Stockholm, Sweden- learned and experienced

It is not just because of some distant ancestoral Swedish blood in me that I fell in love with this city..
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 Sweden and Stockholm in particular.



Some learned information: 

• Stockholm was the EU Green Capital 2010: 

The City of Stokholm's Climate Initiatives

• Stockholm has done plenty to become sustainable, and it has a plan to do much more: 

The Environment Program contains six key priorities:

1. Environmentally efficient transport
2. Goods and buildings free of dangerous substances
3. Sustainable energy use
4. Sustainable use of land and water
5. Waste treatment with minimal environmental impact
6. A healthy indoor environment

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.

The Stockholm Environmental Programme 2012-2015

• Sweden has 16 Environmental Quality Objectives:

Environmental objectives:

Reduced Climate Impact

Clean Air

Natural Acidification Only

A Non-Toxic Environment

A Protective Ozone Layer

A Safe Radiation Environment

Zero Eutrophication

Flourishing Lakes and Streams

Good-Quality Groundwater

A Balanced Marine Environment, Flourishing Coastal Areas and Archipelagos

Thriving Wetlands

Sustainable Forests

A Varied Agricultural Landscape

A Magnificent Mountain Landscape

A Good Built Environment

A Rich Diversity of Plant and Animal Life

Some experienced things: 

• 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. 

• 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). 

• 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.

• 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.

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..

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.

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). 

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. 

Which me luck! 

"the Economics of Happiness"- film review

Couple of nights ago there was a movie time on green carpet again. Actually it was on the homo ecos: Green floor as they have named the venue of the organisation. This month it was a viewing of "the Economics of Happiness", which was fueling both very positive and quite irritating emotions.

"the Economics of Happiness" is a movie that shows 8 aspects of globalization.
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.
Even though I try to think of food miles 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: "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.  ". 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.
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.
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..
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.

But then the film moves to the positive changes we can make if we redirect our economies from globalization towards localization.
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.
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.
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.

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.

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 Caroline Lucas, Stopping the Great Food Swap: Relocalising Europe's Food Supply, March 2001 .

I think also here in Latvia 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 food miles 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?
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.
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.
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.

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:

• Buy seasonal 
• Buy local 
• Buy organic/ Eco friendly

Of course, the perfect match would be all three combined.. but when you have to choose, which do you pick as most important? 

I hope you'll find the film as inspiring and thought and behavioral change provoking as I did. 

"Hungry for change" - film review

I've had "Food Matters" 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- "Hungry for Change". 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.

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.

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 detox in January. By the way, I plan to participate in the next juice detox challenge in April now!
Jason also tells why juicing is so important for our bodies. "It is a 15minute nutrient express to health."

It was kind of surprising to listen about the actual addictions. 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.
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...
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!!!

There are more new things I got to know, for example, about the connections of toxins 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.

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.
Can we start by swapping the foods we purchase in store to some more natural, organic ones from local producers, health shops, farmers markets?

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.

Self love is big issue for many people and I liked that this film made a point on that too. All the psychological 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.
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..

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.

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.

Many of the speakers have made this important turn in their life after getting to the tipping point. 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.
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.

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.
p.s. - I think I will pick up the book too!
I am hungry for change!

Future of hope- reviews and thoughts

Thanks to my friends at homo ecos: (the Latvian NGO I've been supporting for their actions to make our country the greenest one in the world and to educate our society on Climate Change, Zero Waste and other environmental issues, and to promote green lifestile and green movement in society)!
They are doing movie nights every second Wednesday of the month, and finally (!) I have been able to attend one!

Tonights movie was "Future of hope" - a really nice, little sad, but very heart warming and inspiring film about Iceland and their plan to get out of this crisis our world is experiencing.

copyrights "Future of Hope"

Iceland is not in the best financial position, most of the people are in large foreign debt. And then comes the global warming and stuff. But as many people on the film remind us- change and development of human race have been initiated by various crisis. And maybe we can turn it around and re-orient ourselves from this bubble of economic wealth to other values- joy of simple living and doing things by yourself, growing organic food, refusing pollution by fossil fuels and choosing green energy according to what are the local prerogatives..  enjoying the life, the real life, not the one consumerism imposes on us.

