Green Holidays

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I had 2 weeks booked off work to spend on days out - and I was very disappointed!

There are 2 main reason why planning a day out in the UK at this time of year can be a bit difficult - and it seems that when you do decide on where to go, it can let you down a bit too.

Planning:
I decided to look at houses and gardens for some day trips - and I don’t mind driving a few hours to get to them if they are going to be a full days entertainment with plenty of photo opportunities!

However, a lot of properties are closed for the winter either for cleaning and maintenance, or because the expected number of visitors won’t raise enough money to pay the staff that they will need for wardens, guides and ticket office staff.

Both of these are fair points when looked at on a personal level, but it doesn’t really go towards helping to keep holiday makers in the UK:  ‘It’s cold here and half the places are shut - let’s go on a cheap sunshine holiday instead!’

Most of the place I found open were ‘free entry’ landscape and beaches etc - so going there can be done anytime you want - so not worth making an effort to go and see while on your holidays!

Arriving:
We finally selected an ornamental gardens, with woodlands, water features, long walks and a special butterfly event in the glasshouses apparently with butterfly experts on hand to discuss wildlife tips and the butterflies themselves.  It also had a great garden centre attached so we could be sure of a full days fun.

Wrong.

Firstly, there was no butterfly expert on hand, there really weren’t even that many butterflies - and half of those in the glasshouse were still in a state of inactivity, having only just escaped from their chrysalis.  So they were hanging lifeless from branches with their wings all wrinkled up.

Secondly, most of the grassed areas and many of the large plant beds were closed off for re-working and planting.  Quite a lot of the beds from autumn were completely gone with just earth in their place, and many new projects hadn’t started yet, so were just fenced off.

I wasn’t expecting full beds of bright flowers and beautiful bushy shrubs - as I like plants in winter - but closing off these areas was a bit of a disappointment in my eyes.

Thirdly, we left an hour or so at the end to look around the garden centre and to take away some plants and seeds as well as a great cactus for a birthday pressie - but it was closed!

They hadn’t even told you this on the way in, or on the way out or even at the start of the path to get there.  You literally had to walk all the way to the doors to find that it was shut. 

After standing there for a minute or 2 in shock from this, you then walked back down the path past all the other people still walking up to the door to find out the terrible news for themselves!

The Result:
It’s a shame when you are charged the full amount for entry to somewhere, when they don’t tell you that around a 3rd of the attractions are closed!  I mean, there are plenty of other gardens out there - and you want to feel that you got value for money.

If that was the first time I had been there, it is possible that I wouldn’t return!  The butterflies were enough to make the day not a total waste, but having known about the closed plant centre, and the fenced off areas, we may have gone somewhere else that day and come back here another time.

I know the bosses won’t want to be turning people away, but if this one entry fee from Family A is all they ever get from them - then it wasn’t worth it.  But if Family A turn up and have the best day ever - then Family A may be coming back next holiday - or may even become members.

We won’t be!

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Welcome to the first Blog Carnival of the new year - and welcome to 2010!

As expected, everyone has been very busy with the whole festive period - or have been trapped indoors for weeks with all this snow - so there are only a few articles for me to share with you today.

Lets start with some essential reading - especially after I started watching the BBC series ‘Survivors’ the other day where you really need some basic outdoor skills - and of course it helps to be able to take care of yourself outside of the city!  So lets join Dorrie for some reasons to think of Camping: A Valuable Reminder On Survival.

And surviving as a vegan while travelling can also be a bit tricky - so have a peek at 20stravel’s guide to Top 5 Tips for Eating Vegan On the Road for some inspiration.

Regular writer Guffly gives us not only: Best Eco-Friendly Getaways | Gufflyfor the new year, but also an insight into their eco friendly travel Green Products. Take a look yourself if you are planning a trip soon.

And how about this final article from Tyler Tervooren who spends a lot of time explaining the concept of the StayCation - and it really had me intrigued so take a look yourself at The Art of the Staycation and see if he convinces you……

Enjoy!

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Which charity should you donate to, to help the Haitians get through this terrible natural disaster?

Well, that is the point of the DEC - the Disasters Emergency Committee which have been working hard for humans since 1963 - basically they join all the main humanitarian charities together to fight one cause.

These humanitarian agencies include Save The Children, Help The Aged and the British Red Cross, and in times of emergency - like the earthquake that recently devastated Haiti - they join together to make big things happen - and fast!

