Eco potty- Becopotty

Well, I have to admit that sometimes shopping for something is quite inevitable, especially when it comes to kids.So one of the most recent green consumerism proofs in our homes- Becopotty. 

Since cloth diapering mixed with Eco-nappies started to have another option- elimination communication, we needed a potty. Most of my friends asked me- why don't you just go to the nearest store and buy it for that little money. Most of them were very surprised when I told them that Emily's potty is... biodegradeable! 

Isn't that really cute when after the baby is done with baby potty, you can dig it in your garden and plant some flowers in it? However, I plan to use the potties (we have 2 of them since we still live in 2 homes) for all of my kids, as many my life will have.. It's still great, that I can then put it away and it won't cost the earth another plastic piece.

Besides- it is really stable and comfy. And even in fresh mornings it doesn't seem as cold as regular plastic for that little bottom!

Another green consumerism moment- even before Em started to use potty once in a while, during summer we used 'pee pants'. Just regular pants or leggings that she wore without nappies or diapers, simply on bare bottom. They are easier to pull off if I got the message for potty. And easier to change if we had a miss. She feels so much better in them than in cloth diapers that can be quite large and have the woolen overpants that are not so nice in warmer days.
How can buying many pairs of pants or leggings be green consumerism? It is when you choose organic and / or second hand. I opted for second option for pants and combined for tops. Just returned from the second-hand store with a batch of next size 'pee pants' for my little ones happy bottom :)

Freeganism- Free Foods

Some time in winter a great blogger Tiffany from Nature Moms Blog with her post on Freeganism and Eating Your Way To A Healthier Environment got me thinking on my own Freeganism habits. One of them being fond of free foods. Now with summer here the topic is on the list again.
I'm not at all into Dumpster Diving, nor I have tried to talk to local shops or restaurants since lately I live most of my days in the countryside far away from those. I love free foods that grow out there on wild that just need some time in the forest with a basket and some patience. It may not be Freeganism according to the definition Tiffany posted, but I strongly consider it to be since it's truly free, it is 100% natural and it reduces food overproduction (and also your own food miles).
I grew up in countryside and it has been my legacy to go herb tea, berry and mushroom picking. I found it weird when I moved to other places, cities and countries, that people have no idea that they can eat also foods that are not coming in a plastic boxes on a store shelf. Loads of blackberries are growing in even in semi-wild parks and woods in London and people pass them by. Worse- they look at me as if I were some lunatic for eating them! So I just wanted to come up with a basic list of my very favorites of free food!

Berries:

• Wild strawberries
• Blueberries
• Blackberries
• Cowberries (or lingon berries) 
• Cranberries 

Mushrooms

Teas you will find in this post- many are picked in wild.

I intend to expand my free food list next year and I'll keep you updated on it!

If you think you might like my favorites- or you know you like them from the shops before- learn them and remember them in summer. And believe me- they taste incredibly good, much better than watery farm grown and store bought. They have bright and warm sun, refreshing rains and natures best in them! And many of them last through the winter in your freezer or just in glass jars in your fridge. I know what I'm saying here, because I just popped a handful of fresh cranberries in my mouth that were picked in wild last summer and stored in my fridge. Be smart, be freegan and prepare for next summer!

P.S. - a special thanks to Tiffany for the inspiring post, I intend to try out some of the practices described in the post when I move to the city.

Teapots

Summer has been a busy time on green carpet- lots of outdoor activities, less computer is always good for everyone!
But warm weather has left us again for now and in the rain I cannot go through a day without my cup of tea.. actually several.. Lately noticed that my dear 8years old electric tea pot has started leaking way too much to be comfortable and safe with a kid always somewhere on the floor. Maybe it's a time for a new one?
An offer came on time... small, cute, electric ceramic teapot..
But as a smart consumer I took a step back and started to look around for all options which may be good for us.

I looove having a tea. Lots of it! But do I need a big teapot? No, because I need just one or two cups at a time. So no need to buy a big one. I like to have my tea quickly therefore I never fill the teapot, so my impatience here serves me and earth well without the risk of using too much energy.
Still, I did some comparison of potential use of cute electric that was on offer vs on the stove teapots. Price is not compared since the difference at this moment was not big.

