Out with the Old. In with the New.

Time for the annual roundup of the year's highlights.

Top of the list has to be our summer holiday in the Inner Hebrides, when we finally introduced our Iona to her island namesake.  I've been meaning to blog about it ever since we returned but have never got round to it.  But I'm determined to do so, so until then all I'll say is that the photograph is of the view from the living room of our lodge on Colonsay where I spent many happy hours reading and knitting (that's when I wasn't spending many equally happy hours exploring the island by bike).

On 6 January I attended my first Quaker meeting and have been going ever since.  After years of searching for somewhere I can continue my spiritual journey I believe I may have found it with the Friends.

My younger daughter was offered the university place of her dreams, at Falmouth, to study illustration.  After a year of travelling up and down the country attending open days and returning for interviews, this came as a great relief to all of us, although I did enjoy the opportunity to visit/reacquaint myself with several lovely cities.

In May I accepted the challenge to live on £1 per day for 5 days.  I am grateful for the generosity of the friends who sponsored me and the opportunity to raise the profile of extreme poverty in Bristol via two interviews on BBC local radio.

I continue to volunteer for the Bristol Pound and in the autumn was elected to the Board of Directors to represent the individual account holders.  The local currency is over a year old now and I'm really looking forward to playing my part in its continuing success.

Now that the girls have both left home I've been doing more singing.  In the summer I took part in the biennial Sing for Water on Bristol's harbourside and then I finally plucked up the courage to join the Gasworks Singers.  This is an offshoot of the Gasworks choir (of which I've been a member for many years) and is a much smaller group who sing more often at festivals and charitable events.  There was a fairly long list of songs to master before our first gig at the North Bristol Arts Trail but I managed and can now relax and enjoy the music, the friendship and the spectacular shared lunches.

There have, of course, been occasions on which to try and set the world right.  In April I paid my first visit to Aldermaston to protest against the obscenity of nuclear weapons.  In June I was in London to highlight world hunger, a week after I helped feed 5,000 people with food that might otherwise have been send to a landfill site.  It does sometimes feel as if we're bashing our heads against a brick wall but if that's what it takes to create a better world for everyone then I for one am prepared to carry on.

Fortunately there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful and that's what I plan to concentrate on in 2014.

I'm looking forward to:

• taking my elder daughter on a European city break (Prague?) after she sits her final degree exam and then to attending her graduation ceremony in the summer
• campaigning for the Green Party in this year's local and European elections and persuading people to consider the environmental impact of their vote
• getting my head around Quaker faith and practice and perhaps attending the Yearly Meeting Gathering in Bath (even if it's only for a day or so)
• helping to convince more individuals and businesses of the merits of the Bristol Pound
• listening to the debate on Scottish independence and (hopefully?) witnessing the birth of an independent Scotland in September
• carrying on baking, campaigning, composting, crocheting, gardening, knitting, protesting, reading, recycling, singing, walking,  ...

Happy New Year to all of you!

47/365

and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
 and their spears into pruning hooks:
 nation shall not lift up a sword against nation,
 neither shall they learn war any more

If I had £100 billion would I spend it on ...

... building more hospitals, employing more doctors and nurses, ensuring that every child had access to a good school, investing in the public transport infrastructure, supporting individuals and their families with physical and mental needs, sponsoring medical research, providing shelter for the homeless, funding research into sustainable energy, ensuring that everyone is paid a living wage, eradicating extreme poverty ...

or would I spend it all on a nuclear deterrent?

Hmmm.

RPSs

WARNING: Controversial post!

Our newly elected mayor, George Ferguson, has announced the introduction of Residents' Parking Schemes in 7 new areas across the city (including mine).

His decision has sparked a flurry of protests in the press and across the social media sites.

I've taken some time to read the details and, when consulted, will have no hesitation in voting for the proposal.

Our nation has become over dependent on the motor car.  I'm not denying the benefits it brings in terms of personal freedom and independence, nor the lifeline it offers the disabled, the elderly and those who live in remote locations.  However there is a price to pay and we are all (motorists and non motorists alike) paying it.  Our motorways and city centres are rapidly becoming gridlocked, air pollution has reached unacceptable levels, parents do not consider it safe enough to allow their children to play out in the streets, high streets are being deserted in favour of out of town shopping centres, the population is increasingly obese, the temperature of the earth's atmosphere continues to rise and we risk sparking catastrophic changes to the planet's climate systems.

So it seems to me, that a scheme whose aim is to reduce the number of cars on our city's streets, is well worth careful consideration.

