Category: Uncategorized

Saving the world on a budget

In this day and age, it’s hard not to worry about the impact that humans are having on the world. There are, however, things you can do to help- even if you’re skint!

Cutting down on waste

Plastic waste, or the reduction of, is very trendy at the moment. Reusing plastic bottles, buying unpackaged fruit and veg and investing in a reusable coffee cup are all worthwhile ventures. However, there are lots of other forms of waste that we can work to reduce.

Food waste can be collected and used to make compost. However, a lot of councils do not provide a food waste collection service, but there are a lot of independent organisations that have set up schemes, such as Southampton’s “biocycle” scheme; you just pay for the food waste bin and volunteers cycle around to collect the contents every week. You can find out about food waste and general recycling services in your area at https://www.recyclenow.com/local-recycling.

To learn more about how to make the most of your food to reduce the amount of waste you’re producing, visit https://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/?_ga=2.14610100.208657689.1557098388-437933218.1557098388 .

Over-using electricity is also contributing to harmful gases in the atmosphere. Turn off the lights in your home unless you really need them, keep the heating set to only come on at night for a few hours, takeshorter/ less frequent showers and wash up using a bowl rather than just running the tap. Also, if you have a leaky tap, get it fixed! Little things like these all add up.

Encouraging wild life

Even if you live in a vast metropolis, wild life can be nurtured from your doorstep. Consider investing in a bird feeder (wilko sell a fat ball feeder for ~£1, and packs of fat balls are pretty cheap too – great for all kinds of birds that may be hanging around your environment). Birds may not take to it straight away but once they find it you’ll have a whole host of garden visitors! It’s also a good idea to put out some kind of bird bath (especially in the summer) – I just use a tupperware box!

To increase wild life further, you can also sprinkle wildflower seeds in any patch of grass you see that could do with a little something. This keeps the bees happy – and can bring some brightness to an urban space! Wildflower mixes are pretty cheap and available from lots of places.

Bees are so important to life on earth; if they go extinct, the human race could not continue. Most bees actually don’t want to sting you – so please don’t squash them! Also, if you see a bee trundling along the ground, it is probably low in energy; you can help it along the way by gently feeding it a 50:50 mix of water and sugar- it’s normally best to bring a spoon of this down to them.

Reducing emissions

This is fairly self-explanatory; rather than driving or uber-ing your way around, get on your bike or walk. Getting the bus is also good, but for thrifty world-savers cycling around is a cheap option! Remember to keep your tires pumped up and chain oiled for easiest cycling – certain places will be able to offer you a pump and tools (SUSU offer such items to be borrowed, just visit building 42 reception), or borrow from a friend.

Helping other people

One big way to make a positive change in the world is to help other people. Pretty obvious, but some ways you can do this:

  • Fundraising: it’s always possible to fund raise, even if there are no specific events happening – facebook has great tools to set up a fundraiser for something you’re passionate about. However, signing up to do a run or other sponsored even can be a good way to do this with minimal organisation on your part.
  • Volunteering: charity shops always need more volunteers, but lots of charities look for volunteers in a wide variety of roles, so it’s worth searching to see what would be best for you.
  • Advocacy: even if there isn’t a lot you can do up front for people or a cause, advocating the causes you care about is important as raising awareness of issues is half the work of a charity.
  • Learn life-saving skills: it is pretty simple to learn CPR, which could end up saving someone else’s life. Visit https://www.bhf.org.uk/how-you-can-help/how-to-save-a-life/how-to-do-cpr for the basics, or keep an eye out for a workshop near you!

I’m not trying to tell anyone to “just cheer up”, as I really do understand that that’s not at all how it works – but the benefits of some kind of positive exercise cannot be understated; such as writing a blog! It’s wonderful if you can find something positive and productive that might have an impact on someone else.

So in summary; there’s always more things you can try doing to make the world a better place! Sorry to be sappy 🤷

SOUTHAMPTON: Why you should give a shit about this election

What is the election for?

There are 48 councillors for the city of Southampton; 3 for each of the 16 wards. This election is what decides who sits on the council, representing the ward that you live in. They will be involved in decision making for the whole city, regulate planning and licensing, and developing policies and strategies that affect life for everyone living in Southampton.

In the election, you vote for one councillor; councillors are elected for a four year term, and one retires every year, so this election occurs three years out of every four.

Who are the councillors currently?

