Creative Food

Well we have eaten small dried fish, fish eyes, caterpillars but this weekend was the worst – we ate cow hooves. There is no meaty inner bit, it is literally the outside hard bit boiled and boiled and boiled until it resembles tough rubber. It’s not like it’s got a terrible flavour, it’s just the thought of what you are eating that makes your stomach churn.

It’s actually really great to see these healthy and creative village recipes being kept alive in some homes. In most places in Zambia (as in the rest of the world) there is a rush towards highly processed convenience food. One drink, AppleMax, that is popular in schools because it is cheap, actually made my head spin when I drank it. I dread to think what it is doing to the kids. Whilst the convenience is food of choice across the world, I fear standards here are much lower as consumers don’t question the cheapness and governing consumer standards are weak. Consumers are choosing to westernise, and go for the cheapest (which is often the nastiest or weakest option). This is why cheap foreign imports, especially Chinese goods are doing so well here, despite the fact that they break frequently. It’s not that trade should not happen, but people need to build some reliance on local goods and foods for the sake of creativity, sustainability and health.

Sea kayaking in Devon

This time 3 years ago Matt and I spent an amazing few days on Lundy Island off the North Devon Coast. It is a wonderful place to go and seek real solitude, and see a bit of the raw beauty of the British Isles. It feels like you are in another world – with seals, basking sharks and puffins to watch.

Rob and Anita, friends of ours who live in North Devon, have set up Sea Kayaking Southwest, and are running wildlife safaris by sea kayak to Lundy Island and elsewhere around the South West. So this is a shameless plug! If you fancy having an adventure and get away from it all this summer check out their website at www.seakayakingsouthwest.co.uk.

God is green

Having woken-up in the early hours of this morning I grabbed our mp3 player and, thanks to restored internet connection at the office and the wonders of BBC downloads, listened to Radio 4’s Start the week. After listening to Wangari Maathai, the environmentalist and creator of the Greenbelt Movement in Kenya, talk about her new autobiography Unbowed: My Autobiography, I heard about a Channel 4 programme called God is green (to be broadcast at 8pm on Monday 12th Feb). In this programme broadcaster Mark Dowd speaks to religious leaders about why there isn’t a clearer message on the environment and climate change coming from the world’s religions? The interviews with the environment spokesperson for the Vatican suggested he didn’t know what he was talking about, the Bishop of London commits to not flying for a year, and, perhaps surprisingly, the programme finds that ‘US fundamentalist Christians’ are providing more of a lead in picking up the environmental debate than anyone else. Anyway sounded like an interesting programme for those with access to Channel 4 on Monday.

Another guest on Start the week, Michael Portillo, went on to argue that the environment is nt a ‘religious issue, but a political one. I couldn’t disagree with him more – not only do most religions believe in a creator God, the Bible clearly calls followers of Jesus to be good stewards of the earth which, at times, will need us to ‘get political’. Politicians alone will never be able to respond adequately to the predicted rate of climate change, as revealed in the recent UN IPCC report findings, without ‘religious’ people, and the wider electorate, taking up the issue and their responsibility in it.

That gave me pause for reflection as I gave up trying to get to sleep and instead opted to listen to the Zambian dawn chorus and the sounds of Ndola coming back to life.

Stop Climate Chaos Rally – London

Just a reminder about the Stop Climate Chaos I count rally – it takes place in Trafalgar Square, London tomorrow – more details at the I count website and Tearfund website.If you go apparently you’ll be in the company of KT Tunstall, Rob Newman, Miranda Richardson, Simon Amstell, Rufus Hound, Rt. Rev. James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool and Adam Hart Davis – what better way to spend your Saturday!

*Update* Apparently 25,000 people turned out for the I Count Rally on Saturday – the largest-ever climate change event in the UK – which shows that, on the eve of the UN climate change talks in Nairobi, there is growing awareness and belief that governments need to take more action on climate change.

Climate change – An Inconvenient Truth

“Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb. If the vast majority of the world’s scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced.”

So say the makers of An Inconvenient Truth – a new film following former US Vice President Al Gore as he tours the world in a bid to alert people to the imminent dangers of climate change. The film hasn’t made it to Zambia yet, but is now showing in UK cinema’s, and by all accounts is accessible and entertaining -arguing that global warming is not just about science, nor is it just a political issue: it is a moral issue and we all have a responsibility to do something about it.

If you want to do something about it…. Tearfund is campaigning on climate change and part of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition which is planning a huge rally in London’s Trafalgar Square – the I Count rally will take place on Saturday 4 November from 1-3pm in case you can go.

Being woken by the bin men

I woke up to near asphyxiation the other morning – as I came to and wondered what was happening I realised someone had lit a fire near our bedroom window and, as is quite normal here, was burning their rubbish. Thick black smoke billowed from the burning waste – the kind that burns the back of your throat. As I protested in my mind at being awoken in such a way I realised that in fact it was our rubbish – Albert the caretaker of Jubilee Centre’s guesthouse was up and about doing his daily chores.

Refuse collection is not a practical concept here – those that make the mess clean (or in this case burn) it up. It may not be a pleasant way to wake up, but it certainly focuses the mind on the impact of your life on the environment – with no-one to take your waste out of sight (and mind) you are forced to see (and breathe) the end result. There are merits of a noisy group of men and a van taking away your offering to landfills and incinerators, but when it enables you to disassociate yourself from your actions, it no doubt cushions your response to the reality of your own contribution.

A Generous community

Thought you might like to know about the Generous project – which I first came across at the Greenbelt festival. It is a growing community of people who commit to making small changes in our everyday lives to look after our planet and its people. You can sign up as a household – and share wisdom and learn from others mistakes. At the beginning of each month new actions are highlighted, which you can then sign-up to doing.