In five hours and 10 mins I will be turning off the electric for 48 hrs!!
Candles...Check.
Solar light....Check.
Baking like the wind....Check, check, check...
In actual fact I don't feel like I've made any great effort this time. Perhaps because I know what to expect this time. For a start its not snowy or dark by 3pm so this time it feels like it will be easy peasy! (Please don't point out I said that if something goes horribly wrong!!)
I've tided the house and garden, but that's more because I have friends coming for a Power Off lunch tomorrow.
I dug a fire pit to ***hopefully!!*** cook out for lunch.
The fact that it will still be daylight at 6 or 7pm makes the whole thing a lot more relaxed.
So anyway..signing out! Will be keeping a diary and taking pictures so look out for a new post some time on Monday 23rd!
Happy weekend folks! xx
Friday, 19 March 2010
Monday, 15 March 2010
The psychology of green-ness or "We're all class-less now, right?"
Although I have not always been as green as this (and its never enough is it!) I do remember always having it at the back of my mind.
Yes, even though I was a child of the decedent, wasteful 80's, in a household that, for a while at least, treated eating out and having takeaways as the norm rather than the exception, and credit cards took regular hammerings, even then I had an inkling that all was not as it should be.
(I should just point out here that my parents are now some of the greenest people I know!! love you mum!!xx)
Call it common sense maybe, but I began to despise waste, even when money was no real issue in my very early married years, I still saved leftovers and went to charity shops.
But then I began to realise that many people were not only apathetic to this mind set but openly hostile.
For example. About six months after my eldest son was born a neighbour announced she was pregnant. Naturally I went over to congratulate her and took a bag of baby clothes that Ollie had out grown. These where, for the most part, brand new clothes that had been worn once or twice. Anyone with babies know that clothes in the 0-6 months range only get a chance to be worn very briefly.
Well when I offered her the bag you would have thought I'd offered her the severed head of her husband.
She literally recoiled, mumbled that she wanted new clothes for her baby and that was pretty much the last I saw of her.
I had considered this an isolated incident but it happened more and more. People would give me a wide berth if I mentioned a love of charity shops, as though maybe wearing second hand clothes I was carrying some sort of poor disease they could catch.
Typical charity shop fayre ;)
When Kim happend to mention to his ex-boss about something he had brought in a charity shop (it may have been a jacket that was being admired at the time) She sneered and said "You'll never catch me in a charity shop!"
A woman was quoted in the newspaper, in a feature about vintage clothing (and charity shops) that she "...wouldn't shop in charity shops and would leave that to people who were too poor to buy new clothes."
And THAT dearies, nails it on the head!
Never mind that by buying goods at a charity shop you are... a) grabbing a bargain b)Donating money to charity, and c) keeping said good OUT of a landfill.
No no no, never mind all those reasons, the BIG one is that people don't want OTHER people to think they are POOR. That they can't affored to buy new.
The terror of appearing less than affluent surely stems from this idea that we're now all "middle class", that mother need never slave over a boiling pot of terry nappies while father cycles to his job down t'pit.
Now, of course, EVERYONE is entitled to a 50" TV and a 2 year old car and 2 weeks in the sun a year. A brand new mobile, 3 wardrobes of clothes they didn't need and don't wear.
We own this time kids! Lets throw some money at it and be happy!
It doesn't stop at an aversion to charity shops though. It means people would rather drive 2 miles to work than ride a bike. That they would rather throw away a perfectly good jacket than get the zip fixed, that they would rather struggle to pay the heating bills than turn it down and put on another sweater and pull a blanket over their knees on the sofa.
Its this stupid keeping up with the Joneses that is eroding not only the planet but any common sense we may have had in past generations.
I'll make a pledge if you make it too!
I solemnly swear, that should I win the lottery, I will STIIL cycle and buy charity shop stuff and use Freecycle/Freegle.
What about you?
Yes, even though I was a child of the decedent, wasteful 80's, in a household that, for a while at least, treated eating out and having takeaways as the norm rather than the exception, and credit cards took regular hammerings, even then I had an inkling that all was not as it should be.
(I should just point out here that my parents are now some of the greenest people I know!! love you mum!!xx)
Call it common sense maybe, but I began to despise waste, even when money was no real issue in my very early married years, I still saved leftovers and went to charity shops.