Electric: 
+ easy to use and quick boil
+ has already particular place in the kitchen
+ beautiful pot that can be placed on table for guests, no need to have a "on table" tea pot

- uses electricity (not only less green if comes form fossils, but also more expensive)
- if not careful, people tend to overfill the tank and use more energy than needed for a cup
- sometimes we tend to forget that the water was heating and have to reheat it overusing electricity again
- small tank in case of many guests

On stove: 
+ gas is cheaper than electricity
+ larger if in need of more hot water
+ whistles, so impossible to forget the hot water
+ comes in colors that can be fitted in the kitchen

- takes more space in already small kitchen
- larger tank makes one want to put more water for heating so overuses resources anyway
- our stove has only two cook tops that are mostly used both at the same time, therefore no chance for a tea during cooking
- gas stinks quite a lot and is not very healthy to breath, especially so many times a day

So our family decided to go for the electric tea kettle that is only 1l tank (and still promising to continue only needed cup boiling water policy in our home) and ceramic instead of plastic. It will also be the white cute one on the picture above, so less 'stuff' at home since it's already beautiful enough to be placed on the table.

Ahh, I'm already looking forwards those peaceful tea evenings with hand picked tea of summer!

Big Ask

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

Rio+20 events

Online space is buzzing with events, actions, movements, discussions, conferences, blogs, news on Rio+20 topics. 13th June also held one such event here in Latvia- discussion on Rio+20 with political representatives and civil society. Thanks to homo ecos: for the event!
Some thought provoking moments, ideas and statements that were shared there:

• Mr Edmunds Sprūdžs, the Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, says that Latvia has achieved a lot already, so his speech will most probably be selling 'ourselves', showing off the progress. He believes that Latvia could try a little 'aggressive' tactics when asking others to act towards sustainable development. Mr Sprūdžs hopes to give a speech that will make others to remember Latvia after the conference. 

Well, we don't even recycle properly here. We don't have hybrid or electric cars on our roads. We have hardly few places where renewable energy like sun and wind is collected.. I don't think we can rest on what nature has given us per se like biodiversity and forests. Latvia is a beautiful, green country and we try not to spoil it. But I would not say that we have progressed that much, even though Yale says so.. 

• Both Mr Sprūdžs and Mr Jurijs Spiridonovs who also represented political side of panel, both agreed that most important for Latvia will be meeting other leaders of states, bilateral meetings with for example Japan, and meetings with various NGOs. Connections is going to be the biggest gain from the conference rather than a document or speeches. 

I could agree that meetings, connections are going to be most important, since I'm not so optimistic on either the necessity or content of a new document or those speeches there. It's all political blaaahblahablaaah that we are expecting from there, unfortunately. What I really hope for is that governments and Mr Sprūdžs himself as well are going to take on board what Civil Society has to say, what we, people, have declared we want for our future in documents like we created last July here, and thoughts that are played in videos, statements etc. 

• Mr Jānis Ulme from Zemes Draugi- Friends of Earth in Latvia- had more down to earth approach reminding us about the various dangers on what's going on in Rio. One of them is talking about Green Economy that has no definition or real meaning, everyone uses this label on whatever he decides with no regulation, so basically it means just blahblahblaaa again. Negotiators on the outcome document can't agree on text yet, so that shows a lot. Another risky point is the perception that we need a new document. We don't, we haven't yet managed the previous ones, we just put them somewhere aside without saying. 

I can totally relate to all what Mr Ulme said in these terms. One of my university teachers once said- we don't need to start writing a new convention, we need to start implementing the existing one and it will have immense effect (we were discussing genocide, war crime, torture topics). What happened to conventions our predecessors agreed on 1992? What about the Agenda 21? The new document should be an agreement to bind us all together to actually implement those, fill the criteria. 

• Mr Ulme and Ms Ērika Lagzdiņa, director of Regional Environmental Centre for Eastern and Central Europe, both had some discussion on the participation of the civil society in Rio and decision making processes on sustainability issues. While Ms Lagzdiņa mentioned that original Earth Summit was a revolutionary moment when finally public voice was taken into account, Mr Ulme reminded Copenhagen and latest occasions when NGOs and acting individuals were not only left out of the process but also denied the access and their right to express themselves. 

