Today is Blog Action Day when thousands of bloggers accross the world all agree to write about the same subject. This year the subjet is CLIMATE CHANGE.
It's funny because today in Paris the weather was very, very, unseasonally cold. Almost freezing. People working at the market were caught out and had to borrow sweaters from neighbouring stalls to keep warm and then, on the way to school at lunchtime, an African nanny told me how right now in Senegal (she comes from right near the Sahara - there's a conversation for another day!) it is 27°C in the morning and 40°C by mid-afternoon - temperatures that are much hotter than normal for this time of year. (BTW, she didn't know it was Blog Action Day!).
We are all affected by the weather and even if you believe climate change has not yet begun to happen (???!!!), you know you will be affected by climate change one day.
I personally adhere to the "do as you would be done by" school of thought and my favourite quote is "be the change you want to see in the world" by the dalai lama. Personally, I don't need any more convincing than that last one. Its logic stands up to my scrutiny and so, once I am informed I act and not acting becomes more difficult. I sometimes fail to act but I never feel good about it and we all like to feel good right?
And so here I am, today, with my good, dependable, predictable (!), ten o'clock in the evening, off the cuff, unprepared (oops), advice about how to DO YOUR BIT so that climate change can be slowed down and so that you can feel just a little bit less guilty about the whole thing...
1) Take showers not baths,
2) Take shorter, cooler showers,
3) Drive around in your car less,
4) Offer lifts to people who otherwise would have taken their car,
5) Wear a jumper, lower the thermostat on your radiators,
6) Turn off the lights, pull out the plugs,
and I want to go to bed so time for the big finale, the one that can make the most difference...
7) stop eating (so many) animal products!
Now this one decision is actually made up of lots and lots and lots of little daily decisions - I'm there right now, I know. If you have a choice, choose as often as you can the one with no animals in it.
Red fruit coulis or cream (I know, I'll go for the coulis)
Ice cream or Sorbet (yummy sorbet!)
Baked potato with baked beans or with tuna (oops, was not me, was my food)
Paté or hummous (no brainer)
Rice milk or milk milk (Little boy actually calls milk milk "rice milk" he loves rice milk so much)
Butter or margarine (Oh! no butter in the fridge just non-hydrogenated veggy marg - easy call)
Cheese sandwich or avocado, red pepper and smoked tofu sandwich (duh!!)
Lamb Jalfrezi or Tarka Dahl. (Er not the lamb one obviously).
Egg or ... (doesn't matter, no egg never!!)
The thing is, I am serious. Even if you eat meat sometimes it can be so tasty, healthy and better for you, for the planet and for (dare I say it) the animals concerned NOT to eat them. And the more often you don't eat them the better for all of the above.
Oh and did you know cholesterol only exists in animal products. There is absolutely no cholesterol in anything that is 100% vegetable.
Right, I'm off. Got that one off my chest!
Un jour plus tard, je françise...
Aujourd'hui est Blog Action Day, un jour où des milliers de bloggeurs se mettent d'accord pour écrire sur un même sujet. Cette année le sujet est le changment climatique.
C'est un sujet qui est bien tombé - aujourd'hui à Paris il a fait très, très froid - anormalement froid. Il gelait presque. Puis, en allant à l'école à midi, une nounou sénégalaise me racontait qu'en ce moment même au Sénégal, près du Saraha d'où elle vient, il fait 27°C le matin et 40°C l'après-midi - des températures bien plus élevées que normal pour le mois d'octobre.
Le changement climatique nous concerne tous et si l'on fait l'autruche aujourd'hui, demain l'on risque de sortir la tête dans un monde transformé à tout jamais - en pire.
Là je bloque en traduisant mon texte original - j'avoue que mes enfants joue à côté (à taper des ballons gonflables avec des spatules !!) et je n'arrive pas à me concentrer. Je vais donc passer toute de suite à ma liste de gestes que vous pouvez adopter pour aider à ralentir le changement climatique:
1) Prendre une douche au lieu d'un bain,
2) Prendre une douche plus courte et moins chaude,
3) Prendre moins la voiture, ou si vous êtes obligé de la prendre
4) Remplissez-la au maximum avec des passagers qui vont au même endroit et qui autrement aurait pris leur voiture,
5) Portez des pulls, baisser la température des radiateurs,
6) Eteindre les lumières, retirer les prises des chargeurs, des appareils qui ne s'éteignent pas,
et pour finir mon préféré car il peut avoir le plus d'impact sur votre santé, la santé de la planète et la santé d'autres êtres vivants:
7) manger moins (voire pas du tout) de produits animaliers. Si vous avez un choix, et ces choix-là arrivent par douzaines chaque jour, essayez le plus souvent possible de choisir celui sans animaux:
Glace ou sorbet
jambon beurre ou sandwich aux légumes grillées
crême fraiche ou coulis de fruits rouges
pâté ou hummous
lait ou lait de riz
chocolat au lait ou chocolat noir
brioche ou pain de mie
beurre ou margarine (non-hydrongené, 100% végétal)
maki de suamon + brochettes de poulet ou maki de radis mariné + tempura de légumes
curry de crevettes ou dahl de lentilles
Vous voyez, il y a toujours des choix! Partout.
Bon c'est tout. A+
I really enjoyed your post. Sometimes the best things come off the cuff. You have inspired me to do a little more of that on my blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by earlier and commenting on my blog. It is always nice to hear that what I post is useful to others since that was the reason I started blogging.
Alicia