Green Holidays

If you collect berries for making pies, drinks, puddings – where does the plant go?

Now we know that certain berries are great for puddings like blackberries, some are good for drinks like juniper berries and others are great for a whole host of other yummy tummy fillers.

But have you checked that those berries are not locally threatened with extinction?

It only takes a little bit of your old biology class to remember that the berries that plants make contain the seeds of that plant - and if the seeds don’t hit the ground – you don’t get a new plant!

So, needless to say, if you eat those seeds or throw the seeds in your bin – you are preventing a new generation of berry plants from germinating.  And that’s ok if they are a garden plant that you have brought and grown in your garden – but if you go on a wild berry hunt, you should really check on your species before you go stealing it’s fruit!

Case In Point:
Take juniper berries – great for gin making – but locally threatened in certain habitats.

Also, the berries take up to 3 years to fruit on the plant itself and another 2 or more to germinate into a new plant – so it’s berries are at least 5 years in the making.  And of course, not all berries contain fertile seeds in the first place!

Junipers are also very fussy about where they grow and as a result many juniper stands (groups of junipers) are not producing young plants in certain habitats across southern England.

Well, how could they if you are using all their berries each year for your festive fun!  Yes, wild mammals and birds also eat the plants and berries – but you are just adding to their woes!

photo credit: oskarlin

By all means in Scotland, where the plant is very common and widespread, take some berries – but still make sure that you don’t pick all the berries of any one plant or in any one stand otherwise you are just being a bit selfish towards nature’s efforts!

And according to local by-laws; you may not even be allowed to pick plants and berries in certain nature reserves or on protected land – or even beside footpaths or bridleways if it passes through private land.

And there may well be a good reason for it – don’t assume these berries go to waste if you don’t pick them. Nature takes care of these things; with mammals and birds eating the fresh produce and the invertebrates finishing off the waste materials!

Wild Food:
There is a big drive towards ‘wild food’ at the moment with mushrooms, berries, plants and game all making it onto the apparently eco friendly menu – but think about the bigger picture in all cases.

Yes, it’s lovely to kill off some wild deer and feed 30 of your friends at a wedding – but if everyone did this there would soon be a very noticeable shortage of deer!  Same goes for ducks, boar and fish.

And foraging for mushrooms is actually where you pick and eat the fruiting bodies of the underground fungi (just like the berries of the juniper bush) so you could be preventing the next generation of life for them too!

Conclusion:
Just because nature grew something for free and you happen to be near it – don’t assume that you should take it!  Think about the long term.  Think about 10 or 20 years down the line for that plant or animal.

I mean – have you checked which native plants or local habitats near to where you live are threatened?  Would you even look it up before you head out for a walk in the countryside?

We are in a bit of a bind over biodiversity at the moment – so it seems a bit selfish to try to stop people in Borneo from felling rare trees and killing orangutans, if we are basically preventing threatened species from growing and eating our own variety of ‘bush meat’!

Perhaps we should start to be a bit more concerned about these things – otherwise getting yourself and your kids back out into nature could actually be hindering or destroying the very plants and animals that we wanted to get closer to in the first place!

Could taking your kids to Karate lessons really be that green?

Have you ever thought about an alternative way to stop you kids leaving the lights on and playing computer games all night:  Make them do their homework? Give them household chores to complete? Nag them all day?

Or sign them up to a club like Karate, sea cadets, scouts, ballet, piano lessons?

Seriously, what better way to keep your energy levels down at home without getting into a constant battle with your kids!  Give them something to do outside!

Not only will it give you some free time, it will allow them a bit of independence, an excuse to make friends, learn new skills and gain some valuable social skills along the way!

photo credit: woodleywonderworks

Something For The Future:
I wish I had joined more clubs when I was younger!  I would so love to have played an instrument or learned to dance – but it all seems such a chore when you have a house to run – if only you could give your kids those opportunities.

There is so much on offer out there today that it would be a shame not to encourage your kids to get involved – and maybe get involved yourself.

I mean if your kids are busy for 2 hours twice a week – won’t that give you the time to try out something new yourself?

