Ani Talwar's Blog, page 2
September 3, 2023
2023 first 20 reads.
Hi friendly readers.
A lot of my content so far has been environmental articles, which stems from the fact that I have them all written up over the years they've been published. However, now I'm at a stage where my backlog of articles has been uploaded (YAY, about time, I know!) I can talk about what I'm doing here and now. Seeing as I've done a lot on the environmental side of things, I figure it's time I give a little attention to my other side: BOOKS!
So first, here is a list of the first 20 books I got through this year:
1) Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
2) The Reading List by Sarah Nisha Adams
3) A Murder of Crows by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett
4) The Bookstore Sisters by Alice Hoffman
5) Everything my Mother Taught Me by Alice Hoffman
6) All Her Little Lies by Becca Day
7) Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
8) Can You Feel This by Julie Orringer
9) The Girl Behind the Gate by Becca Day
10) Let's Not Be Friends by Pheobe Macloed
11) A Wedding Thing by Shea Serrano
12) You Can't Hurry Love by Portia Macintosh
13) The Guest List by Lucy Foley
14) Zenith Man by Jennifer Haigh
15) Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth
16) Strictly Business by Carrie Elks
17) Before Her by Jacqueline Woodson
18) The Perfect Match by Dandy Smith
19) The Woman in the Strongbox by Maureen O'Hagan
20) Stuck with Him by Danielle Owen-Jones.
and now, for some highlights!
I did experiment with diving into some random new styles of writing that I haven't explored much before, and a lot of that came from seeing a book available to borrow and just picking it up to see what happens. Therefore, the above list comprises a lot of varied genres from crime and thriller to romance and then historical fiction (which crops up again in the next 20 books, which yes, I have already read). There were a few that I read to pass the time or as filler books between bigger more in depth books (does anyone else do that?), and then there were a few that I took a chance on and randomly picked up that I absolutely devoured. A few to pick are:
Anything I read by Neil Gaiman: If you have read Gaiman's work before, need I say anymore to advertise this book? If you haven't: READ IT! This was a Christmas present I saved to be the first read of 2023, and my first Neil Gaiman read, I then moved onto Good Omens, and I have American Gods on my shelf to tackle soon. I'd been a huge Terry Pratchett fan for years, and I can see how the two authors' styles clicked so well to produce Good Omens.
The Reading List by Sarah Nisha Adams: Yes, YES, YES!!! This book is now one of a handfull of books, tv, film that have brought me near tears. It was poignant, beautiful and poetic. 5 easy stars. This was one that I'd never heard of by someone I didn't know of, and I just had a go on it and was ADDICTED. Definitely recommend.
Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth This was a book that I'd been searching for in bookshops for many months. I finally found it for I think £2.50 in a bookshop and was so happy to have finally found it, I was approached by another shopper who told me they were happy for me because I looked so clearly over the moon. It was worth the search.
Lucy Foley. The Guest List was the first Lucy Foley work I read, and now I'm mid way through my fourth or fifth. Like a modern Agatha Christie, Foley weaves the chararacter's individual stories like they're sentient puzzle pieces and ends with a satisfying click regardless of if you managed to predict the ending.
April 27, 2023
Article #51: Space travel.
First Published to WILD Magazine.
Hello friendly Earth savers (and also, extra terrestrial beings!), for my 51st ever published article, I had one major thought that set me down this path: Article 51 sounds like Area 51 so let's make a pun of it and write about space. That's genuinely the reason I decided to write about space travel, but it was a good jump as I ended up learning a lot along the way. So please read, and please comment, let's get a discussion going: can space travel be sustainable?
According to the European Space Agency, Space travel by default has to be sustainable, because there are so few materials not on Earth that we must make the most efficient and effective use of every scrap we have. To this end, the best bases on extra-terrestrial bodies are those that are self-sustaining, and do not need regular refuelling with materials shipped out from Earth.
In fact, the European Space Agency has spent the last quarter of a century fine-tuning an ecosystem that can be taken into space that should produce the required air, water and waste cycling needed to live off Earth. At the moment, a test version set up in Barcelona of a closed ecosystem is housing a few rats, which are reportedly still alive and not in discomfort.
So yes, space travel can be sustainable in space, but what about on Earth?Clearly some thought has been put into how not to pollute whatever extra-terrestrial body we end up on, but space travel begins on Earth, which has to be mined for materials to make these rockets, so what does it mean for sustainability here? In space travel, lift off is said to be the most harmful stage, requiring fuel whilst producing large amounts of gaseous pollution. Whilst the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket released 336 tonnes of CO2, the greenhouse gases aren’t the only ones to watch for. Engines can release soot and chlorine, as well as gases that destroy ozone. However, there has been some headway into making sure entering a new planet doesn’t destroy the one we are already on. Some rocket launches are now propelled using hydrogen fuel which produces water vapour. One SpaceX rival, Blue Origin, has tried liquid hydrogen/oxygen on their New Shephard Propulsion Module, however others have noted that obtaining the hydrogen itself for a hydrogen-based fuel comes with its own caveats, usually emitting carbon in the process. One study also notes that an environmental saving could be made by the reuse of space parts. I’m sure we’ve all seen footage of a rocket entering the atmosphere and the exoskeleton that propelled it into space just falling away, leaving the astronaut in the middle section to continue onwards. What happens to all this debris that is left behind? It turns out that if we safely collected and reused those parts, we could make a huge saving! The parts from the Falcon 9 rocket, mentioned earlier, could potentially be reused 100 times. This knowledge could not be more relevant, with the Rhessi space satellite scheduled to fall back to Earth earlier this week (Wednesday 19th April 2023 precisely for everyone reading later on), resulting in 300kg of material that will simply burn away as it falls through the atmosphere. Imagine the things that could be made if that material had been equipped to return safely to Earth allowing for reuse…So if we can’t guarantee it’s sustainable, should we continue?There are clearly a lot of caveats when it comes to space travel and what it means for sustainability, both on our planet and off it. If there is so much disconnect between what we do, and how environmentally friendly it is, why do we keep aiming for the stars? Could it be that space travel is not only an educational pursuit, but a necessity?
