Easter Sunday - The Final Blog

Easter Sunday 2016!

 Happy Easter - Hallelujah - It's our Final Blog!!!

Hello everyone and first of all, a really big thank you for visiting our blog. We have loved making all the videos - it's been hard at times - but we've learned a lot along the way.

The first attempt at making the video for tonight took us over 10 minutes because really we'd love to talk about all the things we've learned by going on our lent adventure!                              

The main thing we'd like to say is that we discovered how important it is to have a Growth Mindset - to keep on learning and be determined to keep on learning and understand that no-one has all the answers. 

We've learned things we had no idea about, like Palm Oil destroying the rainforests, that factory farming of rabbits even exists (!!!) and that there are lots of things you can do to help causes you care about - like signing petitions, not buying certain products and just spreading the word about important topics, like we have with our blog. We've  learned  that some things are very complicated, like the refugee crisis and that some people would rather not help other people - but that made us more determined to keep going because there are so many people who need help.

There are lots of things we have changed about how we live our lives. We eat less meat, read labels more carefully and think twice about some of the stuff we throw out and how we can save energy.

We hope we've been able to make a difference and that by doing lots of small things, working together, we can change the world and save our planet. Here is a list of some of the things we've tackled on the Blog:

Day 1 - Litter
Day 2 - Sock Apples (recycling!)
Day 3 - Switch it Off
Day 4 - It's About Love
Day 5 - If it's not Dirty was at.... (think about our habits!)
Day 6 - END THE CAGE AGE!!!!!
Day 7 - We're Talking Rubbish
Day 8 - Stay Safe Online (and be Kind!!!)
Day 10 & 11 - Helping Refugees
Day 13 - Helping the Birds
Day 14 - Fight Against Cancer
Day 16 - Saving Our Libraries
Day 18 - Fairtrade Sunday & Thinking Beyond Fairtrade
Day ??? World Book Day - help the world love reading
Meat Free Monday - cutting down to save the planet!!!
Going Organic & Ending Factory Farming
Recycling helps others too
Animal Rescue - our story
Say No to Palm Oil
Cleaning up for Earth Hour
M'on the Bees - Saving our environment - we can all help

It's quite a list and we could have done so much more. If there is one thing we hope though, it's that everyone in the world adopts a Growth Mindset. If we learn every day and we are willing to change our minds about little things, maybe we will change our habits and work together for change.

We did this blog as part of Lent, rather than giving up something, we wanted to do something positive for the planet. We aren't experts about the Bible but we think Jesus would have learned a lot about himself by going into the dessert and fasting for all that time. He had to find the strength to face what he knew was coming because even if he believed he was the son of God, it must have been really hard.

No-one knows for sure if Jesus was the son of God or even if there is a God - that is for everyone to decide for themsleves what they believe. We think though, that the important thing is that he is someone who wanted to make the world a better place for everyone and that he wanted to teach people how to be good and kind to each other and have more love in the world.

We hope that by doing our blog we have tried to follow Jesus' example and play a small part in making the world a better place.

Wherever you are in the world and whatever religion you follow or whether you don't follow one at all, we hope you have enjoyed our blogs and we thank you for visiting our site.

Happy Easter to you all and many many Easter Blessings to everyone,

Amelie and Erin xxxx

Lent Blog : Into the Final Week - M'on the Bees....

It's the Final Week!!!!!

M'on the bees (and the Butterflies too!)

Hello Everyone, we're into the final week of lent now and we've been trying to keep the blog up to date but there has been a lot going on! Tonight we'd like to talk to you a little bit more about bees (and other insects too) because they are really important to the planet. I say we - but really my sister Erin would hardly let me get a word in but she loves bees very much, so I'll let her off!

Basically, I was going to say that we already talked a little about the danger caused to the planet by pesticides when we were doing our blog about factory farming and organic food. It is really important that the big companies growing our food stop using so many harmful chemicals that are killing our soil and our insects but tonight we want to talk about some of the things we can do to help too.

