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Sinchies Facing the Plastic Crisis

plastic crisis Sinchies

Recently, National Geographic Magazine have been sharing some devastating photos of the plastic crisis our Planet Earth is currently experiencing. These photos are appalling. You can check them out here (National Geographic), here (National Geographic Instagram) and here (Bored Panda).

I understand that plastic has a necessary place in our world, but this resource being abused. Every resource must be used responsibly and very few are. This is an age old problem that isn’t just about plastic. For example, in one of Bill Bryson’s books (favourite author alert!), Bill tells us that pecan nut trees ran the risk of going extinct in America because it was easier for the first European settlers to cut down a tree to harvest the nuts, than it was to pick the nuts off the tree. Wow! Just wow!

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Why I Refuse to Worry About Day Zero

Refuse to worry about Day Zero

As Day Zero looms ever closer, most of Cape Town is in a panic over water. Accusations are being thrown around like confetti and there is a lot of anger targeted towards any possible cause, including the farmers growing our food, inadequate infrastructure and maintenance, suburbia’s swimming pools, informal settlements’ car washes, population growth, and climate change, etc. The list is growing. Whatever the cause (or causes), I feel that it is besides the point; there is a water shortage, and it has to be dealt with. We have to ride this wave (excuse the pun).

I agree that the prospect of standing in queues at water collection points is extremely daunting, but I have decided not to worry about this possibility and this is why (other than the fact that it keeps getting moved forward).

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How Easy is it to Recycle in South Africa?

children help recycle

South Africa, like many other countries around the world, have a problem with waste. Our landfills are quickly filling up and even if they were not, this is still not a solution because it will take centuries for all that plastic to fully decompose. Less packaging and more recycling is the way to go, but in order to successfully recycle in South Africa, this may take a bit of extra, out-the-box planning.

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How to Make Litter-Free School Lunches

lunchbox ideas

We all know what a rush the school-mornings are. Because of this, convenience often becomes paramount when packing school lunches and parents often resort to buying pre-packaged and processed foods in an attempt to save time.

This means that every day packaging is thrown out and if you were to multiply that amount by the number of school-age children in South Africa, the amount of waste becomes rather frightening.

How can you make a litter-free lunch for your children and why is this a wise option for your pocket and the planet?

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War On Waste: Tips for the Home Kitchen

garbage war on waste

Pollution and waste is a growing problem in South Africa, as it is in many other countries. South Africa has the added problems of illegal dumping sites, inadequate recycling facilities and over-zealous packaging of shop-bought items.

The question is, what can we do to eliminate some of this waste and give a good example to our children? Most mothers do not have the time to spend visiting farmers’ markets and are forced to buy the majority of their food pre-made, as they are juggling work and the responsibilities of growing families.

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Boring is OK

I had a conversation with Daddy Bear over the weekend, when I mentioned that we didn’t actually have to entertain Baby Bear at all times. That it is actually good for her to be bored. And this was somewhat surprising to Daddy Bear, which made me think that maybe it would be surprising to some others out there.

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Judgy McJudgerson

overthinking

I was recently judged for being … wait for it … too judgy. I was beyond upset and angry because what I said I had not meant to be taken as a judgement. Once I got past the intial pure anger, I sat to try and analyze exactly why I was so upset. And I realised that it’s because I do my best generally to not judge – as a mom there are so many choices to make that it is impossible to not be judged by someone, somewhere. However, I made the conscious choice to not judge other moms – this momming business is hard enough as it is without having to worry about what other people are thinking. In my household there are two people who have a say in how our child is brought up – and that is the two people who are her actual parents.

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The Bullying Phenomenon

If you have spent any time on social media, you have probably come across a dramatized video depicting the life of a victim of vicious bullying. These videos end in tragedy; the victim usually committing suicide. Although bullying is a problem and awareness of such is a necessity, are these videos the answer? Do these videos give our children and their parents the wrong idea of bullying? Do events have to be this extreme to be taken seriously? Is bullying a new development in our society? Where do we draw the line between innocent teasing and bullying?

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