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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Nina Yau – Inspirational Interview (via Spirit of Less)

I’ve just had the most remarkable spiritual boost from reading a new post by a dear friend of mine, Debra of Spirit of Less.

She has kindly allowed me to repost some of the brilliant interview with Nina Yau – to read it all, please hop over and see her blog.

There are many remarkable entries about ways to simplify your mind and your life by embracing ‘Minimalisation’…

Enjoy savouring all the words!

TSx

I have recently been following Nina Yau over on her amazing blog Castles in the Air. After really liking her stuff and downloading her free ebook which truly was inspirational, I decided to buy her book “The Radical Minimalist”.  I loved every page, it was so uplifting and definitely a kick-ass guide covering; It’s okay to quit – how and why we should, Re-inventing yourself, Looking after yourself, Advice on getting rid of stuff and eliminating, … Read More

via Spirit of Less

I Declare this Brilliant Event….almost open!

The Women’s Action Network Dorset, WAND for short, have put together a tremendous community event called Dorset Women’s Day and it’s taking place on Saturday March 5th.

They’ve crafted together an invigorating line up of workshops and talks which are happening at the Dorford Centre, Bridport Road, Dorchester and as their newly appointed Patron, I’m very proud to be opening it!

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Post Children of Alcoholics Week

A Change is Gonna Come

As many of my regular readers know, I’m a very proud Trustee for The National Association for Children of Alcoholics; I was also a child of an alcoholic mother, who passed away on my 40th birthday, or perhaps Mother’s Day; she lay dead for a week before she was found.

Such is the way for so many alcohol dependents. They lock themselves away in a self-imposed bubble of isolation, so as not to trouble, or interact with the world outside.

I must admit, it made the next few birthdays and Mother’s Days particularly tricky to handle emotionally, but as I hurtle towards my 45th birthday, I feel I’m comfortably the other side of that all-encompassing sadness.

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