Friday, October 30, 2009

Friday round-up 30/10/09

Here are some things that made me go "wow" as I meandered the web this week:



  • Photos from the Sydney Harbour Bridge Picnic, part of the Crave Sydney festival. Wouldn't it be nice if harbour bridges were accessible as public recreation spaces all the time, rather than devoted to cars?

  • Toyota has received a lot of criticism because the manufacturing process of the Prius produces more emissions than the manufacturing processes of most other cars. So, according to Treehugger, Toyota decided to genetically engineer flowers to absorb emissions in the manufacturing plant. Interesting tactic. I'm intrigued about how the flowers work, and what happens to the stuff they've absorbed when they die.

  • Excellent, Playback clothing has perfected the art of making clothing from old plastic bottles!

What inspiring, interesting, disturbing or shocking things have you discovered this week? Please share!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Friday round-up 23/10/09

Just a wee list of online gems this week:

  • I didn't hear about No Impact Project until after it started, but what a great concept! Is anyone taking part? How is it going?




Enjoy your long weekend NZers!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Day 3 of my meat-free trial


Image by Shune

The first three days of my meat-free trial month have been great. I've been eating delicious food and have had plenty of energy. On Friday night after a few drinks at work, Burgerfuel's vegetarian Beatnik burger hit the spot just as well as one with meat in it would have. On Saturday morning I checked out the La Cigale market in Parnell with some friends. Strangely I was not tempted by the paella or chorizo on offer, but I did indulge in some blue cheese and Piako Gourmet Yoghurt. You see, vegetarian is easy, but vegan would be terrible. Life would definitely not be as good without cheese and yoghurt! 

I'm excited about trying some new recipes next week. I'm not missing meat at all yet, but I'm intrigued to see whether I start getting meat cravings in a few days' time. Do you have any stories, tips or advice about going vege? Please share them with me below. 


Weekend round-up 17/10/09

Fun and interesting online finds and events for this week:



  • Remember the Milk online to-do list management has infinitely improved my organisation and my ability to keep track of everything I have on the go.

  • Neighbours Day - Saturday 17 October. Do you know your neighbours? What did you do in your neighbourhood?


  • NZ government shows some climate leadership by proposing an international alliance to work on ways to mitigate agriculture's contribution to climate change. Although the government's motivation is obviously to avoid difficulties for our agriculture industry if we try to tackle emissions and other countries don't, the proposal seems to have potential to generate positive change. Go John!

  • Using cellphones to change the world: a programme at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology gets students working on projects to use mobile phone technology to assist development in less developed countries - awesome!

  • I saw a great movie this week: An Education. I give it two thumbs up.

  • And finally, only a week until 350.org's International Day of Action, October 24th. Have you checked out the actions planned in your local area?

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Blog Action Day - Go Vege to Save the Planet?

Today, Thursday 15 October, is Blog Action Day '09. Blog Action Day was initiated to generate discussion around an important social issue (this year: climate change) by creating concentrated focus on that issue in the blogosphere on one nominated day. The idea is that so much discussion will lead to plans being made and action being taken.

I've decided to focus on the "Action" part of Blog Action Day, and am doing something I've been gathering up the resolve to do for months: I'm pledging to go vegetarian for a month. Although it's still not talked about as much as gas-guzzling SUVs and food miles, it's becoming more common knowledge that going vegetarian or vegan is one of the best, if  not the best, change an individual can make to decrease his or her impact on the environment. I've been in internal turmoil since I learned this information. I want to do everything I can to reduce my footprint, but I love steak! And fish!