This depends on your ward (you can find information on the councillors of every ward at https://www.southampton.gov.uk/images/cllr-ward-map-poster-april-2019_tcm63-396501.pdf ) but for students at the University of Southampton, you are probably in either the Portswood or Swaythling wards, both of which currently have two labour councillors and a conservative councillor.

For Portswood, last year the labour party candidate, Lisa Mitchell, was elected and in Swaythling it was also the Labour party candidate, Lorna Fielker.

What has the council actually done?

The commitments set out in 2016 by the current council had five main priorities:

  • Homes for all: “Southampton is a city with strong and sustainable economic growth”
  • Aspiration: “Children and young people in Southampton get a good start in life”
  • Rebuilding communities: “People in Southampton live safe, healthy, independent lives”
  • Clean and green: “Southampton is an attractive, modern city where people are proud to live and work”
  • Southampton Pound: “A modern, sustainable council”

The full strategy can be read here:https://www.southampton.gov.uk/images/council%20strategy%202016-20v2_tcm63-395672.pdf

Why should I vote?

The council’s priorities are centred around the important things for the parties they represent. Who you vote for will have an impact on the improvements made to the city you live in for the next four years.

Who can I vote for?

Again, this depends on the ward you live in (for a list of all nominees for all wards see https://www.southampton.gov.uk/Images/Statement%20of%20Persons%20Nominated_tcm63-406813.pdf ).

For Portswood, there are five candidates: Katherine Barbour of the Green Party, James Burgess of the Local Conservatives, Nick Chaffey of The Socialist Alternative – Putting People First, Gordon Cooper of the Labour Party and James Read of the Liberal Democrats.

For Swaythling, there are five candidates as well: Matt Bunday of the Labour Party, Angela Cotton of the Green Party, Alan Kebbell of UKIP, Spiros Vassiliou of The Conservative Party and Sarah Wood of the Liberal Democrats.

What is important to each party?

Polling stations are open until 10pm tonight, so get in and vote before then!

You don’t need to take anything with you to vote; just say your address and name at the desk and they will issue you a ballot paper. If you’re not sure where your polling station is, you can find it using the council’s website:
https://www.southampton.gov.uk/council-democracy/voting-and-elections/elections-and-referenda/find-your-polling-station.aspx

Not registered to vote?

If you haven’t already registered to vote in Southampton, you won’t be able to vote today. Don’t forget that if you’re a student you can be registered at both your home address and your student place of residence.

The European Parliament elections are approaching on 23rd May, which you can vote in if you’ve registered by 7th May: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.

Hinduism recognises transgender brides

“Hijras”: people of the third gender, have always been a symbol of loyalty and the power to bless or curse in Hinduism. This “third gender” is often thought of as just transsexual people, but the group also includes intersex people.

Despite their special place in Hinduism, hijras have received a more negative reputation since British colonisation in India in the mid 19th-century; the Brits brought with them a strict code of judgement against homosexuality, transgender people and hijras.

However, recent strides in transgender equality have been made. In 2014, the supreme court of India ruled that transgender people could identify as a third gender.

In 2017, claims of the first official male to female gender reassignment operation broke headlines in India; prior to this, operations had been carried out by untrained non-surgeons, leading to many complications and sometimes becoming fatal.

In early April this year Sneha Kale, a trans woman, ran as a candidate for India’s general election, with little of the backing that is the norm for political candidates. She said that
“I have the support of the weak and the marginalised,” which is why she stands strongly with 4 other transgender candidates; a historical high for the Indian trans community.

In the last week, in a landmark ruling, the Madras high court has ruled that a transgender woman can be a bride in a Hindu marriage.

The judge overseeing the case, Judge G R Swaminathan , said that “Gender identity falls within the domain of her personal autonomy and involves her right to privacy and dignity. It is not for the State authorities to question this self-determination of the second petitioner herein.”

This recognition of the dignity which a person’s gender identity should have is a very encouraging step towards the acceptance of the transgender community in the Indian subcontinent, and we can only hope that a result of this historical decision is that other nations decide to follow suit.

To read more about trans people in India:

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/04/25/hindu-trans-women-now-recognised-bride-marriage/

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/15-trans-women-tie-the-knot-in-a-mass-wedding-in-chhattisgarh/story-JtMk2QmALI4oEcTM71A30I.html

https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/Sex-change-operation-done-in-Kerala-government-hospital/article17095553.ece

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-elections-lgbt/revered-yet-rejected-indias-trans-women-seek-their-place-in-parliament-idUSKCN1RM1P0

https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/life/culture/article/2018/04/17/life-transgender-woman-india

“We want change.”


“Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.”

G.K. Chesterton

It is undeniable that education is the path to a brighter future, so learning about current issues is the best way for students to grow up to be the responsible leaders of tomorrow. However, there is a current lack of focus of the national curriculum on climate change. A “hot” (so to speak) topic at the moment as the atmospheric carbon dioxide level reaches an all-time high (read: higher than it has been for hundreds of thousands of years), it cannot be ignored any longer.

But there is hope. To slow and eventually reverse the effects that human growth has had on our planet, massive changes would be required.

As reported in a previous article (“The Kids are Alright”), the youth of today are taking action. The “Extinction Rebellion” protests in London and around the world have been attended by an unheard of proportion of young people, and it doesn’t stop there.

Prompted by nationwide school walk-outs on 15th February and 15th March, which 10,000 and 50,000 young students took part in respectively, four teenage students of the Cheney School in Oxford have started a petition to “Get the climate crisis on the national curriculum”.

On the petition website, the young women; Izzy Lewis, Kamila Chamcham, Rasha Alsouleman and Lucy Gibbons (15), write about how they have not received sufficient information about this state of crisis through school. They say that “If young people like us are going to have any kind of future, the climate emergency must be a central, core part of our compulsory curriculum.”

Climate change is already on the curriculum for Science and Geography, but, as the students state, the amount that young people will actually get taught about the topic can vary from school to school, classroom to classroom. It would be an almost impossible task to attempt to track down exactly how much each student gets taught about climate change, which is why they are asking that it be made a part of the core, compulsory curriculum.

They also ask that school inspections (such as “OFSTED”) include a measure of the school’s sustainability, arguing that “we will learn about the climate crisis and be part of an institution that is setting an example to us by being run in a sustainable way.”

Climate change is already a compulsory subject in many countries, such as Brazil, where it has been required that the topic be taught in all subjects since 1998 – so why is it not compulsory in the UK?

If you would like to support this cause, please sign their petition – which, at time of writing has over 69,000 signatures:
https://www.change.org/p/get-the-climate-crisis-on-the-national-curriculum

Further information on climate change and the national curriculum:

https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/

https://fullfact.org/education/climate-change-school-curriculum/

https://www.tes.com/news/government-failing-ensure-pupils-are-taught-real-world-impact-climate-change-mps-told

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/22/school-curriculum-fails-to-reflect-the-urgency-of-the-climate-crisis

https://ukscn.org/ys4c

Reconnecting nations

Image from apnews.com

In 1974, during the Cambodian civil war, railway track was destroyed meaning that the train line from Cambodia to Thailand, and thus the connection with southeast Asia, was lost. Despite the conflict reaching an end in the 1990s with the defeat of Cambodia’s communist Khmer Rouge guerrilla army, the line has remained broken for the best part of 45 years.

However, recent restorations have brought this line back to life, and on 22nd April the leaders of both Cambodia and Thailand signed an agreement to develop the railway network further, with the possibility of introducing a connection to Thailand’s capital, Bangkok.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Thai counterpart, Prayuth Chan-ocha road the line across the border from Aranyaprathet to Cambodia’s Poipet on a train donated by Thailand, as pictured above. They both also shovelled cement for a nearly completed border motorway bridge, aptly named the “Stung Bot-Ban Nong Ian Friendship Bridge”, to mark this occasion of cross-national connection.

It is hoped that this new found transport link will increase trade between the two countries, which the Cambodian prime minister hopes will help to increase the economies of both countries.

The Cambodian Minister of Transport remarked “I firmly expect that trade between the two countries will increase. The connection of our rail will facilitate cargo transport and make it cheaper.”

Of the newly completed bridge, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said that cooperation in other sectors would be boosted, including culture, education, and agriculture. “The bridge is a great achievement for the two countries and a gift the two governments offer to their people and to all people in Asean. Cambodia now has two railways, the southern railway, linking Phnom Penh with Preah Sihanouk in the coast, and the northern one, connecting the capital to Poipet city,”

The suspension in the train service due to tensions between the neighbouring countries as a result of the civil war during the cold war era was only lifted in 2015, due to an agreement that the two prime ministers came to. The Asian Development Bank provided $13 million in 2009 to rebuild the missing link which aims to slash travel time between the two countries and boost trade.

