Browsing: Comment

It seems to me that people are largely divided into two groups – the givers and the takers. On walking into a new job, a classroom or a party, there will always be those who are thinking “What can I get out of this?” and those who are thinking “What can I give to this situation?” You probably know which you are. Your friends most certainly do.

I have a suspicion that over the next months, President Obama will be aiming to inspire the givers and challenge the takers. He will be hoping to work out in practice these wise words of John F Kennedy,
“And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

We can of course widen that sentiment out to include us all. Ask not what the world can do for you, ask what you can do for the world. Do we take as much as we want of the world’s energy resources, or do we consider how to conserve energy for future generations? Do we choose the food and drink that we buy purely for our own pleasure, or do we consider the cost to the producer on the other side of the world? Do we use the household products that promise the most or do we consider the harmful effect of what is going down our drains?

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Gordon Brown & Queen Rania -WEF Annual Meeting Davos 2008

On the 28th January, Heads of state, business and religious leaders are meeting in the Swiss alpine town of Davos to initiate the start of the five day World Economic Forum (WEF).

The WEF is a Geneva-based non-profit foundation best known for its Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland which brings together top business leaders, international political leaders, selected intellectuals and journalists to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world including health and the environment.

In 2008, some 250 public figures attended the Annual Meeting, including: Ban Ki-moon, Condoleezza Rice, Ferenc Gyurcsany, François Fillon, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Gordon Brown, Hamid Karzai,  Queen Rania of Jordan, Shimon Peres.

Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Bono, and Tony Blair are also regular Davos attendees.

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"I had already been obsessing about apples all week."

Last night, my sixteen year old son told me that his girlfriend had said something really nice about me. I anticipated what it might be – perhaps a compliment about my appearance, personality or skills as a domestic goddess?

“You choose good apples.”

Not quite what I was hoping for. So then what was intended as a throwaway comment becomes a topic worthy of the Inquisition – the green ones or the red ones? the colour, the size, the juiciness..?

Coincidentally, I had already been obsessing about apples all week. I have been buying organic fruit for some time now. Last week, however, I noticed that the organic apples were from the USA. Although I am warming to the United States with the new President taking office this week, I stood in the supermarket aisle agonising over my dilemma: surely the good I am doing for the planet in supporting the organic cause is being cancelled out by the environmental damage of flying said apples from the States. I put them back.

Reaching for the fair trade apples, I was perturbed to see that they were produced in South Africa. Still such a long way. I put them back.

I eventually settled on apples from

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a high point?

To be praised by my thirteen year old son on my choice of Christmas presents was one of the high points of the festive season for me.

He, of course, has no concept of the hours of thought, planning and co-ordination that had gone into each item in his present collection. Neither would he have any idea of the agonising that went into getting the balance between extravagance and frugality, between waste and real pleasure.

I’m with him, though. I did do a good job. Rather than lots of small gifts for each of the five children, we favoured joint presents for us all from our relatives (thanks to you all for complying). This has meant that we are two weeks into January and no-one has said that they are bored and there are no unwanted toys lying broken on bedroom floors. Singstar, Buzz and Guitar Hero have saved the day.

Or have they? Imagine my horror when I

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It’s amazing how quickly I fell in love

Firstly this isn’t my first time as an ‘owner’, I grew up with pets (mainly dogs because my mum wasn’t a cat fan) but this is the first time I’ve rescued one.

For the past several months I’ve been going on and on about getting a dog. I talked about it so much I think my friends and colleagues were getting rather bored with me not taking the plunge and just doing it.  Frankly I was getting fed up with myself.   However I did have good reason for taking so long to make up my mind.  The decision to add an additional member to any family – well, it’s a big deal and ultimately I had to convince my partner who wasn’t 100% sure it was a good idea.  We both work full-time which means we’re not home during the day for at least 8 hours and even with a dog walker to take it out – it wouldn’t be fair.

Whilst intellectually I knew getting a dog was a bad idea, this didn’t stop the emotions of really wanting one, so much so, I had even picked out the breed.  Several years ago I came across a Vizsla and immediately fell in love, it was a chance encounter in London’s Portobello Market, which I still remember vividly.  I won’t bore you with all the details but I have to say I met the most beautiful and well behaved creature that day.  The dog and owner appeared to be made for one another, something rather enviable in its own right.  The owner and I had a chat and from that point on my dog of choice was Vizsla. Similar such encounters would follow, all serving to reinforce my feelings.

