It can be rather difficult to be festive and green and the same time! 2 weeks ago I wrote about the measures I am taking to make our Christmas slightly greener this year, but I am slightly concerned that I blew absolutely everything this weekend when we had 14 people over for a christmas party. Not good! Well the party was good, but I think we just about blew a weeks energy use in one day... (Fact is I haven't had the guts yet to read the meters, so I don't know for sure, but I have a strong feeling that when I do the weekly readings there will be a massive spike). I always knew that the usage would be slightly higher than normal, but I hadn't realised how having guests can give you completely different priorities for the day. (Unless all your visitors are eco-freaks like yourself!)
We left the heating on for most of the day, because we obviously didn't want people to get too cold. Lights were left on in most rooms downstairs all the time, because people were moving around, and where as normally I know which lights burn a lot of energy and avoid putting them on, obviously this was not the case for all the party guests - so the heavy duty stuff was going. I found myself switching a few lights off from time to time, but who wants to be a party pooper?!
I think a fair bit of food probably got wasted as well. Everybody had brought a contribution to the party and we had loads of food, but a lot of people didn't feel a big urge to take home leftovers, and I can't really blame them, because I had no desire either to eat my way through the food mountain.
Thankfully I didn't have a hangover the following day, but I did spend a bit of time wondering how to make parties less wasteful and energy intensive. The thing is it would have to be done discretely, if you start a party off with asking guests not to switch the lights on and bring an extra sweater, you have kind of ruined the party spirit.
The best I have come up with so far is getting better energy sources. Unfortunately renewable energy is pretty expensive to install, so it would probably be many years before I could have a green energy party, but I did a search anyway to see what might be possible. I went on to the Energy Saving Trusts website (www.energysavingtrust.org.uk ), they have a tool where you input information about your house etc and you then get an idea about what might be suitable for your house.
A wind turbine is out of the question, we are afterall in the town and the size of the garden doesn't amass to several acres of land. Hydro power isn't really an option either as it needs a source of water, and we don't have a river flowing in the back.
The options that we might have are a wood fuelled boiler, a wood burning stove, an air source heat pump, solar electricity panel or solar water heating. Wow! I wonder what it all means?
I have never been a techy person and despite diagrams and all sorts of other stuff on the website, I still haven't got a clue how any of this works. Well ok, I do know that a solar electricity panel converts energy from the sun into electricity, and a wood fuelled boiler is obviously a boiler fired by wood rather than gas or oil, but exactly how it would all work in our house is still a mystery! How do you put in a wood burning stove, when your property hasn't got a chimney? How much electricity do you actually get out of a solar panel? Can these things work together or does one exclude the other? All sorts of things to wonder about.
The biggest question of all is obviously how much would it all cost. According to the aforementioned website from the Energy Saving Trust these are the approx costs you can expect: Wood fuelled boiler: 9k, wood burning stove: 3k, air source heat pump: 5-9k, solar electricity panel: 8-14k and solar water heating 3-5k. It is possible to get grants for some of these things and I believe low cost loans are available as well, but frankly we can't have any energy consuming christmas parties for a long time if we are to get enough money together for any of that.
So I am down to my very last option if I am to have a more guilt free party next year:
Dear Santa,
I have been very good this year and I have made several changes to my lifestyle in order to help stop all the ice on the North Pole melting. Please, please, please can I have some kind of renewable energy installed in my house both to help secure your workshop and to make it possible for me to enjoy some more christmas parties. I promise I will work even harder next year to be green. Thank you.
Love from
DG
PS. Please watch out for my new apple trees when you land in the garden, they are still a bit fragile
Merry Christmas everyone, enjoy the festive season!
Monday 21 December 2009
Monday 14 December 2009
Green cleaning
I am not a clean freak by any standard, but considering Christmas is here and lots of people will be coming to the house I figured it was time to make the dirt less obvious. I have been using various green cleaning products for quite a few years (after all that is one of the easiest ways to make a green choice), but if you look at the ingredients they still don't look that healthy, so I decided to do some quick research on alternatives. How to have a 'cleaning-chemicals-free' house?
It turns out there are lots of websites out there telling you how to clean with ordinary household products rather than squirty stuff from a bottle, so I thought it was time to put some of them to the test. The most urgent issues to address were the bathrooms and the windows (my 2 year old thinks it is great fun to lick the windows - he keeps saying 'mmm, tasty!)
I quickly realised that the 2 must-have products in green cleaning are bicarbonate of soda and white vinegar. Bicarbonate of soda can do all sorts of things, but the main thing is to work like a scouring powder, so for cleaning the washbasin or bathtub, just sprinkle some on a sponge and scrub away. It does seem to work, the washbasins were just as sparkly as when I use liquid spray-on bathroom cleaner.
It also has the advantage of not filling the air with some synthetic flower smell, but maybe that is just me being weird. I have never really understood the thing about air fresheners and strong smelling cleaning products, I find them headache inducing and it is my firm belief that the best way to get fresh air is to open the window. The smells also tend to give away the fact that I have frantically been running around cleaning just before any visitors arrive, even if I am trying to pretend that my house is always clean...
For cleaning the toilets I had 2 options to try out. One was to pour white vinegar in and leave it overnight, the other was to put 4 Alka seltzer tablets in and leave them for an hour. Both options supposedly gives you sparkling clean toilets and as we have more than 1 toilet I decided to test them against each other. They both kind of worked, but I am not sure either are the ideal solution. There is something strange about cleaning toilets with painkillers and since Alka Seltzer is an American brand there is probably quite a footprint connected to getting it here as well- so I would have to look for a British alternative if I was to continue. The toilet was clean though. Likewise the toilet came out looking nice with the vinegar, but this option had even more down sides. First of all the whole bathroom smelt of vinegar, which is not the most enticing of smells (even worse than air fresheners). Secondly because the vinegar needs to be left in overnight it requires a bit more planning and can't really be used in toilets that (like one of ours)gets used during the night. The main problem however with both options was the fact that the products only worked in the water area, so the sides of the toilet bowl didn't really get that much of a clean - not fantastic. I might just stick with my usual commercial green toilet cleaner for now.
