Day Three of Womankind's Global Warming Challenge: Leanne

I'm not walking out of Day Three with any medals for activism, but I've made a number of conscious decisions regarding my energy consumption. Here are my top ten:

1. Wake up to sunlight, birdsong, early morning traffic and The Toddler shouting "Mum! Up!'. Clock radio? Who needs one?

2. Do washing. It's a hot day: set spin cycle to lowest speed. Hang washing on clothes line.

3. Have a short shower. I've been pretty lazy with this recently, I'll admit. Set timer. 4 mins.

4. Meet friend for coffee. Ride bike instead of drive, even though I've got a bit on today and time is a bit tight.

5. Buy rennet to make cheese. Could this be the end of packaged cheese for my little family? We'll see. The challenge is to find some milk I can buy that's not in a carton, and that I don't have to drive a two hour return trip for.

6.  Put shopping in calico bag that I ran back inside for at the last minute before leaving the house.

7. Drive the 12kms to work, paying close attention to driving smoothly and with gentle take offs. This simple action improves fuel efficiency and until I can afford a Prius this will have to suffice.

8. At work (teaching primary students), turn the lights off. When students ask, "Would you like me to turn the lights on?" respond with, "No thanks, I think it's light enough already."

9. Reset refrigerative aircon in classroom from 18℃ to 22℃.

10. I didn't eat any meat. Not any at all. Nope, not even bacon. And let me say, this was no mean feat. I was at my friends' house for tea. Given that it's a Friday night and none of the four adults present had foreseen that we would need to eat dinner, we threw together a meal consisting of salad (mixed lettuce, tomatoes from the garden, carrots, pear, a pickle) and some sort of crumbed substance posing as chicken. Now, anyone who has known me for a while knows how much of a weak spot I have for processed meats. I try to avoid them most of the time, I really do. Give me the opportunity though and I will delight in a hotdog, a thin sausage (those ones that are a uniform flesh colour), mortadella, crumbed fake chicken - anything. So refusing this "chicken" was a big deal. And an even bigger one considering how much peer pressure I had laid on me to give in. But stay steady I did. Stay tuned for my memoir: This Vegetarian Life.

Yes Leanne, you deserve a merit badge after one day of vegetarianism.

Image source: https://www.buyolympia.com/q/Item=demerit-badge-vegetarian

I'm almost embarrassed to read this list. I look at it and think, "That's the best you could do?" But then I think: yes. Today, this is the best I could do. Given the circumstances, I did what I could. I'm not going to berate myself for the fact that it's not grand, or that it's not enough. I'm going to stand up a little taller and know that I showed up. I was present in my decision making processes regarding my energy consumption. And that is something Worth Doing.

Day Two of Womankind's Combat Global Warming Challenge: Jess

Day Two: 

Leanne is outraged at her lack of active activism. I'm not surprised that my social media post about the Adani Gold Mine petition hasn't attracted many likes - social media platforms are so unreliable for spreading information - but I've put it out there on that platform and it feels like wearing my heart on my sleeve. How do you cut through the pictures of puppies, kids and food on social media to make an impact? Seriously, if someone has the answer to that please email me.

I am online every day so I thought why not find organisations in the virtual world that I can support that are doing good things that won't really change my habits too much? Here are some you might like to do too:

1. Use Ecosia as your search engine. They plant trees for every search you do. I've found their app to be just as good as the other non-tree-planting search engines.

2. Know how to recycle everything: download the Sustain Me app on your phone. Clean Up Australia endorsed, Melbourne based. They have a loooooong list of everything and how it should be recycled.

3. Get a reality check by checking your footprint: I went to WWF to see how many planets it would take if everyone lived like me: three. Two too many. What it also tells me is that food is one of the areas where my impact is heaviest.

4. I signed up to the Bendigo Sustainability Group email so now I can get local information on events and actions in my area sent to my inbox which will hopefully both remind and motivate me to be more involved.

5. Follow some zero waste bloggers for inspiration. Here's a little list to get us going: Zero Waste Bloggers

I am struck by how hard this task was. It actually takes a lot of research to find out little things like Ecosia. Such a simple tool and a great idea but what exactly do you search for? I found whenever I put in the terms like eco/environmentally friendly organisations it's mainly shops and fashion brands trying to sell me their eco products that pop up. Hmmm, consumerism is a tempting lass, I mean you couldn't possibly be eco friendly without your bamboo t-shirt and stainless steel lunch box could you.