Things like music lessons or language tutoring can be done at a time to suit you (rather than having to attend set classes) so while your kids are playing football you could be learning Spanish; or while your kids are learning a new dance move you could be playing the violin!

You never know what your kids are going to want to do in the future – but at least if they have tried all these things in their youth, they can always go back to it easier when they are adults.

Or maybe impress their work colleagues with as an unexpected skill!

Start Now:
There is no time like the present for anything you want to do.  If you make an excuse to put it off – it could be years before you try it and then find out you didn’t like it anyway and have to find something else to put off for a few more years!

Sometimes the actual thing you do doesn’t lead to where you wanted – so the sooner you get started, the sooner you can see where you will end up!

Kids often don’t know what opportunities are out there in the first place – so it is up to you to introduce them to all the clubs, groups and skills out there.

It could also be a way to introduce your kids to charity work and volunteering – and of course you can tag along if they will let you!  Why not get them out in the countryside working for the National Trust or Wildlife Trusts scrub bashing or footpath building.

Or helping out at organised events for local communities or those who need an extra bit of support; serving food, litter picking, cleaning up or painting the set for the church pantomime!

It’s not behind you!  Look to the future!

Thinking ahead to what you enjoy on holiday can influence your savings!

Did you think that your savings just sat in a drawer at the bank the whole time – earning you interest by just being there?

No, of course not.  Your money is sent all around the world by your bank or financial company and invested into all sorts of ventures from gold to technology, and from energy to vaccinations.

But what if your bank is funding things that you disapprove of?  Have you even asked them who they lend your money to?

Why Should You Care?
Well, firstly – you surely don’t want to be giving your money to any company that isn’t environmentally friendly do you?  Or a company that abuses people or landscapes? 

Would you give your money to a company that clears forests, pollutes waterways or displaces communities? Or one that abuses people, destroys homes and causes illness and disease?

What if you are spending money each month donating to charities which are using your money to fight certain developments – yet your savings are helping to fund the other side.

One set of funds is destroying a habitat – and you other money is trying to clean up the pieces!

What Could You Be Doing?
Well, you could be responsible for destroying the very places that you want to visit in the future. 

Your funds could be clearing landscapes for farming, energy exploration, transport connections, and any number of other technologies without you really knowing that you are doing it.

photo credit: L Gnome

If you were only looking at the financial returns at the end of your term or for when you retire then you are missing the point of the word: investment!

What is the point of investing in purely your own financial future – when the rest of the world is still being changed beyond your control.

So what you should be doing is making sure that the companies you invest in are doing what you want them to be doing.  Check with your bank where they are sending your money before you give it to them.

You try to only travel with ethical companies and you buy products that are fair trade and sustainable – so why not check where all your money is going in the bank!

You could be paying an oil drilling company to cut holes in the Amazon with your pension – and also giving to a charity to try to relocate all the people and animals that used to live where an oil well is now situated.

And if you want to ever see those orangutans in the wild – make sure your savings account isn’t funding oil palm plantations!

You can do a lot of things with your money – so plan to spend it well!

Find some of the UK’s ancient grasslands – and they could be bright pink!

Now is the time of year for watching out for mushrooms and toadstools in your local woodlands, parks and gardens. 

But some of these beautiful fungi are clear indicators or some of our most ancient and undisturbed grasslands – so take a closer look!

Waxcaps come in many shapes and colours and are a great way to start mushroom watching as they are so easy to identify with their bright colours and shiny surfaces!

You don’t have to crawl through the undergrowth either to get an eyeful of these pretty garden gems – as they prefer lawns and orchards – so will be right in front of you when you walk around the grasslands and parks near you.

Their bright colours are clear indicators of an untreated but well maintained grassland habitat – perfect for housing other rare species and wildlife. Such landscapes are now increasingly rare – and many of the waxcap species are listed a rare as well – so your help in spotting them could make sure that they are protected for the future!

What To Look Out For:
Unlike most mushrooms – waxcaps are bright colours – and by bright I mean they stand out like a sore thumb against the green grass!

