All Categories

Our turn

11/12/2013

The recent passing of Nelson Mandela has inspired many eulogies which will hopefully continue to inspire many others into positive and compassionate action all around the world. We are continually bombarded by famous quotes imploring us to do more and do better, and I unashamedly share the ones that most appeal to me, because as they inspire me, I hope they will have a similar effect on someone else.

There are many people doing great things in the world but I think we need remember that it’s not only the Mandelas and Mother Theresas of this world that make a difference. Their impact is huge and should be applauded and remembered, but the possibility to do great and beautiful things lies within all of us.

Ghandi summed it up well - ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’

Let’s start by making something better in our own little corner of the world and see how much of a difference we can make.

December 06th, 2013

6/12/2013

Again my focus has wavered over the past few months, and I’ve arrived at the end of the year a little frustrated. No blog since March, little tangible progress towards my ever present but often elusive dreams and, for a number of reasons, I returned at least partly, to my pre-vegetarian eating habits.

There are many positives to have come out of all this however.

I’ve learned more about my body, through the cleanliness and vigour I felt whilst not eating meat or processed food, and the confirmation that it was a good idea when lethargy and metabolic stress accompanied the return of my old diet.

I’ve focussed a lot on developing myself physically during the last few years, and have realised that I need to further develop my mind too. I began to practice Reiki, on myself mostly, which has begun another learning process, the direction and scale of which I’m not yet sure of, but I’m enjoying it so far.

I have also remembered something I’ve always known. I care deeply about this planet and the natural world (of which humans are a part). I know that I’m not doing enough to make it a better place. There is much work to be done, and many things that I can do. It’s time I did more of them.

I’ve learned that I need to travel more, and travel more slowly.

So, not just because it’s nearly a new year, but because life is short and should be amazing, I’m moving forward with renewed enthusiasm for the things that are important to me (and the rest of the world). No more meat, more learning about food, climate, nature and me, and more appropriate action. Living consciously.
More creativity and writing… in case there’s someone out there who wants to hear about it.

I’ll leave you with a short poem by H.C. Andersen, sent to me by a good friend, from which I have found new inspiration

To move, to breathe, to fly, to float

To gain all while you give,

To roam the roads of lands remote,

To travel is to live

Still no meat, and feeling good

19/3/2013

After a month without meat I must say that I feel great. Meals are easy to digest, my energy levels are stable and I'm not suffering from any protein or iron deficiency, which are often the first concerns of some of the harder to convince meat-eaters (I have been one myself for the last 32 years). Possibly because I'm now more concious of what's on my plate, I'm eating a greater variety of fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds and this more than compensates for anything I'm lacking from meat. I can also still do all my running, swimming and other stuff, seemingly a little easier, in part because I've also dropped a little excess weight along the way. I almost never eat processed food, and find myself far less interested in alcohol, greasy food, or overcooked food. Even a bacon sandwich doesn't sound as exciting as it used to. And no, it doesn't make food, or me, boring. A plant-based diet can be much more varied and tasty than one that revolves around meat, and by not overloading my body with food or drink that slows me down and challenges my immune system (apparently cooked and processed food is treated as a threat to the body before it is digested), I have plenty of energy to do anything I want. So, I've decided that I like being a vegetarian and will remain so. I may even go vegan as I don't eat many eggs or dairy products anyway these days and it wouldn't be that a big leap.

Here are a some more interesting links -

PLANT-BASED NUTRITION

VEGANISM AND ENDURANCE SPORT

INDUSTRIAL SCALE LIVESTOCK FARMING

Food is one big step in the right direction, for me, and if enough of us are doing it, for the planet. There are however, many other steps to take along the road to responsible living. Some of you may remember a boat I started to build a while ago, from used plastic water bottles and aluminium drinks cans. It was going well but then I had a few other priorities to address and it's slipped down the list a bit, but I will come back to it when the time is right. What hasn't changed though, is my dislike for waste. I'll come back to this in another post, but alongside 'doing the recycling', I'm attempting to reduce my consumption of single-use (non-food) items to as close to zero as possible (anyone recommend a good filter for the tap water in Lanzarote?), and avoid having too many chemical products around the house.

An interesting film about BOTTLED WATER

Thought provoking and inspirational story about WASTE

Vegetarianism and responsibility

12/3/2013

Overfishing is killing the seas, and over-farming is destroying the land. There’s no sense in trying to soften the blow, that’s how it is. We humans are demanding too much in return for too little and whether we choose to believe it or not, we’re approaching catastrophe. It’s complicated, and there are many more factors involved than food production alone, but it’s not too late to reverse the current trend towards destruction for short-term gain. In the process we can improve our own health and happiness whilst ensuring a long and thriving future for Homo Sapiens and every other living thing… without whom we could not survive.

