Project environmental countdown

hello all.

So since my project (to see how much of a negative impact i have on the planet and what i can do to reduce this) begins tomorrow i have been preparing myself to what will be coming.
I have created a type of research sheet where i can record my use of various things. It's hard to think about absolutely everything that one does so if you see any gaps give us a holler.
i will initially only record my home and freetime and not work or school because i haven't yet figured out how to calculate energy etc at such places.

I appologize for the dryness of this post. i don't want to scare anyone off. i promise that more interesting posts with findings and musings around this subject will be posted later. i will also try to get photos of various aspects of this life research.
lots of love

testing peter's newest invention. pedal powered power station. hopefully this will supply us with energy for the computer and a light.


Year 2010
environmental countdown
Weekly log

Week date to date_____________________

Groceries used: mon tue wed thu fri sat sun weekly
local?
How far did they come
organic?
wrapping?

New tips and ideas:



Clean/Hygiene: mon tue wed thu fri sat sun weekly
Local?
Organic products?
Wrapping?
Non animal tested?

New tips and ideas:


Transport: mon tue wed thu fri sat sun weekly
What mode of transport?
How far
How much fuel?
How many people?

New tips and ideas:



Electricity; mon `tue wed thu fri sat sun weekly

Lightbulb ceiling_________________________
Lightbulb standing___________________________
TV________________________________________
DVD player________________________
Computer_________________________
Stereo ___________________________
Appliances ________________________
Fan__________________________________
Xmas lights________________________
Humidifier______________________________

Kitchen; mon `tue wed thu fri sat sun weekly

Lightbulbx1______________________
Ceiling light__________________________
Fan_______________________
Stove________________________
Bread maker __________________
Kettle ___________________________
Microwave ___________
Fridge _____________________________
Freezerx2_______________________
Clock________________________________________
Appliances extra _____________________
Out door light x 2 light bulbs ___________________________


Bathroom
light bulb_________________________________
Extra appliances ___________________________

Bedroom
Light bulbs bed small________________________
Light standing tall_________________________
Light ceiling_____________________________
Clock ____________________________________
Heater __________________________________

Washing machine ______________________
Oven _____________________________

New tips and ideas:




Rubbish/Recycle (record if possible to recycle) weekly
Glass__________________________________________
Soft paper ex toilet paper/tissue_______________________
Hard paper ex cardboard_________________________________
Paper ex newspaper/printed material______________________
Hard plastic ex containers___________________________________
Soft plastic ex plastic bags___________________________
Aluminium ex cans________________________________
Metal ex steel______________________________
Wood___________________________________________
Biodegradable ex food scraps____________________________
Electronic _____________________________________
Batteries_______________________________
Biohazards ex paint_____________________________
Other_________________________





Recycle myself weekly
Soft paper ex toilet paper/tissue____________________________
Hard paper ex cardboard______________________________
Paper ex newspaper/printed material_________________________
Hard plastic ex containers_________________________________
Soft plastic ex plastic bags_______________________________
Aluminium ex cans________________________________________
Metal ex steel_____________________________________________
Wood_____________________________________________________
Biodegradable ex food scraps_______________________________
Electronic _________________________________________
Batteries____________________________________________
Biohazard ex paint___________________________
Glass________________________________________
Other________________________________________

New tips and ideas:




Water usage mon tue wed thu fri sat sun weekly
Shower_________________________________________
Washing hands___________________________________
Toilet flush_____________________________________
Bath________________________________________
Dishes___________________________________________
Drinking__________________________________________
Cooking_________________________________________
Laundry______________________________________
Plants____________________________________
Humidifier_________________________________

Energy to heat water________________________


New tips and ideas;

Purchases mon tue wed thu fri sat sun weekly


New tips and ideas:

Wood used in wood stove per week/ amount used during the winter will have to equal the amounts of trees i will have to plant come spring time.

what are we going to do about global warming?

Lately my mind revolves around the state of this planet.
I am worried about mother earth and what is happening to her. With copenhagen meeting been and gone without much being decided i am feeling a little bit anxious about what us humans are doing and our slow beauracrazy that can't get the things done that is needed.
Part of my problem is that i feel so helpless, what can little i do to change the effects.