It is great to see how united is Iceland in creating their Ministry of Ideas that leads to National Assambley to discuss, what is the vision of the country. What direction should we go. It somehow made me connect this thought to the one we recently hear here- to make Latvia greenest country in the world, to brand it by eco labels. And fill it with the substance, of course, not only greenwash it.

People in Iceland are not going the easiest way, and it is very touching to see how true they are. The way they choose to live, to educate their children and adults. To actually be there and do things on the ground. Some say that growing organic tomatoes is a waste of life. But we all want to eat those tomatoes! So that is a life that is needed. Obviously, Latvia doesn't have a geothermal heat points on every corner that come steaming up on the surface to heat our homes or greenhouses. But I think what it teaches to us is that we have to use the resources, the circumstances that we do have here.

copyrights "Future of Hope"

I really enjoyed the episodes on the organic farming, especially comments from people working there through  WWOOF program. I could actually feel what they were communicating. Made me wish for the Spring to come sooner to get my hands dirty in the ground while putting some seeds in our garden.

Probably the most amazing part of all movie was the example Iceland has set to us in terms of politics. Not only to talk about finance benefits or losses in their situation, but to turn all the life aspects to new direction, starting with education - that is something we should all learn. Children and young people still learning are like sponges that take in all the knowledge and experience, and they bring it home to their families. Schools and kindergardens are the places where we should emphasize our efforts for behavioral change. And the comment on what being a politician means and how they should work- that is kind of an eye opener. It is true- we vote for them and we must hold them accountable for what we want our country to look like today, tomorrow and in 50 years. They are there to work for all of the nation, not for their ego.

But in order to be able to tell them that and vote right, we must learn ourselves and define our vision here, in our country as individuals and as a nation. Which way we want to go?
This period of time is the last chance to jump in that train that brings us to post-carbon world. We still have a chance to redirect our course not only to adaptation to the Climate Change, but also to improvements in how  we connect with Mother Nature.

copyrights "Future of Hope"

Of course, the film is missing all the negative details about the Iceland. But that was not the point to show them right? The aim was to inspire people by showing that there is a hope for having a future we want. And there is.

As the last comment- I particularly liked that one of the spokespersons used term Village, when he was speaking about our planet. We are all living in a Village with 7 billion people. For the first time in my life I had heard the right name for our world that leaves this feeling of closeness to every single person on the Earth. Global world is way too cold term and suggests kind of infamiliarity. Village, however, is something most of us know as quite close community with all of its advantages and perks. And maybe that is the best way to think of the world to start actually care for it and other inhabitants, even if they are on the other side of the Village.

Thank you once again for the movie night. I hope everyone on green carpet will watch it and have the same feeling of being close and inspired to choose right instead of easy.

300 years of fossil fuels in 300 seconds

Another great video on green carpet- short history of fossil economy and visions of what we must do now.
300 years of fossil fuels in 300 seconds. It's time to control our transition to post-carbon future.

by Richard Heinberg, Post Carbon Institute. 

www.postcarboninstitute.org 

I have found that such short videos is a wonderful information source for wider public, they are packed with facts and provide also story line, enabling people to see the links and causal relationships. Along the advice and tips how to act in future, they leave an enthusiastic feeling of empowerment within. I believe they are one way to make people stop and think of the situation, their actions and invite them to change behavior and ideas.

Enjoy watching!

Story of stuff- Cap and Trade

It was some time ago when I re-posted several movies from Story of Stuff here on green carpet. Since I'm still working on my Climate Change paper and one of the nondetachable part of the topic is Emissions Trading Systems (ETS) on which our governments have agreed.
One may argue that it's better than nothing, but honestly I don't really think anyone actually believes that by trading your reduced emissions to others who just continue polluting is any solution to the rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere and consequently global warming. It also does not really invoke any serious behavioral change for businesses and societies since it's trying to make them do as little as possible just to keep on going the way they were.
I think Cap and Trade movie by Annie is a wonderful tool to put out the issue in a simplistic way.

