This is a post I partly wrote while I was off on my Welsh sojourn (May 14th - 19th) and have partly written today, Sunday May 25th, having wanted to get on with enjoying my holiday rather than spending my time writing about it!
Oh. My. Word. Wales is absolutely stunning! And specifically, North Wales. I've never visited this part of Wales before and have been bowled over by its absolute stunningness. Right now I'm sitting in a field [near Machynlleth], bird song all around, the wind in my hair, trees, greenery and hills as far as I can see and only the occasional dwelling. Stunning.
During my childhood I spent quite some time in South Wales and wasn't quite ready for what a difference there is between the two ends of Wales. Or, indeed, the middle! I'd also had a couple of brief visits to the North Wales coast, but travelling en voiture really does make a massive difference, especially in terms of impromptu diversions (one of which later in the week ended up with me getting my car locked into a sailing club car park! Thankfully it was on a combination lock and the chap who answered the sailing club phone number was very understanding and helpful).
I was incredibly lucky on the weather front - I think there was some occasional precipitation during the week, but I basically had sunshine and dry weather, which was awesome. That's not to say there wasn't some pretty impressive wind at times (I live in Morecambe. I understand wind. And I also am completely in love with my waterproof & walking boots - a decent set of those two makes for much more enjoyment, and much less cold / misery!) but wind when the sun is shining I can cope with.
Having started just near Rhyl (where I came across a pawn shop in a church - talk about money makers in the Temple) I made my way along to Llandudno and spend a wonderful couple of hours eating a very comprehensive cooked breakfast in a gorgeous little coffee shop / restaurant called Kava. I had been walking along the sea front enjoying the sunshine but getting VERY blown about (after the disappointing lack of wind in Hastings when I was there last November, Llandudno rather made up for it) and really wanting somewhere to pause. I was the first customer of the morning and took a table right in front of their huge plate glass window with the sunshine streaming in - warm, sunny, protected from the wind, and I even managed to get a wifi connection to catch up on some bits and bobs. The staff were lovely and I'd definitely go back.
Walking back to my car through the centre of Llandudno (having come out along the front) I was struck by the amazing Victorian (I think) buildings - old glass signage on the frontages and many buildings looking like they hadn't been altered (simply maintained) since they were first constructed. I find Llandudno quite fascinating but have never felt like I've got below the surface - but I had a very enjoyable time skimming the surface again on this visit!
As I started heading South my first stop was Bodnant Garden. One of the things I love most about my National Trust membership is that I'm never quite sure what I'll find when I arrive. The book of all the NT locations I get each year gives a brief description but given most locations have their own book, the write up in the summary book is but a taster. And my, is Bodnant Garden a beauty! I happened to be there on one of their late-opening days (which just meant I didn't need to hurry towards the end of the evening) but even mid-week in May they had a fair number of visitors. There number of blooms and blossoms throughout the gardens seemed innumerable, there was some high-octane gardening going on (at the end of ropes on a rather steep bank) and I found myself a sunny meadow-type area to lie in while I plotted various exciting possibilities with a friend.
I had originally thought I'd spend a couple of hours at Bodnant then head on to some other stop off points in Snowdonia but having got completely entranced by Bodnant I simply enjoyed Snowdonia from the road as I meandered down to Machynlleth. What an area of the country! And, indeed, what an area of the country not to have explored yet!
I knew I'd get on well with my host in Machynlleth when I discovered I'd be staying out in the wilds and we were having chips for tea on the first night! As well as some wonderful walks, I experienced my first Zumba class (not something I'll necessarily seek out again, but worth a try), spent a couple of hours at CAT and did lots of reading. Brilliant.