This way funds, supplies and more importantly - information, gets passed to the right people at the right time  - rather than having all of the 13 single charities all trying to ‘do their bit’ to help separately but at the same time basically treading on each others toes!

It makes perfect sense to organise emergency relief this way - otherwise there will be too many people all on the same place at the same time all using valuable funds to do the same thing.

The DEC makes sure that none of the funds are wasted and that every charity can work in it’s area of expertise without wasting time deciding who is going to do what.

Your Donations:
By donating directly to the DEC, you can save even more of these funds by limiting the administration costs (and wasted time) of transferring money to Help The Aged, who then have to process and bank this money, only to then process these funds again when working with the DEC.

And, donating directly to the Disasters Committee means that that is exactly what your donation is going to be used for.  It isn’t going to pay wages for charity workers who are not directly helping the victims of the earthquake; it is going straight to the problem - and fast!

The DEC can also call upon huge international broadcasting agencies and distribution companies to help spread the word and facilitate collections and direct action - like free-phone numbers and televised broadcast appeals.  Your money makes this possible - and gets results.

Emergencies:
No one can plan for such emergencies, so these ‘on demand’ appeals are the best way to get the publics attention and to get one-off donations from companies and individuals.  These disasters don’t happen every week - so treat them as a rare event that you can help out with.

I mean, no-one is going to become a member of the DEC and get newsletters from it - it is an instant decision charity, and everyone can help by lifting the phone or getting online.

If everyone in your street gave just £5 that could be over £500 raised - multiply up your close neighbourhood - and it rises to £3000+. 

It might only be a small amount to you - but it soon treats thousands of wounded people - feeds hundreds of families and eventually helps to rebuild homes, hospitals, schools and cities.

Have you donated your £5 yet?  Donate Now.

If you think that ‘green’ issues are just personal choice - then try dropping litter in NYC!

The police force there have an Environmental Conservation department who don’t take kindly to pollution, litter or protected species amongst other things.  And won’t be shy in telling you so either.

Apparently there are 20 officers currently dubbed ‘green police‘ working in the city itself and they will respond to anything that breaches current eco friendly incidents like polluting vehicles. 

One such reported incident got the driver of the truck a $700 fine - raising to $1300 if the truck wasn’t upgraded to meet current emissions regulations in 30 days!  The officers have portable monitors they just hold on the exhausts - so there is no second chance once pulled over!

Now that is what I like to see - positive action that really hurts the offenders!  No one is going to stop speeding for fear of a small fine - but throw $700 at someone - and I bet they won’t make the same mistake twice!  Hopefully green offenders will start to get the message too - and buck their ideas up.

And For The Animals:
The police also look out for wildlife law breakers too.  The wider arm of the green police work throughout the whole state of New York, taking care of hunting and fishing licences and regulation - and this extends right into the city.

Fish markets and butchers can all be investigated by the officers looking to spot endangered species amongst the tonnes of produce reaching the restaurants and vendors on the street.  They also know about the acceptable sizes for catches too.  Many species can only be kept for food if they are mature adults and above a certain size.

Shellfish too are monitered with juvenile sizes and protected species not boding well for the trader!  Registration and records of sources for these things are also checked for - and woe betide anyone that can’t prove where they got their products from!

There should be more of these people about - so make sure if you are a resident; you support them to keep them on the streets - and if you are an offender; you need to green up your act - fast!

Why not book yourself onto an old-fashioned steam train - in a Pulham car of course!

I recently had the privilege of travelling from London Kings Cross to the beautiful city of Cambridge on-board a working steam train.

I love the idea of travelling by rail - and I am a real fan of historic English cities, so the combination of the two was perfect!  And more eco friendly than driving there.

The Train:
The train I travelled on was called the BR Pacific No. 70013: Oliver Cromwell - and was the same engine used on the last steam rail journey by British Rail in 1968.

This handsome green engine was a regular visitor to East Anglia - and in fact carried on past Cambridge to Ely and Norwich if you wanted a longer journey.

It was great alighting mid-way on the journey as not only did we get to see him pulling away from the station - and of course returning head on (for some great video footage) - but we spent a lovely 5 hours wandering around the many colleges and historic sites in the city.

The Journey:
The first thing everyone on the carriage realised as we pulled away from London was that the steam that gives us the characteristic white ’smoke’ from the front engine isn’t just steam - it has all the coal particles in it! 

