Month: May 2016

Butts are a bit of a problem

Sibo hands

Lately scientists have figured out that cigarette butts are one of the most abundant types of litter found around. Studies estimate that 4.5 trillion cigarette butts find their way into the environment each year.

Much worse, it’s one of nastiest, deadliest forms of waste.

People who would not dream of pitching a cool drink tin out of the car window will happily chuck a burning butt out. Not particularly caring that it can set fire to something. Burning butts are often the cause of serious veldt fires.

People also drop them on pavements or into gutters, where the wind blows them into storm waters and other places.

They also flick butts casually into water – dams, the sea and rivers.

You probably wouldn’t flick a cigarette butt into your swimming pool – but why not? Because you or your family might swallow it whilst swimming and that would be horrible.

So why not care if a fish, bird or animal chomps it instead?

Cigarette butts are tiny little bundles of toxins. They are poisonous. They get into our marine ecosystems and cause havoc with the wildlife and the quality of the water.

We all know that water is extremely precious.

Due to the fact that cigarette filters are specifically designed to accumulate toxins, each butt can contain up to 60 known human carcinogens including… arsenic, formaldehyde, chromium and lead. In fact, there are around 1,400 potential chemical additives.

Toxicological data has shown that these chemicals from discarded butts are capable of leaching into surrounding water where they can hurt aquatic life. Nicotine has been shown to be lethal to various fish, crustaceans, zooplankton, and other aquatic organisms, as well as being a known insecticide.

On top of leeching toxins, cigarette butts present an ingestion, choking and poisoning hazard to wildlife who mistake them for dinner!

Cigarette filters are also composed of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic that can hang around in the environment for long periods of time. Plastics of this sort have been found in the stomachs of sea turtles, fish, birds, whales and other marine creatures.

You know what is also really scary – even those people who put their cigarettes out in the designated places have no guarantee that their butts won’t also end up in the water. The bins get emptied. Butts are chucked onto rubbish dumps. Here they are blown around and it’s highly likely that they end up where they shouldn’t as well.

So what is the answer?  Stop smoking of course!

Sibo visits Nash Nissan

A couple of weeks ago we – as in Uncle Pete, Ginny and I, went to visit Mike Ward, Dealer Principal at Nash Nissan. The aim was to hand over some copies of Sibo Looks Right – our road safety book published by Lets Look Publishers.

Uncle Pete and Mike Ward
Uncle Pete and Mike Ward

We had crowdfunded (via Thundafund) to raise money to publish this book and Nash Nissan was our main sponsor.  With their wonderful help to the tune of R33,600 we managed to raise enough to have an e-book as well as print a few hundred real books as well.

There’s a nice story behind the funding too. The Nash Nissan team (and Mike personally) had won the money as a prize in a national golf tournament and whilst they could have spent that cash on any other charitable organisation – they decided to back our story book and help kids in South Africa learn about road safety in a fun manner.

So off we went to visit.  We were going to hand over some of the real books to Mike – so that he could pass them on to local schools and also share some with his staff and other corporate people.

What a fabulous place Nash Nissan is.

It’s right there on Vootrekker Road in Alberton. Big, shiny and impressive looking!

The best thing about the place though, is that everybody is so very friendly. It felt just like a family atmosphere.  From the guy who operates the boom to let the cars in for a service, to the lady who keeps all the cars looking so shiny bright to the workshop staff… to Mike the boss!

Florencia and Mike
Florencia and Mike

He took us around and introduced us to lots of people. Each time he waved my book under the person’s nose and explained about the project. We took lots of pics.

I felt a bit like a movie star at the end of it all.

The lady mechanics I was telling you about - Lydia, Lazarus, Paul and Thuli
The lady mechanics I was telling you about – Lydia, Lazarus, Paul and Thuli

Mike showed us everything at Nash Nissan – from the new cars to the second hand cars to the workshop. We even went into the basement and checked out where they store their stock of new cars waiting to go onto the showroom floor.

He explained that these days it’s actually really easy to buy a car. You can do most of it online. They also have lots of special deals – crazy ones like you can get insurance free for the first few years.  They want everybody to be able to afford a car – none of this waiting for the bus or having to drive in dangerous taxis stuff.