From there it was destination: Wedding! A good friend was getting married at the gorgeous Glan Usk Estate in the Brecon Beacons. Although I was staying in hostel-type accommodation above a pub in the centre of the local town, Crickhowell, I'd scouted out a hotel spa on the outskirts which did a rather reasonable day-pass rate, so Friday evening saw me indulging in some swimming and lounging about. Rest assured there was more lounging than swimming, but the set up they had was very much to my liking - pool, loungers, jacuzzi, plus decent sized sauna and steam. The following morning dawned incredibly sunny and with the wedding festivities not kicking off until lunchtime I went for a stomp up a local hill - I'm still not sure how much I was following footpaths or not on my ascent but I didn't get shot at, which is always a bonus. The craziest part of that particular walk was gazing around at the rolling hills and thinking "Well, they're nice, but they're not Snowdonia..." - I had clearly been VERY spoilt in my week of wandering around Wales! Unfortunately my occasional hayfever decided to kick in so after quick trip to get some anti-histamines and get changed, it was off to celebrate two friends getting married in gorgeous weather, in gorgeous surrounds, with a gaggle of friends and family to celebrate them doing so. It was a brilliant wedding but the over-riding memory for me (as is only right!) is of the happy couple being incredibly happy to BE the happy couple. Marvellous.
More sunshine on Sunday morning found me off up and out again fairly early and heading to The Weir, another National Trust garden. A beautiful garden but I must confess - the location that I spent most of my time in was the meadow by the river, having a bit of a snooze! I hadn't come as prepared as usual and caught the sun a little, but it was a lovely way to round off my adventures before heading back up the M6 and home.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Growing & Resources
Sunday lunchtime, May 25th
Bank Holiday weekends, especially unexpected ones, are brilliant. And yes, I know this particular Bank Holiday has come round every year that I can remember but I didn't have anything specific planned for this particular bank of 3 days off so I now find myself having a quiet Sunday and knowing I've got all of Monday to get stuff done too. Yippee!
That said, there's already been plenty going on. I hadn't realised quite how tired I'd got in the past week and it caught up with me yesterday - a very early night after a very "bimbling along in the clouds" day. But there is something strangely enjoyable about that kind of tiredness - the "I'm just going to curl up because anything else is just crazy" tiredness. It helped that I'd also been playing with Batala earlier in the day - so had some physical exhaustion to add into the mix. This was my second gig with them and felt infinitely better than the first! I've still a way to go (having only been in the band for a few months) but I'm getting much more confident with parading (drumming while moving) although yesterday I somehow managed to get myself some pretty sizeable bruises courtesy of not getting my drum straps in optimal position. Live and learn - and it's all good preparation for next Sunday's gig at the Manchester Day Parade. I've a feeling stamina will be the name of the game, time will tell!
Operation Grow the House Down is continuing well - 2013 seems to be the year for experimental planting, with the occasional bonus of eating produce which has worked out first try! This year I've primarily got annual plants growing from my various seeds but long term I'm hoping to have more perennials.
I've been musing on the investment of time and resources in my growings given, at least in the short term, buying the equivalent from shops wouldn't be hugely financially expensive. However, these days more than ever it's really not just about the money. I cannot fathom how food, especially fresh food, can be sold at the price it is - given the grower needs paying (and they'll need to pay for whatever they use in growing, from fertilisers to green house heating), the produce then usually ends up getting shipped around between various distribution points (fuel and storage cost) and almost invariably there's the packaging to factor in as well. The ubiquity of plastic is another story entirely, but even in brief, the amount of plastic packaging there is around and about is amazing. I produce relatively little waste each week (especially when I compare it to other inhabitants of my house, or the amount of waste produced by neighbours in homes I've lived in before) but most of it is plastic - the rest gets recycled or composted. And yesterday I spent about half an hour collecting rubbish that had blown into the outside area where I work - a bag or so of recyclables and three bags of non-recyclables, again, mainly plastic. But I'm getting distracted by waste (more another time, I'm sure!) - I may not be saving much money in growing my own food, but knowing this home grown produce is completely carbon neutral is brilliant. Knowing that I'm getting back in touch with how awesome plants are is great. And knowing that my experimenting is setting me up for future growing projects is probably the best outcome - knowledge through doing. Any other benefits (I've heard that fresh produce retains more vitamins and the like) are bonuses, but marvellous ones at that.