But then I began to realise that many people were not only apathetic to this mind set but openly hostile.
For example. About six months after my eldest son was born a neighbour announced she was pregnant. Naturally I went over to congratulate her and took a bag of baby clothes that Ollie had out grown. These where, for the most part, brand new clothes that had been worn once or twice. Anyone with babies know that clothes in the 0-6 months range only get a chance to be worn very briefly.
Well when I offered her the bag you would have thought I'd offered her the severed head of her husband.
She literally recoiled, mumbled that she wanted new clothes for her baby and that was pretty much the last I saw of her.
I had considered this an isolated incident but it happened more and more. People would give me a wide berth if I mentioned a love of charity shops, as though maybe wearing second hand clothes I was carrying some sort of poor disease they could catch.
Typical charity shop fayre ;)
When Kim happend to mention to his ex-boss about something he had brought in a charity shop (it may have been a jacket that was being admired at the time) She sneered and said "You'll never catch me in a charity shop!"
A woman was quoted in the newspaper, in a feature about vintage clothing (and charity shops) that she "...wouldn't shop in charity shops and would leave that to people who were too poor to buy new clothes."
And THAT dearies, nails it on the head!
Never mind that by buying goods at a charity shop you are... a) grabbing a bargain b)Donating money to charity, and c) keeping said good OUT of a landfill.
No no no, never mind all those reasons, the BIG one is that people don't want OTHER people to think they are POOR. That they can't affored to buy new.
The terror of appearing less than affluent surely stems from this idea that we're now all "middle class", that mother need never slave over a boiling pot of terry nappies while father cycles to his job down t'pit.
Now, of course, EVERYONE is entitled to a 50" TV and a 2 year old car and 2 weeks in the sun a year. A brand new mobile, 3 wardrobes of clothes they didn't need and don't wear.
We own this time kids! Lets throw some money at it and be happy!
It doesn't stop at an aversion to charity shops though. It means people would rather drive 2 miles to work than ride a bike. That they would rather throw away a perfectly good jacket than get the zip fixed, that they would rather struggle to pay the heating bills than turn it down and put on another sweater and pull a blanket over their knees on the sofa.
Its this stupid keeping up with the Joneses that is eroding not only the planet but any common sense we may have had in past generations.
I'll make a pledge if you make it too!
I solemnly swear, that should I win the lottery, I will STIIL cycle and buy charity shop stuff and use Freecycle/Freegle.
What about you?
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
The great heat Myth...
I love my house but it is old, and while this means we have a lot of history and have come across some great surprises as we continue to renovate, it also means that we suffer in other ways.
Maybe its a karma thing ;)
When we moved in eight years ago we had single glazed windows and the first thing they tell you to do when you do a place up is to get double glazing in. So we did and for a while it was great, "No more condensation running down the windows!" We shouted, but what we failed to realise is that condensation is a tricksy beast.
Now the windows were too warm for it to cling too it sought out all the other cold spots in the house and clung to them.
So now, instead of wet windows we have things like wet walls.....not nice.
Our bathroom gets mouldy, the kids bedroom has to be wiped with a towel every day.
This winter has been a real problem as its been stupid oC for months and of course we've had the fire going all the time. So yes..condensation has become he bane of our lives ....
BUT..... (and this is why I love the Internet!)
Last week I stumbled across the No Impact Man blog by Colin Beavan, and while perusing through his posts I came across a guest post by a family living in Japan.
Sean Sakamoto was worried about his first winter in Japan. His wife, Japanese born, couldn't believe that in America the whole house is heated! The whole post goes onto describe how they live happily without the fuel/electric guzzling whole house heat and what he learned about himself through that winter.
Go read ithe whole thing HERE its fantastic!!
Anyway, that night, before bed, I gave the kids and extra cover each and opened all the vents in the house and some of the windows a crack so they would still be locked, and guess what?
In the morning, little to no condensation!
The whole thing gave me pause for thought.
WHY do we feel the need to have our interior spaces hot enough to wear light clothing in?
Outside temperature has no bearing on your internal temperature. The trouble is, we've all heard about old people getting hypothermia in their homes and dying, but what we fail to realise is that the few who do die don't die from exposure, but from the inability to regulate cour body temperature. So if your very old and a little wooly thinking and you don't eat well enough you will get hypothermia and die.
