Another book and another website.

Just to keep things ticking over....

I'm reading a fascinating book called 'The Last Oil Shock'. It's by David Strahan, an expert in his field, and, having established just how serious the peak oil situation is, he goes on to look at the various features of life in a post-oil world. Although hard going at times, I'd really recommend this book. It was only published last year and has some cutting-edge statistics in it. Read it with a clear head, take notes and I hope you'll find it as rewarding as I do!

I've also just started working for an exceptionally cool environmental website called Global Cool. Have a look round for a bit of celeb spotting and sign up to reduce your carbon footprint by one tonne.

Remote Patrol by Kilter

Kilter is a sustainable theatre company that engages its audiences in issues surrounding the environment, social justice and English heritage.

This is a short film of their latest production, which was set in Bath Abbey Cemetery and sought to open minds on a range of issues through 'extreme-eco-twisted-outdoor-once-was-theatre'.

An article on Peak Oil

I went to a really interesting Peak Oil talk t'other day.

You can find a write-up of it here

Enjoy!

It's still November right?

Goodness me, where does the time go?

I've been a busy little bee since I last posted. First up, let's talk books...

I read Leo Hickman's 'A Life Stripped Bare' recently. As a writer for the Guardian, he was challenged to live 'ethically' for a year. This book candidly describes his ethical journey and I was surprised at the realistic vigour with which he embraced all avenues of his new life, ranging from a holiday by train (with a baby) to buying a wormery.

His trials and tribulations were recreated with verve for the reader often through a combination of honest humour and soul-bearing- it even brought a tiny tear to my eye at one point. As it made all but the most extreme acts of an ethical life acheivable without preaching or (too many) boring stats, I would say this is the perfect book for those starting out on their 'ethical journey' (urgh).

What is this 'ethical living' anyway?

Well, first of all, I don’t know. The closest I think I can come at the moment is a loose description: I think ethical living is to be aware of how you live. Further to this, it is to take action to improve the way you live and to lessen any negative impacts resulting from the actions you take. In brief then, perhaps it’s to act on your awareness.

It’s sort of overwhelming to begin with. To think through the ethical consequences of every decision you make or don’t make; exhausting actually. The wonderful thing is though, that, once you start, you’ve already gone twice as far as you’ve gone before. Say for example, you’ve never chosen the Fair Trade Coffee because it’s 10p more expensive. The day you spend that extra 10p because you realise that ‘fair’ is actually a very important word, you’ve literally doubled your ‘ethi-score’.

Enough preaching. My work for today will be to find 3 useful ethical websites.

1. ethiscore (linked to ethicalconsumer): these website provide information on the companies behind the brand names and will help you make an ethical choice when you next buy a new pair of trainers.
2. The Environment Agency: the environment- ahh! This website will guide you through everything you need to know about doing your bit, it’s particularly good on local knowledge.
3. Amnesty International: we all know about Amnesty International and its work protecting human rights worldwide. This site will keep you updated on all the recent news and teach you what you can do to help.

To blog or not to blog...?

Forget that. Blogging these days is about as commonplace as blowing your nose. The real quandry comes when you actually start to put fingers to keyboard; what shall I blog about?!

I've spent a few days thinking about it and looking at other interesting blogs. I know I want to blog on something fairly specific, something I'm interested in (and will remain interested in) and something that's topical.

To cut a long story of umm-ing and ah-ing short, I'm going to blog on 'ethical living'. While happy to admit I'm not entirely sure what I mean by that, I have every confidence its true meaning will surface once given the arms and legs with which to do so.