Fitting a sail to a canoeControversially I bought a sail for my canoe. Thankfully I do now have the income that justifies the purchase. This was so I could paddle the Great Glen Canoe Trail - coast to coast across Scotland, and get back home quicker. And of course, Canoe sailing is fun. Doing so, in order to reconnoitre (one of my Dad's favourite words) the trail - no small feat - and return to complete it ideally in 5 days as a charity paddle - for mental health. The problem - I'm now in Glasgow with the sail and inadequate tools to complete the job. HPurpose of this blog is to say thank you to some great people I met in Glasgow whilst visiting for some fringe COP26 talks and prior to heading up to my planning / research trip of the highlands canoe trail.
Allan and Peter in Jewsons Thank you Allan. You helped me find a place where my canoe could spend a night in a warm factory at CAPVOND (another blog and vlog on this - should have been featured inside COP26), in order that the mast base G Flex adhesive could set properly, by introducing me to your colleague Peter. Also, generously letting me have some rubber gloves for glueing and a mask, as I dropped my outside in puddle. Thanks buddies. Great ambassodor for Jewsons and CAPVOND. Stephanie - Stephanie's Cafe outside Jewson After explaining my predicament, Stephenie, you helped me by asking your customers, trades people, if they had a cordless drill I could borrow. You also do a great sarnie, I can recommend Stephanie's Scottish Potato Scones. Yum. You are a queen. Gary Quinn - roofer Gary, you came to my request via Stephanie and leant your drill to me. I would not have been able to fit the mast thwart on the canoe and definitely would not have been able to use the sail. Cheers pal. Gary and Derek of Unit4 Trades - Property Improvements I would not have been able to drill the holes in my thwart without the 5 mm drill you lent me. Thanks! Ian at CAPVOND Allowing me to use space inside your unit and store my canoe overnight indoors whilst the GFLEX adhesive bonded and access your internet with my data running out. And sharing what you do at CAPVOND - great use cases of reused/ purposed plastic recycled in to new value as building materials, roofs, fencing - circular economy in action. Look forward to sharing our video conversation with others. I might have an idea for your product for the rear door on my modular ecopod. Paul - McDonalds Darnley My data ran out and I was trying to plan how I was going to get from where I was camping in my van to an important COP fringe talk - Healthy Minds, Healthy Planet. Without your kind deed of providing me access to the internet via your personal hotspot, I was pretty lost. Wow - it was sobering how dependent we become on access to the internet. I was able to activate a new SIM and get online. Catch 22. Buy sim because you have no internet and you need the internet to activate it. For some reason the public free wifi wasn't having it. Your kind act with the personal hotspot was a lifesaver. Here is why I am planning a sponsored canoe trail - 95 km, wild camping, highlands canoe expedition - www.gofundme.com/f/help-me-build-a-modular-ecopod
0 Comments
COP26 Glasgow Pilgrimage
I had the intention of attending the 26th United Nations Council of Parties in Glasgow for a while. Colloquially known as COP26. It is no understatement to say that I returned from this ‘pilgrimage’ a different person. If you know Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth, and the Hero’s journey - I came back with the ‘elixir’ for nature and stories that will motivate me to the right actions aligning with my values and challenges we face - Climate and ecological disasters and economic and mental health pandemics. DEAD or ALIVE Inspired by many events including the David Middleton Sustainability Conference that I support (see separate blog) nature is vitally important to me. Well all of us really. We are totally utterly dependent upon it. She provides everything important in our lives. Without her; a stable diverse biological system of other interconnected ecosystems - we would simply be dead or living very much more uncomfortable lives - which as I learned at COP many millions of people already do. 5 highly interesting life-changing talks Despite leaving my planning late, I attended 5 engaging talks. All of which were fringe events organised by some delegates who were inside the green and blue zones. What made, IMO, the talks special (as well as on their own merit and value); was the different lens that I was able to attempt to empathise and appreciate other people's views and experiences on the climate and ecological catastrophe that we face. Empathy I believe is innate within all of us, but also vital in service design and co-design projects, and hence to the essence of this ‘Nature’s Way’ project. As is synthesis of diverse and creative ideas, views and experiences into key insights. So in a series of blogs, I elaborate on each of these different talks, and share what I learned about nature and myself - returning home with a very different perspective. Monday 8th November 2021, 415.28 CO2 ppm daily global seasonal cycle BIPOC - Lens of Indigenous Cultures and Law In my very first COP26 talk, I attended the Alliance of Mother Nature's Guardians & Ecocide International panel. I appreciate that whilst I am white, privileged (which not all white people are as parts of South Birmingham where I am from and parts of Glasgow will attest to); but nonetheless, also male, middle aged and live now in an affluent part of the developed world. So despite, a whole other story, of my own personal challenges (including epilepsy, dyslexia, and PTSD), I know I come from a position of privilege. That made it all the more shocking and heartbreaking to learn about the experiences and views from black indigenous and people of colour from across the planet, which I share with you in my first blog. Tuesday 9th November 2021, 415.33 CO2 ppm daily global seasonal cycle Lens of enterprise and entrepreneurship Innovating to Net Zero, I met the charismatic Russell Dalgleish and was met with humbling Scottish hospitality and an array of speakers from across the globe. Learning about some amazing solutions to the challenge, and learning about how people are looking at the challenges through the lens of commerce, enterprise and entrepreneurship. Lens of psychology and faith Later on Tuesday in the evening I attended a talk titled Healthy Minds Healthy Planet. Looking at ‘How do our minds affect the planet?’ How contributions to change (nature, climate, planet, mental health) must come from the inside. Speakers included faith representatives to the WHO, ecological and sustainability expert, and a former big-pharma scientist disillusioned with a purely medicalised model to address modern disease like heart failure, stroke, diabetes, COPD, cancer as well as stress, anxiety, depression. Thursday 11th November, 415.43 CO2 ppm daily global seasonal cycle Lens of disability and Inclusion GDI Hub at COP26, The Global Disability Hub discussed Disability, Resilience and Inclusion in our Cities. A subject having worked in for over 15 years in social care, is closer to my subject matter of expertise and comfort zone. Lens of science and research Later in the evening on Thursday, it was party time. I went to a semi formal/ informal presentation, with food, drinks, disco and keynotes from scientists. Rock and roll. Learning about the Bunloit Rewilding - Natural Capital Report Launch with a bit of post presentation Networking at COP26. So through each of these lenses, and a short blog, I share how life changing the insights were, through indigenous people, law, commerce, science and faith. A few years ago, inspired by both Matt Callanan and my eldest daughter Lily, motivated about injustices and inequality, and 100% supported with ideas from my two younger daughter Rosie and Holly, we set about trying to help with homelessness in our home city Birmingham.
This culminated in the 5 of us buying (with kindly donated cash from my mother Kate) home made crackers (with emergency blankets inside), gifts including socks, toothpaste, brushes, and also underwear and gloves, and Christmas cards that the girls wrote out with personalised names as we met people on the street. The subsequent year we did this again with our friends the Maidens, Curry's and Archenhold's - some of whom you can meet in the ITV video on My CV page. Then 2020 COVID struck and many homeless people were housed in hotels - shows when there is willing, things can happen. Regrettably and depressingly as COVID eased, or the frog was boiled depending on your perspective, people were back out on the street. Reflecting back on this experience, our family was again inspired with this gofundme campaign. Read on here. |
Categories
All
Archives |