Right, now my online world is a little better I just have to work on my real world...

source: Huffington Post

Day Two of Womankind's Combat Global Warming Challenge: Leanne

Ok. Yesterday I committed to not eating meat. I really should have qualified that a little bit further. What I really should have said was that I will commit to eating meat after I have eaten the yummy pork burgers offered to me for dinner on Thursday night. And my commitment will last at least until the end of this five day challenge. So that means I'm meat-free as of NOW (10.50pm on Thursday 2/3/17) until midnight on Sunday. And then I'll reassess. Easy...right?

No. You can't eat bacon if you're vegetarian.

Image credits: www.seriouseats.com 

Don't click on this link if you're trying to be vegetarian. I'm not joking.

After my initial hopelessness yesterday I spoke to Jess and read her posts. And, as usually happens after conversations with Jess, I was energised. I can DO SOMETHING! It's not futile! I am not powerless! Hooray!

The two things I have done today are outlined here.

Ecological footprint calculator: I like this one. it's pretty detailed, and it hits home by plonking graphics of all the things you have as a part of your lifestyle on the screen in front of you. According to this quiz, if everyone lived like me we would need two earths to sustain us. I did the quiz twice, once as a vegetarian and once as an occasional meat eater. It made very little difference, but that doesn't mean I'm giving in. I also did a less detailed quiz and they reckon I only use 0.8 of an earth...If I were the government I might just accept the measure that gave me the answer I want to hear, and the one that will require me to do nothing about the problem...

Electrical Appliance Inventory: Here is a list of the electrical appliances that I have in my home.

Electrical appliances in my home
Appliance	Possible Actions
Always on
Refrigerator	Non-negotiable
Freestanding freezer	Non-negotiable
Cordless phone	When I got my current internet plan I couldn’t access wifi without a landline. With the NBN this may have changed. RESEARCH and get rid of landline if possible.
Clock radio (what decade are we in again?)	Let it go. It’s over. Donate to…who wants a clock radio these days?
Used regularly
Bedside lamp
Lounge room lamp	This requires a fancy kind of globe and I can’t replace it with an energy saving one. Use less.
Washing machine	Fill each load fully. I think sometimes I don’t fill it to capacity. Continue to use short, cold wash.
Laptop	Turn off when not using.
Mobile phone	Unsure what action to take here. Is there a more efficient way of using it?
Gas heater (it has an electrical plug so it must use some electricity)	Turn it off at the wall.
Oil heater (used regularly in winter)	This is in The Toddler’s room. She’s over two now and will be in a big bed this winter. Warm blankets. Warm PJs. Hopefully she will learn how to stay under her blankets. It hasn’t been one of her strong points thus far.
Microwave	Unplug when not in use.
Speakers	Same.
Used occasionally
Bamix	These appliances are all unplugged when not in use, and I don’t use them unless absolutely necessary. No changes required here really. Although… I guess I could ditch the food processor for most things: a knife for fine chopping, a rolling pin for biscuit crushing, a mortar and pestle for pesto. Ok. I’ll be honest. I’m not using a mortar and pestle for pesto. It just takes me far too long. And I'm keeping the electric beaters for sponge making, but for most other things I use a whisk.
Toaster
Dehydrator
Electric beaters
Food processor
Sewing machine
Overlocker
Hair straightener
Hair dryer
Iron
Keyboard (piano)

Right. I'm off to bed. That is, after I unplug my clock radio. This is a big deal. I have relied on a clock radio since ever. This is the end of an era.

Day One of Womankind's Combat Global Warming Challenge: Leanne

Global Warming: A lecture to myself

What are you doing about it? I mean, really. You like to believe that you're committed to The Cause, but what does that actually look like?

Sure, you live a pretty modest lifestyle. A tiny house, few electrical appliances, bike riding, public transport, avoiding single-use plastics, recycling, upcycling, uncycling (oh, wait...that's not one of them), washing in cold water, weather strips on my doors, never buying bottled water (with the exception of one single time recently, for which there was a compelling justification: follow me on Instagram @lgcjames if you care to know more). Good for you. But just because you're somewhat less climactically destructive than many (most? some?) doesn't mean you deserve to class yourself as some kind of eco-warrior.

Where is your outrage? Where is your activism? Where is your SPIRIT?

Oh, it's buried under your hopelessness, is it? I think I can see it deep down in there under your apathy and your need for convenience. I see.

