The story of Everett and Ariana last week reads like a fairy tale:
“We bought an electricity meter, with an app showing the kWh use on our phones display. Every day we plug in a piece of equipment in our household. Then we read out the kWh that this equipment consumes in a day.”
Ariana continued: “This is three birds with one stone:
We save a lot of money
With this CO2 reduction, we really contribute to the future of our children
And, we feel better, because the energy mostly comes from doubtful countries, like Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and so on.”
Last Tuesday Everett plugged in his speaker/amplifier surround sound system he installed about 20 years ago. Seldom he uses it, but it is always on standby. Everett discovered that just the standby mode costs him about 500 kWh per year, so about 300 Euro.
Thursday Ariana figured out the drying machine. This is by far the biggest consumer and she knew that. So she uses the ECO button. She discovered that the thing still eats about 320 kWh per year. Now they are thinking of a little roof just outside the laundry room, to let the laundry dry on a line, on the air.. The drying is slower, but your cloths feel fresher, and it is better for your cloths.
Plus, the earlier mentioned three birds you hit with this single stone.
This measuring, we do it already on board since the Ya started sailing. We saw all guests getting aware of the consumption of the equipment, of themselves. They started becoming ecofriendly from the inside out. Why don’t you do the same?
On ‘Ya’ the electricity meter is positioned on a central place, like a clock.
Putins fear delivers -like all fears- enormous disadvantages. Like the disadvantage of a high energy bill. But, as the reknown Dutch football player, football coach and philosopher Mr. Johan Cruyff always said: “In every disadvantage there is an advantage.” It this case there are even three.
In South America, fruit, vegetables and snacks like empanadas are sold on the street; in The Netherlands, you hardly ever see this. Time for a change! Saskia’s “Loos” brings a variety of healthy organic nuts, coffee, beans and candy to the street. Saskia sells these products from a fossil free cart, without plastic wrappings or bags.
How does it work?
You can bring your own pot or bag, take the amount you want and you pay. Saskia keeps the cart and the dispensers clean; the customers are responsible for keeping their own pots clean. If you don’t have pots or bags that you can use, you can buy them with Saskia.
Is the businesscase feasible?
“Loos” started some months ago with nothing but a brilliant idea, the energy and investments of the founders and small loans of family and friends. Volonteers built the cart and until now, all work has been on a voluntary basis. Saskia is very excited about the price they just won: 60.000,- Euro, which allows them to pay themselves their first salaries.
Why is this article on a Dutch initiative, you are in Panama?
Inge found “Loos” because she is on shore-leave to meet with family and friends and also to see how she can contribute to a more sustainable world in The Netherlands.
Comments on this blog? Want to sail with the ‘Ya’? Then please mail to info@fossilfreearoundtheworld.org
In Suriname we visited an amazing museum: a butterfly-farm. A what? Well, it’s a museum with an overwhelming collection of butterflies, but its main source of income is selling butterfly dolls. We were allowed to walk trough the gardens, and this enabled us to see the butterflies from nearby. In our trips we saw many of these beautiful creatures again, but never as close as in Suriname. Enjoy!
Golden butterfly dollsThe blue butterflies never sit still…….but the brown ones even let themselves get caught to show their ‘eyes’.Amazing concentration when sipping nectar……and this one on board of Ya showed that the colour of her eyes matches our cushions.
Comments? Want to sail with us? Let us know at info@fossilfreearoundtheworld.org!