White vinegar can also be used for making your own glass cleaner. There are lots of different versions on the net, but the one I followed was something like 2 cups of water, 1/2 cup of vinegar and a drop of washing up liquid. Put it all in a spray bottle, mix it well, spray on the window and wipe with newspaper. It works really well!
There were lots of other things I could have tried out, e.g. cleaning the oven with bicarbonate of soda. Apparently if you put a thickish layer of the white stuff in the oven, moisten it with water and leave for quite some time, at least overnight, you can then brush the bicarbonate away and all the dirt and grime will follow. Needless to say I never got round to trying it, frankly I hate cleaning the oven and I had absolutely no desire to test it, but if anybody wants to have go, please let me know the result.
My biggest discovery in green cleaning I think are microfibre cloths. I already exchanged my disposable kitchen cloths a few months ago for the washable microfibre option, and they are good. When rumaging through the cleaning cupboard this weekend I came across a microfibre bathroom sponge/cloth. I have a vague recollection of buying this thing on sale, but it must have disappeared into oblivion at some point during the house move. I can't remember how much I spent on it, but whatever the price it was well worth the money. It takes away the dirt no problem and without using any cleaning agents at all (the website for them is http://www.e-cloth.com/). Honestly it is a godsend for anybody who like me dislikes cleaning and just wants to do it quickly (that should be just about everybody then...).
So what is the conclusion on green cleaning. Well green cleaning products from the supermarkets are a better option than normal chemicals, but there are other options out there - and they are cheaper! From now on my main cleaning product will be a microfibre cloth and if things get really nasty I will sprinkle a bit of bicarbonate of soda. I shall never spend money on window cleaner again, a bottle of vinegar is cheaper than any ready mixed product and I dare say better. The one exception will be toilet cleaner, I haven't found the right substitute for that yet.
Obviously there are many more aspects to cleaning, and at some point I shall have to do some more investigating (although I don't think non electrical hoovers exist??), but for now I have made a start. With a bit of luck I will be spurred into action again next Christmas when I get another cleaning panic...
It turns out there are lots of websites out there telling you how to clean with ordinary household products rather than squirty stuff from a bottle, so I thought it was time to put some of them to the test. The most urgent issues to address were the bathrooms and the windows (my 2 year old thinks it is great fun to lick the windows - he keeps saying 'mmm, tasty!)
I quickly realised that the 2 must-have products in green cleaning are bicarbonate of soda and white vinegar. Bicarbonate of soda can do all sorts of things, but the main thing is to work like a scouring powder, so for cleaning the washbasin or bathtub, just sprinkle some on a sponge and scrub away. It does seem to work, the washbasins were just as sparkly as when I use liquid spray-on bathroom cleaner.
It also has the advantage of not filling the air with some synthetic flower smell, but maybe that is just me being weird. I have never really understood the thing about air fresheners and strong smelling cleaning products, I find them headache inducing and it is my firm belief that the best way to get fresh air is to open the window. The smells also tend to give away the fact that I have frantically been running around cleaning just before any visitors arrive, even if I am trying to pretend that my house is always clean...
For cleaning the toilets I had 2 options to try out. One was to pour white vinegar in and leave it overnight, the other was to put 4 Alka seltzer tablets in and leave them for an hour. Both options supposedly gives you sparkling clean toilets and as we have more than 1 toilet I decided to test them against each other. They both kind of worked, but I am not sure either are the ideal solution. There is something strange about cleaning toilets with painkillers and since Alka Seltzer is an American brand there is probably quite a footprint connected to getting it here as well- so I would have to look for a British alternative if I was to continue. The toilet was clean though. Likewise the toilet came out looking nice with the vinegar, but this option had even more down sides. First of all the whole bathroom smelt of vinegar, which is not the most enticing of smells (even worse than air fresheners). Secondly because the vinegar needs to be left in overnight it requires a bit more planning and can't really be used in toilets that (like one of ours)gets used during the night. The main problem however with both options was the fact that the products only worked in the water area, so the sides of the toilet bowl didn't really get that much of a clean - not fantastic. I might just stick with my usual commercial green toilet cleaner for now.
White vinegar can also be used for making your own glass cleaner. There are lots of different versions on the net, but the one I followed was something like 2 cups of water, 1/2 cup of vinegar and a drop of washing up liquid. Put it all in a spray bottle, mix it well, spray on the window and wipe with newspaper. It works really well!
There were lots of other things I could have tried out, e.g. cleaning the oven with bicarbonate of soda. Apparently if you put a thickish layer of the white stuff in the oven, moisten it with water and leave for quite some time, at least overnight, you can then brush the bicarbonate away and all the dirt and grime will follow. Needless to say I never got round to trying it, frankly I hate cleaning the oven and I had absolutely no desire to test it, but if anybody wants to have go, please let me know the result.
My biggest discovery in green cleaning I think are microfibre cloths. I already exchanged my disposable kitchen cloths a few months ago for the washable microfibre option, and they are good. When rumaging through the cleaning cupboard this weekend I came across a microfibre bathroom sponge/cloth. I have a vague recollection of buying this thing on sale, but it must have disappeared into oblivion at some point during the house move. I can't remember how much I spent on it, but whatever the price it was well worth the money. It takes away the dirt no problem and without using any cleaning agents at all (the website for them is http://www.e-cloth.com/). Honestly it is a godsend for anybody who like me dislikes cleaning and just wants to do it quickly (that should be just about everybody then...).
