Overshoot day

 Earth overshoot day is today 30th July, it's the day when humans have used all the renewable resources produced in a year, everything else we use won't be naturally replaced, many countries are working to rectify this, many are not. 

The UK's overshoot day was May 14th,

 we are using resources twice as fast as they are produced.

I post this every year, it's something to be very mindful of, our world is changing, so many wild fires here in UK and across Europe, there is one burning to the north of Valencia, very close to the scientific parks, a place we have visited many times, our Spanish friends and their families are all safe. With little rain and high temperatures due this week, it's a huge worry for everyone, I can not imagine the hell for all the firefighters works so hard.

Climate change is a real issue, we all know it, we can try to ensure we live a cleaner life, support local farmers, we try and eat seasonal foods, stop purchasing 'fresh' fruit and veg shipped around the world. Our throw away world is unsustainable, most of you already know this, we don't follow trends and the 'latest must have', here things are repaired and used again.  

I'm not an eco-warrior, just a mum and nana who would love a clean world for her daughters and grandchildren to grow up in., and whilst so many governments are not doing enough, we can and should each do our bit.  

Back home

I love the shades of green and brown in this yarn, a mixture of cotton, wool and acrylic, at £3, very cheap, it will make a perfect pair of socks for me. I did not need anymore yarn, but it's never a need is it.

I got myself a new quilted jacket, very much my style and reduced from £50 to £20, from Edinburgh Woollen Mill so a great brand, perfect for summer evenings. They had loads of lovely 100% cotton T shirts, I resisted I really do not need any more.

 I missed posting this on Thursday, which was the day this year when UK has used all the annual renewables our earth has to give, again a couple days earlier than last year. These details have been recorded for years and still very few countries improve their status, all we can do is try harder ourselves. 

This was another good read, what would you do, a few strange happenings on following Wednesdays, you have a stalker, is he/she escalating, why pick on you and only on a Wednesday? Book 34 read this year.

Lilly was waiting by the door when we arrived home, she must have heard our car pull on the drive, very happy to see us, ate some food and went back outside to stalk things in the garden, later we had loads of cuddles and she lay on our bed with us this morning, very happy to see us back.

We had a lovely break, missed most of the rain storms, only got wet when we unpacked the car on our drive Friday late afternoon. Our apartment was well equipped and comfortable, on the edge of the main shopping street close to the beach. We found nice places to eat out, including a great fish and chips. The only downside was I was so cold, my own fault I packed long sleeved T shirts rather than jumpers, I wore my fleece every day, I've had my hair cut short and my neck was vulnerable to the cold.  

It's sunny here, storms should happen throughout the day, so I'm off out into the garden, some dead heading to do, hubby is already looking at his list of things to finish, the little ones are coming to visit, George has missed me, I did have my evening video calls and a couple in the mornings before school. 

Doing your bit

Last year our overshoot day for our earth was 1st August, this year it's 24th July, so we have moved 8 days in the wrong direction, each year our planet gives us so many renewable resources, but as a whole humans use much more than that each year, the need is to bring the deficit back to just one earth. 

Not all countries are equal, UK's overshoot day was 17th May, our usage means we require 2.6 of earths resources each year to live as 'we' do. Commercialism is the biggest issue, so many in our world want the latest 'must have' things are made not to last long, or be repaired. 

This is how I live my life, not perfect but the best I can do. 

I know one person can't change the world, but we can change out tiny corner.

So many old skills are fading away, it's sad, it's our heritage, our world these days is buy it whilst it's on trend, then replace with next trend, how long can we live like this, reusing through charity shops does mean things have a second life, but manufacturing uses our valuable resources. This got me thinking about the skills we have which our children are not so interested. I sew, knit and a bit of crochet, my eldest daughter used to do all 3, youngest daughter has never tried any of them, all repairs, alterations are brought to me. I recently stitched all Will's badges on his new army jacket. 

Gardening is in my blood, it's a chore for daughters, which is a shame, I can lose hours pottering outside, it's my place to relax. I do love to show the grandchildren what I am growing and get them to try some. Cooking to a recipe, no one has time anymore, daughter occasionally will make a cake as a treat, OK I'm not much of a cook, I'm a can cook but prefer not too.