As I understand it, it works like this.  Residents pay £30 a year for the right to park their car in their RPS area between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday.  No permit is required by residents to park in the evenings or at weekends.  £30 a year works out at 58 pence per week or 8p per day.  Hardly a king's ransom.  Second cars are charged the slightly higher tariff of £80 a year (£1.54/week, 22p/day).  Third cars are considerably more expensive at £200 a year, but then again, I can't imagine there are many city streets that could accommodate 3-car households.

Each household can apply for 100 visitors' permits a year (the first 50 free of charge and the remainder at £1 per permit).  Given that visitors do not need a permit to park in the evenings or at the weekends, when I assume most visiting takes place, this allowance would enable you to have an average of 2 daytime visitors per week.

All other motorists will be restricted to pay and display bays, where they can park for up to 15 minutes free of charge and £1 per hour thereafter, to the maximum of 3 hours.

There are concessions for businesses, landlords, contractors, blue card holders and people with long term care needs.

The bottom line is that our present system is unsustainable and something has got to be done before  it is too late.  Sacrifices may need to be made but, rather than focus on the negatives I urge the people of Bristol to embrace the positives:

Reverse car dependency
Emptier streets
Shorter journey times
Cleaner air
Safer environment for pedestrians and children
People friendly city centres
Revival of local high streets
Encouragement to walk and cycle
Incentive to public transport providers to increase their routes and lower their fares
Reduction in carbon dioxide emissions

So go for it George.  This is exactly the sort of policy I hoped you would implement when I voted for you.

I would, however, make two suggestions.

I believe that these charges only apply to residents who do not have a driveway.  If the aim of the scheme is to reduce the number of vehicles on the roads then it shouldn't matter where your car is parked.  It's still a car.

Secondly, I'd like to see at least some of the revenue raised used towards providing a more efficient, less expensive public transport system as a credible alternative to the car.

So, if you live in Bristol what do you think of the scheme?  If you live elsewhere, do you have a similar scheme?  How effective has it been in creating a better environment?

40/365

Hear hear!

Blog Action Day: The Power of We

Today's Food Programme was about food waste.  15 million tonnes of food is thrown away in the UK every year.  Tristram Stuart interviewed a variety of people involved in trying either to reduce this mountain of waste or at least divert it to people who need it.

There are a number of reasons why food is wasted.  Some of it remains unharvested, some is rejected because it does not meet quality or aesthetic standards, some is damaged in transport or storage, some is surplus to requirements, some exceeds its best before date ... The list goes on.

But there are also a variety of organisations dedicated to rescuing waste food before it is dumped in a landfill site.  Volunteers harvest unwanted crops, collect rejected food from the back doors of supermarkets, pass it on to vulnerable people, use it to prepare meals for the homeless, make it into jams and chutneys ...

It was fascinating listening but the bit that caught my attention was right at the end, when Tristram Stuart observed that the most effective food related campaigns in recent years (ie GM, sustainable fishing, free range poultry) have been largely consumer led, and suggested that if we, the customers, were to ask supermarkets to stock knobbly fruit and vegetables and make more of their food waste available to charities, then they would more than likely do so.

So, if you are concerned about the amount of food being dumped in landfill then exercise 'the power of we'.

PS  It is worth noting that almost 50% of food waste is in our homes, and 60% of this is avoidable. So 'we' could launch our campaign in our own trolleys, kitchens and dining rooms. For tips on how to do this log in to Love Food Hate Waste

Vegan MOFO

My blogger friends Sime and Kay over at Just Humans Being have signed up to Vegan MOFO and will be posting on all things vegan during the month of October.  As a carnivore it would not have been appropriate for me to do likewise but I have decided, nonetheless, to try and explore this meat and dairy free diet over the next few weeks.

The day I first read of Vegan MOFO I realised that my dinner that evening had quite coincidentally been vegan, a runner bean curry and rice.  If there had been any yoghurt in the fridge I'd have dolloped a spoonful of it on the side, but there wasn't, and it was perfectly respectable without.

As I've said, I am a carnivore.  I've considered vegetarianism and even veganism, but although I'm persuaded that I should eat less meat and question its provenance, I'm not convinced that I should give it up altogether. However it's clear that eating less meat makes sense for the sake of my health and the welfare of the planet and its people.  It will help me to live more frugally and perhaps even shed a few pounds.

So I'm looking for inspiration, ideas and recipes.  Knowing Sime & Kay I'm sure they will not disappoint!

The Feeding of the 5000

Every year thousands of tons of perfectly edible food is sent to landfill sites.   We tend to blame supermarkets and the food industry and they do have to take responsibility for food waste caused by packaging errors, out of date promotions, discontinued lines etc.  But half of the food thrown away in the UK comes from our own homes - and more than half of this is food we could have eaten or drunk.

At the same time there are over 4 million people in the UK who cannot afford a healthy diet, including the homeless, the elderly, disadvantaged children, refugees and people suffering from mental illness.

