Making kind choices by Ingrid Newkirk published by St.Martin’s Griffin

Written by Ingrid Newkirk, of PeTA, the organisation which aims to gain ethical treatment of animals has a forward by Sir Paul McCartney. This book is a guide to make both human and animal life safe and pleasant.  It has many shock stories such as the practice of mulesing in Australia on sheep where a plate size lump of the sheep’s rump is cut off to get blowflies to lay their eggs rather than in the wool.  This practice and many others kept from the general public are the reason for campaigning against such dreadful treatment of animals. 

There is a section on food additives derived from animals in often cruel, painful ways, and the plant based alternatives.  It is a challenge to see how many products we eat and use that do not have animal products in them.  From biscuit to bread, hairbrush to makeup.  There are ways we can all follow to make a real difference to our own body and the life of the animals.

Living with pets, holidays in ethical minded locations, weddings, recipes and business and education are just a few of the topics covered in this inspiring book. Well worth the time spent reading and ideal for dipping in to on a weekly basis or passing on to a friend.

Change the world for a fiver published by Short Books

This is a great little book for the family to have fun with and start to make a difference.  There is a packet of Scots Pine seeds to grow your own tree for Christmas, a poster with dramatic facts about the population of the world and how, in the West, we are so privileged but don’t appreciate what we have.

“Be the change you want to see in the world” said by Mahatma Gandhi is the message coming load and clear from the book which has fifty actions to follow in order to make a difference.  Number 8 is a great one for getting back in touch with a loved one by sharing a bath! Just follow the simple illustrations.

Simple ideas including walking more, watching less TV, turning off television sets and computers when not in use and talking to each other will benefit the family and the environment.  All in all a great little book for £5…a bargain.

With all the price rises and continued threats to fuel supplies by terrorist or extortionists I began to see what else I could use to fuel the bean; nickname of my car.  Bio-fuels are getting a lot of press and takes me back to my time at British Waterways where I met a scientist who was making fuel for his Land rover out of chip shop oil.  It was being distilled in a small factory unit and turned into a sweet chip smelling diesel fuel.  I went for a test drive in the landrover and was amused by the reaction of people walking along the paths as we passed, like bisto kids sniffing the air. He had such a great idea but soon fell foul of the government’s red tape and so had to close down production.  That was ten years ago!  It now seems that chip oil and the oil from various seeds is to be used to provide bio-fuels for the ever-growing number of vehicles on the road. What I do worry about is that there is a growing number of humans on this small planet who need feeding whilst there is a growing demand on the farmer to produce seeds for fuel.  It is a worry that forests in many countries are being ripped out, torn down and burnt in order to feed the car not the people.  With the trees gone, the carbon they absorbed is now wandering the Earth looking for somewhere to settle.  Now it seems that is in the sea, where it is cooling the water and changing the climate.  Many ancient civilisations revered the planet Earth as a mother but we seem to see her, in the West and gradually spreading East, as a burden to take from without thought or hindrance of what we are doing.  So from bio-fuel to the Earth I have tried to link the need of humans to live in peace with her rather than destroy her.  So what should we consider?  Well I did think I could set up a harness for the bean and have a horse pull me along the roads of the country.  It would make for a slower pace of life as gliding down a canal does for a soul but, and it is a big but, will you give up your car?  Living in the country does have the bonus of beautiful landscapes yet a lack of public transport means we rely on the car to get about.  I have tried walking and cycling but both have proved near fatal when the boy racers (yes we have them in the country too!) speed down single-track lanes, there are even tractors as high as double deck buses that race down the lanes too. I digress.  There is no easy solution to the fuel problems we face and I do hope that all parties who make the decisions get together and see that bio-fuels are a small way forward.  There must be balanced with the need for food and protection of the world’s forests and habitats.

With all the talk of global warming, chemicals entering the food chain and births of both humans and creatures born with health problems what ever we can do to help will make a difference.

Take cotton, a natural product, but with human intervention, they become ‘soiled’ with chemicals and manufactured fertilisers.  One ton of cotton requires half a ton of bleach and a further quarter ton of man made fertiliser.   The same amount of bleach is required in the manufacture of the paper toilet roll, even that of the recycled type.  All the bleach has to end up somewhere that usually means the rivers and streams surrounding the factories.  With so much bleach entering the water system many of the compound elements work their way to the sea or into our drinking water.  This mixed with the amount of chemical fertiliser washing off the fields and into the waterways is a major worry for all of us and the animal kingdom. 

There is one way to help and that is to switch toilet roll from paper to cotton.  The cotton used is a waste product of the pre bleaching stage of production.  The cotton is bleached lightly in one tenth of the bleach to kill the bacteria before going in to the machines that give a very soft, hygienic quickly biodegradable tissue.  The price is the same as high quality paper products and just as soft.  The alternative is the sponge on a stick kept in a solution of white wine vinegar to forty parts water with the sponge taking the place of the roll.  The Roman army introduced the idea to Britain with small flowing channels in which to wash their sponges.  A modern version is the bidet that is paper free but a problem to locate in modern homes where rooms are smaller and can cause for much amusement when first used!  Have fun