Change the World Wednesday – 26th Nov

A sure sign that it’s Christmas… Small is taking a break until the New Year.

It’s been a quiet week, not a lot has happened.

We’ve had some rain since last CTWW, and are expecting more today, possibly a storm. The weather change over the weekend left me all stuffed up, but getting over that now.

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This week’s CTWW is not so much a CTWW as a plea for help by Small.

What would you like to see on Reduce Footprints in 2015?

Pop on over to see the rest on her blog and add some ideas.

Me, I don’t have much. I rather like her blog. I don’t follow product reviews, nor Special offers, not on any blog. Some of the recipes I like, even though they tend toward the vegan. Meet & Greet, I think that needs a facelift. I must admit since it was reduced to once a month, I have been rather lax about participating because I forget it.

However, I am going to throw out a challenge.

Once Thanksgiving is over people begin thinking about Christmas trees.

A slow Christmas death

The last thing the world needs is another dead tree.

Please don’t do it. Don’t kill another tree.

If you must use the imitation tree you saved from last year, but don’t buy another.

Think outside the box; in fact you can use the box, or just branches, or just your imagination.

If you don’t like this, search ‘alternative christmas tree’ on Google, there are plenty of ideas there.

But please don’t fall victim to commercial products, or become a serial Christmas tree killer.

Monday Moaning

One of the biggest eco-problems of today is the city.

The bigger the city the bigger the problem.

Apart from cities being so badly designed that you need a car or public transport to get around, there is a greater problem.

São Paulo in Brazil is a city of some 20 million. That number of people require two basic things water and power.

At the moment São Paulo is lacking the former, and heading for problems with the latter.

Why?

The city relies on the large catchment area of the state for water and hydroelectric power. Currently, the catchment area has a big problem, drought. The dams and reservoirs are only at a fraction of their capacity. Most down to 30% and some even down to 16% because of the lack of rain.

Where has the rain gone?

No, we are not talking global warming here, but rather the mass of concrete that is used in a city of this size. It has altered the heat rising properties, stealing the clouds from the catchment area so the rain falls over the city, creating a further problem, flooding.

There is a real probability that São Paulo will have water rationing and planned power cuts in the very near future.

The sheer size of the city is creating their own problems.

São Paulo is a huge city

We need to halt the ever expanding city. Better still, we need to dismantle the cities in favour of returning to a rural self-sufficient lifestyle.

If we don’t, we are creating more problems.

 

Change the World Wednesday – 19th Feb

No major problems this week.

The rain arrived, and we have had three days of cooler weather.

Two nights ago I had my first suco de goiaba (guava juice) from my tree, the ripe guava gave me enough to make a full glass.

Glancing around the tree, I won’t get a fantastic crop, but enough to make life interesting.

You may remember a few months back, I rationed myself on beef because beef is the meat that requires more water and resources than other meats. Making the first and third week of each month ‘beefless’. Well, an update; I am not so rigorous with the beefless weeks now, not that I have given up, rather that I find that beef has taken a lesser role in my diet.

Without thinking about it, I rarely have more than two beef meals a week. My meat now is mainly chicken, pork or fish.

Even when I go to my favourite BBQ restaurant, I find myself enjoying the beef, but also eating more of the other offerings.

My trip to the dairy farm yesterday to enquire about fresh milk, led me no further ahead, the guy that does the business wasn’t in. So I’ll have to return. But the plan is still on.

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On with this week’s CTWW.

This week, pick up litter and dispose of it properly. As you go through your day, pay attention to the area and clean as you go. You might see trash as you walk between your car and your office. Perhaps you’ll see plastic bags, etc. in the parking lot of a market. If you enjoy nature walks, browse the side of the trail. Get your kids involved and take litter walks or organize a neighborhood cleanup of a local park. The idea, this week, is to rid the area of litter!

Well, Small must have her crystal ball out.

I have mentioned that we have lixo seletiva (a rubbish collection that just picks up recyclables) that passes each Tuesday. I now collect all my plastic, glass, metal and cardboard for this collection.

Yesterday, as I put my Tuesday rubbish out, I noticed that there was a lot of plastic strewn around my part of the praça (park) and in front of the bar. So I grabbed a large plastic sack and filled it just in time for the truck to pass. It wasn’t a big job, took me all of ten minutes, but it did clean the area up a little.

The orange posts make the bins a little more visible

The job is not complete by any means.

Last week the council came and trimmed all the bushes that line the praça which made the horrible truth apparent; under the bushes it is literally littered with plastic bottles and disposable cups. I talked with the council workers who were cleaning up the praça and and painting the playground equipment and they have painted the posts with the orange rubbish containers orange to help with their visibility.

But as you can see there is a disposable cup right under the bin. Maybe it was an honest attempt to dispose of it properly, maybe just laziness.

There is a lot of work to be done educating the people here. But, things are becoming better, sometimes you see genuine efforts to put the rubbish in the right place.