Category Archives: Green Waste

Waste and recycling…Golf Balls…Plastic and Rubber…

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The sea…A vast beautiful place…How much sea covers the earth???

Some scientists say we should call our planet ‘Water’ instead of ‘Earth’, since water covers about 71% of the planet’s surface. The area of the ocean surface is 1.40 x (10 to the power of 8) miles². (3.62 x (10 to the power of 8) km²). The area of the land surface is 5.75 x (10 to the power of 7) miles² (1.49 x (10 to the power of 8) km²). There is over 2.4 times as much water area than land area.

How big is a golf ball?

The standard golf ball used in the United States is a minimum of 1.68 in (4.26 cm) in diameter; the British ball is slightly smaller.

A golf ball is made of plastic and rubber…FACT.

golf course surrounded by water

Doesn’t that look beautiful? Who wouldn’t want to spend a few days there following their passion for the game of golf? I mean the sheer size and volume of water against the size of a golf ball…What difference is that tiny ball going to make in the scheme of things?? What golfer gives a thought about the bigger picture it’s just another ball in the water…Plenty more where that one came from…

But it doesn’t stop there does it???

I don’t play golf…I know my kids in the past have been paid for collecting golf balls from the lake at a local golf club…It was the lovely Adele Marie Park who alerted me to this…Thank you so much, Adele, it really is a problem…x

I don’t know what it is about the sea …It’s sheer vastness but it seems that many people think that their bit of rubbish in the great scheme of things doesn’t matter…WELL, IT DOES!

COME ON PEEPS…Start thinking…TIME TO WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE…

Do you have your reusable coffee cup…Do you use it and take it out with you?

All last week I have been using Ecosia... It is a search engine with a difference…Many search engines now promise not to store or sell details of your searches and yes this is one of the promises that Ecosia make but they also promise to be transparent as to where their money comes from and plant a tree for every search you make…How good is that and if you click on their site you will get a running total of how many trees and where have been planted to date… It is now my default search engine and I am very happy with it so far and to be able to know that my internet searches are doing some good …Every little helps!

ecosia logo

However, if you are like me and always have a question then this report should answer them all…

This is an interesting one...Fizzy Drinks could soon be carbonated using gas emissions from factories… Soon means 20 years by my calculations…I know that there are logistics and lots of other factors to be considered but 20 years…Are there not other schemes which can be adopted and working in less time than this as if we listen to all the news as a planet we don’t have 20 years…Just saying…

Britain plans by 2040 to develop the world’s first net-zero carbon industrial centre by teaming up emitters with industries that can reuse their polluting gases or by moving to lower carbon fuels such as hydrogen, it said on Thursday.

The government said it will commit up to £170 million ($215 million) to the project, which could include capturing emissions from factories and reusing them in industries such as brewing to put the fizz in drinks. That’s a lot of money…I can think of many things which would cost far less and have a shorter timescale and work…

This one shows initiative ...How to make biodegradable plastic from Cactus plants…

 

I hate waste especially food waste and I am loving that I am hearing and reading so much about how schools around the world are tackling this…Teachers are on the ground and they see the kids who come to school dirty and hungry and some have washing machines and wash the kid’s clothes others such as this do not just feed the kids while they are at school but think about what happens out of school evening, weekends and school holidays…

A school district in Indiana is working to provide take-home meals for students in need to ensure they have enough food to eat over the weekends.

Elkhart Community Schools teamed up with a non-profit group called Cultivate to create a pilot program that will provide weekend meals for a small group of children at Woodland Elementary, WSBT reported.

The district’s goal is to expand the program to feed more students in neighbouring schools.

