Buying and eating local foods means different things depending what you are consuming. Local honey in East Sheen can mean honey that comes from hives in Richmond Park. Local greens and salads can mean picked fresh from your garden, allotment or even window sill. Local vegetables might be those grown in Surrey, Sussex or Kent. One day local fish might mean eels or salmon from the Thames!
What about the main stay of a plant based diet, beans and pulses? Visits to the supermarket might make you think they in’s grow in China. In fact a great variety of beans and pulses are grown here in the UK – green lentils, chick peas, Carlin peas, fave beans, blue, green and yellow peas, and even Black Badger peas. Hodmedod specialises in sourcing and selling UK grown produce especially peas, beans and lentils, but also chia seed, quinoa, and seaweed. Buying local is easier than you might think.
Burns Night is a time for poetry, haggis and whisky. Whisky production uses lots of energy in the distilling process much of which comes from fossil fuels. The Scotch Whisky Association is leading an industry wide campaign to address this – although their net zero target of 2040 is not inspirational. https://www.scotch-whisky.org.uk/insights/sustainability/
That said two distilleries have or are about to become net zero companies: Mc’Nean and Bruchladdich. The more consumers seek out net zero companies, the more companies will follow this trend.
Bin collection day. Today our landfill bin is going out. This is its first outing for about 7 months. Some years ago we experimented with zero waste. Whilst we our waste output is not zero, we have been able to substantially reduce it – and at the same time we have not seen an increase in the amount that goes into our recycling bins.
Zero Waste is the idea that nothing should end up as land fill, in an incinerator or being washed out to sea/ caught in a tree/ blown onto a mountain top as rubbish. Whatever is left after we have consumed something should be recyclable so that nothing is wasted. Zero waste means not buying/ consuming more than you need. Zero waste means cradle-to-cradle or closed loop design of all we consume.
Why is waste an issue?
Waste that we throw away has to be disposed of. Historically waste was buried in midden heaps or burnt on the household fire or thrown onto the street or into a nearby river. The amount of waste was generally small enough that this was not impractical. As towns grew and as the amount of things people could acquire and casually discard grew, so waste became a problem. As long as amongst the waste there were things that could be recycled for financial gain, there were people who would take on the waste problem. In the 18th century urban areas had business known as ‘dust yards’ where rubbish was collected and sorted to,extract what could be resold – bones for knife handles and glue, coal ash for bricks etc. When waste became a potential health hazard, the authorities intervened. In 1846 the Nuisance Removal and Disease Prevention Act set up the first regulatory waste management system operate by municipal boards. The Public Health Act of 1875 required all householders to put their rubbish in bins for weekly collection.
Having a system for taking waste away doesn’t reduce the amount of waste produced. The amount of waste we produced has grown exponentially. Globally (circa2016) we produce 2.01 billion tonnes of municipal waste a year (ie waste from households, shops and small businesses collected by local authorities – as opposed to waste generated on an industrial scale such as in mining, farming , manufacturing). The average of 0.74 kg per per person per day masks a range from 0.11kg to 4.55kg. Typically it is the less developed countries that generate least waste whilst it is nations such as Denmark, the USA, New Zealand, the most. Here in the UK we averaged 392kg (2017) down from 425kg in 2010. As more countries become increasingly developed/ westernised, the World Bank estimates that average per capita waste will increase to 3.4kg per day by 2050 – a projected annual total of 3.4 billion tonnes.
Waste and its disposal can cause various pollution and health concerns. Uncollected waste can be a source of infection. It can attract vermin and scavengers that may further transmit infections. It can block drains and water ways causing flooding. It can produce chemicals that pollute water supplies. It can create unpleasant odours as well dangerous gases that irritate and damage lungs or that can enter the blood steam and cause further forms of ill health. It can be blown across land, lodging in trees and branches where it may injure wildlife as well domesticated animals (n Richmond Park deer die each year from eating rubbish). It can end up in the middle of oceans or on remote mountain tops. It may end up as waste polluting the seas – this is especially true of discarded marine nets.
Most waste is collected but that doesn’t eradicate the health and pollution risks. Most will either be incinerated producing noxious fumes and health debilitating small particulates as well as CO2, or goes into some form of landfill which depending upon the level of safeguards in place, will still be a cause of much pollution. Buried waste in landfill also produces methane. Globally only 13.5% of municipal waste is recycled (https://datatopics.worldbank.org/what-a-waste/trends_in_solid_waste_management.html).
The world’s stock of resources – in particular raw materials such as minerals, but also things such as water, timber, peat, helium gas – is finite. We cannot carry on manufacturing and consuming at current levels. In 2021 Earth Overshoot Day – the day when we have consumed as many resources as the world can annually regenerate – fell on 29th July (https://www.overshootday.org/). On the one hand we need to find ways of consuming less, and in the other – or at the same time – we need to ensure we extract and recycle as much as we can from what we throw away. This imperative to use less and recycle more applies as much to industry as it does to individual consumers. And much of the burden must lie within the industries, for it is here that designs can be adapted so as a) to use less resources and b) to ensure ease of recycling when the product reaches its end of life.