As Erin was saying - wildflowers are a really important part of the environment and you shouldn't really pick them when you are out and about. If everyone did that, there would be done left and that's not helping bees and other wildlife who depend on them. We depend on bees to help our food and flowers grow, without them, our planet simply wouldn't be able to survive.

There are things we can do to help, like planting flowers which will attract bees (we like lavender!) but also by leaving parts of your garden alone to let wildflowers grow. in the last few years we have pretty much stopped weeding and only cut the grass very occasionally because there are lots of pretty flowers that grow in the grass which the bees like to visit. Maybe you could cut the grass less or even just leave an area where flowers can grow. Lots of small things do help.

If you are going to get rid of weeds, we would really like to ask you to consider not using weedkiller because there is lots of evidence that it is really harmful to bees and some scientist also think that certain weedkillers are very harmful to humans too.

Erin loves to talk about petitions, so maybe you could sign a petition or write to your local council to ask them not to spray weedkiller and also perhaps not to cut the grass so much. It will save money too and to be honest we don't understand why they want to spend money on that instead of things like Libraries (we are still pretty mad about our council removing the library bus!)

Anyway, we just wanted to give you some ideas about how to help bees because they really are important in making the world, not just a better place, but a place we can live in at all.

Say no to mow ;) hee hee.......Amelie and Erin

http://www.plantlife.org.uk/explore_nature/saynomow/

https://www.growwilduk.com

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/08/eu-vote-on-controversial-weedkiller-licence-postponed-glyphosate

http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKKCN0T117820151113?irpc=932

https://act.wemove.eu/campaigns/stop-glyphosate

Cleaning Up For Earth Hour

It's Earth Hour

Cleaning Up For Earth Hour

Hi Everyone - today is the day of Earth Hour, which is all about the world coming together to save energy....We already did a blog about switching off electricity when you don't need it though - so today we want to talk about one particular part of daily life which is really harmful to the environment.

When we were doing our blog on switch it off, we saw how the games console and tv used more energy than light bulbs. We also saw how heating an old cup of tea in the microwave used less energy than boiling the kettle for the same time (about 40seconds). This is because the kettle uses more power, it says 3.5kw on the plug, whereas the microwave was 700 watts!

The shower however, uses 9.5kw and you use it for a lot more than 40 seconds when you wash yourself. It seems most people tend to have a shower every day but if that is true, we are probably using all the energy it is recommended we use, just on washing ourselves. This is really bad news and even if we turn everything off when we aren't using it and try and buy things which use less energy, we probably wouldn't save as much energy than if we just spent less time in the shower.

Having a shower every day also uses a lot of water, which isn't great for the planet either but a lot of skin specialists also think it isn't good for your skin and hair to wash every day either. We've all got so used to washing frequently, that our body's oils are washed away and we probably smell more because of this too. We are not saying not to wash and be smelly all the time but if you wash the bits that smell the most by having a sink bath or using cloths and soap, it will work just as well.

We have a box of clean cloth wipes that we use and then wash in them in the washing machine. We use them for hankies too and it's a great way to cut down on waste.

Basically, we want to do all we can to help the planet and cut down on energy. If everyone took one less shower a week that would be a lot of energy saved. Even spending less time when in the shower, maybe washing your hair less, would help if we all did it.

Working together, we can stay clean and clean up the planet too!

Thanks for visiting....we hope you enjoyed Earth Hour too. There are some useful links below.

Amelie and Erin :)


https://www.earthhour.org/

Our Switch It Off Blog

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/08/shower-once-a-week-polluting-environment

http://www.ryot.org/study-shower-less-hygiene-health/912353

http://www.cheekywipes.com/

http://www.wisebread.com/how-to-shower-less-and-still-feel-clean

Say No to Palm Oil

We're Into Week 5!!!

