Run for the hills: July 2012

Tuesday, 3 July 2012

Smooth operators

I don't blog no more and I dont read the blogs I used to read religiously anymore but it's good to see that two old favourites Town Mouse and Stonehead are still at it, almost daily, and still finding new ways of not always saying things they've said already.

But I'm inspired to blog by Stoney and his Smoothies. A wild variety of recipes here: http://stoneheadcroft.com/2012/06/24/stonehead-smoothies/

Summer is our smoothie season too. Jussi makes the key ingredients - stewed rhubarb, goats yoghurt - and I add anything else I can find but nearly always a banana, at least one apple and orange juice, and abandoned jam if there is any. But hey! It's summer so chuck in peaches, nectarines and any other fruit you can find on offer and whizz in a blender for a not entirely smooth but utterly delicious drink that makes you feel healthy just by looking at it.

Yums

And The Girl has taken to contributing by making Cinnamon Swirls which, when taken with a smoothie, makes for a complete meal (and a much needed change from goat burgers).

Almost the driest June on record..

Most of the UK has had staggeringly awful weather this summer - we've never had it so good. Most of the UK has had double the average rainfall for the month with many areas having the highest recorded June rainfall ever.

We've had the driest June anyone can remember. It would have been the driest June on record except for ONE day last week, when it rained very heavily. May was also a stunningly good month and April was quite dry too.

It's been quite cool, with light easterly winds. But cool is fine - it's the wet that's depressing when you spend a lot of time outside - and this year has been dry.

Yippee!

Here's proof: (you have to read all the way to the bottom to get to our truth...

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/archive/2012/wettest-June

Where I"m coming from - !CAUTION! a bit of a polemic

Firstly, there is nothing more important than me and my family. The most precious thing I can give them (including me) is time. In my job, with all it's pressures, I singularly failed to do this. So we run for the hills and try to redress the balance.

Secondly, climate change is happening. It's a cataclysm, the scope of which is beyond our comprehension. This is why we are doing so little to stop it - we just cant imagine the scale of the upheavals to come, and we can't imagine how we, as individuals, can stop it.

Everything is stacked against effective action. Our economy is driven by consumerism and it is consumerism that is driving climate change. Our political leaders are paralysed - to curb consumerism would cripple the economic engine. We increasingly define ourselves by our economic position and the things we buy. We are what we buy. What politician dare restrict our ability to buy, our ability to define ourselves? It would attack our very self and would be political suicide.

And anyway, the real power lies with money - and the people with money want us to consume and they spend millions every second of the day persuading us to consume more. What hope do we have against such power? And everything we buy pumps a little more CO2 into the atmosphere.

Thirdly, I am no saint. I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to change my life for the benefit of myself, and, I hope, the planet. Ultimately my reasons for doing this are selfish, and although I'll do what I can to keep my carbon footprint low, I'll make many choices that are not so good for the planet. Like anyone, I can only voluntarily make changes to my life at the speed I can. I don't intend to beat myself up over this - I do intend to change faster than most.

Fourthly, there is hope. Our lust to consume is a very recent phenomena. Not so long ago we principally defined ourselves by our relationships with friends and family and place and we defined ourselves by our usefulness to society. I believe that climate change will force us out of consumerism, and in its place we will find those core values, and rediscover a sense of wellbeing that is so missing from our current fractured existence.

There are lots of examples where this is starting to happen. The transition town movement is one - people getting together and learning to appreciate the things and people around them. I played a small part in helping Sustaining Dunbar get off the ground. (http://edubuzz.org/blogs/sustainingdunbar/about-us) What I found there were people striving to build a positive and resilient future and there are transition towns popping up all over the place - a really positive movement. (find out more about transition towns)

Fifthly, At the end of the day it's all bollocks. So let's all go off and have some fun - it's the most important thing we can do - but let's just try to do it without killing the planet in the process.

Things I"m going to miss

Run for the hills

Tuesday, 3 July 2012

Smooth operators

Almost the driest June on record..

Comment is free!

Contributors

Where I"m coming from - !CAUTION! a bit of a polemic

Things I"m going to miss

Blog Archive

My quick links

Cheapskate jazz collections