What a brilliant initiative…As is this one…School kids can pay school fees with plastic isn’t that brilliant and then they are turning them into eco bricks…

So many good initiatives by people, not governments…People and I think if we all pull together and do our bit however small we will show the governments what the people can do…xxx

Thank you so much for reading this post and if it made you think THEN please share and or comment on how you deal with plastic and recycling what do you think is the way forward xxx

About Carol Taylor:

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

The environment is also something I am passionate about and there will be more on this on my blog this year

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

Carol is a contributor to the Phuket Island Writers Anthology: https://www.amazon.com/Phuket-Island-Writers-Anthology-Stories-ebook/dp/B00RU5IYNS

Connect to Carol

Blog: https://carolcooks2.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheRealCarolT
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carol.taylor.1422

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/caroltaylor56/pins/

Thank you once again for reading this post I hope you are all having a great week xx

Recycling in the home…The facts, The truth…

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Plastic, Recycling, Global warming, Climate Change, The bees so many problems and they are all intermingled in many ways…

green foot prints eco system

Take recycling…Most of us recycle in one way or other governments don’t have adequate facilities to recycle and reuse all our waste correctly so they farm it out… some of it is burned illegally which sends toxic fumes into the atmosphere, affects peoples health, the soil, the wildlife all these actions or inactions have an effect somewhere it is like chain link fence …

Or you could say ” The Bigger Picture”

My decision is that rather than have two posts one on a Monday and one on a Thursday which in many ways are the same but a different side of the coin I will join the two and Thursdays will be Travel and Traditions instead from the many places I have visited and have plans to visit…

Today I will be looking at recycling in the home…

There are two reasons behind this the first being what I revealed last week about how governments around the world are struggling to recycle correctly what we recycle at home for a few reasons …Importantly most countries have not invested soon enough and as our enthusiasm for recycling has grown and the amount of packaging has grown …They can’t cope…

The second being...US…I wash out every single item I recycle… I know for a fact that many people don’t…I see the overflowing bins outside houses and businesses and can see the dirty waste…It is a fact…It is also a fact that the Malaysian government are returning wrongly recycled and filthy waste back to the countries of origin…Dam right I say…

I also read a very interesting post…A post which made me think…Oh Dear…I hear you…This could be interesting…haha

If I put every single piece of single-use plastic or plastic which contained BPA in the recycling the whole system would likely collapse well it is close to collapse now…A little test from where you are sitting now I will let you turn your head…How much plastic can you see…This is me...My laptop, pens, USB sticks, the fan, the plug sockets, my Fitbit watch strap, my phone charger, light switches, window screens(to keep out) the Mosi’s, my diary cover and various notebooks and spines,my hand weights, sewing box,printer, the bowl I keep handy for when  it rains various cream pots and I am sure if I walked around this one room with a notepad I could find more…

How much of that contains BPA or is not recyclable or could I buy a replacement product which was recyclable…At this moment in time, I haven’t a clue…Read this post and tell me what you think…Please…Let’s have a discussion…

https://thesnailofhappiness.com/2019/06/13/we-need-to-talk-about-plastic/

plastic items

 

Photo credit: maczter on Visualhunt / CC BY

The Association of Plastic Recycling is saying “It’s not plastics recycling that is broken; it’s the infrastructure. We stand willing and able to get as much material as necessary to the market, but please help us get that material.”

There are so many wonderful initiatives around the world to reuse our waste and turn it into something else many of which I have told you about in previous posts…

How can we help? We can lobby our government official but this all takes time to implement so I am not saying don’t talk/write to your local government official or candidate as they need to see the urgency and need to know that they must play their part  but I also think that we should be reusing what we have in our homes and if you have read the above post then it makes sense to wrap what you are putting into a container to protect it from any BPA leakage… it makes sense that if the kettle breaks we need to do our homework and find a replacement which is not going to affect our health and can be recycled.

An example… Is a stainless steel kettle better? I saw some lovely stone kettles I am sure with plastic parts somewhere but hopefully, safe plastic parts… would that fit the purpose? We need to be proactive if we are serious and do our research when something finally requires replacement or before we need to be aware of our choices…

The numbers and BPA…Confused? Click here to read all about it.

