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If things get tougher?
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Just filled a raised bed in the front garden and have one more to do, and have 3 in the back garden and 2 more to do, and I can testify that compost to fill them costs a mint! Luckily some has come from home composting, and we cut and shredded a load of branches so some chippings has gone on the base of a couple. I know they absorb nitrogen, but they will have a few months to rot down before anything is planted in those beds, so hopefully they will be on their way by the time I'm planting out. One bed needed ericaceous compost (for my blueberry bushes) so I had no option but to buy for that one. I'm figuring that once they are done they are done, and will just need a bag of manure every now and then (not the blueberries though) so it hurts to start with but should be ok after that.
And I just had a little chuckle - not too many threads that could go from overpopulation to sugar puffs with no gradual transition!0 -
[quote=ceridwen;15905595
A "Western" child will expect a higher standard of living than ones from many other countries and will expect that - somewhere along the line (directly or indirectly)- another slice of countryside will be built on to provide them with a house once they are adults.
But - I will stop there....as I know many people believe that it is a person's "individual choice" how many children to have - even some people who say they are environmentalists. Those of us who worry about overpopulation know we will never change other people's opinions no matter what we say/no matter how much evidence we produce - so will be just left with "heartsink moments" every time anyone announces they are expecting Child No. 3 or beyond. I know all we can do is ask people to be responsible and then try not to be depressed for too long any time someone announces they don't intend to be.
(NB: I do accept that people who already have 3 or more children may have had them not realising how serious the situation is. I am only stating that we all now do realise the situation is extremely critical. I am aware that a large number of people have only realised that overpopulation is a major threat to us all in the last couple of years. I can't think of anyone I knew personally who knew at the time I was looking for likeminded "people in the street" who realised about this back in the 1970's. I only recall that I knew about overpopulation being such a problem back in the 1970's - as I was astonished at having to pay for contraception "in the circumstances" - as I investigated whether I would be paid any sort of bonus for NOT having children. Very disappointed when I found this didn't exist yet...)[/quote]
I should firstly declare myself as someone who has had four children. On the housing front, I think things will get steadily worse because these days far too much housing is single occupation. In my road alone 5 houses out of the 9 nearest me are single occupation. That's 3 bedrooms, living-room, bathroom and kitchen for one person. We squeezed 6 into ours:p Only one of the occupants was widowed, the others have always been single. Now aside from the land area factor to provide this level of housing to singles, the energy required to heat, maintain etc the property is the same whether there's one occupant or four, so that individual's carbon footprint is massively more than where house sharing is going on. More important than stopping people from having more than two children, is to make every child a wanted child. If this were the case, there would be some larger, but many more smaller, families. Too many people seem to have them because it's the *done* thing, or to not miss out. Then they spend the next 16 or so years seemingly considering them a nuisance that interferes with their own pleasures:rolleyes: Of course this issue as it pertains to third world populations is far more complex.You never get a second chance to make a first impression.0 -
Well....I obviously agree that "every child a wanted child". I simply don't understand why anyone would have a child unless they wanted to do so in this day and age. I wince visibly every time I see a parent with a child that they don't seem to particularly have "wanted" in the first place. Having a child is a huge responsibility - I would certainly agree with that. If you have one - then you have elected to do your best to feed/clothe/house/educate that child to the best of your abilities and obviously - last but not least - love them. Even though I am a childless person (by choice) - it turns my stomach as well to see the cases of child abuse that come up so frequently and I'm thinking "why on earth did they have them only to treat them so appallingly - poor little child/ren?" I certainly agree that some people just seem to have children on "auto pilot" - because it's the "done thing" - one can see that, at the least, they aren't that bothered. Amongst the people I know - I could see clearly which ones are obviously meant to be parents - as they would clearly be deprived of something fundamental to their natures and that they are particularly suited to doing if they didn't have any.
Onto the housing for singles - I don't know how typical my area is - but there are actually VERY few houses with just one bedroom. Hence - my own has two bedrooms - as that was basically the smallest houses available and there was also the need for an extra bedroom to be able to take in lodgers for some years to cover the increased housing costs I knew I would have for quite some while and that couldn't be afforded on a single income. Flats aren't the answer - as they have all the neighbours living above and/or below problems, communal area problems, no garden, etc - so single people often want houses for all the same reasons that other households do. Many single people aren't single by choice after all. In my own case - I am childless by choice, but being single isn't by choice (I simply never met the right person for me).0 -
I like the idea of the builders bags for the square foot gardening idea - I could put them on our driveway. But, I'd hate to try and move them once they got started and since we're in a rented house then that may be a possibility. I saw some laundry bags in the pound shop and thought they might work on a smaller scale.