Consider: Space travel helps us monitor how sustainable we are being on Earth via satellites.
One benefit of space travel comes through the introduction of satellites which can be used to monitor land use changes on Earth, including illegal fishing and farming, trends in land degradation, and forest loss. Morgan Stanley reports that this can be combined with weather, and temperature data to inform future farming practices based on these trends, maximising efficiency and yields.
Satellites are also instrumental (see what I did there) in monitoring emissions and landfill positions which can help mitigate build-up, as well as sunlight and cloud patterns to assess suitable locations for renewable energy plants.
Consider: Researching how to survive in space can make us appreciate what we have on Earth.
Space travel is challenging, as you’ve probably garnered from news, film, and the earlier portion of this article. However, this challenge may help us to save our own planet first.
By developing long term solutions for human survival in order to facilitate explorations into deep space, technology is being developed which could benefit sectors here on Earth. Several such technologies have already made this jump, such as crop growth projects using different types of light, or different liquids other than water. The Scientific American reports this amongst other examples, such as a slow release fertiliser which can reduce runoff concerns if deployed on Earth, or a spray for space equipment which can help clean up the harmful chemicals required in manufacturing once they’re in the environment. There are also water systems that can be used on Earth to reduce water scarcity, and help increase water cleanliness.
Getting to space isn’t the biggest issue, because wherever we choose to explore, a major operation has to be undertaken on this planet first to get us there. Whatever endeavours we undertake to be sustainable and survive in space has implications for how sustainable we can be on Earth, both for good and for bad, as mentioned above.
So, I leave it for you to decide: do the benefits of this green technology outweigh the pollution caused thus far in trying to explore beyond Earth? Or should we stay put for now, until we have a guaranteed greener way?
April 2, 2023
Env #37: my 50th published work!! All about Climate Operation.
A look into sustainable organisations: Climate Operation First posted to Wild Magazine
Climate Operation is a group that works to spread more awareness, education, and empowerment to our population when it comes to acting in a more sustainable manner. In this interview, Ani Talwar talks to an intern: Kalani Foster, to find out more about what Climate Operation does, how he gets involved, and how our readers can follow along with new projects.
Image Credits: @ClimateOperation Instagram. Used with permission.Kalani Foster is a final year Human Geography student at the University of York, and started interning with a group called Climate Operation last June. His main involvement is blog writing and project write up around the different projects they do. Climate Operation operates physically in places like Uganda, with projects that are aimed to help the population have more capability to control how sustainable they are. They also conduct research across the globe into the ways different demographics can respond to climate change. Recently, the group has been branching out digitally, to allow more people to get involved with their various climate projects remotely.
So, who is Kalani and what do you do in Climate Operation?
As a final year Human Geographer, I got involved with Climate Operation as an intern. They told me they wanted a blog writer and someone to write up different project newsletters, which is my current project. It’s a new project for me that I’ve only started, and before this I was involved in brainstorming and developing new projects to go with the documentary that was being produced. Their mission at the time was to help youth in Uganda, so my role was as a remote intern.
At the time they were working on a climate documentary partnering up with a few organisations to see how people were responding to the climate crisis in the Philippines, Uganda, and Brazil. This was in order to create a climate module that went to COP27! There was also an online directory at COP27 which I was involved with, and all these projects aim to spread awareness into how the climate crisis is an interlinked issue, and help people see different ways they could get involved.
Essentially, Climate Operation deals with one: empowerment, and two: fighting Climate Doomism.
What kinds of projects do Climate Operation work on?
Currently, the organisation is working on a newsletter to be released, each month which will feature different businesses, organisations, and individuals involved in the fight to save our planet. There’s also a section on different climate jobs to help spread that good impact.
There’s another great project they’ve set up in Uganda, called a climate café. Every few weeks or month, they invite school children, activists and educators of all ages to discuss the climate crisis and how it affects Ugandan people. They’ve now branched out to an online zoom version to spread this globally.
Image Credit: @ClimateOperation Instagram. Used with permission.Do you have a favourite project?
There are many great projects we’ve worked on. I think the best has to be the Climate Education module I mentioned. This was presented at COP27 and whilst it has not been related to educators yet, it is a holistic framework for educators of all levels to use in any setting to aid teaching. I’ve been able to work with universities and across different countries, UCL and in the Philippines being a few, to see different perspectives on climate change and justice. It’s been an amazing opportunity to work with brilliant people.
The people are also lovely to work with! In getting this position, I actually had several video conferences with the founder of Climate Operation with regards to different projects at the time and the atmosphere was wonderful. We had a lovely chat about moving around for work and life and compared the weather in the corner of the globe we’d moved to. It did involve me spilling my coffee and frantically paint matching a section of stained wall though, to no results!
