Sustainable September 2018 Day 22

Hi everyone, the weekend is here! And i am out today to explore my new city!

And I am doing most of it on foot!

Todays idea follows that theme...

Day 21. Stop driving everywhere –

For most places in the world this is not a hard switch to make. For some remote communities in Australia, and other remote places getting on public transport is impossible. However, here in the UK, and even back home in Perth, Australia, public transport is a viable option, and is often a much cheaper option than driving.

For example, whilst I was living in the little town of Llanharan, Wales I would pay £24.50 for a weekly pass to travel by train as many times as I needed to in a week and I would make good use of it.

(The view from the bridge of my closest Welsh train station from my old home!)

To own a car here is much more expensive. £24.50 would probably only cover the fuel cost, not to mention that the additional expenses for owning a car – insurance, maintenance, washing, registration, parking permits, MOTS (its like a health audit for a car that happens yearly in the UK), etc. – costs a lot more than public transport does.

However, there are times when I have needed to use a car to get things home from a shop, or get places at weird times when trains or busses aren’t running. I have often been able to carpool with someone in most cases. I think I have used Uber/taxi 4 times since being in the UK and that is because i was moving bulky suitcases! Everything else has simply been about managing times for public transport.

There is also the added bonus of it helping the environment. Nice little bonuses. I must admit there is a certain freedom about having your own car, however, using public transport in city areas is much better financially and environmentally.

Did you know that in London (& here in Reading to a certain extent), it is rare for people under the age of 25 to have their drivers licence? This is because getting public transport is sooooo much better to use and a much cheaper alternative than owning and driving your own car. In Australia it i almost weird if you DONT have your drivers licence before 25 years!

Hope you are well,
Love Daena x

ps. I had a great night out last night celebrating a new friend/collegues birthday. I helped celebrate it by making her a cake at work! :)

Sustainable September 2016 - Day Six

Hello beautiful people, 

Another day in sunny Canberra (yes I am as surprised as you are). I spent the morning taking advantage of the sunshine by sitting on the porch with my book and a cup of tea just relaxing, after all, this is my holiday. 

I ate some lovely vegetarian frittata "left overs" for lunch and had fresh fruit for breakfast. Then we went out for dinner...

Being on hoiday is the best excuse to go out for dinner!

 I had a roasted vegetable salad covered with pieces of Haloumi lightly dusted with crushed candied nuts on a bed of fancy lettuce. It was divine.

This was huge, delicious and filling.  Not to mention vegetarian.

 Not bad for a Meat Free Monday! 😍

Today's idea is simple: 

Sustainable September Day 6: Catch Public Transport or Walk to Work/School/Uni/Shops. 

I then went for a Walk to the local shopping centre here in Canberra, which was  a 3.4km walk. And it really got me thinking, how much do we need cars? Sure they are handy but are they really worth all the hassle they give us too? I mean servicing, paying for insurances, licences for us and the car, parking fees, fuel, and the like. Sometimes it is much easier to just catch public transport. And if you are one of those lucky people who can read whilst riding public transport, you have more time to do that!!! Bonus!!! 

I had a look at the Western Australian Public transport authority website. They said "Riding the bus, train and ferry is fun, fast and eco-friendly. Transperth passengers reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 232,000 tonnes a year and greenhouse gas emissions from public transport is the equivalent of one third of private cars." Perth Transit Authority 2016

Where I (usually) live in the Perth hills has been fairly limited when it comes to public transport. They run every hour but if you need to be somewhere sooner you often have to catch a super early bus just so everything connects. However, even using the car to take us a short way to the train station is better than driving the whole way to the shops/school/Uni/work/city.

It is amazing how much public transport helps things us get out and about. :) 

So do some research if you are not regular public transport travellers so you know where to go and how to get there. It really is easy. I used to do this when I lived closer to the city and worked in the city. It was faster to catch the bus and train than it was to drive in because of peak hour traffic and crazy drivers. Did I forget to mention that when you don't drive you don't have to worry about crazy drivers as much from the back of a bus or on a train. 

Today I walked to the shops but I caught the bus back, after all half the walk there had been downhill. 

My tip for doing your shopping without a car is to take a backpack and to only buy what you can carry back with you. Which is not a bad thing to do at all! 

Kindness idea: Pay for Another Persons Ticket for Public Transport. 

You can do this in a Pay-It-Forward kind of way by leaving some money on a ticket machine. Alternatively you could just offer to give coins to someone who doesn't have any or give them the time left on your ticket. If you have an all day ticket and it still has time on it you could pass it someone who is getting on as you get off or someone who is waiting at a bus stop. 

Front Lines: Environmentally friendly cars. 

Car companies are now looking at how to make their cars more sustainable. The most popular environmentally friendly car currently available on the market is the electric car.

Photo froms:First Vehicle Leasing 2016

Tesla is currently the most popular Electric Car Company. The cars a pretty fantastic but they started by selling cars on the luxury market. So they are expensive and fancy. They are releasing cars in lower price brackets but there is currently a wait list for these cheaper cars. I must admit I love the Tesla S... 

#Drool. I just need a spare $120,000. AUD to be able to buy one of these babies. 

Gorgeous right? I thought you might like a bit more information about the car itself. Or maybe that is just me.