Thank you so much for reading this post and if it made you think THEN please share and or comment on how you deal with plastic and recycling what do you think is the way forward xxx

About Carol Taylor:

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

The environment is also something I am passionate about and there will be more on this on my blog this year

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

Carol is a contributor to the Phuket Island Writers Anthology: https://www.amazon.com/Phuket-Island-Writers-Anthology-Stories-ebook/dp/B00RU5IYNS

Connect to Carol

Blog: https://carolcooks2.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheRealCarolT
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carol.taylor.1422

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/caroltaylor56/pins/

Thank you once again for reading this post I hope you are all having a great week xx

CarolCooks2…Weekly Roundup…B12, 5G, Plastic, Recycling, Recipes and more…

3 Replies

Welcome to this weeks roundup of my posts, as usual, I have a collection of posts a bit like pick and mix something for everyone a potpourri of food and ideas…And of course opinions…haha…I think I have excelled myself this week every way I have turned I have read and seen governments not keeping up their end of the bargain and frankly it has worn me out…I have even thought about laying down my pen and not picking it up again but I am over that now it only lasted for a few days…

great reads a weekly roundup lady with electronic reader

So if you had one of those weeks or weekends then maybe its time to take a pew and do a bit of light reading…a few rants and some great recipes…I do hope you enjoy!

Plastic and recycling was first out of the starting blocks…Tomorrow it will be all happy things and maybe just a small little name and shame as there will always be those…

plastic waste bottles straws bags

https://carolcooks2.com/2019/06/10/plastic-part-12-recycling/

It was then time for my healthy eating post. I do believe that many supplements are no substitute for a good healthy diet, of course, there will always be exceptions to that rule but tablets should not be taking the place of bad food choices…

Healthy - Vegetables- Fruit- Lady

Healthy Eating

https://carolcooks2.com/2019/06/11/eat-smart-eat-healthily-supplements-why-take-them/

Dementia and Alzheimers both scary degenerative diseases and as we grow older I think we all hope that we don’t end up with either of those or that one of our loved ones do not succumb to these dreadful diseases…Sally’s post this week offers sound advice on what we can do …Well worth a read…

 

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2018/04/09/smorgasbord-health-column-the-brain-part-three-dementia-and-alzheimers-disease/

One of my favourite posts is this series where Sally writes about a vitamin and I provide the recipes which include ingredients to provide those nutrients if you find your body is deficient in a certain vitamin this week it is B12…I hope you enjoy the recipes and information …Enjoy!

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2019/06/12/smorgasbord-health-column-cook-from-scratch-to-prevent-nutritional-deficiencies-with-sally-cronin-and-carol-taylor-vitamin-b12-cyanocolbalamin-combined-with-vitamin-e/

Waste and recycling was next on the agenda…A look at the reality of what is happening to the recycling many of us do thinking that we are doing our bit to rid the world of plastic and waste when the reality is that most governments are just shipping it off somewhere without knowing what is happening to it as long as they think it is no longer their problem well it seems that it is coming home to roost…

overflowing waste bins

https://carolcooks2.com/2019/06/13/waste-not-want-not-recycling-the-lies/

Lastly a post from Adele on the dangers that the 5G network will have for everyone’s health and wellbeing…

telecommunications tower

Image by Erich Westendarp from Pixabay

https://firefly465.wordpress.com/2019/06/13/5g-please-click-on-the-link-help-save-us-all/

Thank you so much for reading my posts I do hope you have enjoyed them if you have please share on your favourite social media and thank you to those who have reblogged my waste/plastic posts it is important that we get the word out there…Isn’t it? xxx

About Carol Taylor:

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

The environment is also something I am passionate about and there will be more on this on my blog this year

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

More and more of my blogging friends have joined me on MeWe…A social media site which is fairly new and which promises much without the restrictions some other social media sites are choosing to impose on many of us…Join me if you will on  mewe.com/i/caroltaylor3 

Carol is a contributor to the Phuket Island Writers Anthology: https://www.amazon.com/Phuket-Island-Writers-Anthology-Stories-ebook/dp/B00RU5IYNS

Connect to Carol

Blog: https://carolcooks2.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheRealCarolT
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carol.taylor.1422

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/caroltaylor56/pins/

Thank you once again for reading this post I hope you all are having a great weekend and have a creative week ahead xx

 

Waste Not! Want Not!… Recycling…The lies!