Another aspect of my growings which I'm finding incredibly exciting is that of finding new uses for "waste" resources. The three Rs of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle have really started coming into their own - plant pots are generally now being generated out of the bottoms of plastic bottles, drip trays are generally tetrapak cartons with one side removed, I'm viewing the winter trimmings from my folks' hedge in an entirely new light (leave them to dry out then use them for stakes, or weave them into fence panels, or, well, whatever else takes my fancy!) and cardboard is now a potential moisture store for larger planting containers (by burying it in the soil). Oooh! And I don't know if it'll work but the idea of creating plaster-board-type boards out of papier-mache for projects like adding internal wall insulation was an on-holiday idea but one which is still lurking for when I might try it out. I'm in the wonderful position of having access to loads of resources and I'm out to make the most of all of 'em!
Bank Holiday weekends, especially unexpected ones, are brilliant. And yes, I know this particular Bank Holiday has come round every year that I can remember but I didn't have anything specific planned for this particular bank of 3 days off so I now find myself having a quiet Sunday and knowing I've got all of Monday to get stuff done too. Yippee!
That said, there's already been plenty going on. I hadn't realised quite how tired I'd got in the past week and it caught up with me yesterday - a very early night after a very "bimbling along in the clouds" day. But there is something strangely enjoyable about that kind of tiredness - the "I'm just going to curl up because anything else is just crazy" tiredness. It helped that I'd also been playing with Batala earlier in the day - so had some physical exhaustion to add into the mix. This was my second gig with them and felt infinitely better than the first! I've still a way to go (having only been in the band for a few months) but I'm getting much more confident with parading (drumming while moving) although yesterday I somehow managed to get myself some pretty sizeable bruises courtesy of not getting my drum straps in optimal position. Live and learn - and it's all good preparation for next Sunday's gig at the Manchester Day Parade. I've a feeling stamina will be the name of the game, time will tell!
Operation Grow the House Down is continuing well - 2013 seems to be the year for experimental planting, with the occasional bonus of eating produce which has worked out first try! This year I've primarily got annual plants growing from my various seeds but long term I'm hoping to have more perennials.
I've been musing on the investment of time and resources in my growings given, at least in the short term, buying the equivalent from shops wouldn't be hugely financially expensive. However, these days more than ever it's really not just about the money. I cannot fathom how food, especially fresh food, can be sold at the price it is - given the grower needs paying (and they'll need to pay for whatever they use in growing, from fertilisers to green house heating), the produce then usually ends up getting shipped around between various distribution points (fuel and storage cost) and almost invariably there's the packaging to factor in as well. The ubiquity of plastic is another story entirely, but even in brief, the amount of plastic packaging there is around and about is amazing. I produce relatively little waste each week (especially when I compare it to other inhabitants of my house, or the amount of waste produced by neighbours in homes I've lived in before) but most of it is plastic - the rest gets recycled or composted. And yesterday I spent about half an hour collecting rubbish that had blown into the outside area where I work - a bag or so of recyclables and three bags of non-recyclables, again, mainly plastic. But I'm getting distracted by waste (more another time, I'm sure!) - I may not be saving much money in growing my own food, but knowing this home grown produce is completely carbon neutral is brilliant. Knowing that I'm getting back in touch with how awesome plants are is great. And knowing that my experimenting is setting me up for future growing projects is probably the best outcome - knowledge through doing. Any other benefits (I've heard that fresh produce retains more vitamins and the like) are bonuses, but marvellous ones at that.
Another aspect of my growings which I'm finding incredibly exciting is that of finding new uses for "waste" resources. The three Rs of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle have really started coming into their own - plant pots are generally now being generated out of the bottoms of plastic bottles, drip trays are generally tetrapak cartons with one side removed, I'm viewing the winter trimmings from my folks' hedge in an entirely new light (leave them to dry out then use them for stakes, or weave them into fence panels, or, well, whatever else takes my fancy!) and cardboard is now a potential moisture store for larger planting containers (by burying it in the soil). Oooh! And I don't know if it'll work but the idea of creating plaster-board-type boards out of papier-mache for projects like adding internal wall insulation was an on-holiday idea but one which is still lurking for when I might try it out. I'm in the wonderful position of having access to loads of resources and I'm out to make the most of all of 'em!
