Yesterday was Earth Hour 2018. At 20.30 people around the world turned off their electrical devices for 60 minutes. I did
too. Sitting in the warmth of flickering candle light, sipping wine and most
importantly relaxing with good conversation. Earth Hour started as a symbolic
‘lights out’ event in Sydney in 2007. It is now said to be the world’s largest
grassroots movement for creating a sustainable and healthy environment.
Millions of people have been inspired to take action in their homes, workplaces
and communities to help protect and rehabilitate our planet and the nature we
perhaps have taken for granted for too long. If you want to find out more, have
look at Earth Hour 2018 official video – it’s sobering and challenging.
Earth Hour is an opportunity to
start conversations about the exponential changes to our climate, and the
enormous biodiversity loss and how these threaten our planet and our very
existence. We could all do more. Two sustainability stories last week caught my
eye. The first was the development of hydrogen from water using lysozyme, a
protein-based chemical found in the white of eggs. Taking this development from
laboratory bench to commercial exploitation is still a way off, but the
potential of creating an abundant supply of clean inexpensive fuel that doesn’t
also emit carbon dioxide is enormous.
The other story was about how
Anna Bullus turns chewing gum into products as diverse as footwear and coffee
cups. Globally, some £14bn is spent by people buying chewing gum. That is a lot
of chewing gum. In fact discarded chewing gum is the second largest form of
street litter behind cigarettes. Anna collects the gum in bright pink bins. Not
only is this a healthier and sustainable way to dispose of chewing gum, but it
also saves the enormous cost of removing chewing gum from pavements and so on. Personally
I have never liked chewing gum. Watching other chewing away reminds me of my
goats and the way they would spend hours chewing the cud.
I didn’t know until last week
that the NHS held a Sustainability Day (March 22nd). This is a
national day of action across the UK health sector. Like Earth Hour, it is an
opportunity to share the impact of sustainable development, and learn from
organisations across the spectrum of health care providers. The 2018 Impact
report can be found here. It contains some very impressive achievements. It is
estimated that the NHS could save more than £400m and reduce its carbon
emissions by 1m tonnes each by 2020. Best of all, many of the schemes have
direct health benefits to patients and free up badly needed cash that can be
used elsewhere in the provision of health and social care.
From green ideas to green curry.
Well not quite, but yesterday I also had a chance to learn how to make a curry
with just three spices. I was at the Rochdale Food and Drink festival, where it
was possible to find everything from toffee vodka from the Lake District; sweet
and savoury crepes from France; Chinese street food; English fish and chips and
so much more in the stunning surroundings of Rochdale’s gothic Town Hall. The
curry lesson was given by the amazing Nisha Katona. She was brilliant.
Previously Nisha was a barrister, but gave up law in favour of teach others how
to make the perfect curry, and to debunk some of the urban myths that have
often been associated with Indian food. Her recipe was very simple – only use
three spices. Turmeric and chilli are always used and depending on what you are
cooking, one other spice is used. For vegetable dishes it could be mustard or
cumin seeds. If you have just 10 mins today, have a look at this YouTube video
of Nisha using this basic 3 spice rule as she makes a vegetable curry.
Unfortunately (well at least for
me) yesterday Nisha made two curries, one a chicken, the other prawn. So I didn’t
get to eat either, but others who did had big beaming smiles as they tasted
both dishes. She is mainly a vegan, being of Hindu descent and I think chose
the chicken and prawns dishes as she was able to give a wonderful history of
Indian cooking which was as interesting as watching her cook. I was surprised
to learn that chillies were not a native Indian plant; it was taken there in
1498 by the Portuguese explorer Vasco-da-Gama.
I very much enjoyed her cooking style, no measures, just her eye and the
occasional taste was all she needed. What she didn’t need were any single use
plastic containers – all her food, spices and so on were in glass jars, still
growing in pots or wrapped in brown paper. Nisha was a very sustainable cook
who prepares meals that are healthy, cheap and just smelt wonderful! I can’t
wait to get our kitchen re-organised. Going
green is not only good for our planet, but as Nisha might say, it’s time to
live a simpler life that doesn’t need to include ready meals, and /or food sold
in single use plastic. Let’s respect our world, not just for us today, but for
all those coming behind us. They deserve
better.
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