So what is the conclusion on green cleaning. Well green cleaning products from the supermarkets are a better option than normal chemicals, but there are other options out there - and they are cheaper! From now on my main cleaning product will be a microfibre cloth and if things get really nasty I will sprinkle a bit of bicarbonate of soda. I shall never spend money on window cleaner again, a bottle of vinegar is cheaper than any ready mixed product and I dare say better. The one exception will be toilet cleaner, I haven't found the right substitute for that yet.
Obviously there are many more aspects to cleaning, and at some point I shall have to do some more investigating (although I don't think non electrical hoovers exist??), but for now I have made a start. With a bit of luck I will be spurred into action again next Christmas when I get another cleaning panic...
Tuesday 8 December 2009
Green christmas
Christmas is coming! In fact Christmas is here! We have reached the peak of the consumer year when we all seem to loose the plot and start running around frantically spending money and having a good time... Somehow the whole thing doesn't sit that well with trying to be green.
The thing is I generally like the festive season. It can sometimes get stressful, but it brings a lot of excitement and positive things (e.g. my children get dressed in record time so they can get downstairs and open their advent calendars) and for the kids it is an amazing month. So my challenge is how to make this a green Christmas (chances of a white Christmas are very slim anyway thanks to global warming...). How do I make this season slightly less excessive without turning in to the Grinch?
If looking around for advice on the Net the information you get is actually quite similar to normal green behaviour, e.g. recycle as much as possible, plan you food (you don't actually need to buy double the normal amount of food, nobody will be going hungry anyway), buy local, compost all your vegetable peels, avoid disposable plates and cups (if you are short get some from the charity shop or borrow from your neighbour), choose cards made from recycled paper or better still send e-cards, think about your wrapping etc. I haven't really come across anything groundbreaking or exciting that totally grabbed my attention and made me go 'of course - I should have thought of that!'
So unfortunately I have had to do a bit of thinking(!) to figure out the best ways to green up our christmas. Where can we make improvements that won't spoil the christmas spirit? This is what I have come up with so far:
The thing is I generally like the festive season. It can sometimes get stressful, but it brings a lot of excitement and positive things (e.g. my children get dressed in record time so they can get downstairs and open their advent calendars) and for the kids it is an amazing month. So my challenge is how to make this a green Christmas (chances of a white Christmas are very slim anyway thanks to global warming...). How do I make this season slightly less excessive without turning in to the Grinch?
If looking around for advice on the Net the information you get is actually quite similar to normal green behaviour, e.g. recycle as much as possible, plan you food (you don't actually need to buy double the normal amount of food, nobody will be going hungry anyway), buy local, compost all your vegetable peels, avoid disposable plates and cups (if you are short get some from the charity shop or borrow from your neighbour), choose cards made from recycled paper or better still send e-cards, think about your wrapping etc. I haven't really come across anything groundbreaking or exciting that totally grabbed my attention and made me go 'of course - I should have thought of that!'
So unfortunately I have had to do a bit of thinking(!) to figure out the best ways to green up our christmas. Where can we make improvements that won't spoil the christmas spirit? This is what I have come up with so far:
- We are not buying any new decorations. We already have quite a collection, but if we need additions we will have to make them ourselves! (I have actually broken this rule already, because I have ordered a wreath for the door, but it is made locally from locally sourced holly that can be composted afterwards, so I am almost excused)
- Use of wrapping paper will have to be minimised. Apparently we use 8000 tonnes of wrapping paper every year, equivalent to approx 50.000 trees - that is a lot. These are the solutions I have come up with so far: I am going to wrap most presents in material. I have dug out old curtains, old table covers etc and I am going to cut them into nice pieces and use them for wrapping presents. After the mayhem on Christmas morning I can then gather all the pieces, fold them up and put them in the christmas box ready for next year! I have even experimented with sewing gift bags for the items that are likely to reoccur, such as CDs and DVDs.
- Another thing I have tried out is using empty boxes from the kitchen, e.g. cereal boxes, tea boxes. If you open the sides gently you can turn them inside out, glue them back together and you then have a nice plain box ready to be decorated and filled with presents - it actually works. Sure enough this takes a bit longer than wrapping with paper, so not very appealing for my lazy side, but once I got going it was quite fun and my daughter was very happy to join in.
- Admittedly some presents will have to be wrapped in paper - my five year old just might get suspecious if Santa's present is wrapped in the old table cover- but my target is not to need to buy Christmas wrapping paper for the next 10 years. Thanks to the previous owners of the house we have a decent supply (I think they forgot to look in the attic), and I am going to work on my skills to wrap presents without using sellotape, so that I can collect most of the paper back and reuse it next year.
- I have ordered a turkey from the local farm shop - yes I finally found a shop. Well strictly speaking I haven't found it yet, because I placed the order over the phone and I am yet to venture out and find the actual building, but the risk of a Christmas without a turkey should be enough incentive to get me there. Hopefully I will also be able to get some of the other food from there, in order to make it a more local christmas.
- I think I have managed to convince the family that we can get DIY crackers and fill them with edible stuff rather than getting another collection of plastic gimmicks. OK, crackers in general are probably still a bit on the wasteful side, but at least the content can disappear into our tummies rather than the bin. Somebody should invent a reusable cracker, then you could just put a new filling in every year.
- There will be a proper cover on the table rather than a paper one. I have never used disposable plates etc for Christmas, but for several years I have bought paper covers, because I didn't have anything that fitted the table properly. I have now spent £20 on buying a piece of Christmas material, which I can hopefully use for many years to come - this is called long term investment!
We will however still be sending christmas cards out. There is not much point in sending e-cards to elderly relatives with no computer and my daughter is unlikely to accept sending e-mails to her friends when everybody else are swopping cards, but maybe over time we can bring the numbers down. Maybe I should get my daughter to do her own cards from some recycled paper?(I might also include a reminder for people to recycle their card afterwards...)
