Waterloo Ward By-Election

The election on 4th September could possibly turn the tide of Tory domination in the Waterloo Ward with the prospect of Fred Dunford winning. Many people that actually live in the ward are fed up with Havant Borough Councils poor management of their council tax money, failing to invest in making the Civic Offices more efficient as a result of taking short term economic views. Compared with many places of work, HBC fails to meet modern green ethical standards and wastes energy. As a result the council also wastes public money. The council needs to put the environment as a higher priority.

Fred Dunford is leading a campaign to stop Jubilee Park being earmarked for development. There are some fantastic huge oak trees in Jubilee Park that are not protected and of course it is an important local green space, so he gets my support for that.

Some issues mentioned in Freds leaflets i don't agree with. The higher food and energy prices are due to over consumption of resources and no matter what you do with taxes, prices are still going to rise. The other point is that higher fuel prices have encouraged people to reduce consumption.

Considering that some 25% of food is wasted in the UK and that a lot of people don't need to make many of the journeys they do, then for many there is a lot of room to make cuts in consumption. If poor people can not afford the basics then reducing the tax burden would be a temporary reduction. People are poor because their gross income is low, not because oil, gas and food prices have gone up.

West of Waterlooville MDA - Portable town

Despite the 'Credit Crunch' and a down turn in the property market, Grainger continues with the devastation of Waterlooville green farm land and habitat.

Construction of a portable cabin site base is ruining the view we once had. Close by is the site entrance where vehicles going in and out of the site will hold up traffic in the Waterlooville area causing greater emissions than we already have. A few months ago the muddy mess in the foreground was green land

Local shop helps locals to increase landfill

The Martin Mccoll shop at Hambledon Parade have normally stocked milk in plastic recyclable containers for around a decade or so, then i ventured into the shop recently and was confronted with 1 litre tetrapak milk cartons on the shelves.

These cartons will not currently be accepted by the local recycling scheme and as such it is a step backwards, when everyone else is trying to make steps forward to reduce their environmental impact. My advice is don't buy milk in these tetrapaks until they can easily be recycled locally.

There are schemes for recycling tetrapaks, but in this area that would probably require the cartons to be sent off somewhere. Some council areas have places where tetrapaks can be taken for recycling, that doesn't currently include Havant and Waterlooville.

For more information about Tetrapak recycling visit the
Tetrapak site and map:

Where can i recycle Tetrapaks?

Adventures with Natural Paint - episode 5

Mission completed, although we decided to buy 5 litres of Deep Vanilla Earth Born Emulsion instead of the claypaint. The emulsion was chosen because Greener Living in Southsea had a deal on, that made the coloured emulsions work out to about the same price as Crown emulsion per litre.

The emulsion is quite thick stuff and the main ingredient other than water seems to be chalk, although I suppose the ingredient mix may differ depending on colour chosen? The emulsion has some interesting properties in that it appears to not cover very well initially and then when it dries it becomes much more opaque and you realise it has covered quite well. Overall the results are fine, it will be interesting to see how the paint performs over the years.

Adventures with Natural Paint - episode 4

The samples of Earth Born paints are impressive. The Clay Paint in particular covers extremely well, with a nice uniform matt finish (the sort you would expect from a high quality popular brand such as Crown or Dulux) and i reckon in many cases only one coat would be needed, which potentially would make Clay Paint as cheap or cheaper than the low cost petro-chemical emulsion brands that you find in your local DIY superstore.

This is the sort of thing that really bugs me. We are so often conned, bullied and manipulated by big corporation bull crap on TV and the internet that the vast majority of us don't realise that being eco-friendly may in many cases be cheaper and less damaging. It just needs a little research and thought to get a perfectly modern and sustainable answer. But most people just blindly walk into a DIY superstore and buy a load of crap off the shelf.

So the decision has been made, Earth Born Clay Paint it is!

Adventures with Natural Paint - episode 3

Well having trialled Nature Paint on a section of wall and getting used to mixing the paint, we are not sure about the colour! (See previous post about obtaining samples).

We are now going to get some Earth Born paint tester pots from Greener Living in Southsea to try out those paints and to see how well they cover. Meanwhile the remaining Nature Paint powder has been reserved for the kitchen.

I have to say that with Nature Paint the thickness of the paint on the wall does seem to change the colour and optical properties of the finish. Unlike petro-chemical paints that give a uniform colour finish, Nature Paint looks a bit more rustic and uneven in my opinion (it may be something to do with the particular colour chosen ). But then again, it is the first time i have used these paints so there are probably techniques to learn.

One promising feature of these natural paints is the idea that they could reduce condensation and mold problems. Because modern paint is basically a plastic coating on the wall, moisture collects on the surface in steamy rooms and then mold grows. With these natural paints, the moisture can penetrate through to the plaster (if you removed the old paint) and then released later as it evaporates. This should in theory remove/reduce the condensation problem and hence inhibit mold growth. Time will only tell if this is true!

BTW, anyone reading this probably thinks i am rolling in money!
Not true, one incentive is to eliminate the need to dispose of old paint tin cans as hazardous waste, another includes removal of fumes whilst painting and drying, another is that it is easy to waste money elsewhere on trivial rubbish, so why not spend a little more on something that is worth while instead. Finally the biggest incentive is to eliminate another source of fossil fuel usage.

Greener Living
Earth Born Paints
NaturePaint

Adventures with Natural Paint - episode 2

Having prepared the walls (washing, sanding and washing again) to make sure the surface was good, we decided to mix a very small sample of NaturePaint to test it out. As it was the first time, we were very careful weighing the powder and measuring the warm water. Anyway, having mixed a sample we brushed some on the wall. It was surprisingly good at covering considering it was a lot thinner than petro-chemical emulsion.

I think at this point i would suggest that anyone wanting to use this paint, ask NaturePaint to send cardboard paint chips of the colours they are interested in, as the colours printed on the swatches may not accurately match the actual paint colour. The cardboard chips are painted with the real stuff, so should match accurately the final finished colour.

Having used some of the paint, the remainder has been covered in cling film (see photo) and put in the fridge. This enables you to keep any unused paint for a few days.

BTW, i didn't mention this in the last post, but NaturePaint is supposed to absorb some CO2 when it dries!