What is needed is cradle-to-cradle or closed-loop design, production and recycling. Whilst the onus for this lies with the industries, consumers do have a role to play. We can do our research and only buy, where possible, items that come from closed-loop system. This could be milk in glass bottles that are collected and reused by the milk company. It could be clothes that the maker takes back when they expire and use to create new clothes. It could be paper or cardboard that are collected and processed into new paper and cardboard. We can be conscientious about collecting, sorting and recycling everything we use. And on the way, we can extend the life of the things we use by reusing and repairing them. We can aim for a 100% zero waste lifestyle.
Watching birds come into the garden is a great pleasure. Providing them with food, water and places to shelter (and later to nest) is rewarding. Birds are vulnerable to viruses so it is important to keep clean the places where they are fed.
Today I am posting a message from The Two Minute Action Team: about reducing air craft traffic – and the pollution that causes – by ending ‘ghost flights’.
“All you have to do is to sign a petition on “ghost flights”. These are empty aircraft flown by airlines to preserve what is often their most valuable asset: permission to land at and take off from, high-demand airports such as Heathrow. These are real flights creating carbon dioxide, air pollution and noise. A good example of how commercial considerations are prioritised over the environment by both government and airlines.
Coffee but not cake? I am surprised how often cafés have oat milk but no vegan cakes. I hope that by asking for a vegan cake I may prompt them to consider expanding their offerings. Sometimes people think that making vegan cakes is tricky or that the results will be unpalatable – but this is not so.
This recipe is adapted from a childhood favourite, Quaker Oats’ Melting Moments
250g margarine 175g sugar
300g self raising flour (or plain and add baking powder)
1 tsp egg replacement powder Oat milk to bind
A bowl of porridge oats Dried cranberries/ glacé cherries
Cream the sugar and margarine till soft. Stir in the flour and egg replacement powder. Mix to firm dough using a little milk as necessary.
Take teaspoons of the mixture and gently squeeze into a round ball and roll in the porridge oats. Place onto a greased baking tray. Flatten slightly and press a cranberry/ cherry into the middle.
Bake at 175C until lightly golden – about 15 minutes.
This is the time of year when I start to empty and reshape my compost heaps. I hope to find inside the compost bins well rotted vegetable matter, with red worms and wood lice wriggling around the edges where the material is not so well decomposed. I scoop out what is ready for use, placing it around the base of fruit trees, under the raspberry canes, around currant bushes and on top of the rhubarb patch. I make sure it is not piled up against the trunks of the trees. Then I leave it for the worms in the soil to pull the compost down into the soil where it will nourish the plants for the coming season.
Last year we put in the compost bins the compostable ‘plastic’ bags and compostable ‘plastic’ food bowls. Whilst I can see that they are breaking down, the decay process is much slower than it is for plant materials. What hasn’t decayed has gone back into the bin for a second season.
If you haven’t the space for a compost bin, you might like to try a worm bin. See the Urban Worm’s website for instructions on making a worm bin and for the offer of free tiger worms to live in it –
Recently Londoners we’re given health warnings about air pollution: the elderly and those with breathing difficulties were advised to listen strenuous exercise and to stay inside. A spell of high pressure weather mean that the air over London had remained static for several days: no winds had been moving the air on and bringing in fresh. As the air wasn’t moving nor were the noxious chemicals and small particulates moving. Instead concentration levels of these pollutants were rising.
Where do these pollutants come from in the first place? Exhausts from vehicles, dust from brake blocks and tyres, smoke from wood burning fires, exhausts from gas and oil boilers, dust from construction sites, exhausts from waste incinerators and from industrial plants. Of all the sources of pollution generated in London, over 50% comes from vehicles! It would seem that we Londoners are the cause of much of the problem. Can we drive less? Can we become less reliant on polluting vehicles to deliver goods and services? Can we encourage active travel – walking and cycling?
Jerusalem artichokes are in season. These are tubers that in the summer produce tall plants with sunflower like flowers. They are easy to grow. Simply take an existing tuber, even one you have bought from the vegetable shop or supermarket, and plant it in the soil at a depth of about 5cm. The plant may need staking as it grows to stop it blowing over.
Jerusalem Artichoke Pasta Sauce
Jerusalem artichokes about 150g per person Cashew nuts about 25g per person Oil Garlic and sage to taste
Scrub the tubers clean and chop.
Heat the oil and sautée the garlic.
Add the artichokes and sage. Stir well. Add the cashew nuts.
Cover the pan and cook gently til soft and golden.
Blitz the mixture adding a little hot water as necessary to achieve a creamy sauce.
The Green Tau 