Monday, May 6, 2013
Operation Grow the House Down is ON
Monday evening
Now, don't let the title confuse you. I'm not ACTUALLY trying to grow so much plant matter in my house that it pulls the thing down. It was just a catching sounding title in my head. For ages I've been repeating the "if only I had a garden at home...I've only got a very shady yard". And yet I've a GAZILLION window ledges, and generally lots of Space. It's not the same as outside - but it's definitely space to grow! I'm continuing to try some outside pots in different spaces (sadly the biggest space I have is currently prone to destructive behaviour from person or persons unknown - but I'm contemplating options for there as well. Spiky type options which are less appealing from an interference perspective) but am now on a mission to have every window ledge and light-enough-space occupied by edibles at various stages of growing.
At the moment, as I've mentioned previously, I'm churning through various packets of annual seeds to get things moving but I'm also, slowly slowly catchy monkey, getting closer to planning what perennial plants I want to get started with. I'm anticipating many of these (including the asparagus I've already started) will remain on my window ledges for a while as they get established, even if they will ultimately end up in one of the outside spaces I have access to - and I look forward to having to solve the problem of how to fit all my pots and plants in! I've already started thinking about window-shelving (although I'm aware that'll impact light getting into the rooms) and options for hanging plants. Today I was inside for most of the day on a curtain creating mission (which was entirely successful - even to the point of discovering that the top of the Sewing Chest is a much better location for using my sewing machine from AND finishing off by packing everything away again so my bedroom became my bedroom again!) but I kept noticing all the places in my house which DO get direct sunshine - even if it's only for an hour or two. Many possibilities...
I'm also getting more and more fond of my Garage-Basement. I have a massive luxury space-wise in this house and my basement is basically just an expansive garage without level access but with a lot more nooks and crannies! I'm currently aspiring to go through the last few corners of the basement to check for some drainage pipe (which I don't think I'll find, but can guarantee will be hiding somewhere if I DON'T hunt for it, and will appear just after I've bought and made unreturnable identical new bits) but the mood hasn't yet taken me. Although my desire to maximise use of my water-butt is increasing...
And the existing growings are already proving invaluable - today I was completely lacking in veg so ended up scavenging parsley, chives and a couple of spinach leaves. Nowhere near the quantity of veg I ideally wanted to have with my pasta, but a significant increase on the Zero I had in otherwise!
Now, don't let the title confuse you. I'm not ACTUALLY trying to grow so much plant matter in my house that it pulls the thing down. It was just a catching sounding title in my head. For ages I've been repeating the "if only I had a garden at home...I've only got a very shady yard". And yet I've a GAZILLION window ledges, and generally lots of Space. It's not the same as outside - but it's definitely space to grow! I'm continuing to try some outside pots in different spaces (sadly the biggest space I have is currently prone to destructive behaviour from person or persons unknown - but I'm contemplating options for there as well. Spiky type options which are less appealing from an interference perspective) but am now on a mission to have every window ledge and light-enough-space occupied by edibles at various stages of growing.
At the moment, as I've mentioned previously, I'm churning through various packets of annual seeds to get things moving but I'm also, slowly slowly catchy monkey, getting closer to planning what perennial plants I want to get started with. I'm anticipating many of these (including the asparagus I've already started) will remain on my window ledges for a while as they get established, even if they will ultimately end up in one of the outside spaces I have access to - and I look forward to having to solve the problem of how to fit all my pots and plants in! I've already started thinking about window-shelving (although I'm aware that'll impact light getting into the rooms) and options for hanging plants. Today I was inside for most of the day on a curtain creating mission (which was entirely successful - even to the point of discovering that the top of the Sewing Chest is a much better location for using my sewing machine from AND finishing off by packing everything away again so my bedroom became my bedroom again!) but I kept noticing all the places in my house which DO get direct sunshine - even if it's only for an hour or two. Many possibilities...
I'm also getting more and more fond of my Garage-Basement. I have a massive luxury space-wise in this house and my basement is basically just an expansive garage without level access but with a lot more nooks and crannies! I'm currently aspiring to go through the last few corners of the basement to check for some drainage pipe (which I don't think I'll find, but can guarantee will be hiding somewhere if I DON'T hunt for it, and will appear just after I've bought and made unreturnable identical new bits) but the mood hasn't yet taken me. Although my desire to maximise use of my water-butt is increasing...