Would be a good idea to recycle old builders bags though. I bet freecycle might throw some up.
I wondered about the laundry bags - as a smallscale alternative to buildersbags - would guess one of them would be about 1 square foot worth?
Could be freecycle would turn some of these bags up - and also topsoil later posters mention.
A little thought in the compost direction - I am wondering about composted leaves - as opposed to standard compost (homemade or bought). I see these for sale and wonder whether some of them filled with the leaves that are currently all down my street would be an idea to do - and, months later, bingo - compost. Would this work?
http://www.crocus.co.uk
(on that site is compostable leaf sacks - 'fraid the direct link I tried to give didnt work)
Thinking about that - I've just gone and thrown a load of leaves on top of the compost in a couple of containers I have - thinking that would be an idea. Have I got that right?0 -
Always had plug in phone, always will - worked in call centre once - the ones you can walk around the house with are a nightmare when you are on the receiving end of a phone call - most sound really muffled, can't always understand what people are saying, plus if you go out of range - like my friend's does - you lose parts of the conversation altogether !
Hi Olliebeak - I work in Longview - not far from you??? Believe Huyon/Halton/Belle Vale and Speke also had power cut that day too. It was weird in work - one minute everything was ok, next minute everything just died - lights, computers the lot - it was like - huh - wot happened????? :eek:When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on :eek:
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Always had plug in phone, always will - worked in call centre once - the ones you can walk around the house with are a nightmare when you are on the receiving end of a phone call - most sound really muffled, can't always understand what people are saying, plus if you go out of range - like my friend's does - you lose parts of the conversation altogether !
Hi Olliebeak - I work in Longview - not far from you??? Believe Huyon/Halton/Belle Vale and Speke also had power cut that day too. It was weird in work - one minute everything was ok, next minute everything just died - lights, computers the lot - it was like - huh - wot happened????? :eek:
....oh well...looking at your signature.....hmmm....well as long as it wasn't you having an effect on the "electrics" near you;)Even my own mother has turned round before now when electrics started malfunctioning in my neighbourhood and asked "Was that you?" (errrr....she wasnt joking either:cool: ). Humph - just because electrical things do seem to play around a bit near me sometimes....!
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[oh well...looking at your signature.....hmmm....well as long as it wasn't you having an effect on the "electrics" near you;)
Even my own mother has turned round before now when electrics started malfunctioning in my neighbourhood and asked "Was that you?" (errrr....she wasnt joking either:cool: ). Humph - just because electrical things do seem to play around a bit near me sometimes....!]
Ceridwen - always wondered why I didn't get on with electricals :rotfl:Honest it wasn't me !When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on :eek:
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A little thought in the compost direction - I am wondering about composted leaves - as opposed to standard compost (homemade or bought). I see these for sale and wonder whether some of them filled with the leaves that are currently all down my street would be an idea to do - and, months later, bingo - compost. Would this work?
http://www.crocus.co.uk
(on that site is compostable leaf sacks - 'fraid the direct link I tried to give didnt work)
Thinking about that - I've just gone and thrown a load of leaves on top of the compost in a couple of containers I have - thinking that would be an idea. Have I got that right?
I've started gathering up the leaves falling in my garden (which seem never ending this year for some reason!). Apparantly if you pile them in a black bag with draining holes and leave them that's all there is too it. We'll see I suppose! At least it's free. I think it takes a while, 18 months or so. If you google leaf mould, or composting leaves it throws up a few things.Debts - [STRIKE]£9925.64[/STRIKE] £8841.88 :T Aiming to get below £9k by the end of Oct.:D:D November aim - sub £7.5k! :cool:
Just Say No November - Challenger 19 ~ Groceries £0/£160 ~ NSD's 1/25 ~ Money made £6/£800 -
Compost all the leaves you can get - leaf mould is great for the garden !When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on :eek:
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I must admit I've been looking at all the leaves lying in the gutters on the main road near my house and wondering whether to sneak out with a big sack and a shovel one day! I'm sure everyone round me thinks I'm barmy anyway! I could put them in the bottom of my next raised bed and cover them with compost and let the worms get to them for me.
ceridwen, my worry about putting the leaves on top of compost in a container is that it would be a wonderful slug home. If you have anything that is susceptible to slug damage growing in the containers I'd be a bit wary about it.0
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