13 Replies

When I first started to write these posts I enjoyed it…I enjoy research finding out what is going on and all the wonderful innovative ways that many people are discovering, inventing to Save our lovely world…Because it is a beautiful World…

Also, man and their habits have an impact a huge impact…Our oceans in particular…But also peoples health from these dump sites and landfills…

I know I am not the only one who recycles and does what they can to help with the plastic situation which I think is equally as important as Climate Change.

Firstly during the last week, I read an article which stated that Malaysia was going to return waste to the countries of origin … Oh!

I then watched a programme on UK television Hugh and Anita…Where they have picked a street and are examing their waste to see firstly how much waste each household has and two how they can reduce their waste…This led down many paths and one such path was Hugh followed waste to Malaysia…The waste that was dumped…Just dumped not recycled is horrendous…I watched children bleeding from their noses…Yep, the waste is sometimes just burned where it is…No thought as to who is breathing in the toxic fumes or the fact that those same fumes are going into the atmosphere…I am sure if you know me you can imagine what I was saying to the TV screen…

Hugh collected plastic waste with company names on and took back to the UK…He went and showed Michael Gove one of the candidates for the role of Prime Minister for the UK…he looked delighted to see it…(sarcasm)

 

Australia… Yep, the Australian government is no better…

I have singled out the Uk and Australia…I could have written a post a mile long as they are not the only ones there is Canada and the US…But it is the same story…Echoed around the world…What our governments are doing with our carefully recycled waste…

We are all being duped into recycling like good citizens and what are our governments doing with that waste…NOT what we think they are doing and certainly not being responsible…

I think it is time we spoke up either in person or write a letter or email…I will most certainly be doing that…

I also think that all that money being spent on shipping and containers would be well spent on recycling in the home countries. Because I am sure that over a period of time those costs are substantial.

The Good News...

The Australian Conservation Foundation has succeeded in its appeal against the government’s assessment of Adani’s north Galilee water scheme, with the federal government admitting it failed to properly consider public responses to the proposal and even lost some submissions.

Let’s hope there will be good news on the recycling front around the world and if you get the opportunity to watch Hugh and Anita I downloaded it from utorrent…But if you can access the BBC  iplayer you could watch it that way it has some great tips on recycling…

Next week there will be lots of good news stories…Thank you for reading and I hope every chance you get you will spread the word on the real truth about recycling…Thank you xx

About Carol Taylor:

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

The environment is also something I am passionate about and there will be more on this on my blog this year

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

More and more of my blogging friends have joined me on MeWe…A social media site which is fairly new and which promises much without the restrictions some other social media sites are choosing to impose on many of us…Join me if you will on  mewe.com/i/caroltaylor3 

Carol is a contributor to the Phuket Island Writers Anthology: https://www.amazon.com/Phuket-Island-Writers-Anthology-Stories-ebook/dp/B00RU5IYNS

Connect to Carol

Blog: https://carolcooks2.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheRealCarolT
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carol.taylor.1422

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/caroltaylor56/pins/

Thank you once again for reading this post I hope you all are having a great week and a creative one xx

 

CarolCooks2…Weekly Roundup…Recipes, Your Brain, Climate Change and Healthy Eating…

10 Replies

Welcome to this weeks roundup of my posts, as usual, I have a collection of posts a bit like pick and mix something for everyone a potpourri of food and ideas…And of course opinions…haha

great reads a weekly roundup lady with electronic reader

If your week has been busy and you haven’t had the time to read grab a drink and settle down in your favourite chair and a snack if you so like…But just relax and peruse this week’s posts if you have a comment then please share. I love your comments as do my followers and if it is different from my opinion that is fine it is good to have a healthy discussion…Enjoy!

