Putting trees in Portuguese national parks

Pelos portugueses:

Como tem acontecido nos últimos anos, o Dia Mundial do Ambiente (5 de Junho) marcou o início de mais uma Campanha de Reflorestação promovida pela Água Serra da Estrela. Os excelentes resultados das 3 primeiras edições (mais de 350.000 árvores plantadas na Serra da Estrela) levam-nos a reforçar a aposta nesta campanha, contando mais uma vez com a parceria do Instituto de Conservação da Natureza.

Nesta 4ª edição, a grande novidade prende-se com o alargamento da campanha a todas as Serras do país, sendo possível agora reflorestar não só a Serra da Estrela mas todas as Serras de Portugal afectadas pelos fogos.

Outra novidade diz respeito ao modo de participação: além dos códigos de barras, é também possível participar através do envio de sms para o 3499 com o texto “ASE+espaço+código na tampa+espaço+nome”. Por cada envio, estará automaticamente a contribuir com uma árvore jovem a ser plantada numa das Serras de Portugal. O custo do sms é de 0,50€.

A validade da campanha é até ao dia 31 de Dezembro de 2005.

Por mais informaç vejam em
http://www.aguaserradaestrela.pt/

I just did that for one bottle.
I am sure I will do it again ...

Not Your Soldier

Got an email from the good people at Ruckus.

For all you US citisens:

Not Your Soldier activist training camps will give youth in the US the tools they need to stop the military invasion of their schools and their communities.

Organic and fair T-shirt

Today I am wearing an organic fair trade T-shirt.
It is made in India.
It is black with a colourful EAN code.

What are you wearing?

fair trade

Give the (fish)finger to bottom trawlers

Surf here:
http://act.greenpeace.org/ams/e?a=1828&s=finger

You know what to do ...

ISIS vs Monsanto

I received a press release from ISIS today. It was about Monsanto again trying to fool people into thinking that the transgenic maize MON863 and MON88017 is OK for consumption.

Here is an excerpt regarding the MON863:

"Dr. Arpad Pusztai was commissioned by the German government to evaluate the Monsanto study. .' ..'Pusztai's report stated, "..this imperfectly designed and executed study revealed a huge list of significant differences between the various biologically meaningful parameters of rats fed GM maize diets and the proper controls..' ..

'..the study strongly indicates that feeding rats on diets containing significant amounts of MON 863 corn can potentially be detrimental to the health of these animals and may cause major lesions in important organs (kidneys, liver, etc.), interfere with the function of their immune system (lymphocyte, WBC, granulocyte counts) and change their metabolism (glucose)…'...

'Pusztai summarized the differences between GM fed and control-fed rats, and their potential implications: increased basophil count, which may indicate allergic reaction; increases in the number of lymphocytes and white blood cells, which usually increase in the presence of infections, cancer, various toxins, and disease states; decreased reticulocyte count, which is indicative of anaemia; decreased kidney weight, which points to blood pressure problems; and elevation in blood sugar levels, which cannot be dismissed as biologically insignificant, given the diabetes epidemic.

There were also elevated levels of kidney inflammation, liver necrosis, and other changes. Pusztai added, "It is almost impossible to imagine that major lesions in important organs (kidneys, liver, etc) or changes in blood parameters (lymphocytes, granulocytes, glucose, etc.) that occurred in GM maize-fed rats, is incidental and due to simple biological variability."

I acted on this by sending the whole article to the agricultaral minister of Sweden and the agricultural minister and the accompanying secretary of state of Portugal.

You too can say NO to Monsanto and and YES to a good quality of life for human and creatures alike by voicing you opinion to your MP or minister!

Your can read the full article at:
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/mon.php

Quercus member

Today I received my membership card for Quercus - the Portuguese "Associação Nacional de Conservação da Natureza".

And I am eargerly waiting forward to my first printed copy of the Quercus Ambiente ...

Did you know that ...

One ecological beef (250gr) saves 750 liter of ground water from meeting farming toxins.

One portion of ecological oat meal porridge ( 50 gr oat flakes) saves 34 litres of ground water from meeting farming toxins.

One litre of ecological milk saves 200 litres of ground water from meeting farming toxins.

One ecological egg (50gr) saves 75 litres of ground water from meeting farming toxins.

Read more on the Danish "Real men drink water from the tap" campaign site.
http://www.vandfrahanen.dk/
It helps if you understand Danish or its nearest cousins ;-)

Btw:
For some odd reason the English word for ecological is organic?!

Organic Black Berry Crumble Pie

Recently I found a hedge full with black berry bushes replete with ripe berries. Because of the strong heat many of the were a bit on the dry side but still quite tasty.

I decided to try to make a crumble pie using only organic produce. The berries were wild so that is just as good :-)

125 gram butter
3 dl wheat flour
3dl white mascavado sugar
3dl oat flakes
1 litre black berries

Turn on the oven, ca 175C.

Mix everything but the berries with a fork til it gets evenly crumbly.

Put all the berries in a oven proof pan ca 25 cm wide.

Cover it with the crumble mix.

Bake in oven for 20-30 minutes.
The crumble turns golden-brown when ready.

If the berries are very juciy the berries will start to boil and seep up.
If the berries are a bit on the dry side you may want to add some sugar and some water.

Enjoy the pie, not warm, not cold.
Serve with whipped cream (real or pasterised, certainly not UHT!), vanilla ice cream or vanilla custard.

I know there are organic vanilla ice cream and cream, but I have not seen organic vanilla custard, yet. But then it shouldn't be too hard to make from scratch?!

Enjoy!

Quercus and blood

Yesterday I pulled myself together and sent the membership application/inscription form to Quercus. Time will tell how this will end up ...

I have been thinking about donating blood, again. Many years ago when I was uni-student I did that but for some reason I haven't been doing that for ages now. I now where to go. Now I only have to find the time. I hope it is open on Saturday. Maybe I make it then. Wish me luck ;-)

Yesterday I found TraidCraft and their online store. Remind me to tell my local fair trade store about them.

Why don´t you do the same?

Join the local groups ...

When I get my act together I will submit my inscription papers. Not for Uncle Sam but for Quercus in Portugal. Why not join me? Not necessarily Quercus, but any local group that aims at increasing the public awareness of something that is dear to you. And I do not mean the fan club of of your favourite pop star ;-)

Quercus

Btw: Quercus is the latin word for oak.