Of course, ETS is not the only tool to reduce emissions- there are also tools like clean development technologies, which should take larger proportion of our policies than just carbon offsetting. Even true and honest Carbon offsetting in any way is no long term solution- at the base line you just pay for the rights to emit carbon anyway instead of reducing your emissions. Of course, it is good to invest in reforestation, clean technologies, energy efficiency etc. to help absorb CO2 we emit. However, it should only be accompanied with serous reduction of GHGs emissions instead of using those investments as a pardon and holding to your quota.

I was recently blamed for having too pessimistic thoughts on ETS. I do admit that there are several positive aspects of the system as well. At the end of the day- for now it is the only binding system that makes us reduce the emissions. And there's another additional positive trend here. I should mention Latvia's case then. Through the Financial instruments provided from ETS there have been many educational and informative projects on Climate Change, and many more practical ones like home insulation. And these practical, touchable changes in the daily lives with the help of such instruments have lead many people to think about the Climate issues, about the environment. And that is very, very important!

It is just that the system we have has way too many loopholes, it really needs to be improved to be considered a way to limit the Climate Change. Unfortunately at the moment it hasn't gone through improvement stage yet. We could hardly manage to get an agreement on Kyoto protocol second term. But we must get further than that and pledge to stop emitting much more!

Enjoy watching and think of how to reduce emissions instead of just paying them off! I'll think of my own too and will share it with others. One person's emissions might not be large in comparison to the total human caused GHGs emissions. But all together we can change the marketplace, businesses, home environments and in the end- planet's emissions. Every willing person counts. The more there are those, who care, who choose right and who requires strong action, the better chance we stand in not falling over the tipping point.

Climate Change- freak out video!

As usually- have been busy with various projects on green carpet. Since I am also looking for a job now and starting university my days are becoming really packed.
About the uni- I have been accepted and already received my boxes of studying materials, I am really super-excited! I am now officially a student at University of London, SOAS, Centre for Development, Environment and Politics. My program- MSc in Sustainable Development. Wish me luck and I will share my progress as much as I can here with you on green carpet.

Last two days I've been starting a paper on Climate Change, covering general facts, scenarios, risks, factors,  turning then to Latvia and it's Climate Change adaptation politics. Looking for various resources, I found a fantastic video that I wanted to share with everyone. It's really great to explain, what's going on in quite a simple manner.

by Leo Murray.

Enjoy watching!

Big Ask

Just amazing video I wanted to share on green carpet. Might not be new, but it doesn't make it less true..

Story of Electronics

Next Story of Stuff project re-posted on green carpet- on e-waste.
It has always annoyed me that computers and other new age technologies are designed to last so short period. I remember the time when people used to have same cell phone for years.. and have same PC on their desk for years.. now everyone is running to get the latest smart phone, tablet, laptop, screen, TV etc as soon as it is available in store. The worst is that it is not depending on whether the old gadget is still working or not!
Personally I can't do it that way.. I used my PC for many years and then I gave it to someone who is still using it. It's been 8 years since we bought it.. And I still have my laptop, it's about 3 years old. It's surprising, but in technologies 3 years is really old. As one of my close friends who works with computers explained to me- laptops are created to last for about a year, maybe 18 months if you really want.. then- no matter what you change in programs and software- the hardware slowly dies.. Well, mine is a bit slow. OK, my husband says he gets old while doing anything on it. But I manage to read, write, watch videos, listen to the music. Humorous part- maybe it's good that it's slower than some others- it teaches patience and slow living.
Of course, the time will come for me to change it inevitably, but then - I'm happy that nowadays I can choose laptops that are designed from recycled materials, few companies are having at least some green policies and maybe, if I wait long enough, the super-green technologies will come out from the experimental stages and I'll use them..

But for now- I feel sorry when I see how people are rushing into gadget stores to have more and more e-junk at home. And I believe that the greatest devil who started this super-speedy overconsumption of technologies was Steve Jobs with his least green company in the world- Apple. Do you know any other company that makes people change most of their gadgets every year or whenever newest model is out? And here's a little insight in how Apple creates all this junk revealed by the Ecologist. And remember-toxics in, toxics out. While some companies like Samsung, GreenPC and others are going green, carbon neutral etc, Apple seems to stay it's way forever. Well, I hope it will crash down soon in a modern world where there's increasing demand of green, sustainable and ethical technologies.