My most recent big change is to give up meat. I can’t be sure where most of the supermarket meat comes from, what hormones or chemicals were used in the rearing of the animals, how well they were looked after, or if large areas of wilderness were unscrupulously cleared and rendered infertile to make my steak. When there are billions who are starving, and other billions who waste incredible quantities of food, it no longer seems fair to continue eating meat, when it’s neither necessary nor guaranteed to be good for my health. Far more land is required to raise cattle than to grow food crops for human consumption. Most edible plants are far more nutrient rich and easier to digest for humans, than the meat which provides you with second-hand nutrients much depleted in value and tougher to process.

Of course that’s the simplified version of the argument. There are many methods of farming crops that are also harmful to the land with their use of man-made fertilisers and pesticides, overuse of water particularly in drought sensitive regions… and then there’s the question of how far your food travels before it gets to you, every mile reducing its quality and increasing its carbon footprint. Inferior quality food with fewer nutrients and more pollutants has become the norm, and high-quality organically produced food, a luxury. Higher prices for eco- and human-friendly food are often to do with economies of scale, but are also a result of greedy marketing. We must however, shift the demand for cheap, inferior and damaging produce to nutrient rich natural produce, for our own sake and that of the planet.

Smaller scale agriculture using no man-made chemicals, fully respecting the land and the consumer has to be the best way forward. If we have to pay a little more for it, then so be it, but if more of us make the decision to take control of our food choices, there will be increasingly affordable options that reflect that choice. I’ve just found a local source of organic vegetables, and as much as I can in my first floor apartment, I’m growing some of my own too.

It’s a question of taking responsibility. We cannot rely on the powers that be to make the decisions for us, they have too many other agendas, not always in favour of the people or the planet, and the changes are too slow coming. The solutions are ours to find, and in the words of the late great Michael Jackson, I’m starting with the man in the mirror.

Here are a couple of links that were of inspiration and very informative –

www.foodmatters.tv

www.endoftheline.com

www.goodplanet.org/?lang=eng

Practising what I preach

3/3/2013

Alongside the distractions of earning my living, and wondering about where my life is going, I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out how I can be of most use to the conservation movement. I've always had a bit of a 'Captain Planet complex' but so far, I would consider my contribution to protecting the natural world to be woefully inadequate. So, rather than worrying too much about what I can't do because I don't have the money, the qualifications or the experience, I concluded it was time to take responsibility for the things I CAN do. Not only do I hope that this in itself will reduce my negative environmental impact and improve my health, but in talking about it, I hope that it will inspire some of you to make some changes yourself.
Yes, I think it's vitally important to protect all creatures and the environments in which they live, for their own sake, regardless of our understanding of them or their alleged financial worth. It is also in our own best interests to do so. We are part of a vastly complicated system, of which we understand relatively little, whilst at the same time we are ENTIRELY dependent on it for our own existence.
So, in recognition of the fact that everything I do has a consequence even though I may not see it, I have resolved to take more responsibility for my own actions on all levels. I have a long way to go, and I'm not attempting to change everything at once, but I'm making a good start and I'm in this for the duration.

My most recent decision, which I will elaborate on in my next post, is to become a vegetarian...

I'm also working on my website to give it more direction and purpose. I'll update Facebook as it comes together.

NO MORE EXCUSES

18/2/2013

I've been gone a while, again. Distractions, confusions, uncertainties, all of the usual reasons could apply, but this time there will be no excuses. This is no different to any other day, yet it is a new day. How I choose to look at it and use it is within my control and I choose to turn it into something useful. I don't have a map that tells me where to go, nor do I know what to expect along the way, but that's not important. Keep moving, keep my eyes open and follow my heart... the path will unfold in front of me.
This is my choice for the day.

What's new?

29/7/2012

Another period of absence from my blog, owing this time - and most other times come to think of it - to a need for some serious prioritisation. Weddings, financial considerations, and thoughts about where my life is going (both physically and metaphorically), have conspired to keep the bottle-boat on the back burner and frustrate me a little during the last few months.
However, the currents have shifted again, and I'm thinning out my unnecessary personal possessions - more space in my apartment, and my head, progress towards the resolution of the afore-mentioned financial considerations, and freedom from some of the trappings of 'stuff'. I've succeeded in selling some of my photos, have some new ideas for developing that 'business', and this month I gained my RYA 'Competent Crew' qualification.
More creativity to follow, looking for work on boats, preferably partaking in conservation concerns, and some potentially interesting conversations scheduled this week about earthships and sustainable living.

trouble sleeping?