Image Credit: @ClimateOperation Instagram. Used with permission.So how can our lovely readers follow and get involved?
So we do have a website (https://climate-operation.webflow.io/) where you can see what we are about and what we do, and you can also sign up for the newsletter there. All it takes is an email and you’ll get an email notification when the next issue is going to be released. The newsletter starts in April, and then will have a new issue every month. The first one is on climate change and environmentalism in a literary sense, with a focus on climate literacy and its power, with the themes for the rest yet to be determined.
We also have an Instagram Page: @ClimateOperation and a Twitter Page: @clim_operation.
Wow, thanks for all this great info! Climate Change is certainly a contested, and often depressing interview the way it’s portrayed. Do you have any words of advice for our readers when they feel helpless to stop its tide?
It’s easy to get lost in all the bad, and knowing the top corporations or polluting countries are the biggest responsible. Early in my degree I heard something that resonated with me that went along the lines of:
“When it comes to individual change, it’s not about one person doing everything perfectly, but about a lot of people doing what they can,“
I remember that.
It’s not all on you, but any positive impact is going to amount to something.
February 19, 2023
Seasonal Eating III: of Carrots, Cream, and Contrived recipe attempts. (by both meanings of the word, I'm pretty proud of that title).
If there's one thing that I remember vividly about the last two weeks of my seasonal eating journey (aside from how busy I was and why that's led me to do a fortnight post not weekly), it's the sheer amount of carrots I consumed. Month two of seasonal eating has been easier than the beginning, because I have a staple set of recipes I can fall back on, but also harder because I eat very similar things, and I miss ingredients I haven't cooked with in ages. (For example take a good old spag bol...tomatoes aren't in season so I haven't made that since the first week when I had to forfeit and grab some tomatoes regardless).
So what did I buy over the last two weeks? Well I didn't need all that much the last week, mostly some bits to top up my fresh food (milk, fruit etc), but I did venture into cauliflower territory since they're in season now. The general shopping list looked a bit like: (and since this is an amalgamation of two weeks, I'll put individual prices instead of the cumulative price for you. I shop at Aldi by the way. )
[]Milk (£1.65 for 4 pints)
[]Cheese (£2.69 for the biggish block...I really like cheese)
[]Cauliflower (95p)
[]Bread
[]Carrots (28p)
[]Apples (89p)
[]Sausages (£1.29)
[]Pasta (41p)
[]Eggs (£1.55 for 6)
[]Single cream (99p)
[]Also added in were some biscuits and teacakes that I got, irrelevant to seasonal eating, and entirely linked to my need to dunk something in my cup of tea.
I'd had a conversation about pasta/spaghetti/rice with a friend, because I hadn't needed to buy any so far, but I had to this fortnight. The bottom line is: I know they can't possibly be local made, but without one of either three ingredients, I genuinely don't know what I'd eat. It was experimental enough when I decided to commit to no potatoes and no tomatoes (that's pasta and jacket potato off the table...ie my student staples), but also cutting out rice, pasta and spaghetti was a touch too far for my culinary expertise, considering I'm learning on the go around my educational commitments too. I've so far only had to buy some pasta, and I'm eating from rice and spaghetti I already had before.
That being said, if anyone does know any dishes they love that cut out these ingredients, you can leave a comment and let me know, and I'd love to be able to learn more recipes!
So, onto the actual food part of this, what did I eat?
Pasta Bake:
Need I say anymore? Pasta + Veg in a cheesy sauce (made from flour, cheese and milk, though it didn't make the right texture sauce so maybe don't take my recipe for it, BBC Good Food has a decent guide) + about 10 mins under the grill = delicious. I also had a pack of four garlics (my local Aldi doesn't sell them individually) so I mashed up my garlic and spread it on bread with butter to make homemade garlic bread.
I mean, look at that golden crispy cheese. Yum.
Cauliflower cheese with...literally anything.
The second dish I made a lot of was variations of cauliflower cheese, with either a sauce using cream, or the same semi successful cheese sauce I mentioned in the last recipe. I sometimes added carrots to this, sometimes I didn't, and I had it on the side of sausages, or a pork chop at various points.
For the eagle eye'd among you that spot those chips on the side, I had them in a freezer draw from before I started eating seasonally, and needed to finish them!
So we've guessed I enjoy cheese, and a cheese sauce, but I decided to take it up a notch:
So aside from carrots, I also experimented with cauliflower cheese a lot, trying to take these two ingredients and elevate them, which led me down the internet googling different recipes till I found this one.
Now I'm a student, so I didn't swing for all the fancy ingredients, but I gave it a good go. I left out the thyme, and used my aldi cheap pasta instead. I used bread instead of ciabatta (which did taste a bit weird I'll admit so maybe they had a point with the bread) and ignorede parsley completely. I then replaced parmasen with regular cheddar (I had brought a big block after all). Lastly, I used my chicken stock instead of veg stock (couldn't be bothered to buy new stock), and used a red onion (because I had them in)
So basically...I used the cauliflower, cream, chilli flakes, garlic and seasoning the same...and changed most everything else. (I was making the same dish I swear aha). The end result:
Gotta say, I did enjoy it, and had leftover's for lunch the next day. I also had leftover breadcumbs because I made them msyelf and had absolutely no idea how many slices of bread was enough (pro tip: three is WAY too many), so I decided to use the crumbs, apple, and cream to make a new dessert I'd never heard of called an Apple Brown Betty, using this recipe.
