Supermum Saves the Planet

Blimey oh riley

2011-01-17T03:59:00.000-08:00

The ducks have had a hard time of it in Slaithwaite!

As winter bites, it becomes trickier to save energy, the prospect of driving rather than taking public transport and of turning on/up the heating rather than leaving it off seem the only options. As I talk to the older people in our community however they provide real tips for being more eco friendly..... they go to the library or go out for coffee when it's cold, they cook a big casserole up during the day when they are in so that they are heating the kitchen, they stay in one or two rooms and turn off the radiators in the rest of the house. I have to admit we are doing most of this in our house already.... it's the way I was brought up, if you were cold you were told to put on another jumper, and it wasn't unknown for us to be wandering around inside wearing hats and fingerless gloves. I'm not suggesting we all do this, but lots of houses I go into are stinking hot.

It has to be said, there is nothing to make the inside warmer than a good bracing walk outside in the cold....... spend an hour outside getting some good exercise and you won't need the heating on for a good while when you get back!!! Triple whammy - bit of exercise, lower energy bills and better for the environment.

The Art of Happy Attitude

2010-09-29T06:50:00.000-07:00

When I came out of my house this morning I was greeted by a neighbour with

"hmmmm pretty grim day today," I'm sure she was refering to the weather, but the comment was all encompassing.
"Last year it was freezing by this time of year," I replied with a smile "and it's dry."
"Looks like it will rain soon," was the retort......

Whilst we don't always have a choice in the weather or the situation we find ourselves in, we do have a choice in our response. Choosing a positive response to the first stimulus of the day has a knock on effect for the rest of the day and beyond.

This seems, on the one hand, to be basic and obvious and, on the other, it is something which we pay very little attention to and consequently forget to do when going about our daily business. So often, we follow our usual, habitual "gut" response when a bit of thought and a different "way" might serve us (and those around us) much better.

Taking the time (about a second) to actively choose between your habitual response and an alternative is something you might like to consider. You never know, it might make all the difference to your day.

A post election pondering....

2010-05-07T13:15:00.000-07:00

I'm being urged by friends of the earth to make Nick Clegg aware of the need to keep his Green Credentials entact whatever pact he should embark upon and I'm wondering if I'm not better off just doing all I can to make sure he keeps to the core Lib Dem policy of a referrendum on PR since this will surely in and of itself return a much greener parliament.......

Voting dilemas

2010-04-20T01:52:00.000-07:00

It seems it's all about tactics in this election, and perhaps if we all tactically vote right then we might get to vote for who we want (and not waste a vote) next time. In our neck of the woods it's getting very complicated since the split vote against the conservatives is a very real (and imo scary) possibility.

My hubby and I had one of our monthly conversations the other day about chucking out the tele and for once I was against, saying that I really want to keep it to watch the election results coming in. If nothing else, this election has an exciting element of unpredictability to it..... and that in itself may get the electorate a bit more interested in politics or at the very least in voting. Perhaps the chenanigans of the expenses scandal, the recession and the Copenhagen debacle may have a positive longer term outcome somehow. Let's hope so.

Never work another day.....

2010-04-15T09:34:00.000-07:00

“Find a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life” Confucius...551 to 479 BC

I just found an interesting blogger Wayne Kehl; interesting for what he has to say, particularly about the above quote and because he lives in Prince George, British Columbia - a place I've always had a yen to visit since working in Vancouver 7 or 8 years ago. Anyhow, the quote and article resonated with me from an environmental angle since so much about becoming more environmentally aware puts us back in touch with our essence, with the earth and with being in tune with ourselves and everything around us. I am currently searching for my next "job", and since having children I am doing it in a different way from ever before. I am looking for something which enthuses me and doing my utmost to turn it into something which I get paid for. I hesitate to call it work, since I will remain enthusiastic and really enjoy what I do. So far, I'm enjoying myself, and not getting paid much.... things will change on that front. The way forward for us and our environment is both exciting and challenging; out of it all though I am confident that we will find better, more satisfying lives where we are passionate about what we do.

The Journey

2010-04-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

I've just discovered this inspiring website..... The Journey. I particularly liked the Eastside Roots flic. Hope you find something here to inspire ;-)

See the light.....

