Why you owe your life to the tree in your garden.

We see trees day and daily yet seldom are we aware of the role they play in our everyday lives.  Trees grow in almost all areas of our planet but the area in which we continue to let them do so is diminishing at a frightening rate.
We cut millions of square miles every year of forests and woodland for human resources. Along with the trees go the millions of species of flora and fauna that rely on them for their existence.
Going about our daily lives we aren't really able to comprehend how this affects us. The simple fact of the matter, whether we like to believe it or not, is that by taking the trees away we are killing ourselves.
Trees have been referred to by many scientists as " the lungs of the Earth"  The reason being that it is each and every single tree that provides the oxygen we breathe all day, everyday. Trees remove Carbon from our atmosphere. Without them we WILL perish!
For many this may sound very dramatic but its a very simple fact of our lives that we have a duty to address.
When your out walking your pet or just having a stroll simply stop and look at the tree you perhaps pass daily without much thought. In that one tree live thousands of organisms from mosses to beetles to bird. Every last one is dependant on the other. Take one away and they all perish. Take the tree away and there is less oxygen and more carbon to breathe.
By growing quietly the humble, yet majestic, tree is storing our carbon and keeping us alive. Think of this when using wood based products wastefully. Burning logs, for example, just because you like a nice fire in your home.
In the western world we continue to tear down our natural environment in favour of more practical needs which are often frivolous.

Given that trees enable us to live surely planting them throughout our countryside is by far the only practical thing to do. By doing so we bring back once vibrant ecosystems that once again give natural beauty to our immediate surroundings.

My challenge to everyone is to move away from our traditional selfish needs and put back what we have so wantonly destroyed.  By continuing to take, take and take we are very quickly running out of options. Our kids deserve better.
Are you brave enough to accept your role in natural world or are you going to not bother.

Why join an oil buying club?

When living in a rural location it is often the case that home heating oil, Kerosene 28, is the only option when wanting to heat ones home. As a fuel it is notoriously inefficient although modern heating systems are improving this fact. One thing however that faces all customers is the ever fluctuating and often volatile pricing of home heating oil.

Oil Buying Clubs are quickly establishing themselves as the most practical, cost effective and environmentally friendly option possible for members and distributors alike.

By joining an Oil Buying Club, such as the one I operate, people can come together and order in bulk. The benefits of this are many. Firstly with such a large volume of oil being ordered a distributor is able to give a significant reduction in price. The supplier themselves delivers the oil on one day to the various club members. The supplier naturally saves on transport costs as well as administration and marketing. The reason being the Oil Club in question brings a ready made customer database to the supplier thereby reducing the need for advertising costs etc.

The very simplicity of an Oil Buying Club is in itself unusual in a world often mixed up in red tape and bureaucracy. 

Orders are often made by telephone, post or e-mail. The Club Co Ordinator then collates the orders and contacts various suppliers for the best price on offer.  Each member is then responsible for paying the supplier themselves. 
An oil club is a must for those who wish to reduce their Carbon Footprint  as well as to gain the very best reduction possible in cost.

It has been proven that Oil Buying Clubs consistantly obtain better prices for their members than they would acting as individuals. This is one example of how community spirit can reap not just financial rewards but also keep tanker traffic at a minimum. This has a knock on effect of having cleaner air and safer roads.

    

Childhood in a rural environment

As a boy growing up in rural Co.Down engagement with and a love of the natural world was quite simply part of everyday life. Our days were spent playing in the fields and streams near our home. We grew to know the names of the plants and animals around us.
Forty years later and this engagement as a child has given me a deep, almost spiritual connection, with the world around me.
Over those forty short years I have seen the human population in my home town land to increase dramatically from a few scattered farms to people living in purpose built family homes. Many of those green fields have since gone and with the people have come shops and associated services to provide for them. Heavy traffic on still small country roads has transformed the area into a mini concrete jungle.
Of course much of the flora and fauna has been destroyed to make way for the built environment.
This is just a small example of a phenomenon that has been occurring over those years on a global scale. We are now beginning to see the devastation it is causing across our planet.
So how do we balance out human hunger for resources with the sustainability of the planet that provides it.
There is only one option and that is to THINK about what we as individuals are doing to reduce the footprint we produce. It is amazing how little we actually need to do to make this happen but sadly so few of us can even be bothered unless we are forced to e.g recycling to conform to EU requirements on landfill.
Our engagement with the natural world has diminished as our lifestyles take us further and further away from the pastures and forests that provide the very air we breath and the food we eat.
I will be exploring the various ideas, tips and changes to lifestyle that can and do have financial, physical and psychological benefits to us all whether child or adult.

The Carbon Warrior

The 21st century has seen Global Warming become top of the list both politically and socially. Human population, currently 7 billions, has resulted in human activity stripping Earth of its resources more quickly than they can be replenished.

 The use of fossil fuels and deforestation means our atmosphere has become overly polluted with Carbon Dioxide which is rapidly killing the planet.
This fact is somewhat ironic given that Carbon is central to all life forms on our planet. Without Carbon there cannot be life as we know it however, like so many things, too much in the atmosphere is having a negative effect.

The aim of the Carbon Warrior is to explore and share the things we, as the most successful species, can change to the advantage of ALL life on Earth.
As someone who is involved in the sciences of the environment one thing has struck me repeatedly i.e That being environmentally friendly is financially beneficial to us all.
The Carbon Warrior will aim to explore the simple steps to achieve this as well as securing our planets long term future and sustainability to enable life to continue to flourish.