First up is Sall’s post from Smorgasbord magazine…This post is a rerun of her previous top to toe health posts…Sally is a well-trained nutritionist and she knows her stuff…If you know me then you know that I advocate the fact that we only have one body and we need to take care of it but we also need the one brain we have to be fully functioning and this is where Sally comes in her posts are factual, easy to understand (which) I love I am not technical just tell me how it is…simples…Sally does just that..No frills and fancy words just facts…

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2019/05/30/smorgasbord-health-column-top-to-toe-the-brain-how-the-brain-develops-from-conception-through-life-by-sally-cronin/

It is now over to me and my question this week was are we doing enough? Many of us are but when I see things like I saw this morning it made me wonder…What does anyone have to say or do to make some people just wake up…So the answer to my question is No! Not all of us…

https://carolcooks2.com/2019/06/03/plastic-part-11-are-we-really-doing-enough/

Follow that!

I did and claimed full bragging rights…Still a way to go but I have reached my first milestone…It has taken a while but I have arrived and I need a new wardrobe so am busy recycling and taking in seams so much better than letting the seams out or just putting it to the back of the wardrobe …

lady feet weighing scales

https://carolcooks2.com/2019/06/04/eat-smart-eat-healthy-no-more-diets-i-did-it/

Then it was time for Sally who will go through your archives as well if you like …This is the last of my archived posts shared by Sally and it was a rant…I feel so much better afterwards it certainly relieves the stress…

Whitsunday islands

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2019/06/05/smorgasbord-posts-from-your-archives-potluck-waste-not-want-not-australia-plans-to-dump-one-million-tons-of-sludge-on-the-great-barrier-reef-by-carol-taylor/

This last week has also seen the marking of D-Day and when I see the magnificence of the pomp and ceremony I feel nostalgic…It was a time to put thoughts and differences aside and recognise our friends and allies the Americans and their President as they have been our staunchest defenders in our time of need…

The post I chose to reblog was written by a lady whom I first met at my very first writer’s retreat where we shared our written words and our hopes… we met again the following year…Terry Anne has travelled much during her life and was there when the tragic events of Tiananmen Square played out…Terry Anne and her now husband were lucky to escape the tragedy it must have been horrendous…Her post is written with great feeling that only someone who has witnessed the horrors could do.

https://notesonaboardingpass.com/2019/06/05/escape-from-tiananmen-square-a-remembrance/

Waste Not! Want Not!

Where I normally tell you about innovative ideas from around the world and there are many great ideas…I did express my disquiet about using eucalyptus for bedding as I was worried that maybe the Koala would be affected as they only eat eucalyptus leaves…

koala-74908_640

Are they just not so very cute…However, Suzanne from Being in Nature very kindly put my mind at rest she said…

Regarding koalas and eucalypts – they only eat the leaves of one type – the manna gum. In some parts of the country, they are in trouble and in other parts they are doing just fine. It’s very odd and the reasons for this are complex. My daughter met a woman who is worried about the nutritional value of the eucalyptus leaves in the trees growing on a local mountain. She says the trees aren’t as nutrient-rich as they once were and the koalas are suffering because of that. I hadn’t heard of this before. It sounds weird but maybe it’s true.

The eucalyptus trees used for making bedding are probably a different type -there are hundreds, possibly thousands of different kinds of eucalypts over here in Oz. No danger of them going extinct though maybe they aren’t as healthy as trees in the past. The eco-system is such a delicately balanced place. It seems like it’s out of wack in all kinds of subtle ways we are only just learning about.