18/1/2012

Woke up at a ridiculous hour of the morning (more like middle of the night) and couldn't get back to sleep. Only one thing to do... reflective buff, head-torch, pre-dawn run :-)

Be the change you want to see in the world – Gandhi

27/11/2011

I recently watched a video of a talk by a guy who amongst other projects, leads climbers up Mt Everest and brings them down with tonnes of rubbish that was left there by previous expeditions. (http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/aboutcc/problems/people_at_risk/personal_stories/witness_stories/?uNewsID=140221) They bring all of their own waste (including their own body waste) off the mountain, and a good deal of stuff that was there before they arrived. Why? Because they care that something as majestic as the world’s highest mountain is being cluttered up by things that don’t belong there and do nothing but create an unsightly mess or health hazard.

The world’s highest peaks are places that the majority of us will never experience, so I am very pleased to hear that some of the people who enjoy such places are taking positive action to leave them in a better condition than that in which they found them. Most of us enjoy ourselves in easier to access environments, which should make it much simpler to look after them. In this particular instance I’m talking about beaches.

I know that there are many of you out there who take your rubbish home with you, and have a care for wildlife and other people, but I am consistently dismayed by the amount of litter I see lying around. And this isn’t only on big well-used beaches – some of these at least have crews to groom them at the end of the day – it’s also the most isolated beaches. The ones found at the end of 5km dirt tracks too rough for your average hire car, or all but the most motivated fisherman.

It’s easy to put your own rubbish in a bag and take it away with you, and easy to see that you yourself are responsible for that particular bit of waste. We all like to be carefree and enjoy ourselves but in much the same way as we accept the need to live in a clean and hygienic house, we can accept that if we generate waste somewhere that is not our home, somewhere where we are a guest, then it is our duty to dispose of it properly. It’s usually not as easy to accept responsibility for someone else’s rubbish. I know you didn’t drop it, nor did I. And I know that they shouldn’t have left it there in the first place. But if you or I don’t do something about it, then it’s going to sit there looking ugly until some unsuspecting animal tries to eat it, or the elements move it on to a different place to be ugly there instead. Almost all of the rubbish I see on beaches is made of plastic, and a large portion of that has obviously been at sea for some time. As we are now very aware, plastic never goes away. It may disintegrate (VERY slowly) into smaller and smaller pieces, but it is always there.... unless we remove it.

I’m not interested in blaming anyone for the problem, but I am interested in positive change. And there’s no point in complaining about something unless I am prepared to do something about it.

SO, I will now pledge to take an empty bag with me EVERY TIME that I go to the beach, and aim to remove as much litter as I can fit into it. I imagine that this will not add more than a few minutes to my trip. I want to see clean beaches, so I have to ‘be that change’. I can’t do it on my own, so I ask all of you, please, wherever you go to enjoy yourself, be careful with your playground. Tidy up after yourselves, and if you are able, bag up a little of someone else’s rubbish too. They won’t thank you for it, but that place will be in a better condition because YOU were there.

There are many problems to do with the way we treat our planet, a lot of which are difficult for us to relate to because of their scale. This however is something that we can do on a small, local scale that has immediately visible results, but, if enough of us act, then the effects will be much wider spread.

Weather, acting, and optimism

27/10/2011

I didn’t get around to writing the blog that I intended this week. My excuses being the continuation of the unfinished alterations to the canoe hampered, unusually, by the rain; unsuccessful experiments with various adherents and aluminium cans for the other boat; and the onset of what I can only assume is some sort of deep fatigue following a summer of irregular training coupled with very regular and often intense racing.

And then there was the film audition. Yesterday, with only a few minutes notice, I rushed over to the other side of the island to impersonate a heartless US army officer ordering the execution of some prisoners, and apparently, possibly not based on my acting ability, but more probably on the fact that they didn't audition many English speakers, I stand a reasonable chance of being called back!

Other good news is that the canoe is now very close to completion for the second time; I know of two glues that I can’t use to stick cans together and have a third ready for trial; and I have officially (again) put aside any formal training and racing programmes for a while so that I can get back to surfing and boat building.

The first of the proper winter rains has passed through, I now have to sleep with a blanket, sometimes, and with some projects nearing completion and others gaining momentum, I feel a change in the air and look forward with optimism.

So, whilst not what I intended, here is a weekly blog update, to be continued during the next few days...

Check back next week for another blog entry or subscribe using the RSS feed button on the right hand side of this page

<<Previous

Archives

Categories