52 Small Changes - Ops!

Well, not a good week to start this.  Ill from Monday, still all bunged today.  While I have been drinking water, as I always do when ill, I have absolutely no idea how much! So we'll be starting again.......on that point, next week its water.

The Wonders of Walking.

(c) freeimages.co.uk

To be honest, this is a weird thing for me to be writing about.  It's something that I do without even thinking about it, and my destination has to be over a 40 minutes walk before it even occurs to me to think of an alternative mode of transport.  But when the NHS has to give advice on how to walk and how to make it part of your daily routine I'm guessing the same is not true for others.  For me, walking feels a very natural, but there are a whole load of reasons it should be a, obviously un-natural, choice for everyone.

(c) freeimages.co.uk

In 2009 the UK Government calculated that transport accounted for a quarter of the UK's domestic transport greenhouse gas emmissions, with cars use being half of this.  When you think about the rest of our domestic lifestyle; lighting, heating, watching lots and lots of tv, eating meat (more of that later), etc, that's quite a large chunk.  So, as a way of reducing our household and nationals carbon footprint, taking to walking instead of driving is a very easy way to start and helps in the fight about climate change.

(c) freeimages.co.uk

But if you really don't believe, or care, about climate change, that's not the only environmental reason to use your feet instead of your wheels.  While not a lot seems to be being done about it, vehicles are one of the greatest contributors to air pollution in the UK.  With nitrogen dioxide being one of the many particles of acids, chemicals, metals and dust that gets pumped out the back of our cars.  Many of these particles affect the wildlife surrounding us, especially the plant life (perhaps the most important group in an ecosystem), which affects everything futher up the chain.  And without these plants whose going to clean the air we breathe and produce the oxygen we need?  Ontop of that, there's the whole issue on the health effects air pollution has on us.  These include eyes, noses and throat irritation, headaches feeling sick, and bronchitis as just the short term effects from breathing in these fumes.  Long term exposure, which basically means any of us to spend time in a built up area, included heart attacks, lung disease, damage to a whole load of vital organs, and cancer.  Hmmm, lions and tigers and bears......  That alone should put us off driving.

(c) freeimages.co.uk

Of course, the lack of air pollution is not the only health benefit you would get from walking instead of driving.  For such a low impact, no need for training, activity it does a lot of good.  Not only does it help you loss weight, loss body fat and improve your overall, it reduces the chances of you getting type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and arthritis (by increase bone and muscle strength), heart disease, high cholesterol, and some cancers.  There are also a number of studies showing the benefits that walking has on mental health issues like depression.


There are so many reasons to go walking that walking instead of driving should be a no brainer, especially for short distances...and its amazing how quickly your body gets used to walking. It is what it evolved to do afterall.  And if all the above reasons aren't enough to get you pacing then just thinking of the money you'll save on fuel!! £1.39 per litre anyone.

I'm sorry, what? - Eating insects

from Amazon.co.uk

This is a subject that's been around for a while, a Victorian book on 'Why Not Eat Insects' anyone, but has recently been highlighted in a BBC programme, 'Can Eating Insects Save the World', and a BBC Wildlife magazine article.  Its an interesting idea, after all they have 20% more protein then beef, but only a 1/3 of the fat, making them by far the healthier option.  Then you have the environmental side of things; with only a 10th of the land needed to produce the same weight of insects as you would beef, and far less CO2 produced in the process.  It would also mean that we would need less land to grow their feed and less land to grow them, so that more food could goes to those that need it and more land could be handed back over to wildlife.  There's also the fact that it would cost a whole lot less and less of an issue when it comes to animal welfare.  With a reduction in ethical issues, a reduction greenhouse gases, and an increase in healthy living, the biggest question has to be why don't we eat insects?

It seems a bit of a strange question when you realise that 80% of the worlds population already eat insects on a regular basis, according to a study carried out at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.  However, the ones that are a bit funny about eating insects are also the ones that eat the largest amount of beef, pork and chicken, and so produce the largest amount of greenhouse gases....and those, of course, would be us. the Western world.

