped to create a sustainable solution, one which provided value to both the producer and the consumer while reducing the total impact on the environment. And we’re not kidding ourselves that replacing mops with Swiffers is what’s going to turn global warming around. We worked hard to come up with a profitably sustainable solution rather than a profitable but more harmful solution. If we can do that every time and if most other designers are doing that every time, whether they are designing jumbo jets or SpongeBob toys, that will help turn global warming around.

As a designer, how much impact do you have on the materials used in manufacturing what you have designed? Were you involved in specifying the ingredients of the Swiffer cleaning formula?

Well, in that particular case, we were not involved in specifying the ingredients of the cleaning formula of the Swiffer WetJet. In general, though, it depends on how comprehensive the request for our services is. If we are asked to develop a concept which will then be developed through manufacturing by our client’s engineering staff, we will try to develop and propose ideas that are fundamentally less wasteful and will suggest particular materials and processes. On the other hand, when we are asked to fully develop an idea through engineering, both mechanical and electrical, we try to choose environmentally sustainable materials and manufacturing processes. Although we do not employ chemists on our teams, we have sometimes employed consultants from universities in the area; for example, to develop a chemical formula for a biomedical product which had to be benign with respect to the environment.

How would you define sustainability?

In my view, the concept of sustainability cannot be limited to environmental issues. Finding the “right thing to do” won’t help much if most people won’t do it. We need to find the best thing to do that many people will do—because it’s enjoyable, beneficial, and engaging for them—and that is economically viable. Unfortunately, human beings have a difficult time seeing the relationship between their behavior and its effects if those effects are too distant in time or space. So people may pay lip service to more eco-friendly behavior—public transportation, for example—but unless that behavior provides short-term gratification, it is not likely to be sustainable.

What does this mean for designers?

Our job is to (1) carefully analyze the real environmental impact of some activity—anything from taking a bath to generating power, (2) understand what human values and desires are involved in that activity, and (3) find the elegant solution that provides greater value—that means greater physical, emotional, and social satisfaction as well as greater economic benefit—while avoiding harm to the environment as much as possible.

Do you think the design community is adopting a more sustainable process?

Unfortunately, the design community is very fragmented and, to a great extent, unprepared at this point. Some designers and some design firms are beginning to adopt cradle-to-cradle design practices and to be more conscious of the impact of design decisions dealing with energy consumption and material waste. But the idea of doing better with less is only beginning to take hold.

What have you learned from the experience of being criticized for your sustainability claims?

I am not at all bothered by constructive criticism. It provokes further thought on my part and it gives me the opportunity to communicate with greater detail what we are trying to do in this arena.

Do you think the consumer products industry needs a certification process—similar to LEED standards for buildings—in order to verify the authenticity of green claims and combat claims of greenwashing?

I think these things are inevitable. It will take some time to do it right and to have the general population adopt this mind shift, but, like all important progress, I believe it will eventually come about.

Beyond meeting certain EU regulations (ROHS and WEEE, for example), what kinds of sustainability issues is Continuum investigating for its clients?

Our work is broad in scope, going beyond products to the design of environments and services. We are therefore looking into many different methods for evaluating sustainability and environmentally conscious design—everything from smarter materials and longer-lasting products that serve multiple functions to consumer environments, such as stores and restaurants, that use natural light or buy as much of their food as possible from local farms.

Right now we are working with solar energy, air purification, chemical-free bug and pest detection, shared high-end transportation in urban settings, and medical devices with longer shelf lives and with less plastic, fewer wires, and lower electrical consumption (yet with far less error than previous versions of these products)—to name a few.

In the design process, who is most influential in pushing for “better” solutions: designers, clients, government, or consumers?

All of those constituencies have equal responsibility and, I believe, equal power. Nevertheless, the focus up until now has been on legislation—which is a “push” mindset. The power of the customer and of designers has been discounted. I think designers can create a “pull” effect whereby customers demand more sustainable solutions not only because they are environmentally sound, but because they give better value, provide more enjoyment, and make people feel better about their choices.

SANDWICH BAGS

2007-06-09T08:40:00.000Z

For a while I have been worried about the amount of plastic bags that I use to send Beauty's lunch to school, I have to send all her food in as she is such a picky eater. I tried using bio-degradable bags but even they took energy to produce and a year to bio-degrade(if in the sunlight) so I have been wrapping the food in tea towels. Finally, using old curtain fabric, I have made bags specifically for her lunch. These bags will get washed with the rest of my washing(no extra wash needed)and not take any extra energy to keep them clean.
Not a lot but one more step towards living a sustainable life style, a greener and more eco-friendly lifestyle.