Here are some of the more common or brightly coloured species for you to look out for:

Golden Waxcap – These are very common and are like little suns on the ground.  They love to grow in groups, spread over a large area and are balanced high on bright yellow stems.

Honey Waxcap – Are bright orange and tend to be low to the ground and look like bottle tops when they are younger.

Snowy Waxcaps – These perfectly white mushrooms grow taller as they age and end up turning inside-out as they mature – making for great photos!

Parrot Waxcaps – Start out yellow and slimy – and turn green and slimy as they age.  Once you have seen one in the grass – you will see dozens of them!

Ballerina Waxcap- Much rarer but especially beautiful!  Not only is it pink in colour, as it ages it’s cap turns upwards at the edges and splits showing the white gills underneath and looks just like a little tu-tu!

There are also black waxcaps, peach, orange, golden and bright red waxcaps with yellow stems!

So, get outside and start looking for these ancient garden growths – and maybe you could find a site worth preserving and add to the known range!

If you want to live in a Mediterranean climate – carry on regardless!

Climate change is real – and is happening every day.  Your choices every hour, even every minute are making it a reality.

You may well now be bored of hearing that you should ‘turn off your lights’, ‘don’t leave the TV on stand-by’ and ‘turn down the thermostat by 1 degree’ – but people still aren’t doing it!

I can visit a friends house and see these very basics being ignored; and taps left dripping, single item washes and radiators heating empty rooms.  People just aren’t taking this whole thing seriously.

And as a result – the world is getting warmer……

Your Green Holidays:
So, you need to make sure that the people you are paying your hard earned money to for holidays, trips and other services are doing their bit.

If you want to stay home and admire the beautiful Lake District, the Fens or some beautiful coastal villages – then you need to make sure that they can survive climate change:

If the temperature of the Earth rises just 2 degrees – you will no longer have those clear lakes.  The warmer weather will encourage flash floods – which will in turn encourage algal growths – as well as reduce the amount of water reaching the ground.  And with less water falling as rain in the first place; humans will need to ‘take’ more of it for survival and industry – so you won’t be finding it laying about in ponds and lakes!

Higher temperatures will also bring rising sea levels – and so the low-lying Fens will soo be underwater.  Just a meter sea level rise could see vast swathes of eastern England permanently underwater.  All that land which was so carefully drained for farming will be lost to ‘poisonous’ salty marshes – useless for human agriculture and living.

Rising sea levels and increased storms will soon put an end to a trip to the seaside!  Many cliffs and low level defences will be overcome by violent storms or just increased erosion.  Many houses are lost each year already due to this effect – but it could be worse if it happens when the country is already stressed.  Funding won’t be available to save a few cottages from destruction when the capital is under threat too!

photo credit: Orange County Archives

Higher temperatures and less rain will also mean that your local species will start to be outcompeted by more drought-resistant plants and animals.  Gone will be the oaks and chestnuts and in will come the corks and palms.  Apples won’t get their frosts so will soon die out and we will have oranges and lemons instead.

As a result, all the insects and fungi that feed on these plants will be gone too – and it feeds up the food chain.  If there are no insects to feed the blue tits and robins – they will be gone too – and the owls and hawks and foxes that feed on them?  If the seeds of these trees are no longer available – then what will the squirrels and deer eat?

Your Impact:
By all means carry on going on your trips – as your money spent on local services is vital for keeping these places alive and cared for – but make some demands of your own before booking.

I know it all sounds a bit petty to ask that your towels aren’t washed every day and food is locally sourced – but unless you do these things you are directly contributing to climate change and the ultimate demise of the English countryside.

You often hear the quotes of ‘if everyone in the world did A, then we could save so much of B’.  But everyone in the UK isn’t even doing A – so how can we make a real difference?

With your money. 

Money really does talk in the service industry – and if someone is running an eco friendly hotel and bed and breakfast; they should be encouraged to keep that up – with your money.

People who don’t make an effort to be green and continue to waste resources, waste water and buy cheap plastic over-packaged products should be left out of your holiday plans – ie: no money – you don’t stay with them at all!

They can either change their ethics to stay in business – or you can make sure they become extinct instead of our native wildlife and plants!