Highlights of 2011 part 1

This has been another great year, in which our campaigners have achieved a lot. Here are some of the highlights.

This picture comes from a session where we were making seed bombs for going out and doing a bit of guerilla gardening - getting plants growing in pieces of wasteland.

And here was another piece of guerilla gardening that we did - planting sunflower seeds around Digbeth. Did you see any growing? There were certainly a few, although not as many as we planted, but it was a good social activity, too.

As a group that believes in the political process and engaging with politicians to win arguments on the evidence base we have, it is important that we speak to politicians in person. This year we have been very active at lobbying in person, as well as sending lots of emails, letters and petitions off.

This photo is from the HS2 debate we put on in partnership with Sustainability West Midlands. We had Christian Wolmar and Mike Geddes speaking against, with Jim Steer and Martin Dyer speaking for it creating a sustainable transport system and more jobs. Adrian Goldberg of BBC radio WM did an excellent job of chairing for us on a night when passion ran high amongst the large audience.

This was from Aston University's Go Green week, where we spoke to students about environmental questions around energy and cold homes - getting them to rate their digs and then created a video of it.

This is one of a few videos we've done this year with the help of Mandy Staunton - thanks to her for all the work she's done on that.

We arranged a Green Spring Fair in May at the Prince of Wales in Moseley, where we also held regular Swap Shops in the first half of the year.

A practical way to reduce waste is to try to find people who want the things you no longer do. The Swap Shop was really successful in this, with all kinds of odd bits of wire and cables finding someone who wanted them when otherwise they would just have been in the bottom of a drawer or gone to waste. There were clothes, bags and books, too.

Ding Dong Definitely Don't Buy

Well, the holiday season is almost upon us. It's nearly time to drag the tree (complete with a bonus 12 months-worth of dust) out of the loft and to listen to the delightful chorus of... your significant other and your dad cursing between one another, as they search in vain for the faulty bulb in the fairy lights which is preventing them from switching on. I suspect that the cynics amongst you will say 'But Erica, there's another month to go until we can experience those simple joys!' On the contrary my friends; now is precisely the time to start thinking creatively about Christmas.

Did you know that every single Boxing Day, us Brits throw away an estimated 83 square kilometres of wrapping paper, and that 1 billion of those cards that you carefully picked out and hand-wrote end up in the bin? Yes, that's right. Your auntie Sue threw away your carefully chosen holographic, so-shiny-its-seizure-inducing Christmas card practically as soon as it came through her letterbox. Collectively, we produce an estimated 3 million tonnes of waste over the holidays. But there is a better way! There are a number of ways you can keep Christmas fun (in fact, make it even more fun) and make it healthier for the environment (as well as your pocket). All it requires is a bit of creativity. So, here are three fun, eco-friendly solutions to your Christmas woes.

1. Handmade Christmas
The Objective: Make your Christmas presents from scratch. You could paint a picture for a friend who's just moved house, or knit an iPod cozy for your significant other. If you think creatively about what your loved ones might want, you can get their present just right. You can also make your gifts out of recycled materials, such as a patchwork quilt constructed from much-loved but now too-worn to wear t-shirts. Handmade Christmas is the best way to give your friends and family something unique, personal and made just for them! What could be more heart-warming and Christmassy than that?

Pros: Making things is fun and the gift you give will be totally one-of-a-kind.
Cons: It takes TIME, so start thinking and then get crafty ASAP!

2. Charity Christmas
The Objective: All gifts bought must come from a charity shop. Ideally there should be some sort of price limit set (£5 per gift is usually about right), but how you set that is up to you. In my family, my mom gives a prize-present for the best (most funny, perfect or unique) gift given. When she let slip that this year's prize was going to be a goat I dimly asked “Ooh, could we have chickens instead? Free free-range eggs!”. It turns out that she meant a goat to be given to an African family, which is much more fitting for Christmas which is, after all, about caring for each other.

Pros: The money you spend will go to charity, it will cost you less and requires ingenuity.
Cons: Charity Christmas is becoming more and more popular, so make sure you start browsing early. You don't want to start looking on Christmas Eve when all of the good stuff will already be sitting, wrapped, under someone else's tree.

3. Recycled Christmas
The Objective: All gift-wrapping must be done with creatively collected recycled (and preferably recyclable) materials. I don't mean buying new rolls of paper made from recycled material, I mean ribbon made from pairs of laddered tights or newspaper upon which you've stamped, drawn or painted a pretty, festive design. It doesn't matter if the wrapping doesn't sit flush or isn't immaculately folded; you can really get creative with wrapping presents this way and your household clutter will be getting a final hurrah. All in all, you will lose far less waste and gain a free-reign to get creative this Christmas.

Pros: You're creating less rubbish and having more fun with your gift-wrapping (and opening)!
Cons: Make sure you don't go cutting up your mom's curtains for ribbon; she won't thank you for that.

It seems that every year there is an increasing number of people bemoaning the degeneration of Christmas. Along with the festive joy there is a feeling of sadness, that it has become something only worthy of celebration for those in the retail industry. Richard Wilkinson, co-author of the book 'The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better' thinks that materialism is not about the gifts that we buy and give, but more about what those things say about us to the person receiving. Wilkinson explains that “It's not material self-interest, it's that we're so sensitive. We experience ourselves through each other's eyes - and that's the reason for the labels and the clothes and the cars”. The fact is that those who love you don't care how much money you have to spend on their gift; what matters to them is what that gift means. Handmade, Charity and Recycled Christmas are all things which bring Christmas back to the people; where we can stop frivolously spending and consuming (often beyond our means) and really show our loved-ones how much they mean to us.