Mike and Ginny
Mike and Ginny

You don’t even have to live in Gauteng to buy a car from Nash Nissan – you could test drive one at your local Nissan dealer and then actually buy it from Nash – they’ll deliver your brand new car to your doorstep.

How’s this for seriously cool… Nash Nissan employs lady mechanics. That’s right. Not one, but two ladies!  They did their apprenticeship there and turned out to be such great mechanics that they were given permanent employment as soon as they finished – quick chop chop – before anybody else could snap them up.

The sad thing was that not one of the other car dealerships was interested in giving lady mechanics a chance to do their apprenticeship. How silly is that? Don’t people know that we girls can do anything we put our minds to – even if it is traditionally a boy thing.

Yay for Nash Nissan for being so proactive and promoting gender equality!

Mike, George (from Nissan South Africa), Paul and Shoabe
Mike, George (from Nissan South Africa), Paul and Shoabe

All in all Pete, Ginny and I were bowled over by the awesomeness of Nash Nissan.  (And we’re not just saying that because they gave us money for the book – we were truly impressed.)

If you are looking for a new car please consider buying from Nash Nissan. Such awesome car dealers are few and far between.

Their tag line is “Committed to earning your trust” – you sure can bank on that!

Thanks Nash Nissan for caring about the safety of children all over the world.

Much love

Sibo

Lucky - the guy in charge of the boom.
Lucky – the guy in charge of the boom.

Loving Life

Sibo with ants 2

On the 22nd of May – that’s next Sunday – it’s International Day of Biological Diversity.

That sounds like a real mouthful but actually all biodiversity means is different sorts of living things. Life!

Often we take these things for granted – the in-your-face ones like different breeds of dogs and cats or trees, plants and flowers. Then you get varieties of birds and beautiful different types of butterflies – to name just a very few.

With global warming many species are being compromised. Because some areas are getting hotter – or colder – and several species of plants are dying out.  You might wonder what difference it would make if one little type of plant no longer existed, but actually it does make a huge difference.

Some insects might live on that particular plant and they are eaten up by some other animal. If you take the plant away – there is no food for the insects and no insects for the animals… you see what I mean. Suddenly a whole chain is wiped out.

The bees are also being compromised. Bees might seem like pesky little critters that do nothing other than sting us which hurts like crazy, but they pollenate all sorts of plants and flowers and are vital in the food chain. One of the ways this is happening is that the farmers are spraying with nasty stuff that keeps the crops alive (true – this is very important) but it kills off all sorts of insects – including the bees.

People always tend to think that if all the plant and animal life died out, that humans would be the last to survive. Well – I’ve got news for you – we are actually halfway down the list. Not last at all.

My storybook – Sibo Likes Life is all about the subject of biodiversity. We are having a worldwide on-line event on the 22nd May and you’re all invited to join in if you want to. If you go to my website – http://www.sibo.co.za   you can read this e-book absolutely free of charge.

There will be a competition too, where you could win the book – a real book – not an e-book.

You can also join the event on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/246259775763801/ .

We all need to do as much as we can to help save this precious earth of ours. After all, we only have one earth and one life.

Love your life!

Sibo

Multi-tasking… good or bad?

Sibo at her desk

Often we have more than one thing that needs to be done – like maths homework, reading, spelling to learn, chores to do, the dog to walk and an art project that also needs to be finished.

Sometimes it is all mind-bogglingly too much and you feel like running away. Seeing as that’s mostly just not possible, you have to get stuck in and just do the darn stuff.

Lately there has been a lot of research done on multitasking – this is when you have several things on the go at one time.

They say that it is not always effective to do this.

Often you jump around between doing so many different tasks that you get nothing done properly. They reckon you should make a list and prioritise which are the most important things that need to be done.

Then you should stick to that list.

For instance – if you need to learn something – you really need to concentrate so that you will be able to remember it later and therefore you should not multitask while doing that particular job.  It is better to focus 100% on it – like learning for exams – dedicate a chunk of time and get it done properly.

