1000 Flowers for the Planet - #283 Share Ideas

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #283 Share Ideas

In a world where climate change is being talked about daily instead of concentrating on the negative impending doom we can focus on the positive. Every time we talk to someone the opportunity arises for us to share ideas. It may be something as simple as talking about how you reduce food waste in your family or a good store you know of that sells fair trade products. You could share ideas on: reducing landfill; which products have been produced without cruelty to animals; when environmental events will take place, like beach cleanups and encourage them to join in; recycling or upcycling ideas. There’s a lot of information to share.

Governments could share ideas with other countries on how to manufacture or produce without harming the environment or using slave labour. If the world shared technology, medical knowledge, production methods and humanitarian ideas, maybe we’d avoid the worst of climate change. Maybe we’d make a better world.

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #282 Use Green Perfume

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #282 Use Green Perfume

The bad news first – your perfume may be made from chemicals, including phthalates, that may be harmful to your health. Perfumes have been made using artificial ingredients since the 1930s because they are cheap and easy to manufacture and can be produced in a wide range of fragrances. Prior to that time, perfumes were generally made from organic ingredients. With our environmental tendencies these days, the good news is that there is a growing return to producing perfumes using organic ingredients to produce eco-perfumes.

There’s even more good news. There are some groundbreaking companies who are also committing to sustainable sourcing of their ingredients by supporting farmers through long term contracts that not only guarantee supply but guarantee the farmer an income, even if environmental conditions lead to years when crops are less successful. Furthermore, the manufacturer and the farmer work together to ensure eco-friendly land management. It’s a three-way win!

The next step is for you, the shopper, to ensure you buy responsibly. You’ll have to do your homework, read more than just the label because they won’t tell you all the ingredients. Trawl the Internet and discover who is creating eco-perfume and where it can be purchased. Give it a go, then tell all your friends about it.

1000 Flowers for the Planet - art installation (work in progress)

Margaret A. Rowe with her art installation (work in progress) "1000 Flowers for the Planet"

at Manningham Gallery, January 2014

Soon to be Released - The Glenvale Challenge Quilt

Hot off the press, this is the cover for my latest novel, the 5th in the Australian Challenge Quilt Series, which will be launched at Beaconsfield Quilters Exhibition on Saturday 13 September 2014. Please come along and enjoy the exhibition, chat with me about my new book and have your copy personally signed.

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #281 Protect Art

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #281 Protect Art

In these days of conflict and war, people’s lives are lost, both military and civilian, and many people lose their homes or have to flee to save themselves. This Flower in no way overlooks these tragedies.

There is another tragedy that comes from war and it is the loss of art, either through bombing or deliberate acts of total destruction to eradicate a culture. Art comes in many forms: painting, sculpture, textiles, architecture, utilitarian pieces to mention some of the physical forms. It is imperative that we ensure all art is protected because art reflects culture, informs the community and unites people. We must not allow one culture to destroy the art of another. We must not allow wars to threaten our valuable heritage, the links we have with our past, the foundations on which we continue to build. Once they are gone, they are gone. They are priceless and irreplaceable. Could you imagine a world without Leonardo’s Mona Lisa, without the Treasury at Petra, without Michelangelo’s statue of David? It doesn’t matter whether you like it or not – what matters is that art belongs to people, maybe your group, maybe someone else’s. What’s important is that we join forces to protect it all, for ourselves, and for the future.

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #280 Recycle Car Batteries

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #280 Recycle Car Batteries

Here’s another component from your car that can be recycled – the battery. Because car batteries contain 2 to 3 litres of sulphuric acid, plus lead and lead compounds, it is not desirable to put these into landfill where these toxic chemicals can leach into the environment and waterways. When we damage the earth, we damage our own health. Car batteries are about 98% recyclable with a recycling process that uses less energy than starting from scratch. It therefore makes sense to put the effort into ensuring spent batteries are sent to the right place. When you have your car battery replaced by a workshop or mobile service, take responsibility for the waste you have produced and make sure the old battery will definitely be recycled. If you can’t get a guarantee, take the battery to a recycling depot yourself. Remember, sulphuric acid and lead – we don’t want them in our environment.