WHAT IS SUSTAINABILITY?

2007-06-09T05:52:00.000Z

Sustainability is an attempt to provide the best outcomes for the human and natural environments both now and into the indefinite future. One of the most often cited definitions of sustainability is the one created by the Brundtland Commission, led by the former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. The Brundtland Commission defined sustainable development as development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Sustainability relates to the continuity of economic, social, institutional and environmental aspects of human society, as well as the non-human environment.

Recently I read the question online What is sustainability?(sorry I can't find the original question) and a survey was done and a high proportion of people couldn't answer the question. I was ashamed until reading the definition on Wikipedia(above) that I too thought I couldn't define it but after reading what was written I realised that I already could.
Not doing anything to the world today that would affect the world today or in the future, for the sake of the world and the people who have to live in it. Hey, I may not be an academic but that serves my purpose.
I find the internet a very intimidating place at times, as I have said before, I have a significant memory problem and find it difficult to retain information. I also have difficult analysing anything because to do so you have to be able to retain and recall a lot of information at any one given time. Sometimes when I read a novel I have to write in the front of the book who the characters are and a little bit about them so I can remember who they are. Ariel is 17 and is on a scholarship at a private day school and has been in the same school since she was 8, state schools are split into primary and secondary and secondary starts at 11 which means that Ariel has been in one school a lot longer than most children are in one school. BUT I cannot remember who her friends are without her saying where they live, I have to be able to visualise something in my head to remember it. The reason I am telling you this is because clever people worry me and tangling with them on the internet worries me even more.
This morning one of my google alerts was an alert regarding recycling and asked why people,even when provided with adequate recycling facilities , still mix every thing up in the wrong bins.
One answer was
I BLAME BUSH
and it made me laugh.
It made me think of Jamie in Truly, Madly Deeply ,Jamie(the dead boy friend- played by the brilliant Alan Rickman)
who says 'I blame the government'
and Nina says 'what?'
'the government' replies Jamie
and Nina says 'What's the government got to do with anything?'
'I hate the bastards 'Jamie replies.

When I went onto the website of the person who blamed Bush,I realised it was written by a very clever person.
After looking at this person's blog it made me think about the question again.

Perhaps the reluctance of President Bush to commit to targets makes the gerneral population think that the environmental situation is not a serious issue.

Have you heard the following theory?- The world needs to fall into economic, ecological and political chaos for the second coming of the Messiah to happen. If this theory were beieved by religious people in positions of power then maybe they wouldn't do anything about ecological problems because they wanted the second coming to happen quicker.
Unfortunately I have heard this theory bandied about.

Many people believe that the money spent on war could be put to better use.

FAR,FAR AWAY

2007-06-07T12:20:00.000Z

I have decided to get Runningman an allotment for his 60th birthday(well he will be doing all the digging!). It seems that there is a bit of a waiting list but the guy I spoke to said it should be sorted in approximately 2 weeks.It seems that there are a few gardens that haven't been tended in a while and so the manager of the site will be speaking to the tenants to see if they still want their sites.In some areas the waiting list is many years.
I would like to grow my own vegetables because I am having a bit of a situation with the vegetables that I buy. The organic vegetables that are in good condition come from Far,Far Away whilst the local produce is really rubbish quality. Don't worry girls, I will only grow a small amount of Butternut squash! I am hoping that growing my own will also give more variety as the only locally grown organic produce that I have been able to buy is potatoes and carrots and cauliflower.
When I prepared the vegetables I had to throw half of it away as it was rotten.

