international downshifting week 19 - 25 april

“If you are looking for a little help to slow down your pace and enjoy life more, this is the place for you!

Our campaign was formerly known as ‘National’ Downshifting Week. This year, as a result of the strong support we’ve received from around the globe asking if other countries can officially ‘join in’, we’ve simply decided to rename it
‘InterNational Downshifting Week’!

Now everybody can get involved and form a united and global movement that supports living and working more sustainably and strives for a proper work / life balance!

Our campaign remains packed full of really simple ideas that will help you ’slow down and green up’ and it’s almost time for her 4th outing. I cannot wait to get my teeth into it and this year I’ll be working hard to keep my carbon footprint down to a minimum. I hope to enthuse you with ideas on the many ways you can slow down and green up in your home, community, business and school.

So keep an eye on our website and Green Family Blog for further details and good luck with your own personal downshift!”

Tracey Smith

Creator of InterNational Downshifting Week

why aren’t all bikes like this ?

On the streets of India and China these types of bike are common place. Cheap utility vehicle options are born more out of economic reason rather than an ethical or environmental one, thats understandable but why have we not adopted the same route?

I must admit I’m a bit bias because I love these things, but also I can’t see why more bikes arn’t built this way over the conventional bicycle style. I want to see a larger range of utility bikes on the market at affordable prices. It’s not just that there useful the environmental impact speaks for itself. Being a non car person I still often have to rely on car owners to move anything bigger than what will fit in a rucksack, which is very annoying but one of these would make life much easier as well as giving me back a sense of independence.

What bothers me most is that it’s probably the western fear of looking odd. The last thing most people want to do is stand out. How many times have you heard people say “I’m not walking down the street carrying that!”

I know you can get trailers and panniers for conventional cycles, which from a permaculture point of view I have to say is better than having to scrap an old bike for a new one but I want custom built utility cycles to replace conventional cycles. I’m sure the environmental impact would be staggering. I know that I don’t go shopping on my bike for two reasons, one is that everything on my bike is quick release so it’s easy to pinch bit’s off it even when it’s chained up. Two I’ve nowhere to put my shopping! A trike with a box on the front would solve all my worries and it would’nt fall over!!

Here are the ones I like that are on the market at present. I’ve not posted links as this is not an advertisement.

I want to make one similar to this one above.

The main hurdle at present is that they are on offer but not at an affordable price, most start at the £1000 mark! The solution then is to customize existing bikes to what you need. Last month I was given a lift through the centre of london on a customized bike. It had a seat on the front which could also double as a box and a smaller seat at the back, so you could have two passengers. I’m in the process of doing this myself, any tips are welcome and I’ll post the results, even if they are a shambles!!. I see so many scrap cycles just dumped and they are always going on freecycle.

Escape the Fantasy April 21 - 27

The idea is simple: take your TV, your DVD player, your video iPod, your XBOX 360, your laptop, your PSP, and say goodbye to them all for seven days. Simple, but not at all easy. Like millions of others before you, you’ll be shocked at just how difficult - yet also how life-changing - a week spent unplugged can really be.

check out the website before next week!!
http://www.adbusters.org/metas/psycho/mdw/

april in the vegatable patch

Right no hints and tip’s this is just a list of things that have gone in. I was going to say it’s all from seed this year but someone just gave me some onion plants, which apparently are going to be more expensive this year. So thats a win win. Everything is probably too close together but most of the seed packets are well out of date so I thought I’d put everything in that I’ve got. For now this is what’s in.

Parsnips gladiator F1
Carrot Autum king
Beetroot bolt hardy
Spinach Beet perpetual spin
Lettuce little gem
Raddish Scarlet Globe
Broad Bean bunyards exhib
Early Pea Kelvedon wonder
Purple Sprouting Broc
Salad Leaf Rocket
Oriental Salad Leaves
Roob Cima Di Rapa

Don’t you just love the names? All seem to be doing OK apart from the early pea which despite it’s name is nowhere to be seen. It could be that the seed is too old. Below is a picture of my notebook, which I love. I wish I had kept one ever year too compare the years by, I think it’s more of me being a geek than anything useful though.

