Thought I would update on my Co2 lowering ambitions.
What I wanted to do in January to get me started:
- Drive less? how much less? I don't drive that much but more than someone who doesn't right? Maybe 50% less for now and work towards reducing bus use also (get a bike - maybe later in the year)
- For the month of Jan - be 90% vegan. Because farming meat and dairy is right up there in the high emission stakes (‘A new report to warn the livestock industry generates 8 per cent of all UK greenhouse gas emissions’(Guardian Nov 07). Now this is really about me changing my habits and to be more thoughtful about my consumption.
- Turn off lights, recycle etc (I do this already – but you know do it more!!)
- Stop having baths!! (I love bathing and reading a good book in a hot bath is bliss to me but I know it's unnecessary - I mean I'll shower - occasionally:-)
What happened:
- Well first couple of weeks I drove less then life got the better of me and I drove virtually everyday last week - will keep trying but feel like some incentive or flex with my employers might help.
- I am rubbish vegan! but pretty good at being vegetarian - I haven't bought meat for home and haven't eaten it other than a couple of meals out since xmas. I have lowered my dairy intake but just love cheese.
- Been good at turning off lights, heating. Thanks to Birmingham City Council my recycling just got a whole lot easier to continue doing.
- Baths. Did I say how much I love to bathe? It's the reading aspect mainly. And I am ashamed to say that this one went right out of the window but I read a couple of great books and will only/mainly shower in Feb.
So anyway I'll continue trying, being a bit more aware of my actions.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
New Years resoloutions
Okay last month I blogged about Climate change and the cultural industries. Well it got me thinking. If I'm an average West Midlander then my Co2 emissions will be something around 11 tonnes per annum and in order to meet our local targets I, as all others in the region, need to reduce this to 3!
So here's the thing - I'm going to give it a go. Or at least make some changes to my lifestyle. So what are my NY resolutions?
- Drive less? how much less? I don't drive that much but more than someone who doesn't right? Maybe 50% less for now and work towards reducing bus use also (get a bike - maybe later in the year)
- For the month of Jan - be 90% vegan. Because farming meat and dairy is right up there in the high emission stakes (‘A new report to warn the livestock industry generates 8 per cent of all UK greenhouse gas emissions’(Guardian Nov 07). Now this is really about me changing my habits and to be more thoughtful about my consumption.
- Turn off lights, recycle etc (I do this already – but you know do it more!!)
- Stop having baths!! (I love bathing and reading a good book in a hot bath is bliss to me but I know it's unnecessary - I mean I'll shower - occasionally:-)
What else? Thinking about unnecessary energy waste
- Stop blow-drying my hair
- Don’t start ironing!!
- Stop buying lattes in paper cups!
- Carry on not separating whites and just do big old mixed washes at low temps and just work the whole grey vibe
Anyway I'm sure there's much more I could do - sometime I'll actually do the calculations and blog about this all at more length. You see I'm off to my brothers wedding in NZ in Feb that will well and truly screw my ‘carbon allowance’ for the year. But the thing is I'm imagining that at some point there is bound to be some sort of rationing or a carbon allowance imposed - I mean presumably - right? so it would be nice to choose (own) this rather than have it inflicted.
So here's the thing - I'm going to give it a go. Or at least make some changes to my lifestyle. So what are my NY resolutions?
- Drive less? how much less? I don't drive that much but more than someone who doesn't right? Maybe 50% less for now and work towards reducing bus use also (get a bike - maybe later in the year)
- For the month of Jan - be 90% vegan. Because farming meat and dairy is right up there in the high emission stakes (‘A new report to warn the livestock industry generates 8 per cent of all UK greenhouse gas emissions’(Guardian Nov 07). Now this is really about me changing my habits and to be more thoughtful about my consumption.
- Turn off lights, recycle etc (I do this already – but you know do it more!!)
- Stop having baths!! (I love bathing and reading a good book in a hot bath is bliss to me but I know it's unnecessary - I mean I'll shower - occasionally:-)
What else? Thinking about unnecessary energy waste
- Stop blow-drying my hair
- Don’t start ironing!!