In what you're probably realising as true Ani fashion, I did not follow the recipe completely. I used granulated white sugar (it's what I already had) instead of brown sugar, bottled lemon juice, and no lemon rind, and ignored the cinnamon. I should note here, my breadcrumbs were made of brown bread, which perhaps was not the smartest choice for either recipe. I did not really enjoy the dessert, which is probably my own fault for making up so much of the recipe. I did finish it though, in the interest of no waste in this kitchen if it can be helped.And what about the carrots?
So carrots featured hugely too, since I had a lot of them, and I enjoyed preparing these various ways from roasted, to battered (in a flour and chopped garlic batter then fried...it didn't taste all that great, but there's experimenting for you), to boiling and adding to a cheese sauce. I had so many in the fridge I even took to munching on a couple with my sandwhiches for lunch just to have them not go bad.
Above: garlic and oil basted carrots and cauliflower roasted in the oven to go on the side of a homemade burger.
Above: battered and fried carrots on the side of a sausage sandwhich.
And the final star of the show: the Cauliflower.
So I've mentioned a few dishes so far that used cauliflower: the cream pasta, cauliflower cheese, and just roast cauliflower with my burger or meat. The final recipe that sings out the use of a cauliflower is Gobi Parantha (Gobi meaning Cauliflower). If you saw my first installment of seasonal eating, I made onion parantha which is an Indian dish I grew up eating, but you can also add chopped or grated cauliflower to the mix and make Gobi Parantha, which I ate for the first time in ages, and immensly enjoyed. You can see my Instagram reel for how to make Onion Parantha here.
So that's how Carrots, Cream and Contrived recipe attempts kept me alive these last two weeks, and how I hopefully shall make better use of my improvisations in the coming weeks. As I write this, we've a broken freezer, so it's anyone's guess what will be on the menu the next few days, but I shall hopefully do a better job of keeping the recipe links. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to delete a few dozen food photos off my phone now this has been written up.
Till next time,
Your friendly neighbourhood Mischief Weaver,
Ani. :)
PS: There was one more recipe I tried, and it actually turned out great, but I cannot find the original recipe I used on the internet, so for now, I'll leave it off here.
PPS: for anyone curious about the title name, it'll do well to remind I am an author first (quite literally, I had my first works published online at age 10 on my first blog (no it's no longer up so you cannot see it unfortunately, if you'd like to see the story, I have it floating about somewhere so leave a comment and maybe I'll repost it here), so I'm an author first before nearly everything else), and I enjoy hiding messages in the double meanings and connotations of words (if that convinces you at all to have a read of my work, all the better). The dictionary definition of Contrive (pasted from Apple Dictionary)contrive | kənˈtrʌɪv | verb [with object] create or bring about (an object or a situation) by deliberate use of skill and artifice: his opponents contrived a cabinet crisis | [with infinitive] : you contrived to be alone with me despite the supervision. • [with infinitive] manage to do something foolish or create an undesirable situation: he contrived to flood the flat three times.
and this describes well my experiments with new recipes where I used my own judgement to make up bits I didn't want to buy ingredients for, to varying amounts of success.
February 3, 2023
Review: All Her Little Lies, Becca Day.
All Her Little Lies by Becca DayMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
*SPOILER ALERT*
When this book had reviews saying people couldn't put it down, and it was addictive and the plot twists were amazing, of course I was suspicious. Cut to me yesterday finishing this book within 24 hours and...maybe all those people were onto something. As an avid reader, and a writer, I like to think half the time I'm fairly decent at getting a sense for when the rug is about to get pulled from under my feet, and for the first third/half of the book, I thought once againt my instincts had paid off.
By the last 60 pages I'd eaten my words, and yelled out loud twice because of the plot twists. A joking prediction I think I'd made in the first 50 pages ended up right (which still shocked me because I had not expected to actually have been close to an answer, and had spent so long convinced I was wrong that I could barely remember making the prediction), and that was all I was right about.
In some books, or movies, you get those scenes of fleeting romans, lingering looks or long hugs that show love but make you screech 'NOT NOW!'. This book did not do this. There was no two ways about the characters: there was love, there was hate, and then there was this desperation to protect at all costs that gave way to an in depth and beautiful array of grey that made no move to defend itself save for the grim knowledge that it's just the lengths you'd go to for them, and I really really enjoyed that. I loved how there was no shying away from the character's actions as not all good, or legal, or right, because it gave the story so much depth, and a gritty bite to the mystery.
I would definitely recommend, and listen to the great reviews, because I went into this sceptical, and got a very pleasant surprise.
View all my reviews
February 2, 2023
Seasonal Eating Part II: when I fell in love with brussel sprouts.
Hi there! To all those who have taken an interest in this blog: Thank you so much! Here I am, back for week 2 (and a bit of 3) to go through how I've fared with my second batch of seasonal eating:
I won't lie, the first week was hard. I didn't really know what to eat, because there was such a random assortment of veg and fruit I could get that I didn't know what combination would work best for me. I usually shop for a few ingredients that work in multiple dishes so that I can make three or four different thinks without buying four sets of veg. Thanks to vegsoc and my ever helpful set of friends and family who threw suggestions at me, I approached week two with more optimism, vigour, and a desire to get back into cooking hearty, tasty, new meals, but still seasonal. My shopping list was as follows:
[]Milk
[]Carrots
[]Eggs
[]Pork Chops
[]Apples
[]Brussel Sprouts
[]Mushroom (I got button mushrooms, simply because they were the cheapest)
[]A pack of 12 bread rolls
[]Ginger nut biscuits (which have nothing to do with eating seasonally, and everything to do with my love for a cuppa). Again, for the economically conscious, this all came to £10.45.