So many of the blogs I visit live similar lives to me, we do our best, some would say we are old fashioned, and if I am, I'm proud of it, I too for years craved all the fine things, working long hours for a house and lifestyle I was too tired to live, too much stuff cluttering my home and life. Now we live simply, Amazon still delivers a few parcels here, we do try and purchase locally if we can, we walk past our car to our village or catch a bus to town, with family spread around the country we are not yet ready to give up our car. 

Overshoot day

Today here in UK is our earth overshoot day, today we have used all the renewable resources our planet has which can be replaced within one year, we are on borrowed time. Below the wheel shows each countries dates, we are not alone, almost every country ignores this date. 

Whilst we have slowed down the rate of usage, we are doing very little to reverse the situation, you can read more here.  It's very interesting, our earth can only give us so much.

I love this quote.

It's not Earth day, but the message it the right one, if we all did our bit.

I show these charts every year, there is far too much information on this subject to make a meaningful post, it's best if you want to know more to search overshoot day. This date has been monitored since the 70's and whilst the date is not any earlier each year, it is not moving back, for a very important date, very little is heard.

Most of my readers are like me, we don't waste, we don't over consume, we have left the commercial world, just turned our backs, the government aren't too involved because the taxes raised from our spending (VAT) is a huge income. Our parents had the right idea, purchase only what you need, use until it breaks and repair if possible. 

 

Overshoot day

I show this every year, it's one of the most important dates we should study, for years we have been taking more resources than our Earth can replenish, this charts shows how each year we use more. There are many organisations who produce information, and loads who actively work to changing the date. This year humans will use the resources of one and three quarter earths.

Another great chart, it shows each country and when their own overshoot day is, as you can see UK's date is June 3rd, so here we use double the renewable resources, we all need to see these dates, they are scary, this is our world. You can see previous years dates here. 

Here we try and live by this thought, we can't change this huge planet, but we can and do change our little bit, we look at one use plastic, it's a very convenient and sturdy packaging, but look carefully and you can avoid it, sadly we do not have a packaging/zero waste shop close by.

I try all through the year to be conscious of what we use, I have for years stopped over purchasing clothes and household goods, we use what we have, and if we need to replace to get the best quality we can afford in hope things last longer. Living with less is so rewarding, less days spent shopping for stuff we did not want, looking at the shops sales and pile it high sections and walking by. My sister says I have gotten 'tight', we do go out together, but I don't shop like I did years ago, she asked what did I purchase on our recent trip, my reply, 'nothing, it's all just dust collectors', she did mutter the words 'you've changed'

We are also aware of working conditions in other countries, who use unsuitable labour (children), with terrible pay and life styles to give richer countries cheap products, the cost to the earth of shipping items across vast seas. We live in a commercial world, governments need the taxes on what we spend to prop up their budgets, but look at the profits made by so many companies, it's obscene. Here in UK we have terrible polluted rivers, for decades nothing has been done, the shareholders got richer, now in crisis, companies want people to pay more, this is not how our world should be. 

I'm far from perfect, but being aware and trying to do the best I can, which is what the bottom photo is begging us to do, loads won't care and carry on as they have always done, this is not our Earth, it belongs to the children of the future, and we need to ensure we improve and leave something they can live on. I just hope masses of people realise in time to change and improve the date. 

Overshoot day

Here we are again, today we have used all the renewable resources our beautiful world can produce in one year, everything we use for the rest of the year will never be replaced. Sadly this happens every year, and so much is just wasted.  Last year the Earth overshoot day was, 28th July, so a slight improvement, which shows these dates can be reversed.  

Nowhere to hide

I have shown this many times, and for me its true, in our commercial world processions are more important to some, more important than family and those in need. So many people with the 'me first' way of life, so much on the internet and other media's, all showing the perfect lives and the next must have item. 

This says it all.

I know most of my followers, will read and understand, we are mostly all of a similar age, our world in which we grew up is long gone, how we nourished our children and how they are nourishing their own children has changed.

The improvements which has evolved over the decades should be working to enhance lives, ensure everyone has food, shelter and medical help, sadly we still see wars everywhere, including here in Europe. But then look here in UK, we can't even get the help to those who require it, for years our governments (they are all the same) has worked to save money, cut back, these were good years for many people, more could afford the taxes, now we are left with services which are over stretched, so many people being let down. 

