tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37761294539670921712024-02-08T03:18:51.096+00:00On Green CarpetOn Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.comBlogger147125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-81221506633680272382014-03-16T13:26:00.000+00:002014-03-16T13:26:20.724+00:00Winter and spring greens- smoothy inspiration Winter is well known from how it depletes our vitamin and nutrient levels. To keep them at the "feel and look good" level, we try to introduce more green smoothies in our diet, so here are some tasty (it may not look like that always) inspirations we've done:<br />
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<b>Sprout smoothy:</b><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4ejCcgG3x3A/UyWjcI6o2MI/AAAAAAAAAm4/2efFsazk3t0/s1600/IMG_9115.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4ejCcgG3x3A/UyWjcI6o2MI/AAAAAAAAAm4/2efFsazk3t0/s1600/IMG_9115.JPG" height="320" width="213" /></a><br />
Juice 1 large carrot and 1 grapefruit and pour into blender<br />
Add small handful of leftower buckthorn berries (toddler dinner)<br />
Add almost whole leftower banana (toddler dinner)<br />
Add bunch of sprouts: green pea sprouts, wheat grass<br />
Blend it well, strain if neccessary<br />
Cheers!<br />
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<b>Creamy greens: </b><br />
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Juice couple of oranges and pour the juice in the blender, add kefir<br />
Add handful of spinach and beetroot sprouts<br />
Add a spoon of bee pollen<br />
Add half of banana<br />
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<b>Notice: </b>bee pollen keeps the very characteristic taste in this smoothy! Skip if don't like it, but it's a super-super-food..<br />
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<b>Extra tip: </b>Do not wash the blender after you've done with making home made peanut butter for "no waste" smoothy! Make a smoothy right afterwards or next morning, it really tastes great and wont go bad!<br />
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Enjoy!!<br />
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<br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-76446415478055755932014-02-19T13:55:00.000+00:002014-03-16T13:56:11.015+00:00Waste not! Carrot juice pulp and seed mix cookiesAs promissed, here is the cookie recipe that will help you to save the food from waste. Juice pulp is a wonderful ingredient!<br />
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<b>Carrot cookies: </b><br />
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700g carrot juice pulp<br />
3 eggs<br />
50-100g butter<br />
60ml olive oil<br />
50-100g walnuts<br />
200ml seed mix (pumpkin, sesame, sunflower, linseed etc.)<br />
150g almond meal (can use tapioka flour, oatmeal flour or any roughly ground flour, or even a ground coconut with any flour of your choice)<br />
0-100g sugar (or coconut sugar, other eco-and-health-friendly alternatives like agave syrup, just use according to your taste)<br />
vanilla<br />
ginger<br />
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Mix all the ingredients together. Heat the oven to some 200 C. Put small bits on the baking sheet and pat them thin. Bake them in the oven until look crispy and the edges have started browning.<br />
Time of baking will depend on how thick or thin you make the cookies, and also how large. I like mine sometimes large and thick to remain a little soft, but then I sometimes make them very small and thin so if not eaten immediately they would turn into kind of crackers.<br />
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<b>Baking advice:</b> first make a test pan with some 4-6 cookies, if they tend to fall apart, add some more flour to the mix, because it also depends how wet is your juice pulp.<br />
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Keeping in mind alterations you can make, it is easy to keep these lovely bits also gluten free!<br />
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<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><b>Bonus tip: </b><i>To green your home and your wallet:</i> In our kitchen we use the baking parchment multiple times, until its really torn or cannot be used due to some other cake/cookie residue on it. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;">For example, my mom baked a honey cake on my brothers birthday on 7th december, then we used the same sheets for Christmas gingerbreads, and last week I baked carrot cookies on the same sheets. Some of them got too wet, but most of them are folded back in the drawer.</span><br />
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In case someone in your household must eat gluten free foods only, keep in mind where you put your gluten free used baking parchment sheets, and keep them separate from the ones that are used for 'regular cookies'.<br />
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I hope you enjoy your cookies!<br />
I think I'm gonna see how they turn out if I add some goji berries to the mix!<br />
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<br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-82796200770452890582014-02-11T13:06:00.000+00:002014-03-16T13:06:32.085+00:00Juice the rainbow!While I am not participating in Jason Vale's global detox this year, one of my resolutions was to juice again EVERY day. We have been too stuck on the schedule of drinking fresh juice in the morning as the first "food" of the day. Well, our little one has lately changed her sleeping pattern and now she loves to sleep sometimes even until over 10am. In our city apartment at least that means no loud noises in the morning- so no juicing, no blendind.<br />
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So now I am learning to turn myself into "fresh juice ANY time of the day" drinker, and have it in the evening if not able to juice in the morning.<br />
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Just for some inspiration I wanted to share our juiced rainbow:<br />
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I am still very, very thankful to last years Pumpkin harvest. Cheers!! </div>
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<br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-48023643288963899702014-02-06T05:58:00.000+00:002014-02-06T05:58:12.551+00:00Waste not- beauty masksWaste not idea becomes more and more important. I have even started the course of Environmental Engineering just here in Latvia along with my UK Sustainable Devlopment distance learning Masters.. Will see how it goes, but the story here today is about beauty.<br />
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I'm not gonna discuss the polluting effect of shampoo botles or health hazards from chemical components in the decorative cosmetics, I think I'm already beyond that phase. I can't even remember when I used a store bought mask for either part of my body. The best ones come from your kitchen and nature, righ? Right! So what's the issue?<br />
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First, I like many recipes that I read online, in books or get from a friend. However, sometimes they include ridiculous amounts of products! Sometimes you can read that for facial you should use a half of banana or half of ripe avocado, or sometimes even 1 ripe avocado.. and that is only the base or 1 ingredient! Seriously? For what size of a face is this mask? Not mine for sure. And since we do not do facials every day, there is really no point of making a larger batch to use it tomorrow too.. Last time I did home spa in sauna (like <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3776129453967092171#editor/target=post;postID=7478935034898631236;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=57;src=postname">this</a>) with my best friend, the mask we made from whole avocado with some egg yolks, hemp oil and a drop of carrot juice covered not only both of our faces but whole two bodies! So, ladies, let's reduce the mask to the amount really necessary!<br />
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Second, while I like the recipes I read, I never ever buy anything just for the facial (or hair or any other mask for that matter). Use only those ingredients you already have on hand. I particularly like to enjoy the masks I make in one of two ways. One- I cook something and noone will notice the missing spoon of yogurt or double cream, one piece of dark chocolate or anything else.. Other- I like to use something that might otherwise go to waste- a small piece of banana my daughter left uneaten the night before, or a bit of avocado that nobody wants anymore, a teaspoon of oatmeal crumbs etc. You can see the double benefit of doing that, righ?<br />
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This morning while everyone was sound asleep I wanted to make a facial and I came to think about these things, so I made a portion just right for my face and neck- large spoon of leftover doublecream (the rest will be cooked in the eggs later on), 1 slice of my daughters yesterday's banana (the rest went into my smoothie), and a pinch of oatmeal. My face was happy and I was happy no seeing the products that did not fit on my face go to waste.<br />
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Let's be beautiful, not wasteful!<br />
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<br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-45607841303104466812014-01-21T13:07:00.000+00:002014-03-16T13:08:16.332+00:00January homework 1- A Simple YearThe first homework on the course should probably be the easiest one, however, this it probably the one I dread..<br />
It is to declutter the CAR.<br />
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Travelling every week forht and back to the countryside, bringing over food, things, bedsheets to wash + a toddler (and all the mess that sometimes comes with it), our car is probably the worst place of all of ours. It's less constant clutter though, it's the things that fall out of the bags or stay forgotten somewhere in the trunk.<br />
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I asked for the help of my husband to do it, and we did it over the weekend. Joshua is right, it is a very tight space with a well-defined goal: Get from point A to point B. I'd like to add an extension "and to carry things from point A to point B". But those things you carry should be only the ones you need to carry and then you should take all of them out. There's really no need to have an extra pair of shoes in the trunk or several water bottles that even with our "refusing to drink bottlet water" sometimes get in (and never leave). And coins! And hairpins! And old papers!! Gosh.. <br />
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<br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-4871788371899046712014-01-14T12:08:00.001+00:002014-01-14T12:08:23.423+00:00January: Clutter. A Simple YearI already mentioned before that this year I embark on an adventurous journey called A Simple Year course that is finally here to remind us that things don't bring happiness, and simplicity is what we need most often to really enjoy our lives, sharing time not things with our loved ones.<br />
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January is the month I am to deal with the clutter. I have voluntarily but intuitively already dealt with the clutter in my wardrobe, now I'm reading into the course material to apply it to the rest of the rooms and storage spaces.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inspiration "Golden Hour" from National Geographic</td></tr>
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As Joshua from <a href="http://www.becomingminimalist.com/minimalism-benefits/">Becoming Minimalist</a> (our mentor) puts it:<br />
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"<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 29.25px;">Ultimately, there are 4 steps necessary to remove clutter and embrace a simpler year: 1) be convinced; 2) believe it is possible; 3) remove the excess; and 4) implement new habits to manage clutter.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 29.25px;"> "</span><br />
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And I agree to him! First I have to be convinced that it's best to remove the stuff and to believe that I can do without it. No matter how green I've strived to be, I'm still one of those old fashioned country style of people maybe, who keeps things just in case I need them (again or ever).. It is kind of green not to throw them away, because I hate filling my trash can. On the other hand, maybe there's someone who actually needs the item instead of just keeping it in the drawer..<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 29.25px;"><br /></span>On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-15488751192537724282014-01-09T13:20:00.001+00:002014-01-09T13:20:23.698+00:00Project 333- my new beautiful wardrobeThis is one of the things on my <a href="http://ongreencarpet.blogspot.com/2014/01/happy-healthy-and-green-2014.html">"The List</a>". I have applied to "A Simple Year" <a href="http://simpleyear.co/course/">course</a> and look forward to receive the first "package" whatever that may be (for sure not some random things and stuff to clutter our home more).<br />
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Meanwhile I have decided to engage in one other project which may be a part of this course- <b><a href="http://theproject333.com/about/">Project 333</a></b>.<br />
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The basic idea is this:<br />
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<li style="color: #616161; font-size: 14px; list-style-type: square; margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">When:</strong> Every three months <em style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">(It’s never too late to start so join in anytime!)</em></li>
<li style="color: #616161; font-size: 14px; list-style-type: square; margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">What:</strong> 33 items including clothing, accessories, jewelry, outerwear and shoes.</li>
<li style="color: #616161; font-size: 14px; list-style-type: square; margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">What not:</strong> these items are not counted as part of the 33 items – wedding ring or another sentimental piece of jewelry that you never take off, underwear, sleep wear, in-home lounge wear, and workout clothing (you can only wear your workout clothing to workout)</li>
<li style="color: #616161; font-size: 14px; list-style-type: square; margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">How:</strong> Choose your 33 items, box up the remainder of your fashion statement, seal it with tape and put it out of sight.</li>
<li style="color: #616161; font-size: 14px; list-style-type: square; margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">What else: </strong>consider that you are creating a wardrobe that you can live, work and play in for three months. Remember that this is not a project in suffering. If your clothes don’t fit or are in poor condition, replace them.</li>
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At my personal circumstances I find it a little challenging! So, since I am testing this first without almost any guidance, I am sort of creating some room to maneuvre before (and if) it oficially starts within A Simple Year. My situation is that I live in two places, and it would be terribly difficult to carry all the stuff I might need between the places, therefore I have separate closets in each place. So for now I will keep that way and have the set of 33 in each home, and will continue to bring with me nothing but the clothes on me so in none of the places would be overflow of clothing. The city closet is still cluttered, as I have not yet been there since I started this.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An inspiration- what to do with currently empty hangers :)<br /></td></tr>
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But the countryside one cleared out pretty nicely! And I also reduced the amount of home or so called in-lounge clothing to only really neccessary amount of pieces-few short and longsleeve shirts, one lounge dress, one pair of leggings and one capri pants for indoor kitchen/ crawling with toddler/ messy works moments and one "garden jeans". Also the amount of home outdoor winter jumpers is very much reduced to only two to be rotated depending on the temperature outside (there's a harsh difference whether it's around 0 or -20).<br />
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Since I do both yoga and dancing which takes specific outfits that cannot really be worn anywhere else, I have kind of a double of the workout clothing set- one for yoga only, the other for dance practice only.<br />
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I have a little grim perspective for next season, when the outdoor activities will become more dirty and messy, so that the project will not work so well then. But currently I am still up to it, and testing. My closet looks really, really empty!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An inspiration- what to do with currently empty hangers :)</td></tr>
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To dress with even less I have also gone through the items that are not included in 33 list- underwear, socks, tights, pyjamas! I have to admit the success I've never seen in my closet before- I've got rid of many items, I've organized away the ones currently not in use or not in season, therefore also reducing the potential of mess coming back to my drawers I hope!<br />
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What I have, well not skipped, but 'alternated' is the way I included accessories and jewelry (apart from the pieces I NEVER take off)- the ones still on the list are now moved to my cosmetics purse, but the rest remain in the larger jewelry box that I've made a pact with myself not to open until the rotation time comes. I have found that I don't use as many pieces as I have, some are left in drawers for ages. So I have put few also in a "give-away-box", but still deciding whether I should try to sell them on some ebay-type of lists or give them the way I usually give things away, or donate in second hand charity shops that will bring an extra good karma.. Since I am saving up now for many not-things of my "save money for.." list, I am still in decision process.<br />
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The result- I feel lighter myself as my closet has become clear of things I do not wear (these I donated or the really worn out ones have gone to rugs or crafts), of things that are out of season (I hope it will soon be real Latvian winter), and of things that do not fit me anymore.<br />