- Stop buying lattes in paper cups!
- Carry on not separating whites and just do big old mixed washes at low temps and just work the whole grey vibe
Anyway I'm sure there's much more I could do - sometime I'll actually do the calculations and blog about this all at more length. You see I'm off to my brothers wedding in NZ in Feb that will well and truly screw my ‘carbon allowance’ for the year. But the thing is I'm imagining that at some point there is bound to be some sort of rationing or a carbon allowance imposed - I mean presumably - right? so it would be nice to choose (own) this rather than have it inflicted.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
How not to drive your kid to school...
I noticed an interesting posting on Stef Lewandowski site about the need to reduce Co2 and his thoughts on the scourge of the 4x4. It reminded me of something - a little story of seriously selfish car usage.
A few months ago when walking my daughter to school (in the same leafy streets of Moseley/kingsheath that he mentions) I noticed a really odd scenario. It took me a few days of witnessing bits of the scenario to figure out what was happening. And then one morning as we reached the exit of the cul-de-sac where we live a large SUV blocked the end of the road. At the same time a very little girl (must have been about 5 yrs old as was smaller than my then smallish 6 yr old) crossed the road on a scooter (a child's scooter), once she had crossed the vehicle moved on, very slowly, and then I realised. The car housed the parent. The parent was kerb crawling their child to school!!
This to me was wrong on so many levels.
-The pure selfishness, blocking the road and then continuing to drive at 5mph in order to accompany a child
-The lesson this offered the child i.e. this as an acceptable way to be accompanied to school - god knows if we all went this way
-The general safety of the child and others on the road
-And really - is it necessary ever to drive such a big vehicle on such tiny back streets of Birmingham in such an uneconomical way?
Anyway I for one would welcome a reduction of vehicles on the road (see Stef's posting), it would make the buses more usable and the prospect of cycling safer. But there are other issues that need addressing. Employers need to be more flexible about home working. Also more flexible about start times, possibly rewarding cyclists/public transport users in someway.
The thing that's weird is that there is still some kudos in driving and in driving such obviously fuel gussling and damaging vehicles.
A few months ago when walking my daughter to school (in the same leafy streets of Moseley/kingsheath that he mentions) I noticed a really odd scenario. It took me a few days of witnessing bits of the scenario to figure out what was happening. And then one morning as we reached the exit of the cul-de-sac where we live a large SUV blocked the end of the road. At the same time a very little girl (must have been about 5 yrs old as was smaller than my then smallish 6 yr old) crossed the road on a scooter (a child's scooter), once she had crossed the vehicle moved on, very slowly, and then I realised. The car housed the parent. The parent was kerb crawling their child to school!!
This to me was wrong on so many levels.
-The pure selfishness, blocking the road and then continuing to drive at 5mph in order to accompany a child
-The lesson this offered the child i.e. this as an acceptable way to be accompanied to school - god knows if we all went this way
-The general safety of the child and others on the road
-And really - is it necessary ever to drive such a big vehicle on such tiny back streets of Birmingham in such an uneconomical way?
Anyway I for one would welcome a reduction of vehicles on the road (see Stef's posting), it would make the buses more usable and the prospect of cycling safer. But there are other issues that need addressing. Employers need to be more flexible about home working. Also more flexible about start times, possibly rewarding cyclists/public transport users in someway.
The thing that's weird is that there is still some kudos in driving and in driving such obviously fuel gussling and damaging vehicles.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Nesta big idea thing
Yesterday I went to the West Midlands launch of the NESTA Big Green Challenge prize - a prize of £1million for the most innovative idea and implementation to reduce carbon emissions by a community. I have a whole bunch of thoughts on this and will blog about it later on this weekend (I have my daughters 7th birthday party to get through and a night out at Project X this eve). However although I feel the prize idea is in some ways flawed in relation to the scale of the problem the event itself provided some good networking opportunities. I was pleased to see that there are some significant movements within my own neighbourhood (Moseley, Birmingham) to try to reduce CO2 and I will be looking into this at more depth and spreading the word about how to get involved.
Incidentally, based on my previous post I have only used my car two days this week (not much I know but a start).
