Posts tagged ‘work’
Camping, Puppies and Work… Oh My!
We’re back from camping. It was stupendously awesome, except the air mattress got a hole and I had to sleep on the very hard ground. The ocean and the sunshine more than made up for it though. Gorgeous, relaxing, local – I loved it.
Beautiful beaches, so close to home!
I’ll update more on that soon.
We’re currently dog/cat/turtle-sitting. So we’re currently responsible for one turtle, five cats, two ancient dogs and one very bouncy puppy. Think Marley from Marley & Me. Really. Bouncy.
Crazy puppy at Pride Day earlier this year... he hasn't changed much, just bigger!
I’m back at work (leave is over… alas) and it’s insane as usual. I’m working very long days. But we had birthday cakes today and I set the cake out on crockery plates with proper forks/spoons, in spite of some suggestions that we use paper plates and plastic cutlery. So it’s not all bad. No-one even really complained!
I’ll start doing proper updates again soon. O_o
Quick Update
The posts might be a bit sparse this week and next week. Here’s why:
Mr Teeny-bop has been going a bit mad on YouTube and our internet got shaped.
YouTube of Internet Speed Doom.
As of this morning it’s finally back to normal – yay! I usually write my posts on the weekend though, as I’m short on time during the week. Work, you know. The weekly blogging session didn’t happen this weekend though, as we were back to dial-up speeds (fast dial-up at 128k, but still). I don’t know how on earth we ever lived with dial-up, in pre-broadband days. I don’t ever remember being that patient.
Work is *many expletives deleted*. I’m working on it. We’ll see how that goes.
Next week we’re going on holiday – camping again. We’re a bit more prepared this time (bigger tent, better tarp, a location with toilets and showers, more lighting – very important with a Deaf camper), and I’m hopeful it won’t rain every single day. When we get back I’ll share more details. Right now I’m too busy craving the break. I can’t wait for long days at the beach! I love that we have such awesome places local to us. I was hoping to set up some posts this weekend to auto-post while we’re away, but I don’t know if I’ll have time now. Fingers crossed!
Anyway… maybe you’ll hear from me, maybe you won’t. I can usually manage 140 characters even if I am very busy, so you could keep up with me on twitter instead or as well (not when I’m camping though).
Oh, and I forgot to say it last week – happy Spring everyone! (Or Autumn if you’re in the northern hemisphere.)
Spotlight: Green Jobs
I’m on the job hunt at the moment, so I thought I’d check out green jobs. Not that my job is ‘un-green’ now… I’m just a boring old office worker. I don’t work in a particularly destructive industry (although lots of metal is used, and metal mining is bad). I would like to actively contribute to making the world a better place environmentally though, rather than just maintaining the status quo.
I want a green job too!
Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be much I’m either qualified for or that’s available in Brisbane. I’m not really entrepreneurial so I don’t want to create my own start-up solar power company. I just want something basic I can do. Surely someone needs some workplace training created for all those new folks who are building wind turbines and solar panels, right? Currently… not so much.
I did find some interesting articles in my search though, including:
Ten Best Green Jobs for the Next Decade
This article lists the kinds of industries that will be in high demand as climate change affects us even more. It’s US-centric but the basics are there. The top ten green jobs are: farmer, forester, solar power installer, energy efficiency builder, wind turbine fabricator, conservation biologist, green MBA and entrepreneur, recycler, sustainability systems developer and an urban planner. I have friends with some of those jobs! But not me.
Green Gigs
This is really a blog, not an article. There are lots of posts about looking for sustainable jobs, many of them telecommuting jobs. Telecommuting is often overlooked as a way to make a job sustainable. It’s something I could do in my current line of work quite easily, and something I keep in mind when looking for jobs. It’s not really getting out and actively making a difference though.
Ten Green Jobs to Stimulate Your Career, the Economy and the Planet
This blog post is related to the first one I mentioned, but instead of focusing on the those ten jobs, it reasons why they’re important. Better yet, it lists the top ten green jobs that will earn you over $100,000 per year. Hey, I don’t want to be greedy, but I would like to own a house on a decent plot of land one day, with animals and children and one of us as a stay-at-home mother. If only one of either myself or Yankee Elv is working, then that person better be making a decent salary!