2010-03-30T04:56:00.000-07:00

If you live in the UK and you haven't heard about this already, please sign up for the Lighter Later campaign, it will give us more light for every day of the year (unless you are always an early bird) and just seems like such a logical step towards saving electriciy and opening ourselves up to a lighter future ........

PS please spread this beyond your green network and let everyone who ever has contact with you know about it Cheers

New Awakenings

2010-03-26T14:29:00.000-07:00

Soooooooo it's been toooooo tooooooo long since I posted here and any of you who were reading me have probably disappeared off to do your own saving of the planet by now.... which is not such a bad thing. Anyhow, I'm back from a long cold winter (not that we can definitely count it as over in these parts, but I'm optimistic) and thinking about getting out onto the alottment, into the garden and starting the growing season off with a good amount of wonderful homemade compost and digging power.

I've been reading a great book called The Edible Garden (it's on my book list over there on the right) which pointed me in the direction of a fabulous website "Punk Rock Permaculture"..... lots about Haiti on it at the moment and if you dig into the archive you'll find loads of fascinating stuff. We're also considering doing some No Dig gardening in some builders bags we've managed to rescue from the garbage heap. Empty builders bags seem to be left around all over the place and they make great, cheap, low effort raised beds. There is a great website on no dig gardening here and a fab page on how to layer stuff to make it. When you're the mum or dad of a busy family this looks like the way to go to me.

I hope you're all having your own new awakenings and are fresh out of hibernation to start a new spring. Looking forward to keeping y'all up to date with my gardening endeavours. Ciao for now.

2010-03-12T15:49:00.000-08:00

I got a stunning email from Friends of the Earth today identifying how they will effect the elections.... here's a link to their offering. It's so bad it looks like a joke. If I was going on this alone, I'd say the Earth has no Friends and is doomed. Thankfully I know better. Hmmmmm elections though, nowhere to turn if you're green in this country.

March resolution

2010-02-27T14:00:00.000-08:00

OK, from now on, I'm going to post more regularly, my recent posting rate is really rather pathetic - a definite "could do better".

So much going on.....

2010-01-27T12:48:00.000-08:00

2010 has started with much activity in our household. We're busy getting involved in our local Transition Town initiatives, looking out for our consumption and trying to keep to using at least 10% less in 2010, and at the same time getting as many other people involved in Saving the Planet.

There was a very interesting Analysis on Radio 4 the other day entitled "Are Environmentalists Bad for the Planet?". Particularly interesting in light of the fact that at our last Transition Town meeting we were discussing how to expand the network of interested people beyond the "Usual Suspects"..... I have had a suspicious feeling for a while that there is something about a lot of the people involved which puts others in the community off becoming involved. I'm hoping to start expanding the network via the local schools since I'm convinced that kids can help bring parents on board....

Anyhow, I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas. Go Well. F

Reducing household waste

2010-01-03T12:13:00.000-08:00

This article talks about an inspiring family who have reduced their waste to one bag a year! Pretty amazing. We seem to be doing comparitively well when you look at the state of the rest of our street. Over the Christmas period there have been no collections, exacerbated by the snow.... most people seem to have bags and bags overflowing their grey bins - so far ours is still contained. This is something I aim to improve on dramatically though in 2010. If we can only put our bin out once a month I'll be pleased..... and hopefully we'll do much better that that.

Stupid Show

2009-12-23T13:19:00.001-08:00

I've been too depressed to blog after the Copenhagen Cop Out. If anyone wants to work themselves into a Copenhagen inspired low then watching the Stupid Show comentary is a very good way to do it.

There is a very good interview with Ed Miliband on his way home where Franny Armstrong tries to push the idea of the UK reducing emissions by 10% in 2010. I am still uncertain as to how this is to be measured, but however it is measured it is becoming (to me) blindingly obvious that this will have to be a grass roots movement. We have signed up to the Guardian campaign as a family and I will be approaching my children's school when the kids go back in January.

Christmas wishes

2009-12-12T13:26:00.000-08:00

Today we've been making Christmas cards for my son's classmates and I spent a long time pondering the message to write in them. I ended up with "Have a Simply Lovely Christmas", my sentiment is that we should all have a wonderful Christmas and also a Simple one.... so hard with kids who are demanding all the "stuff" to help them keep up with their peers at school. I have to admit to having sucumbed to buying some of the plastic trash I would in many ways prefer not to; I'm uncomfortable with how much I bought for the boys, however as I was doing the shopping there were people around me with trolley loads of the stuff - I only hope they have huge extended families and the trolley load is not intended for one or two kids.

