Action 98: Make a table decoration as a focal reminder of all that is beautiful about our world.
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Tag: environment
Lantern with a Message
Speaking out about the climate crisis and what we could and should be doing to avert an even worse crisis is important. We need to encourage and motivate change in the way we live our lives and in the way businesses and governments make use of resources.
Along with all the pumpkins lanterns this jam jar might spark a conversation with friends and neighbours.
For this activity you will need a jam jar, tissue paper, PVA glue and a night light. Cut strips of different coloured tissue paper that are long enough to wrap around your jam jar. Write some short simple messages on the paper.
Apply glue to the outside of the glass jar. Stick on the strips of tissue paper allowing them to overlap a little. Coat all the tissue paper covering with a layer of PVA. This will create a translucent appearance.
You can add an optional handle to your lantern using string or a length of thin wire. Place a nightlight in the bottom of your jar and then place it outside so that passers by can see your message.
Growing Mustard Leaves
What we eat and what we waste all contributes to the size of our carbon footprint. Locally grown food usually has a lower carbon footprint, even more so if we have grown it ourselves! And we are most until unlikely to waste food that we have grown. Today’s project is growing some food that we can eat.
You will need a waterproof container such as a bowl or am empty margarine tub, some absorbent material – I’m using some clean paper serviettes that cafes so often give out with pieces of cake, and some mustard seeds.
Place the absorbent paper in the bottom of the bowl. Pour enough water over the paper so that is all wet.
Sprinkle some mustards seeds over the top. Place in a warm bright place. Each day gently water your seeds.
If you want to grow mustard and cress, sow the cress seeds 2 or 3 days before the mustard seeds as they grow a little more slowly.
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Action 97: Make a banner to hang from your window or garden gate to show your hope for a positive outcome of the COP26 conference. Use indelible markers on a sheet or tea towel, or stitch a message or use waterproof paints on cardboard.
Praising God
Painted lady and bumble bee
damsel and dragon fly:
their lives praise you, holy God.
Wood mouse and pipistrelle bat,
urban fox and badger:
their lives praise you, holy God.
Buttercup and toadflax,
cat’s ear and pimpernel:
their lives praise you, holy God.
Girdled snail and leopard slug,
shield beetle and earwig:
their lives praise you, holy God.
Copper beech and sessile oak,
black poplar and mountain ash:
their lives praise you, holy God.
Yaffle and mistle thrush,
jackdaw and sparrow:
their lives praise you, holy God.
But we humans – blinkered and wasteful,
short-sighted and careless –
do our lives praise you, holy God?
Renew us, your people;
pardon our failings
and bless our strivings
that our lives may praise you.
Amen.
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Action 96: Pumpkin pasta sauce
Allow about 100g of pumpkin flesh per serving.
In a little oil, fry some chopped garlic and a couple of sprigs of thyme. Add the chopped pumpkin flesh. Stir and cover pan. Allow to soften over a medium heat. After about 5 minutes add a little water and 1 dsp of yeast flakes per serving. Cook till soft. Blitz with a hand blender to a smooth sauce. Add pepper to taste.
Mix the sauce with a pasta of your choice. Top with a sprinkling of chopped nuts.
Hand Warmer
One of the largest sources of carbon dioxide that contributes to our domestic carbon footprint comes from heating our homes. We can reduce this part of our carbon footprint by turning down the heating in our homes and/or reducing the number of hours we have the heating on. Of course it is important that we don’t get cold. We can keep warm by wearing extra layer of clothes and by taking regular exercise. Today’s activity is a nice extra – a hand warmer.
For this you will need a piece of cotton fabric – about 14x28cm. Fold this in half with the pattern on the inside. Sew the fabric together alone two sides.
Turn the fabric right side out so that the rough edges are inside what is now a pocket.
Fill the pocket with uncooked rice. Use a sheet of paper to make a funnel so that you can more easily pour in the rice. Fill about half full.
Tuck the unseen edges inside and stitch the sides together. Use small stitches so that the rice can’t escape.
To use the hand-warmer, place in a microwave and heat for a minute. It should be warm to hold.
You can reuse the hand-warmer several times but do be careful: over time the rice will bake and might eventually burn and scorch the hand-warmer.
Cycle Tag
All of have to find ways of reducing our carbon footprints. One area of life which can have a large footprint is transport. Diesel, petrol and aviation fuel all produce large amounts of carbon dioxide. On the other hand walking and cycling have a zero carbon footprint. If you – like me -enjoy cycling, you might want to encourage other people to cycle too.
Today’s project is to make a tag to go on the back of your bicycle.
For this you will need the wooden lid from a empty box of Camembert cheese. Carefully remove the staples that fasten it to its sides.
Choose two of these holes that are opposite each other and mark them with a pen. Imagine a horizontal line between these two spots so that you can orientate your tag.
Use the lid to draw a circle on a piece of paper. On this piece of paper draw a design for your tag.
Once your are happy with your design, use permanent felt tip-pens to draw your design onto the wooden circle.
Thread to paper clips through each of the holes and then hook the paper clips around the metal supports under your cycle saddle.
Every time you go for a ride, people will see your tag and will think, Cycling is a good way to travel!
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Action 95: Heating our homes is one of the biggest components of our domestic carbon footprint. This autumn the weather is still quite mild. Why not see how long you can keep warm with out turning the heating on? And thereafter see just how many hours it needs to be in each day to keep you warm? On the Eco Tips page you will fin suggestions for alternative ways of keeping warm, including thermal underwear.
Bug Hotel
Caring for our future is about caring for all different sorts of creatures. We are continually learning how important so many large and small creatures are for keeping the environment healthy – be that worms who keep the soil fertile, ladybirds that keep aphids under control, ants that eat parasites, geese that stop lakes silting up, pigs that loosen and fertiliser soil under trees.
Today’s project is making a bug hotel. It is a place where small beetles and insects can overwinter ready to resume their activities in the spring. For this you will need a tin.
Using a skewer make two holds at top and bottom on one side of the tin. You might like adult help.
Thread a paper clip through each of the holes.
Collect from your garden bits of dead twigs and plant stalks. Choose ones of different thicknesses. Cut these into equal lengths, just long enough to stand upright in the tin.
Fill the tin with these twigs and stalks. Ensure they are well packed so that none can fall out. The little gaps will provide the hiding places that insects seek.
Take a piece of string and thread it through the paper clips and tie the ends together. Hang the bug hotel outside in your garden. Find somewhere sheltered from the wind and rain so that your bug hotel won’t become flooded or blown away in a storm.
The Green Tau 