And the existing growings are already proving invaluable - today I was completely lacking in veg so ended up scavenging parsley, chives and a couple of spinach leaves. Nowhere near the quantity of veg I ideally wanted to have with my pasta, but a significant increase on the Zero I had in otherwise!
Strange World (and another Tigger-style book review)
Late Sunday night / into Monday morning
Life remains unpredictable. Tonight's particularly brilliant weirdness was the magic of cars - which almost took me on an impromptu visit to a friend because cars can do that and instead delivered me to the end of a van unload which I lent both physical and moral support to. A van unload that was completely off my radar but which I was glad to be able to lend a paw with - given I was in the right place at the right time!
Last week, for reasons that still remain somewhat vague, was utterly exhausting and more stressful than I've experienced for a while. It ended with my first even gig with Batala Lancaster, the Brazilian samba drumming band I joined earlier in the year. Although I've had moments in rehearsal of feeling really "in the rhythm", this gig was not one of those experiences! The first challenge playing in the band was getting used to hitting my drum at the right time. The next, enjoying myself (or looking like I was enjoying myself, at least!). I was just about getting there with those two when Boom! Next challenge: doing all of the above AND walking! Suffice to say I've loads of room for improvement and lots to learn. Onwards!
I've also fallen in love with polytunnels as a kind of living room. I spent some time at Middlewood this weekend and was amazed by how hot the polytunnel got - despite not being completely sealed! A new polytunnel was under construction elsewhere on site which gave me some more insight into some of the engineering factors to consider (especially in relation to watering) but the light and warmth of a polytunnel is truly awesome. It's on The List.
I also utterly devoured How to Make a Forest Garden by Patrick Whitefield. Middlewood has a variety of books and this was one which I knew I wanted to take a look at. And in the end I got right the way through it - and realised that as much as I'd love to start planting oodles of fruiting trees (do nut trees "nut"?) right now any forest-garden style gardening I want to implement will be about shrubs and herbaceous, rather than including the tree aspect. Unless I managed to get more actively involved in the design of a certain expanse in the South of England... But actually, limiting myself to those two layers of the forest garden will be great experience of trying out different types of plants so I can get familiar with what will grow, and what I like to eat! Anyway, the book itself was really well written, very informative and a really interesting way of viewing growing systems. One I'd recommend however you choose to garden.
Life remains unpredictable. Tonight's particularly brilliant weirdness was the magic of cars - which almost took me on an impromptu visit to a friend because cars can do that and instead delivered me to the end of a van unload which I lent both physical and moral support to. A van unload that was completely off my radar but which I was glad to be able to lend a paw with - given I was in the right place at the right time!
Last week, for reasons that still remain somewhat vague, was utterly exhausting and more stressful than I've experienced for a while. It ended with my first even gig with Batala Lancaster, the Brazilian samba drumming band I joined earlier in the year. Although I've had moments in rehearsal of feeling really "in the rhythm", this gig was not one of those experiences! The first challenge playing in the band was getting used to hitting my drum at the right time. The next, enjoying myself (or looking like I was enjoying myself, at least!). I was just about getting there with those two when Boom! Next challenge: doing all of the above AND walking! Suffice to say I've loads of room for improvement and lots to learn. Onwards!
I've also fallen in love with polytunnels as a kind of living room. I spent some time at Middlewood this weekend and was amazed by how hot the polytunnel got - despite not being completely sealed! A new polytunnel was under construction elsewhere on site which gave me some more insight into some of the engineering factors to consider (especially in relation to watering) but the light and warmth of a polytunnel is truly awesome. It's on The List.
I also utterly devoured How to Make a Forest Garden by Patrick Whitefield. Middlewood has a variety of books and this was one which I knew I wanted to take a look at. And in the end I got right the way through it - and realised that as much as I'd love to start planting oodles of fruiting trees (do nut trees "nut"?) right now any forest-garden style gardening I want to implement will be about shrubs and herbaceous, rather than including the tree aspect. Unless I managed to get more actively involved in the design of a certain expanse in the South of England... But actually, limiting myself to those two layers of the forest garden will be great experience of trying out different types of plants so I can get familiar with what will grow, and what I like to eat! Anyway, the book itself was really well written, very informative and a really interesting way of viewing growing systems. One I'd recommend however you choose to garden.