Yesterday's evening meal was a mix of vegetarian, organic and convenience-I was too tired to make any thing else. We had boiled organic potatoes from Egypt, tinned carrots(I am ashamed) and vegetarian Toad in the Hole from the freezer. I think that I shall have to make and freeze better things when I am less tired. Tonight I shall be making Spaghetti Bolognese as I am still feeling tired, however tonight's meal will be made from totally organic ingredients

CAFE MAMA

2007-06-04T20:46:00.000Z

It appears that Cafe Mama has reopened for business.
A while ago I decided to make a vegetarian main meal for everyone in the evening to encourage healthy eating and to stop the constant cooking in the kitchen with all the individual meals that were being made. So far it seems to have been going very well.......until last night.
Fiona and SnoWhite are fussy eaters and there was no way they were going to eat yesterday evening's meal-Butternut squash Lasagne.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH LASAGNE

A totally organic meal.
Fiona thought it was disgusting, she couldn't understand why I was making carrot lasagne. She also said the texture was like eating oranges. I loved it, obviously OK for me but not Fiona.
SnoWhite agreed with the 'like eating oranges' description. Oh well, you can't win them all.

NOTES FROM THE WATER CARRIER

2007-06-03T22:41:00.000Z

Well it has been an interesting weekend.
I completed my water experiment this morning at 10am and after measuring all the water I used in the kitchen sink over a 24 hour period I am shocked to say that the total amount of water used came to approximately 28 litres !
How can I have possibly used that much?( I was also trying hard not to use too much)
And that did not include the water used in the splash room downstairs which includes a shower, sink and toilet, the bathroom which includes a shower, sink, toilet and bath and the kitchen which has the dishwashers and washing machines.
It isn't just the fact that I am using so much water in itself but the fact that it takes so much energy to make sure that the water is pure enough to drink, even the water used to flush the toilet is pure enough to drink but I will not be testing that one.
A little set back on the saving water used as yesterday was the first day for ages that I was able to wash and put out my sofa and chair throws as it has been raining on and off all week and yesterday was sunny. They would have had to have been done at sometime and at least I used an eco-wash on the machine and Ecover wash liquid and fabric conditioner. I dilute the wash liquid and conditioner considerably and it still does the job really well AND I wash at 30 degrees.
The fabric conditioner still makes the clothes soft but it also reduces the fabric conditioner smell which I am not too keen on.
I used the water that I measured from the sink to wash the garden steps and path, to wash the dustbins and water my flowers and plants and I rinsed the steps, path and bins with clean water from the water butt.
And does it make me feel any better having saved and re-used so much water?
Not really, the thought of all the rest of the water that is used in the house that I have no control over is really going to bother me.
Where I live there is a person who lives about 3 streets away who has dogs and his back garden is completely paved and once or twice a week he sluices his garden with water and the hose is left on constantly for about an hour and it is perfectly legal and I can't help worrying about all the wasted water when I see it happening. I know the water all goes back into the system but what a waste of money and energy to have to re-purify it.
And finally on the saving water front, Fiona thinks that I am sick! According to her normal people do not recycle water from their house, she thinks that I am plain weird. Oh dear, poor Fiona........so much more to come!

Not forgetting my reduction in the use of electricity, I bought long life-low energy bulbs and they are fitted in every light socket in the house. The light bulb packet claimed that the bulbs used 80% less electricity and lasted 6 times as long as normal bulbs. Fiona made no comment on the bulbs!
My children also like to sleep with a light on on the house and they have been instructed to make sure that only ONE light bulb stays on at night. As I don't go upstairs very often I am not always aware of electricity usage upstairs so I am going to have to make a few unexpected visits to check that everything is going to plan. I find it quite irritating to be out in the garden at night and to look back at the house and see every light on upstairs and know that none of the girls are up there!

As for my first project on raising awareness, perhaps it could be to do with using water more considerately.Next a plan of action.

GOING GREENER

2007-06-02T09:18:00.000Z

I have been avidly reading NO IMPACT MAN'S BLOG and it has definitely inspired me.
However, whilst it has inspired me a great deal I do not necessarily agree with everything he says or does but the raising of awareness that it brings can only be beneficial. Obviously No Impact Man is doing what he is doing to reduce his impact on the world but I wonder ethically about his project because it is for a year(our commitments in this area should be for life) and the fact that he is doing it to write a book and make a film. Hey if you can profit from it why not but I am personally of the view that whatever we do is a drop in the ocean and we should spend a lot our time convincing governments to play their part cthey are the only ones who have significant power to make real differences. Let us hope that his government listens to him.
Whilst I have felt that I do a lot as far as reducing my environmental impact is concerned I really feel after reading N0 Impact Man's blog that there is so much more that I can do. Hence my renewed conviction to GOING GREENER. I may have upset my children before but I think perhaps my renewed convictions may be a step too far for them as they are typical teenagers. We shall see.
I have decided that my first point of attack will be on my use(or over use!) of electricity.
I will concentrate on replacing my remaining normal light bulbs with low energy light bulbs, switching off light and appliances when not needed and reducing my use of the washing machine and the dishwasher though i do use the low temperature eco washes on both.
Plus try not to use the tumble dryer at all, at present I air dry everything that I can outside or on dryers in the house but sometimes I put the clothes in the tumble dryer for 5 minutes to finish things off.
I think I will also spend the weekend thinking about how to raise government awareness to the situation as ultimately that must be my major goal. Any suggestions?