Thank you, Suzanne, very informative and why I love to read such comments as between us we can get the bigger picture and learn more…

https://carolcooks2.com/2019/06/06/waste-not-want-not-the-solutions/

Friday...and then we have the weekend …Has anyone got anything planned? It is only one week to go and my son will be back from England the kids are so excited and counting the days as am I…I can have a break from cooking dinners and just experiment…This week it was Shepherd’s pie and the differences between that and Cottage Pie, Orange Pork with Watercress Rice and one of my favourites yellowtail fish…Enjoy!

https://carolcooks2.com/2019/06/07/this-week-in-my-kitchen-tried-and-tested-recipes/

Lastly,…it was a reblog of one of my posts on traditions I have discovered on my travels around Northern Thailand and where I get my beautiful salt from…

salt farming (13)

https://carolcooks2.com/2017/06/01/salt-farming-in-northern-thailand/

Thank you so much for reading my posts I do hope you have enjoyed them if you have please share on your favourite social media and thank you to those who have reblogged my waste/plastic posts it is important that we get the word out there…Isn’t it? xxx

About Carol Taylor:

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

The environment is also something I am passionate about and there will be more on this on my blog this year

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

More and more of my blogging friends have joined me on MeWe…A social media site which is fairly new and which promises much without the restrictions some other social media sites are choosing to impose on many of us…Join me if you will on  mewe.com/i/caroltaylor3 

Carol is a contributor to the Phuket Island Writers Anthology: https://www.amazon.com/Phuket-Island-Writers-Anthology-Stories-ebook/dp/B00RU5IYNS

Connect to Carol

Blog: https://carolcooks2.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheRealCarolT
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carol.taylor.1422

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/caroltaylor56/pins/

Thank you once again for reading this post I hope you all are having a great weekend and have a creative week ahead xx

 

Waste Not! Want Not! The Solutions…

12 Replies

Wow…Have I got a bumper lot of good news on our War on Waste this week…There are so many exceptionally talented people working on new ideas and inventions to utilise waste.

Hemp of which I know very little but I read the news and watch the podcasts and I am learning.

hemp knot-1532066_640

An ancient plant, records and carbon dating show that wild hemp was used in weaving some 10,000 years ago… In Great Britain Henry V111 encouraged farmers to cultivate hemp to provide materials for the British Naval Fleet. Riggings, pendants, pennants, sails, and oakum were all made from hemp fibre and oil. Hemp paper was used for maps, logs, and even for the Bibles that sailors may have brought on board.

Oakum is the fibre made by twisting old rope, used especially in caulking wooden ships.

There have now been huge strides made in the building industry to find a sustainable building material and it seems hemp is it…

hempcrete

Photo credit: gavinwray on Visualhunt / CC BY-NC-SA

This could be a new way to build cheaper sustainable housing…

Here we have elevated walkways through the jungle which is a lovely idea and it seems that it is something which city planners in New York City think is a good idea… they have plans to adopt the idea after seeing the plans for one such park in Istanbul who also has little green space to build a park.

Good news for city dwellers as there is often not enough room in cities to build traditional parks.

Balloon releases…How often have you witnesses balloons being sent up into the sky.?…

Whether it is a local tradition at memorials, schools, weddings, and other events. In reality, it is increasingly known that random balloon releases have several harmful implications for the environment.

balloon-2101359_640

Bad for the enviroment in many ways they always look so pretty floating away on high but so deadly…

Luckily, balloons and other types of marine debris is completely preventable. There are many decoration alternatives to balloons, such as fabric bunting, lights, paper streamers, all which add some flair to any celebration! If you do use balloons, keep them inside and make sure there is a weight attached to prevent accidental releases.

All marine debris comes from people and as such is completely preventable…Easy…Yes?

What harm does it do? Well the old adage what goes up must come down is very true…they either get snagged on something such as tree branches or electrical wires, deflate and make their way back down, or rise until they pop and fall back to Earth where they can create a lot of problems. Many balloons that are not properly disposed of end up in the ocean and along shores, becoming marine debris…Balloons can be mistaken for food, and if eaten and ingested, balloons and other marine debris can lead to loss of nutrition, internal injury, starvation, and death. String or ribbon that is often found attached to balloons can cause entanglement. The string can wrap around marine life causing injury, illness, and suffocation.

It is a fact that soft debris, like balloon material, is more hazardous to seabirds even though hard plastic accounts for the majority of what they ingest.

