Change the World Wednesday – 17th Sep

Emmylee at my birthday BBQ

It’s been a quiet week after my bursts of energy around my birthday. Speaking of which, today is Emmylee’s.

*ties knot in finger to remember to phone her*

Give Emms my camera and I get an 8gb SD chip full of selfies…

Anyway, today she’s reached the ripe old age of eight.

BIG news, American waistlines have grown an inch in the last decade.

More news, to fight cancer… roll in the kitty litter.

It appears that the bacteria, Toxoplasma gondii, we get from our feline buddies and is carried by 60% of the population is a cancer hunting/destroying bacteria. What can I say, get closer to your pussy! Cheaper than chemotherapy.

Sad news…

The reason we need Marina da Silva for presidenta! (See last wee’ks CTWW)

The dams are dry, sorry too late

In recent months Brazil has undergone a severe water shortage, particularly in the state of São Paulo. A report in the news this morning is rather disturbing. It appears that deforestation of the Amazon basin has reached a threshhold The vegetation of the Amazon basin let moisture rise and so produce the clouds that moved across the country and fell as rain. Apparently, there is not enough vegetation left to make suffcient moisture to form the necessary clouds. Brazil’s inaction, or insufficient action, has caused their own demise. Had the country been more prudent earlier, we wouldn’t have these drought problems. Another example of man’s inability to husband the planet effectively.

This week it was reported that deforestation in Brazil increased for the first time in the last few years, despite a major illegal logging band being dismantled.

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Now let’s move along.

This week’s CTWW is about CFCs

This week, let’s deal with any ozone-depleting chemicals in our lives. Here are some steps to take:

• Check labels and avoid any solvents, cleaning supplies, foams, etc. which contain CFCs (in addition to the common names mentioned above, they might be found on the label as methane, ethane, Trichlorotrifluoroethane).
• Check storage areas for old aerosol cans, fire extinguishers, or air conditioning units and dispose of them properly (call your hazardous waste disposal department for information on the best way to dispose of them).

There’s a lot more, check the banner above for the rest.

My life is CFC Free.

My refrigerator is only a couple of years old and CFC free.

I don’t have any old stuff like aerosols, fire extinguishers, etc in use that might contain CFCs; and I don’t use air conditioning.

However, I do still have my two old fridges that are bound to have CFCs. I haven’t thrown them out as I use them in the carport for storage cupboards.

“In Brazil, a pilot project was launched to remedy this problem. Working within the framework of the Swiss Climate Protection Initiative, the Swiss foundation SENS International launched a project to recycle old refrigerators and other cooling appliances in a manner compliant with Swiss standards.
It is not enough to merely replace old refrigerators with more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly ones. The old appliances also need to be recycled in a manner that ensures the complete extraction and destruction of CFCs. However, this requires a certain degree of know-how, specific equipment and facilities as well as new legislation. Until fairly recently, these factors were missing.” – Source No date given.

The problem is the recycling plant is in São Paulo, 460km away. I’ll have to look into this further and see if there are any facilities here in Rio.

Another source tells me there is a comprehensive recycling programm for old fridges but doesn’t sy where, have to look further.

Meanwhile, it’s back to bed… 3am writing CTWW, I am seriously in need of therapy.

Change the World Wednesday – 23 Oct

Basic human right, we have the right to know what we are eating and putting on our bodies

Last week’s post was about human rights and the right to know what we are eating through labelling.

I am going to extend that thought with today’s post.

First my weekly update:

Cloro is learning that the kitty litter (sand) box is outside more than inside, she’s getting the meassage.

The second lot of chili peppers have been bottled and the third lot would have been picked today, if exhaustion hadn’t over taken me. Which is the reason I am running late with this post.

This is my beefless week. For those of you who have been following my posts will know that several months ago I decided that the first and third full weeks of any month are ‘beefless’. I have continued with this theme since then. This week so far: Monday, poached sole (halibut) fillets with potatoes in milk and a delicious parsley white sauce. Tuesday, leftovers. Today, chicken breast with the last of the parsley sauce. Tomorrow, curried pork sausages; this will continue until Sunday.

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On with this week’s CTWW challenge:

The subject is BPA.

This week ban BPA from your life. Need some ideas? Avoid canned foods, including prepared soups, vegetables, sauces, soda and beer. Don’t microwave polycarbonate plastic food containers. Say no to printed receipts; they contain BPA.

 

OR … If you live in a country which bans BPA (Canada and Europe both ban this toxin), then please consider other ways to ensure food safety in your home. For example, defrost food in the refrigerator rather than at room temperature (which encourages the growth of harmful bacteria). Take a look at your pots and pans and make plans to replace any, which may leach chemicals into your food, with safe cookware like cast iron or stainless steel (here’s a hint … any coated pans or “non stick” varieties are unsafe). Avoid packaged, pre-cut produce which may be washed in a solution containing chlorine.

Brazilian canned beer. I don’t even buy the first one in bottles, hate it.

Principally, I do this already. I don’t buy canned beer.

I don’t buy soda, period!

I don’t buy prepared veges in a can, and I don’t microwave anything. Remember my thoughts on microwaves is that they should all be consigned to the dump. Search ‘microwave’ on this blog and you will find my thoughts there.

I do, however get printed receipts. I was totally thrown by the fact that they have BPA. I’ll have to look into that. But receipts here in Brazil are required when returning/exchanging purchases.

Generally, I buy in glass, doesn’t matter if it is beer or asparagus (can’t get fresh asparagus here). This is acceptable, but they also have insipid white shit, that I have never tried, nor want to.

The only thing that I buy in a can are sardines in olive oil. I’ve never seen them any other way. But I don’t buy tuna nor salmon in a can.

I also shun products in plastic whenever possible. Cheese spread for example, if I can’t find it in glass, I go without. This attitude has been part of my life for years, even before I learned about BPA.

I’ll add a warning here. Many companies have done away with BPA, and say so on their products; they have replaced it with BPS, which is several degrees worse, but the furore hasn’t reached the public yet through companies being super-secretive about the change.

Aluminium saucepans

In the second part of the challenge, cooking ware is mentioned. One of the most contaminating materials in your kitchen is aluminium (aluminum for our American cousins). Aluminium pots and pans leach the metal into your food and this contamination has been linked to things like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

I have two aluminium pots in my kitchen, they bget used as little as possible, but then at my time of life I am silly enough anyway, a little bit sillier probably isn’t that important. But, for young families with kids, they should be consigned to the scrapyard.

In the main, I use steel or cast iron, although I do have a coated non-tick frying pan which produces the most heavenly fried eggs, which would be even more heavenly if I had a source of farm fresh eggs.

Products packaged with BPA or BPS should be labelled as such.

So, yes, I do participate in this week’s challenge, and in some aspects have done so for years.