Blogging

Liebster Award

PowerfulOwl1 Comment

liebsteraward

Over the last month or so, I’ve had the pleasure of being followed by a few new blogger and  therefore in return checking out their blogs. One Blogger – Muslima in the World: Reflections on life… has nominated me for a Liebster Award. Thank you very much Muslima!

This award is about promoting other bloggers, particularly those with a low number of followers. So, firstly I’d like to thank Muslima for the nomination and wish you the best in your blogging endeavours!
Now, the questions you asked me and the answers!

  1. Why do you love blogging?

It’s a great way if expressing my thoughts and ideas with others, particularly other like minded people. I also like ‘meeting’ other inspiring people from around the world who are making positive contributions and I like the feeling of connection with other bloggers.

  1. What is your primary job?

I am a sustainability professional and a very busy mother!

  1. Have you gotten the benefits from blogging? If yes, please mention 2 of them!

I use it as a way to double check my own actions to ensure that I am in fact ‘green’ (no greenwash here folks!)

I have learnt a lot in the process and from other bloggers.

  1. What is your country and what do you like about it?

I live in Australia and I love it because it’s a wonderful place to live and raise my children. While I sometimes I bemoan the fact that it is so far away from the rest of the world and that this sometimes leads to an ‘island’ (isolated) mentality, I do also enjoy this fact, as it can feel a little bit detached from some of the world’s problems. It is also a beautiful place to live.

  1. Have you ever heard of Tunisia?

I most certainly have heard of Tunisia and dream of going there one day. In fact I have a great friend who is from Tunisia and she’s a real inspiring eco-warrior too!

  1. What is your favorite past time activity?

I love to garden and go bushwalking (hiking). I do also love to spend time with my children playing under a sprinkler, kicking a ball around or simply pottering around the house.

  1. How do you get the ideas for your blog?

I  get ideas from things that are topical at the time, things going on in my life or they just come to me to be honest. Sometimes I sit, have a think and jot down a lot of ideas. I then work through these  and refer back to the master list from time to time.

  1. Do you like sport? Which sport do you like?

To be frank, I’m not a super sporty person. I like to work out like in a gym, but I never get there. I do however particularly like jogging and yoga. I also find running after 3 kids to be quite a workout!

  1. What place (city in this world) you wish to visit in the future (Insha’Allah)? Why?

Hmmm….so many places …..well Tunisia is one, as is Morocco. I am planning a trip to Italy (Insha’Allah) later this year.  I love Iran, so would always love to go, see my family and some places within it that I’ve never been. I would also love to re-visit some of the other places I’ve already been like Cuba, Costa Rica, Argentina and Chile – well the whole of South America actually.

  1. What language do you speak?

I speak English, Farsi and some Spanish.

  1. What topics are you most interested in?

Sustainability, travel, gardening and cooking.

THE RULES

  1. Thank the person who gave you the Liebster Award nomination and link their blog to your post.
  2. Answer the 11 questions they asked you.
  3. Nominate 5- 11 bloggers for the award.  The bloggers must have 200 followers or fewer.
  4. Now Create 11 questions to ask your nominees.
  5. Make sure to let your nominees know you nominated them once you’ve posted about your Liebster Award.
  6. Add the Liebster Award badge to your blog!

Okay, so my nominees are:

Simply Ilka

Green Living in Dubai

CekCeksi

Yummy Green Mummy

The questions for my nominees are:

  1. Why did you start your blog?
  2. What do you love about blogging?
  3. How would you grow your blog while staying true to your core values?
  4. Where are you based what do you like about it?
  5. What is your favorite past time activity?
  6. How do you get the ideas for your blog?
  7. Do you like sport? Which sport do you like?
  8. What place (city in this world) you wish to visit in the future  and why?
  9. What language do you speak?
  10. What topics are you most interested in?
  11. Who do you find inspiring?

World Environment Day Blog Off!

PowerfulOwlLeave a comment

Okay, so I am not a selected blogger that the United Nations Environment Program has shortlisted in its Blog Off prior to World Environment Day (5 June 2013). This year’s theme is food waste ‘Think. Eat. Save’ and they are having a competition between bloggers: 

http://www.unep.org/wed/blog-competition/bloggers/ 

This is an issue that I am particularly passionate about, as I see there should be no reason for wasting food. To me it is a waste of resources and I feel terrible throwing away food when there are people going hungry.

So, while I am not a shortlisted blogger, I am a blogger nonetheless and earlier this year, I put forward this ‘letter’ to an editor as part of my attempt to be accepted into a sustainability leadership program. Here are my thoughts on food waste and if you’d like to know what other Bloggers think about it and to vote for one, please visit the UNEP website at the link I provided earlier.Image

What should the horse meat scandal have brought to light? Apart from the ethical horror of eating what many see as a beautiful animal, it should have brought to light the globilisation of food and its consequently large ecological footprint. While there are complex and interconnected reasons for the large amounts of water and energy that go into producing our food, the value of food and what you and I are willing to pay for it is something that is yet to be discussed in great depth by the mainstream media.

Increasingly we are spending proportionally less of our income on food and therefore there is the expectation that our food will cost less.  What this does is place more strain on smaller farmers in favour of large corporate agricultural produce and the rise of the major supermarket chains and their homebrand products. 

While some consumers may be happy with the super low prices, this reduction in the value of food could be one contributor towards the significant amounts of food wasted globally (it is estimated that at last half of the food produced around the world goes to waste).  Feeding the 925 million of the world’s hungry, addressing climate change and global water shortage may be a daunting task, but there is something that ordinary people can do each time they go to the super market and each time they cook. I’m unsure however that a greater number of people will ask these questions when faced between a $1 carton of milk against the sometimes higher prices that smaller scale locally grown produce may demand.