Fareshare aims to marry the two issues and offer a solution by redistributing surplus food to those who need it.  No waste.  Better health.

To illustrate the magnitude of the problem Fareshare Southwest hosted the Feeding of the 5000 on College Green yesterday, when they served a vegetable curry prepared from a ton of donated vegetables.

I volunteered for duty as a steward and was assigned to recycling bin duty, helping diners to dispose of their waste in an environmentally friendly manner.

The sun shone.  Crowds descended.  Queues formed.  Curry was eaten.  Children potato printed.  Bands played.  Cooks demonstrated.  Awareness was raised. 

Less food will be wasted?

I hope so. 

What's for Dinner?

Today's dinner, chorizo and cannellini bean stew, inspired by Sue over at The Quince Tree, cooked in my recently acquired cast iron pan from Aldi.  One of the delights of blogging is trying out fellow bloggers' recipes and Sue is a particularly rich source of delicious dishes.

I'm two days into the new four week menu plan I drew up over the Easter holidays.  I was fed up of having to decide what to eat every day, deciding on a recipe and then realising I didn't have all the ingredients, making mad dashes out to the shops before they closed, paying over the odds for convenience goods or giving up entirely and ordering a takeaway.  So I did what I've been intending to do for as long as I can remember and drew up a plan.

Now I'm not pretending that it's set in stone and will be followed slavishly from now until whenever.  I've made a deal with my younger daughter that meals will be ticked or crossed and unpopular choices will be replaced by more popular alternatives.  I'm fully expecting it to evolve constantly.  If I persist it will look quite different this time next year.

The plan is also an attempt to eat healthily and sustainably.  Two days a week are completely meat free and Friday is fish day.  I'm hoping to gradually increase the number of vegetarian days but this will have to be by negotiation with my daughter who is rather suspicious of the whole experiment.  Already meals are being swapped to ensure that she avoids the meat free days and doesn't miss out on her favourites.  But I'm up for the challenge of persuading her to expand her horizons.

Day 12 - Fork

On my kitchen windowsill I have a glass filled with disposable wooden implements - lolly sticks, kebab sticks, chopsticks, spoons ... and these forks.  Although designed to be thrown away after a single use I can never bring myself to do so.  Instead I slip them in my bag, wash them and keep them until I find a use for them.

The lolly sticks make very good markers for newly sown seeds and the chopsticks very good supports for peas shoots.  I suppose the spoons and forks would make quirky plant labels but today I fulfilled one of my long held intentions, when I took one of each, wrapped them in a plastic bag, and put them in my handbag.  One day they'll save me from having to use a plastic spoon and fork when I'm out and about.

If at first you don't succeed ...

On Wednesday 2 March, at the third time of asking, Bristol City Council approved an application for a superstore on the the Bristol City Football Club site at Ashton Gate.

The first application by Tesco was withdrawn following an independent report that found there was no need for a new store (we already have an Asda, a Sainsburys, an Aldi, a Lidl, two small Tescos and an Iceland). The second application by Sainsbury's was recommended for approval by the planners but turned down by the councillors for unacceptable level of development, unacceptable increase in traffic and detrimental influence on local retail. Sainsbury's lodged an appeal against the first decision, while at the same time submitting a second revised application. This was recommended for refusal by the planners, on grounds of retail impact, but finally approved by the councillors, for reasons which were not obviously apparent to me on the night and are still to be published by the council.

This decision, in my opinion, is wrong for so many reasons. We don't need a new store, and certainly not one billed as the largest superstore in the southwest. It poses a real threat to our local high streets (trade diversion anything from the applicant's 3% figure to the independent consultant's 7% figure). It will lead to an increase in traffic (anything from the 20% predicted by the applicant to a possible 65% predicted by another consultant) and encourage car dependency. It will have an adverse effect on the quality of the lives of the residents adjacent to the store. It will lead to an increase in carbon dioxide emissions. It will encourage reliance on food produced hundreds, even thousands, of miles away rather than local produce. It will not deliver the number of jobs promised and may eventually lead to lower employment in the are. It is ultimately not future proof.

I've been involved with the Stop Sainsbury's campaign and its predecessors (Berate and Basics) since July 2009. I'm no expert in planning law, retail development, environmental science etc but I've worked alongside people who are, to mount a campaign against all three applications. I've leafleted flats. I've stood on the street engaging with passers by. I've emailed my MP and councillors on numerous occasions. I've blogged about it. I've made placards and demonstrated. I've invested time, money and emotion. And then came the decision on 2 March.