Comment on e-waste now. If your gadget producers don't offer take back, use someone who collects all the e-waste not depending on the producer. While I was living in the UK, I found some companies that utilize the e-waste, you can even send them via Royal Mail in the package. I sent them some stuff like- mouse, cell charger, some old cells, and all it cost me was couple of stamps. I believe there are companies like this everywhere, we just have to dig deeper and find out how they deal with that stuff.

But now- time to enjoy some funny stories about serious stuff:
"The Story of Electronics employs the Story of Stuff style to explore the high-tech revolution's collateral damage—25 million tons of e-waste and counting, poisoned workers and a public left holding the bill. Host Annie Leonard takes viewers from the mines and factories where our gadgets begin to the horrific backyard recycling shops in China where many end up. The film concludes with a call for a green 'race to the top' where designers compete to make long-lasting, toxic-free products that are fully and easily recyclable." Annie Leonard

I would love to have toxic-free, recycled material and long lasting technologies.

Story of Bottled Water

Last year I started to re-post videos of Annie Leonard in Story of Stuff series, and I intend to continue that. Now- off to bottled water issue. It's huge!

I've lived most of my life in the countryside where we drink water either from the well or later in life from the tap. I've lived in Norway, where it's so very "normal" to have your own water bottle that you fill everywhere- at home, at work, at a drinking fountain in a park, even in the WC of McDonald's! Then I moved to London. Also there it's very simple- drink from the tap everywhere unless there is a sign not to do that. And I haven't seen those too often.. It's just "normal" to order a tap water in a restaurant to go with your meal.. at no cost, obviously. 

And then I moved back to Latvia.. Even though the water from tap in our city apartment is considered drinkable, it tastes... well, it has its "city tap water" taste of metal and "stuff".. 

Even though it's regulated to be drinkable and clean, people are still in doubt.. unfortunately since I am breastfeeding, I am too a little wary.. So I use a filter for my city drinking water. We just started to use the same that was left by my friends in my apartment. I still haven't figured out how to utilize used filters. So one of my New years resolutions is- buy the tap filter that you don't have to change that often! 

But many people buy water. In plastic bottles.. in huge plastic bottles for home.. in small plastic bottles on the go.. in medium plastic bottles for work.. and so the plastic bottles keep surrounding us on daily basis! I have a plastic bottle of water in my car too! But I fill it often at home, so I don't run out and don't have to buy another one in the store or gas station. It is my own "solution", because I do not believe the beautiful pictures and commercials on water bottles.. but here it's not common at all to walk into gas station and fill your bottle in the WC.. Just the thought of it is a little scary actually since it's not a living premises.. I hope one day it will change and I will be able to walk through the capital city of my country and fill my reusable bottle at a drinking fountain on the street, park, old-town.. Hmm.. maybe I should drop a line to a city council actually! 

But then again- we must fight with this image of drinking fancy bottled water, because many people think they look better when having a bottle of expensive bottled water on the table instead of having reusable to refill or going with a glass to the tap. Hmm.. another resolution- put to shame everyone I know for buying bottled water as a regular habit instead of "emergency case"! 

But now- back to the Story of Bottled water! 

"The Story of Bottled Water, released on March 22, 2010 (World Water Day) employs the Story of Stuff style to tell the story of manufactured demand—how you get Americans to buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week when it already flows from the tap. Over five minutes, the film explores the bottled water industrys attacks on tap water and its use of seductive, environmental-themed advertising to cover up the mountains of plastic waste it produces." Annie Leonard

Enjoy watching and drink from the tap! 

And here's a fact sheet- Myths Versus Reality:

http://www.storyofstuff.org/sos_downloads/PDFs/more-info/more-info-SoBW.pdf 

Story of Cosmetics...