It really is a wonderful way to reorganize your mind, emotions and overall feeling!<br />
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And I actually can't wait I'm having a free evening in city apartment to declutter my closet there too!<br />
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Anyone cares to join me?<br />
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<br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-55709636481342088582014-01-08T12:10:00.000+00:002014-01-08T12:15:16.568+00:00Waste not! Cooking, stoups and juice pulp.. Recently there have been a lot of posts in the blogosphere and around in social media about the idiosyncracy of wasting the food. There are many ways to preserve food that would otherwise for some reason go to waste, and I have my own three favorite ones.<br />
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<b>1. Cook from scartch and eat your food with the next meal, take it in a lunchbox to work etc. </b><br />
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Even though sometimes that one piece of meat that would be too much for me or three spoons of potatoe mash that my toddler didn't disregarded on the plate, or half a bowl of breakfast porrige, etc.- can all look as "there's nothing I can really do with it", so many people waste. Sometimes I find it ok, if that's part of your pets or animals diet, because you have to feed them well anyway. But even if it would go to compost, I have a heavy heart seeing it dumped, let alone, having it to dump there myself.. Or even worse, to put it in "household rubbish" as in city apartment (yes, unfortunately we don't take our compost part back to the countryside anymore).<br />
But it does not have to be so daunting! You can easily incorporate that one piece of meat and three spoons of mash in your lunchbox to work, or a handful of cooked pasta. I know it would be harder to fit it in your family dinner, but it is very easy to add some larger salad or some other food pieces you like to have wonderful lunch at work! And even bits of oatmeal porrige- what to do with some leftower porrige half a bowl? Add some chopped banana or other fruits or berries depending on a season, and you will have even better meal than just full bowl of porrige. And believe me, there's even nothing wrong to have it as lunch at work, in case you eat breakfast at home all together freshly cooked. Yumm!<br />
It is so easy, and all it takes is to remember that leftowers and bits may make your lunch a special meal from your favorite world cuisines!<br />
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<b>2. Make a freezer stoup!</b><br />
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When I stumbled upon the <i>stoup</i> I was surprised at the simplicity of such delight, and I was even more surprised how I did not come to think of it myself! I have been putting forgotten half onions, a little "tired" herbs, crunched pieces of celery, only couple potatoes that we have that moment at home in soups or stews.. But this was next level. Now I too have a stoup box in a freezer- everything that we cannot for some reason finish or incorporate in next few meals, goes to in the box. Bits of meat, sausages, cooked vegetables, pasta, single leftover canned tomatoe, etc. There are also some foods excluded from it- usually sauces and foods including milk or cream.<br />
When the box is becoming fuller or you just want to cook something like that- defreeze the box, fry some spices and extra onion and maybe a grated carrot in butter or olive oil in the pot, add the contents of the box (cut in cubes or pieces if neccessary) and some extra meat or vegs if want to, then add tomatoe puree (home made frozen, preserved or store bought), canned or dry cooked beans and some stock if neccessary for more soupy consistence. It is a hearty, filling meal, and particularly nice if you grate some drying cheese bits that sometimes can be found in corners of the fridge. To make it even more special, serve with toasted garlic butter bread!<br />
Another bonus- sometimes we can't find time to cook recipes that include 10 or more ingredients, no matter how we'd like to. Well, this is a way to do it in no time! And you can make the box contents selective to the recipes you like best, like, being inspired by Rachel Ray for <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/sausage-peppers-and-onions-stoup-recipe/index.html">one </a>or <a href="http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=434&r=141,143,144,145,183,197,202,396,424,425,427">another </a>nice stoup!<br />
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<b>3. Be creative with the juice pulp! </b><br />
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Juice pulp is not a waste, it can be a wonderful ingredient! I have shared the <a href="http://ongreencarpet.blogspot.com/2011/12/autumn-delights-iv-carrot-pancakes.html">carrot pancakes</a> (fritters) with you before. But there are so many more ways to use the pulp! In our kitchen, sometimes it goes into muffins or cakes or breads (these are usually things my mother bake), I incorporate them in soups (especially pumpkin and carrot pulp). My favorites are pumpkin soups with Indian spice. It can even be used in cookies! I promisse to share the carrot and seed mix cookie recipe as soon as we bake another batch, because it would not be fair to post it without the picture, but the first batches just disappeared so quickly..<br />
I recently found some more recipes to use juice pulp, and this is the one that inspired me to post this here too: http://mindfulmomma.com/2013/05/easy-juicer-pulp-minestrone-recipe.html , so thank you, Micaela!<br />
Be creative!<br />
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<br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-51796539340427828792014-01-02T14:19:00.000+00:002014-01-02T14:19:19.103+00:00Happy, healthy and green 2014!Seasons greetings everyone!!!<br />
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It's been as hectic as usually here, maybe even little more than usually. Many things are on my schedule- family, work, school, Christmas crafts, yoga, reading, going outdoors, relaxing with a cup of tea, visiting people and many other important ones.<br />
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Even if I have come to think that 1st January is really nothing that gets me thinking of anything else but just regular tradition (Latvian traditions used to count a new year from 25th December, but Chinese year of the Horse has not even started yet), I still want to wish everyone something!<br />
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I wish everyone happiness. A friend recently reminded me, that there is no year in passage of time that would bring only nice things and merry events. But happy man is the one that receives with gratitude and smile on the face and in heart all he is given. So I wish you happiness in 2014!<br />
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I also wish you all good health in all mind, body and spirit! May the Horse bring you strength, endurance, playfulness and harmonious beauty of the nature!<br />
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And, of course, I wish you a green year! I do hope that the Green Horse will bring a lot of green ideas, inspirations and works in people all around the world!<br />
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This year I am doing something that I have never seriously done before yet- I am setting a list for myself.<br />
9 is a very meaningful number in various traditions- yoga, Latvian pagan tradition (that I hold very dear to my heart) and others. Therefore this year I am setting a list of 3 sections of 9 things "to do" for myself or what I would like to call them better- <b>Inspiring Reminders</b> of what I do and should do, whether they are the principles to live by or exact number of things that must be done in certain time.<br />
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<b><u>I promise to myself that I will</u></b><br />
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<b>Personal:</b><br />
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<ol>
<li>Live honoring Latvian traditions</li>
<li>Live honoring Namaste</li>
<li>Do yoga every day</li>
<li>Meditate every day</li>
<li>Eat more raw every day</li>
<li>Fresh juices and smoothies every day</li>
<li>Sing every day</li>
<li>Read 26 books this year</li>
<li>Receive and make the miracles come to life</li>
</ol>
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<b>Family:</b><br />
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<li>Say loving things to my loved ones <u>every </u>day</li>
<li>Inspire myself and others <u>every</u> day</li>
<li>Be more simple and more attached parent</li>
<li>Spend more quality time with my family doing things together instead of along each other</li>
<li>Welcome more new ancient Latvian traditions and wisdom in our lives and home</li>
<li>Teach the love to yoga to my daughter</li>
<li>Dance with my husband</li>
<li>Cook something special for my loved ones once a week</li>
<li>Make home</li>
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<b>Do-And-Learn:</b><br />
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<li>Reduce the clutter in my life and surroundings</li>
<li>Try myself on <a href="http://theproject333.com/getting-started/">Project 333</a></li>
<li>Learn to live a simple life with help of A Simple Year course</li>
<li>Learn 2 new skills this year</li>
<li>Sit 3 exams for my university this year</li>
<li>Write a blog post every month</li>
<li>Make a craft every month</li>
<li>Make 1/3 of Christmas gifts by October</li>
<li>Grow something unusual this year</li>
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Do you have "The list" this year? I hope mine will serve me as a good reminder of the things that are important to me for the moments I become a little lazy or forget to fill all my cups! </div>
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<br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-64911489158325230932013-11-11T11:10:00.000+00:002014-01-03T11:11:40.979+00:00In praise of Slow- reviewIt was couple of years ago when my friend gave me a great present on my birthday- a <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Praise-Slow-Worldwide-Challenging-ebook/dp/B004KSRZBA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360155310&sr=8-1">book </a><br />
<b>"in praise of Slow. How a worldwide movement is challenging the cult of speed"</b> by <span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://www.carlhonore.com/about/">Carl Honoré</a></span>. He is an award- winning London living Canadian journalist and TED speaker, and mainly, he is a world's ambassador for the Slow Movement.<br />
So what really is a Slow Movement? By his words:<br />
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"<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;">It is a cultural revolution against the notion that faster is always better. The Slow philosophy is not about doing everything at a snail’s pace. It’s about seeking to do everything at the right speed. Savoring the hours and minutes rather than just counting them. Doing everything as well as possible, instead of as fast as possible. It’s about quality over quantity in everything from work to food to parenting.</span>"<br />
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Even though I preach several aspects of Slow Movement in my daily life, I still have loads of areas to improve. This book was insightful. I believe readers on green carpet might find it interesting too.<br />
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He starts by examining our need for speed, compulsion to accelerate and hurry in everything we do. Why do we do everything faster? Author questions the (in)sanity of speeding up everything in our lives. Meanwhile he goes through the history of how clock became to control our lives.<br />
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In the chapter Two he shows that "Slow is Beautiful" by introducing cities and communities that choose to defy te speeding up industry and have become The Decelerators.<br />
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In the chapter Three "Food: Turning the tables on speed" he is taking you to a tasty and nice smelling journey, introducing the Slow Food idea, advocates and activists. I particularly love the part when he tells about Rome and how Carlo Petrini launched Slow Food there. "As the name suggests, the movement stands for everything that McDonald's does not: fresh, local, seasonal produce; recipes handed down through the generations; sustainable farming; artisanal production; leisurely dining with family and friends." Carl is also reminding that Slow Food is an "eco-gastronomy", it means eating well not only for your pleasure, mind and body, but also for the environment.<br />
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I think chapter Four "Cities: Blending old and new" is one of my favorites. Even though apart from very few areas our cities look a lot like his vicious examples, I enjoyed the virtual tour through Citta Slow and seeing how New Urbanism principles are applied elsewhere turning it to "Slow Urbanism". When you take a closer look on the infrastructure details of how the city or suburbs should be built according to their ideas, it is very close to the eco-village ideas.The book is also giving a good thought on Speed Awareness- how we drive our cars and how we should do that not only for Slow living idea, but for our own and others safety and opportunity to enjoy the life in living areas.<br />
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Chapter Five "Mind/Body: <i>Mens sana in corpore sana</i>" leads you to slow thinking and reminds of such important practices as meditation, taking time to reflect and calm your mind from the frantic jumping of thoughts. Also physical excersise is very important part of living quality life, especially slow life. Since yoga is big thing here on green carpet, I like him emphasizing the importance of it in the book too. Some interesting aspects of Eastern Chi Kung traditions appear in lives of ordinary and very dynamic sports. Slow doesn't mean that every movement has to be at a snails pace. What was totally new to me was this SuperSlow gym. I would not be ready to try it since I, just like the author, like to enjoy my practices, but I definitely understand the people who like it- it's slow in dynamics, but "fast" in terms of time saving, and it clears the mind too.<br />
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Next chapter "Medicine: Doctors and Patience" talks about the issue probably every one of us has encountered- fast paced visits in the doctors office. Although author shows some examples where Western doctors are taking more time for their patients and talk more, in reality it is still a huge problem. Therefore he goes on to discuss various CAM techniques. Most of the readers will probably already know such treatments as massage, chiropractic, osteopathy, aroma therapy, acupuncture, yoga, meditation and power of a simple relaxation. What is a nice touch in the book is introducing Reiki as a medical treatment, and I was actually amazed to read about how developed that is in London, for example. If I just knew that when I was living there! I believe this chapter would encourage more people to try out herbalists, Reiki masters and other now called "unconventional" in my opinion, the true traditional doctors, because true health is most often very little linked to medicine.<br />
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A little delicate chapter seven "Sex:A Lover With a Slow Hand" moves Slow movement to your bedroom, introducing slow foreplay, movements and surprising or not- Tantra. Important are the ways to communicate such a delicate idea as slow sex. We all do it, we all know it, but we still don't really feel very encouraged to talk about it, especially in terms of "how to do it better" rather than "look what I can do!".. What I really enjoy about the author that he goes through all the experiences himself, so he can really tell what's in it. Thanks to this book I've had few thoughtful moments about my own relationships.<br />
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Chapter eight "Work: The Benefits of Working Less Hard" probably is the most difficult part of the Slow movement and provides many examples how being slow at work and working less can be good for both life and business. Not always the reduced hours or extra time off works for everybody, of course. But the trend to slow down and take more time for the life outside of work has been set and proven to have many benefits. I really enjoyed seeing various examples on how to create work-life balance and to slow the often frantic working environments- from reduced hours to job sharing, to choosing the pace and time when you work, to yoga and meditation on the job, and even snoozing in the middle of the working day. I think we have lot to learn from those examples to find what works for us. I also believe this is the most complex area where slowness can be achieved as it is not depending only on ourselves but also many other people- colleagues, CEOs, bosses, managers and other businesses that all have their own expectations of their colleagues, employees and partners. This chapter now has been one of the most important ones since I started working.. recommendation to everyone who is tired of hectic office rush.<br />
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The next chapter "Leisure: The Importance of Being at Rest" shows how our leisure can and should become more slow. Various hobbies from knitting to gardening (believe me, not women only activities) can have immense effect on you slowing down and therefore improve your concentration abilities when you need to be active. It kind of takes your mind off the jumping thoughts, tested and proven. While reading all that I thought- I should read this book even slower.. and then the author said that another leisure revolution is a slow reading! Some music lovers might find the continuation of the chapter captivating, however, I, being also a music lover, think that the section on playing music slower was a little too long (slow?). However, the idea of endless or at least way over our lifetimes long concert was something new and kind of exciting!<br />
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Following chapter "Children: Raising an Unhurried Child" covers how the Slow lifestyle could and should (!) be applied to our family lives, especially to how we rise our children. Nowadays parents try to pack their children's days with as many activities as they can to provide best start in life. But it is crucial to give them time to develop at their own pace, to enjoy the free play. Author is also describing alternative education methods and homeschooling as a trend that complies with Slow movement. Now I'm even more and more attracted to the idea of homeschooling, but since I'm not sure whether our family could be able to do that, I still have my little one signed up for Waldorf kindergaden when the time comes and have some other alternative schooling institutions in mind..<br />