I am only one but i am one. i can't do everything but i can do something.And i will not let what i cannot do interfere with what i can do.

this is the mantra peter repeats over and over when i feel overwhelmed and sad and just want to give up on this supposedly clever race of homo-sapiens sapiens.

So with a new year coming i have decided that anything i buy will have to be locally produced. If it isn't within the hundred mile range than at least that it's been produced here in BC. If that can not be achieved than at least within Canada.
i will record how well this can be followed. I also want to look closer at any rubbish that i am left with and determine if any of it can be taken out completely from my life and if not...can i myself recycle it instead of sending it with a big stinky truck to be recycled. If that is not possible, see how much of a houshold's garbage can be recycled. Would love to learn more about where in fact the recycle material goes.
went and talked with one company that does recycling today and they seemed open to have visitors after new years.

another aspect of this quest to find out how i can be responsible for each and every action that i make in this world is to record how much energy i consume, be it, electricity for lights, cooking, heating etc. usage of car and buses and their petrol consumption.
I would like to minimize my impact but how can i do so when i don't have a clear idea of what my impact really is.
true that in the past i have lived in a tipi without electricity, which surely must be a small impact, but then I flew extensively to various countries around the world and probably ended up with a bigger carbon footprint than someone who commuted in a gas guzzler each day and had all their meals at mc donalds.

Each decision is fraught with doubt...am i doing the right thing, have i considered everything,what crucial information am i lacking to make the right decision and so on and so forth.
as you can see taking responsibility for each and every action can turn a woman crazy. lucky for me that i was crazy before i started this quizzing of every day existens otherwise i might be missing my sanity.
i at the same time do not want to be one of those angry, zealous types who bark at people for minor slip ups in the getting green regime. i can already feel me slipping in to that mode at work in the herbal store. I am now known as the bag nazi i am sure. it is very hard to get a plastic bag out of me at check out.
if a person comes with a small plastic bag and want to get a bigger plastic bag to carry it in, i meet and greet them with the catchy phrase of..
..oh yes a plastic bag to put that plastic bag in will be just what the landfill needs.
sometimes it puts a smile on peoples faces and other times they get offended. it could of course have something to do with how i say it, and if i am feeling particularly angry with the world on that day.

so for my own mental happiness i do not want this to consume me and make me angry and upset with people who do not feel the same way i do.
so therefore..instead of changing the world as used to be my stubborn headbutting way. i will this time only try to change myself.
if that works then at least one person is less of a problem for our planet-in-need.
so if you have ANY tips on sustainability please post some comments here.
i will try to get this page so that anyone and everyone can comment.

Daylight robbery

So....
I have been slack at writing, still havent't written about my time in calgary yet, in due time i will, but my most pressing news right now are:
Arrived in vernon and did the usual first prowl of a new city to see where i would like to work. i found a few interesting spots, the one i liked the most was a herbal store which sold herbal remedies and health food and gourmet organic produce.
You know the story, a mild and friendly atmosphere, people who do yoga and eat goji berries.
so i was over the moon when the phone ran and i was asked to come and join their team.
First day went well, learnt how to work the till and smile and greet people coming to the store.
Second day, all is well until around 2 pm. I am manning the second till from the door and another girl is on the first till. I see that she is helping a customer and i go to arrange some of the food shelves a few meters away from my till.
Next thing i know, my collegue runs by me and yells; RUN TO THE BACK! I AM CALLING 911.
so as i am jogging behind her to the back of the store I see her customer sprint out of the door. Being slightly dim witted I am wondering to myself if this is common procedure at this particular herb store. my next thought is, the guy was probably injured or was getting help for someone outside who is injured...do they need help?
Another split second go by and then my collegue is on the phone telling the police to get there as the guy had tried to rob the store.
Apparently he had come up to the till with his hand in his jacket pocket indicating that he had a gun and demanded the money.
My collegues first reaction was to turn around and run away from him and during this she kept her wits about her and managed to get the rest of the staff out of harm's way as well.
The guy left quickly without getting anything for his drastic maneuver.
Within minutes the police was on the scene, several cop cars with accompanied officers came into the store, closed off the till and started dusting it for finger prints.
so we were all a bit shook up but luckily no one was harmed.
I never knew working in the organic produce industry could be so exciting. i wonder if they have danger pay? the rest of the staff assured me that this had never happened before and that they don't expect it to be a normal occurence from now.
Well, a nice cup of camomille tea should calm my nerves and get me ready for whatever next might happen...maybe even something crazy like x-mas shopping madness.
I have settled in nicely in vernon and so far so good. there is a lot of hikes around and it looks like i can get some courses done at least at the college here so i should be content to stay here for a while.