Here on this side of the ocean green carpet is a little greener and I do believe that cosmetics are a bit safer than Annie tells.. By that I mean that at least we can trust the label "Organic" since it has to be certified here in Europe. However, the rest still applies, I can't believe what chemicals they put in baby wipes! You can clean the nastiest (is that a word?) spots on your clothes with them! But that's all they're good for, no baby bums! Horrible, how much toxic stuff we put on and in our bodies daily! I think the sadest part is that our babies are born already loaded with the toxic stuff..
Just a funny reminder what not to use from Annie- Story of Cosmetics:

Remember- Toxics in -> Toxics out!

Story of Stuff..

Here on green carpet we've always looooved Annie Leonard's Story of Stuff and all the following episodes of this funny and very powerful cartoon. She tells the ugly truth on our consumerism patterns and our world of toxic over-production in a very simple, funny and memorable ways. Since her new Story of Broke is out, I decided that I should re-post her videos here as well. The more people will see it, the greater impact Story of Stuff has! I'm not gonna expand on what I like (or adore to be more precise) in this 'movie', it will best be watched and listened to Annie!
Enjoy watching- Story of Stuff!*
" From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever." Annie Leonard

* All copy-rights belong to Annie Leonard!!!

Film review- One Life

Crafts  season on green carpet has been full steam ahead for quite a while now. But while hands are busy crocheting, knitting and embroidering, I love to have something on the background.. like a movie.. yesterday it was One Life by BBC Earth Films. Even though it was nothing about Climate Change issues or threats that we as human beings impose on animals, it was inspirational. It was heart warming and filling me with simple joy about life on this planet. Both children and adults would love it I believe. So it is great to watch when you want something with beautiful scenes and lovely stories without pressure of sadness on them! Enjoy watching!

Film "One Beach" and REDUCE thoughts..

Even though the plan was to watch the film "One Beach" on the opening day (20thSeptember), it was shown only today on green carpet. http://www.facebook.com/barefootwine?sk=app_204155856287971 

It's powerful, it's sad and funny at the same time.. and I believe it makes people think.. 

One of the things in my mind was the part about throwing things away.. There is no such magical place as "away"! Everything you throw "away" is still here, it still ends up in your garbage, in your courtyard, in your local area for landfill, blown up in your trees in your forests, taken into your rivers, seas and oceans.. there is no such place as "away".. 

People tend to close their eyes on it.. they unconsciously think- I throw it away and I don't see it anymore so it does not exist anymore.. But it does! 

It is nice to work on the awareness of people through such art as in the film.. But first rule of "3R" is REDUCE.. We must reduce what we buy and reduce what we throw "away" by reusing and recycling (and in these two Rs we can do all kinds of redesigning, readjusting, giving to someone else things we don't need or want, resizing, redecorating and whole bunch of other "re-..."). But first we must reduce everything.. And if we need to buy, think of possibilities to reuse/recycle it afterwards.. and how it's created, maybe it's organic grown instead of full spectrum chemical use? Or maybe it's from recycled material instead of raw?

Yesterday I saw very nice umbrella, which I wanted to buy. And I reduced the stuff I buy- I didn't buy it. I have two umbrellas in my two homes, I have enough. I'm not buying anotherone just because I like it. Let's reduce! 

Videos

Just few videos that touched me.. Although I cannot participate really actively at the moment, I just want to say that I share these ideas, I do care.

What will you do?
I do not want my daughter to ask me later on- why didn't you do anything..

European Youth Meeting 2011 for Sustainable development - follow up document

It's been quite a while after European Youth Meeting for Sustainable development, however, today I am writing a report of the event for Homo Ecos and wanted to share long ago promissed document we created in Tallinn.
So here it is:  EYM2011 Declaration to the UN Rio+20 Conference .  To remind- the part worked on green carpet was Urban Development (see previous posts).
I also wanted to share some fun part of our activities- movie about Klipučevo, green (to-be) city and its mayor, and share some good ideas and funny interpretations :) Enjoy watching!