Incidentally, based on my previous post I have only used my car two days this week (not much I know but a start).
Sunday, October 28, 2007
walking, driving and future-ish thinking
Oh dear ranty nuttiness must be still with me, as in highly unusual turn of events am blogging for second night in a row, to personal blog no less!
Been thinking about walking. I was until a couple of years ago a total non-driver. I was a sort of angry pedestrian who shouted at cars, even my daughter started to! I remember one night in the Prince in Moseley, maybe ten years ago, giving a district nurse grief for driving everywhere (I cringe at the memory there are just some jobs were having to drive is sort of part of the deal). Anyhow three years ago my brother moved to New Zealand and when it came time for me to go and visit I was under strict instruction 'you need to be able to drive once you're here, there's very little public transport and I'll be at work and I can't drive you about'. So I learnt to drive. As it turns out, of course, there is public transport in NZ, just being a driver and a reasonably new resident he hadn't yet investigated it. I did however hire a car and my daughter and I took a bit of road trip Thelma and Louise style around a little bit of the North island, staying in Motels all the way and got to see some of the very beautiful places.
Anyway I digress - so I learnt to drive and this year, 12 months after my first NZ trip, I finally bought a car it cost me 100 great British pounds and was certainly a recycled, many times, piece of equipment, this at some level eased my guilt, as well as feeling like I'd managed 17 odd adult years as a non-driver. The thing is now I find I am becoming more and more like all those other drivers I used to get so cross with. Today as a pedestrian I took my time walking in the early afternoon sunshine and I got to thinking, reminded of how this all happens, how folks become dependent on their vehicles, how the cycle of car dependency leads to fewer folks on the streets, fewer people policing their neighbourhoods, in turn a perception that the streets become dangerous places and further car dependency ensues. Obviosuly this is my observation not an area I have researched but let me share an anacdote. I used to work with a woman who would drive from the Perry Barr campus of the university where I work across the road (albeit a big old road) in order to use the one-stop shopping centre! This was all to avoid using the underpass. Such was her fear of being a pedestrian, bearing in mind my district nurse lecture you can imagine the ear bashing this lady received.
I mean I guess this is all pretty obvious stuff. In recent discussions on how to make Birmingham (where I live) a better place there has been much made of a need for less cars and ultimately that would make a hell of a difference.The city centre is pretty much pedestrianised but all around the city are these huge, fast roads. These roads are not really compatible with walking. I have for the majority of my employment in Perry Barr used the (what I consider) fast and relaible bus service. I have considered cycling but the prospect of negotiating Newtown Road and onto PB on two wheels is pretty scary. Anyway the thing is I understand that the existing infrastructure of a city requires these big roads, goods and people in and out. But surely we need to be looking urgently at alternatives, not just from an ecological perspective, but these roads frequently go straight through the middle of residential areas.
I think we need to be taking a much more holistic approach to our big city plans recognising that all our citizens experience the city in very different ways. There is a bunch of cosmetic stuff that might make our external image a bit better. But wouldn't it be fantastic to be known as a city that took a really innovative approach to developing its neighbourhoods , had empathy for its citizens and where they live and led in innovative approaches to getting folks out of their cars. Easier said than done I realise. I reckon the battle with making a place a better place to live and be is 'buy-in' from the residents. But here's the thing couldn't taking this approach lead to all the magic ingredients for a dynamic city and prosperous economy something like this - fewer cars, more pedestrians, safer feeling streets, increased well-being amongst all citizens, potentially leading to increased inclusion, leading to greater diversity in the workplace, this diversity potentially leading to a more creative and dynamic knowledge economy, leading to a more attractive city for potential employers to be based and recruit from. Anyway I need to think this through a great deal more, but I can't help thinking that there are some linkages here in this crude and simplistic outline, that if they could be evidenced could be the basis for a convincing approach to address a bunch of issues.