I didn't want to give up meat too lightly, so I did some research. I came across an article from a couple of months back in the Washington Post referring to a 2006 UN Report which concluded that cattle-rearing generates more greenhouse gases than transportation. Livestock farming is also incredibly damaging to the world's scarce water resources, and it degrades land too. The Washington Post reporter pointed out that not only is reducing meat consumption one of the best things a person can do for the environment, it's also one of the easiest, because it doesn't require extra resources, and you can make the change immediately. Another article in Time magazine highlights the potentially dangerous effects of antibiotic use on animals, especially those raised in feed-lots. But these articles are U.S.-centric, and a lot of these issues must be a much less of a concern where I live, in New Zealand. For instance, we have plenty of grass to go around, so we don't usually need to feed our livestock massive amounts of grain like they do in the U.S. (the occasional bit of palm kernel, but that's another issue). We produce a lot of meat in NZ and we're a pretty small country, so the meat I eat is unlikely to have clocked up too many food miles. But our cattle still burp and fart, and the methane they produce is a significant contributor to NZ's greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, agriculture is responsible for over half of NZ's CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions. Agricultural run-off has already ruined many of our waterways and continues to do damage. 

So how much of a difference can I make by going vegetarian in New Zealand? A lot of the meat and dairy products we produce are exported anyway, so any reduction in demand resulting from NZers going vegetarian might just mean that more meat and dairy is exported instead, resulting in big greenhouse emissions from transport. Discussion on another NZ blog suggests that we can make more of a difference by reducing our meat consumption and using our consumer power to create demand for ethically treated, organic meat. And they raise the very valid point that many protein substitutes, such as lentils and chickpeas, are probably imported rather than grown in New Zealand, so they come with big food miles. Of course, reducing one's contribution to climate change is not the only reason to move to a more plant-based diet. There's the animal welfare aspect (which I somehow manage to block out every time I tuck into a chicken stir-fry or ham sandwich). Some of our pigs and chickens live in terrible conditions, and I already try to avoid contributing to that by buying free range. But, as a good vegetarian friend of mine would say, "if you can live just fine without killing animals, isn't that a better way to live?" Then there's the suggestion that I might feel more healthy and energetic if I cut out meat from my diet, because meat is supposedly much harder to digest than most plant foods.

So, there's a possibility I might reduce my environmental impact, the certainty that I'll contribute to less animal slaughter, a possibility that I'll feel healthier, and I'm pretty sure I'll save on my grocery bill. It definitely seems worth giving vegetarian eating a try. So, starting tomorrow (because I have half a can of tuna and leftover chicken in the fridge today), I'm cutting out meat for a month in all meals I choose. (By this I mean I may make allowances in social settings where to avoid meat would be particularly inconvenient.)  I look forward to exploring the issues more in the month ahead, and I'll keep you posted on how my "vegetarian trial" goes. I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts about meat-eating and climate change. I also welcome any tips, advice and moral support - send me a comment below.            

Friday, October 2, 2009

Friday round-up 2/10/09

Interesting news, views, upcoming events and online discoveries this week. Have you found anything else worth sharing this week? Let me know below.

  • Devastating times in Samoa this week. You can help the relief effort via Oxfam and The Bodyshop is collecting in stores.

  • The Vegpledge. A tongue-in-cheek, overhyped infomercial-style website encouraging people to try a vegetarian (or "more vegetarian") diet for 60 days. At least I think it's tongue-in-cheek - I'm never entirely sure with Americans! : P

  • Regifting Robin. Unless you're a maths whiz, this nifty game will keep you mystfied for a while. And the Regiftable website has some entertaining stories about regifting that you can check out while you're there.

  • Premiere of the movie Food Inc., hosted by Grey Lynn 2030 on 14 October. This movie has been hailed as "An Inconvenient Truth" for food. Details here (and you can click through to buy tickets online). Enjoy wine and canapes and an eye-opening film.

  • For the girls: introduce yourself with a man's name at Soul Bar during October and get a free glass of Moet! (Thanks Solange for this one!)

  • 1000AwesomeThings.com: this is gorgeous! I love #671: "Reuniting a sock from the Sock Orphanage Drawer with its freshly washed, once lost brother or sister".

  • Want something, but can't or don't want to pay for it? Got something you no longer need, but don't want to put it in landfill? Freecycle it! If you have something you want to give, try DonateNZ first - then you can be sure your stuff is going to a great cause.

  • 350.org releases an iPhone app! It helps you find actions happening close to you on the Day of Action, October 24, so you can join in. It's free at the iTunes store here.

  • Awesome Big Day Out 2010 line-up announced this week! And that's just the first announcement. Count me in!