Say No to Palm Oil

Hello Everyone – we’ve been meaning to do this blog for quite a while – it’s about Palm Oil and the damage it’s doing to the environment, particularly the rainforests and the animals who live there.

 

There is lots of information on the internet about how harmful palm oil is to the planet and we’ll put some links at the bottom of the blog. Basically to get palm oil which is found in lots of foods and beauty products, companies are chopping down and burning huge areas of forest to make space for the palm oil trees - which is bad for the environment (because we need trees to breathe and burning them is even crazier) and also because it destroys certain animals’ habitat.

In particular, Orangutans, Tigers, Rhinos, Toucans, Frogs and Lizards. I found this out by visiting certain websites which were aimed at children and watching videos online. If we keep destroying their habitats, there won’t be any place for these animals to live and they may even become extinct (and in not very much time at all unfortunately).

Using unsustainable palm oil is also dangerous for people because we need trees for oxygen and also, lots of companies don’t seem to be treating workers fairly or the people who live in the places where the palm oil grows. Huge areas are being destroyed and once the trees are gone there isn't anything left to replace them.

There are so many foods which have palm oil in them. Common ones are: Chocolate products, popcorn, spreads like peanut butter, biscuits, stock cubes, breakfast cereals and lots and lots of other things too. We were looking for presents to give at Easter but most of the Easter eggs had some palm oil in them (and it was hard to find ones that were Organic and Fairtrade too….come on chocolate companies!!!!)

Some of our favourite things seem to have palm oil in them…and that’s not fair. We’re really very annoyed about it!!! We want to change this, so here are some of the things we want to do:

1. Put pressure on the companies not to use palm oil or to have it from sustainable sources. We might tweet them, email them, ask the shops we go to about getting palm oil friendly products (we did this the other day….they were very helpful)
2. Pressure the governments of both our countries and others where the palm oil is made to make laws to not allow unsustainable palm oil.
3. For both of these things we might sign petitions and join with other people so that companies and governments understand how important this is. 
4. When we are shopping we will try to buy things with No palm oil in them at all.
5. If we can’t find products with NO palm oil in them, we will buy sustainable palm oil products.
6. When we can’t find what we are looking for, we will allow Erin to have a massive tantrum in the shop until companies listen!

This is a very serious issue for the planet and lots of people are trying to raise awareness. Sometimes it looks like some companies are listening and things are getting better but it is so hard to tell from looking at packets, that we are a bit confused, so we are probably going to try to cut palm oil out as much as possible until we understand what is really going on! We are trying to do our bit by writing a blog but it would also be good to talk to friends and family about these issues because not everyone knows.

We’ve learned a lot we didn’t know by researching on the internet and also just looking at the things which we had in our cupboards to find out what kind of things had Palm oil in them. We generally try to be as environmentally friendly as possible but we found lots of things we didn’t realise had palm oil in them and that’s a good lesson for us.

One of the reasons we started this blog was because we wanted to help change the world through little things and by finding out things like this, we’ve discovered lots of new ways we can make a difference and change our habits too.

We hope by sharing our stories we’re giving other people ideas too.

Thanks for visiting – Amelie and Erin xxx

http://www.greenpeace.co.uk/blog/forests/palm-oil-whos-still-trashing-forests-20160303


Greenpeace Petition - Forests not Fires


http://www.saynotopalmoil.com/


http://www.ran.org/palm_oil

http://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/palm-oil

https://ypte.org.uk/factsheets/palm-oil/introduction

http://www.kidsagainstpalmoil.org/

Animal Rescue - our story

Two weeks til Easter!!!

Animal Rescue - our story

Cranberry's Christmas Stocking

Hi everyone - so tonight we are doing the blog with just one of our pets - Raspberry the Rat. She's a lovely sweet old rat now but we got her when she was only little, from a rescue centre run by the Scottish SPCA. We also rescued her big sister Cranberry but she is feeling a bit tired and doesn't want to come out to play just now, so we are leaving her be.