On the other hand – they say that when your mind jumps between a lot of boxes – your mind tends to think more “out of the box” which could be great for creative things – like art projects.

For things like spelling you could put a list of the words you need to learn next to your bed, so you can see them last thing at night and first thing in the morning. Or you can read them when you go to the bathroom.  In this case a lot of repetition is good.

You could combine your daily exercise when you walk your dog – but remember you still have to be careful and not to let it off the leash by mistake. Accidents happen so quickly and you would never forgive yourself if you let something happen to you precious doglet.

Sometimes chores are really boring – like washing dishes or vacuuming – but you can always listen to music while you wash. I love listening to music – it makes any chore go much faster.

But remember – dedicate time to the important stuff and do it properly.

Work well!

Sibo

Mothers Day is Special

Sibo and mum

Our Mothers (or the people who act as mothers) are really special people in our lives – right? They love us unconditionally, listen to us, dry our tears, feed us, look after us and be our private taxi service whenever we need to get somewhere.

Often we don’t even remember to thank them for all the things that they do. Shame on us!

Yes – they also can drive us nuts, nag us to keep us on the right track (no matter how old we are) but they only do this because they love us and want the best for us.

They care.

Like I mentioned last week, Sunday 8th of May is Mother’s Day. This is the one day of the year that we can give back to our moms.

Spoil them like crazy. Make them feel loved.

We can buy flowers and fancy presents, but if we don’t have lots of money there are still things we can do.

Here are a few ideas that just cost time – mostly.

Make a lovely Mother’s Day card. Go crazy – decorate it with anything fancy you can find – glitter, dried flowers, bits of fabric, wool – get creative. You love your mom – show her how much time you are willing to spend on her.

If you don’t have money for a gift you could make her vouchers. Little cards or papers that say things like:

“Please would you do the washing up?”
“Please would you make me a cup of tea?”
“Please will you bring in the washing?”
“Please will you pick up the dog poop?” (This only works if you have a dog).
“Please will you wash my car?”
“Please will you bring me my glasses from my room?”

You get what I mean? Anything that you think could be useful for your mom – each family has different needs.

Write the vouchers nicely, decorate the cards or papers and put them all together in an envelope. Or make little holes in the side and bind them together with string or wool.

The cruncher with vouchers is… we have to be prepared to do the job when mom presents it to us.  With no moaning, groaning or whinging! Otherwise they are pointless.

We could also make a meal or a cake – and be sure to do all the washing up afterwards.

Whatever you choose to do – do it with love!

Sibo

Days Have Names Too!

Sibo hands

Last week we talked about names that people have – but days also have names and I’m not talking about the boring old weekdays or the lovely weekend days either!

For instance, the 27th April is Freedom Day. It’s a public holiday and I’m sure you were all as glad as I was that we did not have to go to school or work on that day.

Some public holiday days are always the same – like Christmas, New Year and Woman’s Day. Easter moves around because it is defined as being the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox (in simple terms – that’s some moon event). Ramadan is the same – it also moves around.

Then you get other days that have been declared things like “World Wildlife Day” (3 March), “World Water Day” (22 March) or “World Malaria Day” (25 April) by the United Nations or some other body.  There are lots of these days. Just last week we had “Earth Day” (22 April) and we made my book on global warming – Sibo Makes a Difference – available on the website for people to freely read. It’s still there if you want to go and have a look.

On the 1st of May we have “Workers Day”. This is a public holiday in South Africa but not necessarily everywhere else in the world.

These days, if a public holiday falls on a Sunday – we get the Monday off. Yay!

There are also a number of other days in May but they are not public holidays. Things like “World Press Freedom Day” on the 3rd, “International Day of Families” on the 15th, “International Day of Biological Diversity” on the 22nd and “World No-Tobacco Day” on the 31st.

There are a lot of other day’s in-between too – but most of us would not easily relate to the topics. If you want to know when and what all the different days in the year are, you can visit this website – it lists them all in a really easy way with clickable links.

Of course the most important day to remember in May is Mother’s Day on the 8th. We all know that our moms are the most special people – no matter how old we are or they are. Make sure you spoil yours.

Happy Days!

Sibo