And this, my friends, begins the journey to me absolutely loving Brussel sprouts. Do note, as I've mentioned, my breakfasts and lunches are usually fairly standard as porridge and a sandwich, so instead of reciting every variation of cheese sandwich by detailing my daily menu, I've picked out a few favourites from the last week. (Do know, if you do want to know anymore about what I'm cooking, leave a comment and I will be absolutely happy to respond).
Meal 1: An adapted Wagamama style Don Buri.
If any of you have met me, you'll also have probably been to Wagamama's with me. I like their style of cooking bursting with flavour and spice, so I also enjoy making mock up's of their meals at home. This version included onions and Brussel sprouts as my veg which was added to some boiled pad Thai noodles. Seasoned with soy sauce, a bit of fish sauce, hoisin, and a healthy dose of chilli flakes, all that needs adding is one fried egg (please appreciate one of the few times I've actually managed not to overcook my yolk). The results are as follows: (one of my better looking meals I have to admit).
Meal 2: Homemade burgers.
Burgers, a self explanatory meal to be fair. I adapted this one slightly, seasoning my burger patty with some salt, chilli powder and garam masala, and adding onions before I baked it in the oven. (For anyone questioning, yes you can pan fry, and yes I did intend to pan fry, but I've made no attempt to hide that not all my cooking experiments go well, and an overmeasurement of egg meant my burger patty was too squidgy to fry and flip).
Here are a few close up's of my veg that went with it, all seasonal this time (I haven't forgotten about my slip up with the bananas) (and yes I know that's a joke reference, you'll come to learn I love a nice pun).
The veg was really simple, and actually tasted surprisingly nice since I haven't used Brussel sprouts many times before. All I did was chop the carrots to resemble chips, and half my sprouts (after chopping off the ends and removing the outer leaves which had started to go bad), before dousing with salt, pepper, a bit of oil, and roasting in the oven for about 40 minutes.
And I added cheese and a fried egg to my burger for good measure too:
Meal 3: A simple roast.
Before anyone asks: yes I did have Yorkshire puddings, and yes I did make them myself! A roast needs not much explanation, but I'll give a brief overview. A pork chop was the meat of choice (BBC Goodfood had said it was in season!) and I paired it with yet more carrots and sprouts (I did say I became obsessed), and also some fried mushrooms. I know mushrooms were not a culinary choice, but I had them and they were about to go bad, so on the plate they went. I added Yorkshire puddings and gravy, and hey presto:
Meal 4: not a meal, but a dessert.
So, as much as I love eating seasonal, I do love a dessert as much as anyone else, and being confined to seasonal food wasn't going to change that. Using the porridge oats I already had (because yes, I could live off porridge), and apples, with flour and sugar, I used a BBC Good Food recipe to whip up a simple apple crumble.
So there are a few highlights from the last week, and now it's moving to Feb so next week it'll be the last of my January meals and we shall embark on a new menu (and be a month closer to eating potatoes again).
Your friendly neighbourhood Mischief Weaver,
Ani. :)
February 1, 2023
Env #36: The Greenest Student Homes.
It does what it says in the name really. This was another one that I wrote 3 years ago but got lost in the pipeline, so here it is, as of 2021, the Greenest Student Homes.
Originally published to AFS.
Based on 2021 data
If you’re looking to improve not only your career choices but also your environmental treatment, looking at which universities and homes are greener is going to be important. There are multiple sites on the web that try to decide which university is the greenest based on several different factors and it can be hard to decide which is most important and which guide to follow. Well worry not, because here I’ve gone through some of the ones online and collated the end results and deciding factors here for you.
In this article, I’ve made the tenuous assumption that the greener the university, the greener its student accommodation will be, and have used this as a basis to work out which university in the country has the greenest accommodation.
Using three different rankings: People and Planet , Save the Student , and Top Universities , I’ve made an averaged ranking of the top greenest universities:
1-Gloucestershire Ranked first in two out of three rankings, Gloucestershire scored 90% on People and Planet for Environmental policy, 65% on sustainability staff, and 100% on carbon reduction whilst scoring in the top 10 on Save The Student since they started ranking, achieving first in 2008 and 2019.
2-Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan scored second in all three rankings, earning it the same place on mine. The uni scored 90% or above in Environmental policy, sustainability staff, Auditing and EMS, Carbon management, and Education in the People and Planet ranking and 79.9% in the Save The Student ranking based off of policy, strategy, food, education, energy sources, carbon and water reduction.
3-Nottingham and Nottingham Trent
Referred to both together and separately, Nottingham Trent scored 79.9% in Save The Student and together were in the top five in the UI Greenmetric World University Ranking according to Top Universities.
4-Northumbria Achieving scores of 90% on Environmental Policy and Carbon management from People and Planet, Northumbria also ranked fourth on Save the Student with a score of 66.6%. However it was not even included in the Top University top 9 score board.
