Soup of the Day

CATE : Week 1 challenges

Last week was been an amazingly busy week (or couple of weeks really), so I haven’t been out and about as much as usual. This hasn’t meant that I have given up on CATE challenges, far from it, but I haven’t has as much time as I would have liked to write about my progress.

But now is a new week and I have completed the first weeks challenges rather well. So here is a little summary of what I have been doing to save our environment in the last week.

Firstly we have the “Elevators are best ‘lift’ alone” challenge. Well I can report that I have avoided the lift in our building 100% over the last seven days and now the challenge is over I will continue saving our £6 a week from now on. I am starting to stride up the 94 steps in a rather effortless manner, now leaping two steps for the majority of the ascent. This sudden fit of healthyness has encouraged me to consider (at least) doing much more exercise.

Next we have the Mooncup challenge. For those in the dark, a Mooncup is an alternative to the traditional tampon that environmentally manages a womans menstral cycle, unlike the millions of disposed tampons going out into the ether polluting our waterways. I have to say that from a male point of view the Mooncup seems a very sensible device and has many advantages, minus the odd accident Siân has experienced. But being a man means I can’t use the Mooncup personally and I don’t know many women who would take kindly to a man suggesting they stick a large rubber cup up themselves to save the world. But Mooncups are definately good so in spirit I am behind this all the way, plus Siân is busy canvasing Manchester (as I write this) telling all Mancunians about Mooncups.

I am a convert to the canvas bag ideology, always taking one of the many canvas bags we have ‘to the supermarket’ in the words of Tim Minchin. I have to be honest and say we have been actively using canvas bags since Tim sung his song to us ealier in the year so this is on going. Amazingly I have had nothing but positive remarks from everyone about this, sparking a nice five minute conversation with a checkout assistant in Sainsbury’s (Oxford Road, Manchester) about Tim Minchin (he’s face and web site is on the bag) and then onto Mark Watson and the CATE project. This got me thinking that CATE should create some Canvas bags, out of recycled materials naturally, to help promote the cause in the same shameless merchandising way that Tim Minchin has.

The Phantom of the O-PEE-RA challenge has also been approached with enthusiasm and guster. There are a lot of mates I knew who always forgot to flush the loo, so I’m used to discovering urine in the toilet and it doesn’t upset or disgust me. Siân and I have been careful to try and not flush after using, unless sanitation requires it. Having said that, our loos were designed to flush using as little water as possible, with two flush types. But even with the technology in place, we still found time not to flush.

So all in all, pretty good. We have managed to achieve on every challenge and more importantly the challenge isn’t the end of it for us. I am going to continue to avoid the lift and use our canvas bags, plus not feel so guilty when I forget to flush.

To celebrate I will be watching “It’s not easy being green” this Thursday on BBC TWO at 8.30pm.