I’m freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Finished my Masters on Tuesday and I couldn’t be happier. It’s been a long tough road, made more difficult by recurring health problems. So nice not to have to do 8-12 hour days 7 days a week anymore.
One thing I will miss is the simplicity of focusing on one task. My husband was great and took over all of the home schooling (and related admin), cooking and laundry for the last 6 weeks. All I did was make coffee, put away some laundry, look after my houseplants, feed the birds and my share of the weekly house clean. Everything else was on hold, and it was bliss.
It made me realise just how scattered my attention generally is, and not just because of having kids. I’ve a wide range of interest, which often prevents me going deep into one thing. I now know it also makes me feel more frantic. When you’ve a lot of interests, you’ve a lot of tasks, which make for a busy mind. I miss my quiet mind.
With the masters I had a lot to do but it was all connected to one thing, so there was a sense of slowing moving towards a single, unifying solution. I underestimated just how satisfying this feeling would be. A feeling you really don’t get when you’ve 100-and-one things on the go and constantly pulled hither and thither by multiple interests.
This article by author Mark Manson on the Disease of More struck a particular cord, and so I’m going to start stripping back some of my extra circular activities in order to be deepen my knowledge and expertise in a few select areas. Don’t worry Living Lightly in Ireland is safe!
And onto this planet’s happy news.
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Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Supervalu to use recycled CDS for shop floor lighting
Sustainability trends that will shape 2021
How to turn a mini suitcase into a kids playset
The US bans Chinese cotton made with slave labour
Netherlands support scheme to roll-out 7-day energy make-over of homes!
Citizens, businesses and community groups in Ireland to be allowed sell electricity to grid
Free webinar on seed planting on Jan 28th, 29th and 30th by a US gardening podcaster that I love!
Frost dates in Ireland and the UK for gardeners out there!
Great piece of investigative journalism on the state of small-scale solar energy in Ireland
Development banks and states pledge $14.32 billion to build a “Great Green Wall” to help contain desertification in Africa’s northern Sahel region.
Wooden skyscrapers called plyscrapers set to transform the construction industry
Track and reduce your carbon footprint with this new Irish app
A handy plan for what to do when in the fruit and veg garden!
Environmental justice centre established as green litigation poised to grow
Estonian company Woola raises funding to develop wool bubblewrap!
Adidas produced 15 million pairs of recycled plastic sneakers in 2020
Growing movement to ban car engine idling and here’s a petition to sign if you support this move
Teenager on a mission to get seed libraries across the US
This isn’t recent news (it’s from 2019) but I just came across this fact and love it. If each adult sent one less email a day, Britain could reduce its carbon output by 16,433 tonnes – equal to more than 81,000 flights from London to Madrid.
2020 was the hottest year on record
Clothing brands paying customers to rewear their clothes!
Amazon and Walmart pay customers to keep unwanted goods instead of returning them
Small Thai village successfully restore local fish numbers by creating a small fish reserve
The sustainable fashion scene in Nigeria
UK not to follow EU in ban of exporting plastic waste to non- OECD countries
Turn a dresser into a dolls house!
What Design Can Do has launched a global design competition the No Waste Challenge in partnership with the IKEA Foundation. The invite all creatives to submit solutions to reduce waste and rethink our entire production and consumption cycle. Deadline for submissions: 1 April 2021.
The Italian island of Capri replaces their diesel power plant with an electric one
New apps to make sustainable living easier in 2021
How much plastic is in your tea bag? Cork students find out
Newly constructed French wine cellar incorporated bat boxes in it’s façade
US company Scribit soon to launch world’s first compostable markers
Japan to develop wooden satellite in bid to curb junk space
Irish designers creating gems from old things
Two teenage friends on a mission to restore reptiles to the UK’s environment
An investigation into tree cutting practices by councils in Ireland
Dutch platform that features only sustainable clothing brands
Tesco removes one billion pieces of plastic from it’s products in one year
Stocktaking progress five years after the Paris Agreement
New citizen-led Wildlife Conservation Core might be on the cards for Ireland
Electric cars overtake fossil fuel cars in Norway
A clever map of climate solutions globally
Some positive technological developments that will help stabilise the climate crisis
Have you heard about these little forest oasis in Ethiopia?
Cheetah’s reintroduced to African wetlands
New solar panels generate hot water and energy simultaneously
A concept to use bike energy to fuel homes
Phew! That’s a lot this week.
Till next week
Elaine
PS – Thanks for reading and have happy sustainable shopping. You can catch up with me on Facebook and Instagram between now and next week’s newsletter.
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