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Those thinking of applying slow movement into their own lives have probably already gone to book store to grab a copy of this piece, but what I have to say to skeptics- many of us like our busy lives, but this book just shows how to improve the quality of life too!<br />
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P.S.- This was the slowest book I've ever read- and I enjoyed reading it page by page for many, many months before bedtime. I am now thinking of which next slow book to read!<br />
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<br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-58250548989371967272013-09-25T13:02:00.000+01:002013-09-25T13:04:33.278+01:00Stockholm, Sweden- learned and experiencedIt is not just because of some distant ancestoral Swedish blood in me that I fell in love with this city..<br />
Yesterday morning I arrived here for the IPCC Twelfth Session of Working Group I. While all the day I was in the room with many people discussing Climate Change data, and I am continuing it today and for the next couple of days too, I have got to know many very inspiring and also in some sense satisfying things about <b>Sweden and Stockholm</b> in particular.<br />
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<b>Some learned information: </b><br />
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<ul>
<li><b>Stockholm was the EU Green Capital 2010: </b><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/gEv12li9hyI?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></li>
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<a href="http://international.stockholm.se/PageFiles/145186/The_City_of_Stockholms_Climate_Initiatives%5b1%5d.pdf">The City of Stokholm's Climate Initiatives</a></div>
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<ul>
<li><b>Stockholm has done plenty to become sustainable, and it has a plan to do much more: </b></li>
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #3a3a3a; font-family: Arial, sans-serif, helvetica; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 0.8em;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">The Environment Program contains six key priorities:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">1. Environmentally efficient transport<br />2. Goods and buildings free of dangerous substances<br />3. Sustainable energy use<br />4. Sustainable use of land and water<br />5. Waste treatment with minimal environmental impact<br />6. A healthy indoor environment</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Other priorities of the Environment Program are to encourage cycling and walking, reduce out and indoor noise levels, increase the amount of ecological food products purchased by the city to at least 25 percent, reduce greenhouse gas emissions to less than 3,0 tons per Stockholmer, develop and strengthen land and water areas with particular importance for biological diversity and reduce incorrectly recycled waste.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://international.stockholm.se/InternationalGlobal/Stockholm%20by%20theme/A%20sustainable%20city/Miljoprogram2012_webb_eng.pdf">The Stockholm Environmental Programme 2012-2015</a></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.miljomal.se/ImageVault/Images/id_970/scope_0/ImageVaultHandler.aspx" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="69" src="http://www.miljomal.se/ImageVault/Images/id_970/scope_0/ImageVaultHandler.aspx" width="320" /></a></div>
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<ul>
<li><b>Sweden has 16 Environmental Quality Objectives:</b></li>
</ul>
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<div>
<a href="http://www.miljomal.se/Environmental-Objectives-Portal/">Environmental objectives:</a></div>
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<br />
<li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-image: url(http://www.government.se/img/listDot.png); background-position: 0em 0.55em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.1875px; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 0em 0.8em;">Reduced Climate Impact</li>
<li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-image: url(http://www.government.se/img/listDot.png); background-position: 0em 0.55em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.1875px; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 0em 0.8em;">Clean Air</li>
<li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-image: url(http://www.government.se/img/listDot.png); background-position: 0em 0.55em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.1875px; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 0em 0.8em;">Natural Acidification Only</li>
<li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-image: url(http://www.government.se/img/listDot.png); background-position: 0em 0.55em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.1875px; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 0em 0.8em;">A Non-Toxic Environment</li>
<li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-image: url(http://www.government.se/img/listDot.png); background-position: 0em 0.55em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.1875px; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 0em 0.8em;">A Protective Ozone Layer</li>
<li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-image: url(http://www.government.se/img/listDot.png); background-position: 0em 0.55em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.1875px; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 0em 0.8em;">A Safe Radiation Environment</li>
<li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-image: url(http://www.government.se/img/listDot.png); background-position: 0em 0.55em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.1875px; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 0em 0.8em;">Zero Eutrophication</li>
<li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-image: url(http://www.government.se/img/listDot.png); background-position: 0em 0.55em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.1875px; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 0em 0.8em;">Flourishing Lakes and Streams</li>
<li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-image: url(http://www.government.se/img/listDot.png); background-position: 0em 0.55em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.1875px; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 0em 0.8em;">Good-Quality Groundwater</li>
<li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-image: url(http://www.government.se/img/listDot.png); background-position: 0em 0.55em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.1875px; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 0em 0.8em;">A Balanced Marine Environment, Flourishing Coastal Areas and Archipelagos</li>
<li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-image: url(http://www.government.se/img/listDot.png); background-position: 0em 0.55em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.1875px; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 0em 0.8em;">Thriving Wetlands</li>
<li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-image: url(http://www.government.se/img/listDot.png); background-position: 0em 0.55em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.1875px; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 0em 0.8em;">Sustainable Forests</li>
<li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-image: url(http://www.government.se/img/listDot.png); background-position: 0em 0.55em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.1875px; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 0em 0.8em;">A Varied Agricultural Landscape</li>
<li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-image: url(http://www.government.se/img/listDot.png); background-position: 0em 0.55em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.1875px; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 0em 0.8em;">A Magnificent Mountain Landscape</li>
<li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-image: url(http://www.government.se/img/listDot.png); background-position: 0em 0.55em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.1875px; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 0em 0.8em;">A Good Built Environment</li>
<li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-image: url(http://www.government.se/img/listDot.png); background-position: 0em 0.55em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.1875px; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 0em 0.8em;">A Rich Diversity of Plant and Animal Life</li>
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<b>Some experienced things: </b><br />
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<ul>
<li>Stockholm takes care of its citizens and families by caring and developing green common spaces between the residential buildings, where you can see people actually coming together for BBQs and chats, and by designing the city with good access to public services like shops, busstops, daycare centers, common gardens, eat out places etc. </li>
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<a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3615/3699835853_b39aab309c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3615/3699835853_b39aab309c.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/p480x480/1209378_10153303173635228_561346080_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/p480x480/1209378_10153303173635228_561346080_n.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/p480x480/1231671_10153303175765228_267637974_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/p480x480/1231671_10153303175765228_267637974_n.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="http://www.placesweknow.com/images/sodermalm-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="http://www.placesweknow.com/images/sodermalm-2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<ul>
<li>At least one hotel in Stockholm has a wonderful environmental and 'health' standard apart from not changing the towels- Clarion Hotel in Stockholm serves plenty of fresh and organic food for breakfast, which makes me very, very happy. And my towels really were not changed during these 3 nights of stay as I left them on the hanger (which many other hotels in my experience ignore no matter the signs in the bathroom saying- we won't change them, we care for nature). </li>
</ul>
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<a href="http://www.clarionstockholm.com/UserUploadImages/550x210/Mat%20och%20dryck/Brodbuffe-550x210.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="122" src="http://www.clarionstockholm.com/UserUploadImages/550x210/Mat%20och%20dryck/Brodbuffe-550x210.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<ul>
<li>People cycle, walk, run to the places they have to be- daycare for children can be found on the first floor of one of the residential buildings of the cluster, bycicles are everywhere - parked near apartments, being cycled on the streets etc, dogs are walked around the green areas that are quite common in my 30min walk to the venue I have to be, and plenty of dads are running with kids in strollers to get where they have to be.. leaves a warming impression of people-friendly city.</li>
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<a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3074/2953985155_3dac6f8632_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3074/2953985155_3dac6f8632_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<ul>
<li>And what I probably love the most of these- Swedish people has this Scandinavian sustainable consumers pattern- they use things up, they wear them out. I see smart looking people pushing strollers that they have been probably pushed around themselves (or even their own moms and dads were the ones riding them). They don't ride oldschool bykes, they ride old bykes. They seemingly dress for quality and convenience, and they are not stuck up with superlarge wardrobes of incredible variety of rags from the latest trends. Simplicity really describes what I see around, and I love it. There is no pressure to artificially make you more good looking, the way of appearance is natural, and I miss this Scandinavian trait in my own country. No wonder they got all the above points set up.</li>
</ul>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://media.treehugger.com/assets/images/2011/10/BabiesBelowZero3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="206" src="http://media.treehugger.com/assets/images/2011/10/BabiesBelowZero3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">While this pic was taken from treehugger about Iceland, I've seen the same ones and similar here in Sweden, but I did not want take my camera out to take a photo of a bypassing toddler in a stroller or baby in a pram..</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div>
These are just few I've encountered on my short visit here with a very, very limited time outside of the meeting room. I can only hear even better stories of other cities of Sweden that are even better by not losing the all the good standards but adding to them by being more relaxed, friendly and good looking. I hope I would have some time to visit Uppsala and Gothenburg to find it out one day.</div>
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<div>
It almost feels like I would want to take the easy route and move to work to some place like this (and for curiosity- one of the positions I was attracted to when thinking of starting working was really based in Stockholm). </div>
<div>
However, I love my family, my country and my own environment a lot. And I find this experience incredibly inspiring to do some improvements in my own city surroundings. I hope that ultimately I will live in the countryside, but while part of my life is spent at our city apartment block, there are several things I've already discussed with my husband that we could do for our neighbourhood. </div>
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Which me luck! </div>
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<br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-46445123796540333432013-09-24T11:54:00.004+01:002013-09-24T11:55:45.212+01:00GreenpeaceWhow, it's been a while.. Family + work + studies (and exams approaching next week), makes me really, really busy. But today I feel inspired to post on something else..<br />
<br />
Even though I love my job, I feel really frustrated by the very, very slow progress and slow bureaucratic processes there. And while I believe in what I do and I wish to have more impact, I can also become really tired of that. Sitting here, in the wonderful city of Stockholm at the IPCC event and discussing the newest data of Climate Change in also a quite slow process, makes me think of what else I could to to speed things up in terms of slowing the Climate Change and saving our Planet from various non-environmentally friendly practices?<br />
Join the activities of Greenpeace!<br />
I've "run into them" virtually several times before, but now I've been also moved a lot by what their Arctic Sunrise crew is going through in Russia. And I am very inspired by international action! So I checked, what else we - me and you all - could do:<br />
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<br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-61445335157966713412013-07-17T13:13:00.000+01:002013-07-17T13:13:12.992+01:00Raw dinner<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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For a while now there has been a constant debate on green carpet about maybe going raw or at least trying to add more raw to our daily food consumption and we tried some recipes several times..<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA_t6ZIsx7YQ1xGrNxIt2itGdMB0gHjNkoLgsLHq_jt2QA5eTcoH9g9ImugUH3uW8LRr2Xi-VJ0MEEIRYK9wxQYKBNHJjdme3YC0yHtlQRHZz50sJRZ58QA47MQRZUN4NO2keJLCWBIijv/s1600/me%25C5%25BEa+zemenes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA_t6ZIsx7YQ1xGrNxIt2itGdMB0gHjNkoLgsLHq_jt2QA5eTcoH9g9ImugUH3uW8LRr2Xi-VJ0MEEIRYK9wxQYKBNHJjdme3YC0yHtlQRHZz50sJRZ58QA47MQRZUN4NO2keJLCWBIijv/s1600/me%25C5%25BEa+zemenes.jpg" /></a>With all the wonderful berries and fruits available now in season it has been fairly easy and pleasant to keep our raw food levels up on daily basis. However, during our National XXV Song and XV Dance Festival week where I had to dance all day and sometimes night long, and during the "recovery week" I managed to indulge in more of those foods I'd never eat otherwise. Looking for excuses? Maybe.. But as much as I tried to keep a healthy diet (bringing health snacks and smoothies to the stadium, carrying almonds in all my pockets), the "other" foods kept creeping up on me..<br />
So this week I felt already fully recovered from the amazing experience of dancing, and decided- time to get back to proper moonphase detox days and add more raw. After trying some soups and smoothies mostly a while ago, this time I dared myself into "cooking" raw dinner maincourse.<br />
I have to say- it was fantastic!!!<br />
So here's the recipe I used:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBjRam9CPII6XHtqPOek_Eger2llb5RAWgrYuCBr2bJlDtrsXk8bqbfXGXQNgBAPWW-MyeIUhKvmIZ6s3z2DEgSj8RDGeGrj4Wi0jgjAeyft78Er6W_nK_3jruTRe_SiFi0IxbiCT0_Q/s1600/8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBjRam9CPII6XHtqPOek_Eger2llb5RAWgrYuCBr2bJlDtrsXk8bqbfXGXQNgBAPWW-MyeIUhKvmIZ6s3z2DEgSj8RDGeGrj4Wi0jgjAeyft78Er6W_nK_3jruTRe_SiFi0IxbiCT0_Q/s400/8.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picture from <a href="http://www.asimplyrawlife.blogspot.com/">www.asimplyrawlife.blogspot.com</a> whose recipe I used for with little alteration</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Cauliflower rice with raw pesto<br />
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For rice:<br />
2small heads of cauliflower<br />
1 red bell pepper<br />
4 stalks of celery<br />
2 handfuls of mushrooms<br />
1/2 large courgette<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o29DUpRWAKQ/To1zPwzeIyI/AAAAAAAAAGg/Au41UgVLhT4/s1600/pesto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o29DUpRWAKQ/To1zPwzeIyI/AAAAAAAAAGg/Au41UgVLhT4/s1600/pesto.jpg" /></a></div>
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For pesto:<br />
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2 handfuls of basil leaves (from my windowsill)<br />