Green Gold Rush
This article, on the Australian Conservation Foundation‘s site, talks at a high-level about how green-collar jobs can stimulate a fading economy, and how Australia can be a leader in the green industry. It makes sense the way public works made sense in the depression of the 1930s. You’ve got to get people out there earning, so they can be spending, so the economy will thrive. A booming green economy will achieve this, while at the same time encouraging sustainability. You want to be earning and spending, but on the right things. And maybe we don’t need to spend quite as much as we do now… or rather, maybe we need to re-evaluate what we spend our money on.
I know I also saw a site where you can search for green jobs, globally (as opposed to the green section on CareerOne, an Australian job site I hate… it never gives results matching my search strings in an effective way, no matter what I do). Can I find that site now though? I think not. If anyone comes across it, could you please send me the link?
What kinds of green jobs do you recommend?
The Elves in Melbourne!
I had to go to Melbourne for work on Monday, so I booked a flight for Yankee Elv and we went down a day early to take in the city. It was a good way to amalgamate travel costs and reduce emissions. We flew carbon neutral, which was surprisingly cheap, only $3.08 per flight, which is about a third of a tonne of emissions. It’s the first time Yankee Elv has been there, so it was fun!
So what kind of ELV-esque stuff did we see?
The Queen Victoria markets have a really big open-air section for fruit and veg, and one whole big aisle of it is for organic food. It was huge and pretty cool. If we lived in Melbourne we’d definitely shop there. In contrast, the West End markets up here have only a few organic stalls and they all cost a fortune. The ones in the Queen Victoria markets were fairly reasonably priced. Yankee Elv bought an orange for breakfast the next day.
The organics aisle at the Queen Victoria markets.
Melbourne is known for it’s cafe culture, so we tried out a place I’d never seen before – Hudsons Coffee. It looked like a one-off sort of place, but once I got inside and started ordering, I realised it was some kind of franchise, not dissimilar to Starbucks (with better atmosphere), which was a bit disappointing. It was cosy and warm in there though, and we’d already paid for drinks, so we stayed. I couldn’t figure out why they served our drinks in paper cups and our food in paper bags, rather than using crockery since we were eating in the cafe. Weird – and wasteful.
Disposable junk at Hudsons.
Speaking of cosy and warm, Melbourne is cold, and apparently even the locals agree. Why else would you see restaurants with signs advertising heated couches? I wonder how much energy that wastes…
Heated couches!
Public transport is pretty good in Melbourne, and a fair number of people ride bikes… probably about the same as Brisbane.
Trams and cycling and horses, oh my!
I’m not sure how I feel about the use of electric trams. I think they’re better than diesel or even natural gas buses (are they? fossil fuels still go towards the production of electricity), but the wires look ugly and they make the road rules weird! Plus, they scare the horses.
The trams scared the poor horses. Horses shouldn't be in the city anyway!
When I was working on Monday, Yankee Elv checked out this little veg*n fast food place called Lord of the Fries, right on the corner of Flinders St and Elizabeth St. She loved it – apparently the nuggets were particularly awesome. I like that there’s a veg*n food venue in such a populated place. It always seemed to have plenty of customers. I wonder if that’s because they don’t seem to advertise too much that they’re veg. When I was first in Melbourne and looking for a place to eat, I didn’t realise they were veg and I asked if they had any vege burgers. Needless to say, they looked at me a bit weirdly. At the time I felt like Indian though, so I didn’t get anything from there. I will next time though!
Veg*n fast food, Lord of the Fries.
And of course, no trip to Melbourne is complete with a stop at Taco Bill for dinner. Be warned though – although they make the most awesome chocolate mousse ever in the entire universe (that I’ve tasted), it’s not vegan (just vegetarian). I’m not an official convert yet.
