aye, mother earth

July 1 was international action for climate change 'day' - I say 'day' with inflections since, of course, the action taken should extend for far longer than one day. I should, here, direct you here - as it's provided us with some good tips. And here, one of the sites set up by a friend, who has a kind of ambition and uncompromising dedication that are unbelievably inspiring.

Is this the part where I make my excuses? Yes and no. We try our damn'dest to be green - maybe it's easier when the high street's siren call doesn't set the non-existent money jingling in our purses (did that make sense?). Of course, 'green' is the new black - but we've got to be a bit more grassroots on student budgets. We can't afford a lot of officially 'green' products though we've decided to switch to Ecover cleaning products and have stopped using washing detergent in the machine. Alas, our ancient clothes dryer doesn't have a temperature control - everything gets the 90-degree blast - and our damp problem means air drying inside either makes everything slick or makes the clothing stink. We don't have a car; we can't afford vacations; we can afford, within our little budget, to make informed decisions.

What I really wanted to say was that our fridge is full of food we made ourselves. The twice-monthly farmer's market in the city is fantastic inspiration. On Sunday we had locally-sourced, organic beef - the best I've ever had. Our allotment has given us potatoes and salad today. Nasser made a whole jar of homemade mayonnaise - and I actually used up the leftover egg whites, to make meringues (and yes, with fair-trade sugar).

I'm not sure why I started this post with international climate change. I suppose what I'm more interested in is consumer power. So we've decided to see how long we can survive without buying clothing new. The charity shops here are really amazing - that plus wardrobe-swaps should have us kitted out for a while.

Now I'm a bit lost. I suppose that is what blogging is for though. Rambling. Self-congratulatory prose. Announcing the changes in days that would otherwise pass unnoticed.