People find it easy to walk past homeless people, just don't look them in the eye, imagine all sorts of reasons not to help, or worse, just don't care. Our world has changed, we need to go back to basics, embrace your local community, help others, simply talk to people. I was so proud to be in a community last winter, who took care of the two homeless men, so many people helped, just gave a bit of time and money, it wasn't hard, just very thoughtful, and most did it without posting on social media.

By the way, I'm not perfect, but as the group 'One million women', say its better that we all do as much as we can, rather than just a few living the perfect (for the planet) lives.

Low spend-no spend September

I have seen this on social media, Oxfam are suggesting we all purchase second hand through September, trying to get the message out new things cost the planet resources, which when you think of how much is discarded, it does make sense. We do use charity shops, we have 3 in our village, but we don't get too much mainly books from them. 

I showed this image in my post back in July, the green section is the renewables resources we take each year, the red section is what we take which can never be replaced, as you see each year it gets worse. To carry on living as we do (that's we as in the whole planet) we are using 1.75 earths, we are killing our planet. 

Very wise words.

I get the message, it's headlines on another group I follow 1million women, they are based in Australia, but they have wonderful values. I have said before our governments don't want to stop the consumer, they gain taxes from every stage of the production to the final sell, they can't afford for all of us to stop shopping. 

We are bombarded every day with media adverts, you look up and item on line, and then bam you have loads of adverts all over your social media. Emails full of deals and fantastic stuff, which most of us don't need. These days you see huge storage facilities, where you can rent as much space as you want, to store stuff you don't need, these places were not required when I was a child. How many empty garages to you see locally, some are full of stuff. 

Success is measure by loads of people, by what they have.  

We are taking a step further, we have decided to do again, 'Low spend, no spend September', so rather than follow the advice in top picture to get second hand, we have decided to not spend instead, the only purchases will be food, and we will record each spend. We could other than dairy and fresh food manage the whole month without shopping, but that will run our cupboards and freezer really low, and with the way things are heading I would rather ensure we have food in the house. We have done it once before back in 2014  I have made Septembers calendar with room on each day for our spending, sadly last time I did not record the final results. The biggest shock last time was how much money we spent in local shops, you pop in for 1 item and can easily spend £10, we are now much better, treats are now again occasional rather than every day. 

I know most of you reading this have the same values as us, this won't be a hard thing to do, we don't regularly shop for non food items, we use what we have, and keep using it. It will be good to see if we are learning from our past mistakes.

Overshoot day

This is an important date. 

Every year it changes, sadly it is earlier most years than the previous year 

 Earth overshoot day is the day we have used all the renewable resources our planet can provide each year, for the rest of this year everything we take won't be naturally replaced. We are killing our planet with our lifestyles, we need to think about the repercussions of our actions, and stop purching stuff, because if we don't want it, it won't be made, it's the only way we can solve this. Governments aren't interested, they benifit from the tax they receive on manufacturing and retail, so it's the people who need to lead this.

Most of everyone who reads my post understands this already, our world needs to survive for our children and their children. 

Summer time

We are using the earth's resources faster than our planet can replace them, each year our overshoot day gets closer to the beginning of the year. Some people don't care, others don't know, we try and use anything we own for as long as we can, we stopped purchasing items just because we liked them. Our consumer world gobbles up resources making things to sell which we don't need, we sadly live in a throw away society. 

It's time for my summer displays, here on the kitchen window this jug is full of sweet peas, I can't grow them in my garden, but these silk ones are just as pretty, sadly no scent. I have had these flowers for a few years.

My tulips are now packed away, this mixed bunch has everything I love, it sits on a small table just inside our patio doors, again these are a few years old. These days I don't spend any money on cut flowers. I have on our dining room table a glass bowl with plastic lemons, limes and oranges, again they always look good and are years old. 

This orchid has bloomed for months, there are 2 stems and still loads of buds, they are the perfect pot plant for our sitting room. I do have a few orchids and when they finish blooming, I use a silk stem until the flowers return, because the leaves are real, the flowers look real as well. Silk flowers are a perfect way to keep blooms in your home. 

I could not get the cucumber seeds from Thomson and Morgan, our garden centre no longer sells their seeds, so I got this pack of mini munchies, I have popped 2 seeds in to see how quickly they grow. The cost of seeds is horrendous, I paid £4.25 for 5 cucumber seeds, how crazy is that. These seeds with a packet of Californian poppy seeds cost £11.19.