What I probably won't do this Christmas is go back to the library for a loan of a smart meter - it would be heart breaking to see how much energy is actually used. I wonder how much money the councils spend on Christmas lights in December - it can't be cheap?!
Does all this make our Christmas green? I don't know, but at least I am trying and if nothing else some of the above things should be saving us a little bit of money. I am sure there are lots of other things I could do, but Christmas is all about traditions and we can't really make new traditions in just one year - so this is a start.
I wish you all a happy green Christmas!
Tuesday 1 December 2009
Green kids
Not long ago I picked up a WWF postcard to join their campaign in the run up to the Climate summit in Copenhagen urging politicians to get their act together. On the front of the postcard was a polar bear floating on not very much ice. My 5-year-old daughter spotted the card and in her usual inquisitive manner asked what it was. Now until then I had never really attempted to explain being green, climate change or anything else of that sort to her, she is only 5 after all, but somehow that day I launched myself into it with some assistance from my husband.
I can't remember the exact words we used, I mainly remember half way through thinking that this was a very bad idea indeed - but it turns out that it was in fact a good idea. Somehow she managed to make the connection from our garbling that leaving the lights switched on is one of the reasons polar bears and penguins have less ice to live on. We didn't go into details about sea levels rising and other scary stuff, but she really connected with this thing about polar bears. Never ever underestimate your kids, they understand a lot more than we give them credit for! She is now really good at switching lights off and she doesn't question why, in fact if I occasionally have to remind her, she goes 'oh yeah - the polar bears - sorry'.
This has made me realise that maybe the most important thing about this whole green project is to make it a natural part of my children's lives, they are a lot more adaptable than adults and after all this is all about their future. If I can get them used to not consuming in the same excessive ways as my own generation, they will be a lot better off on many levels. The thing is if global warming or the lack of oil has completely changed our planet and lives in 30 years time, they will be wondering why we didn't do anything and I would like to be able to look them in the eyes and say 'I really did try my best' (still has a bit to go though before I can say that, I don't think driving the car and having long meditative showers count in 'trying my best'...)
Having said that maybe the best thing would be to just start listening to the kids and see things from their perspective. I have two very smart and funny nephews in America aged 5 and 8 and they (with possibly a bit of help from dad) sent me an e-mail with some advice to all the kids wanting to be green. I simply had to pass it on, so here is what the e-mail said:
Our dad told us about how you are writing about trying to be green and how difficult and frustrating it can be. Since it is our future at stake and since we have spent years doing green things, we would like to submit “The kids guide to being green, lazy and out of money.” These are proven techniques that anyone (but kids in particular) can implement. We just think adults are too limited in their thinking to see the obvious possibilities. And, unlike most of the things you have tried, they are not only energy/water savers and reduce carbon emissions but they also save money and time.
So, we don’t think that this should be left up to the grown-ups. We want to get the kids involved and as we said – we have proven and tested easy things kids can start doing right away (if they are not doing it already).
1) You tried turning down the water temperature and taking short showers. We say skip the bath all together and we have made this argument to our parent for years. No water wasted. No energy used. More time for important stuff like playing.
2) When going to the bathroom, don’t flush at all. Sure your parents will eventually notice and make you flush, but by then you will have saved a lot of flushes, not to mention a lot of time.
3) Skip washing your hands. We have found this to be a major water and time saver. Quick tip to the kids reading this: we recommend washing your hands every once in a while. This way your parents will think you are doing it all the time and won’t check. In other words, a small sacrifice in order to achieve big water and energy savings.
4) Pick a favorite outfit and insist on wearing it everyday (dark colors are best, but we will get to that in a moment). Think about it. No laundry means water saved, energy saved, time saved and no detergent getting released into the lakes and rivers. Considering how much our parents complain about doing the laundry, you would think this would be a no-brainer.
5) Whether your parents use paper or cloth napkins, they either waste trees and water or they require washing. We say use your sleeve or pants. Either you will save a few trees or, by eliminating the cloth napkin, you cut down on the laundry (especially if your parents insist on washing you cloths anyway). This is also why dark colors are best because your parents are less likely to notice ketchup and jam stains. In a pinch you can use a pillow but use the backside. Otherwise your parent will insist on that water and energy wasting habit of washing them.
6) Do your homework while watching TV. That way the lights only have to be on in a single room. If you sit close enough to the TV you don’t even have to have any lights turned on.
7) Eat only pizza, Mac & Cheese, and cereal. No planning required (time saver). Few trips to the store (energy and time saver). No wasted food (you said yourself that this is important).
Feel free to pass these ideas on to any and all kids you know. And good luck.
What can I say but 'well done guys', it is good to know that the future of the Planet is in safe hands!
I can't remember the exact words we used, I mainly remember half way through thinking that this was a very bad idea indeed - but it turns out that it was in fact a good idea. Somehow she managed to make the connection from our garbling that leaving the lights switched on is one of the reasons polar bears and penguins have less ice to live on. We didn't go into details about sea levels rising and other scary stuff, but she really connected with this thing about polar bears. Never ever underestimate your kids, they understand a lot more than we give them credit for! She is now really good at switching lights off and she doesn't question why, in fact if I occasionally have to remind her, she goes 'oh yeah - the polar bears - sorry'.
This has made me realise that maybe the most important thing about this whole green project is to make it a natural part of my children's lives, they are a lot more adaptable than adults and after all this is all about their future. If I can get them used to not consuming in the same excessive ways as my own generation, they will be a lot better off on many levels. The thing is if global warming or the lack of oil has completely changed our planet and lives in 30 years time, they will be wondering why we didn't do anything and I would like to be able to look them in the eyes and say 'I really did try my best' (still has a bit to go though before I can say that, I don't think driving the car and having long meditative showers count in 'trying my best'...)
