Permaculture..Hilly Fields..and Clutter No More!

This week has been really quite a journey. As I hoped at the start, there is something happening to me which is not just about tacking greener ideas on to my normal lifestyle.
It is happening at quite a deep level and feels like a flower blooming. Too much poking around to find out what it's all about might interfere with a delicate process. Some things happen better with a little benign neglect!...
But it is is possible to mention some of the outer manifestations of my journey towards greener living. What is on my mind, the books I'm reading, the things I've done. Here's the list!

1. Permaculture.  Who knew? I thought it was just a way of gardening but it is so much more. Turns out it is about sustainable culture in many ways.  Doing more with less, with less effort! Hurray!  I've instinctively known that our current mainstream culture is just quite sick with it's complete addiction to hard work as the highest value known to humanity.  Permaculture has a different view. Work should be about creating a good life for a community.  That's why fair shares for all matters.  So you don't work the land to the point of barrenness and then fill it with artificial replacements for its natural goodness. You don't work yourself to the point of physical and emotional burn out.  You take enough, you share, you treat yourself, the land and other people with respect.  It's great that there is a free online course to learn about the basics. Now just need to manage my time so that I follow through on this. But it is so worth it!

2. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive - the Book, by Jared Diamond.  I was in tears by the end of the chapter on Montana.  People want to live in a beautiful place but how do they sustain their lives without destroying the beauty around them? It seems clear that one problem has been that we don't want to pay farmers enough for the food they produce. No account was taken of increasing costs. This wretched drive for mindless, soulless efficiency above all, which boomerangs in unexpected ways! For example, in trying, and succeeding temporarily, to suppress totally naturally occurring forest fires, they worsened the problem to a massive extent.  It's a marvellous book and I am so bowled over by the sweep of it. Just to see it as it as shown by an estate agent, "the most beautiful mountain valley in North America." And yes, I would like to visit it one day.



3.  A wonderful walk at sunrise in Hilly Fields Park....I do want and need to reconnect with the nature and near by urban green space. What a beautiful place. In my home I don't have much sense of the sunrise as the sun is blocked from view by other buildings. But from Hilly Fields there is a glorious view. I enjoyed exploring the park for the best vantage point and now I know. It's quite near the cafe as it happens. I'd have to agree it is marvellous mood medicine!

Next time I'll take a flask of tea and time it so that I also have breakfast there. An added bonus was finding a completely unexpected sundial in the Memorial Gardens just round the corner from my home. So if I ever want to reinforce my sense of direction, I know where to go! This is part of a theme of digging deeper, metaphorically speaking, in my local area.

A Glade in Hilly Fields: Sunrise


4.  On a practical level, installing an Eco Friendly shower was a good thing. It is, as John says, a bit like showering in fizzy water rather than still. But the savings are potentially stupendous and it still feels like a good "shower experience."   I also bought  a sheaf of recycled paper to use for photcopying.  It was quite expensive but maybe it's time that the true value of a resource is reflected in the cost. It will make me more careful not to waste it!  I am more conscious of all use of energy, from lights to the computer. I started shutting it down completely and pulling out the lead when I am not actually using it. Small things but slowly the effect mounts up.

5.  Several rich sources of inspiration and have come my way. I received my first copy of  Earthlines a wonderful journal of "ecoliterature" which is full of original writing. It is edited by a couple who are also crofters on the Island of Lewis. So I specially enjoyed the  television programme Islands on the Edge, about the Hebrides. It was so moving to see that the islanders are maintaining a naturally ecofriendly way of life. It's not for the faint hearted, with a tendency to be green when it's convenient. And another Channel 4 programme seems relevant. When the pain of the enviromental crisis is just overwhelming, music might be the very best balm for the soul.

 http://www.channel4.com/programmes/chopin-changed-my-life/4od

6 Other green matters this week:  Fennel. Why does Nestle think it should be able to patent a naturally occurring substance? This is truly ridiculous. I feel impatient with corporations whose motives are solely greed, so far as I can see.  So I signed the petition about it and if you also think we need to keep the freedom to use Nature's medicine chest without corporate fatcats getting in on the act, you can sign it. Nestle have made a statement saying they want to patent a compound, not the flower itself. Slightly reassuring, perhaps.

8.   Fracking at Balcombe... The protests continue. I trust there is the sound of a Government shooting itself in the foot here, as Philip Carr Gomm says, this is David Cameron's poll tax.    