European Youth Meeting 2011 for Sustainable development, Day 3- Part 2- Working groups and best practices

The morning of the Day 3 at EYM continued with more positive discussions in our working groups. We were sharing best practices that we have seen, heard, experienced or done. Here are some of them in Urban Development:

• High Line in New York- green zone and leisure park in the old metro line.
• Gasometer in Vienna- four old natural gas tanks turned into apartments, movie theatre, student residence, archives etc.
• Green Factor- building approval system for architects to design buildings. Only the projects including several green factors would be approved. 
• Cycling rental systems in the cities - London, Paris, Netherlands, Riga and many other cities (London example of "Boris bikes" 
•  Old, large buildings turned into other useful venues- Strasbourg prison, London Old Billingsgate market etc. 
• Solar heating systems in universities- Montenegro private universities run their heating 80% depending on sun.
• Local farmer seasonal, organic produce to city inhabitants- examples of Germany, UK veg box schemes.
• Bottle deposit system in Norway, Germany. Each consumer buys not only a drink, but also a bottle it comes in. But once you have finished your drink, you can sell the bottle back and receive the paid money for it!
• Composting places in the city - London has not only parks, but also wildlife gardens, like Phoenix garden. In the garden there are large compost bins and people from nearby are welcomed to throw their compost there for the use in the garden later on.
• Recycling systems- many cities already have various recycling systems (London, Oslo), varying from street collection (put your recyclable items in separate, specifically dedicated bags and they will be collected in particular day and time of the week and brought to the recycling station) to recycling centres in residential areas (large containers near the apartment buildings where you can separate your rubbish) etc.
• Trash cans near the street rather than in the middle of pedestrian pathways so people driving in the car could easily get rid of their trash instead of just throwing it out from the window.
• Inhabitant initiatives like park reconstruction in Belgrade- citizens decided that they would like to have a parka and they created it themselves instead of hiring services.
• Geothermal public heating in Strumica, which would provide this service for free to inhabitants.
•  Lisbon Expo '98- great example of rehabilitation of degraded space in the city. Expo '98 was fully built from scratch, but most important part -every building was pre-sold for after-Expo repurposing thus ensuring that, after the Expo closed, the site would not be left semi-abandoned. The venue kept a free-access park, keeping the gardens, Oceanarium (Europe's then largest aquarium), observation tower, funicular, and the Virtual Reality pavilion and redesigned the rest for shopping malls, art exhibition centres, science museum and other multi-purpose spaces.
• Renovated cruise ship in Rotterdam- the old cruise ship was renovated and used as new cultural space with all the facilities already existing on the ship, but instead of floating in waters it is available in port.
• Real time monitoring of the traffic in Wroclaw- oppurtunity to plan your route according to real time facts availbale online (traffic jams, road closures, timing etc). 
• Agenda 21 for city planning- great effort to involve all stakeholders from all backgrounds tp see what are the problems and measures to deal with them. Involvement of all population is crucial in decision making. 
• Sustainability certification in the EU that provide clear goals to achieve and evaluation. 
• School competition in Macedonia- competition works well, so the pupil are competing to make their school the most sustainable in the country. In Latvia there was a similar competition on paper recycling rates in between the universities. 

These are just few of the great practices in urban development that can be quite easily transferred to any other city in the world! Aren't you inspired by them? Let's be involved, aware of what we can do and do it! Let's learn from others and share our experiences on green carpet also in future!

European Youth Meeting 2011 for Sustainable development, Day 3- Part 1- Presentation Video

This morning was not much different than the previous one, I just feel lucky to have the drinking water that I unfortunately had to buy yesterday in plastic bottles, and to have my box of home grown and hand picked black currants to have in addition to breakfast. Good surprise however was the beetroot salad that was added to the breakfast options today :) Yeey!

When it is 29 degrees C already in 9:00am, then you can't stop thinking about climate change and how privileged we as a species of human beings are to have options of conditioning, cooling elements and water.
This also makes me think of the definition of Sustainable development we have been using here at EYM, which in my opinion is wrong. Well, the current definition from Bruntland commission sounds like this: "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Well, I think we're missing the additional point here. The last part of it should include that it is for all species, otherwise we are just thinking of human needs.. sadly.. so my elaboration would be this:
"meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations of all species to meet their own needs."

But well, back to work. This morning session of EYM was presentation of the key challenges of the working groups (ours in previous post). However, I really wanted to share a video that accompanied our speeches that was created by one of the group members.
Great thanks to him and enjoy, think and act!

