Staying clean

or How to wash without buying lots of chemicals

In india, we washed the dishes with wood ash, for some time. It works quite well and historically, people used ash as a lye when making soap. Taking a half burnt log is a good way of cleaning the BBQ. Ash isnt reconmended to wash hands because it leaves the skin quite dry.

Another cool thing is reetha soap nuts. They are nuts from a tree (only grown in hot countries) and when soaked in water they release a soapy sap. Proven to be as effective as normal detergents, with the advantage that they are inexpensive, reusable and environmentally friendly (and suitable for people with senstive skin). You can throw them in the washing machine, dishwasher or bath tub. You wont find them in the shops so you will have to order online (someone usually sells them on ebay but make sure they are the shells only - nuts removed)

Alternatively, make your own ghanan soap with coconut oil:

www.modernghana.com/lifestyle/333/16/soap-making.html

eco-ghettos!

aparantly classical economics states that the answer to almost anything was to allow the forces of supply and demand do their job. And now that oil is so expensive, people are starting to realise that "eco-living" (whatever its called) is actually worthwhile and cleaner and a higher standard of living anyway. In this case, who cares if people are doing the right thing for the wrong reason!

Finally, America's "first fossil-free" neighbourhood is being built in Colorado. It looks good. But if its in the middle of nowhere - people still need to drive cars to buy food or go to Blockbuster's.

There's one in Stockholm (above) which is slap-bang in the centre. It seems to be well-kitted out with transport and energy. This is how the whole eco-system works: http://www.hammarbysjostad.se/inenglish/pdf/Hammarby_model_%20lowres_eng.pdf

I like the one in Freiburg and I hope to visit it. Its been around for years. 50% of the population dont have a car. After all, they need to pay 18,000 euros per year to park it! Sums it all up, doesnt it!

We feed the world

Good documentary from Austria: We feed the world. Some points:
- Each day vienna throws away enough bread to feed the second largest city, graz.
- Within Europe, tomatoes are driven 3000km from the south of spain. Transport only constitutes 1% of the cost (...so why are higher food prices being blamed on the rise of oil?????) Also these subsidized tomatoes end up in West Africa for 1/3 of the price of local produce. The farmers cannot compete and emigrate to EU cities for work.
- In the Amazon, an area larger than france has been cleared to grow, among other things, soyabeens to feed chickens in Europe, usa and Japan. 25% of Brazils population suffers from mal-nutrition.

So how comes it that 100,000 people die every day of starvation and at the same time heart disease is the biggest killer in the western world. "Heart disease" is high colestrol - which arrises from eating too much meat.

A view of Almeria, Spain, from space - 1975 and today. 25,ooo hectares of greenhouses where tomatoes are grown in artificial soil.