simple living

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July 2, 2008

How much is enough? - £13,400 apparently

Posted by Jeremy under current affairs, family, generosity, lifestyle, poverty, simple living, simplicity, wealth | Tags: , , |
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Since reading the crazy statistic that 61% of Britons don’t think they earn enough to meet their basic needs, I’ve been curious to know exactly what a real figure would be. A base rate, an ‘enough’ for living in the UK. I’ve come across a couple, and this week the Joseph Rowntree foundation have announced a new one - £13,400.

Working on solving poverty in the UK, the foundation wanted to ascertain the costs of a decent standard of living, so they could compare it to current welfare allowances. The sum they have come back with amounts to £210 per week for a single person, £626 for a couple with two children. See the table below for the breakdown of where that goes.

What do you think? Realistic? What do you think is enough?

Minimum income standards

Those on state benefits receive about two thirds of what they need, the report concludes. The basic state pension gives you about three quarters.

The two other figures I’ve picked up for ‘enough‘ are higher, at £355 a week and £300, but of course everyone is going to have their own benchmark. Despite the ‘how long is a piece of string’ nature of the question, I think it’s something we all need to think about, for a variety of reasons. The great lie of the consumer culture is that you need more, more stuff, more experiences, and to pay for those you need to earn more. It’s very easy to get sucked into a lifestyle where you’re working flat out to keep up with the ‘needs’ you’ve created for yourself. Or, like the report I mentioned at the beginning, you may even convince yourself that you don’t earn enough. Since that is actually highly unlikely, that’s an ungrateful way to live. It’s that kind of attitude that makes it so difficult to encourage people to scale back their consumption, or to buy ethically, to resist the cheap exploitative deals - if we think we’re missing out, that the world is somehow short changing us, we won’t ever make sacrifices for anyone else.

Finding your ‘enough’, and sticking to it, is actually a very liberating thing. It stops that endless worry that we’re not quite at the level we should be at. It gets us off the treadmill of up-scaling wants. It allows us to be generous with the remainder.

Read the full report here.

 

July 1, 2008

Seasonal eating - July

Posted by Jeremy under corporate responsibility, food, seasonal eating, shopping, simple living, slow movement | Tags: , , |
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//www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk/upload/public/docimages/Image/e/g/l/berries.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. We’re into the good stuff in July, with new potatoes and carrots everywhere, joined by courgettes, brocolli, and a chorus of broad, French and Runner beans. Cucumbers, cauliflower, cabbages and lettuces continue, and you may find an aubergine or two.

Lots of summer berries to enjoy too, with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, redcurrants and blackcurrants.

Basically, you’re spoilt for choice in the summer.

I did learn an interesting thing about seasonality the other day though, about how easily it can be exploited. Asparagus is in season in June in the UK, and I popped into a Sainsbury’s near the station to pick some up on my way home. In the vegetable section was a great big ‘point of sale’ display with a banner saying ‘British season’, and boxes of asparagus in crates with a union jack patterned inlay. Great. Except that the crates were full of Peruvian asparagus. All of it, except for a tiny row of organic asparagus on the top shelf, 5% perhaps of the total display.

Seasonal food sells, in London anyway, but it’s still a good deal cheaper for the supermarkets to ship from Peru and grow all year round then move suppliers back and forth. But they still want to kudos of saying it’s seasonal. In my mind, selling Peruvian asparagus in union jack packaging is an insult to well meaning shoppers, to UK farmers, to Peruvian Farmers, and to asparagus too, why not, as British asparagus is something of a delicacy.

So, look at the labels on the actual products if you can, and watch out for devious supermarkets.

 

June 1, 2008

Seasonal eating - June

Posted by Jeremy under family, food, seasonal eating, shopping, simple living, sustainability | Tags: , |
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http://www.organic-city.com/strawberry.jpg/strawberry-full.jpg It’s June, and there will be good things to enjoy by the middle of the month as loads of things ripen with the onset of the warmer weather. One of these is strawberries. That’s to say, the genuine strawberry season starts. UK-grown strawberries will have been on sale for a little while already, giving the lie to the idea that local food is automatically better for the environment. The Times had an interesting article last month about the way farmers extend the growing seasons through greenhouses or under-soil heating. Sometimes this is just clever agricultural practice, and sometimes it’s just getting the all important union jack sticker on an environmentally unsound product.

Anyway, in June there’s new potatoes to enjoy. Asparagus shipments from Peru go on hold while we harvest our own. New season carrots make their first appearances (They stop in September, and we’ve been running on cold storage carrots until now), and you’ll find some early cauliflower, broccoli, and broad beans. And lettuce and tomatoes are ready. Make yourself a salad.