But never fear you can still have your pretty balloons and they are and bring so much pleasure just make sure they come from a reputable source.

https://www.balloons-united.com/en/sustainability.html

Bio-degradable Bowls…

There really are so very many options now on the market we just need to look for them…

Sustainable Bedding…I have been reading about bedding made from eucalyptus wood pulp and the company is planting a tree for every tree felled…That’s all well and good…Very climate aware and even vegans friendly…So everyone is happy??? Well if this takes off I do hope they are true to their word as the Koalas can only live in one place in the world, Australia. The koala only eats Eucalyptus leaves and it eats so many leaves, it smells like the leaves. The koala hops from tree to tree and climbs the trees to get the leaves. The koala will eat 2.5 pounds of food a day.

koala-74908_640

The concern I have is that many of these items ( I am not) cost savvy and don’t know if the manufacturer is any different BUT to me the cost is high…Probably way beyond many peoples budgets so if you are on a limited budget you can’t be fully climate compliant because the cost is a factor?.

I am also concerned that in the quest to find alternative and sustainable ways of making goods does not impact on the wildlife as so many other products have …Just a thought!

Can I have your thoughts on this as I find many new brilliant innovative items are cost prohibited…and at what cost to the natural world…

When it’s hot what do we want we want a drink…A nice, cold bottle of fizzy but we all know that the big manufacturers fill their drinks with sugar and chemicals well drink a Fair Trade Product…

https://www.fairtrade.org.uk/Buying-Fairtrade/Cold-Drinks-and-Juice/Lemonaid

Because of erosion, many beaches in New Zealand have noticeably receeded…This device which changes glass into sand may be just what is needed.

I think it is a good idea as the glass is made from liquid sand and this could also be part of the problem of beaches and lack of sand so this circular economy idea seems to be one which is needed to save our beaches …

I have long thought that cruise ships were one of the biggest sources of pollution in the sea…I mean a month long cruise and ships that hold well …Symphony of the Seas, the current largest cruise ship in the world, can carry up to 6,680 guests. It has 2,759 cabins. Additionally, there are around 2,200 crew on board.

That’s a hell of a lot of waste to store… Scientific brain not required in my book…

Well, justice has been served …Carnival Corp has been fined 20 million dollars after being caught dumping waste into the sea…Again! Not the first time and they are under a probation period of 5 years monitoring…Just a year into that they were caught again…Apparently, all reported “accidents” to me that smacks of lack of staff training or blatant disregard for the rules…

I rest my case...Thank you for reading and for every new thing you do to help our environment we are all in this together for fi=uture generations xxx

About Carol Taylor:

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

The environment is also something I am passionate about and there will be more on this on my blog this year

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

More and more of my blogging friends have joined me on MeWe…A social media site which is fairly new and which promises much without the restrictions some other social media sites are choosing to impose on many of us…Join me if you will on  mewe.com/i/caroltaylor3 

Carol is a contributor to the Phuket Island Writers Anthology: https://www.amazon.com/Phuket-Island-Writers-Anthology-Stories-ebook/dp/B00RU5IYNS

Connect to Carol

Blog: https://carolcooks2.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheRealCarolT
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carol.taylor.1422

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/caroltaylor56/pins/

Thank you once again for reading this post I hope you all are having a great weekend and have a creative week ahead xx

Waste Not! Want Not!… Hunger! and King Tides…

7 Replies

It’s that time of the week again and don’t the weeks just fly by.?.. I know I am outspoken. I know that my ideas are not everyone’s and that is good. I am happy to listen to the opposite view with an open mind…I also know many are not as their views are the only correct one…To me, a closed mind is not good…I believe we can take a positive from every different opinion…

I also know there are many half-truths out there in the media and that is what irks me the most…Some just go for the headline which many take as gospel…I urge you to look beyond the headline and do your own research…You will be amazed at what you find…

An example:

King Tide

Aerial support by Lighthawk.org

Photo credit: alex1derr on VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC-SA

The earliest recorded flooding was in 1099 along the Thames Estuary… King tides cause flooding which occurs when the moon is new or full…the sun, moon and earth also have to be aligned but because there are so many dynamics involved as in wind, temperature and the weather it is complicated to weed out the facts …

We know that low lying areas have always been susceptible to flooding when things happen which cause an upsurge in the gravitational pull which strengthens any seasonal surges in tides.