It was the last stretch of the broken line to be restored. “This is a historic day for our nation,” Cambodian Prime Minister Sun Chanthol said.

Too friendly for the job?

In a 2018 survey, YouGov found that 34% of Brits would rather give money to a charity that helps animals than a charity that helps people, and in 2014 a survey found that 90% of dog owners in Britain felt that dogs can understand human emotions. Our love of dogs makes it clear as to why dogs have been used for such a long time as service animals; in the police, military and as personal service animals (such as guide dogs and hearing dogs).

More recently we have become increasingly concerned with what happens to the dogs that don’t make it through training, and what about the dogs that have been retired from service?

There is a lengthy history of dog sections (or “K9” units) being used in the police and military, with the earliest police dog programme being founded in 1899 by the police department of Ghent, Belgium. Since then, such units have been introduced to nearly all police forces in the world, and are utilised by armed forces for specific tasks such as bomb-detection, tracking and narcotic-detection as well as in the military police.

Such jobs require a particular temperament and, as anyone with any experience around dogs will know, every dog has a unique personality and so sometimes their traits will not line up with those required of the job.

However, this is not the end of the road for recruits of a K9 unit that fail to make the grade. Puppies that do not have the desired traits, develop a chronic illness or do not pass their training for another reason can now be adopted by civilians.

The West Midlands Police force advertise their “flourishing dog breeding programme” on their website. They aim to produce 12 litters altogether of german shepherd and springer spaniel puppies, but sometimes these puppies are not suitable for the job or a litter has too many puppies.

‘Unfortunately, some dogs, although healthy, fail to make the grade to become police dogs,’ the force writes.

To find out more about the adopting scheme of the West Midlands Police, visit their website: https://www.west-midlands.police.uk/specialist-teams/dog-unit/breeding-programme

In 2017 shocking news emerged that the army had been euthanizing dogs that had reached the point of retirement. However, a group of ex-military dog handlers sought to find a way to rehabilitate these dogs into civilian life as pets; something that the army had neither the funding nor the resources to do.

They set up “Hero Paws” and plan to open a shelter in the midlands, once they have gathered enough funding. This shelter would provide desensitisation training and all other necessary training to enable ex-military dogs to be pets in civilian life.

To find out more about their mission, and how you could help, visit their website:https://heropawsuk.co.uk/

It is also possible to adopt a dog that hasn’t met the standard for guide dog training. On their website, the guide dog association write that 75% of dogs that they start training are successful in becoming guide dogs.

However, the other 25% and some older, retired dogs can be adopted by members of the public. They state that “dogs can be withdrawn from the training programme or from their role as a guide dog at any stage, and we occasionally look for homes for older dogs who have retired from their role as a guide dog.”

If you are interested in providing a home for one of these dogs, visit the guide dog association’s website: https://www.guidedogs.org.uk/how-you-can-help/rehoming-a-guide-dog/

Is now the best time to be alive?

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.

Chinese Proverb

According to a 2016 poll by the surveying website YouGov, only 4% of Brits and 6% of Americans believe that the world is actually getting better, and it is easy to see why this may be with incessant news stories about wars, genocide, acts of global terrorism and our favourite; brexit.

However, now is, statistically, the best time to be alive. The economic globalisation lecturer and author Johan Norberg writes in his book “Progress” that humans are actually more safe, wealthier, healthier, more free, less hungry, and more literate than ever before, contrary to popular belief. The reason that so many believe this is not the case can be attributed to the increasing focus of the media on famine, natural disaster and murder, and our ever increasing ability to share this news via social media and 24-hour news channels.

“Now we can see what is happening live, we don’t know how things will end. ” he adds. “That triggers our fight or flight instincts — it gives us the sense that everything is falling apart in the world right now.”

Norberg goes on to explain how this sense of impending doom is in fact misplaced.

The number of people going hungry in the 18th century was so high that 20% of people from England and France were unable to work due to malnourishment. However, this lack of food is rapidly falling; in 1992, 19% of the world’s population was undernourished, but this fell to 11% in 2016.

The amount of people with access to clean water is over 90% of the world’s population.