It hit me harder than I thought and is the reason I haven't blogged for over a week now. I couldn't bring myself to write about it but neither could I let it pass without comment. I couldn't have campaigned against these applications had I not been convinced that they were wrong and I guess I find it hard to accept that there are other people, including friends and acquaintances, who can't see how potentially damaging this superstore will be, not just to our local community, but to all our futures. We can no longer go on doing business as usual. However my greatest disappointment is in the people who couldn't care one way or another, who refuse to engage, who are prepared to allow events to take their course, who can't see the point in becoming involved. I just don't understand them.

Of course it's not all over yet. The decision, which is contrary to the council's own Local Plan(!) is automatically referred to the Secretary of State for approval and the call has gone out to all Stop Sainsbury's supporters to write to him asking him to 'call it in'. There are grounds for this. All 5 of the LibDem councillors on the committee were substituted less than a week before the date of the meeting to save them from a repeat of the abuse and intimidation they suffered following the hearing of the first application. Too much weight was given to the enabling argument (the sale of the old stadium ground to Sainsbury's will help finance the construction of a new stadium on Greenbelt land!). It is contrary not only to Bristol's Local Plan but also to National Policy and Bristol's emerging Core Strategy. The reports were inadequate and the traffic assessment was flawed.

Appealing to the Secretary of State is a long shot but well worth taking. If Sainsbury's can keep coming back, then so can we.

Besides, even I'm able to concede that it's not all been doom and gloom. This campaign has been instrumental in my forming new friendships, becoming more involved in the local community and renewing my passion for localism. It has also prompted me to do something I should perhaps have done much earlier ie renounce my membership of the Labour Party and join the Greens!

Never give up!

No Impact Week - Day 8 - Eco-Sabbath

I'm afraid I didn't do very well today. I was to have planned a day of rest and relaxation but the weather wasn't fine enough for the walk I'd fancied, and I'd wasted so much time the day before that I was left with a long 'to do' list. So much for my New Year's resolution to be more organised!

However I'd still like to reflect on the week that has passed and what I've learned from my No Impact experience.

Day 1 (Consumption)
It was no surprise to realise that I consume too much, but writing a list at the beginning of the week, and not just for food, was a good idea and might help reduce the likelihood of impulse buying.

Day 2 (Trash aka Rubbish)
An opportunity hasn't arisen this week to use the no-waste travel pack I put together, but I'm sure its day will come. I have, however, been using the fabric shopping bag I've been carrying around with me in my handbag.

Day 3 (Transportation)
Without appearing to blow my own trumpet I think I do pretty well in this area, so it's difficult to see what more I could do, except more of the same. Lobbying the government is the only other action that springs to mind. Not that it's likely to make any difference!

Day 4 (Food)
Buying food from local independent retailers ties in very well with the Stop Sainsbury's campaign I'm involved in. I can't commit to living on a 250 mile radius diet but I can pay more attention to how my food's produced and whether the producers get a fair deal.

Day 5 (Energy)
I can switch off lights and swathe myself in blankets, but I spend far too much time watching the telly and surfing the net. A lot of it can be justified on the grounds of entertainment or education, but there has to be a limit and I know I'm exceeding it by a long way.

Day 6 (Water)
By far the biggest revelation was learning how much hidden water I'm using. I can't stop eating and drinking, but I can reduce my meat consumption, especially beef.

Day 7 (Giving Back)
As with transport I'm already doing a fair amount but perhaps the time I'm going to save by cutting back on energy I can devote to other people instead.

Day 8 (Eco-Sabbath)
My parents brought us up to keep Sunday special. We went to church and spent the rest of the day as a family, playing games, going on picnics, visiting friends etc. There's a lot to be said for taking time out from the normal routine. Next Sunday we've got friends coming round for lunch. Perhaps we should do so more often.

It's be a worthwhile experience and thanks to Karin, the Smiths, Realfoodlover, Craig and Blue Hands for their inspiration and support. I feel the better for it.

No Impact Week - Day 7 - Giving Back

I've taken stock of the ways in which I 'give back' to my community. These include working for the public sector, through regular monthly giving to charity to being involved in the work of voluntary organisations.

I consider myself to be a very fortunate person and feel compelled to donate at least some of my resources to make this world a better place for everyone to live in. Even so I am still rewarded with the satisfaction I feel and the friendships I make. There are a lot of generous people out there and it's a privilege being associated with them.

Today I feel grateful for:

The weekend

The prospect of a reunion of college friends next month

Dinner cooked for me by my husband

A good film on the telly

A text from a work mate

The photo's one of me taken at a Climate Change Demonstration in London last year. We travelled up from Bristol in a couple of coaches and met up with an old friend. It was a lovely day.

No Impact Week - Day 6 - Water

I've just calculated my water footprint using the Kemira calculator where I discovered that I'm almost bang on average for the UK, ie 3410 litres of water per day.

