Organic-Ally

I went to bed last night thinking about how unsustainable the current consumer-driven economy is and woke up this morning to read: 90% underground water in China polluted . Cities in northern China have been the most polluted with increasingly more pollutants, causing economic losses worth of [sic] dozens of billions of US dollars.  When I say (in many places in this blog and on Organic-Ally ) that buying 'cheap' has its long-term repercussions, readers might think that I am a snob. So perhaps I should change my tune and say 'cheap' is not sustainable.  Just before Christmas British fishermen were told that their quota of cod that could be landed is to be reduced by 5% (if I remember correctly). Demand for cod has led to over-fishing in the North Sea. Even juvenile fish have been landed resulting in their not being able to reproduce, thus further reducing the stock of cod. Very soon, there won't be any cod and the cod fishermen will simply have nowt. Is this sustai...

It has been my most stress-free Christmas. I have memories of in-laws rushing about fretting over bread sauce and stuffing and the lot, mum-in-law lamenting that my table was not dressed properly as I did not have any table decorations. "O! I'll make you one next year." She hadn't noticed that we have a very narrow table and there is simply no room for decorations. As a Christian, I know full well that Christmas is about remembering the birth of Jesus and its implications on my personal life. It is also, for me, a celebration of time with loved ones. As someone who had spent several Christmases on my own when I first came to work in this country, Christmas is also a time to share hospitality with those with no family, as a sort of replay of that "no room at the inn" scenario. Last year, with husband being so ill that Christmas nearly had to be "cancelled" , I am thankful that he is in good health this year. In the run-up to Christmas I have been as...

I forgot to mention in my last post that retailers and supermarkets in UK have been up in arms about a EU proposal that seeks to stop China from "dumping" cheap plastic bags here. See article here . The article also tells us that every year an estimated 17.5 BILLION plastic bags are given away by supermarkets, equivalent to about 290 bags for every person in the UK." Well, I don't collect 290 bags a year, and neither does my husband nor my son. So someone else must be collecting our 290 x 3 bags every year. We are also told that "The average plastic bag made in China costs between 1p and 2p, although fancy bags used by fashion shops could cost double that. A retailer such as Marks & Spencer might use 200 million bags every year." The retailers are afraid that a tariff on these bags from China would increase their overheads. This proposed tariff has come about because "30 EU manufacturers complained that Asian competitors were selling bags for expo...

So there is a second toxic chemical spill in a China river today: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4548046.stm The first spill, resulting from a Nov 13 explosion at a chemical plant upriver from Harbin, has reached Russia: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4551842.stm Eventually, these harmful chemicals are going to reach the sea. According to a report in http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,387392,00.html , authorities cited human error at a tower that processed benzene, a toxic, potentially cancer-causing chemical used in making plastics , detergents and pesticides . Here's some information about benzene: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/benzene/basics/facts.asp Another reason to reduce the use of plastic? Developed nations accuse China of being slack in their health and safety regime resulting in such environmental disasters. If there isn't a demand for cheap plastic and pesticides, would China be producing these chemicals in such quanti...

Is not a day I wish to re-live. Yet I cannot forget it. Until last year December 22nd was remembered as my late mother's birthday. Last year husband was so ill he didn't get a wink of sleep, and neither did I. He had to go to the toilet about, we've lost count, twenty times? during the night, throwing up both ends. He suffers from an inflammatory bowel disease and was on heavy medication with very undesirable side-effects. His condition was so serious that this standard medication did not work on him. He was also very susceptible to infection and something triggered off this horrendous flare-up. After that sleepless night I emailed family and friends all over the world to say: Pray! If he couldn't keep his food down, he would have to be put on a drip. That means being in hospital over Christmas. That would have been quite unthinkable for young son. I also needed wisdom as to what to feed him to get his energy back. Meanwhile, we had invited a girl who was going to be on...

The lines in front of "customer service" at M&S after Christmas. And Next, and BHS, and you name it. Gift-buyers labour over what to buy before Christmas and recipients labour over returning these gifts straight after Christmas. What's the point? Stick to gold, frankincense and myrrh the next time? Years ago before husband became boyfriend: What would you like for Christmas? Me: I don't need anything for Christmas. Him: I didn't say "What do you need ?". What do you want for Christmas. Me: I don't want anything for Christmas. His aunt insists on buying us stuff and she has to lug it all the way to us on the Tube. This year she is only allowed to buy us both a box of chocolates and a book for our son. I bet she'd show up at the door laden with pressies. I shall have to say to her, as if she was at the airport: Sorry, Ma'am, the parcels have gone past the weight limit. We can't accept this. The thing is she had rung to ask my son what ...

