Coffee morning for MCS to raise awareness and reduce plastic in the sea

Updated in Oct:- We made £100 at this event. A big thank you to all who contributed.

Coffee 

Morning

Tue 5 Sep 10-12
St John’s
Methodist Church, Settle, BD24 9JH

Directions: From Settle Petrol Garage, go under the viaduct, walk for 1 minute (100metres); the church is behind the red brick bungalow on your left.
  
In Aid of:-

Marine Conservation Society and their campaign to

Reduce Plastic in the Sea

l By 2050 There will be more plastic in the Sea than fish. (If current trends continue)

l Whales are dying because they eat plastic bags - which fill their stomachs and they then starve

l Tiny fragments of plastic attract algae, The plastic with the algae are eaten by tiny sea creatures which are eaten by larger fish and then end up on our plates of fish & chips

www.settle-methodists.org.uk     www.mcsuk.org

Eight Actions to reduce plastic waste:

1. Write to your MP and supermarket to ask that drinks should only be sold in returnable bottles.

2. Take part in the Great British Beach Clean 15-17 Sept bit.ly/2wsSq76 

3. Don’t flush Wet Wipes down the Loo

4. Sign the petition for clearer labelling by retailers about products such as Wet Wipes

5. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle plastic - but best of all Refuse!!

6. Don’t buy bottled water. Water is fine from the tap.

7. Take the Plastic Challenge - See how many days you can go without using single-use plastic

8. Join the Marine Conservation Society  

Songs for Wildlife Workshop at Settle Folk Gathering - 2 September

I have a good selection of songs about care of the environment - so am organising an event on Saturday - do join us:
We'll sing some of the songs / hymns that were written for Settle Hymn Competition in 2001 that I put together for the (still draft) book "Environment Praise".
And we'll sing some  good published songs that I have found in books or on tapes.

Settle Folk Gathering Fringe Event

At St Johns Methodist Church, Settle, BD24 9JH

(Go under the viaduct next to the Petrol garage.
Walk 100m to the red brick bungalow on the left)

Sat 2 Sept 5-7pm

Songs for Wildlife Workshop

A workshop on songs – Christian and Secular

(and other faiths if you can contribute a song) - on

Care of the Environment

Organised by Judith Allinson

Free Tea and Coffee.  Sandwich making facilities are available. Stay for the whole event or just call in.

Judith has collected hymns and songs about care of the environment. We will sing/play some of these-bring your instruments- (many arranged in D, G or C). If you know songs too please bring them so we can share
01729 822138   judith@wildplants.org.uk

Change - Smartphones - Big Brother -

Some thoughts on 1 September 2017 - I write this as a record of where I am at - maybe a tipping point. 

It is six weeks since I bought my very first Smart Phone.
I know that because I took my first photo on it - 22 July  -of Settle Cricket Club Bar and tea room and pitch.

Three weeks ago I wrote:
It is MI I I I ND    BOGGLING !! 
It is MI I I I ND    BOGGLING !!
And a further three weeks on 
it is still MI I I I ND    BOGGLING !! 
My mind has just been boggled.

I am adding this post as I shall surely look back to 1 September and say "My, wasn't life simple then!"

I  resisted getting a smart phone in the past: "There is poor reception in my house." I used to say.

 And I whilst I am addicted to checking my emails every few hours on the computer, I really do enjoy being away from the machine and away from the phone.

But ... I really would have liked one so that I could record a podcast about the splendours of Craven Speakers Club

What's mind boggling?

The way the phone just got all my details from my laptop.

The way that people could now easily get access to these details.

The way that "Big Brother" can see where I am.  (If I resist using  my plastic bank cards at supermarkets I can remain relatively untraced.. apart from my emails )

The way that if I get dependent on it, losing my phone will be as bad as loosing my laptop. 

The way that there is so much space to store stuff on the "Cloud".. 15GB on Google Drive

The way that I went to buy a microSD memory card for my phone last week. - I discovered you can by 32GB and 64GB SD cards for cameras - 

Four years ago I managed with a 2GB card in may camera - but was pleased to buy an 8Gb card for recording photos and videos --

 Now for the same price one can buy a 32 GB card .. and for a bit more,a 64GB card.

Why - my first computer's hard drive was only 4 GB, and my friend Christine's older computer was only 1 GB.

(I sound like myself  years ago saying "When I was a student I had a holiday job at a Crop Research station doing statistics for them using a mechanical adding machine..).. 

I used to wonder what it was like for my grandparents growing up when there were no or hardly any cars around - what changes they had lived through

I used to wonder what it was like for people in the countryside in Africa coming to the cities..

But we are all (except the very elderly and maybe some of the struggling illiterate who need our awareness and empathy) all going through change now.

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When I first bought it I felt like a London Taxi driver learning all the roads .. my brain must be really swelling.

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I'm learning bit by bit how to use it.

I suspect that by not buying one 8 years ago, I have skipped the stage when mobile phones were more difficult to use

..

I went outside now to look up at the stars and feel rooted on earth.. only to see an aeroplane fly overhead - maybe en route to America.

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I love going outside learning how to identify flowers and lichens..

but how long will it be till we can just put a leaf into a hand held machine and it will recognise the DNA?

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It's exciting seeing these developments -- 
The new generation of children have missed out on this excitement.

I have been taking photos and videos .. and the way they load themselves up into cyberspace and onto https://photos.google.com/
(or not as the case may be) and how to donwload them to my laptop or send them to you tube.. It's amazing - like Alice in Wonderland or down a rabbit hole.

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But they will have other things to learn .. and I still have to learn how to speak more effectively -  to promote Craven Speaker Club

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How long will it be till Artificial intelligence takes over?

1 Aug: Talk: Wildflower Walks around Settle - at St John's, Settle

Did you miss the Talk on Wildflower Walks around Settle?

This is a report on the  Illustrated Talk "Wildflower Walks around Settle" held on 1 Aug 2017.

Twenty three people came altogether including myself who gave the talk and Wendy (Refreshment maker) and Michael - Projectionist. - So a big thank you to Mike and Wendy.

I displayed my photo-greeting cards, and invited donations for the Rainforest Fund. We made £63 om the evening plus donations of £5 and £10 that were given because people saw I was running the event.  = £78   

Again thank you for these donations - That's almost £100 enough to save an acre of rainforest!.

Just remember, we live at a time when between 97% and 99% of all the larger animals on land (weight wise) are human beings and their domestic animals.. So there is not much space left for wild animals.. The human population is still set to increase by another quarter by 2050, and peoples lifestyles demand from the environment.  SO I hope the £78 we raised can go to good use for protecting habitat.

We the land around Settle is farmed, - mainly sheep and cattle-  but some areas are "low intensive" with some natural plants and wildflowers surviving. Average and intensive fields contain mostly Ryegrass. 

Cliffs and ravines provide good places for wild plants Road verges and tracks-sides often proved much more botanically rich habitats than their adjacent fields.