We have not done much this week, we have had Molly most days and collected Will from school, George is back in hospital, his oxygen levels keeps dipping, they give him oxygen and he's well and then a couple hours later he starts to turn blue, they have kept him in for 3 nights, their thoughts are his tonsils are enlarged and when he tries to rest, they part block his airways, he is going to require oxygen at night until they can resolve this. We are both tired, nothing has been done, not that anything other than good health matters. 

I have been driving most days the 8 miles to daughters house and Will's school, it's the other side of Fareham our local big town, I love driving and have never been bothered where ever I drive, I used to drive in London often. BUT recently I have noticed so much bad terrible driving, I'm not a slow driver, but so many people want to push in front of my car, last night at 9pm I was driving home, I was cut up by a car with a 'P' plate, whose driving was terrible, to fast and aggressive, he went into the left hand lane me into right as I was turning. I watched this car for a while, just keeping an eye on him, as we got to the roundabout, the car in front of the P plate, swing into my path to make the right turn, totally in the wrong lane, no indication,  how I missed hitting him I don't know, the car behind me had left a gap and managed not to hit my car, 2 idiots in one journey. It would be lovely to say this is not the normal behaviour, but that's not the case. 

What in the world

I have shown a similar chart for a few years, 1 Million women, a group I like to follow, posted this on Monday. It charts the date when each country uses all their earth renewable resources, every year the date gets earlier, it did drop back through lockdown, but it's still grim reading. 

This second image is also important, as it shows by country how much everyone is over using our worlds resource's, we hear so much about climate change and this is also a part of that problem.  The overwhelming sadness is these figures keep going up, hubby and I have changed our lifestyles as much as we can, in hope others do the same, our governments are not doing enough.

This is a subject so many people are just not interested in, having said that, I know loads of my readers feel the same as me, not interested in this commercial world, where things are pushed at you from every angle, so those who want to can purchase the latest must have stuff. These people will say we pass on what we no longer like or want, so we are being thoughtful to our world, but they just don't get it, we need to stop making it and think about our lovely Earth. 

My parents, whilst not rich, had quality well made items, often got second hand, which they cared for and used for years, in my childhood home things were only replaced when they broke. We did not dare to chuck our clothes anywhere, everything had to packed away tidy, and ready for the next time it was needed. Christmas was wonderful, I have so many good memories, but we did not get huge piles of toys, and the cost was never expensive, I do worry at the cost of the things our grandchildren desire, ' it's what everyone wants' comes back the answer. 

How did we get to this commercial world,  sadly it won't change every government in the world needs us to earn, so they can tax you and then spend so they can tax you again. Weekends used to be a walk in the park family time, now all we see are families off in their cars going to shopping places to spend and eat out. 

On the flip side sadly are those who are dire in need of the simple things in life, with all the price rises going on around us, more families here in UK are falling into the poverty trap.  Having said that, we went through the staggering cost in the 80's, where for years we lived in a house with negative equity, and a mortgage repayment which crippled us, we did not shout at the government to bail us out, we both got extra jobs to pay our way through.  

I sit here and shake my head, humans can be so destructive, or even worse indifferent.  

August roundup

I popped in 3 yarn orders, I have a few projects in mind, not cheap, but keeps me out of trouble, unless I visit the yarn sites too often. I have sold my loom and have factored in the amount to reduce my spending, last year I added the cost into this list, so I feel it's right to show the selling price as a refund. Gardening is much better than recent months, I have got loads of spring bulbs for my pots. I am hoping my total spend is less than last year, so it gives me a base for reducing again next year. I still spent £166.72 this month, my list is not really about saving money, I do it so I can see where I am spending the most. 

I have purchased clothes twice this month, £82.00 spent on 2 pairs of knee length shorts and 2 pairs of cropped trousers. I have chucked out some shorts, they were very scruffy. I have spent about £130 on clothes and shoes so far this year, I should not need anything else, I still have plenty in my wardrobe. Most of the brands I love have loads on sale, so it is a good time to replace items. 

I have been sorting my sewing boxes in the attic and found one summer dress and 2 hubby shirts all packed away to use the fabrics, but now both of us being slimmer, they have been washed and are back in our wardrobes, nice bonus. We have also sold items stored in the attic and never used, a bonus income. I sold my dressmaking dummy, I have not used it in years, so a few more pounds towards my hobbies, I won't show it in this list, I was purchased years before I started recording my spending. 

