NO MORE BLOGGERS BLOCK

I have been suffering from bloggers block but someone has rattled my cage enough to get me out of it. I have been avidly reading all comments, interviews, opinions and (if only) gossip about Sarah Palin and am convinced she is more dangerous than all the conflicts in the world put together. My heart sinks and right now I'm hoping someone, somewhere will dig up some dirt that will stick because so far she seems to be turning all the negatives into saintly positives. Pardon me - concealing your pregnancy, being so fiercely ambitious that you fly across the continent to deliver a speech while leaking amniotic fluid, then having the baby induced and delivered a month early and returning to work within 3 days - when did these actions become laudable? Now she brandishes her Downs Syndrome infant and pregnant teenage daughter like must-have accessories. I'd imagine that in the US you criticize her at your peril. Well, she's scaring me and if elected she would be one side-step away from what the Americans describe as Leader of the Free World.
Please America - don't put her in a position to make any decisions about our planet.
Well - I've got that off my chest for now and will share some news about my other obsession - the pollution that is plastic! Courtesy of the Saturday Telegraph's Q.I. I can share that only 5% of the six billion tons of plastic manufactured each year is recycled - and even more shockingly most of the plastic that has EVER been made is still around. It is not biodegradable so it doesn't go away it gets buried, blown away or thrown into the sea where there is a soupy island
of it the size of North America floating in the North Pacific. It's too big to comprehend but the
very serious small message we have to take to heart is to make a huge effort to avoid adding to the problem. Small changes make a big difference so carry a bag or a basket everywhere and buy fruit and veg loose and local.

love & peace
Sally
x

Money too tight to mention?

Well, let's try not mentioning it so much. I am feeling mildly hysterical about the overload of statistics about the economy that I am digesting at the moment. Yes, times are hard, bread and milk ARE more expensive than they used to be but I wonder if I really need to worry about the lower than expected profits of the Royal Bank of Scotland and all the other world banks? Too much financial information seems to be aimed at inducing financial panic - and its working. I was musing the other day about the credit crunch (the expression has now entered the dictionary) and whether shrinking household budget would mean a return to buying cheap deals rather than making ethical and environmental choices at the supermarket. I am not the only one giving this some thought as I have just read an article in today's Guardian that addresses the issue. It's really worth reading. There has been a fall in the rise ( if you get my drift) of people choosing to buy organic if you look at supermarket sales alone and Wholefoods/Fresh & Wild have discovered that there may not be the demand they were expecting at the luxury end of the organic market - well perhaps Waitrose and M&S already have that covered.
I wonder whether the huge rise in the number of people growing their own vegetables may be having an effect. Here's a nice statistic - the demand for vegetable seeds outstripped the demand for flower seeds this year! We have re-discovered our love of growing food and buying local, getting veg boxes, knitting, swapping, charity shopping and farmers' marketing and there are only so many hours in the day. Maybe that's why the organic shopper numbers are leveling off a bit - perhaps we simply don't have the time to waft about selecting from all that stuff anymore - too much choice is really exhausting.

My tip on how to avoid depression brought on by the credit crunch is to listen to music instead of the news - something uplifting.

love & peace
Sally
x

All these cotton bags

In the past year or two this country has been flooded of cotton tote bags and we all think its a good thing - right? Not sure....I'm starting to worry that the cheap cotton tote bag is becoming a bit of an environmental hazard in its own right.
IF the cotton is Organic and Fair Trade then it truly is wonderful that people are using them instead of plastic bags.
Unfortunately a very large proportion of cotton tote bags are not ethically or environmentally produced. Cotton is responsible for major pollution and chemical contamination in the Third World and tote bags are a huge growth industry in India and China. At Carry-a-Bag I receive emails almost every day from the Far East offering to make and ship bags for me at an ridiculously low cost - even with economies of scale the prices are way too low. Perhaps its time to take a closer look at the labels and make sure that the cheap cotton totes we carry tick all the right ethical and environmental boxes.
I heard a report the other day suggesting that we are fooling ourselves about our diminishing carbon footprint. We have outsourced our manufacturing to the Far East and we should therefore be including their escalating carbon emissions in our sums.
That rings true.

love & peace
Sally
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lovely latitude

L A T I T U D E

I've just got back from Suffolk where we've been partying in the fields and woods with our family and friends at the very lovely Latitude Festival. There was a bit of everything and something for everyone and the site was ...
SO CLEAN. In fact the cleanest and greenest festival site I have ever been to.
We were encouraged to sort our litter and helpful stewards made sure that we put our plastics, paper, cans and food in the correct bins.
One of the biggest contributors to the lack of waste was paying a deposit of two pounds for a returnable pint cup with your first drink.
There was the opportunity to reclaim your money when you gave it back - a shrewd move because not only was there none of the usual mess but most people choose to take their Latitude cups home as souvenirs.
The £2 on return meant that any that were left around were soon picked up by smart kids who kept their eyes peeled for the chance of getting some free money ....ching! ching! Just like the good old days.
Helpfulness abounded and the campsite stewards offered help with taking tents down and packing them up so removing the temptation to walk away and buy another next time (not me of course!)
So what did we do?
In the Literature tent you could lie about on big comfy cushions while authors read you their stories; the Comedy tent had so many stars and was a bit of a crush - it could have been twice the size because everyone wants to laugh. There were plays, ballets, games, processions, poetry and food that was tempting and delicious. Waitress service to tables in the arena!!!!