The Wave

2009-12-06T12:06:00.000-08:00

The Copenhagen talks start tomorrow and yesterday The Wave March took over central London to demonstrate in favour of bold moves at the talks.

I went down with some friends and their children. I'm not a habitual "Marcher" in fact this is the first time I've marched for anything in this country so the whole experience was a new one to me. It was fantastic to see so many people out making their voices heard and to see the passion that this issue raises. Particularly striking was the message given by children and I couldn't help but feel that an opportunity was missed to make their message one of the main ones of the march - after all they are the people who will be more effected by our actions than any of us older bods. Many people along the route seemed supportive of the march which was encouraging, but there were also many intent on shopping 'til they dropped - which was less so!!

Towards the end I had a brief view of the heavy hand of the police which was pretty shocking. The march was totally peaceful and yet the attitude of this one policeman was incredibly violent. It was easy to see how, had there been anyone in the vicinity who was easily riled, things could have got out of hand - and with lots of children around too. The policeman in question was intent on closing up a barrier when there were families split on either side of it and a massive crowd moving in one direction. Madness. The incident resolved itself when he moved on, but was fascinating to me since up 'til then I have largely thought that the police were probably doing their best to do a decent job..... seeming though, violence can easily come into play.

The Huddersfield Marchers all had a great day and Gordon Brown's response to the march was better than we could have hoped for. The mood currently seems to be one of pessimism with regards to whether an agreement can be reached at Copenhagen. I would like to urge anyone who reads this to keep up pressure on their MPs and put out positive vibes in the general direction of Copenhagen.

The report from Stop Climate Chaos's website is here.

Climate March

2009-12-06T04:13:00.001-08:00

Here's the link to the BBC news on the climate march. I'll write about it later today. ;-)

More rail travel....

2009-10-27T10:52:00.001-07:00

If anyone out there doesn't have a family rail card there is a discount code for 10% off until the 31st Dec - FAMILY10 - just key it into the promo code box. The card is now £26 which I think is pretty steep - you really need to be making some long journey's or very regular journey's en famille to make it worthwhile. In any event, every little bit helps so thought I'd post it here.

Better rail travel for all.....

2009-10-20T04:29:00.000-07:00

A friend has just sent me a link to SMART, a local group campaigning to improve rail travel in our area. Apparently there are moves afoot for there to be a direct line link from Huddersfield to Slaithwaite.

I don't know about you, but struggling around train stations with push chairs, young children and piles of books, crayons etc to keep them happy is not my idea of fun. We love travelling by train, don't get me wrong, and we're all really happy once sitting down with our coffee/sandwiches/books and crayons (or wandering up and down the aisles with ds2 who is 2). It's the in betweeny bits which can be a total pain.... no lifts at stations, only long flights of stairs, long waits for connections and no waiting room or horrible urine smelling waiting rooms. Anything to improve this is welcome and clearly a direct line to a main destination will help.

Posting Comments

2009-10-15T15:56:00.001-07:00

Hmmmmm, I've had a couple of reports that people have tried to post comments and can't. Has anyone else had this problem? Anyone know a way around it? I've just tested it and it works for me, but I have a google account. Not at all sure how this all works, will work on it. Ahhhh the trials and tribulations of technology..... grr.

Great bread and Allotment woes

2009-10-11T12:50:00.000-07:00

Wow, I just can't believe how lucky we are to be able to get such delicious food nearby. I've been splashing out on bread from The Handmade Bakery recently and I don't think I'll ever be able to eat cardboard bread again. It's just in a totally different taste league. Luckily the kids and even hubby seem to prefer supermarket bread and we can afford the odd loaf of the handmade variety.

This weekend has seen us yet again clashing in our goals to 1. save the planet and 2. raise a young family. As per usual, the allotment has suffered. We started out with great intentions and then our little one got a fluey cold and those good intentions turned to custard. We have enlisted the help of a friend, so next year should be better than this, and we remain determined that one day in the not too distant future we will have our plot looking like our neighbours (and he'll be asking us for advice ;-), but for the time being, we do our best and it never seems to be quite good enough. We've had some decent onions and french beans, but keeping on top of the slug problem around here is more than we are up to. Apparently they don't like leeks and so we've got a whole load of overwintering leeks in for the spring.