Think about some of the coldest places in the world.
Do they have central heating in the mountains of Afghanistan? Is the wall of a Mongolian Yurt double insulated and fitted with radiators? Did the Native Americans abandon their TeePees in winter for an oil heated new build?
I saw a program about scientists at a base in Antarctica and they lived in glorified TENTS!! You could see light though the walls! In the height of summer its still -6-10 oC!!
In the winter we all tend to eat a little more. Its the bodies way of keeping you alive. So if your eating winter rations but living in summer heat (and many homes and offices are heated to 24oC and over all year!)you won't be burning off the extra calories will you?
Right now I would say its probably warmer outside than it is in my house! But I am sitting in the North end.
There is no heating, no fire, no nothing.
Windows are open, its not windy so why not?
I don't know how cold it is temperature wise but my breath is still steaming!
I'm dressed well and I'm not cold. Not even chilly. I put an extra sweater on, job done :)
So how can you cut the heat and still stay warm?
Here are some gleefully obvious tips!
1. Wear more clothes! Seriously, if there is snow outside you should not be wearing jeans and t-shirt inside. Layer up, wear a light fleece over the top of everything, always wear socks, two pairs if need be.
2. Eat well. Not an excuse to pig out but make sure you eat 3 hot meals a day. Skip the salad and go for vegetable soup instead. Have a bowl of porridge instead of cold cereal, eat warming carbohydrates for dinner.
3. Don't forget your drinks. You still need to stay hydrated and we all know about drinking your 6 -8 glasses of water a day but a cold glass of water is NOT what the doctor ordered! Try warm water with lemon or a herbal tea to get your water intake (normal tea and coffee don't count!) and for a treat a hot chocolate hits the spot every time!
4. Go outside! It's easy to sit inside all day if your heatings cranked up. Go outside for a few hours, get a walk, work in the garden. When you come inside you'll notice how warm your house really is, even without heating on!
5. Bedtime bliss! Make sure you have enough covers on your bed. A good trick is to have a second duvet UNDER your bed sheet as it helps to trap your body heat better than having the sheet directly on the mattress. Wear socks in bed, cold feet are responsible for most night time waking. Wear enough in bed..so jammies and a sweater in very cold weather!! And I don't have to point out the number one way of getting snuggy in bed do I?? Just remember to put the layers back on after ;)
6.Getting chilly watching TV or reading at night? Pull up a duvet or some blankets to snuggle under, much warmer than having the heating on!
Why not give it a go?
Your not only letting your house breath but yourself as well, condensed, stale air is no good for anyone!
Turning the heat down, leaving it off for part of the day, these are ways we can connect back with the seasons, and when the sun DOES shine it feels marvelous again.
Saturday, 6 March 2010
PowerOff Weekend mark II !! Friday 19th March - Sun 21st March 2010.
Well its time for round two! And this time I want you all to join in with us!!
No excuses now ;)
So what does it involve?
Simple, 48 hrs without electric, so no TV, internet, radio, computer games, electric cooker, electric hot water. electric heating, fridge, freezer, microwave.. You get the idea.
"Oh horrible! Terrible! Besides..." *shift eyes, wringing hands* "I can't do it...I have work/ friends visiting/ kids......(add extra get out clauses here!)"
I KNOW you guys and I KNOW you want to do it SO I want you all to know that I am here (along with Malcolm Handoll from Orkney) to hold your hand, to guide you through the problems. If you have a concern or question for gawd's sake ask me!! You could even plan to just do one day or only daylight hours? A little this time and maybe the whole 48 hrs next time.
Life isn't an all or nothing!
We learnt a lot from the last POW and I feel I can answer most questions sensibly.
Malcolm posted a FAQ spot on the last post about POW dec '09 HERE so you can have a little look there and maybe find your concern answered satisfactorily.
Unlike Malcolm I have kids and so can answer first hand your fear about how kids handle electricity deprivation, as well as basic safety concerns (ie, naked flames etc).
A nice touch is that this POW falls over the Wiccan celebration of Ostera (You know, the ones the Christian church stole and called Easter ;) so what better way to celebrate the re-birth of the land than doing something to protect it, even for one weekend.
You are brave passionate people, you can do this little thing!
So Comment!! Share your enthusiasm as well as your worries and reservations and we can support each other.
xx
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