Watching ‘Blue’ made people angry (Dec18)
It was difficult to decide which part of the film made me more angry. High on the the list were the scenes cutting the fins from living sharks and throwing them back into the sea. I think the film said that 60 million sharks are killed for their fins each year – but looking it […]
War on Waste – Not just plastics (Oct18)
I’ve now done multiple speeches about plastics and waste. The more I do, the more committed I am to changing our wasteful, disposable society. We’ve adopted practices that are ridiculous in their wastefulness and think nothing of it. Here are some examples: Online Shopping: I live in rural Dorset and do most of my shopping […]
How good is my re-usable bamboo cup? (Jun18)
I’ve found a re-usable cup I really like. It’s made from bamboo, is quite colourful and has a really good lid that stops the liquid from spilling. My previous versions had lids that fell off, which made them pretty useless for coffee on the move. Bamboo has become a bit of a thing. When I […]
Speaking on Plastics – (May18)
The town hall in Bridport was full with an expectant crowd. Organised by the Transition Town network in Bridport, as part of their Green Fortnight, everyone had come to hear me talk about plastics. I’d taken a lot of time getting slides together, but the projector wouldn’t accept them! It became clear that I’d have […]
Ideas for greener tourism in Myanmar [Relevant to other countries too] (Apr18)
There are over 3,000 temples in Bagan… Aureum Palace Hotel in Bagan claimed that 99% of clients want their sheets changed daily “99% of people like to have their bed linen changed at hotels at least once a day”. Really? I wondered how this assertion could be validated. But, I haven’t been able to respond […]
A lot of rubbish is talked about plastics… (Jan18)
The phone was ringing, the dog was barking and the builder was wanting my attention – when I was connected live to the BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show (11jan18). What prompted me to call? Plastics. More specifically, my husband had phoned from his car suggesting I might like to go on the programme. Everyone […]
Behind the Scenes in Paradise (Feb17)
I’m hoping that my eco-footprint, on our luxury holiday staying at the Six Senses Hotel, Zil Payson, in the Seychelles – is considerably less than other guests! How so? It comes mainly from my aversion to air conditioning. Our residence was one of 30 beautiful villas nestled in the hills and rocks of Felicite Island. We […]
Christmas cringe over disposable baking tray (Dec16)
Sometimes you hear something on the radio which makes you cringe. Just before Christmas this happened… A woman rang the radio programme to say that something dreadful had happened. What calamity could this be? It was that she’d forgotten to buy a disposable baking tray for roasting the Christmas turkey… Aaaargh… Even more sickening to […]
Speech disaster to Bathroom Manufacturers… (Oct16)
My speech went down the plug hole! I spent ages preparing my speech. Had an inspirational idea on how to pull it together. And, I thought it was pretty good on the day! But apparently the audience – at least most of them – were not so impressed. And the Bathroom Manufacturer’s Association – the […]
Raw Foundation Making Waves about Waste (Jan13)
I was rather impressed by the Environment Agencies initiatives to reduce waste – as relayed to an audience pulled together by the Raw Foundation, at Bristol’s Create Centre. Did you know that the government organisation used to drive as many miles as the AA? Now they’ve reduced this by 21 million miles a year, as […]
E-Waste Poem – with help from Dr Seuss (Dec12)
I’ve always been a fan of Dr Seuss’s books. Green Eggs and Ham, Hortense the Elephant and The Sneetches are just some of his gems. And they all have a message – often quite subtle. The most environmental of his stories is the Lorax – ‘I am the Lorax, and I speak for the trees, which you seem to chopping […]
10 tonnes of e-waste an hour at SWEEEP (Dec12)
The huge grabber hand plunged into the pile of e-waste waiting below. You could see irons, toasters, kettles, hairdryers – all sorts of household electrical detritus on its way to oblivion. Or perhaps I should say reincarnation. Almost all of it is recycled in one form or another. The sorting process separates as much of […]