Wednesday 30 September 2009

Check the content of your loo rolls.

"Future generations are going to look at the way we make toilet paper as one of the greatest excesses of our age." Allen Hershkowitz

In the Fall 2009 issue of Yoga + Joyful Living there is an article about Allen Hershjowitz, a scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council. The nonprofit  NRDC works with organisations and businesses in the US to reduce their environmental toll. The article is well worth reading article online. In case you don't have the time or inclination to read the whole article here are the pertinent points about toilet paper and how we can help deforestation by being discerning when we buy our loo rolls.

Old-growth forests, tropical and sub-tropical forests, boreal forests, and many others are being decimated by the manufacturers of toilet manufacturers. "Deforestation causes more global warming pollution than all the combined emissions of cars, trucks, buses, airplanes, and ships in the entire world" Allen Hershkowitz

Do your bit to prevent deforestatino by buying toilet rolls that do not contain virgin fibre Instead aim for products with a recycled content. If you cannot buy paper with a recycled content then make sure that any virgin fibres used are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

Here's are startling statistic:

"If every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of virgin fiber toilet paper (500 sheets) with a 100% recycled roll, we could save 423,900 trees." Just imagine that extrapolated worldwide. So please do your bit and check the content of your loo rolls before you buy.

The Godfather of Greening |

The Godfather of Greening |

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Bee on Scabious



Bee on Scabious

Preening Swans



Poole Harbour swan family preening at the bottom of the slip way next to the old lifeboat station.

Friday 18 September 2009

Road Closure Latest

On Tuesday we had another letter from Southern Gas Network apologising for the confusion and clarifying the position regarding the road closure!

Between 21st September and 14th December Fernside Road will be closed to traffic travelling from The New Inn towards The Shah of Persia. Vehicles travelling in the opposite direction (Shah to New Inn) will be uanffected.

I'll check on Monday and if it's any different I will let you know!

Bournemouth Westcliff

Yesterday we went for a walk along the Westcliff. Although there was a cold wind it was a glorious day. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. The sea reflected the blue of the sky and the sunlight danced on the water. I was hopeful of seeing the northern bottlenose whale which is visiting Poole Bay but alas I am still waiting for my first sighting of a whale. We had gone up onto the cliffs because that is the best place to be able to spot Gilbert as the whale has been named. If you want to go and try a bit of whale spotting then go up onto the cliffs between Bournemouth pier and Branksome Chine. If you spot him from the cliffs and he is not too far out you can then run down to the beach for a closer look! Fortunately everyone has been sensible about not trying to go out with boats to see Gilbert which would cause the animal distress. Everyone is delighted that he's here and hope that he remains healthy and can find his way back to his pod in the Atlantic soon.


BBC news report on Gilbert

Wednesday 16 September 2009

 
Viburnum fragrance
Sunshine filtered by green boughs -
A fallen conker!

Saturday 12 September 2009

Fernside Road closure - Latest

Eastbound, going South,
Travelling to the North-west.
Which way's closed? Who knows!
First of all they said Fernside Road would be closed eastbound from 21st September. Then last week the notices were changed to say closed southbound - which made no sense. And yesterday we had a letter saying the road would be closed for travel in a northwesterly direction. If you're coming this way the week after next just keep your eyes open and your wits about you!

Thursday 10 September 2009

The bee and the spider

Behind the curtain -
condensation on the glass,
brilliant blue sky
This morning I stopped to watch bees visiting the scabious and lavender flowers in the garden. There was a beautiful spider's web suspended between a lavender plant and the acer. It's builder was waiting patiently at it's centre. As I looked at the web a bee flew into it. My heart jumped into my mouth. Instantly the thought arose to rescue it followed immediately by the command 'Don't!'. I watched as the spider sprang forward and ran to it's victim. Immediately it sensed danger and returned to the centre of it's web as swiftly as it had charged out.
Not much effort was required on the part of the bee to free itself. It's movements and weight combined were too much for the fine threads which broke. The bee tumbled down, laddering the web on it's decent until it fell free and flew away.
Exquisite death trap!
Ensnared bee, nimble spider
who'll be the victim?