5-City, University of London Whilst ranking last on Top University, City, University of London came 5th on the other two rank sites achieving 66.4% from Save The Student. It achieved 90% or over in Environmental Policy, Auditing and EMS and Engagement from People and Planet but scored lower in Carbon Management and Ethical Investment.
6-Worcester With each ranking system having a different university crowned for 6th, I’ve gone with Worcester who ranked 5th on the People and Planet with 100% scores for Auditing and EMS, Carbon management and Energy sources. They scored lower in Workers rights, Ethical investment and Carbon reduction. They did also win 5th place on the Save the Student ranking with a score of 66.4% tied with City, University of London but were not on the Top University rank at all. Their lower score for carbon reduction from People and Planet is why I dropped them to 6th for this ranking.
7-Coventry Coventry came 7th on the People and Planet ranking with scores of 100% for Environmental policy and Auditing and EMS, but 0% for ethical investment, 20% for sustainable food and only 55% for carbon management.
8-Bedfordshire Bedfordshire kept its place at 8th that it earns from People and Planet and Save the Student, despite not being included in the Top University ranking. It scored 100% for Environmental Policy and water reduction as well as Energy sources and auditing but only 65.3% in the Save The Student rank.
9-Aston University Aston ranked 9th with 63% from Save the student and with People and Planet with scores of 100% from Environmental Policy and 90% for carbon management. They had low scores of 10% for ethical investment and 20% for workers rights which dropped them to 9th.
10-Swansea Despite scoring joint 9th by People and Planet with scores of 90% and above for Environmental Policy, Sustainability staff, Auditing and EMS, Carbon management and Energy sources, Swansea scored 0% for Carbon reduction, 15% for ethical investment and 63% from Save the Student, earning it 10th place in my ranking, dropping it from its 5th place with Top University.
So there you have it: a collated ranking taking into account the scores across three different tables. Other universities worth noting that appeared were Keele at 6th for Top University, Plymouth at 8th with Top University and Bristol who scored first with Top University.
REFERENCES:
https://peopleandplanet.org/university-league
https://www.savethestudent.org/extra-guides/university-sustainability-environment-league-table.html
https://www.topuniversities.com/blog/10-greenest-universities-uk
January 26, 2023
Env #35 : How to commute to uni without the environmental impact
Before anyone thinks I'm repeating myself: I did write this 2 (or 3?) years ago, and it got lost in the pipeline for months on end, till 2023 when it was found and finally published.
Originally published to AFS.
Whether you’re at a campus uni or a city uni, you need some way to get to your lectures and it would be nice to do so without feeling the trail of car fumes behind you cut through the breathable atmosphere. Here’s a few ways to modify your travel without harming the environment.
Carshare or bus!
Five students each driving themselves to university creates five times as many emissions as one student driving four friends so bust out that playlist and try car sharing! This requires a little more organisation and obviously for someone to have a car, but in city universities especially where the commute is longer, it might be a worthwhile idea to save both petrol money and the environment.
Better yet, online apps or QR codes on buses allow you to get real time information, meaning you can safely put off getting out of bed for as long as safely possible and know you’ll make your bus. If you opt to take a coach, you can also access a Young Persons Coach Card which are for people aged 16-26 in full time education and gives you 1/3 off, £15 deals on returns on certain days and 15% off on certain events too, for not much more than £1 a month!
Walking!
Ok yes not everyone loves being caught in the rain, but what better way to walk off the sleepiness before a 9am lecture than strolling to it with your friends? Fresh air and seeing the sights is a great way to keep calm, happy and exercised between busy university life.
Cycling
Another way to keep fit and help the environment is cycling to university. Not only is this greener, but it will definitely get you there quicker than walking, meaning that a valuable ten minute lie-in doesn’t have to be sacrificed.
In London universities especially where the roads are permanently busy and cycle lanes numerous, cycling is a good way to beat the traffic and always a nicer way to see the city. Besides, there are probably more places to chain your bike than there are car parking spaces in the competitive student car parks anyway.
If you would like to see how well cycling could work out for you, check out this guide to 10 bike friendly cities for students.
Train
If you’re further away from uni and cycling requires waking up at dawn or before, public transport is still a better bet than cars. Of course this is more expensive, which is not fun if you have a tighter student budget, but you can get discounts with a railcard too.
For longer journeys (eg moving from home to uni)
Moving from home to university, or just going back after the holidays, may require a longer journey. Again, public transport is greener as it allows more people to travel per journey, but these can also be expensive.
Coaches , whilst taking longer, can actually be quite a lot cheaper though, saving your bank account too.
So there you have several greener ways to commute to university, and if you feel like shaking it up, rollerblading is always quicker than walking (But I would recommend a helmet), so when term starts again, and you start going out more to lectures, you don’t have to harm the environment doing so.
REFERENCES
https://www.student.com/articles/ultimate-student-guide-to-uk-transport
January 24, 2023
Seasonal Eating Part I.
Hello friendly readers. I'm more experienced with writing educational pieces and articles, but I've decided (thanks also to a boulstering instagam vote, thank you for that.) to start a little journey (I'm undecided on the word 'journey', it doesn't fit right) to trying to cook seasonal meals for myself.
A forward into my usual diet: To be honest, when I meal plan, I look for ingredients that can be used in many meals, and things that are a good price. Second, I eat a lot of Indian inspired food, being British-Indian myself, so I had, to be honest, not a great idea of what was seasonal to the UK, or more locally produced. Hence why my first go to was Vegsoc.org for their seasonal calendar, and BBC Good Food's seasonal calendar.
