Happy Friday, friends!
It's grey, drab and drizzly here, but I'm snuggled up in the window seat of my favourite cafe with a rug on my knees and a soy cappuccino at my elbow. Later I'll wander across the block to collect from my Friday afternoon fruit and veg co-op, and my husband is coming home tonight after a few days away. I love today! First, good news for the climate: This week Coles signed long-term contracts to power its stores using renewable energy, following a series of Australian businesses to do the same. And the Brisbane City Council lost its court bid to stop people protesting about...the right to protest? Related and funny: Some sinister tactics those brave protesters could have used but also didn't. ("Sneakily hitching a police person's belt to a hot air balloon and then laughing unkindly as they floated away." ) (I feel like the only way to cope with what's happening in QLD local politics right now is to laugh.) Fun and free: How to stop buying sh*t you don't need. A resource produced by Yes and Yes, one of my favourite blogs and definitely an awesome thing to sign up for. Download it and do it this weekend. Also from Sarah at Yes and Yes: FYI, buying second-hand makes you feel cooler and richer. I really enjoyed this sweet piece about a tiny New York house that's always open for a party. (New York Times.) Bittersweet, but I love this poem about happiness. And I will never not laugh at these silly, dark Harry Potter comics. It's deep citrus season where we are. In an effort to use the entire fruit, Mick has been making batches of delicious marmalade, loosely following this recipe. Book recs: This week I read The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. It was so good I tore through it in a weekend and immediately reserved its sequel (Pigs in Heaven) at the library. I've also been reading Becoming by Michelle Obama. So easy to read and interesting. (Did you know POTUS travels around with a HAZMAT RESPONSE TRUCK in his motorcade? And A STORE OF BLOOD IN HIS TYPE?) Related life hack (related to reading books, not the presidential motorcade): Whenever I hear of a book I'd like to read, I quickly email myself the name of the book from my phone so I'll see it next time I'm on the computer. Then at my earliest opportunity, I look it up in the catalogue of my city library. Nine times out of ten the library has the book I'm searching for, and I request to have it held for me at my local library branch. So I get a steady stream of texts from the library letting me know that a book I reserved is ready to pick up, often weeks later when I've forgotten about it, translating into a steady stream of surprise, high-quality reading material curated for me, by me. High five, past Kamina! I hope the week has treated you well. And whatever your troubles, you have more chance of winning if you bring your best self to the game. So switch off your worries and your cares and look after you this weekend. xx Kamina
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TL;DR: I fly a HECK of a lot, so this one is hard for me; flying emits a scary amount of carbon emissions; there's no way around this except doing it less; some do-able and sensible alternatives I'm trying (it's not as hard as you'd think), plus an easy way to offset emissions when you do fly.
TL; DR: Cars are responsible for half of transport-related emissions and you have the power to do something about your own car use; I freaking LOVE living car-free and you'll probably love driving less too; there are lots of ways to reduce your impact without giving up driving all together, so don't feel overwhelmed; list of actions at the end.
Happy Friday, friends!
I'm in total crash/relax mode after my PhD confirmation presentation yesterday. When it was over, I immediately went and got a Thai massage then went out for woodfired pizza with some longtime, faraway friends who happened to be in town. I've been feeling really sad about the state of the world this week, and hopeless about our future. But only HOPE spurs us towards action. So take a breath and practice some radical trusting in this moment with me...and enjoy some internet distraction on this Good News Friday. With that, here are 6 reasons for hope in the face of climate change - in a heartfelt speech by ecologist Professor Lesley Hughes upon accepting her lifetime achievement award for work on climate change. I feel intensely grateful to older people (who likely won't live to experience the most devastating impacts of climate change) who make life choices that will serve future generations. Sylvia powers her home and car from solar panels on her property, and road-tripped around Australia in the electric car (at a cost of around $150 over 20,000km for electricity). It's possible! Now some stuff to remind you there are good and beautiful and true things to think about, when you're not thinking about environmental devastation: When I was trying to think of things that make me happy, the first thing I thought of was Nathan W. Pyle's comics about living on a strange planet. (Hard recommend that you follow his instagram.) For practical self-care: 10 simple steps to enjoy daily life. One of my favourite podcasts is Dax Shepherd's Armchair Expert. Dax and his sidekick Miniature Mouse (Monica Padman) interview celebrities, thinkers and experts about the messiness of being human. Some of my favourite interviewees have included Ashton Kutcher, Zach Braff, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and relationship expert Esther Perel. Last week we passed a pile of abandoned books on the roadside, and one of them was A Modern Way To Eat by Anna Jones. Reading this book is an intoxicating experience and it makes seasonal cooking seem completely accessible. Okay, not exactly "good news" - but I've been reading Kate Grenville's amazing novel The Secret River. I just found out it was made into a mini-series that you can watch online. Harrowing, but important (and so so compelling). This just got more enjoyable as it wore on. Mine are "I don't believe in..." (insert totally innocuous thing like "owning books" or "bootcut jeans"), "awkies", "whatevs", saying "I have a rule that..." (I have a rule about everything), "that's not a word" when I don't understand something, "NOPE" when I hate something and yelling "friggety frack!" (thank you Sheldon Cooper) or "holy frick on a stick!" (Elliot Reed). What are yours? Current Netflix recommendations: Queer Eye season 4 (obvs) (oh that's another one of the things I say in earnest!) and have you seen Glow or Derry Girls yet? WHY THE HECK NOT? Probably the most feel-good things I have seen on TV in a year. Go get into it! I love you all. Now go boldly into your weekend and enjoy our world. x K TL;DR: Once you see the problem of consumerism, you can't un-see, so enjoying "stuff" becomes difficult: letting go of "stuff" actually makes room for a new kind of fun and freedom; some of the things I've gained include heaps of money, time, freedom, spontaneity and an extra-special love for the stuff I do have; super helpful book recommendation at the end.
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