Thoughts from the Bus Stop

Knitting for UK Charity: World's Biggest Tea Cosy

 

"Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation are attempting to set a world record for the biggest ever hand knitted Tea Cosy and we need your help.

We are asking you to knit a 6” width strip, as long as you like of any colour or pattern you like and send to our friends at 'I knit London' who will make your knitted strip part of the world’s biggest tea cosy. The wool can be any colour you like and you make your strip as long as you can manage, all we ask is that it is 6” in width (approx 28 stitches), double knit yarn, and 4mm needles."

Details on the Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation website.

Knitting for UK Charity: jumpers and blankets for Feed The Children

(L-R) Babies at FTC's Abandoned Baby Centre, Kenya | Children at an orphanage in Moldova, eastern Europe (c) Feed The Children

Feed The Children (FTC) works with vulnerable children and their families in communities across the world, in situations of poverty, conflict and famine. There are loads of ways that knitters can help!

FTC need colourful jumpers for babies and children, jumpers in 'uniform' colours for school kids (free pattern here), and blankets of various sizes for babies and children. Find out more, and download the latest Knitting Knews, on the Feed The Children website.

The dinky dozen

These cuties are off to Save The Children, with their message to the Prime Minister. Next up is knitting a square or two for Oxfam's knitted petition. I've been meaning to learn how to knit with two colours (intarsia) and knit vertical stripes, so I'll teach myself as I go along.

Christian and LEGO activists join in Kingsnorth protest

Legoactivist via YouTube.com

Both via Indymedia:

Christian Cafe Crew give Last Rites to Kingsnorth

"A group of 12 Christians who have spent the week making tea for activists at the Camp for Climate Action today prayed outside the Kingsnorth power plant as part of the "Orange Action"... Praying for forgiveness for all the damage the plant has created during its life-time, and singing simple chants, they were determined to show that Christians are waking up to the need for action to prevent Catastrophic Climate Change."

World's smallest campaigners scale Kingsnorth smokestack

"E.ON’s replica of the Kingsnorth coal-fired power station has been occupied by one inch tall climate change campaigners. The drama unfolded at the Legoland park in Windsor – sponsored by E.ON – where the Lego Kingsnorth is given pride of place next to Big Ben and Canary Wharf... Lego police are in attendance at the foot of the tower, along with a Lego police helicopter. Neither the campaigners nor the police would comment, because they’re made of Lego and therefore can’t talk."

Christian Aid: Tell the PM no new coal power! | Email E.ON Chief Executive Paul Golby
Tearfund: Say no to new coal power stations in UK | Micah Sunday, 19th October 2008

Knitting for UK charity: make a square for Oxfam's knitted petition

Oxfam are calling on knitters everywhere to turn their knitting needles into poverty fighting needles by creating a 9-inch square for their giant baby blanket - a 'visual petition' they're handing in to world leaders in September 2008, demanding that they honour their promises to make sure mums in poor countries get the maternal health care they need. They're aiming for 250,000 patches - one for every mum who should have survived pregnancy in the last six months.

"For every mum, the day her child is born should be the happiest of her life. Yet, in the world's poorest countries, many mums don't survive to look after their babies. In the next minute, lack of access to health care will claim the life of another mum. In a year, half a million mums die because of poorly equipped hospitals, or because they can't afford to pay health care fees. World leaders have promised to end this travesty by providing enough aid to deliver the medical services needed, but as things stand they're falling well short."

Enter your details on Oxfam's website, and they'll email you a copy of their foolproof knitting guide, which you can download to find out how to take part. After the giant blanket has been presented, it will be dismantled into smaller blankets and sold in Oxfam shops and at festivals. All money raised will go towards Oxfam's work to fight poverty, such as urgently needed midwife training in Yemen.

Get your squares to Oxfam's Leeds office by 31 August 2008. Check out the squares they've received so far on Flickr.

Human rights and the Olympics: Christian pastor prevented from speaking to BBC

What's going on in China away from the fireworks, dancing and flag-waving? Please take a minute or two to watch this video, where the BBC's John Simpson examines how China is handling dissent, and whether the country's attitude to personal freedom is changing.

He finds that he's unable to keep an pre-arranged appointment with a Christian pastor:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7541832.stm

For more info on what YOU can do to help Christians who live in countries where being a Christian is risky or downright dangerous, visit the websites of Christian Solidarity Worldwide and Open Doors.