Here comes a potpurri of pix from time in calgary

renee and jzero

live show at the marquee room in calgary, brendon,rich and jud +john not visible

richie dressed up for halloween, mine and peter's halloween was spent in a u-haul.

art work session in the trailer.

next stop Tim bloody Horton

ahh. so what has happened since leaving sweden.

one: i have been on the road with the band Lucid 44.
secondly: realizing that canada is an enormous country to be on tour in.
three:this country appears to run on coffee and donuts from tim hortons...why? i don't have a clue. it's not like the coffee even tastes good.

We landed in toronto and had a few fabulous days with peters relatives there. i really enjoyed my time with them. peter's aunt and her family are friendly free- spirited individuals and i felt accepted into the family straight away. thanks for feeding and housing us!

the other band members arrived in toronto and the beginning of the tour started off at a jam space where peter had to learn the songs (since he had been away from the band for a year).
the tour schedule had us drive erratic routes to gigs, numbing our bums and forcing us to eat crappy highway food.
During the trips on the road i did get to know peters friends and had some laughs which was my purpose for joining this band-van endeavor.

it was cool to see the labour that goes into driving to a gig, setting up the equipment, drinking more coffee to stay awake for those late shows, watch the show, (beer drinking optional)pack up the stuff, back in the van, find a place to crash...usually ended up on the floor at some generous soul who felt compelled to house 5 people.
as you can hear...pretty glamorous eh?
final destination was halifax where we all relaxed after many clocked hours in the (GePuS)van.

Had a nice walk down the coast and saw both seals and a porcupine. that made my day. halifax was stunning and i had an excellent sea food chowder which was a treat after the before-said tucker.

after this respite we piled back into the van aka torture chariot and headed for bay of fundy...stunning walk on tidal flats... onwards to quebec city...felt like being back in europe. in montreal we said see you laters to part of the band who headed via aeroplane to calgary.
me, peter and jzero drove the remaining 5000!!! kilometres from montreal to calgary.

snow- sleet started just outside of winnipeg. snowy clouds made the landscape disappear in a haze, the flat of the prairies disguised by the winter coming knocking.
both peter and jzero had a serious case of horse returning to stable as we were getting closer and closer to calgary.
not too late in the evening did we arrive at peter's old house. happy to be safe and sound at our final destination, equally happy to get a break from sitting in the van for 14hours on end we broke into the beers and happily dozed off in the sofa.
more postings from time in calgary to come.
until then..have the best time

last days in sweden

time is going by quickly when you are having fun. indeed i am having fun. meeting my friends and relatives that i have missed so much when i've been gone.
now remains the last two weeks or so before the next adventure commences. we are off to canada, landing in toronto on the 18th of september.
the time here in sweden have been spent in exactly the fashion i wished. picking endless amounts of mushrooms(what a good year it's been)socializing and lounging over coffee.

full house in ekarebo

me and vix

introducing peter to my lifecompanion Trollet(as long as the apples last they are inseperable)

me and gran

nicole

nicole,linda,johanna,peter and clemens

me and maja jamming

cleaning mushrooms with martin and maja

on the way to mushroom exhibition at botanical garden with jette


good timing for the crayfish season

marie-louise,cristoffer and peter

harmonica playoff

me,linda and peter during the culture festival in gothenburg

time on the tram

nicole and elliot on jazz concert during jazz festival in gothenburg

bounty year for fruit, berries and other goodies. bicycle trip to säveån.
filling pockets and bags with apples, pears, rosehips, blueberries,brambles, plums,cherries etc
this time of year is a stressful time if you intend to hord all this goodness.

