I made a major tactical error this week. Never, NEVER tell your working colleagues that you are off to that Swedish manufacturer of flatpack furniture whose name rhymes with 'player'. Otherwise you'll be saddled with the mutha of all shopping lists. I'm off work today to do useful-and-longstanding-chores. The first of which is clearly making a 'Spill list for you lot. First things first if you please. But I was hugely amused to see that the ad agency responsible for Ikea's campagnes picked up on this phenomanon. Wish me luck. At least I get to buy those scrummy meatballs as compensation. Smashing in the microwave...Speaking of which, and as we're dealing with all things natural things week... Bio food... lifesaver or big fat marketing con? What d'you reckon? Even shower gels and make up here and boasting ecologically grown ingredients. Now do you really care that much if the coconut in your shower gel lived a full, happy and chemical free life before being mushed to a pulp?
Or is it just me that thinks the ad men have found yet another way to flog us their stuff...??
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Hope you don't mind me using the large widget format ooo errr missus. its just to defeat the jumpy gremlins from last week. enjoy....
We do try and avoid unneccessary chemicals in our household - as they tend to be no good for either my skin or the nipper's (we share the same kids shampoo! it's completely free of all nasties).
With the organic food stuff - free range happy meat is of a higher importance to us - veg a bit less so (it kinda depends on convinience too). Buying local is important too.
Certainly some/ a lot things don't benefit from being organic, so that's where the con comes in, no doubt about it!
Hi blimpy, sounds a balanced view. I also ban the chemicals and cleaning fluids. Just imaagine what happens in the air when they all mix. Grooooooo!!!! I get good natural vinegar based cleaning fluids from Germany - the Frosch range (figures). Free range happy meat is a brilliant concept but a little bit impractical for us city dwellers. I try to buy local as well, though. We have a good range of low cost supermarkets called MUTANT (I know I know) which sells all the local co op stuff. I draw the line at eco friendly contact lense fluid though... tee hee.
I'm definitely a "happy meat" eater and careful of chemicals as I have a tendency to eczema. Also, just think of the plastic I've saved from production by having rigid plastic contact lenses that only need replacing every one or two years. I've bought three pairs of spectacles in forty years and my first contact lenses lasted for 15 years. Newer gas permeable ones do deteriorate a bit faster, sadly.
supernature is a bit jumpy
swans cuts off after 30 secs
and no vaughan.. is it just mine here?
but I've had a nice listen while hiding away my mildly throbbing head!
In season and local as possible is the key to most things here... come from a farming background so know what goes into some stuff.. when I was pruning organic fruit trees in an orchard in kent, the trees were sprayed with a by-product from fish farms to keep them organic- this was imported from New Zealand.. fantastic for the environment!
Vinegar and lemon cleans well enough for us- just use the lemon inside tea pots!
I would say part of the whole green/healthy thing can be a con. Especially when they're not specific. I'm thinking of Actimel for example, with their dodgy diagrams: "Yoghurt goes down, goodness comes up".
@ fp - looks like a good list. I'll give it the time it deserves over the weekend. I just popped in to say that I got my usual postcard from the Jonathan Richman Mailing List and although I was devastated to discover that all the UK gigs are already sold out ;-( I noticed that he's doing a show in Strasbourg at Club Laitiere (13 rue de Hohwald) on 21 March. Just in case you're interested.
Nothing in Hungary I'm afraid sourpus...
ToffeeBoy: I feel for you. Seems to me, if you're on their mailing list you should hear about these things FIRST. RT is just the same.
Probably better not to have got me started on this, as I tend to get earnest and obsessive, but it's worth emphasising that it's not just a matter of the quality/nature of the product (though I certainly prefer my veg without chemical residues) but also the nature of the production process. Even if the meat is exactly the same, it's surely better that the animal has had a decent life. Even if the flour is exactly the same, it's surely better that the process of growing it hasn't been heavily dependent on pesticides (hence bad for entire ecosystem) and on chemical fertilisers (also bad for ecosystem, but dependent on oil for their manufacture). Entirely agree that buying organic ready meals or sugar-coated cornflakes is ridiculous, and that a lot of the dietary industry is addled nonsense.