Photo taken from: Visually 2016

To see a video of the model S check this out: 

I live in hope that Electric cars will not just be things of the future but also the present. I hope they become more affordable, more common and even more sustainable. Then the human races obsession with cars might not be such a bad thing.

I hope you are enjoying Sustainable September so far. 😊
Sending love to you all,
Love Daena xx

Sustainable September 2015 - Day Three

Good Day my Darling Kindness-ers, 

Yesterday we heard about how bad plastic is for the environment. So my dastardly plan is actually to switch a lot of usual single use plastic items (or plastic things in general) with another item, during Sustainable September. The switch with be preferably renewable, definitely reusable, hopefully decomposable.

September 3: Buy and use reusable bags or paper bags. 

 

I have used this Sustainable September Idea before. In fact it was last year on Day 8 (check it out here). There are some awesome videos on the Day 8 link too.

I think using reusable bags is still important. It is one of the most important Sustainable September acts to do. If you have the big old bags that are square and have a chunk of plastic in the bottom AND that don't roll up, all you need is to put your remembering hat on! Get remembering to put them in your car (or on your bike) then remember to get them out of the car (or off your bike) and into the shop.

I always have a collection of roll-up bags that I always have in my handbag. That way if anyone needs a bag for anything they can use mine. I can take all my bits home without having to take another plastic bag to my house. 

KINDNESS IDEA: lend or give a friend of family member a reusable shopping bag. I have given some of my stockpile of reusable bags to people who have had their plastic ones split on them. It makes a huge difference knowing your bag is not going to split at the drop of a hat. 

Kindness idea 2: If you are in the car park of a supermarket, return trolleys to their bays or the store makes a huge difference. I have done this for strangers on occasions. Its a nice idea if you are already returning your own trolley after your weekly shop. 

Okay. Todays Sustainable September is short and sweet. Remember to take your bags if you have them, buy some if you dont already have them... then USE the reUSEable bag!!! :) 

Hope this finds you all well, 

Much love, 

Daena x

keeping up the kindnesses...

Hey everyone,
I realised that I didn't post anything last week so I thought I had better keep you all in the loop!

Okay so for the last two weeks or so (give or take a few days) my mum has been out of action because of her Iritis. I know that one of the funny stories I posted last time was about this, so I wont explain it all again. Needless to say mum has practically be been blind for a while now, so my responsibilities have gone through the roof... not that I mind, I mean I am a full time carer and a kindness ambassador to boot, its just that my time has been a little more taken up with the practical day to day activities that mum cant do herself! :)

I have also had several special events this last week too. Including a hens day, a wedding where i was the Master of Ceremonies(MC), a baby shower for my childhood best friend, a few birthday parties, a farewell party for a friend moving interstate and that's the things I can think of off the top of my head and doesn't include the regular day to day & weekly activities!

This week I also started a kindness project for my mum too. Recently one of our neighbors did some work in our front garden and cleaned it all up, making it look all pretty and cleaned up the mess of my gardening (im not a very tidy gardener! lol). What really stood out after their wonderful job was our front bench in the porch! Everything else was all clean & pretty looking except the decrepid paint-peeling front bench. Mum and I discussed throwing it out and getting a new one... but after careful consideration I decided it would be more environmentally friendly and cheaper if I just restored the old park bench to its former glory. This has meant I have spent lots of time sanding back the old slats and scrubbing back the ends, then staining and varnishing the slats so that the whole things looks like brand new! and brand new it looks too! :) I am pretty impressed with the job! It was something that mum couldn't do for herself, it gave me a project so I didnt go stir crazy (as mum hasn't left the house much because of her eyes) and also meant that we have a shiny new park bench in our porch! Kindness completed! :) 

This is me doing the second coat of the stain! looks pretty good here! looks even better now! :D

This week has also had me witnessing a few kind deeds... (I love this as it makes me feel like the little things that I am doing is having a knock on effect).

Yesterday our car refused to start so one of our neighbours helped us out by giving us a jump start! Thank you! :) this meant we made it to an important doctors appointment on time & i am really grateful for that!

Also I was very proud of my mum, because yesterday we went to a little cafe we love for afternoon tea and where we were sitting meant I had my back to a couple of ladies who were chatting. I was happily munching on the delicious cake we had ordered, but mum was paying attention. Later as we went to pay mum told the waitress she wanted to pay for the two ladies to have their afternoon tea, as apparently they were concerned about spending too much on afternoon tea and not having enough money for something else. The waitress was thrilled, and told us she would tell them right away. Mum was awesome because she asked the waitress to wait until we had left the store so that they didn't really know who had done it, but that a kind act had been done for them! So proud of my mum!

The last of the kindnesses I witnessed yesterday was by the owner of the little green grocer near our house. Mum and I usually go to the large supermarkets but noticed the special on fruit & veg was much better than in store so we bought all our fruit & veg at the local green grocer. The owner of the store was the one serving us and after we spent quite a bit of money she gave us eggs for free "as a gift" she said. I love the fact that she was so generous! I will be going back to that store not just because of her generosity but because of the good value of their produce, and their excellent customer service! I love that I can also support a local food producer because in recent months I have seen several disappear under mounting costs put upon them by rents and by being unable to compete with the big stores!

Well I think that's probably all from me at the moment! I will be posting the next kindnesses as soon as I have enough time to go through my gratitude diary and type them all out! :D

I hope this finds you well!
Luv Daena x