I took my son and visiting nephew to lunch last Friday. Then son and I looked around a couple of shops for some reading material and shoes for him. At WHSmith I suddenly felt -- rather strangely -- hey! my phobia for shopping meant I am missing out on all this festive atmosphere. It's actually quite fun. There's a feeling of adrenalin in the air as people strive to complete their shopping. About twenty minutes later, after son had decided on the Horrid Henry book he wanted from another shop, we stepped out into the shopping precinct and I felt like we had been invaded. There were hordes of high school children out and about. They seemed to be hunting in packs. Some of them were behaving in such a manner that at least one shop pulled their doors half-shut and stationed a security guard at the door. I felt so threatened and son and I made our way out of those crowds as quickly as we could. I still hate shopping. Back to Organic-Ally .

There is nothing in my size and colour and the heaving crowds put me off. My eyes get tired from looking at the range of clothes and useless items on display. I think of the poor girl/young lady/young man/boy paid a pittance for long hours of back-breaking, fine-finger work and I can't bear to part with money that would only fund the profligate lifestyle of the (often corrupt) owner/businessman who might just happen to be at the right place at the right time, or who network with the right people, or who have the means to make donations to certain political parties, or all of the above. There is no room in my wardrobe and until I throw out something that I have outgrown or needs replacing, I do not need another cheap jacket/blouse/skirt/pair of trousers, etc. And then only if I have the means to arrange for these to be recycled properly. Living simply does not mean living cheaply. It means learning how to spend one's money wisely. As an impoverished undergraduate I once bought ...

Our son came home from school last week with this in his school bag: Both Husband and I had a good chuckle. For those who find it difficult to decipher what he has written: It's entitled 'egg Poem' and it says "I am a stupid egg. I don't know a thing." He calls this a 'shape poem'. They had been doing one in the shape of a Christmas tree in class. Somehow he was inspired to do this during his 'golden time'. I was a bit concerned with the sentiment expressed. 'Do you feel you are stupid?' 'No, Mum, it's only a poem.' My boy is growing up so fast. Back to Organic-Ally .

The Royal Mail has announced that it is going to raise the price of its First Class stamps again. My son made a catapult out of two toilet roll cardboard tubes. What have the two in common? The humble elastic band. Son had collected two tubes. He asked for Mummy's help to make two diametrically opposite holes near the rim of the first tube. He cut up an elastic band, threaded it through these holes and stretched the elastic band across, and taped the ends of the band down the outside of the tube. The second tube he cut right down the side and snipped off a piece of it and joined it up together again with tape to turn it into a narrower tube. He then cut notches on diametrically opposite sides of one rim. This second (now) narrower tube is pushed, notched rim end first, into the first wider tube against the stretched elastic band. The notches in the inner tube ensures that the elastic band on the outer tube is properly engaged. He turns it over on the floor to get a grip on both tub...

Been very busy lately with fund-raising projects at son's school to organize and just back from a Christmas party we organize for parents-and-toddlers who come to our weekly groups. But I must tell you about what I discovered late last night. Bishopston , the people who supply my organic cotton fabric with which I make gift bags now sell a tiffin carrier for Christmas. Here's the link (sorry, link broken). If you've missed previous blogs about the use of a tiffin, you can catch up here , or here . I am not sure if they would still have these after Christmas. Back to Organic-Ally .

This piece has got nothing to do with the environment. It is just an observation I made recently. Last year I had the privilege of being awarded a research grant by the British Academy to conduct research on graduate stay-at-home mothers in Singapore. It was an interesting topic of study as mothers in Singapore are expected to work. Many leave their two-month-old infants to the care of foreign maids hardly out of their teenage years to return to full-time work. Graduate mothers, especially, are expected to return to work full-time after the 'investment' by the country in their university education. To quit work altogether to become a stay-at-home mother is very much counter-cultural. One of the most interesting interviews I conducted was with a woman engineer, a mother of three young children. As with every other interviewee she mentioned that one of the skills she honed as a stay-at-home mother is to multi-task. "I am talking to my friend on the phone while watching my ch...