Time is a funny thing, isn't it? Both of the following sentences feel equally valid right now:
Option A: "I can't believe it's already been a week since my last #Write52 post."
Option B: "I can't believe it's only been a week since my last #Write52 post."
Delete as appropriate I guess...
I know last week's post brought a great deal of joy to many people, so thanks for getting in touch to let me know it made you smile - that was the intention after all.
This week has seen us take on two new challenges from pre-school. The first is our new window display: "If you go down to the woods today..." We've had great fun spotting various displays around the village, including a couple of cheeky bunny rabbits who have taken the last roll of loo paper hostage! In contrast, our bears are knocking back a glass or two of fizz in the sunshine while demolishing snacks and catching any stray crumbs in wonderful gingham napkins.
We've also been out foraging for bits to use to make a nature picture. Izzy's certainly gone with a slightly more abstract-art feel, but we're rolling with it. Introducing "The Turtle".
So yes, we've had lots of fun. But it's been tough at times, too. For anyone else at home with a toddler, I feel you may enjoy this. I spotted it on Twitter and can't remember who first coined it, so apologies there are no credits.
Anyway, let's get back to #DitchingThePlastic. And here's two (or possibly three) ideas for the price of one, and none of them will cost you a bean. Hurrah.
1. This is something I spotted a few weeks ago on The Lazy Environmentalists' Facebook page and a really easy thing we can all do. We've all got Amazon accounts, and probably find we're using it more than usual right now, so while it may take a bit longer to get through to someone via chat at the moment, it's worth it to cut back on any unnecessary packaging that may be lurking.
1A. Sticking with the Amazon theme, if you've not yet done so, make sure you sign up for a "Smile" account. When you shop via "smile.amazon.co.uk", Amazon donates 0.5% of the net purchase price of elibigle purchases to your chosen charity. I've opted for CLIC Sargent Cancer Care for Children but there is a range of charities to choose from. So far, these worthy organisations have received donations in excess of £3 million here in the UK, and globally that figure is over £125 million. These donations are at no extra cost to you but will certainly benefit many many lives, so please do use your Smile account.
2. The other change we can all make is switching away from using Google as our search engine, and instead using Ecosia. I'm a fan of Ecosia for many reasons, but one biggie is that the company uses its profits to plant trees where they're needed most for the benefit of people, the environment and local economies. It takes an average of 45 searches to plant one tree, and I'm sure my fellow translators will agree that we power through a terrifying number of searches for every project we work on, so why not make those searches do some good?
My other favourite fact is that all of Ecosia's servers run on 100% renewable energy, and what's more, every search request removes 1kg of CO2 from the atmosphere. Did you know that if the internet were a country, it would rank #3 in the world in terms of electricity consumption. Yep, number three. Ouch.
Last but not least, Ecosia protects our privacy. Users' search history is anonymised within a week and the company doesn't sell on user data nor use tracking tools. Yay.
So - who's joining me as a fellow Ecosia user? You can download a plug-in for your computer browser, and there is also a free smartphone app, so there really is no excuse ;-)