Pip Green shopping, Technology

Green Gadgets: Making more eco-friendly tech choices

Quick disclaimer: This post was inspired via a chat on Twitter with the team at Compare and Recycle, who made the excellent infographic in this post. However, I have no affiliation with them, or any other company mentioned here, and make no financial gains from anything linked in this article.

There’s a pretty significant chance that you’re reading this post on a smartphone or tablet. These devices have become firmly embedded in our lives, with over five billion people expected to own a mobile phone by 2019.

Phones and tablets have arguably saved the production of a lot of other materials in what they’ve been able to replace. My phone really isn’t just a phone – it’s my calculator, diary, pedometer, food planner, personal trainer, virtual yoga instructor, note-taker, camera, video, music collection and it provides storage for countless magazines, newspapers and books.

tech

Continue reading “Green Gadgets: Making more eco-friendly tech choices” →

Pip Exploring, Green shopping, Reading and watching, Technology, Zero Waste

Countdown to book launch: Zero Waster’s Travel Companion!

So I’m counting down the hours, because Friday, 14th October is the day that the Zero Waster’s Travel Companion goes on sale! A helpful guide to take you round the world whilst looking after it 🙂

This project was the idea of the lovely Inge, who blogs over at www.gruenish.com and is the brains behind the Zero Waste Bloggers Network. She has worked her socks off, and lots of us have been helping, each contributing a chapter on where you can eat, shop and live zero waste in a whole host of cities across the world!

The book will be available as an ebook, and you’ll be able to purchase and download it from http://zerowastebloggersnetwork.com/products/

I am very proud to be able to have written the chapter on London, covering all the way from Bloomsbury, through Camden, Kentish Town and up to Highgate. Continue reading “Countdown to book launch: Zero Waster’s Travel Companion!” →

Pip Technology

The sound of Happier

Gosh, it feels like an awfully long time since I wrote a post here! This is partly because my normal writing slot of a Saturday afternoon (usually in PJs with a giant cup of tea, very classy), has been taken over by another project. Well, 30,000ish little projects actually – I am now the co-owner of a beehive and its many thousands of tiny little residents!

Now, I am not a parent, and I am sure many actual parents would think I am being slightly ludicrous making the comparison, but I finally think I understand a tiny bit of what being a (overly protective, somewhat ridiculous) parent is like! The worrying when I’m not there (OMG, it’s raining, what if they get too wet and die? Or there’s a mudslide and the hive gets buried?! N.B. To give you some perspective, they’re in a garden in North London, mudslides are somewhat unlikely), the over-scrutinising of every potential problem (OMG, what’s that black spot near the honey stores? Is it a fungus that’s going to KILL THEM ALL?), and trying to make good decisions with no real understanding of what a good decision is because all the books say different things.

Frankly I’m a mess. Thank goodness for my wonderfully calm bee co-owners and the North London Beekeepers Association’s patience with our many questions. Continue reading “The sound of Happier” →