The Grene http://emily.posterous.com Why not make a better world? posterous.com Fri, 26 Oct 2012 09:47:00 -0700 Weekend in Dublin http://emily.posterous.com/weekend-in-dublin http://emily.posterous.com/weekend-in-dublin

Autumn was in Dublin for a few weeks in October, so we popped over to visit her.

The Man in Seat 61 provides this calculation of travel emissions, in kilograms of CO2:

London to Edinburgh

Flight: 3.5 hours, 193 Kg 

Rail: 4.5 hours, 24 Kg = 87% less


London to Dublin

Flight: 4 hours, 174.8 Kg

Rail: 8 hours by train & ferry, 46.8 Kg = 73% less

So we took the ferry (which was not as awesome as the ferry to Belfast.)

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And we went to the seaside.

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And we listened to live music at the Cobblestone.

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I like to consider this my first trip to Dublin, so it didn't matter that the two days didn't allow for all the things I'd like to do and see there.  Next time I'm going to get some nice wool, go to the castle, and visit the museum of modern art.  This time, though, I enjoyed spending time with people I love, even if some of them still refuse to wear hats.

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Sat, 08 Sep 2012 06:09:00 -0700 Comparing Things: Oat Milk http://emily.posterous.com/comparing-things-oat-milk http://emily.posterous.com/comparing-things-oat-milk

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When Victor was visiting a few weeks ago, he mentioned he'd been investigating more sustainable alternatives to soya milk.  Oat milk struck me as having some potential, since oats are the dominant grain crop in Scotland.  Jamie found some commercial oat milk at the Waitrose, and we tried it today.  

I made one mug each of tea with cow, soya, and oat milks.  Jamie had no trouble telling them apart blind, but I found I had to put much more into the oat mug to get the colour right.  It had less taste than the soya I'm used to, so the tea flavour came through more.  It was better after I topped up the oat milk to a more standard colour, so I conclude that taste would not be a barrier to switching if I could prove oat milk more sustainable.  
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Oatly is produced in Sweden of Swedish-grown oats, while Alpro only says it uses non-rainforest soya and I can't track down where it's produced.  Their packaging is nearly identical and recyclable where I live.   Nutritionally, Alpro contains three times the protein and half the carbohydrates of Oatly, which makes it more suitable to my diet.  They are even on calcium, which seems to be added to both, but soya contains plant oestrogen that the internets say is good for women.  

So the winner seems to be soya for now.  It would be great if I could get Scottish oat milk, or better yet, make my own out of the Scottish oats I buy in bulk from Real Foods.  I tend to rely on my milk substitute for a portion of my daily protein, since I don't eat a lot of meat anymore, but now that I've moved away from store-bought cereal in favour of homemade granola with yogurt, that may not matter as much.  Great, now I sound like a goddamn hippie.

 

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Fri, 27 Apr 2012 02:13:00 -0700 Greener Granola http://emily.posterous.com/greener-granola http://emily.posterous.com/greener-granola

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About once a week we have homemade pizza for dinner. I use Billy Reisinger's recipe for the dough, which yields enough for two pizzas; half goes in the freezer for the next week. This week our pizza was topped with pesto, purple sprouting broccoli, spring onions, sun dried tomatoes, and leftover venison sausage.

As part of my ongoing struggle against the delicious tyranny of breakfast cereal, I have learned to make my own granola, but I have resolved never to turn on the oven expressly to bake it. Since pizza is one of the few recipes for which it it vital to fully pre-heat the oven, I made a pan of granola with the extra heat. Low-carbon granola! Ta-da!

 

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Wed, 03 Aug 2011 03:46:03 -0700 The Sustainable Lifestyles Framework http://emily.posterous.com/the-sustainable-lifestyles-framework http://emily.posterous.com/the-sustainable-lifestyles-framework
Defraslide13

Good work, DEFRA. This set of slides lays out the elements of a
sustainable lifestyle, focusing on the personal level: 9 headline
behaviours, 30 key behaviours, and a smattering of fine-grained
suggestions. What we need now is an easily readable infographic that
summarises this information in a colourful and accessible
poster. Then we will put it everywhere. This brilliant work isn't
going to do much good buried in a report; let's make it sing!

You can view the whole slideshow here:
http://archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/economy/documents/sustainable-life-fr...

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Wed, 20 Jul 2011 10:39:07 -0700 The Good, the Bad and the Aubergine http://emily.posterous.com/the-good-the-bad-and-the-aubergine http://emily.posterous.com/the-good-the-bad-and-the-aubergine
Photo

When my husband came home from the Co-op just now and handed me the
(reused) bag, he said, "You're going to love and hate the shopping."
When I opened it up, I knew just what he meant. Hooray the aubergines
are British! Boo the aubergines are individually wrapped!

He went to get vegetables to put in the pasta for dinner, and also
brought home a shrink-wrapped British broccoli, which he had chosen
over a naked Spanish broccoli. So what are we to do? Come on, Co-op,
why must we choose?

And don't even get me started on bananas.

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Tue, 17 May 2011 06:12:03 -0700 Home Carbon Emissions http://emily.posterous.com/home-carbon-emissions http://emily.posterous.com/home-carbon-emissions
Carbon

(Graphic via imeasure)

For the last two months I have been tracking our home carbon
emissions, as a function of electricity and gas meter readings. I
have learned a few things:

1. The largest part of our energy emissions come from heating. The
high gas readings in March are correlated with winter weather, and now
that we have turned off the heating, we're using just under one unit a
week for cooking. There seems to be little room for improvement in
the summer, but our winter strategy will change as October approaches.
Draught insulation and nighttime window coverings will be key.

2. Our electricity use is mostly stable. It seems to wobble according
to how many loads of laundry we do. The highest reading was for this
past week, when my mother was staying with us. We did an extra load
of laundry, spent more hours watching television (the Eurovision Song
Contest is a cultural experience), and powered a third computer. So
our 42kg should really be split three ways, giving us 14kg per person,
which is much better than we have ever done as a two-person household.

3. There are still actions to be taken. Our dishwasher, for example,
is a dinosaur. Though we don't use it every day, we could cut down
even further, or replace it with an efficient modern model. My baking
obsession is another strain on the electricity. I already try to
double up where possible, making trays of granola only when the oven
is on for another purpose, but I could try to cook more dinners on the
more efficient gas stove top. When I finish my thesis, my computer
usage will decrease, but I'm sure there are efficiency savings I could
be making with behavioural changes. I am also looking into insulating
the gap between the oven and the fridge.

We have gone from a D rating to a C since beginning to measure our
energy usage. Our block of flats was built in 1895, so I'm not
expecting to get a top rating, but I'm shooting for a B by summer's
end.

You can track your own home carbon emissions at http://imeasure.org.uk/.>

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