Keeping logic on hold I began to research and went looking for my Vizsla.  It would take me nearly two years to come to an acceptancethat it would have been wrong for us to take on the responsibility of a dog while working full-time. I was gutted but knew it was the right decision.

and then along came Charlie. Just when I’d given up looking, he found me thanks to a friend who was trying to find a new home for him.  Charlie’s previous owner was no longer able to care for him – she was unfortunately in hospital.  My friend had her own cat and he wasn’t taking kindly to the new lodger.  Without nearly as much thought as I put into getting a dog, Charlie was welcomed with open arms.

It’s amazing how quickly I fell in love with not only another breed but another species all together.  What can I say about Charlie, he loves to sleep, is very cheeky, playful, loud (nothing ninja about him), always hungry and likes his cuddles.  The best part about Charlie is that we rescued him.  But we’re the lucky ones. He wasn’t going to have a problem finding a home, not with that face.

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Applying Plan Do Review (ask any Primary age child for an explanation) to Christmas, I am now at the review stage. I planned with much thought, did with much effort and come to review without an ounce of either thought or effort left in my body. Such is the joy of January.

So how did I do with my ethical gifts? The jewellery elicited the most positive responses; the reactions to the stationery were more restrained. The champagne gift set was the greatest hit; the candles received the worst comment – “Not more bloody candles.” (Joint presents are always likely to please one partner more than the other.) I even managed to get away with a little regifiting, although my conscience is getting harder to ignore each time that I do it.

As for waste, our success was marked by the fact that there was still space in the bin on collection day. There has already been a trip to the recycling centre, the cards have been cut up for tags next year and the gift bags folded and stowed away for re-use. Result.

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So how many of you made a New Year’s resolution today?

Every year, millions of us make resolutions on January 1st ……to go on a diet, to get to work on time, to go for a run every morning, to give up smoking…. And let’s be honest, most of us give up after a day.

Some we keep for a month.

Very few of us succeed in the long term.

And yet when the next January 1st comes round, we make resolutions all over again. Why is that?

That is hope. Hope that we can change for the better. Hope that this year, we will have the willpower to see it through. Hope that this year will be different.

However, when we watch the news or read the newspaper, it is hard to have hope when all around us are losing it. The financial crisis seems impossible to solve. The effects of climate change seem impossible to reverse. The rich seem to get richer whilst the poor get poorer.
It’s hard to believe that our small steps towards a more ethical lifestyle can actually have an impact. We have to believe that they do. Hope is what inspires us to make the ethical choice.

Let hope be what makes us do what we can to make the world a better place.

Let hope be what makes us bring hope to those without it.

Let hope be what makes us.

Let hope be.

If we ever need a little inspiration, a push in the right direction, or a kick up the backside to ‘Go One Better’ or green up our lifestyle than we should look no further than our own back yard.

It appears that nature is teaming with busy little environmentalists, all hell-bent on reducing, reusing, and recycling whatever is in their path.

According to Environmental Graffiti, a cracking site for environmentalists who don’t take themselves too seriously, these little chaps are the most eco-friendly bugs around;

3. Environmental Designer Extraordinaire: The Orb Web Spider
The female orb web spider is one of natural world’s top designers, but she’s one of its thriftiest recyclers too. She’s known to eat her web at night, before spinning a new one, to recoup some of the energy expended producing silk that’s rich in protein and stronger than steel.

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This is not hypermiling.

Did you know that “Carbon Neutral” was word of the year at Oxford in 2006.

This year, the honour goes to Hypermiling, which has been picked as “word of the year” for 2008 by the New Oxford American Dictionary.

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I am not about to confess a hitherto secret compulsion to wash obsessively. My obsession is firmly contained within my head and has yet to materialise into much productive output.

It all began when I looked at the label in my son’s new light grey sixth form trousers to discover that they were Dry Clean Only. I was so incensed that I overcame my inhibitions to ask about it openly at the Sixth Form Information Evening.

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