pine nuts and walnuts as much as you prefer<br />
2-3 cloves of garlic<br />
olive oil<br />
pinch of pink himalaya salt<br />
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Chop the cauliflower in a food processor until rice-like consistence (small grains). I used a tip to pulse 10times and do it by small portions not to turn it into a paste. <br />
Dice the bell pepper, celery and courgette, chop the mushrooms. Mix it all in the cauliflower rice. <br />
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Blend basil leaves, garlic and nuts all in a thick paste, add a pinch of salt and drizzle in olive oil to gain the perfect substance. My suggestion is to 'stretch' it a little with more olive oil to make it really a sauce for the 'rice'. <br />
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And voila! Enjoy your healthy raw meal! <br />
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<br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-64432453421595088122013-06-28T09:44:00.003+01:002013-06-28T09:44:53.821+01:00Life that amazes you<div style="text-align: justify;">
There are so many things in this world that can amaze you.. let them! </div>
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Live your life to the fullest and love!</div>
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There is no meantime, there is only the real time. The only time that truly exists is now. We don't own the past to return to it and relive it. We can never live in the future, as it is always in tomorrow. All we have is now, this day, this moment. And only we can fill it with light, love and life. Love and true connections are all around us. </div>
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The love that we share and build in our families is sacred and not to be shared further. But only having this sacred love within me I can be open to the world around me and love every bit of it and have the honoring love for human beings I meet on my way. And that's sacred too. </div>
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Be true to yourself, to what you cherish, and as open you are to the world, as open arms it will take you in to share the blissfulness of the unity of being all and one at the same time. Let the world amaze you!</div>
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Every heart is a string that brings the sound of joy to the world around it. Find the strings you can sound with in harmony to play the music of life!</div>
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Namaste</div>
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</a><br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-33232289318350036182013-06-11T08:00:00.000+01:002013-06-11T08:00:04.808+01:00Decluttering, cleaning and making our home<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DlZj9ifNvdM/UbbFFBoRFdI/AAAAAAAAAcg/wxmS8HKVlxA/s1600/sprng-cln-rag2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DlZj9ifNvdM/UbbFFBoRFdI/AAAAAAAAAcg/wxmS8HKVlxA/s200/sprng-cln-rag2.jpg" width="118" /></a>My dear husband has been asking if there's something itching in me in last few days or what? I've been using every free second to clean, shrub, unpack old boxes and take empty ones away, even tidying up my little ones toy shelves.. So what's about cleaning, reorganizing and decluttering on green carpet?<br />
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Well, it started probably with three major motivators:<br />
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<li>Since I have been away from our apartment for almost a week (and last I was there I was busy with my daughter after work, so I paid no attention to surroundings), I just noticed that our wonderful 4week cleaning schedule has not been ticked for.. emm.. not gonna even say how long.. and with that I also noticed that my bathroom sink looks like it needs more washing than my face or feet.. </li>
<li>We bought a blender with two 750ml take away 'cups' so we could take our juices, smoothies and raw soups to work too.. so I had to place it somewhere in our kitchen..and I realised that I have way too much stuff in there, some of which I hardly use, so it really was the time for rearranging our appliances, getting rid of what's unneccessary (too many boxes, glass jars, packaging to reuse someday) and putting deep in kitchen cupboards appliances that I use very, very rarely, but still want to keep for occasions (like an electric sandwich maker)..</li>
<li>Psychological need for some order and prioritizing (reorganizing stuff and things in my mind) and clearing away unnecessary thoughts (cleaning and decluttering our home from stuff and chatoic things in my mind).. </li>
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Of course, one has to keep in mind the greenness of cleaning processes too. Ruleas are simple as always: </div>
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<li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Use only health and environment friendly cleaning materials and substances (soda, vinegar, lemons, microfiber cloths, upcycled torn rugs, eco-friendly liquids if really necessary). Clean your home keeping the planet clean too!</div>
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Donate or re-gift all unneccessary stuff you're not gonna need (sometimes also broken things can be given to people who can fix them..)</div>
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Repurpose or keep for reusing or repurposing later (like cardboard boxes for Christmas gift packaging etc.)</div>
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Now, after my bathroom sink is now shining with all bottles nicely organized, my daughters toy shelf looking like a toddlers toy shelf instead of a colourful mess, more clear space in our small kitchen with easy access to the appliances we actually use everyday, and many other tasks, my head has become clearer, my mind more peaceful and I now again I can feel a little restless and happy, but also energized to do a little more every now and then. <br />
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But what I was also reminded of by this "cleaning spree" was that home is not just a space to live in. It is like a living organism, you have to take attentive care of it for you it to take care of you. Your daily tasks should not be put behind just because you are busy and getting rid of old boxes is not on your priority list right now. <strong>Your daily care of your house is what actually creates the feeling of home</strong>, not just a house. <br />
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I know that most of the people were doing all the decluttering in spring cleaning, we did some too, but apparently it's something we, people and our homes, need once in a while, not just once a year. <br />
I am not gonna share the decluttering tips here on green carpet, just because there are like millions of those on the web and blogosphere, and everyone has their own approach to that. I just go with my guts.. Take a look around and see what you can do today to make your home feel lighter, airier, giving your family and your home a clean and fresh space to breath and space to fill with warmth of a family home. <br />
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I might be mis-quoting the actual Chinese proverb, but I love the idea of it: <br />
No matter how tired you are, always find a minute in the evening to tidy up your home. <br />
Added value to a nice place to wake up in the morning? You will go to bed with your head tidied up too, will have better sleep and refreshed mind in the morning! <br />
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What more added value could you get? Maybe try to involve rest of the family members too and make cleaning and decluttering fun? It may take longer if your toddler is jumping in the boxes you are trying to put away, or squashing the bubble wrappers, but if it is also your family quality time together? I'm looking forward to our next shared attempts of making our home. <br />
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On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-37195654330907580182013-06-05T09:31:00.000+01:002013-06-05T09:32:02.538+01:00World Environment DayToday is the World Environment Day, and we are going to celebrate it on green carpet too!<br />
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I was thinking of what activity would be the best for our family and our planet..<br />
And I realized that I just simply have to address the two concepts of what UNEP has also suggested- Sustainable consumption and Food waste!<br />
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So this is what I registered at <a href="http://www.unep.org/wed/activities/">UNEP </a>as my activity:<br />
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<span style="color: #252525; font-family: gotham_bookregular, Georgia, Palatino, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The change starts at the grassroots level right? So I am starting there- with myself and my family. I am discussing how food production impacts the Environment and what we can do, especially discussing food waste. Even though my mom assures we don't have much food waste since we have pets and grandmom nearby has also hens and ducks, and my mom has a worm compost "farm" too.. but still- I am on the path of finding the ways to show my family how every scrap of food can be used and how leftowers can be incorporated in further meals.. In addition I am talking with them about reducing store bought produce, reducing bread, meat and ready made items, and even reducing cooking and benefits of eating more raw food! It might not help saving hungry children in developing countries, but what we must change is the overall eating patterns of our whole planet, especially "the West".. </span><br />
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Additional motivation for this I also found in Tallinn last week where I attended Policy forum on BaltAdapt project, and one of the participants was presenting the <a href="http://www.beras.eu/index.php/en/home/food">BERAS</a>- Baltic Ecologycal Recycling Agriculture and Society and the concept of a Diet for a Clean Baltic:<br />
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As a consumer changing what you eat is the most important action you can take to save the environment. The following criteria can guide your choice of food weather you are an individual consumer, a professional responsible for purchases in the public sector, or running a restaurant.<br />
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First of all the food should taste good and be healthy. Organic food is good both for us and the environment. Local food and food according to season minimise transports and support our local producers. Most likely seasonal food will also cost less and give us the opportunity to stay more connected with our natural environment. Leftover food is a waste of energy and we should try to reduce it. Producing vegetables and grains is much more energy efficient than producing meat. Therefore reducing our meat consumption is the most important thing we do.<br />
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We call it Diet for a Clean Baltic.</div>
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<span style="color: black;"><em>In short, Diet for a Clean Baltic means choosing food that is produced within the natural boundaries of our ecosystem.</em></span></h4>
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I'm in!!!<br />
So- eat organic, eat local, eat seasonal, eat vegetarian and I would also like to add- eat raw!<br />
I don't mean that you have to go 100% on any of these at once, but just start replacing step by step, introduce the good things and you'll see how the bad ones fall away real quick ;)<br />
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Let's eat food that's good for yourself, your family and your planet!<br />
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<br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-89789576869545882792013-05-31T09:09:00.001+01:002013-05-31T09:11:54.523+01:00Ups and downs of a green working mom..Sorry for leaving the blogspace for so long, during this time I've had millions of ideas of what should appear on green carpet.. but in the end they somehow got buried under the workload, delayed study load and trying to have the best quality family time one can have at the moment.<br />
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So to finish later on a positive note, I'll probably start with <b>downs</b>..<br />
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<li><b>Being away from my little one</b>- she's growing so fast and I just wish I could be there all the time to be supportive, available when she needs me and facilitating her learning everything that interests her.. this is the biggest thing, but since she's still happy to give me bye bye kisses in the morning and waving out the windows, I feel that she's ok with that. Even though we are having the very normal "mommy is only mine!" moments in the mornings in bed or evenings when I come home, and during the night with very long extended nursing or just sleeping at the breast. And these moments are actually really important for both of us, so we continue as long as we need..</li>
<li><b>My greenies suffer</b>- I have totally failed on the "In and out" project since I was not prepared technically to do the notes when not at home, but I'll re-make all that starting tomorrow (June) and I since I sense some support in that from my dear husband too, that will give the necessary encouragement.. and I hope I can make a comeback to blogosphere too.. the same goes for all of other green crafts, gardening etc- time is limited there, but I try to get back to it now and then since it is what makes green mom happy.. </li>
<li><b>I totally miss cooking all the meals properly</b>, taking my time, so now we're trying to find quick and healthy solutions, but it's really not the same..great that summer is here and I can rely more on salads..</li>
<li><b>Incredible lack of fresh air</b>- I was so used to be a big part of the week at the countryside and going outside a lot, and now I'm stuck in the office. So I try to get as much out of the weekends or evenings that I commute back to countryside as possible.. </li>
<li><b>Health issues</b>- sitting long hours at the computer has its impacts too.. I know yoga helps, but then again- I often feel guilty for thinking of going to another yoga class instead of being home with my family.. That's a difficult decision often.. </li>
<li><b>Stresses</b>- ones at work, ones that come out of you feeling a little guilty for not having enough time for everything, ones that come up just of being tired, ones that come up if someone thinks your child is too needy and high spirited when she finally gets me etc.. breathing, yoga, positive thinking and most of all- prioritizing is what helps, but it's a work on yourself, not a holiday always.. </li>
<li><b>Falling behind at my studies</b>- I miss studying, I so wanted to this properly, but now with job everyday and the natural need to be a mom too, the studies are a little left on the side bench. I'm trying to find a way to do it, but currently quite unsuccessful. Should probably take some vacation from work just to study..</li>
<li><b>Business trips</b>- as a greenie, it just makes me cringe to think how much I have to travel, and how big is the slice of air travel there.. umf.. nothing really I can do about it now, except creating my "green business trip rules", which I will share some time hopefully soon.. </li>
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And now, finally - <b>ups!!!</b> </div>
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<li><b>Having a job you like is a big thing</b>- a greenie that can work at the Climate Change department with Adaptation issues? You kidding? I'm happy to be able to give an input, to have an opportunity to provide my effort towards saving the planet!</li>
<li><b>Financially</b>- even though almost all of my salary goes to nanny and commuting to work and back (since many days I drive my car to countryside), there's some extra flow of money in our family and some times a little left over from my salary too, and that's great!</li>
<li><b>Discovering ways to be greener employee</b>- in the office, going to work by bicycle (especially cool if together with my husband!), taking my home made meals to work, putting out some green initiatives at work, exploring options of car pooling when traveling to/from countryside etc. It just enlarges my green vision at times, and also allows to spot the problems in our society..</li>
<li><b>Appreciation</b>- of what you have, what you can do, your health, your hobbies, your interests and most of all- family. Prioritization is a key to feeling great about what you are doing, and that only has become that clear since I started working. And that's a fantastic way to have all your cups filled to be in harmony with your true nature..</li>
<li><b>New visions for future</b>- every step you take makes you realize what you want to be and how you want to live your life. Some new, some would even say extreme future visions have come up in our family, and I will be happy to share them here too. Not going into detail yet, but I can tell that it's about new levels of our family health, greenness in the lifestyle and family activities, educating our child and ourselves and even business. So I hope for your support when it all comes into light!</li>
<li><b>Business trips</b>- they have a bright side too- networking with Climate Change people, seeing new places, meeting also some friends that live on those locations, and learning to use the time wisely (both for work and pursuit of my own interests in "after work hours", doing yoga in the morning when no one is crying for you to stay in bed or climbing on you being at upward dog, etc..), which makes me tired, but also very happy and harmonized when I return!</li>
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There are probably some more, but these were the first ones that come in mind when someone asks me whether it's worth to work currently and whether I like my job.. I do, and I will continue working as long as I like my job and as long as my priority list stays in the right order for me and our family to feel in harmony.. </div>
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What are your ups and downs of being a greenie at work and being green working mom? </div>
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<br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-62279192248549302032013-04-10T19:50:00.000+01:002013-04-10T19:50:04.003+01:00New green job It's been awfully quiet on green carpet lately. I wish I could say that I've been losing myself in my green endeavours or studying hard the sustainable development program. But it's neither.<br />
