Sabina Lucia

1 million plastic bags are consumed per minute world wide. That’s a shocking statistic and something we need to address. Rebecca Hosking a wildlife photographer became all too aware of the problem when shooting in Hawaii. She saw birds eating the brightly coloured bags in the water, mistaking them for food. Plastic bags were introduced in 1977 and I dread to think how many have ended up in our environment ever since, polluting our waters and nature reserves and making our cities covered in “witches knickers”. Before they were introduced we managed perfectly well with simply re-usable canvas or other fabric bags or in some cases paper bags. So it should be easy for us to get rid of them all together and change our habits for the sake of the animals and our children’s children. Thankfully Boris Johnson is with me on this and earlier this year called on a ban of plastic bags in London by 2012.  If you think the odd plastic bag floating around isn’t much to worry about then consider this: Bangladesh banned the plastic bag in 2002 after it was the cause of floods in 1988 and 1989, blocking drains and leaving the country two thirds under water.

Some facts and statistics from  http://faircompanies.com/news/view/the-battle-to-ban-plastic-bag/

So come on people, put a canvas bag in your pocket or hangbag and keep one there, just in case you need to do some shopping on the way home. Speak to your local shops about adding a plastic fee to encourage people to bring their own. You can even make it fun and design your own personalised one or buy one of their existing choices.

Let’s make it a  PLASTIC BAG FREE LONDON and the UK and the world. If you’re on Twitter you could do worse than follow David De Rothschild, who campaigns for a plastic free environment having designed and created a catamaran partly made of recycled plastic – @DRexplore  Check out his website www.adventureecology.com

Recently I have been really ill or actually maybe I’ve been ill a lot longer it’s just that it’s now that I’m realizing how ill I have been and am now waking up. We must appreciate every minute, hour and day we have on this planet because we don’t know how long we have. For one reason or another I got on my high horse and have been going round thinking I’m some kind of Godess and feeding my own ego but at the same time having low self esteem and not feeling worthy. I suppose it’s not possible to have one without the other. The truth is my ego was and may still be through the roof. It’s the shadow that I haven’t been able to accept or come to terms with, yet at the same time have been feeding constantly, making me very sick indeed. It’s led to me having crazy, hateful, insane and destructive thoughts and I don’t really know where to go with it all. To be honest, part of me is saying just learn from it and make the change in me, and do something worthwhile and help others. What’s happening in Pakistan at the moment is really shocking. We are so lucky in the UK, we may have a bit of rain on a bank holiday weekend, but we don’t get the devastating monsoons and hurricanes that other countries suffer from. I am hoping to do a fund raising event at GJ’s in Colliers Wood, South West London and have a couple of acts who have offered to perform so far; Ian Gray the brilliant magician and Politically Erect an outstanding comedy sketch group trio. Have the possibility of a band called One,  PA-system-depending and waiting to hear if Rebecca Poole the fantastic jazz singer can make it but if anyone out there would like to offer their band, act or knows someone who might be interested, or can help me with working on my shadow, please contact me at sabinalucia@hotmail.com or call on 07730682713.

Want to get a line up sorted ASAP so we can start promoting and selling tickets for the event to raise as much money as possible.

Sorry to post something so personal and heavy. Hope you’re all having good bank holiday weekends.

I cut the following out of a magazine recently which is very humbling:

If you have food in the fridge, a roof over your head, and clothes on your back, and a place to sleep – You are richer than 75% of the people of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change – You are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness – You are more blessed than the 1 million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the lonliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or starvation – You are that much better off than 500 million people.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death – You are more blessed than 3 billion people in the world.

If you can read – You are more able than 2 billion people in the world that can’t read at all.

So be thankful for your blessings

It’s unbelievable that in our current economic climate our government is even contemplating spending this kind of money on something we should be cutting not replacing. With that money we could do a lot to fund sustainable living and free energy technology.

£97 billion pounds is enough money to have British pound coins laid out and stretch round the world 7 times or for each person in the UK to be given £1500. That’s how much our government want to spend on replacing Trident.  Say No! To write to your MP and remind them of the real issues fill in this quick and easy form at Greenpeace

Vciky Harrison is the brains (and braun) who creates Stars and Scars jewellery. Based in South London she launched her business this year and is already has a steady flow of orders. With hearts a main theme as well as birds, stars and lolly pops amongst other ideas, her hand drawn pendants range from as little as £3 to £15.  Perfect for a lovingly crafted hand made present that is more special and better for the invironment too.

The accumulating environmental effects of mass production are a major cause of global warming and the poisoning of our air, water and soil. Every item you make or purchase from a small-scale independent artist or crafter strikes a small blow to the forces of mass production. – From the Pledge Handmade website.

I love Vicky’s designs, they’re so uplifting and fun not to mention really well made. If you want to have a look or buy something for yourself or get a present that will be loved forever, you can catch Vicky at her Stars & Scars stall at A Summer’s Crafternoon today, Sunday the 22nd August at 258-274 Gray’s Inn Road, Kings Cross until 5pm.

 Photo © Sabina Lucia 2012

We live on a beautiful planet, created over billions of years. Everywhere around us are examples of the most beautiful creations, the honeysuckle in your garden to the butterflies that land on it.

