Page 20

12 Days of Christmas- Day 9

On the 9th Day of Christmas Ungagged are bringing the focus back to your local community.

Another nice easy one to do today, and it really will make at least your little corner of the world a nicer place.

Wherever you are going today, whether you’re off to work or to the shops, on the school run, or even just taking a little walk down your street, take a bag with you and pick up any rubbish you see lying about the place. It doesn’t matter that it’s not your rubbish, it’s your community.

This is another of those small acts that can have a large impact. You won’t only be improving the look and feel of your community, and reducing the impact of human wastefulness on your local wildlife, but you may also inspire others to do the same, or shame litterers into taking their trash home for recycling in future. Either way you’ll get to go to bed tonight knowing you did a good thing.

12 Days of Christmas- Day 8

On the 8th day of Christmas Ungagged are asking you to save 8 people’s lives. Don’t worry, it’s easier than you think.

Signing up to the organ donor register will take around a minute, and it won’t cost you a single penny. But you can literally save the lives of eight people, and improve the lives of up to 120,000 more.

90% of us think being an organ donor is the right thing to do. But only 30% of us sign up to the organ donor register. There are nearly 6500 people currently waiting for organs. Many of them, including children, will never get one.

By signing up to the organ donor register, you can help stop not just one family going through the pain of bereavement, but eight. If you consent to donating your tissue or your eyes, you can improve the lives of up to 120,000 more people.

You can be a hero, in less time than it takes to make a cup of tea. And you don’t even need to leave the house.

Don’t forget to tell your next of kin what you’ve done, as they can override your wishes. Maybe you’ll convince them to sign up too, and you’ll save twice as many people.

Sign up to the Organ Donor register HERE

And if you already did this during our Activist Advent in 2016, maybe post about what prompted you to join the Organ Donor register on your social media accounts, and why others should consider doing the same, or consider signing up to give blood, if you can.

LOFTY 2017

It’s that time of year again, where Ungagged announce our Lefty Of the Year!

In 2016 the Ungagged Lofty Award went to Mhairi Black, for her tireless work for the poor and vulnerable, both in Holyrood and in Westminster.

But you don’t have to be an elected official to make a political difference, to stand up for the vulnerable and to fight for a better world.

With that in mind, our LOFTY award this year had to go to….

(Imagine a drumroll here to build the tension if you like)

Angie Zelter and Brian Quail

Yes, our Lefty Of The Year 2017 is in fact two lefties.

Back in July 2017 Ungagged reported the appalling treatment of pensioners Brian and Angie, who were jailed for obstructing weapons of mass destruction by lying in the road outside the UK Trident nuclear weapon storage facility at Coulport.

Angie Zelter, a founder member of Trident Ploughshares, argued in court that;

“it would be contrary to justice to find us guilty of breach of the peace when we have done all we can to stop the breach of the peace that these nuclear bases and the nuclear convoys represent”,

giving clear, thought provoking arguments as to why the activity in the Coulport base is illegal as her defence.

The Ungagged panel chose Angie Zelter and Brian Quail as our LOFTY 2017 for their hard work, dedication and determination to challenge the wrongs of our world.

Protest can and does make a difference. As Brian himself said;

“We might have a future after all. One thing is for sure: either we have a nuclear free future or we have no future at all.”

12 Days of Christmas- Day 7

Happy new year! Here’s a nice, simple task to make the transition into 2018 easier.

Be kinder. So simple, yet so often elusive, it seems. But over Christmas it was easy, wasn’t it? Most of us tried our best to be kinder during the Christmas period – and not just because Santa may be watching. The festive season is a time to be joyful and try to spread a bit of good cheer – but is there any reason we can’t extend that throughout the year?

Let’s make a collective resolution to be kinder in 2018 – to smile at people in the street, to put your neighbour’s wheelie bin out if you see they’ve forgotten, to be extra polite to retail staff. It might seem like a very small way you make the world a better place, but if we all did it, the effect would be huge.

#KindnessChallenge2018 – I think we could start a trend.

12 Days of Christmas- Day 6

Can you believe we are halfway through our 12 Days of Christmas already? Today’s small act will cost you nothing but time, but could make all the difference to someone’s wellbeing.

It can be hard to admit when you are feeling lonely, and Christmas can be one of the loneliest times of the year.

Have a think about people you might not have heard much from over the festive period. Is there anyone in your social circle that has been quiet over Christmas and might be feeling lonely? Are there elderly or disabled people in your neighbourhood who might not have been able to get out over the Christmas period? Have you noticed any neighbours who haven’t had any visitors and might be feeling alone? Is there a new-ish neighbour in your area you keep meaning to say hello to, but haven’t quite got round to it?

Now is the ideal time to pop in with all the leftover Celebrations and Mince Pies (after all, your diet starts tomorrow, right?) – it could make all the difference to someone’s state of mind. The Christmas/Hogmany/New Year period is very difficult for some people – a friendly chat with you could help get them through it. And you may well start 2018 with a new friend. Yet another win-win small act of kindness for the 12 Days of Christmas.

12 Days of Christmas- Day 5

Today’s little way of making the world a better place won’t even cost you a penny. For the fifth day of christmas;

it’s so easy to say thank you, but it’s also easy to overlook. But manners are so important. A pleasant or polite exchange can make all the difference to how someone’s working day goes.

