What about China?

Making a change for the greener doesn’t have to be a mammoth effort or cost you loads of money - how about making your life easier and saving money? National Downshifting Week (NDSW) runs for 7 days from the 19th of April - don’t worry if you missed it; when you see how simple it is to make your life easier and your environmental impact less you’ll be wanting to downshift all year long.

Tracy Smith, founder of NDSW, is passionate about “slowing down your pace, finding a better work/life balance, embracing living with less and leading a simpler, greener and happier life!” Sounds great doesn’t it?

So how do we go about it? The NDSW website is full of practical and fun ideas; now the sun’s out how about starting with your garden? Try turning one of you’re sunnier beds into a vegetable patch and what about starting a compost heap? You’ll be recycling your food waste and providing nutrients for your new plants. If you’re not green-fingered what about supporting your local growers by getting your produce from them. A trip to a farmers market is great fun and you can often pick up varieties you won’t find in the supermarkets.

Look out for Tracy Smith’s new ‘Book of Rubbish Ideas’ - it’s an interactive guide to reducing your household waste, it’s published by Alastair Sawday’s and will be available in September.

Bethan

Ask a climate change question…

We’ve all been there haven’t we… one minute you think the fuel crisis is set to be solved by the use of bio-fuels and the next someone’s telling you that using land to grow them is leading to a global food shortage.

Or, thinking it’s still okay to take that mini-break so long as you offset the C02 from your flight until a well-meaning soul tells you it’s all a load of ‘green wash’ intended to make you feel better while lightening your wallet. Who do you believe?

If you feel confused you are not alone; it’s becoming harder and harder to get a clear picture of the situation. The problem is that so much time and money is being invested in researching climate change and developing new ‘green’ technologies that there seems to be a new theory everyday. More and more it’s big businesses, with dubious motives, who fund the research so it’s easy to be cynical about the statistics they provide. The media doesn’t help either; end-of the-world sells, and news channels seem set on terrifying us with predictions of impending doom on Earth.

None of this very empowering, in fact it’s tempting to stick your head in the sand and pretend it’s not happening. Unfortunately it is happening and it really is up to us as individuals to take responsibility for our actions. If we wait around for the government to take action we could be here for some time - their priority is keeping the economy growing in the short term not investing in long-term climate change solutions. Unless individuals make their voices heard politicians will continue to make policies informed by corporate lobbyists. Rather than being a horrible chore it should have you leaping for joy - the future is in your hands! You have the power to make a difference.

Bethan

Ask a climate change question…

Welcome to the all about what about china Blog…

What about China? is the latest in Alastair Sawday’s Fragile Earth series, it answers all those awkward questions about climate change that you’re afraid to ask and lays to rest the speculations and misconceptions that are bandied around amongst even the most well meaning individuals.

The book is laid out in a series of questions with jargon-free answers provided by a panel of experts from The Soil Association, WasteWatch, Ecover, The Centre for Alternative Technology, James Bruges (author of the Little and Big Earth Book) and Alastair Sawdays.

Topics covered include climate, recycling, energy, travel and food and this blog is your chance to ask even more questions, discuss any issues raised in the book, keep abreast of relevant current related news articles and lots more…

I’m looking forward to hearing your questions and finding out the answers…

Bethan
  
Ask a climate change question…