I ended up with the following list (from BBC Good Food):
In season January.
- [ ] Apple
- [ ] Banana
- [ ] Beef
- [ ] Beetroot
- [ ] Bramley apple
- [ ] Brussels sprouts
- [ ] Cabbage
- [ ] Cauliflower
- [ ] Celeriac
- [ ] Celery
- [ ] Chicken
- [ ] Clementine
- [ ] Kale
- [ ] Lamb
- [ ] Leek
- [ ] Lemon
- [ ] Onion
- [ ] Orange
- [ ] Pak choi
- [ ] Parsnip
- [ ] Pear
- [ ] Pomegranate
- [ ] Pork
- [ ] Spring onion
- [ ] Sweet potato
- [ ] Turnip.
Which allowed me to construct my first shopping list. The original idea was to get chicken, leaks, cabbage and milk to make a small stew, and then also some chicken and leak pie (if you're the instagram user who suggested that to me too, great minds think alike!), but alas, my local Aldi didn't have the right type of lettuce, and so after spending far too long hauling a heavy basket up and down the aisle, I decided instead to go with mince, and make Indian style cooked mince.
What I did end up getting were:
-[]Milk
-[]Jam (for porridge)
-[] Red onions
-[]Mince
-[]Bananas (loose, I'm not about that plastic packaging hehe)
-[]Cheese
-[]Oranges
-[]Tomatoes (which were the only out of season food, but I genuinely can't work out how to make meat pasta without tomatoes)
-[] and Tissues...but that was more an 'I need them' thing than seasonal.
for any budget conscious also students, this came to a total of £11.78, I like a good bargain too.
It was after walking home with pride, and an aching shoulder for my bag, that I realised (after being asked by a friend) that foods in season globally, and foods in season in the UK are not the same, and in fact bananas were not the right choice. Rest assured I won't contribute to food waste, but I was bitter about having made that mistake.
So, I guess the next thing is what I actually eat out of all of this...
Well to disclaim, I'm alright with a usual for my breakfast and lunch, which usually consist of simple porridge, with some jam, or chocolate spread in; and then lunch is a sandwhich, fruit, and maybe a snack like a biscuit or breakfast bar. So the fruit went mostly towards my lunches (even the bananas, since I'd already purchased them), and it was my dinner that took on a more...experimental shall we say approach.
The highlights: food.
Indian style mince:
This consisted of onions, with mince added, and then some spices, served with some naan breads (or roti's, whichever you prefer. I already have the atta flour for these, so this didn't factor into seasonal purchasing)
Espeically good with this meal, is that you can use whatever you have leftover for lunch the next day. I used the leftover mince, and a bit of cheese to make a toastie for my lunch, then added my fruit to the side.
here's a photo of the toastie in question, and yes I know it's not great, but I forgot I'd need photos for this so...I'd already eaten it all before I remembered to make it look nicer. (Nobody judge the chunky onions, they were very strong and I was cutting them through tears).
(It was at this point, at 15:50 on day 2 as I wrote this out, I realised I had no idea what to make for my dinner...I then decided to wait till the end of the week to write up, and promptly forgot what order I ate my meals in.)
Spaghetti/Pasta Bolognaise:
Simple, student friendly, and nearly seasonal, I cooked a few variations of pasta/spaghetti bolognaise this week. (Tomatoes are not in season unfortunately, but as I cannot work out how to make bolognaise without them, I had to accept a small defeat for this). The base recipe remains my usual (diced onion +tomato + ketchup +seasoning for the sauce), but I changed it up between meals, adding some mince to make a meatier sauce, or baking to make a pasta bake too.
Onion Parantha:
Now this is an old favourite of mine, that I love making whatever the season, but is espeically great for this journey because its single fresh ingredient is onion, which is in season. The rest of the ingredients are spices, atta (chapati flour) and water, which you can buy once and keep in your cupboard for months on end.
This recipe involves dicing onions, adding garam masala, chilli powder, ajwain (carrom seeds according to Google Translate) and shaking. You roll out a circle of atta (dough made from the flour + water) and add your onions on top (add your salt now) , folding the dough to encompass, so it's almost like a closed purse with the onions in. Roll this out again to about half a centimeter thick (or till the onions nearly burst), and fry with a bit of oil. Enjoy with butter or yoghurt!
Here's the finished result, and if you'd like to see how you get there, check out my reel on my Instagram (@mischief.weavers, it's a reel dated 23.01.2023) or the reel WILD Magazine posted on Instagram (@Wildmag.uk, dated 23.01.2023) where I document exactly how I make it and what it should look like!
So there are the 3 (or 5 depending how you differentiate types of spaghetti...) dishes that kept me going this first week of eating seasonal. Rest assured, I definitely need to branch out more, because I'll go mad on only pasta and onion parantha (as much as I love them, making the dough gets tiring), so I'll sign off for this week, and head into a new week, with some new ideas (chicken pad thai anyone?) and hopefully, a more prepared shopping list!
Till next time,
Your neighbourhood Mischief Weaver,
Ani. :)
Seasonal Eating 'Journey', #1.
Hello friendly readers. I'm more experienced with writing educational pieces and articles, but I've decided (thanks also to a boulstering instagam vote, thank you for that.) to start a little journey (I'm undecided on the word 'journey', it doesn't fit right) to trying to cook seasonal meals for myself.