I get it. It's hard to believe that anything you do in your tiny little life can effect any change at all. Especially when you read things like the Quarterly Update of Australia's National Greenhouse Gas Inventory . Seriously, where is your stats text book? Lost somewhere in 2003, most likely.

And then when everyone starts politicising the whole issue, that's when things get really impossible. How can you stay focused on finding solutions when there are debates like this going on? Is someone really trying to convince us that we are doing well because greenhouse gas emissions have decreased per capita, even though they have increased overall? Come ON guys.

So. What are you going to do about it? Beyond the comfortable, bare minimum that you maintain in order to be able to sleep at night, that is. Hopelessness and apathy are the enemies of anything that's good in the world.

1. Give up meat.
2. Sign this petition to stop the proposed Boikarabelo coal mine. It's a big deal, and it's pretty important. For, you know, the future of the planet.

source: econesting

Day One of Womankind's Combat Global Warming Challenge: Jess

The Challenge:

Starting Wednesday 1 March until Sunday 5 March 2017 (5 days in total), we want you to do ‘something’ each day to build awareness of or to combat global warming, and document your actions and thoughts in a daily diary.

                                                                         ------------------

You know that feeling when you start seeing the same thing everywhere, like everyone is onto the same idea? It's called a Baader-Meinhof phenomenon or frequency illusion and it happens to me a lot. Right now it's plastics, no-waste living and climate change issues. It's not a new concern and people have been talking about it for decades; when I was wee it was the ozone layer. The point is we're still talking about it because it is still a real and present threat. 

It depresses me this business of global warming/climate change/human's negative impact on the the earth. When I saw the challenge from Womankind to do something for 5 days in a row I thought it was a great opportunity to explore the topic further. 

But where to start? It feels overwhelming; just watch this Four Corners episode on Oceans of Plastic . I feel so small in the big picture considering if the Adani's Carmichael Coal Mine goes ahead it will create billions of tonnes of pollution according to the Australian Conservation Fund. 

Hopelessness does not change anything. Being depressed by something doesn't have an impact. Feeling like any changes you make don't matter won't change a thing. 

Today I'm turning these overwhelming negative feelings into something. It must start with small; every tree started as a tiny seed. It's time to be proud of what we are doing and look for ways to improve and influence others to also take positive steps. 

So what do I already do? Compost, home recycling, cloth nappies, a bike instead of a second car, wash clothes on cold, avoid plastic bags and containers, shop locally, buy second hand first. All of these things I do to varying degrees but there are a whole lot more tiny things that can contribute check out this great list and very motivating site about making small changes: Be An Unfucker. 

That's not bad. But there is plenty of work to do. 

Today, to do something more I've emailed my local politician and signed up to a petition to appose the Adani Carmichael Gold Mine. Because we have to hold our corporations and elected officials to the highest of standards. 

source: wired

The Thing: Passata

Right. Whittling is on the slow-burner at the moment. Just to give you an update, Jess and I have both invested in an appropriate knife, we've both managed a few little attempts at some objects of utility, and we've both concluded that there is no fast-track to whittling competence.

In the meantime though, we've got plenty of other Things keeping our minds occupied, our hands busy and our hearts full.

With late summer comes the season of plentiful tomatoes. And with an abundance of tomatoes comes the need to preserve their summer richness for the months ahead.

Remember Looking For Alibrandi? I first read it when I was in about year 8 or 9 I think, and I remember being struck by the whole italian-ness about it. The nonnas and the zias and tomato bottling day...I yearned for such traditions in my life.

Sure, my childhood had its rituals and celebrations. There was Easter spotlighting with my maternal grandparents, aunts and uncles. There was summer mulberry picking (which happened in the nude for the kids, if I remember correctly). And there were the more regular, less grand rituals of Saturday afternoon tennis that was followed by Saturday night BBQs or pub meals or card games where everyone would gather to re-live the highs and the lows of the day's tennis. The hot-headed smashes that hit the back fence, the unexpected sideliners, the floating lob you had to climb the back fence to return...

These were all cherished elements of the culture we had generated over the last few decades as a white (there, I said it) family living in rural Victoria, but when compared with the traditions steeped so deeply and firmly within the Italian Culture as portrayed in Looking for Alibrandi, it just all seemed so...pale in comparison. I so desperately wanted to get in on this whole tomato bottling thing so that I could feel like I was just a little bit Italian, and the feeling has never left me. So when Jess declared months ago that she was planning a bottling day at the end of January I was IN. I didn't pencil the date in my calendar. I didn't write it in permanent marker. I was so keen that I actually etched the date in the stone.