Having said that maybe the best thing would be to just start listening to the kids and see things from their perspective. I have two very smart and funny nephews in America aged 5 and 8 and they (with possibly a bit of help from dad) sent me an e-mail with some advice to all the kids wanting to be green. I simply had to pass it on, so here is what the e-mail said:
Our dad told us about how you are writing about trying to be green and how difficult and frustrating it can be. Since it is our future at stake and since we have spent years doing green things, we would like to submit “The kids guide to being green, lazy and out of money.” These are proven techniques that anyone (but kids in particular) can implement. We just think adults are too limited in their thinking to see the obvious possibilities. And, unlike most of the things you have tried, they are not only energy/water savers and reduce carbon emissions but they also save money and time.
So, we don’t think that this should be left up to the grown-ups. We want to get the kids involved and as we said – we have proven and tested easy things kids can start doing right away (if they are not doing it already).
1) You tried turning down the water temperature and taking short showers. We say skip the bath all together and we have made this argument to our parent for years. No water wasted. No energy used. More time for important stuff like playing.
2) When going to the bathroom, don’t flush at all. Sure your parents will eventually notice and make you flush, but by then you will have saved a lot of flushes, not to mention a lot of time.
3) Skip washing your hands. We have found this to be a major water and time saver. Quick tip to the kids reading this: we recommend washing your hands every once in a while. This way your parents will think you are doing it all the time and won’t check. In other words, a small sacrifice in order to achieve big water and energy savings.
4) Pick a favorite outfit and insist on wearing it everyday (dark colors are best, but we will get to that in a moment). Think about it. No laundry means water saved, energy saved, time saved and no detergent getting released into the lakes and rivers. Considering how much our parents complain about doing the laundry, you would think this would be a no-brainer.
5) Whether your parents use paper or cloth napkins, they either waste trees and water or they require washing. We say use your sleeve or pants. Either you will save a few trees or, by eliminating the cloth napkin, you cut down on the laundry (especially if your parents insist on washing you cloths anyway). This is also why dark colors are best because your parents are less likely to notice ketchup and jam stains. In a pinch you can use a pillow but use the backside. Otherwise your parent will insist on that water and energy wasting habit of washing them.
6) Do your homework while watching TV. That way the lights only have to be on in a single room. If you sit close enough to the TV you don’t even have to have any lights turned on.
7) Eat only pizza, Mac & Cheese, and cereal. No planning required (time saver). Few trips to the store (energy and time saver). No wasted food (you said yourself that this is important).
Feel free to pass these ideas on to any and all kids you know. And good luck.
What can I say but 'well done guys', it is good to know that the future of the Planet is in safe hands!
Monday 23 November 2009
Am I going mad?
I am beginning to wonder about my own sanity! 3 months ago I considered us to be a reasonably average family living a reasonably normal life, but after being sucked into the greener living issues I am beginning to have doubts. Once you start reading more articles, watching more films and generally become more aware of environmental issues, it gets harder and harder to ignore the problems with our lifestyles. I am beginning to fear that in my enthusiasm I am turning into some kind of eccentric.
I started off this project just wanting to have a conscience that wasn't pitch black all the time and now I am finding myself doing stuff I would never have imagined 3 months ago. E.g. yesterday I said to my husband I would quite like a sewing machine (Christmas is coming, so time to throw a few hints), and he in his usual pragmatic manner replied 'I take it you want one that doesn't use electricity then'. I hadn't actually thought about that, but after his little 'funny' remark I couldn't help doing a google search on non-electric sewing machines. Needless to say there are no modern versions of people powered sewing machines and you need to do a bit of digging (in your wallet as well) to get one of the old ones, especially the ones with a footpedal rather than a handle... The point here though is not the fact that non-electrical sewing machines are hard to come by, but the fact that I actually did a google search on the subject!
This morning I walked my daughter to school despite the fact that it was pouring rain. She didn't mind, she got a chance to show off her green teddy umbrella, but when I returned to the house completely soaked I did wonder what had happened to me. Last winter I would not have left the car at home on a day like this.
Last year I had no idea about growing vegetables and I had no interest for example in learning how to make jam - what's the point when you can buy it in the shops; but now I am thinking it would be great to make lots of stuff from all this amazing fruit that is going to grow in my garden. (Hopefully I will get the hang of this gardening thing at some point...)
A few days ago I was making breadcrumbs out of left over crusts - something I would never ever have considered previously. OK we still throw out some of the crusts, otherwise we would drown in breadcrumbs, but the fact that I did make a portion of the crumbly stuff tells me that things are actually changing.
I hope the changes are for the better, I certainly feel happy about them, but I do occasionally wonder if I am in fact loosing the plot.
Last week I was talking to one of the other mums at the school gate and briefly explaining about my green project. She was very polite, but basically told me that she thought all this green business was rather silly, it was just the government trying to scare us and especially global warming was nothing to get so hung up about, as it was just part of a natural cycle for the planet. I was slightly lost for words! Her reply made me remember that what I thought was generally accepted as the right thing to do, (even though most of us rarely get round to doing the right things) is in fact to some people complete nonsense. She considered me a fanatic with some kind of strange belief system and for a moment I felt like some kind of missionary facing a group of heathens. It was a strange feeling -I never really thought of being green as a religion! Am I in fact part of a new cult?