Our rats are pampered and spoiled because we love them very much and we want to be as responsible as possible so that they have a good life. (Don't worry we don't let them have too many treats!) Taking care of a pet can be lots of work though and a lot of the time, pets end up in rescue centres because their owners didn't realise how much work it would be.

The have 3 bottles but hey!

They are just like little people and have lots of needs. For example, our rats get out to play most days so we have had to "rat proof" areas in our house to make sure they have safe and exciting places to explore (and so that they can't chew wires and blow up the house - they love tech!). We also have to help clean their cage and make sure it is as fun, cosy and interesting to them as possible. They have two floors, a hammock, two tunnels and a rope swing as well as a wheel to run around in. Rats also love to burrow and make nests, so we give them lots of old rags and things to play with - sometimes we wake up to find really crazy creations!!!

Anyway - we could talk about how amazing our rats are all day but that isn't the point of the blog. It's basically that if you are going to have a pet, think really hard about where you get it from and make sure those people are treating the animals well and breeding them responsibly. Don't buy from pet stores or puppy farms etc!!!!

Read to your rats!

To be honest, having lots of pets is not very good for the planet because they use food and create waste just like us. But we also share the planet with all animals - their lives are precious too and there are lots of good things about having a pet as a companion. If you can, it would be best to adopt a pet from a rescue centre because there are lots of animals out there who need our help. (links at the bottom) It is horrible to think that some people are cruel to animals and even make them fight each other, so that's another good reason to support animal charities and rescue centres who help to stop this.

Our rats are getting old now, they are more than 2 years old (we don't know exactly) and one day, we know they will go to rat heaven. Sometimes that makes us very very upset to think about but we know that we gave them a better life than the one they were born into. They are happy and have been loved and we feel loved by them too. It took a lot of work to get them to trust us but it was worth it and we would recommend rescuing a rat to anyone who can spend a little time every day giving them cuddles and playing with them. They need a fairly big cage they can climb in and space to burrow and hide. You also have to be prepared to take them to the vets when they get sick and look after them properly when they need extra care.

Always time for a morning kiss

Raspberry likes Elsa too!

We love our rats so much - but it's true, we did really want to have a dog and still do one day. We know though that we don't have the space or the time a dog would need to live a happy life and it wouldn't be fair to adopt one when we can't look after it properly, no matter how much we would like to. Our rats are so special to us though and have made our lives very happy - we hope they have been happy with us too!

Cranberry is a yoghurt licker!

Any pet is a big commitment but making the life of an animal better is a pretty nice thing to do and we think they have made our lives better too. Learning to love, take care and be responsible for something probably makes us into more caring people and that's a pretty good thing for the planet too we think!

We're off to see if Cranberry wants a snuggle before bed! No more banana chips for her sister though!

Thanks for visiting - bye.....Amelie and Erin xxx

https://www.scottishspca.org

http://www.rspca.org.uk/home 

http://www.cats.org.uk/glasgowac 

https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/ 

http://sunnyharbour.org.uk/ 

Recycling and Helping Others

Here's one we prepared earlier......(video at bottom of blog!)


 Re-cycling and Helping Others


Hello everyone....this is just a very quick blog. We tried to do a video on the way out to school the other day but it was a bit rushed! School Run Madness!

Anyway, the point of it was, we are always trying to find ways to recycle, and giving to charity is a really good way to do that and help others too.


Everyone has different charities they like to support because of special reasons and even if you can't take things to the shops, lots of them send plastic bags round the doors and will pick up for you. Mum says you have to be a little bit careful sometimes and make sure it is a charity you know and trust but there are lots and lots of really good causes which need help.

You can even give them a phone if you miss them, and quite a few like the British Heart Foundation, Strathcarron Hospice and the Salvation Army have furniture shops too and are happy to collect your old items. If you live somewhere different, there are probably similar charities in your area too.

It is good to help others and if we can re-use things it means that more new stuff won't have to be made and that will help the planet too.