BUYING VEGETABLES LOCALLY AND IN SEASON

2007-05-17T07:30:00.000Z

Scary stuff

(May 14, 2007)
Pesticides in China a problem

By Lindsay Beck
From Reuters
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's farmers overuse pesticides, skip protective clothing and have at their fingertips an array of banned and counterfeit products, raising another area of concern in the country's fragile food chain.
Spraying chemicals on crops improperly or using products that may be fake or banned risks the health of China's hundreds of millions of farmers and could lead to unsafe levels of residues in fruits and vegetables, experts say.
"The government has to stop banned or illegal pesticides being available in the market," said Angus Lam, a Greenpeace Campaign Manager for Food and Agriculture based in the southern city of Guangzhou.
China banned five high toxicity pesticides as of January 1, but Lam said old stock was still in the market, in the hands of traders, retailers and farmers themselves.

Well if this doesn't make you want to buy locally and in season nothing will

LIVE THE JOURNEY

2007-02-22T07:44:00.000Z

The other night I watched on TV a drama based on the book The Bad Mother's Handbook.
The number one bestseller - now a prime-time TV special starring Catherine Tate

The Bad Mother's Handbook is the story of a year in the lives of Charlotte, Karen and Nan, none of whom can quite believe how things have turned out. Why is it all so difficult? Why do the most ridiculous mistakes have the most disastrous consequences? When are you too old to throw up in a flowerbed after too much vodka? When are you too young to be a mother? Both hilarious and wise, it is a clear-eyed look at motherhood - and childhood - in its many guises, from the moment the condom breaks to the moment you file for divorce or, more optimistically, from the moment you hear your baby's first cry to the moment you realize that there are as many sorts of mother as there are children, and that love sometimes is the most important thing of all.

I did buy the book when it came out but never finished it. Catherine Tate in the role of Karen tells her daughter Charlotte that The Bad Mother's Handbook is about loving your child so much, so unconditionally that you feel that you will never be a good enough mother. I thought that Catherine Tate was brilliant, of course funny but so believable .
I feel that we mothers are being sold out and we are no longer truly appreciated.
If we stay at home with our children we are often seen as not making a significant contribution to society and are made to believe that we are living off someone else , we are made to feel a failure and selfish.
If we go to work we are seen as bad mothers, thinking only of money and of course we are again thought of as selfish.
So how do we win?
Karen in the story was a single mum bringing up her daughter Charlotte and taking care of her aging mum and working part time as a teachers aid, obviously a hardworking mother but all the demands on her made her feel as if she were failure and it made her feel as if she had missed out on a life.
I read the book Bad Blood by Lorna Sage, I was saddened at a life that ended too early but I was impressed that when she was 17 she got pregnant, finished her a levels, had her baby and still went to university and became a respected academic. She had her daughter Sharon in 1959. I was so impressed with this book that I gave it to my daughters to read and I have always told them that an unexpected pregnancy is nothing to be regretted and should not stop them doing anything in their lives that they really want to do.
Lives take many turns and every journey is different, I didn't start my degree until I was 31.
I think that we as mothers need to teach our children that they can do whatever they want to do and not let the expectations of society influence them. This goes for boys as well as girls.
For example, over the years I have read about many individuals living a 'religious' life and the main theme seems to be to live a life of service to others and seek for rewards in heaven. O.K if that's what you believe and it makes you happy good BUT don't let that be all there is. Live the journey now and enjoy it for yourself. We only have one life just like this, so do what you have to do to make yourself happy not just everyone else.
We care too much about the approval of others. I am sure everyone's closets would rattle if you probed a little deeper.
Let your life be yours.