(c) dreamstime.co

So why are we so funny about eating insects?  When you think about it its not different, really, to eating prawns and crabs.....hard on the outside, soft on the inside. There's also the fact that we regularly unknowingly eating insects in the processed food we eat, 60 fragments of insect per 100g of chocolate is deemed acceptable.  In all likeliness, our disgust at the idea of eating insects probably comes from the fact that we're brought up with the idea that insects are these disgusting, dirty things that we must keep out of our buildings at all costs.  Using poison if necessary.  We also don't spend as much time outside as we used to, or as much as those living in the developing world, so they're not something we come across on a regular basis.  To us their just these strange things that are part of that world we've spent so much time and effort trying to keep away from.  Of course, we could always blame our evolutionary path.  Insects this far north aren't as large, and therefore as nutrious, as those found closer to the equator, so it's unlikely that our ancestors would have put too much effort into collecting them for food.  The same is not true for seafood.  Evidence has shown that our ancestors collected mussels by the bucket load before munching them around an open fire.  Maybe it's just hasn't been in our make-up to eat insect, until now.   Perhaps it would also be too much to ask people used to seeing burgers, rather than part of a cow, and sausages, instead of a slab of pig, to be able to eat a full insects; eyes, legs and all.     

(c) dreamstime.com

Whatever our previous reasons for not eating insects, our newer, fussier eating habits could mean that getting people to eat insects now could be a lot harder than ever before.  Even in the harder times of our eating history we haven't naturally moved to eating insects, I couldn't find any insect recipes nestled in between the offal soup and mock goose in my WWII recipe book, and I have to admit that when I tried insects myself (a cricket, a grasshopper and some woodlice - I wasn't a vegetarian then) they weren't the greatest things I've ever chewed on.  Then again, they also weren't the freshest, and by the sounds of it, fresh insect mainly taste of a different variety of nuts depending on the species your chowing down.  There's also the possibility of turning them into the variety of food that we're used to, like cricket pie or mealworm burger, which could take away the reality of what we're eating. Realistically, its going to take a lot of work to get us in the developed world to be ok with eating these little crunchy critters, despite all the health and environmental benefits and I applaud anyone whose giving it a go.

Of course, if you decide this is the route you would like to go there are places you can get edible insects to give it a try.  Crunchy Critters is one and if you want a little more variety Bush Grub is another, scorpian lollipop anyone.

52 Small Changes

About a year ago I brought a book for my Kindle that I thought would be interesting to read, and might help me lead a healthier life.  But, apart from reading a bit of it I never actually got any further on the actual acting on the advice that it gave.  The book is '52 Changes: One Year to a Happier, Healthier You' and is all about making a little change each week to get to large changes instead of going for it all in one go and probably failing.  I'm not sure if it'll actually work but I thought I'd gie it a go.

So, this week: drinking 2.4l of water....oh joy.

Empties #3

Well, its been about a month and I've worked my way through more items.  A lot of the items this time are items I've had for a while and I've only just got round to using them up.  Still shopping the stash and with some product groups, especially the make-up, its going to take a very long time before I can test new products.

So firstly, the 'from Nature' body washs.  These were some of the products that I got for Christmas and having been using them in conjunction with my other shower gel.  The statement on the back is that they are 'fragenced to awaken your senses, with ingredients known to benefit you skin'.  I have to admit that the Mango smelled lovely and, for that, I enjoyed using it, but the coconut actually smelt like bananas to me and wasn't the most pleasant to use (I hate bananas and the smell makes me feel unwell).  As for the skin part, I didn't really notice any difference to other body washes and shower gels I have used before, in definitely didn't add any moisture.  I might be being a bit unfair though as the winter's been pretty bad this year and my skin has been especially dry.  I've tried to find information about this company online, but nothing has turned up so there's no link I can give.  However, I'm not too bothered as I won't be buying this product as there wasn't anything outstanding about the body wash, I can't find any information about animal testing. and its full of parabens and sulfates.

The next item I've had in my bag for years but pulled out this year as the cold weather and need to have the heating on more has definitely made me need to add moisture to my skin. This E45 cream used to be my go-to moisturiser when I've had problems with my skin and it does state that it has 'been clinically proven to treat and soothe dry, itching, flaking, chapped, rough and calloused skin, sunburn and detergent hands'.  However, it didn't seem to work this time (even when put on under sleeping gloves).  It could be that I've had it for too long or maybe my skin has just got used to it now, but I won't be repurchasing it.  There's no information about animal testing on the product but they are down as testers on the peta website, and this item does contain a number of parabens and sulfates. To find out more about the product yourself you can have a look here.

I absolutely love, love, love the Soap & Glory 'Scrub your nose in it'.  Its basically a face scrub and face mask in one.  How I usually use it is to use it as a scrub after I've washed my face and then leave on my face while I shower, washing it off at the end.  It's advertised as a 'simple solution for large pores and clogging' and it's so true.  It also leaves my skin so soft without there being any drying feeling.  While they don't test on animals (though I have seen some statements on the internet about how some of the items used in the products have actually been testing on animals even if the product itself has not...huh) it does contain some parabens so I will be looking for a more natural alternative.  I'm working through a back-up that I have at the moment so I have some extra time, it is going to be difficult to find an alternative though as this one is so good!  If you want to know more about this product click here.