Of course, it raises money for Charity too and that's a good thing. There are lots of good ways to raise money for charity but donating your clothes and other things is a good way to recycle and help others too.

Thanks for visiting,

Amelie and Erin


www.bhf.org.uk/furniture-donations

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/local-shops


http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/support-us/find-a-shop

http://strathcarronhospice.net/stenhousemuir-furniture-shop/

http://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/shop-with-us

https://www.debra.org.uk/shop/shop-search

http://www.alzscot.org/fundraising/our_shops

Going Organic to Save the Planet

Lent Blog: Week 4 Begins.......

Going Organic to Save the Planet

Hello Everyone - we're into week four and we're going to talk about something which is REALLY important to help save the planet.


People might think that because we are kids that we shouldn't be worried about things like factory farming and organic food - but the thing is, it's our future which will be affected and if we don't try to understand what is going on, it may be too late to fix things by the time we grow up.

Even when we were at nursery we were learning about minibeasts and going on nature trails and we've grown up with stories like James and the Giant Peach, talking about how important bugs and beasties are to our soil. We are also very lucky because we grow our own fruit and vegetables here at home and like to think of ourselves as mini-farmers.

Our soil is alive, not just with creatures but with nutrients and goodness that make it really great for growing things in. We take care of our soil because it is precious - it's the thing that enables us all to live - and if we destroy its goodness, one day we are going to face a really big disaster.

Going organic means that the food which we eat is not sprayed with chemicals that kill all the goodness out of the soil. It is not just the fruit and vegetables you need to look for either but products which come from animals like meat, dairy and eggs, are also best when organic because then you know that the animals have not been fed food which has been sprayed with chemicals.

We try, as little farmers to collect the seeds from the things we grow - that doesn't always work but we are not experts yet. Real farmers are of course experts at this but now, many are not even allowed to collect their own seeds because the companies who sell them their seeds don't allow it. They have to buy the same chemically treated seeds over and over and this is becoming a really big problem for the planet.




We don't really know how the damage done by all these chemicals will affect our health but it is certainly having a very big impact on the environment. Our soil, our insects (especially our bees!) are dying and we don't want to wake up one day and find it is too late to repair all the damage.

We have to do something now and the easiest way to do that is to buy organic food whenever you can. It is more expensive but it is worth it. There is nothing more important than our health and the future of the planet, so I would say it is better to spend a little more on the food we need than on the stuff we don't. 

We have already blogged about wanting to help in the fight against cancer but there is also a lot of evidence that eating lots of meat can add to your risk of getting cancer. The fact that most of the meat available to buy will have been factory farmed and fed food sprayed with chemicals is probably adding to those risks and we want to do all we can to reduce it.

Of course, one of the best ways of going organic is by growing your own fruit and veg....we might do another blog about that later though! It doesn't have to be expensive or take up lots of space, we grow strawberries in buckets, peas along the fence, tomatoes in hanging baskets and even garlic in old wellies! Everything helps.

The point is, if we all do our best to make small changes we can help to stop the destruction of the planet. But we ALL have to work together to do it.

Thanks for visiting, we hope you enjoyed reading our blog and watching our video ;)

Amelie and Erin xxxx

http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/2987365/almost_all_germans_contaminated_with_glyphosate.html

Link to Important Greenpeace petition.....there are lots out there....

http://www.ciwf.org.uk/factory-farming/ 

https://uk.meatfreeweek.org/home 

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2015/may/29/its-time-to-wean-ourselves-off-the-fairytale-version-of-farming 

https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/factory-farms-wide-net-pain-and-destruction 

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/sep/25/industrial-farming-one-worst-crimes-history-ethical-question 

N.B - There are lots of places you can find out about factory farming by doing research yourselves - because this blog is run by the little people though, we don't want to put links which might click you straight onto a picture or video of something really horrible happening to an animal. Just in case a small person clicked it by mistake. Says a lot about the issues though that so many horrible practices take place.