Free Range Standards

I get regular emails from Choice and this one in particular touched a nerve with me.

Even though we do not buy eggs I know that not everyone has the ability to have chickens and therefore must purchase the eggs for their household.  What I do not support is the watered down version of "free Range" the the egg corporations are proposing.  I do not think that anyone purchasing free range eggs should have to question to what degree the chickens  are actually free range before trusting the label on the carton.  They either are or they are not.  And at 20,000 chickens per hectare or 5 chicken per Sq Metre, in my opinion they are not.

Here is the email I was sent please try and comment on their facebook page or email if you can.

Earlier this year, over 3100 people stood with CHOICE to ask the ACCC to reject the Australian Egg Corporation's unreasonable attempt to increase "free range" stocking densities by 13-fold. The great news for consumers is that the ACCC listened to us, finding that 20,000 chickens per hectare does "not accord with consumer expectations about the free range production of eggs". This is a welcome development, however it is only an initial assessment and the final decision is yet to be made. The Egg Corporation has announced it will try to overturn the decision. CHOICE will continue to fight for a consistent national free-range standard that meets consumer expectations but we need your help! We want the ACCC to know that consumers support their decision to reject the dodgy free-range standard. Please lend your voice to our effort by commenting on the image on our Facebook page. You can also email us at campaigns@choice.com.au. We will forward your messages to the ACCC.

You Must Be Freaking Kidding - On My Soap Box

This post comes with the following warning:

Should you not wish to be subjected to a bit of a rant that may or may not contain bad language you should close your browser page now.  The following thoughts are mine and mine alone.  I am not a parent so these judgements are not based on my experience and are just my thoughts on the things I have seen.   Please do not take offence to my comments as I respect every parents right to parent as they choose.

Tonight while watching TV hubby and I saw something that made us groan in unison.  I said "You must be freaking kidding", he said "What next?".

What we saw was an advertisement for this an app for phones that teaches kids how to brush their teeth.
Now we don't have kids yet (soon hopefully) and where we live we don't have mobile phone coverage, so to me this just seems ludicrous.
I mean are people trying to get out of parenting?  Are we really living in a world where we want our phones to teach our children how to do things?  "Here you go son, just watch this app and it will teach you how to ride your bike/tie your laces/catch a ball/"
When I sat down and thought about this a number of things crossed my mind.
Don't you start teaching kids to clean their teeth when they get them eg when they are toddlers?
Then why would I be giving my toddler a $500 plus phone?
If I can't be bothered teaching my kids to clean their teeth what else will I not be bothered teaching them?
Are those 2 mins that I spend with my kids teaching them to brush their teeth so bothersome?  I would have thought teaching your children and watching them master new skills was one of the absolute joys of parenting.

Now I am not anti technology but when our kids play tennis on a computer game instead of learning to play tennis in real life something is very wrong.

I would really love to hear what you think about this, maybe you can convince me of it's merits.  Maybe I should just keep my thoughts to myself.
Feel free to let me know.

Trashy Magazines - On My Soapbox

This post comes with the following warning:

Should you not wish to be subjected to a fully flung rant that may or may not contain bad language you should close your browser page now.  The following thoughts are mine and mine alone and I do not claim to have investigated them so do not read them as fact.

Over the Easter weekend we had friends and family come to stay and at the end of the weekend I was left a trashy woman's magazine by a friend who is possibly reading this so first of all let me made a few comments.
I respect each and every persons right to read what they want, and if trashy mags are your thing no worries.  I do not expect that everyone else out their shares my taste in reading material so who am I to judge.  These are my thoughts on the matter and mine alone.

Not being one who buys magazines about anything other than gardening, food, home and lifestyle, my flick through the pages of the TM (Trashy Magazine) left me with the urge to shake some one.

Number one I have no idea who most of these people are.  But apparently some are too fat, some are too thin, some one is dating some one after being friends for a long time (oh no how shocking, surely you can't be friends first - can you hear my sarcasm).
There are tears, tantrums and finger pointing, and that is from the adults.  Then there are the kids who also have to put up with having crap written about them and getting dragged into the media.  And yes I mean absolute rubbish.
Take this story for example.  It comes with a picture of Cindy Crawford carrying a brown paper bag and her daughter Kaia carrying what appears to be a foil food container both dressed casually.  The story goes on to say how Cindy is jealous of her daughter "although Cindy is proud of her daughter she admits to feeling a bit envious of her youthful good looks.  She still looks great but  it must be hard for knowing that her best years are behind her and her daughters are yet to come".
Are you freaking kidding me!!!!  Who makes up this Sh*t.