The ultimate strike to my sanity then came when I later opened my e-mail and there was a message saying I had been banned from the ad programme on this blog because I posed a risk to the advertisers. For a moment I thought I had become all powerful. Was my blog really so influential that advertisers like the utility companies considered me a risk? Unfortunately I doubt that, but it turns out that these ad programmes are more secret than MI5 and MI6 put together, so I am unable to obtain any information on this risk - maybe the risk was just the fact that they were due to pay me? I shall never know, so maybe I could just stick with the illusion that my green project has become a threat to some of society's big companies... ;-)
Anyway, ads or no ads, religion or not, I am still going strong. This project might be taking me in directions I didn't imagine to begin with, but I still feel I am doing the right thing. I might be slightly more cautious of who I speak to about the project until I gain the ability to remember some hard hitting facts to use in a discussion (not much hope there then, I am useless at memorising facts), but I have learned a lot and that in itself is reason enough to continue. At the end of the day we are still a pretty normal family I think, our lives haven't actually changed that much, we have just changed the focus a little.
I started off this project just wanting to have a conscience that wasn't pitch black all the time and now I am finding myself doing stuff I would never have imagined 3 months ago. E.g. yesterday I said to my husband I would quite like a sewing machine (Christmas is coming, so time to throw a few hints), and he in his usual pragmatic manner replied 'I take it you want one that doesn't use electricity then'. I hadn't actually thought about that, but after his little 'funny' remark I couldn't help doing a google search on non-electric sewing machines. Needless to say there are no modern versions of people powered sewing machines and you need to do a bit of digging (in your wallet as well) to get one of the old ones, especially the ones with a footpedal rather than a handle... The point here though is not the fact that non-electrical sewing machines are hard to come by, but the fact that I actually did a google search on the subject!
This morning I walked my daughter to school despite the fact that it was pouring rain. She didn't mind, she got a chance to show off her green teddy umbrella, but when I returned to the house completely soaked I did wonder what had happened to me. Last winter I would not have left the car at home on a day like this.
Last year I had no idea about growing vegetables and I had no interest for example in learning how to make jam - what's the point when you can buy it in the shops; but now I am thinking it would be great to make lots of stuff from all this amazing fruit that is going to grow in my garden. (Hopefully I will get the hang of this gardening thing at some point...)
A few days ago I was making breadcrumbs out of left over crusts - something I would never ever have considered previously. OK we still throw out some of the crusts, otherwise we would drown in breadcrumbs, but the fact that I did make a portion of the crumbly stuff tells me that things are actually changing.
I hope the changes are for the better, I certainly feel happy about them, but I do occasionally wonder if I am in fact loosing the plot.
Last week I was talking to one of the other mums at the school gate and briefly explaining about my green project. She was very polite, but basically told me that she thought all this green business was rather silly, it was just the government trying to scare us and especially global warming was nothing to get so hung up about, as it was just part of a natural cycle for the planet. I was slightly lost for words! Her reply made me remember that what I thought was generally accepted as the right thing to do, (even though most of us rarely get round to doing the right things) is in fact to some people complete nonsense. She considered me a fanatic with some kind of strange belief system and for a moment I felt like some kind of missionary facing a group of heathens. It was a strange feeling -I never really thought of being green as a religion! Am I in fact part of a new cult?
The ultimate strike to my sanity then came when I later opened my e-mail and there was a message saying I had been banned from the ad programme on this blog because I posed a risk to the advertisers. For a moment I thought I had become all powerful. Was my blog really so influential that advertisers like the utility companies considered me a risk? Unfortunately I doubt that, but it turns out that these ad programmes are more secret than MI5 and MI6 put together, so I am unable to obtain any information on this risk - maybe the risk was just the fact that they were due to pay me? I shall never know, so maybe I could just stick with the illusion that my green project has become a threat to some of society's big companies... ;-)
Anyway, ads or no ads, religion or not, I am still going strong. This project might be taking me in directions I didn't imagine to begin with, but I still feel I am doing the right thing. I might be slightly more cautious of who I speak to about the project until I gain the ability to remember some hard hitting facts to use in a discussion (not much hope there then, I am useless at memorising facts), but I have learned a lot and that in itself is reason enough to continue. At the end of the day we are still a pretty normal family I think, our lives haven't actually changed that much, we have just changed the focus a little.
Monday 16 November 2009
Waste
I have just been looking through the supplement to the September edition of Holyrood Magazine – yes I know it is November now, but Scottish politics magazines are not top of the priority list at the moment... The theme of the supplement was ‘waste’, a lot of the articles giving information on the Scottish Government’s ‘Zero Waste Plan’. Interesting stuff, although they obviously gave it the name ‘Zero waste’ because that sounds better than ‘15% waste’ or '30% waste', but as far as I can see they haven’t actually figured out when or how Scotland can have nil waste. Apparently the target is for 70% of waste to be recycled by 2025 – That is not exactly zero waste.
Anyway government plans or not, I have been thinking a bit about the amount of stuff we throw out. Our bin gets collected every 2 weeks and despite making an effort to recycle, to compost and to reuse it is usually almost full. That is worrying! How can we have so much stuff that just gets dumped? So I have been trying to suss out what actually ends up in the bin.
We never put stuff in there that can be easily recycled, so no paper, card, tins, cans, milk bottles, juice cartons and similar as that gets picked up by the council for recycling. We take all glass to the bottle bank. All clothing or material go either to charity shops or textile banks. Any other item that could still be used, e.g. old toys, baby equipment or books, goes either to charity, on Freecycle or occasionally on e-bay.
Obviously there is the much mentioned foodwaste, but even 1.5kg of waste every 4 days is not going to cause a full bin. Especially considering that some of the 1.5kg of waste would have gone in the compost rather than the bin.
Then there are the nappies. Yes, I have to admit it, I use disposable nappies for my 2-year old. Not very good for my green credentials, I know, but due to different circumstances this is how things turned out, and considering that my son is just about to be potty trained I don’t want to invest in washable nappies now. Even the nappies though are not going to fill the bin, he doesn’t pee that much!
