Bulldozer on rubbish against a blue sky

ALWAYS ASK FOR LESS: how organisations are keeping quiet about low-packaging alternatives

Posted Posted in Nature & Animals, People & Politics

Packaging, fellow-plastivists remind me, is not just about plastic. The current zest for over-packaging involves a range of materials, including paper, all carrying an environmental cost. One particularly bad example comes via the sale of hot drinks on trains, which I was reminded of on a recent GWR journey. I was sitting in the same […]

Green National Trust card on a letter about membership renewal

For Fox Sake: why I’m ending my membership of the National Trust

Posted Posted in Nature & Animals, People & Politics

The letter from the National Trust bearing my card for another year of membership oozes emotive prose. The buzzwords promise experiences and memories I’ll want to treasure – ‘inspiring’, ‘special’, ‘brilliant’ – while the small print details the new subscription fees and my payment schedule. But I won’t be continuing my membership of Europe’s largest […]

The Plastic Waster Emails – how manufacturers are responding to the packaging crisis

Posted Posted in Nature & Animals, People & Politics

Heard of The Timewaster Letters? The spirit of subversive comedy and the character of the concerned, fussy British consumer that they capture make them just the thing to lift your spirits on a dull winter day. Sadly, the responses to the first batch of Plastic Waster Emails are not so funny. In the first few […]

Palestinian men queuing behind bars at Bethlehem checkpoint

Biblical imagery and Palestinian reality in Bethlehem

Posted Posted in People & Politics, Place & Travel, Religion & Spirituality

Every year, at some point during Advent, I remember. Having re-established itself in my mind, the thought recurs throughout the Christmas season before fading away as the festivities come to an end. The thought goes something along these lines: ‘It was not like this.’ Or: ‘That’s not right. The reality is different.’ What I’m experiencing is […]

Compostela for the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage

Certifiable? Another pilgrim on the Camino de Santiago gets her compostela

Posted Posted in Place & Travel, Religion & Spirituality

I’ve finally fulfilled a long-held desire to be a pilgrim and got my compostela (official certificate) for having completed a section of the Spanish pilgrimage route the Camino de Santiago. I’ve long wanted to do the Camino, a contemporary form of pilgrimage which is undergoing a resurgence, attracting 21st-century pilgrims of all faiths and none. […]