In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers are the numbers in the following sequence:

0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89,144

By definition, the first two Fibonacci numbers are 0 and 1, and each subsequent number is the sum of the previous two. Some sources omit the initial 0, instead beginning the sequence with two 1s.

The sequence appears in biological settings^,   such as branching in trees,arrangement of leaves on a stem, in spiral shells, the fruitlets of a pineapple^, the flowering ofartichoke, an uncurling fern and the arrangement of a pine cone.

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number

Here’s a video to illustrate the sequence

Some say it is evidence of a God-like design, which is possible but there are many spiral design shells which don’t follow the sequence.

Shell photo by Cobalt123 from Flickr

It is however a brilliant example of how complex and creative the designs of nature are. It reminds us of how precious life on earth is and, I hope, inspires us to look after and take care of our planet and preserve it for future generations. We cannot go on consuming at the rate we do, using fossil fuels and plastics without it having devestating consequences. We must ALL take responsibility and do our bit to save this awe inspiring planet that we’ve been destroying for far too long now.

This story gave me hope, it’s about Britain’s wildest flower returning from the dead after 23 years.

From Psychadelic Adventure:

It is interesting that today we find ourselves at the final crossroads in our evolution. Since that day when we decided to abandon our faith in the universal way and follow the mechanical codes of science our consciousness has shifted from one of reverence for all things sacred to the worship of abstract materialism.   Consequently, our change of attitude has endangered our living, breathing celestial sphere and it’s perhaps why crop circles, with their foundations based squarely upon sacred geometry, have chosen to appear at this particular point in time, reminding us that if only we observe the fundamental laws of the universe we may still be in time to discover the secrets of universal harmony and salvage our very own symbol of eternal life, the Earth.

If you want to do something but you’re not sure where to start, do some research on alternative fuels. An American man called Stan Meyer invented a car run on water. Amazing right? Revolutionary? Yes, or rather it should have been but sadly he died – some believe murdered – and his design disappeared. Some good news today though, Wessex Water engineers have successfully made a car that runs on methane gas from sewage.

If you’re not doing so already, start using a canvas bags instead of plastic ones, find out about a nature conservation scheme near you for bees and butterflies or whatever animal you choose. Or if you’re young and deciding what to do when you finish school, consider becoming a scientist and you could go on to invent a better alternative to plastic or other important, planet saving discoveries. I wish I had done that. Now I’m finding other ways to care and make a difference.

Peace

Copyright symbol courtesy of this useful webpage: 

http://www.copyrightauthority.com/copyright-symbol/

Read this today and thought everyone should read it too. Think you’ll like it…

Please read it and spread it far and wide:

LOVE AND THE TAXI DRIVER

Mary caught a taxi with her friend John, in Sydney the other day. When they got out, John said to the driver, “Thank you for the ride. You did a superb job of driving.”
The taxi driver was stunned for a second. ” Are you being smart or something?” he said. “No, Im not putting you on. I admire the way you kept cool in that heavy traffic.” – The driver smiled and said, “Thanks mate,” before driving off.

“What was that all about?” Mary asked. “I’m trying to bring love back to Sydney,” he said. ” I believe it’s the only thing that can save our city.” Mary inquired, ” But how can one man save Sydney?” John answered. “It’s not only one man. I believe I have made that taxi driver’s day. Suppose he has twenty fares. He’s going to be nice to those twenty fares because someone was nice to him. Those fares in turn will be kinder to their employees or shopkeepers or waiters or even their own families. Eventually the goodwill could spread to at least 1,000 people. Now that isnt bad, is it?”

“But your depending on that taxi driver to pass your goodwill to others.” Mary objected. “I’m not depending on it”, John sai, “I’m aware that the system isn’t foolproof. So I might deal with ten different people today, and if out of ten, I make three happy, then eventually I can indirectly influence the attitudes of 3,000 people or more.”

Mary admitted that it sounded good on paper, but wasn’t sure it would work in practice. “Nothing is lost if it doesn’t. It didn’t take any of my time to tell that man he was doing a good job. He neither received a larger tip nor a smaller tip. If it fell on deaf ears, so what? Tomorrow there will be another taxi driver I can try to make happy.” Mary reacted with, “You’re crazy.” John replied, “That shows how cynical you’ve become, I’ve made a study of this phenomenon.”

They were walking passed a building site and passed five workmen eating lunch. John stopped and commented, “That’s a magnificent job you men have done. It must have been difficult and dangerous work.” The workmen eyed him suspiciously. “When will it be finished?” asked John. “June,” a man grunted. John ventured, “Ah, that’s very impressive. You must all be very proud.”

As they walked away, Mary said to John, “I haven’t seen anyone like you since I saw Don Quixote, a character in the play, The Man From La Mancha.” John responded, “When those men digest my words, they will feel better for it. Somehow the city will benefit from their happiness.” Mary protested, “But you can’t do this all alone! You’re just one man.” But John replied, ” The most important thing is not to get discouraged. Making people in the city become kind is not an easy job, but I enlist other people in my campaign.”

“You just winked at a very plain-looking woman,” Mary exclaimed. “Yes, I know,” John replied. “And if she’s a school teacher, her class will be in for a fantastic day!”

“Happiness is like jam…you can’t spread even a little without getting some on yourself.” Vern McLellan

And for some scientific evidence, have a look at Professor Richard Wiseman’s blog post on the science of happiness

Sabina Lucia