Been thinking about walking. I was until a couple of years ago a total non-driver. I was a sort of angry pedestrian who shouted at cars, even my daughter started to! I remember one night in the Prince in Moseley, maybe ten years ago, giving a district nurse grief for driving everywhere (I cringe at the memory there are just some jobs were having to drive is sort of part of the deal). Anyhow three years ago my brother moved to New Zealand and when it came time for me to go and visit I was under strict instruction 'you need to be able to drive once you're here, there's very little public transport and I'll be at work and I can't drive you about'. So I learnt to drive. As it turns out, of course, there is public transport in NZ, just being a driver and a reasonably new resident he hadn't yet investigated it. I did however hire a car and my daughter and I took a bit of road trip Thelma and Louise style around a little bit of the North island, staying in Motels all the way and got to see some of the very beautiful places.
Anyway I digress - so I learnt to drive and this year, 12 months after my first NZ trip, I finally bought a car it cost me 100 great British pounds and was certainly a recycled, many times, piece of equipment, this at some level eased my guilt, as well as feeling like I'd managed 17 odd adult years as a non-driver. The thing is now I find I am becoming more and more like all those other drivers I used to get so cross with. Today as a pedestrian I took my time walking in the early afternoon sunshine and I got to thinking, reminded of how this all happens, how folks become dependent on their vehicles, how the cycle of car dependency leads to fewer folks on the streets, fewer people policing their neighbourhoods, in turn a perception that the streets become dangerous places and further car dependency ensues. Obviosuly this is my observation not an area I have researched but let me share an anacdote. I used to work with a woman who would drive from the Perry Barr campus of the university where I work across the road (albeit a big old road) in order to use the one-stop shopping centre! This was all to avoid using the underpass. Such was her fear of being a pedestrian, bearing in mind my district nurse lecture you can imagine the ear bashing this lady received.
I mean I guess this is all pretty obvious stuff. In recent discussions on how to make Birmingham (where I live) a better place there has been much made of a need for less cars and ultimately that would make a hell of a difference.The city centre is pretty much pedestrianised but all around the city are these huge, fast roads. These roads are not really compatible with walking. I have for the majority of my employment in Perry Barr used the (what I consider) fast and relaible bus service. I have considered cycling but the prospect of negotiating Newtown Road and onto PB on two wheels is pretty scary. Anyway the thing is I understand that the existing infrastructure of a city requires these big roads, goods and people in and out. But surely we need to be looking urgently at alternatives, not just from an ecological perspective, but these roads frequently go straight through the middle of residential areas.
I think we need to be taking a much more holistic approach to our big city plans recognising that all our citizens experience the city in very different ways. There is a bunch of cosmetic stuff that might make our external image a bit better. But wouldn't it be fantastic to be known as a city that took a really innovative approach to developing its neighbourhoods , had empathy for its citizens and where they live and led in innovative approaches to getting folks out of their cars. Easier said than done I realise. I reckon the battle with making a place a better place to live and be is 'buy-in' from the residents. But here's the thing couldn't taking this approach lead to all the magic ingredients for a dynamic city and prosperous economy something like this - fewer cars, more pedestrians, safer feeling streets, increased well-being amongst all citizens, potentially leading to increased inclusion, leading to greater diversity in the workplace, this diversity potentially leading to a more creative and dynamic knowledge economy, leading to a more attractive city for potential employers to be based and recruit from. Anyway I need to think this through a great deal more, but I can't help thinking that there are some linkages here in this crude and simplistic outline, that if they could be evidenced could be the basis for a convincing approach to address a bunch of issues.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Where to start? contrasts and talking to myself
I am loosing it! This may be long and very dull but from a 'better out than in' perspective I am just going to type.
Earlier today I bumped into Antonio Gould as I walked back from swimming at, what I consider the beautiful, Moseley Road Swimming baths he asked how my research was going? I very nearly started unravelling, I think what came out was: "Um my head is full, I am talking to myself, I read all the time, if I am not reading I am writing, if I am not doing that I am interviewing people and I am reading some more and trying to make it all make sense and again I am talking to myself. Breathe."