AND there was music ....and best girl and best male in my selection are the sublime Beth Orton and masterful Nick Cave who stormed the main stage with his Grindermen. Best new band - The Midnight Juggernauts WHO ARE FABULOUS and my future big star has to be the extremely handsome and talented Johnny Flynn. Most wonderful random thing - Flamenco on a platform floating on the lake. Most awesome - the holographic lazer images hanging over the water - I still don't understand how they can do that.
Would I recommend you go next year ? Hell no! (well maybe just one or two of you but really there are mosquitos; the loo's are not very nice and you wouldn't like it at all.)
love & peace
Sally

FEWER PLASTIC BAGS IN CIRCULATION

The winds of change have been blowing around the South of England catching fewer plastic bags to deposit in trees! I went to a boot fair on Sunday and two stallholders apologised for not being able to offer me a bag because "there are not so many around thesedays". The charity shops are saying the same - those who are less corporate have always relied on donations of bags and it seems that the very same community-spirited people that used to keep them supplied with plastic bags are now taking their re-usable bags to the shops so the chain of supply has broken down. If you have an under-sink stash of plastic bags donate hem to a charity shop to save them having to divert their much-needed income into buying in bags.
I have been checking out the checkouts in Sainsbury's and Morrissons this week in a random and hardly scientific way and noticed that Sainsbury's customers were using far more free plastic bags than those at Morrissons. The strange thing is that Sainsbury's is out of town and a car is required whereas Morrissons is in the centre of town and has lots of walking customers. So, my analysis of the situation is that a lot of people who deliberately get into a car and drive to a shop can't remember to take their own bags whereas people who walk in off the street can. Top marks to the walking bag carriers and must try harder to the forgetful car drivers.
love & peace
Sally

Fabulous Glastonbury 2008

This year I arrived on Wednesday in the evening sunshine. Wristbands were issued along with a set of potato starch tent pegs which were an integral part of the Leave No Trace themed festival. Wish I could say they were brilliant but 50% of them snapped off because the ground was pretty firm - so we all went back to the metal ones - the wind was blowing and we needed to anchor the tent. The festival started off sunny and it was heaven to wander around on Thursday with no pressure to stick to a timetable of seeing bands - how hilarious that the bands are sometimes the last thing on your mind at Glastonbury. When the music started so did the rain and our hearts sank. Actually it was not too bad - just enough mud to warrant the wearing of those cool new WaterAid wellies but not enough to make you stay under cover. The Leave No Trace message really seemed to have hit home as the site stayed pretty clean throughout. All cups, cutlery, 'glasses' and plates were biodegradable and 'plastic' bags were made from corn starch. People were making an effort but the festival organisers had made it easy for them by providing plenty of bins to separate the rubbish which must have cut down on sorting later on. If only the rest of life was as ethical and organised as this wonderful event.
The music? My top three were Candy Statton - fabulous disco and soul diva; Raconteurs - (Jack White you are amazing!) and Leonard Cohen whose performance will stay with me forever. Jayzee, as he modestly proclaimed was F***ing Awesome, but next time I'd prefer not to have to wave my hands in the air and shout "HO" quite so much - glad I was there though because the film that opened the set was very funny and quite brilliant.
Bag-wise the Guardian teamed up with Yeo Valley to give away the freebies with the papers and this alone saves on so much rubbish that used to blow around with nobody taking any responsibility for it. This year people had taken on board the concept that the rubbish was our joint responsibility and that made all the difference.
LOVE & PEACE
Sally

People ARE carrying bags!

Credit where its due, I went to Morrison's supermarket yesterday and was pleased to see huge banner outside the store saying "TODAY don't forget your reusable shopping bag" or words very much to that effect. They're having a bit of a green push and thought provoking notices have appeared all round the store asking the customers to carry bags and reduce their carbon footprint. I particularly liked the way they had resisted adding major branding to the banner - okay it was stuck to their store so no mistaking who had put it there but it looked like a genuine attempt to pass on the simple message.
A quick scan of people at the checkout revealed that 50% had brought along their own bags and that is an astoundingly good turn-out.
love & peace
Sally