Taco Bill and me.
Tell me about your favourite ELV-ish place in Melbourne!
Reduce: Reliance on Transport
Lately I’ve been making a point of leaving work by about 5pm (sound normal? not for me) so that I can walk from work to the city (Brisbane CBD), where I catch another bus home. I really like it!
Normally I have been catching a bus, or occasionally taking the train, into the city. Since they’ve closed down my original bus stop due to road work though, I’ve been increasingly irritated by the need to schlep ages down the street in the wrong direction just to get to the bus. The only thing that made it worthwhile was that at the time I normally leave, it’s too dark for me to feel comfortable walking, and the traffic has thinned out enough that it’s much quicker. Last week though, I had an early mark and the traffic was so bad and it was still light, so I thought – hey, you haven’t walked into the city for ages, why not do it?’ So I did.
It was really pleasant; a nice time for me to stop multi-tasking and just think. It’s good exercise, and I liked watching the sun set over the river. So this week I’ve walked every day except today. I like it much better than my frenzied morning dash to the bus, I don’t hurry, it’s just nice and relaxed (although I do walk fast, I can’t help it). I like that the footpaths are typically quite wide and not crowded where I’m walking, so I don’t get pedestrian rage (kinda like road rage for walkers). I like that even just in the week I’ve been walking, I’ve started noticing the sun is setting slightly later as time goes by – the season is turning back to spring… eventually.
I’m very much enjoying trying different routes and discovering little quirks about this awesome place I’ve lived in for ten years. I love that this city never runs out of new things to see and explore. Yesterday when I was walking, I was looking at all the viewing nooks as I crossed the William Jolly bridge (another new route). I was also noting all the different kinds of manholes (yeah, weird, but I’ve been editing some work on manholes lately and it was actually kind of interesting to see what I’ve been reading about).
The William Jolly, or Grey St, Bridge. (Yoinked from stephenk1977's flickr photostream, full credit to him).
I like that it’s one less fuel-driven trip I’m taking. Even though it’s public transport, which I totally support, even reducing my use of that (and subsequently increasing my use of footpaths) is a good thing, I think. Tomorrow I’m going to try going along the boardwalk past North Quay.
Today I had to work late and I found myself ticked off that I didn’t get my daily walk. Looking out the window into the growing dark and seeing the silhouettes of trees, and then having to turn back to my laptop, was fairly frustrating.
I think I’ll keep it up.
Note:
Access stephenk1977′s flickr photostream here.
Preaching to the Choir
I read a couple of interesting blog posts the other day, written by the Change.org bloggers.
The first is a post called Animal Rights is a Mainstream Movement, by Stephanie Ernst on the Animal Rights blog. She discusses how she doesn’t like the way people, including herself, dismiss her concerns about animal rights as too extreme or radical to take seriously. I know where she’s coming from – I do it myself sometimes, playing down the seriousness of veg*nism and other animal rights issues because it’s too confrontational for most people. I had a rant the other day about how people were all wigged out about cows loose on the Gateway bridge after a cattle truck turned over. Considering they were probably going to be slaughtered for meat anyway I found that incredibly hypocritical, (not that I can talk, what with the cheese I still eat), and I said so to my co-workers. The got a funny glazed look in their eyes and sort of nodded and smiled until it was over.
It’s not normal to talk about things like that, and I know I often try to present the friendly veg*n face as I’m of the opinion that you catch more flies with honey, so to speak. I understand where Stephanie is coming from though, and empathise with her frustration. I also find it interesting that it’s far more socially acceptable for me to be an outspoken tree-hugging leftist greenie lesbian than it is to be a hardcore vegan, even though going veg is one of the most important things you can do for the environment, and you would think it would be standard for ec0-friendly folks. I guess we’re a fringe group within a fringe group.
Pigs should live happily, like this cute piggy I saw in Mooball, NSW. He came when I called to him! So cute.
