hurry, hurry …
Seen this? – Airline asks passengers to pee before flying to save energy. It’s a trial and seems a little far fetched – but doesn’t it all count in the end – lighter passengers, less fuel, less carbon emissions?
I had a million titles for this post- but seeing as it’s all to do with Blog Action Day, and this year the issue is climate change – sometimes the simplest is the best (and easiest!).
What do I want to say about this incredibly important topic- and one pretty close to my heart.
I’m sick of the whole blame game.
It’s up to both individuals and governments and groups and all types and sorts of people and initiatives. But everyone can do something!
Small things are OK- start small and work up. I like the idea of the 10:10 initiative. It’s about cutting 10% of your carbon emissions in 2010. Achievable stuff. .
- fly less – combine trips
- save 10% on heating – insulation, turn thermostat down
- save 10% on electricity - lightglobes, turn stuff off
- drive less – try to combine trips, walk or bike more
- eat better – local, in season
- buy good stuff - less stuff made = less emissions = less climate change. Repair, second-hand. The old- reduce, reuse, recycle?
- dump less – less packaging, compost
- don’t waste food
- or water – taps, showerheads, rain tanks, grey water, flush less
- feel happier
Simple, achievable stuff. Imagine the impact if we all reduced by 10%. It’s a good start.
I’ve been making an effort this year
- to combine my work trips so less plane trips
- been driving or going by coach on my frequent trips to Sydney
- using bicarb and vinegar to clean
- we don’t have a clothes dryer – haven’t had one for a few years and we get by
- just trying not to consume as much
- I want to join the local Mt Ainslie park care group. I’ve been meaning to do this for years, but want to put back
- get into the garden, plant some vegies etc – especially now we have water tanks and grey water.
I don’t get the argument about cost – well I do – but I don’t. I don’t if you think nothing of buying a new car every couple of years but don’t want to make small, basic changes to your lifestyle to save the planet. It’s not about money. It’s about the future.
I don’t know when some people are going to start taking this all for real. But then, maybe some people never will. I need to get over that.
I want ETS in plain English. I don’t think it’s plain enough. It worries me that such an important issue is not properly understood. I don’t understand ETS! I’m going with The Greens on this though – Greens talk sense on climate change bill.
Ultimately we’ll get photo voltaics. Yeah!.
Am I being too simplistic? Small steps. Small stuff adds up. Small stuff is acheivable and can be non scary and can lead to the bigger stuff. The sum of the whole.
Have you had an ”oh shit’ moment? – when you realised that you finally *got it* about climate change? Read some of the ‘oh shit’ comments in this Crikey article. I think mine was about 18months ago listening to several radio programs on peak oil.
Bit of a rushed post, left a bit too late. Mmmm, hope not.
Kx
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Tags: future, green, happiness, sustainability, waste
A kettle is a kettle?
Do you ever read that part of the SMH on Saturday where a person selects three possessions- and then they talk about why they chose them, and there is a photo? It’s called ‘favourite things’. Below is last weekend’s page, which isn’t the best example, but the only one I have…..
Saul Eslake (economist and yes I have heard of him) shares his good-luck ‘pixiu’ – why? – you find out that he and his wife have adopted two Chinese-born children. Saul – “The pixiu is a symbol of the personal connections that we have made with China…China has given us these precious gifts that we couldn’t have had on our own.”
I like this kind of stuff – more so when I know something about the person. I’m intrigued by things and why we value them. I also like knowing about the provenance of things – the story behind a favourite possession, how did you come by it, what makes people collect certain things? I like the stories and the memories behind these things.
I’m also pretty hopeless at picking just three, or just five, or the hottest 100 – what you want me to pick? Even with 100 I waver…what if I miss someone, something – wonder what that says of my personality type? Please don’t ask me to name my favourite five songs of all time – I just can’t !
Anyway- for months now I’ve been feeling a mix of all sorts of emotions- at times I’ve overwhelmed, then distracted, then uncaring, then sad, and more - sometimes all at once, and even sometimes all in one day, or one hour. Friends and family all say lovely things like “well it’s been a rough/busy/sad/scary/difficult year – you have a lot on….” I know.
On the weekend I got a lovely, unexpected present.
A kettle.
Carl and I were talking about bookshelves and wood and planning more trips to the hardware when Carl said- “I need to drop into Braddon as well….” Anyway I went with him and he bought me this wonderful, fabulous Alessi kettle. Completely unexpected. Completely. Unexpected.
But the timing, the thoughts, the sentiment, the love behind that kettle – all perfect. Hey…and it’s an Alessi kettle, and it whistles and looks so cool and pours so well (so in fact cool design and functionality can work together!).
I’m not sure if it will go in my three favorite things – for you see I still can’t decide on three! (I am currently trying to come up with my top six people to have for dinner – have been thinking about it for about a month now).
The kids however think that we are both mad, although Iz has already claimed the kettle when I die….
Even the box is great!