The Organix Moroccan Argan Oil Penetrating Oil (really long name) is meant to help 'moisturize, revive and create softness and strength while helping to protect your hair from harmful styling heat and UV damage'.  This has been a difficult one for me to test as my hair is nautrally soft any way and the lack of styling, drying and product adding that I do means that I hair doesn't have to deal with too much damage. However, if you do a lot of styling then this product would probably be great! I also use jojoba oil in my conditioner any way and that does a lot of the same work.  Since finishing with this product I haven't noticed any difference in my hair, though that could change over time, but I do absolutely love the smell of this.  This item doesn't contain any parabens or sulfates, so its great for sensitive skin, and doesn't test on animals.  If I ever get to the point were I start doing lots of styling I would definitely consider buying this again, but I'd also want to test out just plan argan oil to see if it was just the same.  I am looking at trying the shampoo and conditioner though, once I've used up the products I have already, but if you want to learn more about the argan oil just click here (though be aware the packaging has now changed).

Now I have two Body Shop products.

The first is the Nutriganics Softening Gel, which is a gel to oil cleanser.  There's not a lot of information about what the product is meant to do on the container itself, a part from 'lifts away make-up and impurities' and that its meant to help with the first signs of ageing (I didn't realise the last bit until I'd brought it and was looking at it more closely on the bus home), but there's more information on the website.  It was a nice product to use and the only problem I had with it was that my bathroom is freezing, so it took a while (and some holding under my heater) for the product to turn from gel to oil causing it to pull a little bit on my skin to begin with.  I didn't notice a whole difference to my skin (and no changes to the fine lines), but I like that it contain organic, community trade products, something the Body Shop is very good at, and that the Body Shop has a strong no animal testing policy.  This fact is ruined a little bit by the fact that they're owned by L'Oreal, a big animal tester, but hopefully they'll have a positive affect on their parent company.  The only down side to this product is that, while it says that its parabens free, it does contains Sodium Benzoate and, while its not a paraben there is some debate about whether its any better for you. That said, I do think I'll buy this again in the future as a go to when I'm not able to make my own products (more on that in the future).

The very last item is The Body Shop Vanilla Bliss Body Butter.  This product smells gorgeous and contains fair trade cocoa butter (my favourite product).  It was a pretty good product and worked well on my skin despite it being so dry over winter.  I did notice a difference, but I did have to use it on a daily basis, something I don't normally do, and it was definitely a night time cream as it left a layer on the skin afterwards.  This was a seasonal product, so there's no webpage I can send you too, which is a shame as I would wear this all year round.  While it isn't tested on animals, its worth bearing in mind that it contains bees wax and so is not vegan friendly.  Again, it does contain a paraben so, while I would probably use it again, I am going to look for one without.

Is a 2°C rise in temperature really that bad?

When you read and listen to information about global warming 2°C increase in temperature is something you hear about all the time, but its difficult to really get what they mean...and why its bad.  Especially when you think about the fact that the temperatures during the day can change by more than 2°C. Of course, they are talking about average world temperatures rather than actual localised temperatures.

The easiest way to look at it is to put all the average world temperatures in a graph, with the world temperatures being plotted against the number of days in the year when the temperatures occur.  As with most things in nature, it forms a bell curve, with the largest number of days during the year reaching an average temperature of around 14°C and a few days a year reaching the highest and lowest world temperatures. 

While freezing temperatures carry their own problems, it is the highest temperatures we need to worry about when looking at global warming and which also cause, of course, the highly negative affects of melting ice in the north pole, the rising sea levels, draughts (and so famines), loss of ecosystems, and the defrosting of the tundra that locks away vast amounts of methane (a particularly nasty greenhouse gas) to name just a few.

When we look at recent yearly world temperatures we can see that, though there are some days which fall into the 'danger zone', the number is small and not really something we need to worry about.  However, this changes significantly when the average temperature rises, even by just 2°C, and we have a much large precentage of days in the high, dangerous temperatures.

2 degrees is seen by many as a 'safe' rise in temperature, though the damage to certain ecosystems is still significant. When we increase to 4°C and 5°C we really are in the danger zone with the high temperatures not only producing unbearable conditions for life on earth but also having a negative feedback affect on the carbon cycle, releasing more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through natural processes rather than what we're pumping in ourselves.