THE CHRYSALIDS

2007-02-17T15:32:00.001Z

I have read all of the works of John Wyndham but my favourite has to be The Chrysalids and I have read it many times and I have wondered a number of times what it would be like to write a sequel to it in the way that sequels were written by another author i.e Rececca
like the book Rebecca's Tale.
The Chrysalids is written about life in a post apocalyptic world.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The story begins in post-apocalypse rural Labrador, Canada several thousand years in the future. Labrador has become a warmer and more hospitable place than it is at present. The inhabitants of Labrador have vague memories of "The Old People", a technologically advanced civilization which existed long before them and which they believe was destroyed when God sent "Tribulation" to the world to punish their forebearers' sins. The society that has survived in Labrador is loosely reminiscent of the American frontier of about the 18th century The inhabitants practice a form of fundamentalist Christianity with post-apocalyptic prohibitions. They believe that in order to follow God's word and prevent another Tribulation, they need to preserve absolute normality among the surviving humans, plants and animals. Genetic invariance has been elevated to the highest religious principle, and humans with even minor mutations are considered "Blasphemies" and the handiwork of the Devil. Individuals not conforming to a strict physical norm are either killed or sterilized and banished to the Fringes, a forbidden area still rife with animal and plant mutations.

Most of the action takes place in the inland rural settlement of Waknuk. Ten year old David Strorm, the son of Waknuk's zealous religious patriarch, has inexplicably vivid dreams of brightly lit cities and horseless carts that are at odds with his pre-industrial experience. Despite David's rigorous religious training, he befriends Sophie, a girl carefully concealing the fact that she has six toes on each foot. With the nonchalance of childhood David keeps her secret. The subsequent discovery of Sophie's mutation and her family's attempted flight causes David to wonder at the brutal persecution of human "Blasphemies" and the ritual culling of animal and plant "Deviations". David and a few others of his generation harbor their own invisible mutation: they have strong telepathic abilities. David begins to question why all who are different must be banished or killed. As they mature, David and his fellow telepaths realize that their unusual mutation would be considered a "blasphemy" and they carefully conceal their abilities. That their mutation cannot be directly detected allows their unusual abilities to remain undiscovered for a time. Eventually the group is exposed and David, his half-cousin Rosalind and younger sister Petra flee to the Fringes. Through the unusually strong telepathic abilities of Petra they make contact with a more advanced society in distant "Sealand". David, Rosalind and Petra elude their would-be captors and are rescued by the Sealand mission to discover the source of Petra's telepathic transmissions.

Though the nature of "Tribulation" is not explicitly stated, it is implied that it was a nuclear holocaust, both by the mutations, and by the stories of sailors who report blackened, glassy wastes to the south where the remains of faintly glowing cities can be seen. Sailors venturing too close to these ruins experience symptoms similar to radiation sickness. A woman from Sealand, a character with evident knowledge of the Old People's technology, mentions "the power of gods in the hands of children".

From the number of times I have read the book, I have only really thought of the Chrysalids in relation to the present and the future, never really as a statement on our past.

The leaders of the village attempt to keep control of the people and affects of the radiation under control through strict rules. BUT in the book David(the main character) discusses with his uncle about right and wrong and how can they possibly know that the strict rules they have are correct. Only 'perfect' children are allowed to survive, I am not sure if they are killed or just left in the fringe lands but children who develop problems later are banished to the fringes. Who made the rules? The people left after the Tribulation? Were they right? Where did their yard stick to judge people come from?

They have a second book with their Bible which was written by their first leader, it describes how long an arm and a leg etc can be, or how many hands or fingers a human can have. Any thing that differs is a blasphemy which happens often with their houses being built from the remains of the 'old people'.

Without the fundamentalism,really how different is our society.
Who wrote our 'religious' books?
Where did the laws of our country come from?
Who decided what was right and wrong for us?
I believe that everyone is on a spectrum as far as mental health is concerned, one day you could not feel good but another you feel better whilst on other days you feel brilliant. But why should any end of the spectrum be right or wrong?
Years ago epileptics were seen as afflicted by the devil.
During my nursing career the format for caring for the mentally ill in the UK and the learning disabled has changed, they are no longer locked away in institutions. But I know some countries still do banish them and lock them away.
Why should any form of religion seek to establish the laws of a country?

Whilst the leaders in The Chrysalids are seeking to protect themselves from the mistakes that the 'old people' made they are in fact, if you look at the history of our society, doing the same.

DREAMS ARE NOTHING MORE THAN WISHES.

