For a good part of my life I've had a conscience and tried to address issues that pissed me off for one reason or another. In the eighties it started with the huge Thatcher issue in Britain and the miners strike. It polarised thought and polarised people, I as it happened supported the losing side,( they lost because thatcher would have bankrupted the country to win) but they generated enormous support from working people right cross the country and abroad. They did lose however, they lost the mines, their income and their communities but they kept their dignity.

I say we lost, we didn't really lose because what it did was politicise us and educate us in the ways of the world. It pointed out to us rather dramatically, the deviousness and underhandedness and the downright cruelty of the elite and the government of the day. I stepped out the other side angry and committed.

My direction took me, because of my interests then as well as now, down that long, sometimes lonely avenue of green, organic sustainability. Buzzwords all and a pr mans dream unless applied to ones life on all fronts.

Here we are nearly thirty years later and where has it all got us? Those of us who didn't fire all types of crap out of car windows, bought recycled toilet paper, searched supermarket shelves for in season and organic vegetables, took our plastic and glass bottles down to the bottle bank, if we were lucky enough to live less than a train journey from one,and most important of all...talked to other people about the crucial concerns, watched on in abject horror as the planet heated up, the seas turned acidic, the icecaps melted, rain forests were burned down and honey bees started to disappear.

Bees for me are the indicator, don't get me wrong, there's not a creature on this earth that doesn't command my respect, mainly a lot of the time because they aren't human. Bees sum up for me all that's wonderful about nature, about life, about the planet and about evolution.

I am a beekeeper and a gardener. I work for a marvellous and inovative little garden centre in County Cork, Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/www.thesecretgardener.com where we attempt to live by a strong eco code. We've recently got rid of all the pesticides and fungicides that can in any way be harmfull to bees and pollinating insects. We try. It is hard as we are attempting to change the habits of generations and to be honest I find some of those habits appalling. Rose Clear on the cabbages for God's sake.

I know there are a million other bloggers out there who share my sentiments. There are millions of others who carve a green path. There are millions of others who get frustrated at the inactivity of the governments who we rather stupidly entrust to clean this mess up.

We have to do the job ourselves.....there are enough of us!

This is just the first blog of many..I just want to get the ball rolling as it wereand see how many bee tales I can collate. Ideas would be good..shared experiences, that sort of thing.

I suppose what I'm saying is the fate of this fab old planet and all the remaining beasts on it are too precious to be left to the ministrations of all the gobshites in positions of power.They will continue to pay lip service to the lobbeyists and campaigners and wave their green credentials in our rosy faces. We can start in small ways by continuing with our long- life lightbulb buying and our journeying by bus but we can also do our bit by looking at what we spray on our roses

Don't buy peat based composts, be bold and brave..go peat free. Watch this space and I'll tell you about peat.