7.  Clearing clutter. why is this green? I am slowly but thoroughly clearing out cabinets and drawers. It's green, because it means using the resources I have, and not hoarding, just in case. It's also green because it's easier to manage my stuff, keep things clean, and not waste energy worrying or searching for mislaid items.  It means that I have more time and energy for the things that really matter. It's also about living in the now. Much more could be said about this. It's part of being truly responsible for my own life and decisions. 

We All Love Trees, Don't We?

English: Whisby Nature Park The Natural World Centre and Wind Turbine from near the car park entrance (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This week  I went to a meeting of the local neighbourhood association. The topic was trees, and who cares for them. Although I've lived here for more than 20 years, this was the first time I went to a meeting. It was a tiny step of active reaching out to "belong" and get to know my neighbours- and a step into taking more notice of my local environment.

I was left with a lot of food for thought.

The topic could not have been better, trees, and some of the people who care for them locally. It was fascinating. There was a film from Nature  Guides with an A-Z of facts about Elms. And then the local people who look out for trees. I wish I had made
notes so that I could write more specifically!

It brought home the fact that trees need care, watering and protection, they need to be planted in the right place and to fit in with the local landscape. Planting a tree is a gesture of goodwill for future generations. Not immediate gratification. And if you don't imagine the tree at it's full height, people might have reason to complain. And that might be part of the explanation for the fact that not everyone loves trees...
.
In fact, at this meeting, it was made clear that some people hate trees. Not the people at the meeting, but they reported the views of others who do positively hate trees!  Indeed I was shocked. Not caring, not noticing, I could understand, since I've been through that myself. But to hate them!. These were the reasons people quoted:-

They look untidy, cluttering the pavement.
They cause problems with their roots making the pavements lumpy.
They take up room, making the pavements hard to negotiate with a buggy or pram.
They make your house dark.

Now that I'm reconnecting with nature myself, slowly but surely, I realize how vital it is to a sense of well being, to be able to go out and enjoy a green space. Last night I briefly talked with a doctor about this. He was saying that he understands the value of the natural world for the well being of his patients.

Other people of course care a great deal. They tend to the trees, raising money to plant them, watering them, taking litter away, check applications to have a tree felled and raise objections.... They plan the best places for trees to be planted in parks. They lobby the council to protect them better, not always successfully, clearly.

First of all I'm offering to help with being a tree warden. I'd love to help people reconnect, or even connect for the first time, with the natural world so that everyone would love and appreciate trees.

The irony is that the tree in my own back garden- I think it will have to be felled. It was damaged by fire years ago, before my time, and it's getting more and more hollow. The tree surgeon said it had to come down by at least 50% in order to be safe.

Take it down, he said, and plant a fruit tree.  I know he's right. And if the application goes in to the council and they don't agree, then it is the council who is liable if anything should happen as a result of the tree coming down during a storm and damaging someone or something. I don't hate this damaged tree in my back garden, but I am responsible if it were to come down all of a sudden.

It was shocking to find out that some newly planted trees have been vandalized. Just broken off. It is one of those events that makes me go a bit numb. Some people are angry but I am numb. Why would anyone want to do that?

The word that came to me is alienation. I also read this week that children are becoming more detached from nature. For example only 10% of children walk to school, usually with an adult.

So if even I, a country woman born and bred, can end up out of touch with the natural world, is it so surprising that people who have never had that connection in the first place, see trees as slightly untidy objects cluttering up the place..? There is no point being mad at this attitude. Better try to understand it first and do a little bit towards changing attitudes.

Caring for something, a tree, a human being, or a community, does not mean being sentimental about it. It's a responsibility. It will be ironic if one of my first steps on the road to a greener lifestyle is to be someone who has a tree removed. But there are also trees to keep and maintain, and trees to plant,  and local people to meet.

I guess that living greener is not just about a single separate life. I wonder how do people influence the ones who don't care yet? Or is there a better question?

Related articles

• Top 22 Benefits of Trees
• Lesson learnt from a 3 year old...!

Not So Natural Ways! Guttering, Tea bags, Work life balance and More!

So much time has passed since last I wrote that I hardly know where to start! One major news story that is intriguing me at the moment is about the wife of the new Bank of England Governor, Diana Carney. I now know a lot more about teabags, thanks to the story about her in the Daily Mail.