Cat's finally got the check up and annual injections, £120 the vet prices never stop going up, and if we don't have this done our insurance is void. Pleasing to know both cats are well and Grace for her age (15) is brilliant. 

We only had one big Asda shop delivered here, I have popped to Lidl's a few times and we get fresh fruit and veg from our local Co-op, so still spending a fair amount on food. Our waste is almost nothing, any off cuts from veg goes to my worms, we are watching our use of water. 

Our electric bill is going to be higher, having fans working day and night for a week and the extra laundry, it all adds up, but for a decent style of living in the very hot days, these things need to be used. 

We had earth overshoot day this month, it's the day we note we have used the renewable resources of our planet, so anything we take from the earth for the rest of the year won't be renewed, Covid19 has pushed the date back a few days, but year on year we consume more. It should be top of every countries news, but it passes without many people knowing, our world is profit before health.

Overshoot day

This week was World Environment day, there are many days like this in our year, and truly there needs to be, our earth needs protecting, the governments I feel who have the power do not use it. As individuals, we have little power but together we can help.

 I read somewhere it is better millions of us recycle, reuse, avoid plastic, eat less meat and use local produce, imperfectly, rather than just a few doing it perfectly. 

Overshoot is another important day, last year it was August 1st, this year it's predicted to be 31st July, so what's another day, that's not the question. 

Why do we need the resources of 2.7%  earths to sustain us each year. 

Last year the UK overshoot day was May 8th. 

2019 UK overshoot day May 17th, pleasing improvement. 

I'm not an eco warrier, I'm a daughter, sister, wife, mother and grandmother, I love our simple lifestyle, I love we (hubby and I) have changed our outlook from commercial living to a gentle way, enjoying what we have, and wanting very little. Making my clothes last much longer, not buying things on impulse, passing on what we can't use anymore. Everything has a footprint, from the amount of water it takes to produce it, to the transport to get it to the shops, and the plastic used to protect it on it's journey.
It is so natural for us to carry shopping bags, and cotton produce bags when we purchase food, this one small thing has stopped the production of millions of single use plastic bags.
I do believe if we all do something, we can make a difference, people power did more quicker regarding the use of plastic drinking straws, so even if you feel your contribution is not enough, just remember the statement I quoted above, which is here again.
It is better millions of us recycle, reuse, avoid plastic, eat less meat and use local produce,  imperfectly, rather than just a few doing it perfectly. 
I did a post last year here, I am really pleased to know we have made improvements on our list.

Overshoot day

Really interesting reading

Have you heard of overshoot day, I have been reading here, once you go past our country (world) overshoot day, we are using more than our Earth can give us and last year as previous years almost every country on our Earth did.

A lot of people will shrug their shoulders and say nothing we can do, but I believe we all can do things, people power does make a difference, lots of small acts mount up. Look how quickly we have changed to reusable bags to carry our shopping home, that was led by government, but plastic straws are becoming less used as is coffee chain throw away cups, which is people led. 

All we have to do is think about what we care for, and how we can make small changes towards ensuring our world is here after we have gone.

When I was growing up, I loved Star Trek, I thought we would be living in a clean, equal world, where the powers who ruled our Earth would stop wars, famine and everyone would live a good life, well I was young and hopeful. 

So with small steps I believe we can turn things around, I hope the children on this world, are taught to learn from mistakes made and are shown how to ensure their world is better than ours. 

I will continue with my saving and add other small changes, here are a few we like to do already.

• Twice a week we eat meat free - it takes more resources to produce meat.
• We purchase from local supplies where possible, helping local producers.
• We do not upgrade, unless the item is broken, this was harder, but we are getting there. 
• We have cut back on buying clothes, we have loads to use up before we buy more. 
• Books are now purchased secondhand, if we are not able to get them from our local library.
• We try and not bring into the house one use plastics, this is much harder, and can be more expensive, but we are always on the look out for greener packaging.
• Any plastic in the house and garden will be used until it wears out and replaced with a greener item, if we can. 
• I carry my own shopping bags, plus reuse plastic and paper bags so I don't need more wrapping paper. 
• We do not pop to town each week, having less to purchase, means our trips are not worthwhile, saving fuel on unnecessary trips. If we need to go out, we plan so we get all journeys done on the same trip. 
• We are looking at ways to save and store water, and reuse as much as we can. 

My list is just some of what we do, every one does different things, but us small people can make a difference, that's if we want to.