Can of worms

It's cost me the better part of $200. But welcome to my new pets in my life!

I have been meaning to start composting or do something regarding my garden waste as I recycle nearly everything and I hate throwing vegetable matter into the bin. So today I have finally found my worms.

Send me pictures of your composters and your worm farms. Any hints or tips would be gratefully received!

Kilimanjaro

Am climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in March 2013.

More details can be found on the Facebook open group 'Tanzanian Fluorosis Project'

Funds raised will be going to www.developmentdirect.org.uk

Anyone got any training tips or has climbed Kili before?

Sustainability and the middle way

I'm not Buddhist, but I strongly agree with the concept of the 'middle way' and I believe it is the best method for sustainable sustainability.

The story goes something like this:
The Buddha was meditating near to a river and on a boat floating past was a sitar teacher and a young student. Te Buddha heard the teacher say "the tightness of the string is fundamental to successful sitar playing. If the string is too tight it will snap; if it is too loose it will not play" and so it goes. You need to have things right enough so they work; but not too stringent otherwise you just won't bother anymore.

My story here is that my attempts at solely using public transport to commute to work are wearing thin. I keep getting sick. I'm standing, waiting for buses in the rain (yes, first world problems). I still do not want to drive into the city. I don't want to give up on public transport, but it is hurting me.

So, the middle way? I drive my car to the train station. Park for free. Catch train into the city and then walk 15 minutes to the office. It saves me about an hour every day. It means I will keep using some public transport and it means I have to be out of bed on time and into work early. Bonus.

It also means no temptation for after work alcoholic drinks and it means I am safe and warm on the way home.

Next stage is getting the bike stuff sorted. I think that will be a goal for springtime.

Try mixing in some public transport and reducing your car use. Without hurting yourself you can easily hurt the planet a little less too.

Let me know your experiences, thoughts and ideas. ;)

On yer bike

I bought a pair of padded cycle shorts. Might not sound life changing, but it is part of a change I am going to be making to my life.

I have decided to start cycling every day with an overall aim to try to cycle the 20 odd kilometres to work and the 20 odd kilometres home every day.

I made a big life change about a month ago when I started my new job. I decided to start using public transport.
This is working out okay except is taking about an hour door to door whereas in the car, if I got up early enough would only take me 30 minutes.

I have discovered that because I have not been on buses for such a long time, travelling on buses now makes me feel travel sick. One advantage I had hoped to take would be to read my kindle and catch up on some interesting books and my Harvard business review. But I can't read on the bus at the moment; it just makes me feel too sick.

Public transport here in Perth, Western Australia, is not all it could be. I miss the frequency of the tube in London, I miss the frequency of buses in Newcastle, I miss the ease of cycle paths in Exeter (not that I ever used them).

Cost wise, a drive into the city every day could cost me in parking alone about $20 plus the cost of petrol and the cost of maintaining the car (which here in Australia is very expensive). Using a prepaid smart rider I spend about seven or eight dollars every day using the buses and trains to get into work.

If I were to use the bicycle the only cost really would be the outlay of the kit. You can get really good tyres now made of Kevlar so they don't get punctured but they are very expensive.
My padded cycle shorts cost me $50 already. My hand pump for my tyres cost me $23. I have a bike I bought from a friend of a friend for $100. But this bike would not be good enough me to ride into the city, it is pleasant enough for a half an hour or an hour round trip to exercise around where I live. A decent bike will be closer to $1000.

Since moving to Australia I have actually gained weight because I've been working such long hours in a stressful job. I'm 33 this year as well and if I don't start actually getting exercise into my daily routine I'm never going to.

So the challenge begins!!!!

I've decided to get up every morning and cycle for at least 30 minutes around where I live in a beautiful part of the world called South Fremantle. I am so lucky to live here and I really need to start making the best out of what Western Australia has to offer.

Let me know if you had ever tried to start cycling and any advice is very very welcome!!!!

100% natural blonde

Here is my post hair cut pic from today.
It is 100% bleach freeeeeee.
Another sustainability success from oneplanetwoman :-)

New job. Tar sands. Interesting list.

The end of my 4 year stint at my current employer is this Friday.
It is with sadness but an awesome amount of relief that I am looking forward to starting a new job.

Still in environmental consultancy.

How do you process the past?

Biggest thing for me is that I will be moving on to some very exciting projects with some inspirational people.

Something that also has me inspired at the moment is the current discussions around tarsands in Canada. The devastation caused to such a pristine environment is acutely embarrassing to the Canadian government. And yet they continue on developing these projects some 30 or 40 in the pipeline and they just don't seem to understand the impact that they're having not only on local water supplies but in fact potentially the planet as a whole!

Take a look at this talk from TED

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84zIj_EdQdM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

You can follow this guy on Twitter too

@photogGarth

Don't forget you can follow me too

@oneplanetwoman.

Here is an interesting list of how to recycle certain things too.

Have a good week!

New Year; New Plans.....

Welcome to 2012- the year the world ends...
Well for me I am staying sober through the whole experience.. I have decided to eschew alcoholic beverages for the year with 5 passes for special occasions to help keep me on track...
Reasons?
1) Health

Alcohol is a known risk factor for cancer.

2) Costs

Bottle of wine a week?? Average bottle of wine here in Aus $20? $1000 per annum

A 6 pack of beer a week? $30? $1500 per annum

That's the cost of a flight somewhere nice...

3) Difficulty in finding vegan beers etc. especially here in Australia..

Barnivore has a list of those available

Here are a few reasons why beers and wines are not vegetarian nor vegan

4) Makes me eat too much the next day

5) I am too busy to be hungover (plus it is such a waste of time)

6) I use it to unwind, where really I need to do exercise/something else

7) I am wondering how socially unacceptable people think this is?

A lot of people have expressed doubt that I can be alcohol free, or have expressed a disappointment in me socially, i.e. I won't be as much fun if I am not drinking?

I am off to some Bulgarian Street Dancing this Friday, so let's test that theory and see if I can still throw some shapes on the dancefloor without needing Dutch courage?

How much do you drink? Really? That little? Keep a drink diary for a month, be honest and look back at how much you actually consume.

Cheers!