So, whether you encounter a public service worker, or pop to the shops or hop on a bus or grab a coffee from a chain cafe or even end up speaking to a call centre worker – smile, and say thank you. I’m sure they’d rather not be the work over the festive period.

A smile can spread all around the world – make an extra effort to be nice to the people serving you today. Let’s all try to lift each other up.

12 Days of Christmas- Day 4

Another nice easy way to make the world a better place today for the fourth day of Christmas;

On this one you can think big and donate to a large charity, or make a donation that’s close to your heart personally, but donating money isn’t the only way to help a charity.

You can donate blankets, toys, dog coats and leads, dog crates and cat baskets, and even books about animal care to your local animal rescue centre. Animals deserve our love at Christmas too.

If there’s a charity you’d like to donate to but you can’t afford to give money and don’t have anything to do ate, you could consider volunteering your time. There’s nothing more valuable than the dedicated people who keep these charities going.

And if you’re not able to do that, you could share the fundraising pages of your favourite charities on your social media and encourage your friends to donate or spread awareness too.

12 Days of Christmas – Day 3

On the third day of Christmas we suggest another win-win way to make the world a slightly better place…

We’ve all had those gifts that are thoughtful and appreciated, but are just not you. From the bath set from the kind aunt who doesn’t know about your super-sensitive skin, the nice cosy jumper that’s two sizes too small, yet another body butter you won’t use, or a third duplicate of a toy your child isn’t quite that into.

And then there’s the Christmas food. You know, all the nibbles that you never even got round to opening, the breadsticks you were sure you’d need, the 7 boxes of chocolates you were given, the 4 tubes of Pringles no one even looked at.

Suddenly the house seems full of stuff – stuff you don’t need, cluttering the house up, gathering dust. After the gluttony of Christmas day, a clear out can be the best way to balance.

Contact your local domestic violence shelter and ask if they’d be able to use your unwanted gifts. Christmas often sees a rise in people, often with children, fleeing their homes, usually with little to no possesions. Your unwanted gift from your kind but clueless uncle could be a little bit of hope for someone who has had an awful Christmas.

Then pack up all your unopened food and take it down to your local foodbank. People don’t just need feeding on Christmas Day, and donations often drop off after the Christmas period. Besides, it’ll make sticking to your New Year diet a lot easier if all that yummy stuff isn’t in the house.

There, doesn’t that feel better? I bet your place is looking loads less cluttered with stuff, and you feel all warm inside.

12 Days of Christmas- Day 2

Continuing our 12 Days of Christmas- 12 little ways you can make the world a better place.

Bet you’ve got a whole house full of cardboard boxes and plastic packaging now, haven’t you? I know I have– plastic wrapped around wrapping paper and christmas cards, all the usual plastic packaging around our fruit and veg but supersized because we have to get enough food to feed an army, just in case. And dont get me started on plastic toys imprisoned in plastic packaging with plastic cable ties all wrapped in cellophane. Do toy manufacturers think that Barbie is going to escape from her box and run off with Darth Vader or something?

Having so much packaging is annoying for us, but it is deadly for our marine life. Plastic doesn’t dissolve in the oceans, it floats around until it becomes microgranules or is ingested by marine life. There’s currently over 5 trillion pieces of plastic in our oceans. It’s poisoning our fish, choking sea turtles and being ingested by dolphins who can’t digest it, so with their stomachs full, they starve. Festive, huh?

Luckily, there is lots you can do to help. From the simple things like taking a reusable shopping bag out with you, reusing or recycling whenever you can and even giving up rubbish bags in favour of tipping your waste directly into the wheelie bin to save on plastic getting into landfill sites.

If you have children you can reuse plastic bottles in all sorts of ways, by making them into bird feeders, bath toys or using them for junk modelling. If you don’t have children, pop into your local nursery or primary school and ask if they need any donations of clean bottles or boxes or plastic tubs for their arts and crafts lessons.

There are entire islands of plastic in our oceans. Luckily there is a fantastic organisation called The Ocean Cleanup which is working tirelessly to remove the plastic from our oceans and protect our marine life. Visit their site for info on how they are fighting to protect our oceans, and scroll to the bottom of the page to see how you can help, and where to donate to the organisation.

12 Days of Christmas – Day 1

It’s the first day of Christmas and we’ll be marking the next 12 days with little ways you can carry the festive spirit on by making the world just a tiny bit better.

The birds in your garden are cold this time of year as well, and food can be hard to come by. It doesn’t have to take a lot of time or money to help get our feathered friends through the winter though. The RSPB has some brilliant advice on what to feed the birds in your garden here.

In the winter months birds can find it hard to find fresh water too, so don’t forget to leave them a drink as well.

If you’d like to do even more to help,you could do some of your January Sales shopping through Songbird Survival – a charity that commisions research into Britain’s declining songbird population. Or you could become a member of the RSPB for £4 per month. Perhaps the ideal Alternative New Years Resolution? Very little effort so nice and easy to stick to, you’ll get a quarterly magazine and unlimited entry to over 100 nature reserves in the UK, and you’ll get that warm feeling of knowing you’ve helped protect our garden birds. You can sign up or find out more here.

Let us know on twitter or Facebook the #SmallActs you are doing over the 12 days to make your world a little brighter