Knitting for UK charity: Save The Children's Knit One, Save One campaign

Save The Children are asking knitters to knit a hat for a newborn baby, and attach a message for Gordon Brown, telling him why he must act now to save newborn lives around the world. Details of the campaign, including a free baby hat pattern and a card for your message to the Prime Minister, are available on the Save The Children website.

Save The Children will ensure the card reaches Mr Brown, and the hat will go directly on to the head of a newborn baby; a baby in places that suffer high numbers of newborn deaths, like Kenya, Sierra Leone or Tibet:

"Parents do everything they can to protect their babies from cold. But the most important thing, putting a hat on the baby's head, is neglected – that’s like leaving a thermos bottle filled with hot water but without a lid."
Tashi Tsering, Save the Children’s Health Project Manager in Tibet

Bog standards

Images (c) Ecover and Nouvelle

How green is your loo? The Blonde and I are trying to green-up our toilet - so far we have:

* Switched to Ecover toilet cleaner, an eco-friendly alternative to the cleaners made with loads of manmade chemicals. Other alternatives include Bio-D, Sonnett and Eco Line toilet cleaners.
* Switched to 100% recycled toilet paper - usually Nouvelle, as the 12-packs are often on a cracking half-price offer in Somerfield.
* Made our own chemical-free air freshener - one part water to one part the cheapest vodka you can find, and a few drops of your favourite essential oil, shaken together in a pump bottle (in our case, an empty bottle from a body spray).
* Placed a cut-off 2L plastic drinks bottle in the cistern to conserve water during each flush - works on the same principle as a 'Hippo' or 'Save-A-Flush' bag.
* Agreed to apply the 'If it's yellow, let it mellow' rule when it's just the two of us in the house (and if you're letting something mellow, you leave the lid down to give the other a little advanced warning). This rule does not apply to the first pee of the day!

Switching to green electricity

Wind turbine at Swaffham, Norfolk (c) Ecotech

The Blonde and I are always trying to find ways to change the way we live for the better - ethically and environmentally. We don't have much cash, and we live in a rented flat with no garden, so compost bins and solar panels are not an option, but we're keen to make the changes which are feasible and affordable.

We'd seen lots of ads on the telly for 'green' electricity, and wanted to make the switch. However, a bit of research revealed (surprise, surprise) that most of the so-called 'green' tariffs offered by the big suppliers were often just a way for them to get good PR out of the fraction of green electricity they have to produce anyway in order to comply with the Renewables Obligation:

"The Renewables Obligation requires licensed electricity suppliers to source a specific and annually increasing percentage of the electricity they supply from renewable sources. The current level is 7.9% for 2007/08 rising to 15.4% by 2015/16."

Green Electricity Marketplace is a fantastic switching website for green electricity tariffs. It only deals with green tariffs and provides info on how 'green' each tariff really is. It's recognised as a green electricity information provider by Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.

We looked at three independent green electricity providers - Green Energy, Good Energy and Ecotricity, and went with Ecotricity. It was dead simple to switch and it doesn't cost any more than the big boys.

Check out Ecotricity's video of one of their wind turbines being built, or visit their Ecotech centre in Norfolk and climb up the 65-metre turbine to the viewing platform, if you like!

Lend us a tenner? Kiva - loans which change lives

This is Sharifa Rajab Ali, who lives and works in Kabul, Afghanistan.

I've just lent her a few quid so she can buy materials for her beadwork business and use her creative skills to support her family. She needs more than I'm able to lend her at the moment, but once a few other people have chipped in with their loans, Sharifa will be able to stock up.

Kiva.org came to my attention via Miss Malaprop and Crafty World. It's a simple and effective - Kiva enable you to loan your money (as little as $25 - currently less than £13 in sterling) to the working poor:

"Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you've sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back.

Kiva partners with existing microfinance institutions. In doing so, we gain access to outstanding entrepreneurs from impoverished communities world-wide. Our partners are experts in choosing qualified borrowers. That said, they are usually short on funds. Through Kiva.org, our partners upload their borrower profiles directly to the site so you can lend to them."

It gave me particular pleasure to be able to help a creative person like Sharifa - you can search the site by category to find people working in your area of interest - so I've loaned some money to Lolofa, a Samoan lady, to help her build up her mat weaving business. Who will you invest in?

Also:
I Love Kiva! Why Kiva is one of the best things on the Internet
Wikipedia entry for Kiva