When Did That Happen? – by Tracey Smith

I awoke this morning, long before the sun was anywhere near the horizon.  My bedroom was full of thought and air bubbles, all the colour of grey slate and my mind was as full as the lungs in the birds who were starting their morning calls.  I usually sleep well and long and I wondered, why that had happened?

I thought back to you.

I tried hard to remember when I felt the first pulls of love towards you, then back further still to when we’d had the first conversation where I’d watched your face but not heard your words, because my heart had been captured in the net of your presence; when did that happen?

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Make it, Bake it, Take it Home!

Sunrise over Lyme Bay

I have to confess, I’m more than a little bit passionate about breadmaking, so much so that I try to impart the how-to knowledge at every given opportunity.

I love getting to the bit where I watch people walk through the doorway that is their own imagination, as they get to grips with the simple key principles that ensure the bread rises and tastes amazing; it’s like an epiphany!

So I’ve decided to add a few new teaching days and am offering a varied selection of 2½ hour organic breadmaking workshops in beautiful Lyme Regis, organic refreshments and nibbles are served too, naturally…

During this convivial, hands-on event, I will gently guide you step by step through the process and show you how to avoid the problems that may have plagued your breadmaking efforts before and I’ll show you how to finish off and present your fabulous produce, making your easy-baked goodies look positively artisan.

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Eco-Radio Show Coming Soon: ‘Smithy’s Global SOS (Stories of Sustainability)’

Tracey Smith's Radio Show - coming soon...

World-flavoured eco-radio

Coming soon to an Internet radio near you!

‘Smithy’s Global SOS (Stories of Sustainability)’ will alert you to the environmental, eco, green and sustainable news stories taking place from Taunton to Timbuctoo and just about everywhere in between.

This unique weekly broadcast from sustainable living author and journalist Tracey Smith will highlight the issues that aren’t making the top spots in the news, but that should be!

It will include spoken word interviews with sustainable living experts from all walks of life with many areas of expertise from around the globe, uncovering the problems arising in their immediate environments and exploring the solutions their communities have come up with to combat them.

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Smithy Opens New Charity Shop in Dorset

Tracey Smith Opens New Charity Shop in Dorchester

A New, Green Time of the Month – by Tracey Smith

The time of the month was approaching,

And the time had arrived to say ‘NO’,

I’d been using disposable wotsits,

Internal and pad style….you know.

 ~

I added the cost up one morning

Of a couple of boxes a month,

Plus the liners with wings, all ends up in the bin,

20 quid mopping up me own blood.

~

But it wasn’t just that that inspired me,

I’ve been thinking about it for years,

Those tiny bleached-white little wotsits,

In my deepest dark creases, I’ve fears.

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Bin Day Blues – by Tracey Smith

What on earth can that woman be thinking?

As she slings out her bulging black bags,

Every one of them’s ripped,

Trailing trash through the splits,

As she lights her next chain-smoking fag.

~

It’s not even bin day till tomorrow,

The recycling truck comes round today,

But there’s not a squashed tin,

Or glass bottle within,

Her green bin; I hang my head in sorrow.

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The Shallow End – by Tracey Smith

Come and join me down in the shallow end,

It’s the location that I love the best,

Full of eco-virgins and newbies,

And you don’t need a green buoyancy vest.

~

There’s always a soul there to help you,

They’ll encourage you to ‘do that bit more’,

They’ll not judge you by the size,

Of the CCs that you drive,

And yer photovoltaics won’t grip them in awe.

~

There’s less politics down in the shallow end,

Tis the deep end where you’ll hear them all bleat,

Judgemental and purist,

Doing more harm than good,

I wish we banged the green drum to the same beat.

~

Trouble is, there ‘are’ clouds on the horizon,

Talk of Peak Oil’s become quite common place,

But the next bloke to tell me,

To turn off me lights,

Might just get a fierce glare in the face.

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InterNational Downshifting Week 2011

Now that I’ve got the Wipe Out Waste Awards Welly Boot Camp and UK Aware’s speaking engagements under my belt and before I have to pack up to go talk at Glastonbury, it’s time to focus on my other baby!

7 years ago, I founded National Downshifting Week (now InterNational) and she has grown stronger year on year.  She has been viewed (and hopefully acted upon) by tens of thousands of visitors from countries all over the world.  The campaign and my quotes on it have even found their way onto Wikipedia, which never fails to make me smile!

The word ‘Downshifting’ seems to be the most commonly recognised generic worldwide term for pulling back from mass consumerism and seeking a better work / life balance and it’s growing exponentially.

My work promoting downshifting has been published all over the world, even in the air (in-flight magazines) and I’ve done radio, television, newspaper and magazine interviews galore, in languages I cannot even translate when they send me the paper copy…

InterNational Downshifting Week is an entirely non-profit awareness campaign, designed to help participants slow down, green up and hold onto their hard-earned cash.  It also encourages people to have a positive embrace of living with less.

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Smithy Counts Down to UK Aware: Day 11

Tracey Smith

Smithy: unquestionably in sensible shoes

It’s all about the timing so they say in comedic circles and it’s much the same if you’re planning to come along to this years UK Aware.

Having seen the event blossom and flourish over the past few years, I’ve realised the best way to get the maximum amount of enjoyment and stimulation from it, is to plan your visit properly.

Yesterday, I talked about a tiny handful of the diverse speakers we’ve booked for Friday 25th and Saturday 26th and it’s probably a good idea to waft through the schedules on our website to help decide who you really fancy hearing from; it will be a tough call if you’re equally divided across both days!

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Smithy Counts Down to UK Aware: Day 12

Eco-Author Tracey Smith counts down to UK Aware

Tracey Smith shares her favourite bits!

Evening All,

I’m Tracey Smith, an author and broadcaster on sustainable living and over the next 12 days, I’m going to make a real big noise about my favourite bits coming up in this year’s UK Aware.

Today, it’s cool, green speakers who are so cool, they’re actually hot.

In fact, with some of them, we do run the risk of creating a little sizzle over the roof of Olympia 2 which could actually be detrimental to the ozone…it’s a risk we’re just going to have to take.

My lovely chum and top eco-chick Brigit Strawbridge of BBC’s ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green‘ fame, will be running a buzzing workshop at 12.30pm on Saturday, called Bee Aware.  She’ll explain the urgency driving our need to understand how the bees contribute to our very existence and will give you simple tips on ways to encourage them back into our communities with welcoming natural habitats in our gardens and green spaces.

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