Kx
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Tags: memory, state of mind
Best so far!
I’ve been bombarded with photos of the dust storm – and frankly I am over it….but I loved this one.
I’m sorry I can’t attribute it, because I don’t know anything about it- but Elena sent it to me…
The Boston Globe has some amazing photos as well – they really do great photo stories.
Kx
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Tags: images
Water…take one
Backyard #1
It was raining for a few days earlier in the week.
The backyard quickly gets boggy. I got home from work just as it was getting dark and took these photos (and I think from now on I’m going to put up larger photos).
Backyard #2
I love these photos…the light, the puddles, weeds, rocks and the birdbath look quite wonderful.
Backyard #3
What I really want to post about is the raintank – yeah, but I’ll do that soon. Yep – lots to do in the garden, and the clay is hard work, but I’m happy…
Kx
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Tags: garden, happiness
Couple more strawbs
I’m tired? So what’s new?
I have about ten draft posts at present on a whole bunch of stuff. And I’m getting frustrated by my lack of ability to. (well). do. much. really.
Tonight – I present – my scatter-gun approach to my life at present … and my head.
We’ve been in our beautiful house for a few weeks now. It’s wonderful. There is still some, well loads of *tweaking* to do. For instance:
- we haven’t worked out the greywater yet – we don’t seem to have instructions, oh and we haven’t worked out where we will use the greywater yet either. Although for a start I know our big trees- the claret ash, liquid amber, eucalypti, Manchurian Pear could do with some help. And then someone warned me about over watering….too much information. We just need to get down to the enviro-friendly place centre and have a good talk with them. We have a Gator-Pro – in case you’re interested!
- rainwater tank – we’ve had some great rain recently, but have only just realised that it hasn’t made it into the tank? Why? Not sure – again we need more information – which bit of the roof is plumbed to it. Does the tank need priming? What? Carl’s had a quick look…only to find all the gutters blocked with leaves…so clearing those and adding gutter guard first.
That’s just two of a whole stack of things, but you get the picture.
But I think I’m happier..it all seems a bit surreal and unnatural at times…not my happiness…the house! I didn’t think it would make such a difference but it does…and doing things around the house gives me *process time* and I definitely need that.
This video made sense to me:
I need time to process. I reflect. I agonise. I like the idea of thinking something through. I guess what I’m finding frustrating at the moment is that I feel that there is so much going on that I’m not doing anything well. I’m not even starting some things. It’s almost a paralysis. I don’t want it all at once…just need to work through a list, break it up into chunks. I know what I should be doing. It’s just the self-talk. Blah. I’m hard on myself, most of us are. Blogging hasn’t changed my life, but I like trying to articulate what is going on. Hey- it’s the journey isn’t it?
A small win for me has been cleaning the bathroom. No- I’m not mad or insane or sad, but I tried cleaning with bicarb and white vinegar. And it worked. Pretty well. Of course it’s a new bathroom and only two weeks of grunge, but I’m pretty pleased that I was able to use just bicarb and vinegar and it cleaned up beautifully. One of my aims in this house was to be as *green* as possible and it’s a small win, but a win nonetheless. I now have to get the kids on board with cleaning their bathroom (three weeks grunge already and counting…). I have since found out that I should have used lemon too – which makes sense – what was missing in the cleaning process was a shiny, clean smell, and vinegar and bicarb didn’t really fill that gap.
This is our major focus outside at present – dealing with the clay. Tomorrow we are having 5 cubic metres of sub-gravel delivered so that we can even out and then spread this around the south side of the house that needs drainage. It will eventually be covered with recycled gravel and stepping stones – with some planting. I like the sound of gravel paths (and it will keep the dog’s nails down!).
North side of house
I have written before about reading Extremely loud and incredibly close. Well my choice for our next book in bookgroup is this author’s first book – Everything is illuminated. It just sounds like a cool book doesn’t it? Hope so.
So thanks, a big thanks to:
- some pretty out there friends who get things done – Kath and her battle to save a heritage house and Edwina for continuing to pressure and lobby for kids (and her child) with autism. I am in awe of your energy & commitment. There are many others too.
- a shower that is the size of a small lift. I had years of the bath/shower combo – and I love our new shower (and bath). The luxury, indeed almost decadence of a separate bathroom to the kids is still taking me some time to get used to. Actually, not true – I am very used to it already.
- Carlo – for doing almost everything
- Mt Ainslie and the parkland. Oh I have missed you!
I must get around to taking more house photos. Soon. Very soon.
In the meantime I’ll leave with a photo of our spider mate who is living in one of the car headlights at the moment. Actually he/she (probably a she) is not there now…just checked, but she was around for a number of days and quite a few car trips. She has probably now made her way into the car and onto the sun visor and is waiting to surprise me next time the sun is in my eyes.
Makes for pretty cool photos though.
Huntsman in the headlight
Kx
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Tags: blogging, books, friends, happiness, state of mind
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