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #279 Recycle Tyres

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #279 Recycle Tyres

Hundreds of millions of tyres are sold around the world annually and eventually these same tyres will wear out and need to be ‘disposed’ of. Putting them into landfill is not a terrific idea because they actually contain toxic chemicals, which will leach into the environment and destroy organisms, contaminate soils and also run off into waterways. Apart from affecting wildlife and sea life it eventually affects us too.

Ensure when you have the tyres on your car replaced that the company you deal with will be recycling the old tyres in some way. Germany uses many of their tyres to burn for fuel, other countries concentrate on reuse in the form of garden ornaments, pots for plants, swings and climbing equipment, carry buckets, storage buckets, furniture, posts along roadways etc etc.

They’re still something that leeches chemicals into the environment, but I can’t see many of us refusing to use them by giving up our cars any time soon, so let’s put our thinking caps on and see how we can better manage the initial resource in the first place, and the end product after it has worn out. In the meantime, keep recycling.

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #278 Recycle Car Oil

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #278 Recycle Car Oil

Used car oil can contain contaminants such as lead, cadmium, chromium, arsenic, dioxins, benzene and polycyclic aromatics. Do any of these things sound like they’d be great in the environment? When used car oil is dumped into landfill or tossed onto the garden it gets into the environment via urban runoff. In the waterways, one gallon of oil can contaminate about a million gallons of water.

Used oil can be successfully recycled and used over and over again. Here in Australia we buy about 500 million litres of lubricating oil every year and we recycle about half of that, which is not bad but there’s plenty of room for improvement. How does your country compare? Let’s keep oil out of the environment by making a little effort to take it to a recycling depot and doing the right thing by the planet. A really good fact sheet with lots more information can be found at: [http://www.environment.gov.au/protection/publications/factsheet-why-we-should-recycle-used-motor-oil].

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #277 Gift an Experience

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #277 Gift an Experience

How many gifts do you buy every year? Many people buy enormous quantities and spend huge dollars at Christmas, but there’s also family birthdays, kids birthdays, mothers’ day, fathers’ day, anniversaries, bridal showers, weddings, engagements, baby showers, baby arrival, work colleagues leaving, house warmings, religious ceremonies … It’s quite a list. And for all of these things we buy stuff, particularly at Christmas when children are overwhelmed with gifts.

In the end, what is it all? It’s stuff. Just stuff. Sometimes gifts are thought through well and are very useful or much needed but more and more these days our gifts are just stuff purchased to fulfil that social need to be able to say ‘we did the right thing’ but giving someone ‘something’. How many of us still have all the stuff we’ve been gifted over the years? That question might be worth thinking about.

This Flower suggestion is to change stuff for experiences. Instead of buying a useless object that may not be required, gift someone a memory, something they can go and do or be a part of. Examples would be: theatre tickets; a voucher to go ten pin bowling or play mini golf; sky diving; hot air ballooning; zoo entry; two tickets to a movie; tickets to the football or any other sporting event; entry to a special art exhibition; membership to a club; introductory dancing lessons; a short course in cooking. The list goes on.

When you look back on your life do you say, “Remember that food processor John and Sue bought us” or do you say “Remember that amazing hot air balloon ride John and Sue sent us on”? Life is about experiences, not about stuff. Next time you head out to buy a present, find an experience to give.

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #276 Write a Weekly Menu Plan

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #276 Write a Weekly Menu Plan

With food waste at approximately 30% in developed countries we need to find ways of reducing that incredibly high statistic. It’s nearly a third! That’s really wasteful, and when you think of all the resources that have gone into producing the food in the first place, it makes it almost criminal. Humans keep taking more and more land for habitation and particularly for food production, reducing habitats for wild animals and therefore threatening thousands of species into extinction. We have the knowledge and the power to reduce our effects if we apply ourselves.

A small way, but an impactful way, is to write a menu plan for the week, or even for a whole fortnight. Once you know what you plan to cook for the week you can purchase food accordingly, only buying what you will actually use without second-guessing what you ‘might’ feel like cooking. Include a leftovers night in that plan (Flower #275). Apart from all the resources you’ll be saving, you will find you have more time on your hands from not having to worry about what you’re going to do at dinnertime and you’ll be saving yourself money. Challenge yourself to write a weekly menu plan for two months and see how it works. Good luck.

Beaconsfield Quilt Show - 24 days to go

Only 24 days to go!