BBC Human Planet

Yesterday it was a TV time on green carpet, I watched 5 episodes of the Human Planet- just couldn't stop.
BBC Human Planet is one of the best shows lately- breath taking, emotional, catching and with a strong ang long impact..
It is truly amazing how many people of the world still live within the nature, with so much respect for nature. And they are so free. Free of schedules, clocks, supermarkets.. No matter where they live- on the ocean (literally, some are born on the boat and almost never get on land), in desert, in jungle, in arctic.. they DON'T WASTE ANYTHING! All water is saved and used and reused again where the resource is scarse. What they hunt- they eat it all, nothing is thrown out. Not like us, people, in the cities- we buy food, we use half of it and let the rest rot, go old and throw it out after. I personally hate throwing food, it was not acceptable where I grew up, so I tend not to do it now. But these people- they are amazing. They take from the nature only as much as they need and not a drop of water, not an animal, not a tree more. And they live better than we do- they are way more happier, they do everything according to the laws of their natural habitat and their traditions that are thousands of years old.
Watching their lives does not only take my breath away and makes me a bit jealous of their freedom and oneness with nature.. It also makes me incredibly sad.. Sad about myself first of all, how far from it all I am now, living in the city and eating dessert after dinner while watching it now.. And believe me, the next bite just won't go down my throat, when I hear a man, living in the desert, who says- catching a fish is like opening door to heaven. Or a Inuits in Arctic, who goes for a dangerous narwhal hunt once a year to feed their families. I hate this consumerism in me, and I can't eat no more. I shouldn't, because I w
as well eaten already.
Another reason I'm so terribly sad is how we, people living in "civilisation", are destroying the living space of these amazing tribes who live with no governments, no passports and no money when they trade if they do at all. That Brazilian operator must fly over jungle and film uncontacted tribes just to prove they are there, so somebody wouldn't go in mining and harvesting timber and pretending that these people were not there. I'm sad because only 2% of our Planet now is covered with rainforests and it's amazing world deep in there that is being killed. That people in far North cities are not safe because polar bears must come into the cities and look for food as their natural habitat is taken over by humans and because global warming has melted the ice and they can't hunt anymore. I could go on and on and on.. but we all know what I'm talking about.. we are the ones responsible for that.. We should be responsible for saving lives and traditions of these people, isn't enough we have destroyed our own? And they are the only ones that can show us - people can live differently. And they can teach us a lot more than any textbook will.
I was thinking about it all when I fell sleep and still when I woke up this morning. How to live my life to get at least few steps closer where they are? And I think the first would be to follow just a few simple steps:

• don't take (read: buy) what you don't really need! (it is a waste of resources)
• take good care of what you have so it doesn't break, rot or wear off too soon!
• fix things instead of throwing out! (unless it is huge energy consumer like very old refrigerator or so)
• DON'T WASTE anything- use all food, all resource you have with care and respect. 

I can't do it yet for all 100%, but I can try to live this a little more each day. And here on green carpet I swear to do it in front of myself, my children, my Planet.
Today- I  will waste less, use things better, and watch another episode of Human Planet.
And that I also suggest to you, whoever is reading here on green carpet!
BBC Human Planet

Volunteering for Homo Ecos

Volunteering is very important action here on green carpet.
Yesterday I finally did what I wanted to do for quite a while- I volunteered again! :)
Now I am helping NGO "Homo Ecos" in Latvia to organize a conference on Bioplastic and Biodegradable plastic. It is exciting to do what I like, it is a great feeling I can do something green again. At the moment I am looking for all plastic manufacturers, traders, media etc.
Wouldn't that be wonderful, that we could buy more bioplastic items like milk bottles? To buy fruits, cakes, biscuits, yogurts, soured cream etc in biodegradeable bioplastic packaging and containers? That we could put this packaging together with the organic waste in biodegradeable bin bags and later have it moved to compost to provide new "food" for the gardens? I think that would be great.

Otherwise I keep having this nightmarish film on life of a plastic bag in my mind..

Take a look: