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Normalize Repair. All forms of repair
Green (Living) Review
NOVEMBER 15, 2020
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) "Please, can we normalize clothing repair?!" visible mending piece on a pair khaki jeans.
Green (Living) Review
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Autumn season in the garden
Green (Living) Review
NOVEMBER 18, 2020
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) It’s time to pack away the flip-flops and bring out the boots, scarves and gloves. Temperatures will soon be dropping, meaning gardens and outdoor areas will need to be adapted to the new conditions.
Electric cars wont save us and the Planet
Green (Living) Review
OCTOBER 15, 2020
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) There are, despite what governments and especially industry try to tell us, far too many points against it, and I know that I have said many of those things before.
Green Products
Green (Living) Review
SEPTEMBER 28, 2020
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) Whether products are touted as green, environmentally friendly, eco, or whatever or not consumerism is still consumerism and bad for the Planet. Also many of those products are not at all as “green” as they are claimed to be.
ARS long-reach pruner ? Product review
Green (Living) Review
MAY 18, 2020
Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro) The ARS-160-0.6 long-reach pruner is a cut and hold snipper, ideally suited for pruning of roses, for instance, but also for other tasks, including harvesting certain crops. It has a length, that is to say a reach of 60cm, to which you can add the reach of your extended arm, and a weight of 360grams. ARS-160-0.6 Price, incl.
First Brazilian supermarket where customers can exchange recyclable waste for food open
Green (Living) Review
JUNE 7, 2020
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) In the Brazilian state of Acre the first supermarket opened its doors where it is possible for customers to exchange recyclables for food. This establishment, called TrocTroc, offers customers the possibility to exchange recyclables such as PET bottles, aluminum cans and plastic bottle seals for any product sold in the market. Each kilo of recyclable material is worth R $ 0.50 in purchases.
Wood in the kitchen
Green (Living) Review
AUGUST 9, 2020
By Michael Smith (Veshengro) Wooden implement are better on pots and pans and not just those Teflon or similarly coated ones. In all honesty you should avoid such so-called non-stick ones anyway. Metal implements should, ideally, never be used in pots and pans, even in stainless steel ones.
We will not go back to normal
Green (Living) Review
JULY 30, 2020
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) We will not go back to normal nor should we. Normal never was. Our pre-Covid-19 existence was not normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, depletion,extraction, the exploitation of nature and man by man for ever greater profits.
Going back to so-called normal after pandemic would be madness
Green (Living) Review
JULY 24, 2020
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) Instead of waiting that everything goes back to “normal” after the pandemic and all this economic madness restarts would it not better to consider doing things differently?
Bicycle servicing
Green (Living) Review
JULY 1, 2020
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) I don't want to put anyone out of business but I cannot understand this thing about bicycle servicing. Some people seem to believe that their bicycle needs an annual service – from a specialist – just like their car does and often it is also being touted in such a way. Anyone with a bit of common sense – I know that that sense is rare nowadays but nevertheless – can service his or her own bicycle.
Growing your own food wherever possible
Green (Living) Review
APRIL 13, 2020
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) What the COVID-19 pandemic should have shown us that we cannot rely on the capitalist market system to guarantee us a steady supply of the groceries that we need and thus it is important that we, once again, groin for victory, so to speak. And, alas, the situation is not and has not been thus with just food though food (and water) is more important than clothes and even toilet paper.
The bee has been declared the most important living being on the Planet
Green (Living) Review
APRIL 4, 2020
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) Following a meeting at the Royal Geographical Society in London, United Kingdom the Earthwatch Institute declared bees the most important living beings on this Planet, however, according to wildlife experts & scientists many bees have joined the long list of Endangered species.
There is more to creating a woodland than just planting trees
Green (Living) Review
JANUARY 19, 2020
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) Many people, and, apparently, even most governments, seem to think that all that is needed to create a woodland is to stick some trees in the ground and the rest will do itself. Alas, that is a fallacy. Just planting trees and leaving them for Mother Nature to do its work is a waste of trees, money, time and effort and will lead to nothing but disaster.
Ivy in the woods
Green (Living) Review
NOVEMBER 24, 2019
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) A great many of – often rather uneducated – people believe that ivy, climbing up trees harms the trees and strangles them but this is not the case. Unfortunately some people, alas, will not be told and, illegally, if they are not the owners of the woods, will cut the ivy and remove it. A good amount of ivy in the woods is good.
Beyond COVID-19, human rights can help save the planet
Green (Living) Review
JUNE 4, 2020
Council of Europe statement ahead of World Environment Day (June 5) Strasbourg, 04.06.2020 – The Secretary General of the 47-nation Council of Europe, Marija Pej?inovi? inovi?
E-bikes vs. standard bicycles
Green (Living) Review
FEBRUARY 14, 2020
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) While I personally do have an e-bike (a Gtech one) and have been very happy with it, the maintenance of one, especially when it comes to tire repair of the back, this is where the motor is in this one, aside from the fact that the lifespan of the battery is only a few years and then getting a new one seems difficult, the old-fashioned standard, and I stress standard, bicycle has still a great deal going for it. Maybe more so even than it is realized.
Is global travel history after COVID-19?
Green (Living) Review
APRIL 19, 2020
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic might spell the end of global travel as we have known it for quite some time now, jetting from one side of the world to the other. Not only aids such fast travel to other countries far across the globe, and even countries closer, to the spread of any virus, it also can leave, as we have seen, travelers stranded in countries, affected or not from such an event, with almost no way to get back home.
Contiguous cover forestry
Green (Living) Review
FEBRUARY 22, 2020
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) Many people will immediately think, and that is what the promoters want everyone to think, of nice woodlands with great biodiversity but, alas, the story often is very much a different one. More often than not those organization(s) behind this are promoting nothing uniform plantations of conifers, and other trees, in other words, monocultures, which generally lack biodiversity greatly, as opposed to mixed woodlands and forests, but is contiguous forest cover.
Late winter gardening tasks
Green (Living) Review
FEBRUARY 19, 2020
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) Spring is just around the corner here in the UK Mid February 2020 and the way the flowers and trees are slowly – and some quite a bit earlier than usual – are beginning to come to life it is not going to be far off.
Reuse and Repair
Green (Living) Review
AUGUST 11, 2019
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) Half a century ago, we were a thriving culture of reuse and repair. What happened? What happened? Simple. Industry decided that it was too expensive for it to develop new products that people really wanted and needed and rather made products that broke rather quickly and were made in such a way that they can no longer be repaired and thus people have to buy the same (kind of) product again and again.
Gardening myths most people believe but that are not true
Green (Living) Review
MARCH 5, 2020
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) If you are interested in growing a garden, there are lots of people offering advice from the internet, to books to even those you know very well. However, not all advice is good advice and some is just downright silly. Sorting out the good from the bad is sometimes difficult, especially if you are a novice gardener.
Holidaymakers encouraged to save their lilos from landfill by turning them into designer bags
Green (Living) Review
JULY 30, 2019
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) Holidaymakers can see their unwanted lilos transformed into designer bags and pouches thanks to a holiday company that’s pledging to reduce the number of inflatables sent to landfill. Holiday Hypermarket has teamed up with sustainable designer Wyatt and Jack to encourage customers to turn their holiday inflatables into one-of-a-kind bags, with the package-holiday specialist picking up the postage costs for sending the plastic products.
Jetting around the world to save the climate
Green (Living) Review
MARCH 9, 2020
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) Or how else should one interpret the annual COP gatherings? While the great and the good in politics and environmental activism are telling everyone else to stop flying and driving cars they, almost all, jet around the world at least once a year to all those climate conferences regardless of the amount of pollutants (I will no call it CO2 as that is all very misleading) they pump into the air in doing so.
Needs are problems looking for solutions, not products
Green (Living) Review
NOVEMBER 15, 2019
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) Needs are problems looking for solutions, not products, and we also have, quite seriously, to learn to differentiate between needs and wants. Often our wants masquerade as needs when they are not needs at all. To say I need a new smartphone or simply new cellphone, while the old one is still performing well and is doing all you will ever need it for is not a need but a desire and want to have a new one just because there are new ones around.
The possibilities of pallets and pallet wood
Green (Living) Review
NOVEMBER 7, 2019
also packing crates and similar by Michael Smith (Veshengro) There was a time when shipping pallets (not so much as to packing crates and such) were – supposedly – to be returned (not that that always happened) and then, not so long ago, like so many other things, pallets became “disposables” in that they were no longer being taken back (especially not for deposit return) by the companies.
London College of Garden Design to sponsor planting design competition
Green (Living) Review
NOVEMBER 9, 2019
The London College of Garden Design has announced their sponsorship of a Planting Design Competition at the Belvoir Castle Flower and Garden Show 2020. This is the second year that the College has sponsored the Countryside Borders Competition which aims to help budding new garden designers and experts to show what they can achieve with plants.
Belu becomes first UK water company to make all plastic bottles from 100% recycled plastic bottles
Green (Living) Review
DECEMBER 16, 2019
GREENWASH ALERT The 100% recycled material used by the British water brand generates 75% less carbon emissions than aluminium and is easily recycled unlike a carton. Pioneering social enterprise and ethical water company, Belu, has announced that it will become the first water company in the UK to make 100% of its plastic bottles from 100% recycled plastic bottles.
Everyone talks about climate, too few about pollution and general environmental destruction
Green (Living) Review
JANUARY 4, 2020
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) All we are hearing is CO2 and other greenhouse gases, and occasionally the issue with plastic, especially the kind that is plastic bottles of all sorts. The word carbon is being manipulated to include soot, for instance, which is now called “brown carbon” and all that in order to be able to trade all those issues under the carbon trading schemes, what I would refer to as modern day indulgences.
The hidden cost of your 2019 choccie-filled advent calendar
Green (Living) Review
NOVEMBER 30, 2019
Here's why your Christmas countdown is a single-use plastic nightmare In the next few days, millions of children – and quite a few adults – will open the first window on their advent calendars without a second thought of the mountain of waste to which they're contributing. One of Britain's top waste and recycling companies estimates that there are 16.5
London College of Garden Design to sponsor new design series for leading podcast
Green (Living) Review
NOVEMBER 30, 2019
Supporting podcasts are an integral part of our marketing strategy now. The London College of Garden Design has announced their sponsorship of a new series interviewing some of the world's leading designers on ‘Roots And All’, the podcast that last week won 'Podcast of the Year' at the Garden Media Guild Awards. The first episode features Thomas Rainer, Principal Designer at Phyto Studio in Virginia and co-author of the book ‘Planting In A Post-Wild World’.
Frozen in time
Green (Living) Review
FEBRUARY 9, 2020
Your freezer is your friend by Michael Smith (Veshengro) Your freezer can be your greatest friend in the prevention of food waste, whether you have a large family or you a single parent or, simply, single. Save food, money and the planet and move food that’s nearing its ‘use by’ date to your freezer. Reducing your food waste It is estimated that one in five bags of food shopping goes to waste each week. That adds up to a substantial amount of food, but also money wasted.
Used Electric Vehicles batteries could be used for rickshaws in Bangladesh
Green (Living) Review
JANUARY 22, 2020
Stirring Paddle
Green (Living) Review
FEBRUARY 6, 2020
Eastern European Gypsy pot stirrer by Michael Smith (Veshengro) This one, relatively inexpensive, hand-carved, wooden tool will replace more or less all your other kitchen utensils that are used for stirring. Its versatility is second to none. It is the answer for all those who want fewer tools in their kitchen, as this one will replace the great majority of – if not indeed all other – stirring implements in use.