Fruit has been a little thin on the ground since I started noting the seasons. June will put that right with the strawberries, and gooseberries and blackcurrants. The UK has a very short cherry season, so short that most cherry farmers have gone out of business and we continue importing all year round, but look out for English cherries towards the end of the month.

Just thinking about strawberries - I think this is the main seasonal fruit that we’re aware of, mainly because of Wimbledon, and the tradition of serving them up to people watching the tennis. Because they have that certain special quality, and because of their cultural place, this might be a good way to introduce seasonal ideas to your family. If you’ve got kids, serve them up some strawberries and teach them about the seasons.

  • (US readers - treat yourselves to some corn. We’re still waiting for ours. And have an avocado. We don’t grow those at all. More here)
 

May 15, 2008

Take part in National Vegetarian Week

Posted by Jeremy under food, lifestyle, simple living | Tags: , |
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National Vegetarian Week starts on monday 19th. I’m not a vegetarian myself, more of a conscientious meat-eater (ie occasional, and hopefully discerning), but I see plenty of reasons why it makes sense, for sustainability, animal welfare and health reasons.

So, in the interests of research, Paul and I will be joining the UK’s 7 million vegetarians for the week from the 19th to the 25th. We’ll write about some of the issues around meat eating, and we’ll let you know how we get on.

If you’ve ever thought about vegetarianism, or just eating less meat, why not join us? We’ll all experiment together, and perhaps some of us will even stick with it afterwards.

For starters, investigate the Vegetarian Society website for some tips, or visit the healthy eating section of the Nutrition Foundation to make sure you get a balanced diet. And if its recipes you’re after, I like the BBC food archives. Just tick the vegetarian box and get searching.

 

May 2, 2008

Seasonal eating in May

Posted by Jeremy under food, seasonal eating, shopping, simple living, sustainability | Tags: , |
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//www.tjphotography.co.uk/gallery/Food%20And%20Drink/slides/Red%20Pepper.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. I moved to Luton last week, and I was pleased to discover a little grocer round the corner. I popped in to pick up some vegetables the other day, and had the strange experience of a shopkeeper apologising for his prices – I was considering the red peppers, and they were noticeably overpriced. “The Spanish and Israeli seasons are ending”, the grocer explained, “but we haven’t had the warmth yet to see the English season in. Give it a few weeks and the prices will start coming down again.”

An interesting little insight into the global scope of my evening ratatouille.

Anyway, it’s May, and it’s a quiet month for seasonal food. We don’t notice it much now, but this was a hungry time of year in the ages before our modern food logistics. It’s a switchover period, where winter vegetables such as parsnips and carrots are reaching the end of their cold-storage capacity, but the summer vegetables need another six weeks, like the aforementioned peppers.

New potatoes are on the way, along with asparagus. Radishes are plentiful, if you can think of something to do with them. I’ve been enjoying watercress recently, and if you’re in any doubt about the economics of seasonal food, go and hunt out spring greens and see how much you get for your pound.

Outdoor reared lamb, the best kind, is best in May. I usually forget about lamb, since they didn’t have sheep where I grew up, but a friend cooked up some lamb chops at the weekend and reminded my just how special it can be.

 

April 16, 2008

International Downshifting Week

Posted by Jeremy under activism, simple living, slow movement, websites | Tags: |
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The 19th to the 25th of April is International Downshifting Week.

Four years in, and National Downshifting Week has gone International, which shows the demand for what the organisers describe as “tipping the favour of the work/life balance in favour of life.”

Downshifting is a purposeful re-adjustment of the pace of life, a slowing down and re-setting of priorities. At it’s most extreme, that may involve moving, getting a new job, or going part time. But it doesn’t have to be that radical. Any movement to slow down counts, and Downshifting Week encourages us all to make those moves together, a collective statement of intent.

Some people downshift for health reasons, to reduce their stress levels and avoid burnout. More often than not it’s about time. People want more time for their partners, children, or community, or for their gardens,their hobbies and interests. So, Downshifting Week is a good time to do a time audit. And since our wealth and our free time seem to be in inverse proportion to each other, it’s a good time to look at ways to save money. If we can learn to live with less, we can afford to work less, and then we’ll have our time back. Ultimately, the exchange of time for money is a bad bargain.

There are lots of ways to take part in Donwshifting Week. Quit your job and go and live in a treehouse if you like (you know you want to).  Or, you could play a board game, bake a loaf of bread, shop at the market for a change, or cook something exotic from scratch. There are many ways to reconnect, and drop a gear even for an evening. Check out the how to take part pages of the site for more.