Category: Counting On …

Reflections and actions during COP26 and going on

Counting on …day 366

1st November 2022

Active travel – principally walking and cycling – is good for the participants mental and physical health and, because it doesn’t produce air pollution like motor vehicles, is good for everyone else breathing in the air.  It is also economical. Why then in the current economic and climate crisis would a government choose to cut funding that promotes active travel?

Join Active Travel and write to your MP asking that this funding be maintained –  https://action.cyclinguk.org/page/115055/action/1?locale=en-GB&en_chan=wa&en_ref=26096689

And at the same time lead by example and be active in travel. 

 Counting on .. day 365

31st October 2022

Can you challenge yourself to a plant-based November? With squashes and pumpkins and mushrooms and brassicas very much in season, lots of delicate and hearty meals await you. Try out a whole range of different plant-based proteins – fava beans, pinto beans, cannelloni beans, Puy lentils, Carlin peas, blue peas, black badger peas, tofu, walnuts, almonds …. I am sure you can have a different one each day!

 Counting on …day 364

30th October 2022 

In 1979 St Francis was declared the patron saint of ecology reflecting his deep sense of the connectedness of all aspects of creation and in which all creation lives to praise God. Francis undertook very radical changes in his lifestyle in order that he could be true to his understanding of God, and yet – or because of this – he was also full of joy. 

Counting on … day 361 

27th October 2022

I recently mended the vacuum cleaner – where the hose connects into the body, the plastic collar had broken – and the charging cable for the iPad – which was showing signs of cracking – using Sugru. This malleable silicone substance can be moulded to the required shape or location and then left to harden binding to the substrate. So far it seems to have been effective! I have previously used it to mend the clay birdbath which had cracked in half. 

Repairing anything that can be repaired is always a good option as it prolongs its useful life.  

Counting on …day 360 

26th October 2022

I saw a picture of a teddy bear in a dry cleaner’s window with the words: “Soft toys washed and mended”. What an excellent idea!

Whilst Loved Before ‘is a social enterprise adoption agency for unwanted soft toys of any kind. Donations are washed, restored if necessary, and photographed before a profile is added to the website in the hope of finding them a new home.’ https://www.positive.news/lifestyle/we-embrace-imperfection-the-adoption-agency-for-preloved-playthings/

Counting on … day 359

25th October 2022

Professor Kate Fletcher of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion recommends caution when clothing companies claim green credentials for their garments. “The most powerful thing we can do “ she told Positive News, “is not to run out to the shops,  but just to really want what we’ve already got..”  

This sentiment applies not just to clothes but all the things we surround ourselves with.

Counting on … day 358

24th October 2022

Liz Truss was dead set against solar farms but it is not a sentiment shared by those who farm the land. Mark Tufnell, the president of the Country Land and Business Association told The Gaurdian: “We  have members who say these are temporary sites if needs be, they are then able to concentrate on growing more food on their other land. The solar would be on their less good land, and … if that is what they so choose to do, why shouldn’t they be allowed to do it?” He added that the land was not lost to agriculture as the sties were easy to remove, and the area could be grazed with sheep. “There is no reason as to why the area underneath it couldn’t be grazed with sheep, but it could also provide very good habitat for farmland birds and increase biodiversity so help the environment.”

Counting on…day 357

23rd October 2022

Solar farms in the UK are also producing a diversity of additional benefits. Creacombe solar farm in Devon reports “ In essence, a solar farm is a nature reserve that is left largely untouched for 25 years, resulting in huge benefits for wildlife and biodiversity [and will] help to reverse the decline in wildlife due to intensive farming practices [with]

  • Wildflower meadows sown across the site, 
  • Bee hotels and hives for honey bees and solitary bees to take advantage of the pollen and nectar.
  • Hibernacula for small mammals and birds, with areas outside the fence line being left as coarse grassland.
  • Bird and bat boxes.
  • Land maintenance by sheep grazing the site each winter after the wildflower meadows have cast their seed.” https://www.creacombesolarfarm.co.uk/

Counting on…day 356 

22nd October 2022

Euronews Green reported on an interesting solar panel scheme. The solar panels are suspended above a field at a height that allows farm vehicles to pass underneath to tend and harvest the crops. The solar panels are fixed such that they can  rotate through 360 degrees to catch as much sun as possible. When it rains they can be set to vertically to water the crop – or in the case of hail, horizontally. The panels can also be used to shade the crop during high temperatures and when frost is a risk.