Happiness and inspiration
You see I have had a fantastic week, one of those weeks where on several occasions I have experienced happiness as it happens (if you know what I mean? as opposed to retrospectively). I feel like I have done a bunch of stuff that has inspired me or made me think, spent some nice chunks of time with my girl on half term duty, stood in the autumn sun in the park watching children play, seen her selected from an audience in a full-on audience participation play at the Midlands Arts Centre had some interesting meetings with interesting people and realised there are connections within connections. I've attended the Opera, Birmingham Opera Companies La Traviata, which was spectacular and awe inspiring to keep realising that the majority of people were just folks from Birmingham - the whole thing was fantastic. It was cool for me as my friend Sara stopped off in Birmingham on her way down to London from up north and thanks to some frenzied email/telephone exchanges and a little help from Facebook friends I managed to secure some extra tickets. I was interested to see what she made of Birmingham's cultural offerings being a little bit a snooty Londoner (sorry Sar just a little bit). I think she enjoyed it. I will write more about the whole show either in a bit or in a separate posting.
Talking to myself/writing in my head - this is becoming alarming
Something I have found in the last year or so and I think following some personal changes in my life is my ability or lack of to sleep. I mean I can sleep but I spend a lot of time awake thinking and writing in my head - does this make sense? As I try to process all the stuff, read or otherwise, I think about and sort of recite to myself, in my head, how I will write it. It now isn’t just in the night it is sort of whenever I am alone. This has been today driving me a little nuts today as I've struggled to stay focussed on what to write/think about first. As I swam laps of the little Moseley pool so many things were going through my head stuff happening locally, regionally how it fits in with my thinking and research anyway briefly-ish here is some of it:
Showbiz - all the shows I have been to this week Acts 1,2 and 3
My final theatrical visit of the week was to the deepest Black Country to see my daughter’s paternal grandmother perform in her amateur dramatics panto. Now I have to say that this was by some distance a contrast to the opera the previous evening but for all the amateurish bits it was highly entertaining. What these three shows had in common the Snow Queen at the MAC, La Triviata at the NIA (en route from Verona) through to Snow White in Tipton was that they all conveyed and offered absolute joy to the participants and to the audiences. You know I've been kind of reminded what it's all about why people sing and dance and perform. But here's the thing each of these offered some regular people the opportunity to be involved and to benefit from that endorphin inducing pleasure. When I heard some one describe the opera as a ‘community project’ the other day (I felt in slightly dismissive tones) I felt sort of insulted on behalf of all those folks who'd worked so hard and whose collective joy and energy made for an extremely professional event. Might blog some more about this in the future.
The fit with the research is I guess from the social inclusion angle. I was talking to a group of students last week about the creative industries not necessarily being conducive with regeneration or as a vehicle for social inclusion – the networks being pretty exclusive or at least might seem kind of intimidating. Def more on this another time.
The usual suspects
A final thing to mention is this thing I've been reading about on other blogs about Birmingham's (where I live) creative sector being run by the 'same old faces’ and 'usual suspects' etc .. Now I understand these feelings, have felt them myself of course sometimes it does seem like the same people get funded to do stuff year after year while others don't or whatever but I have to say I have been finding it a little amusing recently. It's hard to articulate what I am trying to say but here I'll try and say it as simply as possible. There is a sense from the younger end of the local CI sector that they possess some new view, some new way of doing things and some how assume that the old guard didn't imagine the same thing themselves when they too were the bright young things. Being somewhere in between age wise I remember the latter when I first moved to Bham I've seen them become the 'usual suspects’ I now see a younger generation working their way up to become exactly that 'the usual suspects' - I am not making any judgement on either just a bit of an observation. I sort of feel that these are imagined barriers between the two groups or perhaps I have misunderstood the whole thing.
Okay it is late.
There are a few other issues I would like to cover which have come up this week, which I will hope to explore in more detail soon:
- Gender and the music industry
- Woman's Hour's thing about artists and there never having been, other than maybe Frida Kahlo, any 'great female artists'.
- And some other stuff
Earlier today I bumped into Antonio Gould as I walked back from swimming at, what I consider the beautiful, Moseley Road Swimming baths he asked how my research was going? I very nearly started unravelling, I think what came out was: "Um my head is full, I am talking to myself, I read all the time, if I am not reading I am writing, if I am not doing that I am interviewing people and I am reading some more and trying to make it all make sense and again I am talking to myself. Breathe."
