Lifestyle can be curse, a way of taking individual action as a substitute for institutional change.
it can be a form of puritanism and guilt tripping.
In rural areas with no public transport, individuals may have to use cars.
this is why green politics is essential....public transport can be invested in, cycle paths built, local schools and hospitals and other services defended.
Green politics is about putting the structures in place so people can live in a green way....greens and environmentalists achieve nothing when they ignore politics and politics is about the power to change structures.
having said this I quite enjoy a green lifestyle....lets look at my rubbish issues.
All the glass goes to the nearby bottle bank
Paper, plastics and cans, etc are collected in a green box scheme.
Vacumn cleaner dust, waste food, peelings, cigar stubs, corks....just about everything goes in the compost.
The secret to rodent free compost seems to be to have a worm bin which speeds the process up plus a compost bin.
I have a wormery but I would say just buy a 100 worms (they can be delivered in the post) and stick them in a column of car tyres (ever garage has tyres it needs you to take away), you may lose the liquid out of the bottom but this is far cheaper!
Buy worms here or if you have a neighbour with a worm bin, borrow a few so they can multiply!
Two bins mean food waste is diluted and does not build up.
A fair amount of cardboard and scrap paper is good for the worms.
I stick the occassional spade or two of soil in both bins.
Buying less in the first place is a help as well.
If you produce lots of food waste it can be put in a cone...
Green Party Sheffield councillors argue that diy substitutes for cones can be made for just £20, here is their step by step guide
The green economics is to use free stuff to create a self sustaining system, so you do less work and have less need to earn cash.
Capitalist markets need us to throw away more, consume more, work harder and wreck the planet in the process, the conventional free market economy...it's organised insanity.
1 comment:
Hi again Derek, I e-mailed you last week about Green Left....this is fascinating, but I have a sad story to tell about composting...the truth is that I am being harassed by my landlady because I obtained one of thefree compost bins that Camden Council were so kindly offering.
Yes, you DID read that correctly...I have spent years gardening organically, transforming the concrete wasteland outside the house into a garden - and now I am being harassed because of it! AND she stole the compost bin...god knows what she's done with it!
Well, yes, she may well be bonkers, that doesn't make it any easier to live with!!
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