Needless to say after we came out of the first tunnel and the ash had all blown into the carriage and onto absolutely everything - people closed all the windows and started wiping the thin layer of soot off their belongings!

However the smell was delightful and all part of the experience!

The company running the service had provided every passenger with a route map of the journey and all the stations we pass through or stop at and some information on the original services and the engine itself.

All along the route, we saw random people standing in fields to get a good look at the engine as it passed across the landscape.  Hundreds of people crowded into station car-parks and bridges along the way, craning to get a good photo of the train as we passed by!

It almost seemed like we were a celebrity - a 13 carriage long celebrity throwing soot and steam up into the air and hooting our steam whistle at everyone along the way!

If you fancy a day out in style, then find yourself a steam company that can take you to a place you want to go for a great eco friendly adventure!

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If local women are not allowed to visit somewhere - why should female tourists get access?

I was just reading an article in last months National Geographic about a peninsula in northern Greece filled with around 2000 monks.   This self-governing state is seen as the focal point of Orthodoxy in this region, and is home to over 20 monastical buildings and various other shelters and buildings - and not one single woman!

The males here have decreed that there should be no women allowed to visit, work or live on the peninsula - and they have lived here a long time holding on to this wish.

Mainly as they do not want to be distracted from their busy lives of worship and also as the land they occupy is hemmed in by great mountains, and only accessible by boat, so they have a certain amount of control over who enters.

Everything that happens here is ruled by the self appointed ‘rulers’ and they are sticking to their word.

However, now Greece has become involved in the European Union and many of the monasteries are receiving financial support from it - there is talk of ‘changes’ to modernise the area and bring it into line with the rest of the country.

And this could mean allowing women to visit!

Is That Wrong?
Just because we (as travelers) can visit virtually anywhere in the world that we want to, including remote Amazonian tribes in Brazil and Aboriginal families in the vast wilderness of Australia, does that mean we can ignore their culture - and their history - and in this case; their beliefs?

So, should men be able to stop women visiting this region?  Well, I think so.  Or more correctly - women should see how important this is to the monks and refrain from going there.

It is directly comparable to our personal space.  For example: when we go to the gym - we don’t just wander into the men’s locker room?  When we visit someones home - we don’t just go looking around their bedroom - so why should we go and ‘look’ at their monasteries?

It’s a matter of respect really.

Preservation Of Culture:
We all know that as the world expands, so history and culture are lost - so why are we not helping to preserve them?  Things may well eventually have to change - but we shouldn’t be the one’s speeding it up.

There are plenty of people living in the world today that do not want to or do not need to become modernised and have everyone trampling all over their land to see what they are like.

They should be able to just continue doing what they have done for centuries before without being ’studied’ or dissected to see how they ‘fit in’.

It is amazing to think that their are still places in the world that we don’t know about - and I must admit that I enjoy reading about such places and the people who live there.  People living their whole lives in religious seclusion or totally isolated from the rest of the world.

And sometimes, I just hope it will stay that way.

Can you tell the difference between a blackbird and a robin?

If you can - and you aren’t doing anything much at the end of January, why not step out into your garden and watch the birds?  The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (the RSPB) are running their annual bird count on the 30th and 31st of the month - and your would really be helping if you joined in.

The Count:
Don’t worry about learning every single garden bird - they just want the common species. 

And, they only want you to count the most you see at one time rather than clocking up every single bird that flutters past your garden.  So basically if you see one blue tit - you mark down 1.  If that one flies off and later you see another blue tit - it still counts as only 1.  So you don’t need to add them together. 

However, if 2 blue tits fly in together, then your count goes up to 2, as you only every count the total number of each bird seen at one time.

A quick read of their website will help explain the ‘rules’ which couldn’t be simpler - and you could be helping to make sure that they can monitor the rise of decline of some of the UK’s garden favourites.

House sparrows were top of the table in 2009, with starlings and blackbirds coming next.  Do you often see them in your garden anyway?

Why Count Them?
Counting birds in your own country is just as important as counting birds in the Amazon or in the jungles of Borneo.  Just because they aren’t a tropical species, or live in areas of mass deforestation - it doesn’t mean that they aren’t important.

Losing species close to home can also be an indicator of changing climate, habitats in danger and the effects of mankind - probably more important to you than those birds on the other side of the world - and you don’t need and international flight to keep an eye on these ones!

Joining the RSPB could make even more of a difference, but you don’t have to go that far if you don’t want to - just going into your own garden is far enough!