Shall I compare you to a summer’s day? You are more temperate in the early winds of May In July calms you are willing I dare say On all the seas and streams I stray Before our mast you’re here you stay
First you play the hard to get Yes, you make a sailor sweat With your four sheets and halyard fetched Without a twist or tangle yet I know once that’s done, you are all set
Your hoist is long, a pillar from a pile Of ultralight cloth every inch worthwhile The sock shuffles up, in a gentle style The wing widens out into its full profile Making the sail fill in a breathtaking while Then my wife at the helm shows a beam wide smile
Your sheets get tension when you fill the sky On your trim you are such an easy guy No luff neither leeway – all seas to defy The helmsman stands with a twinkle in the eye: “You make our yacht sail as light as a fly”
You bring her to speeds we never expect Even in light winds, you see what you get Spinaker, gennaker, code zero They broach and tangle and twist, oh hell no When breezes pick up from steady to fresh Your wing valve saves us from a broach and a crash
Mile after mile we are making right now Sailing the seas with you over our bows Enjoying you comp’ny day after day We stay fossil fuel free so easy this way The Autoprop generates hundreds of Watts We ‘ll arrive at the harbour with the batteries topped
O You Parasailor are so very alright We dare set and sail you even throughout the night Because your design is so smart and profound We sail you shorthanded the world around Making our course so easy at the helm Crossing the ocean, my ship is my realm
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Geckos eat bugs. But do you want them on board? Well, even though they’re very cute and useful, we think they’re best off on land. We caught it and brought it to Red Frog.
It’s alive…so we tried to seduce it to a vegetarian lunch – he didn’t touch itWell then, off to Bastimentos Island with you…Nice little trip for the new kayak…through the mangrove….to Red Frog, where a helpful guy took the gecko inside….Would he meet Red Frog?
Like it? Comments? Sail with us? Let us know on info@fossilfreearoundtheworld.org
The fun of fun shopping starts on the way to it. On our last funshopping trip, we got our new kayak. So, this time, we took the kayak and enjoyed the ride to the swap meet. You can find the ‘treasures of the bilge’ there, and it is all about walking and talking; buy, sell, trade or give it away. Need we explain how sustainable this is? Enjoy!
Most sailors have a dinghy with a fossil fuel outboard. We found a more fun alternative!
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How do you stand in life? Do you have fun? Or do you get into your car twice a day and put yourself in a traffic jam “because you have to”? It took us 40 years to understand this:
‘Life is a journey to be experienced, not a problem to be solved’ – Winnie the Pooh
We are anchored at Red Frog Anchorage, some miles from Bocas Town. Now, when our neighbors go shopping, they take their dinghy and go as fast as their outboard can. And so, with 45 minutes of too much noise, slamming on the waves, they are biting the bullet to solve the shopping problem.
We also go shopping, but we see this ‘problem’ as an opportunity. We like sailing, so we sail to Bocas Town, and back again.
We arrived back on the boat with our sailing dinghy full of groceries, it was fun shoppingWe even found some licorice. They were Australian, not Dutch, you can’t win them all.Back at the anchorage, we proudly showed our trophies to our neighbor
The underwaterworld of Bocas del Toro can be beautiful. We found it in the remote areas, far away from the sewers and the sunscreens of the resorts and the towns.
Isabelle, the medicine woman from San Cristobal, and Mathilde (Darkland Foundation), know everything about the medicinal power of the jungle plants. During a 2 hours hike, they show us at least 10 plants that can keep you out of hospital. This knowledge goes down generations of the Ngobe tribe. Again, we learn from their respect in working with nature, using only what you need.
Isabel and Mathilde reveal the healing secrets of the jungle plants during a 2 hours hike….
… and when we came back from the hike, a great lunch was ready for us.
This was the second blog on our visit to San Cristobal. You can also read the article on making jungle bags (from dyeing the plants to crochet).
Do you have any comments or do you want more information? Or ypu want to sail with us? We welcome your email at info@fossilfreearoundtheworld.org
The dentist couple Marc and Angie joined the Floating Doctors organization, to serve the Ngabe-Bugle indigenous community with dental care.
Angie with a little patient. You can see on her teeth that the Ngabe-Bugle stepped into the industrial society without the proper information about sugar. Lots of work to do!
In the past few months, they have treated patients in the most remote areas of the archipelago of Bocas del Toro.
There are no roads between the islands, so all the settlements have to be visited by boat.