blueberry picking with beke

me and beke at the old mill

contemplation

time in Hamburg

have taken a short trip down to hamburg to meet up with some lovely people and see another part of germany that i haven´t seen before.

carl, birte and me


jurgen,peter and roma
it is also interesting to meet peter´s relatives that live in and around Hamburg.to me it is clear that the most important thing in life is friends and relatives and those relationships that aid us in growing as human-beings. through others we truly know ourselves....that explains why everyone is such a pain in the arse when i´m in a bad mood....right.


hamburg has a creative energy, the city´s fasades all have marvellous grafitti adorning them. we have come upon some great little marvels of stores,places that really fuel the imagination.
it is fun to be in a country with a foreign language again and i try my best to use my basic german(which is basically swedish with a german accent)It seems to work, or at least it makes people laugh.as long as i am communicating something i am pleased.
now my head is tired so i bid you farwell for now.

buxtehude village

pictures from australia in random order

enjoying life in Tasmania.camping during the bicycle journey from devonport to strahan. One of those moment that it seemed to make sense to be lugging around on a heavy heavy bike uphill.

one of the highlights for sure. sister comes to visit:)

one of the lows...seeing all the roadkill in tasmania. beautiful wombat.

our home in the garage in bunbury WA

birthday celebrations on Rottnest Island.

whale watching! thanks Hol:)

learning how to play the guitar.

sailing on the Falla up in Cairns


koala on magnetic island

i know where i am, question is where is the world in relation to this?



joint artwork

roel and squim

Many more moments memorized.
precious pictures presented presently.
future fable featured frames.... in time.
cheerio

one week left in australia

time has come to conclude my time in australia. i am getting ready to leave and head on back to sweden.
there is a certain sadness about leaving this continent after 1.5 yrs here. it is a beautiful country with it's very particular flora and fauna. i will certainly miss having lorikeets, cockatoos and other parrots flying around wild. I will miss those blue and clear skies. i will miss the tropical rainforest and it's interesting abundance of edible fruits. I will miss seeing dolphins and whales in crystal clear water.I will miss those beaches that goes on for miles and miles so that you feel that you have your own private tropical beach.
Of course i will miss the palm trees. I will miss seeing kangaroos bounce around. I will miss the childlike feeling of amazement and excitement when i get to see a new type of animal, plant or insect that i know only exist here on this continent.
most of all i will miss all the beautiful friends i have made here.
I'd like to see you all in the future! please come and visit me and peter wherever we may end up:)

The feelings i have about returning to sweden are those of elevation. i am completely ready to return home and feel that my time in australia has naturally run out.I am longing for my homecountry in a way i haven't experienced before. i miss everyone back home and have felt so far removed for so long that my soul needs to connect again. i also miss the landscape, the trees, the soil, the chantrelles (of course), the moss, the berries, the lakes etc etc, yeah all those things that are beuatiful about sweden.

The time here in australia has helped me grow as a person and i'd like to believe that i am a little bit closer to understanding what i am supposed to do with my life.
and if not about what i am to do with my life at least what direction to take for the next few years. :)ok i admit it... i am as lost as always.
however i have been toying with the idea to go to uni and study since i found that there is such a science as ethnobotany. The idea has formed into more of a plan and the latest development is a determination to get my arse in gear and go and do it.

so that's the aim of the game and partly a reason for my restlessness to leave australia long before my visa expires. time for the next adventure in life....i can't wait.

i've got to go, i am coughing and disturbing the rest of the punters at the library.
hopefully i will shake this flu before getting on a plane, they will most definitely put me in quarantine as a suspect case of the swineflu.
talk soon.

last day in strahan

it's been great,
here are some pix from the time in strahan.more to come:)


out on diver boat at fishfarms in macquire harbour

big dead australian fur-seal on ocean beach

government check-up on dead fish at farms to make sure all is well.


risby cove accomodation,gallery,restaurant (mine and peter's workplace for the last few months)