Statements made about fish (a mullet) swimming down streets in Miami and quoted by a couple of influential figures to highlight climate change are half-truths it probably came up through a storm drain due to seasonal king tides…

My example is to highlight half-truths not to say I don’t think that climate change could be a problem. It may well be at some point in time taking the natural world into account of course.

Today I will be looking at Hunger and Waste and what is happening to combat waste around the world there are many good news stories and if you have one please share…

There are still people starving in the world and the figures are staggering and with all the food we all know which we waste at home and the food industry wastes this should not be happening… That, however, isn’t the whole picture…

hunger man in bin scavenging

Photo credit: Jeff* on Visual hunt / CC BY-NC-ND

The thing is we know that there is a hunger problem in third world countries due to lack of education, political climate, displacement and this link to world hunger is all about empowerment…About ending hunger by 2030… All good!

But what about hunger in the civilised world? We know it exists…We only have to look at schools who feed hungry children who have washing machines and dryers so as to make sure the can ensure that all the children have clean clothes, who give them food to take home, who give parents lessons in basic cookery, who in effect act as parents and some even provide loans… Teachers really should be held in higher esteem…

All this is well and good as there is so much waste food which should be put to good use… It does not get down to the nitty-gritty of successive governments who have failed to address so many fundamental problems in society…The blame should lay fair and square at all party’s feet…

The school curriculums need a massive overhaul. …

Finland has one of the best school systems in the world…Where children can be children…No standardized tests, no private schools, no stress. Finland’s education system is consistently ranked best in the world…I ask myself why are other countries like America and the UK are not looking at what could work for their school systems which work in Finland…Then get on and do something about it…

Children are starving in civilised society not third world countries civilised and why?…

Food banks are all well and good but fundamental questions need to be addressed…AND NOW.

The blame lays fair and square at the feet of successive governments they have all had a hand in the decline of the school systems, welfare and endemic poverty.

Although I applaud all these ideas for distributing waste food I do feel that the root cause(s) should be addressed and quickly…Children should not be going down school bins looking for food.

How can you combat waste at home…Start a worm farm…worms eat organic matter/food waste and when the worms are adult they are great to aerate your vegetable patch or to use as fishing bait it is also a great thing for kids to get involved in…

There are some more great creative ideas here...The kids will love them…and it uses up your household waste and you can make some lovely gifts…

Waste to energy…How London is turning its own lights on…

Tower bridge in lights

Photo credit: PeterThoeny on Visual hunt / CC BY-NC-SA

UK supermarkets could face hefty fines for wasting food under plans to halve food waste by 2030… Not sure I like the could in the wording or the timescales…governments must be tougher.

If you are still here reading this I thank you for bearing with me…Waste and hunger go hand in hand with education they are all interlinking one effects the other …I welcome all your comments and also answer every comment…Enjoy your week xxx

About Carol Taylor:

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

The environment is also something I am passionate about and there will be more on this on my blog this year

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

More and more of my blogging friends have joined me on MeWe…A social media site which is fairly new and which promises much without the restrictions some other social media sites are choosing to impose on many of us…Join me if you will on  mewe.com/i/caroltaylor3 

 

Carol is a contributor to the Phuket Island Writers Anthology: https://www.amazon.com/Phuket-Island-Writers-Anthology-Stories-ebook/dp/B00RU5IYNS

Connect to Carol

Blog: https://carolcooks2.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheRealCarolT
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carol.taylor.1422

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/caroltaylor56/pins/

Thank you once again for reading this post I hope you all have a great week xx