Friday, May 3, 2013
A book review of sorts - Building a Low Impact Roundhouse
Friday afternoon, May 3rd
Low impact living is increasingly becoming an active interest of mine and by great good fortune a dear old friend of mine was clearing out a whole bunch of sustainable building related books which I am, gradually, reading and then planning on taking along to the Middlewood Trust to add to their informal library with the idea they'll be more accessible to more people sharing a similar interest there than hiding on one of my bookshelves! In the mean time, however, I'm going to use my blog as a good place to keep track of the key aspects I enjoyed or valued about said books so if I need to get hold of the books again I will at least have the title and author to start me off...
So! The first book that I got through was Tony Wrench's Building a Low Impact Roundhouse - he also has a website which I've yet to investigate fully. This is an incredibly practical book covering Tony's experience building his house in Wales - I confess that when it got into the calculations of how many supports there were etc. I started skimming. I'm not yet at the stage of needing that detail - but if you are, this may well be a book to read! It is not intended as an expansive tract on all the different options available, merely a sharing of knowledge of what Tony used and learned along the way. It also includes reflections along the lines of "in hindsight..." - always useful when assessing different options.
Being as practical as it is, I'm quite happy to pass it on for others as I'm not in any way at the stage of being ready to design my own home from scratch (aside from anything else, I have a wonderful home I'm getting to enjoy full time as it is). But it definitely provided food for thought - how much space is enough? What's critical? What's a nice to have? Considerations like how far the site of their house was from the rest of the community they were part of. I'm still convinced that there's a way to build an awesome sauna / hot tub / maybe steam room building into my future low impact living land experiment but I haven't quite got it sussed yet - there's always time!
Anyways, useful book, very practical but definitely one mainly for you if you're at the "and now I need to get down to the nuts and bolts" (or straw bales and wood stoves, as the case may be).
Low impact living is increasingly becoming an active interest of mine and by great good fortune a dear old friend of mine was clearing out a whole bunch of sustainable building related books which I am, gradually, reading and then planning on taking along to the Middlewood Trust to add to their informal library with the idea they'll be more accessible to more people sharing a similar interest there than hiding on one of my bookshelves! In the mean time, however, I'm going to use my blog as a good place to keep track of the key aspects I enjoyed or valued about said books so if I need to get hold of the books again I will at least have the title and author to start me off...
So! The first book that I got through was Tony Wrench's Building a Low Impact Roundhouse - he also has a website which I've yet to investigate fully. This is an incredibly practical book covering Tony's experience building his house in Wales - I confess that when it got into the calculations of how many supports there were etc. I started skimming. I'm not yet at the stage of needing that detail - but if you are, this may well be a book to read! It is not intended as an expansive tract on all the different options available, merely a sharing of knowledge of what Tony used and learned along the way. It also includes reflections along the lines of "in hindsight..." - always useful when assessing different options.
Being as practical as it is, I'm quite happy to pass it on for others as I'm not in any way at the stage of being ready to design my own home from scratch (aside from anything else, I have a wonderful home I'm getting to enjoy full time as it is). But it definitely provided food for thought - how much space is enough? What's critical? What's a nice to have? Considerations like how far the site of their house was from the rest of the community they were part of. I'm still convinced that there's a way to build an awesome sauna / hot tub / maybe steam room building into my future low impact living land experiment but I haven't quite got it sussed yet - there's always time!
Anyways, useful book, very practical but definitely one mainly for you if you're at the "and now I need to get down to the nuts and bolts" (or straw bales and wood stoves, as the case may be).
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Could this be the most Energy Rich period ever for humanity?
Wednesday, May 1st - morning
May Day. International Workers unite. Welcome in Spring and the May Queen. And also, the day for this particular bit of writing.
Since my early teens I've had a level of environmental consciousness - sometimes at the forefront of my mind, sometimes lurking in the background, but certainly there. The past decade or so has seen it predominantly as a subplot to my life rather than The Main Event but what with somewhat of an overload of thought provoking media on the subject of global warming in the past few weeks, it's come back to the fore again.