Likewise the paper tissues we use for runny noses etc are not going to make the bin full, even when combined with the food waste and the nappies.
I think the majority of the stuff in the bin is packaging. It is all the plastic trays from the supermarkets. It is all the plastic and cellophane that various items get wrapped in. It is all the tubs that used to contain butter or ice cream or something similar. What is this thing we have about packaging, why is everything wrapped in layers of paper and plastic? Do we think our pyjamas are nicer to wear if they have been wrapped in plastic? Does the tea taste better if the teabags are individually packed in paper covers, then bundled together in plastic wrapping and then put in a card board box again wrapped in plastic (no I am not exaggerating – I have seen this myself)? Does supermarket meat make better bolognaise sauce, when it has been put into a plastic tray that could take about double the amount?
I want to reduce the amount of stuff we throw out, but how do I do it? Packaging seems to be such a big part of most things we buy. Apparently there is a law in the UK against excess packaging, and it is enforced by the Trading Standards. (http://www.which.co.uk/advice/excess-food-packaging/excess-packaging-tips/index.jsp) So we can complain about this, but interestingly enough the law is about whether the packaging is deceptive, e.g. made excessive to make us think we are getting more than we actually are, rather than being about unnecessary and pointless packaging.
As always I think the supermarkets are some of the biggest culprits, and frankly by now I should have become a lot better at avoiding supermarkets and buy more from the real local places, e.g. I am sure the local butcher doesn’t pack all his meat in massive plastic trays. But reality is that it is a lot quicker to get everything in the one shop, rather than going to several places, and many things I can only really get in the supermarket, so I would have to go there anyway.
Other than avoiding supermarkets I am not sure what to do? I certainly cannot think of any easy effortless solutions.
So here I am again – more effort needed! I start off by wanting to have less waste and end up needing to do more...
Maybe I should move to Berkshire, apparently they have started a scheme where you get money off vouchers for recycling. They are expecting that the average household can earn £130 worth of vouchers in a year, at least that way I could get something for my recycling efforts, and if it would mean money off at the local butcher’s I might even make it to the shop.
Anyway government plans or not, I have been thinking a bit about the amount of stuff we throw out. Our bin gets collected every 2 weeks and despite making an effort to recycle, to compost and to reuse it is usually almost full. That is worrying! How can we have so much stuff that just gets dumped? So I have been trying to suss out what actually ends up in the bin.
We never put stuff in there that can be easily recycled, so no paper, card, tins, cans, milk bottles, juice cartons and similar as that gets picked up by the council for recycling. We take all glass to the bottle bank. All clothing or material go either to charity shops or textile banks. Any other item that could still be used, e.g. old toys, baby equipment or books, goes either to charity, on Freecycle or occasionally on e-bay.
Obviously there is the much mentioned foodwaste, but even 1.5kg of waste every 4 days is not going to cause a full bin. Especially considering that some of the 1.5kg of waste would have gone in the compost rather than the bin.
Then there are the nappies. Yes, I have to admit it, I use disposable nappies for my 2-year old. Not very good for my green credentials, I know, but due to different circumstances this is how things turned out, and considering that my son is just about to be potty trained I don’t want to invest in washable nappies now. Even the nappies though are not going to fill the bin, he doesn’t pee that much!
Likewise the paper tissues we use for runny noses etc are not going to make the bin full, even when combined with the food waste and the nappies.
I think the majority of the stuff in the bin is packaging. It is all the plastic trays from the supermarkets. It is all the plastic and cellophane that various items get wrapped in. It is all the tubs that used to contain butter or ice cream or something similar. What is this thing we have about packaging, why is everything wrapped in layers of paper and plastic? Do we think our pyjamas are nicer to wear if they have been wrapped in plastic? Does the tea taste better if the teabags are individually packed in paper covers, then bundled together in plastic wrapping and then put in a card board box again wrapped in plastic (no I am not exaggerating – I have seen this myself)? Does supermarket meat make better bolognaise sauce, when it has been put into a plastic tray that could take about double the amount?
I want to reduce the amount of stuff we throw out, but how do I do it? Packaging seems to be such a big part of most things we buy. Apparently there is a law in the UK against excess packaging, and it is enforced by the Trading Standards. (http://www.which.co.uk/advice/excess-food-packaging/excess-packaging-tips/index.jsp) So we can complain about this, but interestingly enough the law is about whether the packaging is deceptive, e.g. made excessive to make us think we are getting more than we actually are, rather than being about unnecessary and pointless packaging.
As always I think the supermarkets are some of the biggest culprits, and frankly by now I should have become a lot better at avoiding supermarkets and buy more from the real local places, e.g. I am sure the local butcher doesn’t pack all his meat in massive plastic trays. But reality is that it is a lot quicker to get everything in the one shop, rather than going to several places, and many things I can only really get in the supermarket, so I would have to go there anyway.
Other than avoiding supermarkets I am not sure what to do? I certainly cannot think of any easy effortless solutions.
So here I am again – more effort needed! I start off by wanting to have less waste and end up needing to do more...
Maybe I should move to Berkshire, apparently they have started a scheme where you get money off vouchers for recycling. They are expecting that the average household can earn £130 worth of vouchers in a year, at least that way I could get something for my recycling efforts, and if it would mean money off at the local butcher’s I might even make it to the shop.
Sunday 8 November 2009
Food, food, food
I am becoming obseessed with food! Not that I am eating all the time, but I seem to be constantly thinking about all sorts of food issues.