The second post is called Living the Animal Life, and it’s by Natasha Chart on the Sustainable Food blog. The topic is different to the Animal Rights post, but having read it immediately after Stephanie’s post, I got a similar message from it. Whether that was the message the author intended to convey is debatable, but one particular line sounds so like something I have said in my ‘carrot or the stick’ approach that it kind of hit home to me, especially in contrast to the horrible descriptions that followed. Natasha was talking about a law that would limit the use of anti-biotics in cattle, which Obama supports, and she said:
‘It won’t pass. Even that’s okay I suppose, considering how the discussion is off to such a good start.’
Later in the same article, she talked about how the animals are living in their own effluence – conditions so bad the anti-biotics are all that’s keeping them alive – and so introducing laws limiting anti-biotics really means changing the way animals are farmed, which is why the bill is so contentious. Now, remember the line from the start of the article? She doesn’t think it will pass, but that’s ok because it’s sparked off good discussion. Isn’t that awful?
At the same time, that’s so something I would say. (I promise I’m not dissing you, Natasha).
Taking the middle road is a valid action in some cases. I’ve been known to tell people who are against same-sex marriage that all I want is my legal rights. That’s not true. I want to get married – I want the social status that comes along with marriage, all those intangible things that have nothing to do with law. I’m not going to convince anyone with that argument though, so I water it down. I do the same with the environment at work. I tell people if they have to print, to at least do it double-sided. Really I want to tell them to read on the screen, gosh darnit, since they have their computers turned on anyway. There are some people who still review on paper. Seriously. I tell people it’s a great effort if they just cut back on meat one meal per week, when I really wish everyone would give it up for good.
I’m very good at taking the middle ground, and there are times when that’s appropriate. When we’re preaching to the choir, however – even just talking to ourselves – why can’t we be upfront? Sometimes, I want to have the freedom to say what I mean and not get that funny, glazed, nodding and smiling look.
So! Onward to same-sex marriage, reading on-screen and giving up meat for ever!
Sustainable Sunday
Today was a busy day, at home. Not in that horrible frantic busy way, like when you’re at work trying to keep up with a million emails as well as your regular work, plus the five other things your boss has given you to do just cos they know you can, and the printer is beeping and you have fifteen people all trying to talk to you at once, not to mention the seventeen people from the other side of the world all instant messaging you and your partner texting your phone. (I love you, honey!) I’m talking about the kind of busy that involves doing stuff you want to do. The constant, solid busy that makes you feel like you achieved something at the end of the day. Physical work. What can I say, I like doing things with my own hands.
What with work though, I don’t get as much time as I’d like to spend on those types of things, plus just time to de-stress. I always try to set my weekends up so one day is absolute relaxation, nothing else. Inevitably, that means the other day is full of chores. Yesterday was relaxation day (which included a trip to the shops, admittedly), so today was chore day.
Today, I:
- Washed clothes and a quilt; full loads in a front loader, line dried (I had to start early so the quilt would dry)
- Brushed and bathed the dog, then gave him his peanut butter kong ball, which is his favourite part of the bath routine
- Read a book on making jams, jellies, marmalades, preserves, liquers, pickles, relishes and chutneys – there is a really good-looking recipe for an Indian style chutney with green mangoes and a interesting watermelon rind pickle recipe (the book is Preserves by Lindy Wildsmith)
- Planned where I’m going to set out the carrots, onions and snow peas I’m planting next weekend, with the help of a handy dandy gardening site which tells you what you should plant when, based on your climate. We’ll need a trellis. Might see what Freecycle yields.
- Scrubbed a bunch of plant pots (picked some nice ones to keep in the house, put some on the rack on the front verandah for herbs and planted veges in some others)
- Planted some spinach and onions in aforementioned pots, from seed. I’ve never grown plants from seed before!
- Made some final decisions about how to set up the compost bin. We’re going to use the old concrete laundry tubs under the house, but we still need to work out how to make a lid for it (anyone have any ideas?). Then we need to get some buckets to put under the plug holes and clean it all up
- Hung out some solar lanterns to absorb some energy… we’ll see tomorrow if they work or not. They unfortunately got soaked by a torrential downpour in April so I’m not sure how functional they are going to be
- Sorta kinda cleaned the bathroom cabinet
- Worked on a scarf I’m knitting (will do this later tonight – it’s going to match a beanie I made about 3 years ago).