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #275 Store and Use Leftovers

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #275 Store and Use Leftovers

Keeping on the topic of food and food waste: sometimes we’re not as hungry as we thought we were when we started cooking, or the kids are fractious and won’t eat all their dinner, so we end up with leftover food. Our ancestors were particularly clever at dealing with leftover food and seldom let anything go to waste. Today we have more help available to us in the form of Tupperware containers with airtight seals, fridges for storing and microwave ovens for reheating.

It’s important that we do things like this. Firstly it reduces needless waste from going into landfill. Secondly, it will make a significant difference to your finances – would you consider going to the supermarket, buying your weekly/fortnightly food and then go home and put 30% of it straight into the bin/trash? You might as well if you’re going to waste it anyway – you’ll save energy by not cooking it if you throw it away first.

When I was a kid mum might cook a piece of silverside one night and the next night the leftover meat would be turned into patties (cold meat pieces were dipped in batter and cooked both sides like a pikelet). If there was leftover stew, perhaps only a small portion, someone might have that heated and on a piece of toast for lunch. Mum used to call some of these meals ‘LWL’ (Luxury with leftovers). Perhaps your family has some tips for leftover food.

Save food, reduce waste to landfill, save money, save all the resources used in food production such as water, fertilisers (chemicals), transport, energy – and feel grateful that you have so much food available to you in the first place.

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #274 Serve Smaller Portions

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #274 Serve Smaller Portions

A huge 30% of food in developed countries is thrown out – put into the rubbish bin to be thrown ‘away’, which we all know means to be sent to landfill. A great deal of energy and resources has gone into producing that food – precious water, time, human effort, land, transportation, energy and fossil fuels. When food is thrown away it wastes all of these things. Think of all those people in the world struggling to find enough food to eat and then think about how much food you throw away. Does it make you see the issue differently?

The other aspect is the obesity problem the Western world seems to be concentrating on these days. Obesity can be contributed to by portion sizes, as well as several other factors, so serve smaller portions when having meals. This simple act will affect so many things in a positive way: your health, your energy levels, your fitness, your mental wellbeing, financial savings, reduced landfill, better use of resources, less energy consumption and so much more. Challenge yourself to serve smaller portions for two weeks and see what a difference it makes.

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #273 Recycle Ink Cartridges

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #273 Recycle Ink Cartridges

Just as with photocopier cartridges, recycling ink cartridges, such as those in your domestic printer, will help reduce the amount of stuff going to landfill, will recover resources, save water and energy and reduce carbon emissions. Apparently 1.1 billion inkjet cartridges are used around the world every year (quoted with caution as the website isn’t dated). The same site states that 300 million cartridges are thrown away each year i.e. not recycled. These go into landfill. They take about 1,000 years to biodegrade. So it’s a much better option to recycle every one of them. It’s easy to find somewhere nearby where they are collected for recycling – all you have to do is make the effort. We don’t really want all those chemicals in our environment. Think before you toss. Recycle instead.

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #272 Recycle Photocopier Cartridges

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #272 Recycle Photocopier Cartridges

Quote:

May's monster month of collections was our biggest ever! ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark' collected 366,354 printer cartridges for recycling or around 130,000 kg. On top of that, we have just hit 25 million cartridges recycled since the program began 11 years ago.

So what are the environmental benefits of this success?

• over 11,200 tonnes of cartridges diverted from landfill;
• over 114,240 tonnes of greenhouse gases prevented from being released into the atmosphere*; and
• significant water, energy and resource savings as a result of the recycled materials being used in other products.

The CO2 saved from recycling through the ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark' program is equivalent to taking more than 27,450 cars of the road permanently!

[source: http://cartridges.planetark.org/news/display/762]

The reason we need to recycle photocopier cartridges, apart from the plastic content, avoiding putting more stuff into landfill, reducing greenhouse gases, saving water, saving energy, saving resources, and making ourselves ‘feel good’ is because these cartridges contain carbon black (known to us as toner), which is a ‘possible carcinogen’. Now we have to pay attention to the semantics because nobody is going to say that toner ‘is’ a carcinogen because that would cause legal consequences all over the world. So let’s play it safe and rather than put the cartridges into landfill, remember to recycle them and add to Planet Ark's good statistics.

Talking of statistics, the above numbers from Planet Ark are for Australia – imagine what much larger countries such as USA, Canada, Great Britain etc are doing. Much bigger numbers there.