It's all because (congratulations to myself) I have got a job!<br />
So now I am a Senior Official at the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, at the Climate Change and Adaptation Policy Division.<br />
Sounds fantastic, doesn't it?<br />
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It's been hard for the first 3 weeks to be at work again and to encounter everything that working mom has to. But my little one is taking it all right at the moment and she's cared for my mom or our long term helper at the family, so she's doing good now. Since I still brestfeed her during days and nights, at least she still gets all the usual goodies.<br />
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Since I'm now totally consumed in learning everything that my job requires and getting ready to first business trips that will be a challenge (I've never been away from my baby for the whole day+night), my brain capacity has not been quick enough to build up for continuing studying or writing. I'm hoping I'll do better on my time (and brain) management very soon not to fall behind in any area of my life.<br />
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Working with climate change issues and even more, adaptation to climate change, has been kind of a dream job. I am very happy to have this opportunity now and I'll do my best while not compromising my family life.<br />
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Even though I'm glad to be in the middle of such significant processes as project to develop national adaptation strategy etc, I'm jaw dropping suprised how low importance is payed to the green lifestyle in between my colleagues. And how the international, European and national bureaucratic systems are contributing to the climate change just in their own business (huge amounts of paper printing, incredibly large amounts of business travel etc.). I aim to change what I can and keep hoping that with time what Europe is planning (low carbon economy by 2050 with emissions reduction by 80-95%, for example) will also change how the system works.<br />
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Commuting to the work and back has also increased my personal car use, shared car use and public transport use, I'm scared to think of the numbers. I really do hope that the Spring will soon be here (doesn't look like if I glance through my window) so I can ride my bicycle again!<br />
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I hope I get to post some study notes and other info soon again!<br />
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<br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-47748993047222411332013-03-21T19:54:00.000+00:002013-03-21T19:54:07.728+00:00Shampoo bar! Finally!<br />
Since I made a commitment to buy all the natural face and body cosmetics and care products that are made here in Latvia (unless they are not produced here at all), I had my fair share of doubt and dilemma on green carpet. Many of my inspiration providing people were talking about bar shampoo that would be less waste producing since it has no plastic bottle/tube packaging etc.<br />
So when I ran out of shampoo I started searching- maybe there is someone making those in Latvia after all? And it appeared there is someone, to be precise- <a href="http://kazaslaukos.wix.com/cosmetic"><i>Kazas laukos</i></a> makes 2 versions of shampoo bars (one with silk protein, another one anti-.<br />
I just tried it- it seems it washed my hair well, will see about the real results tomorrow morning..<br />
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<a href="https://www.kumi.lv/sites/default/files/styles/w420/public/auzu_medus_ziepes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://www.kumi.lv/sites/default/files/styles/w420/public/auzu_medus_ziepes.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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About the shampoo bars- <i>Kazas laukos</i> claims to use only natural and eco friendly products, even though they do not have any certification of organic cosmetics. This is probably the only time that I trusted the word of the producer just to try it out. It came in a nice brown paper bag. Unfortunately the bar itself was wrapped in a cling film before put in a paper bag. I think I'll email them suggesting they skip that part, it really isn't neccessary if there's a paper around it! Or they could replace the film with additional piece of wrapping paper?<br />
About the ingredients. The description says the following:<br />
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<ul>
<li>coconut oil, olive oil, palm oil, bees wax, hemp oil, castor oil, goat milk, silk protein. </li>
</ul>
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Plus they say they use goat milk from local country goats in all their products, which is also a nice touch. Plus it's all handwork. And compared to imported products, this has almost zero transportation.<br />
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I also indulged in some consumption moment and bought a shaving soap called "Black Velvet" for my husband in the same purchase, since he ran out of that one too. So with his product we also saved our planet from one more plastic bottle. I'll post a comment of whether he liked it!<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AIcm0HLiU6w/Ts9nhKB1kxI/AAAAAAAAAMU/WZgHMZc0jtc/s1600/ogc-paraksts.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AIcm0HLiU6w/Ts9nhKB1kxI/AAAAAAAAAMU/WZgHMZc0jtc/s1600/ogc-paraksts.png" /></a></div>
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<br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-79444284164061381182013-03-15T14:44:00.001+00:002013-03-18T12:33:35.669+00:00Climate Change and Development - Study Notes 1This is going to be the first posting with my study notes. As I previously mentioned, it may lack some figures that I'm not sure the copyrights would allow me to publish from my tutors. I also cannot comment on how the notes are going to look like in future, since this is just a beginning and I think I am taking more time than I should to do all the readings and stuff. What I'm saying is that the notes may shrink in future. But I'm giving it a try, please, be nice in attitudes when reading them, since I'm not yet academically familiar with these concepts. However, be critical, add comments, thoughts and suggestions when read these!<br />
The notes will include textual notes and incorporated questions that I am asked as a student during the study process. I'll try to keep postings as structural as possible so you can retrace various articles if want to.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Climate Change and Development: the challenges of our time</span></b></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">1.0<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Climate change and
development: challenges of our time.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Climate
change and development are arguably the two most important challenges facing
the world. This section outlines the context, nature, and scale of these two
challenges and introduces some important parallels and interactions between
them.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: LV;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">define the terms 'climate change' and 'development'<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo3; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">1.1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">Climate change</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;"> challenges are depending on the particular location and its various
characteristics (economic, social, current climate issues etc.). Climate change
is a long term alterations in the behaviour patterns of the atmosphere, caused
by millennia of natural, and more recently, by human causes. Climate consists
of many variables- temperature, precipitation (rainfall, hail, snow) and its patterns,
wind direction and speed, atmospheric pressure, humidity, nature and extent of
clouds, hours and intensity of sunlight. It varies spatially also depending on
distance from the sea (altitude) or equator (latitude), and temporally by
variations of seasons or even days. Due to this amount of various factors that
make up the climate change, it should not be confused with global warming,
since global warming is only one contributing factor. This factor, however,
should not be diminished either, since very small increase in global average
temperature can have adverse effects on the climate or some of its other
„components”. One should also acknowledge that global warming as a trend can be
accompanied by local or temporary falls of temperature. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">Climate change
definitions also differ by the organisation that uses it.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">
Climate change in IPCC usage refers to any change in climate over time, whether
due to natural variability or as a result of human activity. Therefore this definition
differs from use of climate change term in the UNFCCC, where it refers to a
change of climate that is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity
that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and that is in addition to
natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">It is
recognized that anthropological climate change main factors are burning fossil
fuels for transport, energy and industry, vegetation (forest) clearance, and livestock
keeping. All of these increase the
global temperature and affect the natural cycles of climate change that lead
into a kind of a vicious circle – the larger the temperature, sea level and climate
change scale rise, the more it increases. IPCC has clearly explaining figures
that show how a very small change in temperature can have major adverse effects
on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, economics and production, and even basic
human needs like accessibility of water, food and health, and change the territories
like coastlines. There are two approaches in calculating the rise of
temperature. First one is the rise from the average pre-industrial conditions
(around 1850), and it is mostly used in various policies and policy discussions
about global warming. The second is rise from the average of period1980-1999
that is used in IPCC materials. One should remember that 2C above
pre-industrial temperature is about 1.5C above period 1980-1999, and about 1.2
C above 2007 since there was rather rapid growth of temperature from the middle
of the period IPCC uses as a baseline. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">IPCC Fourth Assessment
Report (FAR) predicted that world will experience rise of a little under 1C
already by 2020, and rise above 1.5C by 2050. The continuing increase of
temperature will depend on socio-economic pathways, world’s capabilities of
mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Some models and present facts show
that some climate indicators are already approaching the upper end of the
predicted range or even growing at greater rates like sea level rise, for
example. The nearest projection of the temperature rise of 1C can seam little,
but the effects expected are large- it will increase water availability in
moist tropics and high latitudes, but will decrease water availability and
increase drought in mid-latitudes and semi-arid low latitudes, that will lead
to hundreds of millions of people exposed to increased water stress. 1C
increase will lead to increased coral bleaching; increasing species range
shifts and wildfire risk, increasing amphibian extinction. It will also affect
food production by having complex, localised negative impacts on small holders,
subsistence farmers and fishers, depending on the location it will increase or
decrease the crop productivity. Coasts will experience increased damage from floods
and storms that will put more and more people under flood risk every year. Temperature
rise of 1C will affect the health of people, increasing burden from
malnutrition, diarrhoeal, cardio-respiratory, and infectious diseases. Even
sooner increased morbidity and mortality from heat waves, floods and droughts
is expected, and so is the change in distribution of some disease vectors. There
will be also singular events like local retreat of ice of Greenland and West
Antarctic. With every degree of temperature rising there will be more and
increasing severe impacts on already mentioned areas, and one can expect
structural and irreversible changes in behaviour of the aquatic and climate
system that will in turn have adverse effect on climate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">Most of the
affected people will be at the developing countries, and it is billions in
numbers. These are the countries that have the least capability to mitigate or
adapt to the coming changes or already present climate change impacts. Already
complex development issues of these countries are becoming threatened by the
new challenges of adaptation to the climate change. There are also many issues
of development that are obstacles of the adaptation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">Q- </span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #32363b; font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Given the scale and severity of the impacts
discussed above, are there other natural, social, and political impacts that
might be expected to result from climate change? What do you think these might
be?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">Few important
natural impacts should be mentioned. One of them is the variety of tipping
points that our planet has that are relevant to the climate change. One of such
is the natural storage of methane that is located in permafrost and deep ocean
crystals. Once the permafrost starts to melt, and latest data shows that it has
begun already, it will release huge amounts of methane in the atmosphere, and
even though its life span is shorter, methane is the one GHG that has about 20
times larger warming effect than the CO<sub>2</sub>. If more methane gets into
the atmosphere, the faster increase of global temperature will happen, and if
this process reaches the tipping point that will in turn accelerate further melting
of permafrost, turning it into a vicious circle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">Since climate
change will lead to mass migration that will start at smaller levels in nearer
periods but will grow with time, there will be unresolved question what to do
with the climate refugees from developing countries that are not capable to
take care of them. At more technologically and financially well adapt areas
there will be a discussion of social and economic costs of relocation of people
in coastal or low laying areas vs. adaptation measures. Currently there are
discussions about funding clean development, adaptation and mitigation measures
and technologies, continuous aid to developing nations, however, with time the matter
will become more and more pressing, increasing number of people and countries
will occur in need of help, and then the political question whether to fund the
aid will become more daunting, especially if climate change impacts will need
attention at home too. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">There are also
several security issues that will rise. One of how to deal with climate
refugees that will increase in number and will look forward to other countries
to take them in. Will they open or close their borders and access to their
resources? Current rate of arms race makes one think that many countries will
not be willing to share their resources but rather try to use the ones of
others. Many countries that are already civil or international war torn will
experience increasing competition in attempts to control the resources in their
territories. Many new military conflicts are expected to break out in resource scarce
areas. That will add the regular war and post-war effects to the ones of
climate change. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">The ethical and
emotional aspects should also be included in the discussions. People not only physically
need the food, water, shelter, health, but also are emotionally attached to all
that. Relocation of climate affected inhabitants will also need psychological
help. Educating every individual and preparing them for the issues of climate
change should be on policies and development plans. Ethical questions of whose
responsibility is the climate change will also be a difficult one. Developing
nations are rightfully blaming the industrialised nations for past emissions,
but developed countries are not only unwilling to give up their „business as
usual” is not the only issue here. Their people feel they also should not pay
for their predecessors. They as individuals feel they should have the same
weight of responsibility as any other person on the planet, but that is
unreachable since there are large differences on people’s willingness to change
their behavioural patterns at the nearest future. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">Behavioural questions
will also matter with increasing climate change. Currently some people live on
nothing and wish to earn at whatever cost for the planet, some people consume
and pollute unreasonably not willing to change. Some people are leaders of
changing the behaviour to mitigate climate change and promote sustainable
development, and then there’s part of people willing to change their behaviour only
if all of the others will do. Social movements and unity of people have had
immense power in history, will people be able to act in union with climate
change impacts increasing by years is the question that will be answered only
when the time comes. They might as well go for the “strongest will survive”
option disregarding morals and higher human values when the extinction, famine,
thirst and loss of homes start. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">If we look at
the opportunities to reduce the impacts of climate change and how they would
affect various people, various scenarios can be built. Development of clean
technologies, localised organic food production, green urban development,
education of society at all levels, alternative energy, alternative transport
and home redevelopment, cradle to cradle production, etc. If these things would
become a common way of life in few places, they would become also more
available for others too and therefore spread. Taking the opportunity to
mitigate the climate change and limit the global warming at the temperature
increase that does not cause irreversible and existential changes in terrestrial
and aquatic ecosystems would have immense impact on all of the people.