I was a bit disappointed that I wasn't below average, as I consider myself to be fairly economical in my use of water ie I take quick showers instead of baths, I switch off the tap when I'm brushing my teeth, I don't have a car to wash etc. However it turns out that hidden water, ie the water used to produce the food I eat and the beverages I consume, accounts for 3249 of the 3410 litres I go through per day.

By far the easiest way to reduce my water consumption would be to cut down on, or even eliminate, meat from my diet. It takes 15,500 litres of water to produce one kilo of beef. Chicken fares better at 3,900 litres. A vegetarian diet requires 2,000 litres of water per day compared to a non-vegetarian diet which requires 5,000 litres.

Even tea and coffee use more water than meets the eye. An average cup of coffee uses 140 litres of water . Fortunately for me a cup of tea 'only' uses 30 litres.

So, if I'm serious about trying to reduce my water footprint then I'm going to have to think very carefully about my 'virtual' water consumption.

What I feel grateful for today
The start of the weekend
The arrival of my quilting order
Cooking for a children's activity at church
Cups of tea to keep me going
Text from my daughter

No Impact Week - Day 5 - Energy

I've made an inventory of everything in our house that uses energy to operate. I make it 31 appliances, from our fridge freezer to my ipod charger, but there may very well be others I've forgotten about. Some of them are switched on all the time and others spend most of their time in a cupboard in the kitchen.

So which of them am I prepared to mitigate or even eliminate?

Perhaps I should start by listing those that I'm nowhere nearly ready to give up. I'm talking about my fridge freezer, my washing machine, my cooker, my kettle or my radio. I just can't imagine life without them. Or rather I can, but it wouldn't be at all pleasant.

As for the rest, with a few notable exceptions, I really do believe that I make sensible use of our appliances. I turn lights off when I leave the room, I don't overheat the house, I wrap myself in a blanket, I buy energy efficient appliances, I turn off at the socket etc.

My weak spots are the telly and the computer. I watch too much of the former and spend too much time on the latter. Some of it's justified, after all we all need educating and entertaining, but it's too easy to carry on watching/surfing ad infinitum instead of switching off and doing something more useful, even if it's only getting to bed before midnight.

So my challenge is to be more selective in the programmes I watch and set a daily limit on my internet fix. An hour a day sounds reasonable.

Today I am grateful for
Hugh Fearnley-Whitingstall
The Fight Fish campaign
An invitation to a 50th birthday party
Phonecall to an old friend
The last piece of Christmas cake

No Impact Week - Day 4 - Food

Today's challenge of only eating food grown within 250 miles of Bristol, was always going to be the hardest. I made a note of everything I ate yesterday and entered it on this low carbon diet calculator. I'm not convinced of the accuracy of my entries but it indicated that the carbon dioxide equivalent of my intake was approximately 3,500 ie very high. I ate:

Slice of chocolate roll (in lieu of breakfast!) - cocoa beans from Central America?
Bacon and avocado granary baguette - bacon from the Netherlands? or New Zealand?

- flour from Canada?

Macaroni cheese - durum wheat from Italy?

Lemon drizzle cake - lemon from Spain?

Cherry flapjack - light brown sugar from the West Indies?

Tea - tea leaves from India?

Coffee - coffee beans from South America?
There was, in fact, very little that was grown in this country let alone in the south west.
Today I attempted to do better. I had porridge for breakfast. Ok, Scotland's more than 250 miles away from Bristol, but the milk was delivered in a glass bottle by our milkman. I had an omelette for lunch made with free range eggs from our vegetable box scheme. The bread for my toast was probably made with Canadian flour but it was at least baked by an independent bakery in Bristol. For dinner I made a big effort. I walked in to town to shop at the weekly Corn Street Farmer's market where I bought a mixture of fish portions for a fish pie (all British apart from a piece of tuna from Sri Lanka). I bought potatoes and carrots from a local farm. And yesterday I found a bag of flour milled from English as well as Canadian wheat. I even managed to limit myself to just three cups of tea today, which is very good for a tea jenny such as myself.
I'm full of respect for anyone who manages to stick to the 250 mile radius rule, but I can't see me achieving it or getting anywhere close. I am however going to continue to monitor my shopping basket and eat more sustainably. This means buying fruit and vegetables in their season, cutting down on my meat and dairy intake, choosing the organic and free range options, cooking from scratch instead of relying on overpackaged processed products, only buying as much as I need and using up leftovers instead of throwing them in the bin. To be honest I do most of these already but there's always scope for doing better.

There are, fortunately, a number of websites to keep me on track. Eat Seasonably tells me what produce's in season and how to prepare it. Love Food Hate Waste is packed with ways with leftovers. My cookery book library contains a few vegetarian books and I only need to google 'vegetarian recipes' to find more ideas that I can shake a carrot stick at!
Today I am grateful for

Warm dry shelter from the rain

Corn Street Farmers' Market

Fast food (omelette and toast)

A nice cup of tea

(Relatively) sustainable fish pie

No Impact Week - Day 3 - Transportation

Today was to have been a breeze - until I booked a pair of Easyjet flights! More of that later.

I don't own a car - never have and hopefully never will. I don't really need one, nor even want one. I'm quite happy to get around on foot or by public transport and I have organised my life to ensure that almost everything I require is within walking distance.

Walking is great. It's good for my health (and my figure). It's cheap. It allows me space to think. It gives me greater control over my movements. But most importantly, in No Impact Week, it is sustainable.

I only wish I could be as positive about public transport. Don't get me wrong. I'm a passionate believer in it in all its forms. It's just that it doesn't work very well in Bristol or the UK.

Bristol's bus service is run by a private company. Most of the buses are presentable and the drivers helpful, but fares are high, customer information is woefully inadequate, routes are limited and evening and Sunday services are patchy and sometimes non existent. As a result it's not nearly as widely patronised as it could be. Even I only use it when I have to. I'd almost always much rather walk.

The UK's rail service is run by a number of private companies. The track is owned by another. The standard fares are prohibitive and the process of purchasing them so complicated that it defies all but the most determined traveller. An article in last Saturday's Guardian suggested a variety of strategies for getting the best deal, which included shopping for the cheapest online booking website and splitting long distance journeys into smaller sections! Why does it need to be so complicated?

Which brings me back to those Easyjet tickets. My younger daughter wishes to visit her older sister in Glasgow. The cheapest train fare (two singles are cheaper than a return!) would have cost £121. The two Easyjet flights cost £53. Even allowing for the cost of the airport bus fares at either end (£10 in Bristol and £7 in Glasgow) the rail option is almost twice as expensive - and so much longer! It is, of course, true that had I started looking six weeks ago when the rail tickets were first released I could have got them much cheaper, but it's not always possible to plan one's life three months in advance. So on this occasion I sacrificed my principles in favour of ease and economy. I wish it had been otherwise. However, until our government seriously addresses the environmental discrepancies in its transport policy there will be little incentive to take the more sustainable option.

Still, I don't often fly. Our last holiday flights were to Greece in 2006. I have only flown four times since, thrice to/from Edinburgh when my Dad was dying and once from Glasgow to allow us more time to settle our daughter into university. It's important not to let principles override other more important considerations when they arise.

Today I walked to work as usual. However, given that it is no more than a quarter of a mile from home this is no hardship. I popped out to the shops on foot at lunchtime and walked to a friends' house for dinner.

The five things for which I am grateful today

Sunshine and blue skies

The internet

A busy day to keep me distracted

Old friends

Lemon drizzle cake

No Impact Week - Day 2 - Trash (or, Rubbish, as I prefer to call it!)

One of yesterday's tasks was to collect all my personal rubbish in a bag. I'm sure that a physical collection would have had greater visual impact than the virtual one I created but, given the nature of some of my waste, I thought it would be easier to type a list.

I've been through my rubbish and separated the stuff I used for more than 10 minutes from the stuff I used for less than 10 minutes. I'm not altogether sure what is meant by this, but I have given it a go.

Stuff used for less than 10 minutes
2 x used paper tissues
Coffee grounds
Tea bags
Stuff used for more than 10 minutes
Plastic wrapping (sheet, bag and tag) from bacon
Egg shells
Plastic wrapping (sheet, bag and tag) from sausages
Vegetable parings
Fruit parings
Milk bottle
Milk bottle foil cap
Plastic cream tub

I deliberated over the wrappings and containers. They could have been included in the 'less than 10 minutes list', on the grounds that their function is merely to protect their contents during the short journey from shop to home. I think this is the purpose of the experiment, ie to show the wastefulness of creating a product that will continue to exist (invariably in a landfill site) long after it's useful life.

However, although it's all rubbish, most of it can still be of some use. The tea bags, egg shells and fruit and vegetable parings all ended up in our brown household waste bin. I was once told that coffee grounds are good for drains, which is where mine have been going ever since. The milk bottle was returned to the dairy via the milkman, where it will apparently be reused approximately 20 times, and the foil cap went into the black recycling box. The plastic tub will taken to the plastic bottle bank in Asda's car park. Even the plastic wrappers can be recycled by Sainsbury's.

Which only leaves my used tissues. I'm not sure of the health and safety implications of composting germ laden tissues, so I play it safe and consign them to the bin.

Lest I become complacent I must acknowledge that the first and most important of the Rs is Reduce, and that I need to cut down on my use of plastic. I'd got into the habit of taking a couple of plastic containers with me on my visits to the butcher but the practice is slipping, hence the mince and bacon wrappers.

Avoiding rubbish is not easy. I put back a packet of salad leaves in Aldi this afternoon assuming I'd be able to pick up a naked lettuce in the greengrocer. But I was wrong. And I have yet to source plastic free yoghurt, or cream or ice cream. Do I compromise or do I go without? And when it comes to blister packs of medication, the decision's been made for me. I'm making progress but I'm not there yet!

I've put together my no-rubbish travel kit, comprising a plastic knife, fork and spoon, all retrieved from disposal. The seal on my pink aluminium water bottle is lost so I'm making do with a small plastic bottle in the the meantime. I've also got my Fair Cup insulated mug for hot drinks. I'm ready to go.

The 5 things for which I am grateful today

My life

The hug from my friend's little girl

The deli

The people who care enough about our local community to campaign to protect it

Macaroni cheese

No Impact Week - Day 1 - Consumption

'99% of the stuff we harvest, mine, process, transport - 99% of the stuff we run through this production system is trashed within 6 months.' Annie Leonard: The Story of Stuff

It's a sobering note on which to launch my No Impact Week.

My first task was to make a list of everything I needed to buy this week and then delete anything I could do without. Then I had to consider which, if any, of the remaining items I could buy secondhand, borrow or make for myself.

Well I've made my list and it here it is:

Food
Slippers
Portable radio
Blood pressure tablets

The food has got to stay. I've planned my menus for the week to cut down on shopping trips and ensure that I only buy what I need. I've also taken stock of what I have in store and will use mince and sausages from the freezer. I'll opt for free range/organic and buy as many items as possible from local shops and markets.

I need a new pair of slippers. I bought my current pair because they were cheap but they've never fitted properly and the soles have worn through in several places. I was given an M&S voucher at Christmas and was going to go into town on Saturday to spend it. It's not technically shopping but I could make do for a while longer. The trouble with going into town is that I invariably come home with more than I intended to.

The portable radio I was given as a birthday present many years ago has broken. I'm not exactly sure what happened but it gave off a nasty burning smell the other evening and hasn't worked since. It sits on a shelf in the kitchen and I listen to it all day, from the Today programme in the morning to the 6:30 comedy slot in the evening. I also use it to tell the time. Although I've only been without it since Thursday I miss it dreadfully and will have to replace it as soon as possible. It's probably irreparable but I think I'll take it in to our local electrical shop to ask their advice. I'm sure that if I lived in India there would be someone who could fix it for a small fee. Here it's probably just as cheap to buy a new one and in any case I'm told the FM analogue signal is going to be switched off very soon. I could look for a second hand one but with items that are going to be used on a regular basis I think it's worth buying good quality to ensure that they won't just have to be replaced in a short time. So I've done some research and found a Roberts DAB radio with reduced power consumption and an increased battery life. In addition all the cardboard packaging is made from recycled paper.

My blood pressure tablets are not negotiable for obvious reasons.

So what have I learnt from today's exercise?

1 Making lists (and sticking to them!) is a good discipline.
2 Buying cheap goods isn't always a good idea.
3 Some goods have built in obsolescence.
4 The best way to avoid unnecessary purchases is to stay away from shopping centres.

No Impact Experiment

Although I've heard of No Impact Man previously, I have Karin over at Green and Generous to thank for alerting me to his project. See here for all the details but basically it's an experiment to test how sustainable my life is and what changes I need to make to reduce my footprint on the earth.

The challenge started on Sunday 2 January but, as I didn't read about it until yesterday, I've decided to delay it by a week, which also gives me time to read through the documentation and prepare myself mentally and physically for the tasks ahead.

Why not give it go yourself and compare notes with me through the course of the week?

Bristol Against Sainsburys Insane Colossal Superstore

Those of you who live in South Bristol probably already know all about this proposal but, for those of you who dont:-

Bristol City Football Club wish to relocate their stadium to a greenbelt site just outside Bristol. To finance this move they need to sell their old ground. Sainsburys have offered them a substantial sum and have submitted a proposal to build a new 9,300 sq m superstore, with an 850 space car park, on the site. This will replace their existing store half a mile down the road.

There is strong opposition to this proposal and I have today submitted my objection online, the text of which I reproduce below.