Then there is an article about how LeAnn Rimes has not only run off with the husband, but is now wearing the same perfume that the ex-wife wears.  What the???
Is this really considered news?  Is this type of sh*t really selling magazines?  What a waste of money and resources to produce a magazine that is not worth using a loo paper.

Not only are these magazines full to overflowing with made up garbage about people who are famous for being famous, but they are also responsible for feeding the readers a load of rubbish about what they should look like, what they should wear and the possessions they should aspire to owning.  They make money by making the mundane out to be something worth reading about, not to mention most of it is lies.  "Brad and Ange Splitting Up!"  Brad and Ange Getting Married"  "Brad Moving Out" Ange Pregnant Again".  Give me a break.

And my biggest gripe is that all of this is made out to be some kind worthy news like it rates a mention.  Surely if we must have stories about celebrities we can find something positive to write about.  There must be good news stories out there where people are making positive choices where they lead by example and inspire others to do the same.  Would this not leave us all feeling better about ourselves because we had positive celebrity role models?  Let's spread that message instead.
As it stands any positive feeling that we garner from these magazines is because we are relishing in how terrible their lives are, the problems that they have, how badly they have messed up and thank goodness too because it now we feel better about our selves.
A bit sad really.

If you are still with me here, thanks for putting up with me, if not well I understand.  But what I would like to say is this.  We all have the choice as adults to choose what magazines we read and we are mature enough to see things for what they are, but if you have children just think about the type of role models you are setting out on display on the coffee table.

Climate Change

I am always astonished that there are still people out there who do not believe climate change is occurring, and more so than that, they do not believe that the human species has anything to do with it...
To me it seems to be a simple and logical equation.

Humans take away the things that help keep our climate stable (rainforest's, well really all kinds of forests) and humans add things that build up to change our climate (pollution, Co2 etc), humans maintain this pattern for a period of time without interruption and hey presto we change the climate.

Why are there still people out there that think we can just keep trashing the planet without there being consequences in the future?

Tackling climate change is such a big issue and because of this individuals often feel hopeless wondering how their individual contribution can really make any difference. 
What we forget is that great ideas and solutions throughout history have often been those of individuals.  People such as Galileo, Sir Isaac Newton and Alexander Graham Bell.  Some of these people had theories and ideas that were laughed at and dismissed at the time, but are things that changed the world as we know it.

Yesterday over at the greening of Gavin Gavin was talking about the craziness that is the Victorian governments proposed changes for planning laws.  It astounds me that these so called educated politicians are making decisions that are in no way supportive of moving towards a better future for us all, however these people are put in power by us so I think we need to choose more carefully.

We all have the opportunity to make climate change a topic of conversation with those around us.  To talk about it, read about it, write about it, ponder it over a cup of tea, heck every 4 years we even get to vote about it.

At the end of the day I cannot tell you what the answer is.  I am sure greater minds than mine have put far more effort into thinking and learning about the topic than me and so I will leave the education up to them.

But this is what I do know.

I know that ideas are like seeds.  You plant them and they grow but if you feed and nurture them they grow stronger and faster.
I know that the more something is spoken about the more widely accepted it becomes.
I know that I have the ability to do many small things that all add up to help create the type of world I want to live in.
And I believe that we all need to do our bit.  For some that might be protesting and lobbying governments,  or talking to their friends and families about what they can do, or it might be teaching others how to grow their own food.

Over all I believe that even if we take measures to tread more lightly on this earth, and we work towards a more environmentally friendly and sustainable way of living, we will never be worse off than if we do nothing.

Disgraceful

The other night the ABC aired a documentary called "The Cove" highlighting the annual slaughter of Dolphins in the small Japanese town of Taiji.
If you did not get to see this I really recommend you watch it.  Even if you do not want to be subjected to the vision of the dolphins being killed you will be able to watch all but the last 10 minutes, and by this time the message is well and truly imparted.

The documentary is lead by Ric O'Barry the man who trained Flipper, and is well produced and informative. 