2007-02-16T06:58:00.000Z

I believe that dreams are nothing more that the manifestations of all the things that we see and hear and come across in our waking lives. But gee mine are so weird!
Just before I was so rudely awoken this morning I was dreaming a dream....................
I was in New York giving out cups of tea to ladies of the night from the back of a lorry, one of the girls was so impressed with my UK accent that she insisted on taking a photograph of me. She apologised for her job and I replied, 'I have been a waitress and a wife in my life, that's not much different to your job'! Yep, lack of sleep kicking in there.
A psychologist would have a great time with my dreams, I then dreamt that a mobius strip came floating through the air at me and I walked through it(but nothing changed and I was still in the same place) and it reduced in size and became a Celtic gold ring and it floated on to my finger.
I am so glad that I didn't live during some other era of time or I would either have been burned at the stake as a witch or started a new religion with dreams like that!
I have been reading through the Bible since Christmas( a lot of skimming I'm afraid) and I am surprised how many of the Old Testament communications have actually been 'dreams' rather than 'meetings' with any kind of heavenly beings! I started to go to church when I was about 9 or 10 years old and I suppose a lot of ideas I have regarding the Bible come from that time and so I think that a lot of my naive impressions stem from a child's understanding.

This is where I live!

Two shops hit by armed robberies

A bookmakers and a travel agency have been targeted in two armed robberies within hours of each other.South Wales Police sealed off a shopping centre in Lakeside, Cardiff, after two men, believed to be armed with a firearm, held up the Betfred shop at 1100GMT.Police are keeping an "open mind" about if it is linked to an armed robbery at Thomson's Travel, Pontyclun at 1400.No-one was injured and it is thought no shots were fired in either incident.The men who held up the Cardiff betting shop are believed to have fled with a quantity of cash and escaped in a getaway car driven by a third man.

Because I can't walk very far due to arthritis , I tend to shop in areas where I can park the car and walk straight in to the shop. I live in the dodgy end of Cardiff but these shops are not very far from where I live and I go to a post office, a chemist and a cake shop here as they are on the way back to my house from town. The shops are in one of the nicer areas of Cardiff and the thought of guns being used so close to where I live is just difficult to comprehend. Even though I joke about where I live as being dodgy , I think it is a positive haven compared to other places I read about in the news.

I was just amazed to read about this in the news yesterday.

Thousands to police smoking ban
By Nick Triggle
Health reporter, BBC News

Thousands of council staff are being trained to police the smoking ban in bars, restaurants and shops in England.
Ministers have given councils £29.5m to pay for staff, who will be able to give on-the-spot £50 fines to individuals and take court action against premises. They will have the power to enter premises undercover, allowing them to sit among drinkers, and will even be able to photograph and film people. Smokers' groups and industry officials said the plans were a "waste of money". The smoking ban is due to come into force on 1 July. It covers virtually all enclosed public places including offices, factories, pubs and bars. But neither outdoor space nor private homes will be affected.

I cannot believe that so much money is to be spent 'policing' this. I think it is totally unnecessary to spend any money 'policing' it.
No I am not a smoker but if I went to a bar or a pub or a restaurant and they were smoking and the proprietor refused to stop the people smoking then I wouldn't go again, as simple as that.
I can only imagine that smoking still exists in the smallest of offices and factories and so I can't see that as being too big an issue. If it were then contained to 'policing' the areas where complaints are made, surely that wouldn't cost £29.5m? I am sure that everyone can guess where I would spend the money? Better preventative health care sounds good to me!
And.......... can you imagine being one of the people who would have to do the 'policing' in the
pubs and bars. It doesn't sound a very safe job trying to stop people smoking if they have had a few drinks.
Councils have complained that they do not have enough money to pay for social care but does the government give them extra money for this?

GENESIS

2007-02-14T23:42:00.000Z

You are witnessing the birth of a new blog!
I shall keep A Blog on the Spectrum to talk about Autism and Beauty and family life and I shall use this new blog to talk about my views on the world around me and my thoughts and opinions(I know, scary stuff!). But for a while now I have felt guilty about writing about my views and opinions on things in general and mixing it up with the stuff about Autism and the family because the original purpose of the blog was to comment on Autism and living with it.
So here we are!
Here I get to talk about politics, philosophy, religion(sorry guys!) and general world goings on.
I have reared my girls well, they are like me and have an opinion on everything, especially my 21 year old!