Recycling is a fraud, a sham, a scam
Green (Living) Review
OCTOBER 27, 2018
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) Recycling is a fraud, a sham, a scam, perpetrated by big business on the citizens and municipalities to make us all feel good about single use packaging. It won't save the planet. We blame ourselves, or consumers are getting blamed, that's you and me, by government, for not recycling more plastics, and yet our efforts are like “hammering a nail to halt a falling skyscraper.” It is time we got to the root of the problem.
England is too lazy to hit recycling targets – Time to get tough
Green (Living) Review
NOVEMBER 4, 2019
PRESS RELEASE – Republished as received The UK's waste management agency says it's time to start fining companies that don't recycle their waste Britain could quite easily hit its 50% waste recycling target overnight if only people, companies and organisations up and down the country could be bothered.
ARS-UVR-32PRO – Product Review
Green (Living) Review
JULY 6, 2019
Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro) ARS-UVR-32PRO from Sorbus International Pro pruning saw with sheath, curved blade 4mm pitch, rubber grip. Blade high-Carbon Steel with hard-chrome plating. Curvature ground teeth (SUPER TURBOCUT®) and impulse hardened. 4mm tooth pitch with 1.5 mm tooth thickness. Blade length 320 mm and overall length 480 mm with a weight of 430 grams.
Huskup – Product Review
Green (Living) Review
JUNE 10, 2018
Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro) Reusable and plastic free, Huskup brings takeaway coffee back down to earth Durable, biodegradable and entirely free from plastic, Huskup is tackling the UK’s disposable culture one flat white at a time with a brand new reusable coffee cup made from rice husks.
Three in ten children can't tie their shoelaces when leaving primary school
Green (Living) Review
MAY 16, 2019
And 62% of parents admit they have no time to teach them by Michael Smith (Veshengro) 3 in 10 children are still unable to tie their shoe laces on leaving primary school according to findings from a survey commissioned by OSGO* to coincide with National Feet Week (13th – 20th May). Of the 500 surveyed, 46% of parents thought that being able to tie your own laces was an important life skill yet 62% of parents admitted to tying their children’s laces for them to save time and stress every morning.
Making do is a deeply pragmatic philosophy
Green (Living) Review
SEPTEMBER 30, 2019
by Michael Smith (Veshengro) Making do is a deeply pragmatic philosophy. One that our ancestors, and many not even that far removed, definitely had. It means asking of our things the only question we should ever ask of them: “Can you fulfill your intended use for me?” The answer – if we can be honest, and resist a moment of discomfort, inconvenience or boredom – is, extraordinarily often, yes.
Become a wildlife guardian this autumn
Green (Living) Review
NOVEMBER 13, 2019
As birds struggle to survive the autumn chill your garden can become a haven RSPB suggests five easy ways to help, including making wildlife friendly food and leaving out kitchen scraps These simple guidelines can improve your garden birds’ chances of survival throughout the colder months Fiery colours sweeping through parks and woodlands, complete with leaves crunching underfoot, mean autumn is here.
Futurekind – Book Review
Green (Living) Review
MAY 12, 2019
Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro) Futurekind Design for and by the People by Dr. Rob Phillips Published by Thames & Hudson, May (16) 2019 240 pages 900 illustrations Hardback 25.5 x 21.0 cm ISBN: 978 0 500 519790 Price: 39.95 Hardback Manual and manifesto, an inspiration and a call to arms; this rich and timely survey is all in one and presents over sixty innovative, socially and environmentally conscious design projects changing the world for the better.
Sprout Lands – Book Review
Green (Living) Review
JUNE 24, 2019
Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro) Sprout Lands by William Bryant Logan Published by W W Norton, April 2019 Hardcover 165 x 244 mm / 384 pages ISBN 9780393609417 Price: £19.99 Arborist William Bryant Logan recovers the lost tradition that sustained human life and culture for ten millennia. Farmers once knew how to make a living fence and fed their flocks on tree-branch hay.
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