Whilst in 1900 the worldwide life expectancy was just 31, this has been exponentially increasing, reaching 71 in 2016. Despite all the news articles about increases in knife crime in London and acts of terrorism occurring throughout the world, the likelihood of a violent death is now lower than it has ever been, and childhood mortality has plummeted. The murder rate in Europe has dropped from a peak of more than 40 per 100,000 people in the 14th century, to one per 100,000 today.

There have been striking successes in the fight against global poverty: in 1981 nearly half of people living in the developing world lived below the poverty line; in 2012 this figure had dropped to 12.7%.

Literacy has also skyrocketed, which many attribute to the growing use of social media and the importance of reading and writing in everyday life: the amount of people who are able to read and write was 21% in 1900 to 86% in 2015.

And we’re getting smarter! The companies that set IQ tests have to adjust their scores periodically, such that the the average person in the population will have a score of 100. However, the average person now would have had an IQ of 118 if they took a test in 1950, and 130 if they’d taken one in 1910, putting them in the top 2% of the population. And an average person from 1950 taking the test today would have a score which would put them “at the border of mental retardation”, according to academic Steven Pinker.

Many speak of our growing population with a sense of anxiety about the lack of resources and housing available to future generations – but the population isn’t growing at such a rate as we think it is, with women having, on average, 2.5 children, whereas this number was 4.5 in 1960; and this isn’t just in the first world either, these numbers are worldwide.

We live in the freest, most equal world yet. “We do complain about bigotry when it’s out there but that’s because we are most sensitive to it,” Norberg said. “One of the reasons we are so sensitive to it now is because it is no longer generally acceptable.”

The rights of ethnic minorities, women, homosexuals, and transgender people were almost unheard of in even the freest western democracies 100 years ago, Norberg argues. For example, in 1900, only New Zealand gave women the right to vote. Of course, there is still a long way to go for true equality, but the rate at which minorities have made progress so far cannot be overlooked, and it’s very likely that positive change will continue at the increasing rate that it has so far.

In “The Moral Arc”, published by Michael Shermer in 2015, it transpires that more than 180 countries now give women the vote in democratic elections.

And the world is looking even brighter for future generations. The rate of child labour dropped from 245 million in 2000 to 168 million in 2012, and has continued to decrease since.

So the world isn’t nearly as dark as it seems. Whilst bad things are happening in the world, they are happening at an ever decreasing rate, and it is important, says Norberg, that we understand that the world is actually changing for the better in order to continue on this golden-age path we are on rather than to think that the world is collapsing around us and to act accordingly.

As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus has often been quoted, “The only constant is change.” I hope that we can continue to change for the better.

References:
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/lifestyle/articles-reports/2016/01/05/chinese-people-are-most-optimistic-world
https://www.businessinsider.com/10-reasons-2016-is-the-best-time-to-be-alive-2016-8?r=US&IR=T#only-around-10-of-15-17-year-olds-work-20
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160928-why-the-present-day-could-be-the-best-time-to-be-alive
https://www.buzzfeed.com/tomchivers/why-this-is-the-best-ever-time-to-be-a-human

The Kids Are Alright

Protesters hold a green Extinction Rebellion banner; in front of this two children sit with a sign saying "Go Vegan and Save The [animal photos]"
from BBC.com

Walking along Waterloo bridge today, I encountered hundreds of primarily young people, many wearing or flying a flag bearing a symbol previously unfamiliar to me. A quick google search later revealed that they are staging a non-violent protest in the name of “Extinction Rebellion”; an organisation calling for government action against climate change.

Their slogan for this protest (which, it transpires, is a two week long affair in which participants take part in acts of “civil disobedience”, the end goal being to “SHUT DOWN LONDON”, hopefully catching the attention of politicians) is “Rebel For Life”; also the title of a 2013 song by the reggae artist Naaman. It is unclear whether the phrase was purposefully taken from this song or if it is mere coincidence, but it seems only suitable that a song with lyrics such as “Them nah speak them a lie/ Hidden ina them government” be the front line of a campaign for which the first demand to the government is to “TELL THE TRUTH”.

This protest embodies the hope that we can find in the youth of today; actively trying to make change in the world, caring greatly about issues that are on the forefront of many political agendas and the passion to have an impact on future generations which I for one hope will, firstly, be respected by those in power, and secondly, serve to inspire future generations to carry on this critically important work.

If you would like to get involved you can “Join the Rebellion” via Extinction Rebellion’s website https://rebellion.earth or join the London protest which continues until 29th April.