Happiness and inspiration
You see I have had a fantastic week, one of those weeks where on several occasions I have experienced happiness as it happens (if you know what I mean? as opposed to retrospectively). I feel like I have done a bunch of stuff that has inspired me or made me think, spent some nice chunks of time with my girl on half term duty, stood in the autumn sun in the park watching children play, seen her selected from an audience in a full-on audience participation play at the Midlands Arts Centre had some interesting meetings with interesting people and realised there are connections within connections. I've attended the Opera, Birmingham Opera Companies La Traviata, which was spectacular and awe inspiring to keep realising that the majority of people were just folks from Birmingham - the whole thing was fantastic. It was cool for me as my friend Sara stopped off in Birmingham on her way down to London from up north and thanks to some frenzied email/telephone exchanges and a little help from Facebook friends I managed to secure some extra tickets. I was interested to see what she made of Birmingham's cultural offerings being a little bit a snooty Londoner (sorry Sar just a little bit). I think she enjoyed it. I will write more about the whole show either in a bit or in a separate posting.
Talking to myself/writing in my head - this is becoming alarming
Something I have found in the last year or so and I think following some personal changes in my life is my ability or lack of to sleep. I mean I can sleep but I spend a lot of time awake thinking and writing in my head - does this make sense? As I try to process all the stuff, read or otherwise, I think about and sort of recite to myself, in my head, how I will write it. It now isn’t just in the night it is sort of whenever I am alone. This has been today driving me a little nuts today as I've struggled to stay focussed on what to write/think about first. As I swam laps of the little Moseley pool so many things were going through my head stuff happening locally, regionally how it fits in with my thinking and research anyway briefly-ish here is some of it:
Showbiz - all the shows I have been to this week Acts 1,2 and 3
My final theatrical visit of the week was to the deepest Black Country to see my daughter’s paternal grandmother perform in her amateur dramatics panto. Now I have to say that this was by some distance a contrast to the opera the previous evening but for all the amateurish bits it was highly entertaining. What these three shows had in common the Snow Queen at the MAC, La Triviata at the NIA (en route from Verona) through to Snow White in Tipton was that they all conveyed and offered absolute joy to the participants and to the audiences. You know I've been kind of reminded what it's all about why people sing and dance and perform. But here's the thing each of these offered some regular people the opportunity to be involved and to benefit from that endorphin inducing pleasure. When I heard some one describe the opera as a ‘community project’ the other day (I felt in slightly dismissive tones) I felt sort of insulted on behalf of all those folks who'd worked so hard and whose collective joy and energy made for an extremely professional event. Might blog some more about this in the future.
The fit with the research is I guess from the social inclusion angle. I was talking to a group of students last week about the creative industries not necessarily being conducive with regeneration or as a vehicle for social inclusion – the networks being pretty exclusive or at least might seem kind of intimidating. Def more on this another time.
The usual suspects
A final thing to mention is this thing I've been reading about on other blogs about Birmingham's (where I live) creative sector being run by the 'same old faces’ and 'usual suspects' etc .. Now I understand these feelings, have felt them myself of course sometimes it does seem like the same people get funded to do stuff year after year while others don't or whatever but I have to say I have been finding it a little amusing recently. It's hard to articulate what I am trying to say but here I'll try and say it as simply as possible. There is a sense from the younger end of the local CI sector that they possess some new view, some new way of doing things and some how assume that the old guard didn't imagine the same thing themselves when they too were the bright young things. Being somewhere in between age wise I remember the latter when I first moved to Bham I've seen them become the 'usual suspects’ I now see a younger generation working their way up to become exactly that 'the usual suspects' - I am not making any judgement on either just a bit of an observation. I sort of feel that these are imagined barriers between the two groups or perhaps I have misunderstood the whole thing.
Okay it is late.
There are a few other issues I would like to cover which have come up this week, which I will hope to explore in more detail soon:
- Gender and the music industry
- Woman's Hour's thing about artists and there never having been, other than maybe Frida Kahlo, any 'great female artists'.
- And some other stuff
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