Depending on timing it could not only spare people the worst of the above
impacts of climate change, but could also contribute in development. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1cm; margin-right: -38.3pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: -1cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="line-height: 16.8pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">Development</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="line-height: 16.8pt;"> </span></span><span style="line-height: 16.8pt;">is a rather difficult term to define. There are two main approaches that
have defined the development. First, it is the economic dimension of
development that looks for improvement in economies; income based living
conditions, consumption and production, savings and investments, food security,
poverty reduction, wealth and income distribution, and environmental protection.
Usually the processes that could lead to the above mentioned goals are economic
policies, infrastructural and market development, investment, economic and
social structural changes, technical change, efficiency. Second is the human or
social dimension of development that looks for improvement in capabilities, access
to health and education, gender equality, human rights, equity, freedom,
empowerment, particular focus on minority and </span><span style="line-height: 22.39px;">marginalized</span><span style="line-height: 16.8pt;"> groups, security,
dignity. Processes that are supposed to lead to the above goals are equitable
economic growth, empowerment, governance, change in formal and informal rights
and social and economic relations. Such distinction between goals and processes
is not really reflecting the true nature of development since many goals are
parts of the processes as well and they are very complex and interrelating
systems. Also interactions between economic and social development processes
and goals is important, they are not so separated in reality. Greater economic
wealth is needed to invest in education, health and social services. In turn
education is needed for improved economic growth, and so on.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: -1cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.8pt;">When one speaks
about development it must be understood that the way we see it depend on our
cultural and educational background. Throughout the history development in many
parts has been an export of Western values and lifestyle. Since the
Enlightenment </span><span style="line-height: 22.39px;">civilization</span></span><span style="line-height: 16.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> vs. barbarism ideas have been on the minds of
“developed” nations, and so they have continued to be until now. </span><span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">One other
development has been missing on the above categorizing though; it is the
Sustainable development that is a whole new approach. Even though there is no
one set definition of sustainable development, most common one is the <i>Brundtland Report</i> definition- “development
that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs”. As for sustainability definition, there
are three pathways of it. Environmental sustainability means the ability of
environmental resources to support an activity or set of activities. Economic
sustainability describes the ability of an activity or set of activities to
yield economic benefits greater than economic costs. Social sustainability is
the ability of social structures and behaviour to support an activity without
being undermined by it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">There are six
defined properties of sustainable system (viability (or productivity),
acceptability (or equity), persistence, stability, resilience, resistance) that
are needed for all- economic, social, environmental- stability, however, one
should assess and measure them with proper analyses and boundaries of
particular system, but with a space to evolve. These six properties are usually
divided in two aspects of sustainability. First viability and acceptability: a
system must be both viable and acceptable for those who work it, since
something that’s not acceptable, will not work in long term, and that should
include both physical and ethical boundaries. Second is how particular system
is sustained over time (persistence), how it survives various turbulences and
responds to stresses maintaining its structure and functions (stability), how
it recovers from adverse changes caused by above (resilience) and how it
evolves to maintain its functions at slow onset and predictable stresses
(resistance). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">There is a set
of goals that sums up current development trends, and it is Millennium
Development Goals, provided by the UN. It has been agreed that the most
important development problem is poverty or in other words “underdevelopment”
and that should be internationally dealt with. MDGs provide a framework to act.
For each goal there has been set one or several targets, most for 2015. It is
an interesting period of time since the talks of post-2015 have already begun. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: LV;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">describe the scale of problems posed by climate change
and development<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo3; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: -1.0cm;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">1.2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></b><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">Since the
climate change is a challenge <i>per se </i>it
is then described already above and one should now move on to see the basic
challenges of the development. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">One of the main
challenges of the development is the difficulty to predict, how various
processes will actually affect the particular group, for example, will one or
other kind of economic </span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: LV; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">growth really increase the
income, and will the income be distributed evenly or maybe exclude the
marginalized groups or even destroy traditional livelyhoods? Often due to the
„development” local societies, livelihoods, traditions are destroyed, and so is
the access to natural resources or degradation and pollution of them. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">If one thinks
about sustainable development, there are many challenges there in all areas-
environmental, economic and social and all combined. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">Q- </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #32363b; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Pause for
a moment and try to think of examples of different activities that are
environmentally, economically, and socially unsustainable.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">One of the most
explicit examples of activity that is all environmentally, economically and
socially unsustainable is the current consumerism and “designed to dump”
production. When people are having shopping as one of their hobbies and buy
things they do not actually need and throw them out very soon just to replace
with newer model, it is unreasonable consumption. Our economies have been built
on consumerism as a model of society. It is environmentally unsustainable as it
uses incredible amounts of resources in production and logistics, and then
pollutes the environment. It is economically unsustainable for many societies
with the largest impact on the developing nations where the unsustainable
production takes place- they don’t receive fair wages, health care, education;
they are often exposed to harmful substances, long working hours and work
conditions that would never be accepted in Western countries; the economies of
the consumers are also failing in long term, since there cannot be unlimited economic
growth. Such practices are also socially unsustainable as they enlarge the gaps
in society between rich and poor, if they replace other hobbies, they are not
healthy social activities, and all the above economic effects have a direct
impact on social sustainability of people. Failure in one set of conditions
often is caused and/ or leads to impacts in other two. Any activity that will
in time cause the loss of the favourable conditions of current situation is
unsustainable. For example, large exploitation of non-renewable resources will
lead to a crisis in all areas that depend on them. Similar effects will have
over exploitation of renewable resources if they cannot renew on time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">The last decade
has shown that eradicating poverty and reaching MDGs is not an easy task. Also
the success of the efforts to achieve MDGs has been a little ambiguous due to
rise of China and India as economies that were seen as developing when the
goals were set. Percentage data used in MDGs are not reflecting the true
numbers yet. There may be less per cent people in poverty, but there are more
people in poverty than there were before in actual numbers. It is not really a misrepresentation
of mathematical data, but it is a worrying issue. And the overall knowledge is
that development has not made enough progress to deal with either MDGs or basic
economic, human or sustainable development concepts.</span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: LV; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: LV; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">Q-</span></b><span style="background: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #32363b; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> <span lang="EN-GB">Review the Millennium Development Goals and their targets above and
consider whether these are primarily concerned with development goals or
processes, and with economic or human development.</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">MDG 1, Targets
1 and 2 are both economic development goals by previously mentioned categories;
however, I think they look more like processes rather than goals. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">MDG 2, Target 3
is human development goal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">MDG 3 is human
development process, but the Target 4 is more about the goal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">MDG 4, Target 5
- MDG5, Target 6 are human development goals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">MDG 6, Targets
7-8 are human development processes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">MDG 7, Target 9
is economic development process, however <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">Targets 10-11
are economic development goals. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">MDG 8, Target
12 is mixed economic and human development process. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">Targets 13-15
are more likely to be economic development processes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">Targets 16-17
are more likely to be human development processes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">Target 18 is
again mixed economic and human development process.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1cm; margin-right: -38.3pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: LV;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: LV;">discuss some of the interactions between climate
change and development<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo3; text-align: justify; text-indent: -1.0cm;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">1.3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></b><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the most
important interactions between climate change and development clearly is that
climate change affects first and most severely the poor people and vulnerable
areas that have low or zero capacity to adapt. That in turn can compromise
already achieved goals in development and slow the progress. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Climate
change is also one of the most important threats to sustainable development and
should be addressed as one of the core issues of the sustainable development. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Act</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">-
<b><span style="color: #32363b;">Look back at
the figure in 1.1.2 which sets out IPCC FAR estimates of the likely impacts of
climate changes associated with increases in global temperature. For each
'system' listed (water, ecosystems, food, coast, health, singular events)
consider and write down the implications for MDGs 1 to 7. Also consider if
there are other aspects of development (not included in the MDGs) which will be
affected. <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">MDG1
<b><span style="background: rgb(244, 243, 236); color: #444444;">Eradicate extreme poverty and
hunger</span></b><span style="background: #F4F3EC; color: #444444; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">- will be undermined by decreasing water availability and increasing
drought. Millions of people will be exposed to increasing water stress that is
already one of the most difficult problems of MDG1. Increasing species range
shifts will affect local and traditional food availability. Negative impacts on
small holders, subsistence farmers and fishers, and fall of the productivity of
crops in dry and semi-arid areas will further decrease food security and threat
by increasing hunger and poverty. Flood
and storm damage will affect housing in coastal risk areas. Health problems
imposed by climate change will affect ability to work and therefore will shrivel
the potential incomes of low income families.
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">MDG2
<b><span style="background: rgb(244, 243, 236); color: #444444;">Achieve universal primary
education</span></b><span style="background: #F4F3EC; color: #444444; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">- once the first goal is affected there will be fewer resources to
dedicate to schooling from the government and children also may become more
involved in working and food gathering. Increased damage from floods and storms
will affect also school buildings and other infrastructure. Since children are
one of the risk groups of climate change health impacts, the attendance may
fall and lower the educational progress. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">MDG3
<b><span style="background: rgb(244, 243, 236); color: #444444;">Promote gender equality and
empower women</span></b><span style="background: #F4F3EC; color: #444444; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">- women currently are more vulnerable to the climate
change impacts since they create the largest part of the poor, and in many
places where they are the ones to take care of homes, farming and family, their
empowerment may decrease. If they have to take care of increasingly sick
children, they cannot work and that creates larger gap between genders too.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">MDG4
<b><span style="background: rgb(244, 243, 236); color: #444444;">Reduce child mortality</span></b><span style="background: #F4F3EC; color: #444444; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">- will
become difficult in situation where increased morbidity and mortality from
heatwaves, floods and droughts are affecting a nation. If the mothers are
suffering from increasing malnutrition, diarrhoeal, cardio-respiratory and
infectious diseases, that also increases risk of child mortality. So does the
water stress. Loss of infrastructure by extreme weather events will also affect
the morbidity and mortality of all. </span>MDG5 <b><span style="background: rgb(244, 243, 236); color: #444444;">Improve maternal health</span></b><span style="background: #F4F3EC; color: #444444; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">- same problems that affect child
mortality are present to maternal health. Additionally, if a woman must work
harder in water and food stressed environment, it decreases her maternal health
and the foetus. If the child mortality increases due to above reasons, women
will most likely have more pregnancies to have children and in certain numbers
that will deteriorate maternal health too. Women and children are also the most
vulnerable to the storms, cyclones, floods and other extreme weather events. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">MDG6
<b><span style="background: rgb(244, 243, 236); color: #444444;">Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and
other diseases</span></b><span style="background: #F4F3EC; color: #444444; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">- IPCC predicts that there will be changed
distribution of some disease vectors. Infectious diseases may spread more
easily in warmer climate. Malnutrition and lack of clean water lowers immunity
and carries increasing risk of getting ill. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">MDG7
<b><span style="background: rgb(244, 243, 236); color: #444444;">Ensure environmental
sustainability</span></b><span style="background: #F4F3EC; color: #444444; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">- climate change itself is a threat to environmental
sustainability and may lead the planet to a tipping point and then there is no
talk about environmental sustainability. As for the nearer future and less
catastrophic scenarios, every degree of temperature rise will severely affect
all ecosystems. Ones of the first most affected will be corals bleaching and
amphibian extinction. Increasing species range shifts and wildfire risk is also
increasing and affecting environmental sustainability. Also increased damage
from floods and storms in coastal areas cannot be regarded as sustainable.