I must admit this was one of the most scary thoughts- that our ideas, our actions would not be heard, not taken into account? I felt so sure, knowing, that there's this buzz around Rio+20, events and actions taking place during at least a month, not just those two days in June... should we feel worried that our documents are never read, videos never seen, statements not taken seriously? I hope not and I am positive that this time 'they' will hear us. 

20 Years ago 'they' agreed that Climate change is real, environmental damage, depletion and poverty is real and it is time to change our habits, our lives, time for sustainable development. Unfortunately they did let the large oil money color their glasses, they let enormous TNCs (Trans-National Companies) to lead their greedy way instead. This is the very last moment to stop it. This is the last train we must jump in to be able to                                                grant our grandchildren their future. 

I don't want to be remembered by my kids as one of those people who "could have made a difference". I don't want to be one of those who let others make wrong choices that will destroy our planet and take the chance of life away from our future generations. 

We all have to do something. And some of those things are not going to be easy. That's why we have those governments "up there"- to help us do it. We just have to ask them. Louder and probably many times. But we should ask them as many times as it takes- we want sustainable future, fair, clean and balanced lives. 

Twitter Storm #EndFossilFuelSubsidies

All the people on green carpet, it's time to act!
I have joined the Twitter storm

 #EndFossilFuelSubsidies

and I encourage you to do the same!

I love this time when the buzz around all climate, environment and sustainability issues are high on media, in civil society. The events are overlapping and there are more than you can attend or manage to follow due to Rio+20.
But this is such an easy one to participate and you do know that those little things brought together creates an enormous force, right? So this is one of the little things everyone can do to stop subsidizing things we want to delete from our future scenarious- climate change, dirty fossil fuels, unfair resource management...
Join the 350.org  Twitter storm here and make yourself heard, let the power players know that you want green energy, green jobs and simply - clean and green life for yourself and for your children!

On their Facebook page Mr Ken Winkel posted a Greek proverb, “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” adding that  Now is the time and these are the old men who shall prove their greatness or their greed.

I couldn't agree more! But I also think that this is the time that we, all who care, especially young people, remind those 'old men' to make the right choice!


If you are still in doubt, check this info graphic by Priceofoil.org and think whether you really support it?

Make the right choice! Ask for the accessibility to greener energy. I still have to drive my regular car here in Latvia to get somewhere. I do car pooling, econ/ecol driving, route planning.. but it's not gonna help in long term. I wonder, when we will be able to feel some change in that...  Rio+20 might show the way to some! 

Home made yogurt

It was a while ago when I promised to share my experience of home made rhubarb yogurt on green carpet. It was after my trip to London and eating Rachel's super-tasty yogurts again.
Well, I must say- our home made version is fantastic!

We use the yogurt recipe my mom got in Ayurveda cooking lesson:

• Take one liter of fresh milk (unpasteurized, straight from the farm)
• 100g of natural yogurt (I used from dairy Daugava, use a good one that still has the neccessary bacteria)
• Bring the milk up to the boiling point and remove from heat and let it cool until about 40 degrees C (to the point you can put your finger in it and hold it there)
• Add the yogurt, stir and pour in jars
• Leave the jars open on the table for 2-4 hours, depending how sour you want it to become
• Eat it or close the jars and put it in the fridge

I like adding the flavors only for the portion I eat instead of mixing it all for one taste. 

For now I've tried such additives as blackberries, buck-thorn and maple syrup, pear jam and rhubarbs, of course. 

For rhubarb option just take fresh rhubarb, cut in small peaces, add sugar, let it soak, boil until rhubarbs soft and let it cool. Then add to the yogurt. Mmmm, perfect!

Note- do not add rhubarb mixture to yogurt before it has cooled, it will change the consistence from yogurt to rhubarb compote with cheesy bits! It still tastes good though, in case you still want to experiment... 

Home made yogurt is perfect for summer, since it's plain natural you can add either berries and fruits or put it in green salad, so I hope you try and enjoy this recipe!

Let me know if you have tried any interesting flavors and whether you liked the yogurt! 

Enjoy!