2007: The Hottest Year Ever!

I have a twisted tendency to get excited about record-breaking events related to climate change. Tornados in Birmingham and London, Hurricane Katrina, the floods in Mozambique. There was even a slight twinge of vindication when I first heard the news that the World Trade Centre was a target for protest. A quick chain of assumptions was shackled together in my head: capitol of capitalism > consumption > oil > inequality > backlash > end of Bush > end of consciousless capitalism. I still think this tiny sliver of silvery lining in such a thick black cloud will result in a positive step forward in the great scheme of things... it's got to after such an historically painful chain of events.

Basically, if a disaster qualifies as a headline story... and the media alludes to a link with climate change - I take solace in the fact that the message is getting through... Trouble is, with every new disaster comes compassion fatigue and the assumption that it's inevitably going to get worse and worse and the only thing you can do to forget about it is to distract yourself.

Ironically, the most common distraction of 'choice' is retail therapy. Being an eco- designer doesn't stop me from partaking in this dirty litle habit. I try and consume my neighbours' waste (skip-dive) and then wrack my brain to find a way of re-incarnating their dead products and leftovers as useful or at least mildly attractive objects. It recently hit me, that for the most part, I make storage solutions ... in order to hide away my own stuff and pretend I live a minimalist life.

I am now baby-sitting half of my friend's stuff for a year while she flies off to 'live lightly' on the other side of the world for a year or two. I had to witness the painful take-it/store-it/chuck-it ritual and couldn't help being drawn into the debate about whether she'd be able to sell her Radio-Shack cassette tape player on Ebay or not.... or indeed, could an African child adopt it?

This said, my new year's resolution is to waste less time worrying about waste, waste less space storing stuff so as not to waste it and waste less time trying to find the stuff I've stored.

This said, I'm not going to completely give in to the temptations of disposable products. I'm not going to absolve my guilt by dumping cheap tack outside the nearest charity shop. I'm not just going to drive to the recycling centre to dump my guilt.


RECYCLE, RE-USE, REDUCE, REJECT
My problem is not the junk that I buy... being a proper designer, I spend hours agonising over every purchase, whether for me or a gift for someone else. I always choose the best thing I can nearly afford and (usually) only what I really need. My problem is all those thought-that-counts gifts and the stuff I've saved simply because I coudn't face the fact that no-one else was using it.

I need to implement my own environmental policy. "I don't want or need anything for Christmas" will never be an acceptable answer for some of my friends and relatives. I need to do what I expect from responsible multinationals at a personal level and put pressure on my 'suppliers' else I'll continue to end up with, or more importantly, my son will continue to receive all the tack in China. At least this year we kept our side of the 'one present each' bargain... which is a start!

2007 will be about getting rid of what we can't store and cleverly storing what we can. It will be about letting people - not stuff or TV shows - back into our home. I can amuse them with my almost fetishistic positive spin on all things disastrous (man-made or otherwise). For instance, in terms of what not to talk about at dinner parites, Iraq now encompasses every taboo (religion, politics and even sex) in one topic... but on the lighten up people: Saddam's dead, Rumsfeld's finally been thrown out and next year, Bush WILL be too (insha'Allah).

If the Met office is right - and as a long suffering, self-righteous eco-warrior, I hope they are - London's streets and Victorian buildings are not pleasant places to endure record-breaking temperatures. Come cool yourselves in our basement flat and shady garden. The green shoots are already peeping through the soil!

BBC NEWS | UK | Many councils 'bug' rubbish bins

My Rubbish Rant

Did anyone else catch Real Story on BBC2 last night? It was an expose piece on the move to fortnightly rubbish collections.

Residents were complaining of rats, flies and maggots. One woman has started an online petition to increase rubbish collections because the stench of her bins has became too much to bear - “especially this year as it has been unusually hot” - why is that do you think? Could it be that the amount of shit you consume and then throw away is contributing to global warming? She printed out all the emails supporting her petition – completely oblivious to the irony!

I say: What about the health risks of overflowing landfill sites, groundwater contamination, the impact of the resulting methane gas on our atmosphere?

People are protesting on the streets, driving to the outskirts of town to fly-tip, beating up the bin-men. None of them can face the fact that they’re simply creating too much rubbish. Eastleigh southhampton doretta cox “exceptionally hot summer”
http://iccheshireonline.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/chesterchronicle/tm_objectid=14364940&method=full&siteid=50020&headline=-rat-lady--shares-dirty-secret-name_page.html
“These changes are putting public health at risk” she says. - What is the risk of climate change to public health, rat lady?

These protesters are getting their point across; 11 councils have reverted back to weekly collections. And yes, they do have some valid arguments:

On different coloured/shaped bins in different boroughs
"it should be the same across the country”
“people are angry and confused”
“councils just do their own thing”

Lincolnshire council has a recycle bins people complaining bins are too small. 1`
Family (3 kids) in Scunthorpe recycle as much as possible, including their teabags and rainwater, They've even got chickens. And yet every two weeks they still fill 6 black bin-bags with rubbish and end up driving to the local tip. Granted, the council does not provide paper and cardboard recycling - which is pretty pathetic - but that's probably because residents wouldn't agree to a council tax increase. At the end of the day, we've all got to stop bitching and just stop consuming so much in the first place.

I dispose roughly 50% less waste and recycle +/-50% more than most of my neighbours but have to pay the same council tax. I welcome the introduction of monitored waste and look forward to finally being rewarded for taking some responsibility! And yes, I do feel worthy!

Cork County Council (previously one of the worst recycling rates in Europe – now recycles 47%) Due largely to "Pay As You Throw" bin-weighing technology. One family saves 250 euros a year. Of course, fly-tipping is a growing problem. But with CCTV, and detectives with hidden cameras, more and more people are being fined.

Why fan the flames?
Fiona Bruce whispered: “secret ID chips are fitted under the lid of every bin”. If they’re so secret, why was the BBC allowed to film the factory installing them and why did the chief exec agree to explain the entire process. So, he didn’t reveal which councils have installed the chips. So what! Until the councils start charging, it’s irrelevant. The BBC needs to grow up!

Leftover Art

As a kid I used to keep the outer frame of my plastic model kits until:
a) I could find something to do with them /
b) my mum threw them away.
Obviously Harm van den Dorpel has found the inspiration I was lacking.

Recycling is Rewarding!

We're not buying nearly enough recycled goods, making recycling collections an expensive business. Despite the fact that Lewisham has a massive incinerator (generating electricity from our waste) you have to give the council credit for the amount of effort they're finally putting into recycling facilities. We can now order big green wheelie-bins and even stand the chance of winning £500 if you recycle. Unfortunately for me, I only recently realised that you actually had to register online to stand a chance of winning. ..
1. Make sure you're filling your green box / wheelie bin, 2. Fill out and submit the short form. Now then, what's this I hear about our recycling being shipped to China and Brazil?...

Who Are The Magical Recycling Pixies?
I can't help but wonder how all this mixed recycling gets sorted, cleaned and graded. I'm guessing that's why a lot of it is out-sourced to developing countries where employee's rights and environmental laws are a little more lax. The World Reuse, Repair and Recycling Association(US) is dedicated to "Fair Trade" standards for international recycling. Their view: "Exporters who mix unrepairable and toxic junk into loads of reuseable material are undermining charitable work, the environment, and sustainable employment."