See-Saw

Well, last week was a kinda failure, but also a kind of success as well. I managed to get that horrible sore-throat-and-lack-of-voice thing that's going around (though literally, no voice, and unlike most people who seem to get over it in a couple of days, a week and a half later i still sound like i smoke 50 a day [and i've never smoked in my life]). Thankfuly it was reading week, so no *major* dilemma, other than not getting all the work done that i should have, but anyway, back to the point! Now, I'm willing to sacrifice take-out starbucks and bubblewrap for the environment, but when i'm in pain, i bloody well want medication! Off to boots i popped, and realised that nearly all the branded cough/throat syrups have plastic doo-dahs around the edge. ooh dear, i wasn't sure whether that was good or bad, so i looked further and saw a simple, boots-branded linctus, with a metal cap, which was also Waaaaay cheaper than the other stuff. Win. Fail with the ibruprofen though- some weird plastic-paper-foil hybrid held them in place in a plastic tomb. Unless i were to get really OCD about organising coffee beans, i doubt they'd be useful. nor recyclable, as it didn't tell me what kind of plastic it was, oh well.
One of the good (and delicious) things to come out of this illness was an amazing soup which i made, and lasted me a good 5 or 6 meals, which i consider an acheivement =) it was also the simplest thing ever, what you do is
Take a pumpkin/squash, de-seed and cut it into chunks
Put it on a tray, drizzle oil and garlic over it
Roast that in a 200 degree C oven for about an hour
Scoop the flesh away from the skin, putting the flesh into a pan
Add a little bit of vegetable stock (i did this a bit at a time so as not to make it too runny)
Also what i did here was add a lettuce which was looking sorry for itself- gave it wonderful green flecks, but next time i might add green lentils (protein) and spinach (for iron)
I
It was seriously tasty =) and just what i fancied with a sore throat, and meant that i wasn't adding to the mountain of cans in the recycling box =)

Moi, hei, bonjour and all relevant greetings, welcome to this, my first attempt at a blog! I can't promise miracles, but I'll give it my best shot =). Anyway, an explanation of what I'll be rambling about; inspired by a crisis of conscience last weekend, i made a decision to change my ways and start to *really* commit myself to minimising environmental impact. I spent most of yesterday (in bed, i have the sore throat from hell =( ) reading The Frugal Girl and My Zero Waste and thinking, i could do that..ish.
At this point i had already started my change: doing my weekly food shop yesterday, i made a concerted effort to avoid packaging whenever possible, which started by buying Onya Weigh bags and milk (in proper bottles!!) from a fabulous shop called Unpackaged, before heading to waitrose to do my shopping.
My goal was not to change my diet, but to change my weekly impact on the environment. Armed with the onyaweighs, i managed to get a squash (loose), cooking apples, pears, loose bread (having sussed that that evil plastic covers everything bready!). This self-imposed challenge opened my eyes however, to just how much is covered in plastic. Cabbages, Chicken, nuts and fruits (now that i know that i can get them loose from unpackaged), cheese, everything! It's not only scary, it's wasteful!
Now, chez les parents, we have an allotment right next to the garden, chickens in the garden, a compost bin, and seperate collections of landfill waste, recycling and 'green' waste. Going from that to the centre of london, where one buys eggs (i mean, wtf?) and there's nowhere to compost stuff =( is hard. (at this point i should explain, I'm a student, living in a flat with no garden or balcony, our council takes plastic, glass, tins and cardboard, but not kitchen or garden waste). It means extra effort to do the things that are so easy back home.
I am *not* a city girl. I hardly ever buy new clothes (even though i'm a vain little so-and-so), and would much rather be living in an ironage roundhouse on the isle of Skye, so i am aching for greenery, animals and land. This isn't going to happen for a while however, so i'll have to put up with a window box and the pidgeons.
Anyway, back to the point. I plan to update with my efforts, failures and musings once a week, or more maybe. and pictures! there may be pictures! seeing as how i aim to have as little packaging as possible, i'll probably put photos of my weekly packaging for the week (this week was some plastic over lettuce). I also plan to switch my cosmetics over to organic/no waste options as and when they run out, so will be able to review those as well =)
Feel free to make suggestions, criticisms (constructive!) or bizzare comments, they'll make me happy =)

Nähdään
-x-
Ally
Oh, yeah, i'm rubbish at computers, and can't do html, so i'll have to give y'all links like this instead =)
www.thefrugalgirl.com
www.myzerowaste.com
www.beunpackaged.com