If you’d like to know more about photocopiers and their impact on health you can read an interesting article at: http://www.silentmenace.com/Photocopiers.html

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #271 Slow Down

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #271 Slow Down

With petrol/gas prices constantly rising we all need ways to save money. When driving at a moderate speed we use less fuel than when driving faster, so slow down. This will help your hip pocket, but it will also reduce our demands on finite energy resources, reduce carbon emissions and help improve the planet.

Furthermore, when you slow down you relax more and have a better opportunity to enjoy the journey which is good for your health and as I’ve said before, better health mean less pressure on our health systems, which saves even more resources and money. So there are lots of positive outcomes from the simple act of laying off that accelerator pedal.

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #270 Offer a Helping Hand

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #270 Offer a Helping Hand

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Whenever you see someone in need, offer a helping hand. If there is a special charity event or environmental day, offer a helping hand. Sometimes people don’t know how to ask for help, which leaves it up to us to be mindful of others and think about how they might need assistance. Do you have an elderly neighbour who struggles to keep their garden tidy or do the grocery shopping? Help them out. Join others who are trying to help the environment through replanting programs or clean up days and be part of the action. If you’re not busy at work, offer to help a colleague with their workload. Help your local school with fundraising events.  There are lots of ways to help out if we open our eyes and look for the opportunity. And the best way to offer a helping hand is to do something for a stranger, without any fanfare or reward, just the good feeling you’ll get inside when you do something nice for a fellow human being.

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #269 Gift Someone Your Smile

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #269 Gift Someone Your Smile

Go on – smile! Smile at someone you don’t know. Smile at a stranger you walk past in the street. Smile at a work colleague. Smile at the shop assistant. Walk in the door smiling when you get home at night and see how it affects your family. It doesn’t cost anything to smile. It’s completely free. Gift your smile to anyone and everyone, for free, and see how much you get back – it will be tenfold, because when you smile you actually make yourself feel better and that smile causes a glow all around you that’s infectious. Before you know it, people around you will start feeling better too. Gift someone your smile, as often as possible, and you may find you receive them in return. Smiles break down hate. Smiles create opportunity. Smiles make people feel better. Smiles cross barriers effortlessly.

These gifts from one person to another cost nothing. Yet they are the most valuable things we have to offer. They are the beginnings of love.

And they’ll make the biggest impact on the planet.

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #268 Unplug the Laptop

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #268 Unplug the Laptop

It’s very easy to plug in the laptop to recharge it, walk away and forget it, but it only takes a while to recharge and it’s done – there’s no need to leave it plugged in. Once the battery is full of energy it can’t be loaded with any more energy, so the electricity that is still going through the system is leaking energy, and whilst it may be minimal, every bit of it adds up over time. Unplug the laptop when it has completed recharging and save electricity. 

The research I’ve done on the internet is interesting in that some people claim the amount of leakage/waste energy is so minimal it’s not worth worrying about. But here’s my take: even if it’s worth barely one cent per day, multiply that by the number of appliances in your home leaking energy, multiply that by 365 days in the year and see what figure you come up with (conservative figure = 5 appliances = $18.25 per year). Now take that and multiply it by the number of households in your country. One million households would be wasting $18,250,000.00 per year. Remember this is in unused electricity. And I’m only talking about dollars – how about the wasted use of fossil fuels? So if you think your one cent a day is not worth worrying about, think again.

Don’t be lazy. Save the world. Unplug your laptop.

Beaconsfiled Quilt Show

Don't forget to come and see me at the show.

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #267 Reduce Hot Water Temperature

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #267 Reduce Hot Water Temperature

Most hot water systems are set to 140° but turning the thermostat down to 120° will still give you water that’s plenty hot enough. Even if you turn it down to 130° you are still going to be making some savings. Read through your hot water service manual before making any changes, check if there are two elements in your system which means you’ll have two thermostats, and ensure your safety at all times. By turning down the thermostat you will reduce the risk of scalding, which can occur at 140°, you’ll save money, you will reduce energy use, saving fossil fuels and reducing carbon emissions, and when lots of people make these small changes it makes a big difference to the planet.