Green Martyrdom.... does it exist?

2009-10-08T03:31:00.000-07:00

Really interested in everyone's views on this one.....

This story hit the headlines today "Tim Nicholson: A Green Martyr". I think it's a fascinating debate to be having, on two levels:

First, what is a company doing employing a someone with beliefs which are inconsistent with those of the company in order to push forward an eco policy? and:

Second, is the term "a philosophical belief in climate change" useful to the cause? If not, is there another way Mr Nicholson could be defending himself against dismissal? Why should he want to be working for this company which is so clearly not in line with his beliefs?

My response to the second of my queries is that I don't believe his defense is at all helpful. To put climate change in the same pot as religious belief in terms of the law is extremely misleading since one has a growing body of irrefutable proof and the other can never be proved.

I'd love your views...... F

PS Yesterday I meant to post a link to this.... Woman's Hour included a really interesting interview with Tamsin Osmond of Climate Rush about direct action on Climate Change vs taking the political route. It's about 20 mins into the show I think.

Ringing the changes.....

2009-10-06T13:23:00.000-07:00

Anyone who looks at my other blog will know that I've been fiddling around with blog templates.... You're not in the wrong place, it just looks a bit different.... hope you like. ;-)

Being Eco means Being Veggie

2009-10-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

Over the past few months I've managed to decrease the family's meat intake hugely ..... without them even noticing ;-) My hubby is a red blooded meat eater; whenever I present him with a veggie meal for lunch he expects meat for dinner (and vice versa), amidst crys of "I'm 6ft 3 you know". I'm going to struggle to make totally veggie, but I have managed to cut down the amount of meat going into his meals by watering down the meat content with beans, soya mince and lots of tomatoes and ratatouille... he doesn't seem to even have noticed..... te he he.

Did you know a vegan car driver makes less CO2 emissions than a meat eating non-car driver! In other words, to rephrase an old vegitarian catch phrase.... Meat is murder-ing the planet.

Time vs using the car

2009-10-01T04:39:00.000-07:00

When you have young children, time is at such a premium ..... now I've conditioned myself to feel guilty if I use the car unnecessarily, I'm faced with so many dilemas. Today I'm guilty ;-( I popped down to the post office to collect a parcel when I could easily have gone on the bike and taken 10 minutes more..... I have lots of issues around patience and time management to work through!

Has anyone seen the news today? It sounds like the new Govt Chief Energy Scientist, Prof David MacKay might be about to shake things up.

Juggling family life with no car.....

2009-09-25T06:36:00.000-07:00

It shouldn't be so hard and I suspect my difficulty is that I'm trying to lead a car led life without one. Today has been a particular case in point.....
1. Drop DS1 off at school and attend "Well Done" assembly.
2. Walk to the village to get 10.18 bus to get to play and stay with DS2 and meet friend for lunch.
3. Get bus back at 2.03, rush around house to get stuff together to go away tonight.
4. Pick up DS1 at 3.20 - rush to get to station for 4.04 train.
5. Three train trip to Hebden where hubby has been since last night for camping weekend.
6. Relax for the weekend.

I can't help but feel that one or more of the things in todays program should have been dropped. I'm exhausted and it's 2.30. Here's to an early night, going to bed with the stars ;-)

Food for free

2009-09-21T16:16:00.000-07:00

We have been gradually filling up the freezer this autum with pounds and pounds of blackberries. The kids are loving foraging the country lanes and have come home every time with many more inside them than in the pot - blackberries are a great source of vit c, so I'm not at all bothered. We get some looks from my pristine next door neighbour whose kids are always immaculate when we turn up back home all covered in purple juice ;-)

Usually in the summer we manage to make some elderflower cordial, but we seem to have missed it this year. In the spring we use the new buds of nettles to make soup - fantastic with a couple of carrots and potatoes and a bit of stock and even better if you've managed to grab a handful of wild garlic too.