Ben Law - Grand Designs vote

Hello

Channel 4 is asking viewers to vote for their favourite 25 Greatest Grand Designs.

The programme’s celebrity fans, tv critics and experts all have their view, but there is also a public vote.

If you have seen the programme featuring our author Ben Law we would love you to visit the Grand Designs site today and vote for Ben’s remarkable woodland house design and build.

Visit the link below, which has a summary of each of the programmes, and register your vote for Ben’s home at SUSSEX: THE WOODSMAN’S COTTAGE:
www.channel4.com/4homes/ontv/grand-designs/Grand-Designs-Awards/2008/Vote

The results will be unveiled during Grand Designs Live television event on Channel 4 from May 4th-9th.

Visit Ben’s website (www.ben-law.co.uk) for the latest details of his Open Days, courses, books and news.

Eco house video

Nottingham Eco-Home - Penney Poyzer

check out her TV program no waste like home too.

trees for the future

50 Million Trees and Counting: Trees for the Future

safari concession threatens Hadza tribe

This is not directly to do with me but it is something that is close to my heart so if you hav enever heard of survival international then shame on you, no you should really check it out, give it a look and see what you think.

Hundreds of Hadza hunter-gatherers face eviction from their ancestral lands if a foreign safari company is given a hunting concession on their land.

Tanzania UAE Safari Ltd, which is reportedly backed by members of the United Arab Emirates royal families, is negotiating with the government of Tanzania for a concession of 3,975 sq kms in the Yaida Valley, where Hadzabe (‘Hadza people’) have lived for millenia.

If the hunting concession is approved, the Hadzabe will lose access to crucial food sources such as game and wild tubers. They are likely to become destitute, with devastating consequences for their life expectancy and general wellbeing.

Last month two Hadzabe activists were arrested when they attended a meeting with local officials to voice concerns over the deal and its impact on their tribe. They were later released.

The Hadzabe are reported to be trying to seek a sustainable solution with all parties concerned, which respects the tribe’s land rights and way of life.

The Hadzabe number between 1,500 and 2,000 people. They are one of Africa’s oldest tribes and speak a click language like the Bushmen.

As they are hunter–gatherers, adequate land and natural resources are essential to their survival. Until the 1950s they survived entirely by hunting and gathering. Living in small mobile camps, they had no ‘chiefs’ or formal political organisation.

Tanzania’s government has made repeated attempts to settle the Hadzabe in villages and get them to take up farming. Today, most Hadzabe people live in settlements, inside their distinctive grass huts, but they still move off into bush camps to find food.

No Hadzabe farming has been successful, unsurprisingly, since the hot, dry climate is unsuitable for it. One Hadza elder told Survival, ‘No Hadzabe ever died of hunger when we had our land. But now that so much of our land has been taken and is still being taken, many Hadzabe are hungry.’

National liftshare day

water crisis

Got up this morning to find that there is not water!! this is the second time this year, which may not seem much to some people around the world but it the first time this has happened since I’ve lived here for 9 years. It really makes you think about how much we rely on such basic services like water sewerage electric and gas. We never give them a thought untill they are not available.

If the peak oil projections are true will this be the future of our general services? I was totally unprepared this time and I’m the sort of person who knows what should be done and how to do it but for those who are blissfully unaware of the reality of daily life they must be in a panic.

I can flush the toilet with water from the water butt as well as giving some to the dogand cat . I could also spend ages boiling it for us but I think that I’ll just go down to the shop for now. The worst part is my little boy has an awful cold and I want him to drink lots of fluids, it’s just another reminder of how prepared we all could be but never bother to think about.

Water is the worst service to be without, electric and gas I can do without for quite a while but water is hard to substitute. If our future requires a more resilient daily life then today has taught me a valuable lesson and no I’m not one of crazy doom scenario people just a realist who would like to be prepared for all eventualities.

I’m just pissed off that I can’t have a cup of tea…………………..