References:

“Cutting Down on Christmas Waste”:

http://www.wasteonline.org.uk/resources/InformationSheets/ChristmasRecycling.htm

“Throwing Away Christmas Rubbish will cost 78m”:
http://www.lga.gov.uk/lga/core/page.do?pageId=6946019

“Equality and the Good Life: Interview with Richard Wilkinson”

http://www.yesmagazine.org/happiness/want-the-good-life-your-neighbors-need-it-too

Take Action! (Here's some inspiration to get you started):
“A Community for Crafts and DIY Projects”
http://www.craftster.org/

“Sew, cast, carve, solder, sketch, cut, go!”

http://www.folksy.com/making

“Recycle Now: Furoshiki Japanese Wrapping”

http://www.recyclenow.com/what_can_i_do_today/furoshiki_japanese_w.html

Erica Bromage

Disposable nappies, reusable nappies, or infant potty training? What’s the most environmentally friendly toilet option for tinies?

My daughter was 10 weeks old when she first asked to use the toilet. I had taken her to the park in her pushchair, for an autumnal walk with my husband. Suddenly Rose shouted “a!” and started jiggling about, squirming frantically as if she had a sore behind. We rushed home and dashed to the bathroom.

To my surprise her nappy was dry. I lifted her up and, cuddling her with her back to me, supporting her legs on one arm, I held her bottom over the loo. A huge wee gushed out. She raised her little head and grinned at me. “A!” she said again. From then on, that was her signal that she needed to wee. At 16 weeks she added the word “poo” to her vocabulary. It’s still hard to believe it now. What we had accidentally discovered is called “elimination communication”. Is this the answer to the environmental problem of baby toileting?

Most parents in the developed world use disposable nappies until the child is potty trained. Disposable nappies are regarded as being environmentally unfriendly. A recent study carried out for DEFRA cast doubt on the benefits of reusable nappies as they are currently used. The study found that fewer than 5% of parents use reusables, and by far the most common reusable nappies in use are terry squares or cloth prefolds. The big impacts of reusables included the water and energy required to wash and dry them, and also, perhaps surprisingly, the energy and chemicals used to manufacture them.

As well as doubt over the environmental benefits, there are many barriers to using reusable nappies. Disposable nappies are given away at maternity hospitals. Reusables are rarely, if ever given away. Disposable nappies are available in most convenience shops, and a huge range is available in supermarkets and pharmacies. By contrast, reusable nappies are rarely available to buy from a shop.

The upfront cost is a problem. A pack of about 25 disposable nappies costs around £5. The same number of reusable nappies with wraps costs between £100 (for terry squares) to £250 for shaped ones. Once used, they become difficult to sell - for instance eBay bans sales of used nappies and many mothers feel squeamish about buying them. By contrast, opened packs of disposable nappies can be swapped or shared. It’s cheap and easy to try out a new brand of disposable nappy. Trying out a new brand of reusable requires a leap of faith, and a great deal of money.

Disposable nappies are easy and convenient to use - you put them on, take them off, throw them away. That’s all there is to it.

Reusables often require some preparation before you first put them on the baby - many require pre-washing and drying. Some manufacturers recommend washing 3, 5 or even 10 times before use. If you don’t prewash these nappies they may not absorb liquid. Some mothers who miss the pre-washing instructions give up assuming the nappy to be a poor fit. Having got the nappy into a usable condition, the reusable nappy may still require some preparation at each change. Almost all require a paper or fleece liner. Terry or muslin squares have to be folded into a shape. Babies wriggle and grab, so a flat nappy may have to be folded into shape more than once at each change.

Once used, reusable nappies have to be washed and dried. If you don’t get round to washing them, they start to stink, and you run out of nappies. If you wash them in the wrong detergent or on the wrong cycle, you can damage them, for instance by destroying the elastic or Velcro. If you dry them in a tumble drier at too high a temperature you can cause damage to the fibres, if you don’t dry them in time they can go mouldy.

It is important to note that there are types of reusable nappies that wash at low temperatures, dry on a rack within an hour or two, and are almost as convenient to use as disposables. The main difficulty with these is finding out about them, and paying the upfront cost. These were excluded from DEFRA’s study because so few people use them. It may well be that they are better for the environment than disposables, terries or prefolds. And of course, it may be possible to reduce the impacts of terries and prefolds too.

If reusable nappies are too difficult to use, and not, ultimately beneficial, then does infant potty training (elimination communication) have a role to play? Infant potty training is often used through lack of choice, in places and at times where no or few nappies of any kind are available. Using this method nappies may never be used, or their use may be discontinued as early as 9 months.

So far as I can make out, infant potty training in the UK is extremely rare. Anecdotally, some mothers who try it say they have great success. Others find it doesn’t work for them. What’s not clear, as it’s so rare as a method, is what would happen if everyone was doing it.

An interesting problem is that infant potty training does not seem to reduce the number of nappy changes and may actually increase it as the mother is more aware of each wet nappy. Where no nappies are used, if the baby is clothed then their clothes (and often their mother’s clothes) may need to be laundered just as nappies would.

For us, elimination communication worked well. We had very many clean dry days and were able to give up nappies altogether when Rose was 19 months old. But our experience of cloth nappies was so bad we used disposables. We were shocked to find out that we changed much more frequently than most other parents. In total we used as many disposable nappies as the average baby, just compressed into a shorter time.

Celia Jones