Ric O'Barry leads a team of activists and filmmakers infiltrate a heavily-guarded cove in Taiji, Japan. In this remote village they witness and document activities deliberately being hidden from the public: More than 20,000 dolphins and porpoises are being slaughtered each year and their meat, containing toxic levels of mercury, is being sold as food in Japan, often times labeled as whale meat.

The majority of the world is not aware this is happening. The Taiji cove is blocked off from the public. Cameras are not allowed inside and the media does not cover the story

I will not go into detail as you will be able to see for yourself the unnecessary nature of what goes on and how we need to speak up to end this disgraceful practice.

After watching the documentary head over and sign the petition using the link on my blog and encourage others to do the same.

Hooray - Have you heard the News - A Halt to live exports (2nd post today)

Prime Minister Julia Gillard halts live cattle exports to Indonesia

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/business/julia-gillard-halts-live-cattle-exports-to-indonesia/story-e6frfm1i-1226071368446#ixzz1OdeZvLlx

But....

At this stage the ban is only in place for 10 days and since Indonesia accounts for 60% of our live cattle exports an outright ban is not likely to be the long term solution.
So we as the general public need to make sure the issue is not just swept under the rug.  Yes we need to support our farmers, but we do not need to support animal cruelty. 
As intelligent human beings we need to use our brains to come up with a long term solution that supports everyone in their desired outcomes without suffering to animals.

And for anyone who does not know what this is all about I would suggest that you go pack a strong stomach and got to the website and watch the News Story that Four Corners aired.

Possession Obsession

With the latest technology release (iPad 2) only hours away the hype surrounding it got me thinking about societies obsession with possessions, and more specifically the constant upgrading of items we already have.
We all know of people who are convinced that they must have and can't live without the latest gadget, fashion item or appliance.
This craze of always having the latest version of something even though the one we have is still in perfect working order baffles me and illustrates the type of wasteful society we have become.  How far removed we are from the lifestyles of our parents, grandparents and those who lived through the depression.
How is it that as a society we are prepared to camp out overnight in the street just to be the first to have that latest "thing" yet many people are no longer courteous to one and another, possess basic manners or do not have the patience to tolerate minor inconveniences, such as slow drivers, without becoming agitated?
And for What?
What does ownership of that item actually get you?  Respect?  Admiration?  A feeling of belonging to an exclusive group the "first to haves".
I suspect that this validation from being in the "first to haves" group is short lived.
Within a matter of days many other people have become a "first to have" and the exclusive bubble is burst.  You are no longer receiving interest from your peers as they too are joining the now not so exclusive group.  Then within months, if not weeks, they are everywhere, almost commonplace, and that feeling of elation and validation is over.  Now you are just one of the masses.
And then you hear about it.  The next "it" thing.  You just have to have it.
So there you are back on that mouse wheel, always trying to stay ahead of the pack.  And where does it get you?  The short answer is not very far.  There will always be a next thing.
So what is it that people are missing from their lives?  How is it that we have become disconnected from each other and instead are connected to machines that feign a personal connection?

For an in depth look at where we are as a society on some of these topics I would suggest reading "Affluenza" by Clive Hamilton.

Affluenza

Af-flu-en-za (n). 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by dogged pursuit of the Australian dream. 3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth.
Our houses are bigger than ever, but our families are smaller. Our kids go to the best schools we can afford, but we hardly see them. We've got more money to spend, yet we're further in debt than ever before. What is going on?

The Western world is in the grip of a consumption binge that is unique in human history. We aspire to the lifestyles of the rich and famous at the cost of family, friends and personal fulfilment. Rates of stress, depression and obesity are up as we wrestle with the emptiness and endless disappointments of the consumer life.

Affluenza pulls no punches, claiming our whole society is addicted to over consumption. It tracks how much Australians overwork, the growing mountains of stuff we throw out, the drugs we take to ‘self-medicate' and the real meaning of ‘choice'. Fortunately there is a cure. More and more Australians are deciding to ignore the advertisers, reduce their consumer spending and recapture their time for the things that really matter.

This is fantastic must read book that I encourage everyone to read.  If you ever felt like you were caught in the spending trap and wanted to get out this book will help you see how you are constantly being sold to and give you ideas about how break free from the cycle and recognize the manipulation that goes on.
Even if you a living a simple life I think you will find this book a great read and maybe like me you will feel like perhaps you are doing a good job of fighting off the suggestion that shopping will make you happy and solve your problems.

Have you read this book?  What did you think?