I'm hoping to learn enough about mushrooms to be safe picking them and on holiday this summer I fried up some seaweed which would have been delicious if I had worked out a way to get ALL the sand off - a bit gritty without the use of a power hose ;-)

What a great place to live......

2009-09-19T14:25:00.000-07:00

As I'm writing this blog, I'm realising how lucky we are to live in this area. We live in West Yorkshire and our council, Kirklees, oversees some areas which have no eco initiatives at all and some (like our valley) which are full of people doing their best for the environment. Our kids school is currently working hard to put a proposal together for a Green Flag, we have the Green Valley Grocer's which I've mentioned before and the two villages of the valley are also part of the Transition Towns movement.

I'd love to be fully involved and at the moment I get to as many things as I can. It's just not practical though to take two under 5's to a community orchard clearance especially when we struggle enough to find the time to cultivate our allotment (more on that another time). The kids have just been asked to model at an ethical fashion show in November which will be great fun and I'm busy running up skirts for it from Uncle Malcolm's old trousers. We shall no doubt take the catwalk by storm ;-)

The balance between looking after the family and making a positive difference in the community is a tricky one and one which I'm not sure we're totally in equilibrium on yet.

40:40:20

2009-09-16T02:59:00.000-07:00

Lyn Sloman points out in her book Car Sick that 40% of our car journey's could reasonably be replaced by a journey on public transport, 40% could be replaced if the public transport network were slightly modified and only 20% would be very difficult to replace.

With this in mind we are reducing our dependence on the car. We currently run only one car and this is used mostly for my husbands work. He currenlty works two jobs, one in the middle of the night on an industrial estate with absolutely no public transport options and the other in a village about 7 miles away which would take two trains or two buses to get to.... in neither case do the trains or buses connect up without more than half an hour of a wait, the 10 minute trip takes over an hour either way. Given that he is a nurse, the route is very hilly and there is no shower at work, cycling is not an option either.

We are very lucky to live almost on top of a train station, so we can do much of our travelling by train. In addition we are doing the following:

Cycling, running pushing and chasing to school (I say chasing since my 2 yr old is doing the 1.5 mile round trip twice a day on a push along fire engine.... his knees are nearly scraping the ground, but boy can he speed along ;-)
Doing as much of our grocery shoping as locally as we can. We have everything we need in the village so we have to weigh up cost against travel on this one.
Minimising our leisure travel in the car.... we are always mindful of whether we need to do the trip and whether we could do it on public transport.
Ordering some shopping to be delivered..... and looking for the items on line rather than getting brochures delivered.

How easy are we finding it? Well, the train is great - except when it's replaced by a bus which won't carry bikes. The bus is incredibly expensive - our trip into town on the train cost £1.80 return, on the bus it is £4.80!!! On long journeys, the family facilities are chronic - has anyone tried to change the nappy of a 2 yr old on a train.... not fun. I would also welcome the ability to book seats together even though I'm not paying for the kids, booster seats and straps on trains which could be used if needed would also be great. As per Lynn Sloman's book some journeys are just impractical on the current network.... on Monday I travelled to the other side of Leeds, it took me 1 hr to get there at 6pm and would have taken 2 hours at 9.30 to get back... I was willing to do it, but there was someone there in a car who offered me a welcome lift.... train stations are not great places to be hanging around in the dark.

In general though, there are few sacrifices and lots of benefits if you are travelling during standard hours; I'm sure the kids are happier on the train for a 4 hr trip rather than in the car for 6 for the same trip, when the kids are older I'll be able to read during the journey which they play or read comics or books, we are getting creative about our leisure time - next week hubby is going camping and we're getting the train after school on Friday to meet him etc.

Why buy water in a plastic bottle?

2009-09-13T10:24:00.001-07:00

.... when

40% of bottled water is just tap water in disguise
A plastic bottle takes an average of 1000 years to degrade
transporting bottles of it around the country is estimated to create more than 33,000 tons of C02 emissions - equivalent to the annual energy consumption of 6,000 homes, or driving your car round the world about two and half thousand times.

We have recently bought each of us a metal water bottle and won't be buying any more plastic bottles of water. The tap water in the UK is amongst the cleanest in the world, so it makes sense to save the money and fill from the tap.

