buy nothing month: day twelve

Hey, good morning everyone!

Just a quick post to say that we're on day twelve and all is well. The fact that the sun is shining makes a big difference! I also wanted to post that I LOVE my job. Am just planning and putting together a fairtrade edition to come out in January and am very excited about all the projects and ideas that I am reading about and the people that I am speaking to. Discovered a Canadian based eco mama yesterday who runs an online homebirth supplies store and also provides natural birthing kits for women in Uganda through a programme that she and some friends have set up. 

The programme is dedicated to helping children, women and communities in Uganda find peace and health. They believe that in order to overcome trauma and conflict in a community, first people need to heal and uplift their bodies, minds and spirits. Shanti Uganda aims to provide the tools needed to support inner peace and wellbeing, encourage conscious birth (in a country where medicalised birth has taken its toll and many of the traditional practices lost) and manifest health, happiness and community.

Some of the initiatives include running yoga classes and art workshops to aid trauma release and providing luna washable pads to the young women. The latest project was to build a chicken coop next to the school so that the school children could have fresh eggs for breakfast. An organic farm and birthing centre are planned for the Community Centre that they are hoping to build. All in all - an inspiring vision and one that brings a real sense of hope that such pockets of light exist around the world.

home for bumblebees

A colourful, flower rich meadow near Loch Levern in Perth, Scotland has become home to rare and threatened species of bumblebee, according to the RSPB, who joined forces with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust this month to create the world's first bumblebee sanctuary. Located at Vane Farm nature reserve, the hay meadow interspersed with wild flowers, is open to the public and is already attracting many species of bumblebee as well as butterflies, hoverflies and other insects. Swallows and skylarks are also benefiting from the increased insect population. The rare Blaeberry Bumblebee is a visitor, lured down from the nearby hills and it is hoped that the critically endangered Great Yellow Bumblebee might also be persuaded to return. Loss of bumblebees could have a devastating effect on our whole ecosystem so it is vital that we protect and create habitats for them, both on a large scale and also in our back gardens. Check out this marvellous invertebrate five star pad from the Wildlife Trusts.