I would like to submit my objection to the proposal, for the following reasons:

1 The construction of a superstore at Ashton Gate will have a detrimental effect on the local environment.

Sainsburys move from Winterstoke Road to Ashton Gate is being billed as a relocation but is much more than just that. The store will almost double in size, and will increase and expand the range of goods for sale. It will not be the kind of store local residents will pop in to for a pint of milk and a loaf of bread. Shoppers will be drawn from much further afield, and the majority of them will arrive by car. Why else the need for such a vast car park? Winterstoke Road is already congested and will become infinitely more so, while the streets surrounding the store will be used by drivers attempting to avoid the main roads. Increased levels of traffic will lead to increased levels of air pollution in a largely residential area, and along routes used by children walking to school. Tankers delivering petrol, lorries supplying goods and vans servicing the home delivery service will ensure an almost constant stream of traffic throughout the day and beyond. Noise and light pollution will affect those living in close proximity to the store. Granted they experience both from the football stadium, but no more than a couple of nights a week. The superstore will be an almost 24 hour presence.

All this in a city whose council is promoting the 10:10 campaign.

Much is made of the green credentials of the new building but these will be more than outweighed by the increased carbon emissions from the vehicular transport it engenders.

2 The presence of a superstore at Ashton Gate will pose a completely unnecessary and unfair threat to local retail.

Bedminster offers a wide range of stores from supermarkets through high street chains to family run businesses. We already have two large supermarkets (Asda and Sainsburys), several smaller ones (two Tescos, Aldi, Lidl and Iceland) and an extensive range of other food and non-food retailers. We did not need a Tesco superstore, nor do we need a bigger and better Sainsburys. Relocating this new store from the other side of Winterstoke Road to within a couple of hundred yards of North Street will almost certainly have a detrimental effect on local traders. The claim that the move will stimulate local trade is ludicrous. Shoppers arriving by car, parking in the car park, loading their boots with Sainsburys goods and filling their tanks at the petrol station are not going to stop off in North Street on their way home for a pound of mince, a box of matches or a packet of paracetamol. The new Sainsburys superstore is specifically designed to satisfy their every requirement and sales in local high streets areas will fall as a result.

Although some distance removed, Asda may very well be affected and, with it, the shops in East Street. An expansion of this magnitude suggests that Sainsburys will be hoping to attract customers from all over South Bristol, depriving areas such as Knowle, Brislington and Long Ashton of their custom.

This is a disaster, not just for the local traders, who will lose their income and possibly their jobs, but also for sustainable community. Local trading is a far better option than its supermarket equivalent. Goods are more likely to be locally sourced or produced. They are not transported hundreds of miles to and from central distribution centres. They are generally less packaged. They are sold by shopkeepers who know their wares and are able to respond to public demand. They provide continuity, inspire loyalty and offer a personal service that binds the community together.

A greater percentage of every pound spent in local businesses remains in the local community than for every pound spent in a supermarket. To opt for a superstore over local retail at a time when governments, both national and local, should be seeking solutions to an oil dependent society, is very short-sighted. And to choose to demolish a perfectly adequate building in order to build a brand new larger one half a mile down the road, when we are all being urged to reduce our carbon footprints to save the planet, is suicidal.

3 This is not the only, let alone the best, solution to the problem.

I would rather the club remained at Ashton Gate, in the heart of the community that supports it, than chase after illusory fame and fortune. I certainly do not approve of the construction of a stadium on a green field site. However, if the club is determined to move and dispose of its existing ground, then I suggest there are worthier legacies it could leave to Bedminster than a monstrous box straddling a concrete car park.

A mixed development of housing and small businesses would be an ideal alternative. Sainsburys proposes a housing development on the Winterstoke Road site. This is the wrong way round. Houses on the Winterstoke Road ‘island’ will be isolated, cut off from the services of Bedminster by a congested road struggling to cope with its increased load. Ashton Vale residents will lose the only food retailer they have and will now also have to negotiate Winterstoke Road to do their shopping. Meanwhile a new Sainsburys will pose a threat to a thriving high street, where a housing development would benefit from all the services its residents desired.

We are told that Bristol City Football Club cannot fund the move without the price Sainsburys will pay for the Ashton Gate site, but are not reassured that the club have exhausted all other possibilities. I feel we are being emotionally blackmailed by the, as yet unconfirmed, prospect of hosting a couple of World Cup matches. It is much easier to back popular short term projects, especially in the run up to an election. It is much harder, but ultimately more honourable, to take the long view and chose the one that will be of lasting benefit to the community. I am hoping that you will take just such a decision in this matter.

My submission is short on facts and figures, although I have listened to and read a good deal of arguments on both sides. I am relying on your having read and digested these for yourselves. This is my personal submission as someone who has lived and worked and raised two daughters in Bedminster, who loves its thriving community and who fears for its future should Sainsburys be granted permission to build this superstore.

A previous application for a Tesco store was withdrawn on the eve of the planning committee meeting. I wonder what will happen this time.