Some very wise words there. Mnemonic I have the rigid gas permeables and they seem to have a fairly decent life. I used to have just normal ones and in my final year of studies I was wearing them for such long periods - working deep into the Edinburgh night - that I woke up in agony one morning. Oxygen starvation of the eye. Own silly fault. But I love having contacts.
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Saneshane - I'll see what I can do to sort it.
http://www.deezer.com/#music/playlist/75
might be a link to it.....
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Ejay Mmm Danone? Those chocoate deserts where you can have a whole block party out of tapping those pots with a spoon? Don't even get me started on their advertising..... Did you read Beigbeder's 99F?
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Toffee: I don't know his music so I'll have a listen and pop along if I like it. Thanks for the tip - that venue is my local. No chance of you and Toffeegirl getting a Ryanair to Baden Baden? I could sort out the tickets and a BnB for you!
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Hach: I agree with all of that. I like to buy natural veg from the farmers on our Saturday morning market. They come down from the Vosges with their home made cheeses and home grown spuds. Le bonheur.... What prompted my comment really was BIO shower gel with ecologically grown mangos etc and I just thought.... Eeeeeeeh Nah! (as they say in my part of the world)
@ fp - enjoyed the list. Swans is one of my favouritest Sprout songs. The whole 'you ought to be aware of foxes hiding' might be quite a clumsy metaphor but it sure is an original one.
Also nice to hear The Lark Ascending - and did you know that Ralph Vaughan Williams was Charles Darwin's great-nephew? Oh, alright then. Be like that...
Oh I didn't - interesting, that.
@fp - I'm planning a Jonathan Richman Nature Playlist - which I hope you'll enjoy. Although a weekend break in the Pfalz/Alsace/Baden-Baden with a Jojo gig thrown in sounds like my idea of heaven, the Toffee Coffers are unfortunately on the low side at the moment so Ryan Air will have to get a long without us for the time being. It all adds up - garage conversion, new kitchen, and purchase of second car (BigMissToffee has just turned seventeen!) - all spare funds are being directed towards tha already-booked fortnight in the South of France in July/August!
Well that sounds like one to look forward to!
Good question, FP. Oddly, I just applied for a job ghost-writing articles about eco-business, and I've spent the last week thinking about/writing sample articles on just this kind of question. They call it green-washing--when they take a product that might not be socially or environmentally responsible and try to sell it as green. The good thing about it, as I see it, is that the fact that large irresponsible corporations are stumbling all over themselves to seem eco-friendly means that it's becoming increasingly popular, and if it's what the consumer wants it should catch on eventually.
For us personally--We're vegetarians, we try to buy organic animal products (milk, eggs), because of the hormones and because of the larger impact of factory farming, but we can't afford organic produce, shampoo or what have you. Some day, maybe. I think it's all about finding a balance. In the summer we're members of a CSA, which I think is a wonderful thing, and that's organic.
And I can't play your list. It all gets garbled, and sounds quite strange. It would make a good soundtrack for a surreal film.
thanks for that Steenbeck! Hope you get the job - we'll all give you a splendid reference! I agree with any publicity being good publicity in terms of acceptance and generalisation of the message. I think however that the major area for improvement is not happy coconuts but the criminal amount of wastage in packaging nowadays. If a supermarket launched a range of minimalist packaging goods made of recyclable stuff, I'd be the first to buy. We do sort our rubbish into recyclable and non-recyclable, but it's sometimes horrendous to see the ratio of actual food to packaging. Must. Do. Better. Have a great day all... FP
Oh!I've just done a David Lynch soundtrack then. Yessssssss!!!!!
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