So all in all, a productive day! Plus Yankee Elv made a super yummy dinner of pumpkin and baked ricotta couscous and mixed roasted veges (pumpkin, zucchini, eggplant, capsicum, french shallots, onion and carrots), which was fantastic and just what I felt like. She is the best girlfriend/partner/wife* ever.
I had a good day.
Loodle's opinion of bath time is not high, as opposed to his opinion of his peanut butter kong ball.
*Sometimes I struggle with terminology, but the sentiment is the same.
(Re)Use: Resources
While not an environmental concern per se, today I was flat out doing some work stemming from my trip last week. I was pretty frustrated and very tired and it got me thinking… I wouldn’t have to be doing this bloody work if someone from Melbourne had attended instead of me! I went on a trip to Perth the week before already and there were people at work who could have gone instead of me! Whinge whinge whinge bitch bitch bitch. Hello everyone, you can call me Groucho Marx, emphasis on the Groucho. I’ll also answer to Oscar.
Did I mention I was/am very tired? My eyes are seriously drooping as I type this even now. I’m not that much of a whinger normally, and I generally actually like work trips as I get to explore the country on the company dollar. I had one day’s notice this time though, so it was a bit much, really. I had to miss my workmate’s going-away party.
Me overlooking the Indian Ocean in Perth on my last work trip
Anyway, I thought about it some more and then I felt a bit crap, because in this instance, the Melbourne staff member who was supposed to attend was unable to due to stuff with the bushfires, which is why it was a bit of an emergency (read very short notice) that I go. But still – pain in the arse, although fair enough.
Throughout all my mental ranting and bitching though, I thought of these key – and environmentally friendly – points that made me feel a little bit better.
- My attendance (Brisbane to Melbourne) was better than flying the most appropriate person over from India. At least the travel was domestic.
- It was better to fly little old me to Melbourne than it would have been to fly 26 other people north to Brisbane. One versus the many.
- There was really no way to run this event via telecommuting or the company would have done it.
So for all my complaining, maybe my company did use their resources wisely, albeit mostly from a financial perspective (cheaper travel). The environmental impact is there nonetheless, but at least it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
I still wish I hadn’t been at work until 6:45pm today. That’s so not cool. Bah environmentally-friendly humbug.
And I was so busy I forgot to empty the work recycling bin. Oops. The director will give me a gentle reminder if I don’t do it first thing tomorrow. The things we do…
Reduce: Workload
Work is busting my chops this week. And the week before. And the week before that. I had an unexpected trip to Melbourne last week and am now dealing with the work stemming from that. It’s crazy.
So the reduce post for today- reduce work. I need to reduce work. We all need to reduce work. Why?
When we’re so busy working for big companies, or little companies, or in small self-owned enterprise or whatever, we don’t have time for ourselves, we don’t have time for our families and we don’t have time for the environment.
This week, in an environmental sense, I have not had time to:
- Check my local Freecycle group for second-hand stuff
- Hunt for a second-hand computer plug since ours broke
- Think of a way to re-use some empty tins rather than recycle them
- Get the mower blades sharpened, which means I can’t mow the lawn, which means when I can mow the lawn it will be too long to mow with the push mower, which means we’ll have to use the whipper snipper, which is electric
- Get enough sleep so I wake up to get the bus to work (so Yankee Elv has been driving me)
- Create my compost bin
- Clean out my plant pots and start some herbs growing
- Tidy up my garden so I can plant some veges
- Write in this blog
- Sort out my time off so we can do some more local travel
- Work out a new system to take my lunch to work that doesn’t involve the use of plastic bags
- Register for Clean Up Australia day at work – which I helped organise!
That pisses me off. I want time for these things. I definitely want more time for my family. Any ideas on how I should manage this?
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