Marc and Angie’s motivation is to help the community lead a healthier life. Healthy teeth are essential for that. According to Marc, the teeth of the Ngabe-Bugle are the most beautiful on earth. Strong and straight, and all teeth regular, well rooted, and beautifully placed.
We already noticed the beautiful smile of the Ngabe during our visit to the San Cristobal island.
But now, he often has to pull the teeth that could have been so perfect. Some of their patients are as young as 12 and Marc has to pull 6 teeth because they are rotted to the bone. So sad!
Angie: “Since the diet of the indigenous changed from natural to industrial, things went wrong. Sodas, sweets and chips came in, but not the toothbrush and dental care that have to come with them.“
In the local shops, sodas, sweets and chips seem to belong to the essentials along with rice, beans, toilet paper, cooking oil and bleach. But not toothpaste or toothbrushes.The baby-teeth of this 7 years old child, cannot be saved. And if his habits do not change, this boy will also lose his adult teeth to sugar.
Marc says: “they simply don’t know that Cola is bad, that sugar is bad. Some mothers even think that Coke is good, and you see even babies drinking that stuff. At fifteen, they have a sugar addiction, and… no tooth left.”
Preventive care
Everything starts with good information. And there is a lot to win, because there is a lot of teeth to save.
F
Marc suggested to label the Cola and soda tins as the Netherlands label their cigarette packs with warnings like: ’smoking gives lung cancer’. So, every tin of Cola or soda should be labeled with: THIS DRINK MAKES YOUR TEETH ROT.”The dental team explains the devastating effect that sugar has on teeth……and also, they teach the kids how to brush their teeth. Marc: “the best way is to show it by doing it in their own mouth. That they feel themselves how it should be done.”Because the condition of the gums is often really bad, brushing may hurt a little and often bleeds. This will get better after a few days, as the dentists show.
Angie and Marc are floating doctors now for 4 months. The complete organization runs on volunteers. And it is amazing what they do.
Angie: “The work is so rewarding. You can make so much a difference, for mothers, for the children.” But it is not easy.
There is a base camp, but there are no roads here. Sometimes they sail with their boat to the villages and go on anchor there. The rest of the way they do by motorboat and they walk to the village with their equipment.
Basic dentist portable equipment, just before the patients start coming in.
“The tools are limited. There is no suction. We work with “mineworker-lamps” on our heads. You do your utmost on hygiene, but an indigenous hut remains an indigenous hut. And, you have a big number of patients to treat.” It requires every bit of creativity.
Marc: Sometimes the chickens run around your legs while you are working on a tooth.”
They discovered a fluid that kills the bacteria’s in little holes and forms a strong, protective layer. It was successful a century ago in dental care, but now it is a forgotten product.
“It costs next to nothing, and it is a great alternative for a filling for these young kids teeth.”
Pulling a tooth that is rotten to the bone, requires special tools a modern Western dentist practice has, but Marc has not. “A colleague discovered a surgery tool for fixing and opening sinuses. You can beautifully go along the root with it, without any violence, and then simply lift the remaining piece of the tooth with root and all. It is not in the dentists’ handbook, but it is simple, it works subtle, and I love that.”
Marc: “You can beautifully go along the root with this instrument, without any violence, and then simply lift the remaining piece of the tooth with root and all.”
And there are stories of hope. A young indigenous lady who escorted her brother to the dentist, assisted Marc because they were short of staff that day. She proved to be a natural talent, so Marc encouraged her to become a dental worker herself. That’s empowerment.
Opportunities, for you?
Now here’s today’s key question: do you know a capable dentist who can take over Marc and Angie’s place from October? Or would you know of any daring ‘dental’ volunteers who are willing to dedicate their holidays or study time to this great community?
The present team of Floating Dentists at Bocas del Toro
It is super rewarding work for an amazing indigenous community in a paradise-like setting. You think we are exaggerating? Nope. We’ve been there.