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #266 Add a Towel to the Dryer

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #266 Add a Towel to the Dryer

Unfortunately there are a lot of people around the world who dry their clothes in the clothes dryer, which uses electricity. You can reduce your power usage by about 10% if you put your most absorbent towel in the dryer when you dry a load. Keep the towel handy and remember to use it every time, thus helping to reduce the use of fossil fuels, reduce carbon emissions, and save a bit of money on your power bill.

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #265 Cut Product use In Half

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #265 Cut Product use In Half

Have you noticed the toothpaste advertisements demonstrate a long line of toothpaste being spread onto the whole length of the brush? Did you know you really only need an amount about the size of a pea? This is how suggestive advertising leads to product overuse. We’re given measuring cups with our laundry powders and liquids that make us feel we should use the full cup, and if you push the pump on a liquid soap container it will give you a huge amount to use. Does your shampoo bottle tell you to wash twice?

My thought is that if these products were actually any good at doing their job we’d need less, not more. A hundred years ago women washed their hair once a month – this doesn’t mean they had dirty hair all the time. What this means is the advertising companies have developed so well over the last century that they’ve convinced us of all of these “needs” we have – but they’re usually fantasy. If washing your hair once a month with natural ingredients was so laborious, why are we now washing our hair every day or two. So we’ll use more product and pay for more product.

Cut product use in half – give it a go and see what happens. See how your clothes come out of the washing machine when you use less than the recommended amount of detergent – any difference? Will you still get a mouthful of froth from your toothpaste if you use a pea-sized amount? I bet you do. Only push that liquid soap pump a little bit and check if your hands still come clean. Companies want us to use more product because they want our money, but in the meantime, apart from draining us financially, the cost to the planet is huge as we pour all these chemicals into the environment. Our water systems are affected, hence the food chain is affected, therefore our own health is affected. If you can’t do without these products, try using less, and you’ll help make a difference to the world.

Beaconsfield Quilt Show

I'll be launching the fifth novella in the Australian Challenge Quilt Series on 13 September 2014 at the Beaconsfield Quilt Show. The ladies of Beaconsfield Quilters are a fabulous bunch and do wonderful work, both with their sewing needles and for their community. Come and meet me at the show, and help support those wonderful Australians who serve in the CFA.

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #264 Close Cooling Vents

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #264 Close Cooling Vents

Those of you who are lucky enough to have some form of cooling system in your home, remember to close off any vents to rooms that are not being used. Bedrooms generally don’t need to be cooled during the day – the vents can be closed off until late afternoon or early evening to cool them down in time for sleep. At night-time you don’t need to cool living areas while you’re sleeping. You get the picture.

These same vents can be the source of heat loss during winter when you’re trying to keep warm. Block off all the cooling vents and prevent your hard earned money pouring out through them instead of keeping you toasty.

By managing our heating and cooling with the utmost efficiency we are able to reduce energy use, save fossil fuels, prevent excess carbon emissions and save money. A win for us – a win for the planet.

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #263 Adjust the Fridge Temperature

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #263 Adjust the Fridge Temperature

You have the power! Refrigerators come with a temperature control that you are able to adjust yourself. This can be used to lower the fridge temperature in the winter months, and increase it in the hot months when the fridge might need to work a little harder to beat the ambient temperature in the house. Find your refrigerator’s manual and read through it to find the guides that will help you keep your fridge running at its optimum. This, in turn, will ensure you use energy as efficiently as possible, saving carbon emissions as well as money.

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #262 Use Rags

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #262 Use Rags

Paper towel is made from paper – there’s actually a clue in the name, isn’t there? Paper comes from trees, and whilst trees are sustainable (so long as we manage these resources wisely), it seems crazy to me to create a product that is single use and then gets thrown in the bin (call that landfill). Try using rags instead. You don’t even have to buy them. Plenty of us have old t-shirts or other clothing that has been worn to death and is quite ready to become a rag. Old tea towels that don’t dry well enough or now have holes in them make excellent rags, as do torn and worn out sheets and other linen items. A lot of cloth items around the house can eventually be used as rags for cleaning up spills, wiping away dust and dirt, drying hands (particularly in the garage or home workshop), general cleaning or any other use you may find around the house.

Our ancestors never used them and they managed to have clean households. Use rags instead, wash them (not necessarily with your lingerie) and keep reusing them. You will be saving some trees, putting less into landfill and, more importantly, avoid putting the chemical substances, such as bleach which can be used to make the paper towels white, into the ground and subsequently the water systems.