Jess was pretty clear about how things would go. The day would start at 8am (ambitious) and run through until dinner time. The toddlers would all play together harmoniously (very ambitious) from go to woe, and have a nap after lunch (blindly optimistic). We would wash, dice, mill, simmer, bottle and seal the tomatoes. The assigned leader was Jeremy (he's done lots of bottling in the past, it's his and Jess' house, he bought an industrial-scale mincer... excellent leadership qualities right there), and the very fact that there was a leader assigned meant that this was BIG. There will be no messing about here people; the bottling will be taken seriously.

As the day approached, I got increasingly excited. I was about to fulfil a dream I had held since High School. I was ready.

Here is what Passata Day 2017 looked like:

6.30am: Wake up. Passata Day starts at 8am SHARP. Plenty of time to get ready.
6.31: Plans to shower before The Toddler wakes are foiled by The Toddler waking. Make the mistake of saying, 'No, mum is having a shower on her own.' Take shower with The Toddler standing at the shower door pretend-crying and repeating '(Sh)Ower! Ower! Ower!' ad nauseum. Consider giving in and letting The Toddler into the shower. Wonder if this is one of those times when The Toddler is testing my resolve. Decide that every time is The Toddler testing my resolve. Refuse to back down. Finish showering with The Toddler continuing to fake-cry and shout at me.
6.45: Make toast and coffee.
7.00: Iron dress. Get dressed. Get The Toddler dressed. Ensure attire is appropriate for hot weather/tomato stains/largely unsupervised toddler-play.
7.15: Pour more coffee. Look on instagram. Check the weather. Wonder why it takes so long to get one adult and one toddler ready for the day.
7.30: Pack the car. Fowler's Vacola. Jars. Watermelon. Hat. Sunscreen. Nappies.
7.35: Brush own teeth. Attempt to brush The Toddler's teeth. The Toddler presents compelling case (read: shouting, fake-crying, general thrashing about) as to why brushing teeth is unnecessary.
7.36: Contemplate how fine the line is between 'firm restraint' and 'forceful man-handling'.
7.37: Forcefully man-handle firmly restrain The Toddler in order to assist with teeth brushing.
7.45: Walk out the door and lock it. Instruct The Toddler to feed the chook.
7.46: Unlock door and go back inside to get change of clothes for The Toddler and contributions for lunch and dinner.
7.47: Walk out the door and lock it.
7.48: Help The Toddler toss chook food over chook's fence.
7.51: Unlock door and go back inside. Get wallet, sunglasses, phone. Opt for bringing an actual handbag.
7.53: Walk out the door and lock it.
7.54: Instruct The Toddler to get in the car.
7.55: Present compelling case to The Toddler about why getting in the car is necessary.
7.56: Unlock door and go back inside. Check that iron is turned off. It is.
7.57: Walk out the door and lock it.
7.58: The Toddler is sitting quietly in the car seat! Have a small party about this gigantic win.
7.59: Reverse out the driveway. Resist urge to go and buy coffee in the name of arriving (pretty much) on time.
8.03: Arrive at Passata Day destination. Have another small party about another gigantic win. Only 3 minutes behind time, we got stuck straight in.

Jeremy had been to the market to pick up the tomatoes so we brought them in from the car. This alone was a workout; there was twice my bodyweight in ripe, red fruit. And we were intending to bottle ALL of it. The sheer scale of the undertaking started to sink in. It continued to sink in as we washed them and diced them and were still working our way through them at 11am. Just when I thought maybe there were actually infinity tomatoes, we looked around for another bucket-full to dice, but they were all done. Done! I surveyed my blistered thumb and undertook the one of the eleventy-hundred cleans ups we would do throughout the day.

While we were slicing and dicing there was a person on the milling machine pushing the tomatoes through to give a (surprisingly) pink, frothy tomato liquid that went into huge pots. After this, the pots went onto hotplates to simmer for as long as possible to reduce the tomatoes to a thick, rich red sauce.

By this time the sun was high and hot. Icy poles (a Jess Special: coconut water and fruit) for the toddlers. A beer for those adults who were inclined. And an interlude to prepare pizza for lunch.

