Holy cow, it's November already! Where did this year go? Thinking about how quickly time flies by these days, actually reinforces my concern for our planet - every day that flashes by is another day of all that pollution pumping into our atmosphere and plants and rivers... Which in turn, makes me feel even more determined that *I* need to hold myself accountable for what *I* can do to stop it. Sure, I'm not going to save the planet, but I can provide healthy, nourishing food for my kids, I can show them that love isn't expressed in dollar terms by getting off the consumption wagon, and I can maximise the amount of time - and the quality of that time - my husband gets to spend at home with us (rather than at work) by living more simply and frugally.
I've found that even doing the few posts I have so far about my daily simple living activities has really motivated me to do more. Just writing it down and seeing it in black and white - being accountable - is inspiring me to get out of my complacent rut and do more. Of course, I have the advantage now that I didn't have a year ago, that many of these things are now routine, and so I see that there are more opportunities in my day to fit in a few more tasks. Anyway, I'm blathering now, LOL. Here's today's tasks :-)
Doing: Smelling the Gardenias:
Reading up on the new Climate Change Coalition party running for the Senate in this month's federal election. Founding members include Patrice Newell (author of one of my favourite books, Ten Thousand Acres) and Dr Karl Kruszelnicki (I've been a huge fan since he started segments on JJJ years ago - showing my age now ;-), who are both on the ticket for NSW. They will be #1 on my senate vote, come November 24. You can read more about their policies here, and here's a fabulous quote from their website:
"A lot of people argue that we have to choose between environmental protection on the one hand and economic prosperity on the other. That is a false choice. Good environmental policy is identical to good economic policy, [unless] we want to do what the polluters and sometimes their servants in the political process urge us to do, which is to treat the planet as if it were a business in liquidation, convert our natural resources to cash as quickly as possible and have a few years of pollution-based prosperity. We can generate an instantaneous cash flow and the illusion of a prosperous economy, but our children are going to pay for our joy ride - with polluted landscapes, poor health and huge clean-up costs that are going to amplify over time and which they'll never be able to pay." Professor Robert Kennedy Jnr.
Making: Aloe vera moisturiser, recipe pinched from Farmlet.co.nz. I haven't made this before as I have been using up the commercial stuff I bought years ago. I have very oily skin normally, and the aloe vera moisturiser feels lovely and light on the back of my hand, so I am hopeful it will be a success.
Dinner: Leftover zucchini slice and garden salad.
Challenge/s: Weighing up a healthy birthday party at home (and having umpteen six year olds in my small house/ tiny yard/ with big dogs) versus the typical unhealthy junk food birthday party at the local play centre, as demanded by Miss Almost-Six, where it's all disposable plates and cutlery but they can run off lots of energy on the giant slippery dip and jumping castle. Argh! My brain tells me HOME... but I can't begin to envisage where everyone will park (I live in a narrow, winding street exactly two cars wide, almost a laneway really), let alone where I would put everyone if it is stinking hot or wet.
Solution/s: Investigate options for hiring a clown/face painter type person at a local park.
Transgressions: Non-Fairtrade chocolate :-( I thought I was grabbing licorice sticks yesterday as I rushed past but had in fact grabbed choc-coated licorice I discovered when I got home. Check Eilleen's blog here for more information and videos if you can cope with the issue of child slave labour in the cocoa industry.
Reading: Choice magazine, November 2007. I've mentioned before how much I like Choice magazine, especially now that it is featuring "green" tests and articles. The main article this month is "Is your home carbon neutral? Making a smaller footprint", it has an article on why Fairtrade is good, and one of the consumer product tests is on [insert theme music from The Twilight Zone here] electic lawn mowers!
Utilities: Gas 30.9 MJ/day average (this week), water 337.5L /day average (this week), electricity 20.65 kWh/day average this week (versus 34 kWh/ave yesterday - shows how much the air conditioner adds).
Contemplating: Cutting up old flannelette baby wraps to make cloth wipes for #1's.
5 comments:
Thanks so much for posting the link on the Climate Change Coalition. Fingers crossed they get some people running in my state. What are your thoughts on them having a conscience vote on anything not climate change related? I'm a bit scared of voting for someone who is very passionate about climate change but happens to be a bit of a looney extremist (on either side of politics). I guess I'll just have to check out each senate candidate for my state as they arrive.
Hi Zie,
Yes it's definitely sensible to check out each candidate's policies before you think about voting for them. I am lucky that I had previously been aware of a lot of work that Patrice Newell and Dr Karl have/are doing, and I understand them to be intelligent, sensible people with a great concern for both our country and climate change, as opposed to "extremists" who put the environment above all else without a rational plan to cope with that change.
The same would go for any other party/ candidate I would think about voting for - for me they would have to have well-developed policies on climate change issues but also rational policies on health and social issues as well.
Cheers, Julie.
I love how you're setting out your posts with the subheadings ~ it's great and is really getting me to think about various aspects of my day ~ thankyou :)
Thanks Ali :-) It's really helping me!
Yay keep going !
It gets much easier the longer you go on and other little things all fall into place,making it all seem so normal and natural!
Flannel wipes for # 1's are good - throw them into a bucket of water to soak(afterwards) and use that water on the lemon tree.Lemons thrive on nitrogen-rich water.
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