Well, teabags are maybe not a major headache, but as my partner said, at least we use the Clipper Organic unbleached kind. A few environmental brownie points or should that be greenie? .Also I shall enjoy learning from her blog on natural products!  She even wrote recently about drains. You don't hear so much about that in the national press.

 Funnily enough, out in the garden today, John and I discussed having an awning and/or a pergola or a conservatory. Drains and guttering are not subjects I've had much interest in up to now. But to have an awning, we'd need to move a drain. It's just a drain from the guttering so all it really drains is rain water. I had never thought about it before. It joins the waste water drain. We discussed having a rainwater tank.

I remember one of those from childhood, it was just a big open barrell really. John pointed out that we are getting the rainwater from next door's roof as well. So a lot of rainwater would come our way. He says it would have to be piped down to the garden, and it might overflow and make the garden too wet. At the moment the rainwater is added to the waste water and it's all treated to become our communal drinking water. it seems a bit wasteful. There is more to find out about the water cycle here For now, I'm just surprised to learn that Thames Water's 8.8 million customers use on average 157 litres per day. I keep looking for the point that makes it 15.7 but it is not there. The government's target is 130 litres. That's still a lot of water, surely!

However what is even more on my mind is...defining green and my ideal green lifestyle. For me, being green is not just about the products and the practical aspects, important though they are. It'a about a life that is lived in harmony with natural rythms and what just feels good. Does it seem natural to work facing a computer screen for 9 or 10 hours a day?

That is a reality for me at the moment and it is one reason for not writing here so much. I have quite well paid work, financially, but it does require gazing at a computer screen and reading for long periods of time. There is a piece of legislation which says that work should include time not spent in front of a screen! I could perhaps call my 5 minutes away, thinking time. For sure my ability to process information deteriorates after 3 hours solid screen gazing. I have to achieve a "quota" of analysing sets of data, and so far I have not met the target. I'm inching towards it.

That means...a lot of small things. I work with invisible blinkers. I do not want people to interrupt me, even for a few seconds. I don't stop to go to the loo, hardly drink water, have to make myself have a lunch break or any kind of break. I'd love to be able to pop to a local green space for a peaceful 20 minutes, but I have not found one yet. Not good, and I don't mean just for me...as a recent study by the University of Exeter shows that having access to a green space is important for urban dwellers' wellbeing. About a third as important as being married.

Work life balance at the moment is heavily out of kilter. However, what bothers me most about all of this,  is that I am so willing to undergo this regime! I feel driven to meet the targets. I don't want the interaction with colleagues. I don't mind not speaking to anyone. It is almost a relief!

 But, on a day off, I get some perspective. Is this what I want for the rest of my life? Is this natural? How is it affecting my body? Do I really not care about communication with others? I commute for about 3 hours a day, with two changes each way. For some of the journey I have to stand. None of this is natural. To work in a noisy open plan office, where I don't need or want direct contact with almost any of the people, has a soul numbing effect.

People become nuisances, so I avoid eye contact or much connection in case I am engaged in conversation and waste time. This is a long way from work as a cooperative, creative endeavour. It has a tendency to shut down the sensitive parts of me, so I feel almost as much of a machine as the computer at which I work.

So it was a gift this week, when a passenger standing on the train collapsed. He recovered but not before people took steps to help him. Calling for help, giving him water, helping him sit up, and someone went with him off the train at his stop to make sure he was all right. Suddenly we were a cooperative, concerned group of people trying to help someone. That is natural. Thank goodness.

 This morning I sat in the garden and enjoyed the quiet. A beautiful summer's day, with the rambling roses at their peak. Such a rare treat! Leaving home at 7.30am, returning home at 8.30pm...and this week working on a Sunday because there are quotas to meet, that is all not natural.

 

 There are better ways, more natural ways of living. I will continue as I am for a while, and be grateful for the positives within it. But I don't want to lose sight of the fact that none of us were put on earth to be sat in front of computers from dawn to dusk, no matter what the purpose of that activity is.

 (And we are going to look into the possibility of a solar powered rainwater pond as a stunning water feature in the garden. And it still seems strange to add rainwater to waste water and treat it all and send it back, when the rain water could be used directly. But I'm no scientist and there are doubtless good reasons for it. And that's quite enough screen time for my one day off this week!)