Side Note: I'm the kind of person who looks ahead and sees that I have a big day coming up, so I rest in anticipation. Jess is the kind of person, on the other hand, who sees a big day coming up and thinks it's probably best to make pizza bases and pasta from scratch so there will be delightful food to eat. Amazing, if you ask me.

After lunch we got to sterilising our jars. We were not taking any risks so they went through the dishwasher, into the oven for half-a and a pot of boiling water for the lids.

It was at this point that energy waned a little. It was mid-afternoon, it had become clear that the toddlers were not going to nap, the jars that needed cleaning stretched to approximately eternity and it was really, really hot. And it was at this point I looked around and took the time to absorb my surroundings. A house and yard full of interesting, kind, funny people. Kids playing. Food being made and enjoyed. Traditions being solidified. Yep. My Looking For Alibrandi dream really was coming true.

Finally it was time to ladle the passata into the jars. After some citric acid and salt was measured into each jar, the tomatoes went in, followed by a few fresh basil leaves. Then on went the lids, and straight into the pots to be simmered in water for a while.

And then dinner. Fresh tomato passata went into the ragout to put atop Jess' fresh pasta. Another beer, a little wine and one final, satisfying clean up.

The total yield was about 80 litres of passata. By my precise calculations, that will get exactly heaps of people through the next year until we do it all again. Pasta sauces, pizza sauces, soups, dals, stews. Gazpacho, bloody marys, casserols. Bring it.

Like all of the Things Worth Doing, bottling tomatoes takes time. Energy. Dedication. Preparation. It's not all rainbows and unicorns. You get blisters from cutting the tomatoes. You get a bit bored with the repetitive nature of things. You stare down a mountain of tomatoes and jars and saucepans and you work your way through, bit by bit. But this is exactly where the magic happens. Shared tasks of this nature offer the time to really be with people. To talk. To not talk. To philosophise. To relax. To be productive.

The Thing: Whittling

Our next Thing Worth Doing takes a turn away from the kitchen this time. While the sponges and the flowers were new to us, the kitchen setting itself was pretty darn familiar. So it's time to step a little further outside our comfort zone, and a little further...well...outside.

Enter whittling.

We started out with exactly zero tools specific to the trade. At first I was distracted by the need to go out and buy a knife. A beautiful, expensive, hand-forged-with-the-steel-from-the-hooves-of-an-ancient-warrior's-mythical-beast kind of knife. It took a couple of days to realise that I really couldn't justify the financial outlay on such things, so instead, I found a small vegetable knife (Forever Sharp™ Surgical Stainless Steel - how could I go wrong?), used a hack saw to remove a slender branch from a tree in my yard and sat down to whittle.

As soon as I took my position on my porch with my knife and piece of wood I knew I was onto something. I bent forward and rested my elbows on my knees (this just felt like the correct pose for the job) and struck the first blow with the blade. At this precise moment I knew that whittling deserved its revered place in the history of humankind. Seriously. It felt real. It felt calm. It felt necessary.

I worked away with no purpose other than to shave away at this piece of wood. After the bark was removed I kept going until I had a pretty sharp and satisfying point on the end of my stick. With great satisfaction I swept the little wood chips into the garden and intended to get back to my day...but I couldn't. I looked at this smooth, pointy piece of wood and it called me back. I started up again and in the failing light I whittled the other end into a sort of a blade. Wonky and lopsided, but still sharp enough to...I don't know...cut cheese?

But this is where it gets tricky. After you whittle a pointy tip and a less-than-mediocre blade, which are straightforward enough, where to from there?

• How does one pick wood? 
• Where does one source this wood? 
• Can we make anything useful and/or beautiful with our limited (read: virtually non-existent) skills?
• How can we have a good go at this without a massive outlay for tools? 
• Can we expect to produce anything we will want to keep or give as a gift?
• Who can we find that's willing to help us along this journey?
• And do we need facial hair to fully enjoy this craft?

It's hard to research this craft without completely losing yourself in the deeply transfixing world of woodcraft. There are people out there with some seriously impressive skills. Check this, for example. It's the world's longest continuous wood carving and it's totally beyond me how any human being could do such a thing. Then there's this. I tell you, with a knife like this, this guy is NOT MESSING ABOUT. Check the tutorial and you'll feel like you've pretty much got the whittling of a fishing spear in the bag.

We'd love you to join us on our first Thing Worth Doing for 2017. We'd also love to hear from you if you are a whittler yourself, or if you know one we could hit up for a chat and a cuppa to help us on our way.