Climate change also alters the national resources – water, energy and
vegetation, and rapid reduction of any of those is not environmentally
sustainable (like loss of water in mountain glacier fed rivers or drying lakes
in Africa, etc.) <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #f4f3ec; color: #444444; font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Other aspect of
development that is not covered in MDGs is security. Even though development
does not usually talk about other than basic economic and social security like
food, shelter, water, health, rights, I believe the military issues might
become more apparent in case of more severe climate change impacts. Poverty is
often accompanied with civil force combat and military actions. When there is
reduction in important resources, development might be put to a backseat by
“security measures” and competition to rule over those resources and population
by force.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">It
is difficult to predict the range of how various climate change impacts like
global warming, sea level rise, water resource scarcity and others will affect
spatially and temporally different areas and their climate systems and what
exact effects will that have on human social and economic development in particular
areas. The various data can lead to a risk that policy makers, investors and
aid agencies can choose the less harmful scenarios where they should take into
the account the most serious and severely affecting scenarios for the
developing areas. One should take into account the risk of both underestimating
and overestimating such impacts. Uncertainty is a part of the science itself,
but when it comes to those writing adaptation strategies and development
agendas, they should secure the potential risks on human basic needs- food,
water, shelter, health, security and income to live on that all will be
affected by rising temperature, sea level and extreme weather events even in
present or near future, and these risks are predicted to increase with time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: -1.0cm; margin-right: -38.3pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="line-height: 12.3pt; margin-left: 7.1pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Act-</span><span style="color: #32363b; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="color: #32363b; font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Given the uncertainties about climate change and its impacts,
and the very nature of climate change in increasing weather variability, it is
immensely difficult to quantify historical, current, or future human impacts of
climate change.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Economist</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(2009) comments that 'the trend looks
plausible, but there seems little basis for the exact numbers' regarding the
Global Humanitarian Forum estimate that 40% of increased weather-related
disasters can be attributed to climate change. Most statements in the figure in
1.3.2 are either vague or illustrative. What is the value of information like
this, and what are its dangers? You might like to post your comment on this on
the online learning environment for discussion, and if you are interested you
could also read more of the Global Humanitarian Forum report (2009)<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Human Impact Report: Climate Change
- The Anatomy of a Silent Crisis.</i><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">It
is now scientifically proven and recognized that the climate change we are
experiencing now is human caused. While uncertainty is a “part of the game” in
science, vague data or data that are appropriately chosen to show only one side
of the coin is undermining the seriousness of the problem. The dangers of
illustrative or vague data are at both ends. Those who lack political will and
those wishing to continue business as usual will hold on to the low impact
data, use terminology stating that some modelled future scenarios are in “low
confidence” category to happen, and by that try to create a loop to justify
their emissions, pollution etc. Extremists on their part will use the worst
possible scenarios and choose appropriate data and while sometimes such are
great to make an emotional impact on masses to change their behaviour, they
also can seem too extreme and ordinary people will discredit them or perceive
them as too scary to do something about it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Climate
change being globally recognized as a problem does not offer a solution within
it yet. What matters is how we proceed with mitigation and adaptation.
Underestimating the problem will worsen the situation in future and will put
more weight on adaptation later. Overestimating climate change impacts and
acting accordingly might only benefit the future situation in terms of
sustainable environment; however, it might put a strain on development issues
to redistribute resources towards mitigation and adaptation issues. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 7.1pt; margin-right: -38.3pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> I think IPCC with its role to assess the
sources and their reports and findings is working towards the solution of the obscurity
to provide with information which data are reliable and giving the degree of
confidence in particular predictions being correct. Even though when one reads
a projected event and then sees it’s marked “medium confidence”, one might lose
the feeling of importance of such data and in one’s mind bin it as irrelevant
in argument about climate change. So the value of the information is still
dependent on the reader’s educational and behavioural background. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Out of the academic context largely such educational
background relies on media coverage. While media likes to exploit screaming sensational
data, people who will deal with climate change issues professionally or
voluntarily usually choose more subtle and professional media approach like <i>The Economist</i> that I myself particularly
enjoyed in how it displayed both the GHF report and <i>The Anatomy of a Silent Crisis</i>- without undermining the climate
change issues. </span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: LV;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-28449396189461750652013-03-15T14:16:00.000+00:002013-03-15T14:16:34.348+00:00"the Economics of Happiness"- film reviewCouple of nights ago there was a movie time on green carpet again. Actually it was on the homo ecos: <i>Green floor</i> as they have named the venue of the organisation. This month it was a viewing of <i>"the Economics of Happiness"</i>, which was fueling both very positive and quite irritating emotions.<br />
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<i>"the Economics of Happiness"</i> is a movie that shows 8 aspects of <b>globalization</b>.<br />
With every next aspect the feeling in my guts got heavier and heavier, and by the time it reached last on globalization, I felt like eaten a sack of stones since all of the clothing I and my little one (who also attends these events) wear at that moment is made somewhere far away, most of it is either bought or shipped from the UK I no longer live in. Just few hours ago I had been at the store to buy groceries. Most of them organic from what's available. And all of them coming from somewhere else, since at this season locally grown produce is unavailable.<br />
Even though I try to think of <i>food miles</i> when I shop, I've never thought there would exist such incredibly imbecile wasteful practices of our globalization directed economies as trade for the sake of trade: "<span style="background-color: #f6f8f7; color: #333333; font-family: Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px;">apples sent from the UK to South Africa to be washed and waxed, then shipped back to British supermarkets; tuna caught off the coast of America, flown to Japan to be processed, then flown back to the US.</span><span style="background-color: #f6f8f7; color: #333333; font-family: Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px;"> </span> ". That was something new to me. I may have known the adverse impacts on local communities and power of MNCs, effects on the environment etc. But to see a plain wasting of all possible resources like above examples. It just shocked me.<br />
Flying food around the world has never been a good thing in my opinion, but to see that the countries have almost equal amounts of products both imported and exported makes me shiver inside. One thing is to import things you don't have and export those that you have excess to make them available to others. But just to ship it around, exporting your own potatoes just to import potatoes grown elsewhere. It's plain fooling of people. At this point, the movie really made me angry.<br />
Also ethical issues that the globalization imposes on local people, how they think who they are and how they should be.. and not only on those in Ladakh or slums of India, but also here on the streets of our own 'West' cultures, global North- people are never enough, they never own enough or look enough.. and they are never happy. And so the intense consumerism grows just to be hip enough, just to belong..<br />
The film nicely portrayed also the problematic of urbanization, the links between people moving into cities and energy consumption, the unresolved issues of who and how feeds the urban population etc.<br />
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But then the film moves to the positive changes we can make if we redirect our economies from globalization towards <b>localization</b>.<br />
Local economy will feed the local people, but voting with your wallet may not be enough. Film inspires us to strive to change the policy towards supporting local businesses, the only question is how to do that in reality.<br />
I really enjoyed how the trend of localisation portrayed gaining and re-gaining of identity. When you live and work in a healthy, happy community, you learn from real life role models, you get the sense of self. That is a confidence and inner security that only localization can give, only your family and near society can provide. No global advertisement will promote it or even allow it, because that will most probably mean financial losses on their part, but in local community one will thrive with it.<br />
In such communities there's no unemployment, there's no poverty, there's no hunger. And there are no unhappy people, the ties in community between people, links with traditions and nature are strong. And localization strengthens and mends what globalization would try to break.<br />
<br />
I also enjoyed the opinions that were not super-extreme. There are good things that come from cross-border cooperation, global spread of information, education, technologies etc. But local economies should come first. And this movie was inspiring and giving hope by showing the localization trends and actual examples on how to fix many crisis that world is currently facing due to the economic globalization.<br />
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Some of the most powerful messages made me want to find one of the reports that is used as a reference to create the movie, it's <span style="background-color: #f6f8f7; color: #333333; font-family: Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px;">Caroline Lucas, </span><a href="http://www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/file/Stopping%20the%20great%20food%20swap.pdf">Stopping the Great Food Swap: Relocalising Europe's Food Supply</a><span style="background-color: #f6f8f7; color: #333333; font-family: Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px;">, March 2001</span> .<br />
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I think also here in <b>Latvia </b>we currently fail in that matter. We see ourselves as patriotic, but sometimes (often it's ridiculous) the local produce costs more than imported one.. and then we must think of whether and why I'm ready to pay more for local. Do we think of <i>food miles </i>when we choose? Do we think of our health? Or do we think of supporting local economies form A to Z, from growing the thing to selling it?<br />
I am. I don't eat imported apples. Ever. Period. But in winter for example there are things that I rather buy even more expensive organic from Spain (like cucumbers and tomatoes) that are grown in sunshine, rather than also expensive local ones that are grown with artificial light, synthetic nutrients and the plants haven't seen a soil in their whole existence.<br />
But I also rather buy fresh milk from neighboring farmer that doesn't have any Eco certification rather than organic milk from another country even if available. The milk next door is always more Eco than the one shipped from somewhere. Same applies to many things- like dish washing liquid. If it's shipped from the USA, it is so not environmentally friendly anymore. If it's produced here, I'm ready to buy it even if it's more expensive. Food miles is something new in our society and people rarely think of it as a really important issue. Slowly the change is happening, but we're still far behind to think of writing actual environmental costs (production, CO2, water, food miles etc.) on the price tag. Even though that would most probably turn the consumption patterns upside down.<br />
Buying local supports local economies. Every time you spend on local produce, whether it's food or manufactured goods, you provide wealth to many people. Farmers and workers will have salaries to live on and they will hopefully spend them here for local products. You will add to national economy too with the taxes in both VAT and income and social taxes that employers pay for working people. The local business will also have some profit to grow. I recently read a warning though that many businesses are placed here, however, they are owned by other country's nationals, so if I want to go further in my "buying local" I really have to research who owns what and where the profits money flows.<br />
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But I think it isn't as difficult as it may sound. So now I have to spare some time to rethink my consumption patterns and define what's most important in my priority list:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Buy seasonal </li>
<li>Buy local </li>
<li>Buy organic/ Eco friendly</li>
</ul>
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Of course, the perfect match would be all three combined.. but when you have to choose, which do you pick as most important? </div>
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I hope you'll find the film as inspiring and thought and behavioral change provoking as I did. </div>
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<br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-82374268064110692812013-03-12T09:56:00.000+00:002013-03-12T12:34:12.062+00:00MSc in Sustainable DevelopmentI might have mentioned some time before that it's time for some studies on green carpet!<br />
I have applied and been accepted to two universities. One was Keele University that has a wonderful <a href="http://www.keele.ac.uk/pgtcourses/climatechangestudies/">MA</a> Climate Change Studies that offers modular studying that combines both distance learning and intensive seminar blocks. That was my priority at the beginning. Unfortunately last September the study group did not complete, and I can't really get why people would not use such a wonderful opportunity. But I decided that I can't possibly waste another year in case next year the group would not be completed again.<br />
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So I applied for <b><a href="http://www.soas.ac.uk/cedep/programmes/sustainable/msc/">MSc</a> in Sustainable Development</b> in CeDEP, SOAS under University of London. It is a completely distance learning and is very flexible and much more, hmm how to say, "serious" thing. I got in! So now I also have a student loan since it is comparatively really expensive. But it also provides you with all the study resources needed- books, excerpts, USBs filled with info what would usually be lectures, and online learning environment. I am so happy to study! I just wish I had more time for that.<br />
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But what I actually wanted to say is that I will soon start posting some of my study notes here since I think it is quite relevant to the whole green thing in my life. And with that I also hope that you as readers will get to some serious thinking about the current issues in climate change and sustainable development.<br />
Just a note- I'm will not be able to post all the data figures I work with since that's a property of the University and I do not want to break their copyrights and I want to honor my tutors.<br />
However, since many of the reports or books are available to wide public, I will try to mention what reading materials I'm working with if relevant.<br />
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Even though I hoped I will manage to finish my studies in 2 years I now reconsider, since I might also start working again. Therefore I will probably cover only 3 modules this year, and they will be-<br />
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<li>Climate Change and Development</li>
<li>Understanding Sustainable Development</li>
<li>Economics and Institutions for Development</li>
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I hope I'll manage to do some neat study notes and you'll find them interesting to read too. </div>
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<br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-52882082604720698692013-03-05T08:50:00.000+00:002013-03-05T08:50:20.304+00:00Report on progress of project "In and out" First month of noting everything that goes in or out of our home has passed. Rather difficult project on green carpet, I must admit. Time to break down what are the first obstacles and what was the success..<br />
I also decided that my project should have a name, something like "In and out" is rather fitting, what do you think? It sounds also a bit more catchy and easier than a very serious "resource consumption" that was how my charts were called during the first month..<br />
But now into the details..<br />
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<b>Difficulties</b><br />
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<li><b>Travel</b>. I totally failed after the first days of our ski trip to note down all the things we bought. No no, we did not go for shopping sprees or anything like that. Still we needed some food to sustain ourselves, and there were few days eating out, which still remain a question how to put them down on my list- I guess I should just state "eating out- x portions"? </li>