Urg... found the camera

2009-09-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

Now I have to dress up as supermum as I promised in the first blog..... crikes. I'm thinking black tights, wellies, red pants (over the tights of course), not sure on the top, but definitely washing up gloves on hands ;-) F

What a beautiful day hey hey

2009-09-10T16:30:00.001-07:00

WOW it was glorious here. Perhaps we are finally getting a summer.

At the weekend I went out and bought a bike seat for my hefty two year old. I was dubious as to whether I'd be able to balance once I'd hoisted him onto it but all went well. We took the train a stop down the line, fed the ducks, perused the charity shop (got a nifty pair of dungarees for lo for 80p and a matchbox digger for 10p which he was delighted with) and meanered back along the canal tow path. I was hoping to pick some blackberries but the best ones were by the road or next to the canal and with a two year old in tow..... Anyhow we got back to our village and stopped in at the Green Valley Grocers to get our fantastic value organic veg bag and then on to the ice cream parlour to reward ourselves for our cycling efforts. Fabulous.

Cut emissions by 10% in 2010

2009-09-09T02:53:00.000-07:00

I've just signed up to the 10:10 campaign - some of you will already know this 'cos I've sent emails to 10 friends to get them involved too. The aim of the campaign is to get individuals and businesses to cut emissions by 10% in 2010. I reckon this can probably be achieved simply by us becoming mindful of our consumption. I have thought about how we can measure our emissions and come to the conclusion that it's much easier to measure consumption. To this end, we're going to get an electricity monitor (our library service is lending them out and apparently you can buy them for a tenner) and I'm going to take milage readings on the car at the beginning of each month. Obviously I can also look at our electricity bills to compare month on month how we are doing. Some of our changes will be very difficult to monitor however..... how much change to our emissions does it make to replace one meat meal with a veggie one for example? If anyone has any stats on this I'd be interested to see them. Happy emissions cutting y'all.

Here is a link to the Guardian article about the campaign launch. There are some very cynical comments at the bottom of the article.... I think these people might be what is called deniers/nimby-ers. ;-)

What's a day in the scheme of saving the planet?

2009-09-08T14:36:00.000-07:00

I'm not your hardened, dreadlocked demonstrator by any stretch of the imagination, in fact I've only ever joined a demonstration once before. The Wave - come together to stop climate chaos , feels pretty important to me though and I fully intend to be there.

Here's the rub..... when it comes to the family, our weekends are pretty important, especially since our older little chap has just started school. Furthermore, persuading hubby that a demonstration is important enough for him to be in charge of childcare for the whole day ain't an easy task.

That said, this time, one day of the weekend feels like a very worthwhile sacrifice to make in order to be counted amoung the millions who will no doubt join the march. Coaches are being organised from most towns and as many people as possible need to be there to put their weight behind decent committments being made in Copenhagen. (I'm using "decent" here in the broadest sense of the word.... decent, as in substantial, but also decent as in moral, so that we in the west can hold our heads high and say we are not standing by while the poor suffer at the hands of our misuse and overuse of the worlds resources).

I sincerly hope that as many people as possible will find that there are no excuses for attending and will join us all in London or Glasgow on the 5th December 2009.

School Runs

2009-09-06T13:51:00.000-07:00

Our oldest little chap started shool on Thursday..... what a day, wind blowing the driving rain horozontally across our path. Nonetheless, we opted to walk and arrived with all of us looking like drowned rats. We live in a large village and it has been disappointing to see just how many cars turn up to drop off/pick up kids from school. There seems to be no walking train and yet at least 6 mums doing the round trip twice a day from our part of the village alone. I know that many of these mums have smaller children too and maybe this is why walking trains won't work, but I can't believe it's not possible to get it working. Anyone out there got experience of walking trains?

What's it all about?

2009-09-05T01:55:00.000-07:00

This blog is the result of lots of conversations I've had with friends about how key parents are to saving the planet. We have the greatest vested interest in securing a wonderful future for ourselves, the planet and our children. I'll be posting regularly about my efforts to change how we live and I hope others will contribute their inspiring ideas too. Looking forward to hearing from everyone else out there who cares for our future.

Incidentally, I don't consider myself to be any more of supermum than all the other supermums out there, I just wanted an excuse to dress up with pants over my tights and take a silly photo.... but we can't find the camera at the moment..... be very afraid...... ridiculous photo coming soon ;-)