A forward into my usual diet: To be honest, when I meal plan, I look for ingredients that can be used in many meals, and things that are a good price. Second, I eat a lot of Indian inspired food, being British-Indian myself, so I had, to be honest, not a great idea of what was seasonal to the UK, or more locally produced. Hence why my first go to was Vegsoc.org for their seasonal calendar, and BBC Good Food's seasonal calendar.
I ended up with the following list (from BBC Good Food):
In season January.
- [ ] Apple
- [ ] Banana
- [ ] Beef
- [ ] Beetroot
- [ ] Bramley apple
- [ ] Brussels sprouts
- [ ] Cabbage
- [ ] Cauliflower
- [ ] Celeriac
- [ ] Celery
- [ ] Chicken
- [ ] Clementine
- [ ] Kale
- [ ] Lamb
- [ ] Leek
- [ ] Lemon
- [ ] Onion
- [ ] Orange
- [ ] Pak choi
- [ ] Parsnip
- [ ] Pear
- [ ] Pomegranate
- [ ] Pork
- [ ] Spring onion
- [ ] Sweet potato
- [ ] Turnip.
Which allowed me to construct my first shopping list. The original idea was to get chicken, leaks, cabbage and milk to make a small stew, and then also some chicken and leak pie (if you're the instagram user who suggested that to me too, great minds think alike!), but alas, my local Aldi didn't have the right type of lettuce, and so after spending far too long hauling a heavy basket up and down the aisle, I decided instead to go with mince, and make Indian style cooked mince.
What I did end up getting were:
-[]Milk
-[]Jam (for porridge)
-[] Red onions
-[]Mince
-[]Bananas (loose, I'm not about that plastic packaging hehe)
-[]Cheese
-[]Oranges
-[]Tomatoes (which were the only out of season food, but I genuinely can't work out how to make meat pasta without tomatoes)
-[] and Tissues...but that was more an 'I need them' thing than seasonal.
for any budget conscious also students, this came to a total of £11.78, I like a good bargain too.
It was after walking home with pride, and an aching shoulder for my bag, that I realised (after being asked by a friend) that foods in season globally, and foods in season in the UK are not the same, and in fact bananas were not the right choice. Rest assured I won't contribute to food waste, but I was bitter about having made that mistake.
So, I guess the next thing is what I actually eat out of all of this...
Well to disclaim, I'm alright with a usual for my breakfast and lunch, which usually consist of simple porridge, with some jam, or chocolate spread in; and then lunch is a sandwhich, fruit, and maybe a snack like a biscuit or breakfast bar. So the fruit went mostly towards my lunches (even the bananas, since I'd already purchased them), and it was my dinner that took on a more...experimental shall we say approach.
The highlights: food.
Indian style mince:
This consisted of onions, with mince added, and then some spices, served with some naan breads (or roti's, whichever you prefer. I already have the atta flour for these, so this didn't factor into seasonal purchasing)
Espeically good with this meal, is that you can use whatever you have leftover for lunch the next day. I used the leftover mince, and a bit of cheese to make a toastie for my lunch, then added my fruit to the side.
here's a photo of the toastie in question, and yes I know it's not great, but I forgot I'd need photos for this so...I'd already eaten it all before I remembered to make it look nicer. (Nobody judge the chunky onions, they were very strong and I was cutting them through tears).
(It was at this point, at 15:50 on day 2 as I wrote this out, I realised I had no idea what to make for my dinner...I then decided to wait till the end of the week to write up, and promptly forgot what order I ate my meals in.)
Spaghetti/Pasta Bolognaise:
Simple, student friendly, and nearly seasonal, I cooked a few variations of pasta/spaghetti bolognaise this week. (Tomatoes are not in season unfortunately, but as I cannot work out how to make bolognaise without them, I had to accept a small defeat for this). The base recipe remains my usual (diced onion +tomato + ketchup +seasoning for the sauce), but I changed it up between meals, adding some mince to make a meatier sauce, or baking to make a pasta bake too.
Onion Parantha:
Now this is an old favourite of mine, that I love making whatever the season, but is espeically great for this journey because its single fresh ingredient is onion, which is in season. The rest of the ingredients are spices, atta (chapati flour) and water, which you can buy once and keep in your cupboard for months on end.
This recipe involves dicing onions, adding garam masala, chilli powder, ajwain (carrom seeds according to Google Translate) and shaking. You roll out a circle of atta (dough made from the flour + water) and add your onions on top (add your salt now) , folding the dough to encompass, so it's almost like a closed purse with the onions in. Roll this out again to about half a centimeter thick (or till the onions nearly burst), and fry with a bit of oil. Enjoy with butter or yoghurt!
Here's the finished result, and if you'd like to see how you get there, check out my reel on my Instagram (@mischief.weavers, it's a reel dated 23.01.2023) or the reel WILD Magazine posted on Instagram (@Wildmag.uk, dated 23.01.2023) where I document exactly how I make it and what it should look like!
So there are the 3 (or 5 depending how you differentiate types of spaghetti...) dishes that kept me going this first week of eating seasonal. Rest assured, I definitely need to branch out more, because I'll go mad on only pasta and onion parantha (as much as I love them, making the dough gets tiring), so I'll sign off for this week, and head into a new week, with some new ideas (chicken pad thai anyone?) and hopefully, a more prepared shopping list!
Till next time,
Your neighbourhood Mischief Weaver,
Ani. :)