Am I living sustainably? I suspect not - although I haven't done the sums. I do what I feel able to in terms of lifestyle choices and hope that by my choices others may see something they could do themselves. Everyone has different priorities and pressures on their life in terms of what they can do, but the one thing that has been metaphorically hitting me in the face recently has been the rather unique energy situation we find ourselves in.
For now, forget about energy efficiency. Forget about renewable energy. The reality of now is that the "Western" lifestyle is only made possible by thousands of years worth of harnessed sunlight being burnt every day.
That "reframing" - that we're using a non-renewal-battery-supply of sunlight to support our lifestyles was a real revelation. We've got the technology to utilise all sorts of different forms of this stored sunlight, there are even controversial efforts to get to the "harder to reach" stored sunlight (fracking, drilling in sensitive areas, the list goes on). And life is really exciting! Space travel, international holidays, complicated machines for almost anything you can think of - I've totally been seduced by this amazing luxury and I think much of the population living this lifestyle has as well.
But. This is a non-renewal supply of trapped sunlight. And by releasing back into the atmosphere the elements tied up in fossil fuels we're creating a rate of change in the atmosphere greater than has been seen in recorded history. The planet is awesome - and it's survived an awful lot longer than most of the species inhabiting it. How will it respond? Now, there's a million dollar question. But churning through these fossil fuels in the misplaced hope that someone else will solve the problem, or that it simply won't become an issue in your own lifetime, seems rather ostrich-like to me. An attractive option, I grant you (thinking about how to address the issue - from the global to the personal levels - I find incredibly daunting). And change is never easy. But for me the reflection of the amazing realities of this era must be taken in the context of "what next".
I certainly haven't got all of the answers, but I'm committed to keep hunting. My most recent step was starting the process to change to a renewable energy supplier. Does that mean all the electricity in my house will come from renewable sources? No - the grid simply doesn't work like that. But it DOES mean that I'm taking another step towards a more sustainable lifestyle. Is it enough? No. Can I now sit on my laurels and feel smug? Absolutely not/ But it's what I feel able to do just now - while I keep working on the rest of it...
So why not take a moment to revel in this amazing period of Energy richness. Isn't it incredible?
May Day. International Workers unite. Welcome in Spring and the May Queen. And also, the day for this particular bit of writing.
Since my early teens I've had a level of environmental consciousness - sometimes at the forefront of my mind, sometimes lurking in the background, but certainly there. The past decade or so has seen it predominantly as a subplot to my life rather than The Main Event but what with somewhat of an overload of thought provoking media on the subject of global warming in the past few weeks, it's come back to the fore again.
Am I living sustainably? I suspect not - although I haven't done the sums. I do what I feel able to in terms of lifestyle choices and hope that by my choices others may see something they could do themselves. Everyone has different priorities and pressures on their life in terms of what they can do, but the one thing that has been metaphorically hitting me in the face recently has been the rather unique energy situation we find ourselves in.
For now, forget about energy efficiency. Forget about renewable energy. The reality of now is that the "Western" lifestyle is only made possible by thousands of years worth of harnessed sunlight being burnt every day.
 |
| Photo credit: Ben Kimball |
But. This is a non-renewal supply of trapped sunlight. And by releasing back into the atmosphere the elements tied up in fossil fuels we're creating a rate of change in the atmosphere greater than has been seen in recorded history. The planet is awesome - and it's survived an awful lot longer than most of the species inhabiting it. How will it respond? Now, there's a million dollar question. But churning through these fossil fuels in the misplaced hope that someone else will solve the problem, or that it simply won't become an issue in your own lifetime, seems rather ostrich-like to me. An attractive option, I grant you (thinking about how to address the issue - from the global to the personal levels - I find incredibly daunting). And change is never easy. But for me the reflection of the amazing realities of this era must be taken in the context of "what next".
I certainly haven't got all of the answers, but I'm committed to keep hunting. My most recent step was starting the process to change to a renewable energy supplier. Does that mean all the electricity in my house will come from renewable sources? No - the grid simply doesn't work like that. But it DOES mean that I'm taking another step towards a more sustainable lifestyle. Is it enough? No. Can I now sit on my laurels and feel smug? Absolutely not/ But it's what I feel able to do just now - while I keep working on the rest of it...
So why not take a moment to revel in this amazing period of Energy richness. Isn't it incredible?
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