<li><b>Living in two places</b>- since my project was supposed to cover only my apartment, I felt it is not representing the true consumption of our family, me and Emily in particular. Both of us spend many days at my parents place. But to put on the list everything that is brought into our parents home would be inappropriate too, since most of the stuff is what our parents and brother consume. But how can I separate all that? To count every carrot I eat and every sheet of toilet paper I use myself while living there? I tried that approach, it doesn't work as well as I thought. So now during March I'm gonna try noting everything that is brought into my parents home, while I am there (buying together, what I see being bought or brought up from the cellar, etc.). I am trying to educate my whole family on greener non-consumption of unnecessary things, but they are still at their very baby steps, and not all of them are on board. Another issue of living in two places is measuring the rubbish- what to do with the waste we produce at our parents home. So for now I'm noting the amount of rubbish that's thrown 'away' or composted, and split it in parts (e.g. 1/5 or 1/4). I think I will continue it that way.</li>
<li><b>Gifts</b>. I love my mom, and I love how she loves my baby. And how she loves to dress her once in a while. But sometimes I think we don't need that other pair of boots. The good part of it is that at least 50% comes from thrift stores, and that it makes my life easier as I don't have to think about buying boots for myself or pants for my kid. The bad part- sometimes it's things that I think we have enough. Or when it comes to elder generations like my grandmom, I'm not gonna try to explain her this and that of green living due to many personal reasons. So sometimes unwanted stuff still finds its way into our homes. </li>
<li><b>Family </b>that's not on board- my husband mainly, since he is the part of our family that lives in city apartment that is the main area of the project. I just hope he'll join in as I plan this to go on for quite a while! And I hope that the rest of our larger family will slowly follow- I like to see my mom's shopping patterns to change, and to hear what she says in discussions about the life and particularly consumption choices. </li>
<li><b>Rubbish</b>. Still struggling with the compost that actually gets to the countryside to be composted instead of being thrown 'away' in city. Since most of our trash is biodegradable it's heart breaking to see that many times it just has to go into the bin. The challenge now is also to reduce the packaging. I am conscious to choose the products without it, if possible, but I should walk that extra mile to achieve more. That's an extra goal for the next month. I just wish my husband and family was on board with this! </li>
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<b>Success</b></div>
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<li><b>Rubbish</b>. Looking more carefully at all the stuff that goes in and out of our home, it made me see that we have less waste than I thought, and that most of it usually is peels and leftovers from juicing that I still manage to get to my moms worms once in a while. I like to see less plastic since I think of ways to reduce and reuse it instead of throwing out. Since part of our consumed dairy comes from farmer, lot's of glass containers are reused many times. </li>
<li><b>Organic foods</b>. The section for foods that have come from our own garden has been a good reminder to visit our freezers and cellar more often to get the goodies from last summer and fall harvests. Berries and veggies are increasing in our menus, and so is the wild hunted meat. </li>
<li><b>Second hand.</b> It has been my goal in clothing and accessories department to limit my purchases to either organic textiles or secondhand pieces. Preferably both combined. Well, if I see what has come into our closet during February, most of the pieces were secondhand, and that is very satisfactory again. Of course, we could do even better, but it will come step by step..</li>
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That's about how it was during the first month of the "In and out" project.. Lot's of resources consumed in February, many due to travel and the study materials that I received from school (5 large boxes full of books, usb, folders). But I am not naive to blame school or someone for us travelling, I clearly see that we should drive less, even if most of the car use was shared trips. And I know that every month there will be another challenge- during Feb that was school and travel, during March it will most probably be Easter, and then there will be some name days, holidays, birthdays, house renovation and vacations and so on and on. I just have to figure out the way to lessen our consumption during those "difficult" times. </div>
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I am continuously gaining and re-gaining my inspiration when reading Bea's <a href="http://www.zerowastehome.blogspot.com/">blog </a>on her Zero Waste home, she is so amazing! And I have found another interesting reading material, a blog of <a href="http://thenonconsumeradvocate.com/">Katy</a>, the Non-Consumer Advocate. I totally fell in love with her commandments- "Use it up! Wear it out! Make it do! Or do without!". I'm gaining some really nice fresh ideas from that and suggest you read it too! </div>
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All the best with our non-consumption projects!</div>
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On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-73619828121918653032013-02-19T13:24:00.000+00:002013-02-19T13:24:09.261+00:00"Hungry for change" - film reviewI've had <b>"Food Matters"</b> film on my shelf for couple of years now I think, and I absolutely loved that movie. And so I came to love the newest piece of "Food Matters" creators- <b>"Hungry for Change"</b>. This film should be on video library of every family. This is hard hitting, stripping of lies and inspiring piece that is meant to make every person healthy and happy.<br />
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Sounds cheesy? Not really. Kirs Carr, David Wolfe, Joe Cross, Jon Gabriel, Dr.Alejandro Junger, Daniel Vitalis along with others tells the story why people try to eat better foods, but fail, put on weight. They not only talk about crisis in our health or lack of it, but also provides guidance how to return to the natural state of health.<br />
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One of the speakers I enjoyed the best is Jason Vale, commonly known as Juicemaster whose lovely book we have at home and who inspired me and my husband to do the Juicemasters three day <a href="http://ongreencarpet.blogspot.com/2013/01/juicemasters-detox.html">detox </a>in January. By the way, I plan to participate in the next juice detox challenge in April now!<br />
Jason also tells why juicing is so important for our bodies. "It is a 15minute nutrient express to health."<br />
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It was kind of surprising to listen about the actual <b>addictions</b>. And when I come to think about it- I recognize the feeling inside. And honestly, at parts of the movie I wanted to reach for the chocolate (natural dark chocolate, not the "chocolate bar" that has everything but chocolate in it.. but it is still sugar!!!).. that is crazy.<br />
I agree to Jason and to Jamie Oliver that it is an abuse of people, especially children, that we allow the stores to sell those things! The cheating by the food, diet and weightloss industry is increadible- hiding sugars under different names, taste enhancing chemicals, smg, aspartame, wrong fats...<br />
I'm never having a diet coke again in my whole life. I've never been fond of it, but I still would have few times a year. Since now I know that it kills your brain cells and is addictive too- thanks, but no thanks!!!<br />
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There are more new things I got to know, for example, about the connections of <b>toxins </b>to fat. So when you sweat out the fat, you still have the toxins inside and body produces more fat to link to the toxins. Hence you have to find a natural way to detox the body first instead of just loose the fat. Green vegetables and naturally gelatinous plant fibres are basic to clean your body. Adding two more herbs- parsley and cilantro- can do wonders aparently. Due to the last comment I will hopefully expand on herbs some time soon.<br />
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I particularly loved the suggestion how to deal with this problem- instead of putting yourself on a diet that would just turn you more hungry of fats and sugars, replace things you eat one by one. Instead of cutting things out, start by adding fresh vegetables, fruits, unprocessed dairy and meat. Add that cucumber, add that avocado and apple to your meals. And slowly the good things will push out the bad ones, you won't need the bad alternative that does harm to your body, because there will be plenty of good ones and your body will know how to choose.<br />
Can we start by swapping the foods we purchase in store to some more natural, organic ones from local producers, health shops, farmers markets?<br />
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According to the film, if you want to go healthy, go simple. If it grows in the garden, it's edible. If it's created in a lab, it takes a lab to digest. If it has a shelf life longer than you, it's a common sense you shouldn't eat it.<br />
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Self love is big issue for many people and I liked that this film made a point on that too. All the <b>psychological </b>aspects are important too. What is eating you? Why eating is a solution and what is that something that you solve by eating? Importance of sleep during stress periods is so very connected to piling up the pounds. Do you excersise? It's not just about the burning fats, it's the psychological solutions, decrease of stress hormones, decrease of pain etc.<br />
The idea of comfort food comes from the childhood. And one of the best advices that this film gives to me is to really care what I give to my child so in case she needs a comfort food, she chooses healthy instead of box of cookies or french fries. I'm happy that at the moment her comfort food is breastmilk, raisinis and variety of berries..<br />
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The film constantly reminds that health is our natural state and that we can actually become healthy and beautiful. At the beginning I didn't really understand, why they have to "sell" all the good ideas under the beauty banner. But when they spoke on our natural attractions and where ideas of beauty come from, I thought that it was good that they didn't skip the beauty part.<br />
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This film has been both a reminder of things we know already, and an eye opener too about the connections in our bodies and the ugly truth of processed foods. But most importantly, it is a true inspiration to do better, to treat our bodies according to their needs instead of what producers want to sell us.<br />
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Many of the speakers have made this important turn in their life after getting to the<b> tipping point.</b> They got really sick, obese, almost died. And that made them realise what are the things they must change. So they are sharing this knowledge with us. And I believe that us, the average people with no high overweight and connected diseases, are the ones who are the most difficult to turn to the healthy eating. We eat kind of healthy, so we think that because of that we can afford to have the dead foods, the highly processed foods with refined sugars and bad fats. Including myself. But this film really is an inspiration.<br />
My husband who is currently on juicing tour again, is probably going to laugh about me now and give me that "I told you so" look.. But I know that also for him the above problem is big- he can go juicing for a week and then just crush on meat, cakes, junk food. But with a propper and I should say regular guidance and understanding of connections we should be able to do better.<br />
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I want to heal my mind and body having natural divine flavors. It is wonderful to have speakers like this on my computer now! I hope they will inspire you too to clean up and turn away from chemistry and towards living more natually.<br />
p.s. - I think I will pick up the book too!<br />
I am hungry for change!<br />
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<br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776129453967092171.post-89179610840073072182013-02-14T13:00:00.001+00:002013-02-14T13:09:13.386+00:00Ups and downs and Valentine's treatsI have been recently thinking about ups and downs of my efforts to live green. Particularly about downs, as ups are usually posted around here or so taken for granted as a part of my life.<br />
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<b>Down No 1</b>- <b>Composting problem.</b> I was planning last Summer to have the worm compost on my balcony, but since I ended up spending most of the days in Summer at my parents house, it was not neccessary. However, during Fall and Winter I spend most of my days in the city and there is this problem of not being able to compost properly. As for those who complain that they can't recycle paper or plastics, that's just excuses, because there are containers around, you just have to want to recycle. And be intelligent to want it. But in Riga there are no composting facilities. So at the moment, I still freeze parts of our food remains like carrot and pumpkin leftowers from juicing and potatoe peels etc on our balcony. Then I take them to my mom's worm compost as "food". But I have to tell you, it is not very comfortable. And you have to follow the weather that the bags don't defrost before you carry them away. It is really a down for me. I wish we had houses like some innovative places in Denmark that has all the biodegradeable matter going down the shaft to the facility that turns it into the heating energy for the same building. That would be wonderful, right?<br />
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<b>Down No 2</b>- I still use our <b>car </b>a lot, especially in winter. I mean, a lot. As little one is getting heavier most of the walks are occuring in quite close area, so for the rest I try to plan running my errands all combined as much as possible. I can't wait for Em to start walking longer distances. And spring to return on streets so we can use the pushchair and bicycle again properly. Sling is great, but during longer walks due to thicker clothing- not very comfy. I agree that I could use more public transport. But sometimes price and comfort of being able to carry all the stuff I'm getting or having already (including Emily) comes first and if I calculate my trips, car sometimes is less. At the moment I put up with this down and I try to use less car, as little as possible actually. While I don't have better options at the hand, I am trying to plan better and better my trips, drive eco friendly and look ahead to have a slow drive.<br />
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OK, I think two downs is enough for a day like this. It's time to talk about something positive and maybe tasty? It is the Valentine's in the end!<br />
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I love chocolates. I truly love good chocolate in every possible form. But I find "surprising" your loved one with box of chocolates that usually is neither orgainc, nor eco friendly in it's packaging, is a little boring, it doesn's carry any surprises if I tell the truth. Unless they're made by your own two hands and placed in a nice reused box..<br />
So why not surprise your loved ones with some other treats? Something you can make yourself. Something that doesn't come wrapped in paper, but home made and served straight up for a moment of indulgence?<br />
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This <b>Valentine's </b>my plan is as follows- put the little love angel to sleep and then enjoy some home made masala chai ice cream and raspberry- coconut milk smoothy with my husband. We don't do gifts on Valentine's day, not only because it's not green, but it's also less intimate and much more commercial then. We plan some quality time together instead, the treats and experiences we can give to each other rather than buy in store.. like a special bath or a massage with some ayurvedic oils at home.. some edible treats is what I have on my part tonight. <br />
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<span style="background-color: #f4cccc;">Very yummy <b>Masala Chai Ice Cream-</b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f4cccc;">the base is the same as I have <a href="http://ongreencarpet.blogspot.com/2012/02/winter-delights-ii-home-made-ice-cream.html">posted </a>before - the <b>Custard base </b>(Fatty Milk- Cream- Sugar- Egg Yolk- Vanilla Bean). Depending on the amount you are making and how strong you want the taste, pour couple of spoons of boiling water over couple of spoons of Masala Chai. Even though I am a fan of loose teas, this time I'd suggest to have teabags, it's easier to extract the strong flavors in very little water for ice cream. Leave them to soak and get all the flavor, then squeeze the goodness right into the custard base. Check the taste and add more extrac or base if needed. For more fluffy ice cream, fold in some whipped cream in all that and put it in a tray with a lid that closes well. Off we go to the freezer! Or outside it you have proper minus degrees.. Stir few times in the freezing process. Serve with pomegranate and cinnamon stick. My suggestion though is to prepare the ice cream well in advance next year! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3c3c3c; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f4cccc; line-height: 18px;">For a <b>Raspberry- Coconut smoothy </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3c3c3c; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #f4cccc;">you'll need a can of coconut milk, two cups of frozen raspberries (preferrably picked in wild during the Summer), honey or agave syrup to taste and some water if you prefer the smoothy to be more runny. You might want to add some banana or other berries like blueberries to all that as well. It's filling, yet light (important if you have any activities planned), and taste is awesome. Blend it all together, serve in a beautiful glass and enjoy the moment! </span></span></span><br />
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Happy and Green Valentine's!<br />
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<br />On Green Carpethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06732545062551320281noreply@blogger.com0