First of all there is the food waste project. This week it was all about planning your shopping and making use of the stuff you already have before buying more. It worked well in the way that I actually sat down to plan the dinners for the whole week and did the shopping accordingly. It was a very good reminder of how planning can help keep stress away because everyday I knew what I was cooking, rather than panicking at 4 o'clock. It also meant I didn't go to the supermarket almost every day, which was very nice, both for my stress levels and for my purse. However I have to admit I didn't do the suggested full scale planning that the project suggested, that includes planning for lunch as well. That was far too complicated. Asking everybody in the family to decide for the whole week which days they are having packed lunches, school dinners, lunch meetings etc was too much - not to mention how difficult it would be to keep track of the answers. So the planning element only covered dinners.
I am not sure it had a huge impact on the foodwaste. We still wasted food on a similar scale to last week, because again we mainly seemed to have an issue with not too tasty stuff. (one day I managed to cook a dinner that was almost inedible, even though I had followed every detail of the recipe...) So from a foodwaste point of view not a major impact, but from a stress busting point of view quite successful.
Another food issue that has been popping up is my cooking talents (please note that the above mentioned inedible meal was an exception, I am usually not that bad...). We are still having 2 vegetarian days a week and it works, but we have reached a point where we need to extend the repetoire of vegetarian dishes, and I feel my cooking skills are needing an upgrade. This is not because vegetarian dishes are more difficult to cook, but they need a different mindset that I haven't got, because most of the cooking I do include some form of meat. I need to find somebody who is vegetarian who can show me what they actually eat during a normal week- I am sure there are loads of great veggie dishes out there, I just don't know that many of them.
Similarly I have been doing a lot of thinking about the whole buy local, buy organic, buy seasonal thing. Organic food is great, but from a carbon footprint point of view not always the best - an organic apple that has travelled all the way from New Zealand might be low on chemicals, but it has caused a fair bit of CO2 to be released during transport here. Hence the reason we should be eating local food to save on CO2 emissions. But if we only eat local food (local even just meaning British) there are lots of things we wouldn't get - despite global warming we still can't grow bananas or avocados or lots of other common stuff on this island.
Even if you do manage to get food produced in Britain, it could easily be intensively grown green house vegetables, that are very unhelpful for the CO2 levels as well, so not a great option either. That is why you are supposed to be eating seasonal food, and not think it is normal to eat strawberries in November.
The thing is if I was only to cook with ingredients grown locally, in season and preferably organic I would be down to a very small range of items, that I wouldn't have a clue how to cook. I mean, I struggle to be creative doing vegetarian dishes, but if I was limited to the stuff that can actually grow in this country, my family would very quickly go hungry. Not only would most of my cooking books be obsolete, but I would need a series of cooking lessons to figure out how to make kale and turnips exciting.
So despite being an OK cook, I am finding it really difficult to make big changes to our eating habits. To feed a family it is not enough to know 4 different dishes, there has to be variety, and because we are now so used to everything being available all year round, most of us don't really know how to cook with only local ingredients.
So in my confusion and frustration about all these food things I turned to my own garden again. (obviously I can't grow bananas or papayas, but at least I can do local and organic) This weekend the weather was actually dry, which has been fantastic, so I kind of saw it as my last chance to do a bit of garden work. Despite the fact that the only really successful thing in the garden this year has been parsley, I still seem to have boundless optimism, so today I planted a plum tree and some blackberries. I have also ordered 2 apple trees which will hopefully arrrive by the end of the month. It is amazing how a bit of gardening can lift the spirit and pottering about in my wellies I felt certain that next year I will definitely be able to 'harvest' lots of stuff. Long may this feeling last (!), then I just need to learn how to cook with all these local vegetables...
First of all there is the food waste project. This week it was all about planning your shopping and making use of the stuff you already have before buying more. It worked well in the way that I actually sat down to plan the dinners for the whole week and did the shopping accordingly. It was a very good reminder of how planning can help keep stress away because everyday I knew what I was cooking, rather than panicking at 4 o'clock. It also meant I didn't go to the supermarket almost every day, which was very nice, both for my stress levels and for my purse. However I have to admit I didn't do the suggested full scale planning that the project suggested, that includes planning for lunch as well. That was far too complicated. Asking everybody in the family to decide for the whole week which days they are having packed lunches, school dinners, lunch meetings etc was too much - not to mention how difficult it would be to keep track of the answers. So the planning element only covered dinners.
I am not sure it had a huge impact on the foodwaste. We still wasted food on a similar scale to last week, because again we mainly seemed to have an issue with not too tasty stuff. (one day I managed to cook a dinner that was almost inedible, even though I had followed every detail of the recipe...) So from a foodwaste point of view not a major impact, but from a stress busting point of view quite successful.
Another food issue that has been popping up is my cooking talents (please note that the above mentioned inedible meal was an exception, I am usually not that bad...). We are still having 2 vegetarian days a week and it works, but we have reached a point where we need to extend the repetoire of vegetarian dishes, and I feel my cooking skills are needing an upgrade. This is not because vegetarian dishes are more difficult to cook, but they need a different mindset that I haven't got, because most of the cooking I do include some form of meat. I need to find somebody who is vegetarian who can show me what they actually eat during a normal week- I am sure there are loads of great veggie dishes out there, I just don't know that many of them.
Similarly I have been doing a lot of thinking about the whole buy local, buy organic, buy seasonal thing. Organic food is great, but from a carbon footprint point of view not always the best - an organic apple that has travelled all the way from New Zealand might be low on chemicals, but it has caused a fair bit of CO2 to be released during transport here. Hence the reason we should be eating local food to save on CO2 emissions. But if we only eat local food (local even just meaning British) there are lots of things we wouldn't get - despite global warming we still can't grow bananas or avocados or lots of other common stuff on this island.
Even if you do manage to get food produced in Britain, it could easily be intensively grown green house vegetables, that are very unhelpful for the CO2 levels as well, so not a great option either. That is why you are supposed to be eating seasonal food, and not think it is normal to eat strawberries in November.
The thing is if I was only to cook with ingredients grown locally, in season and preferably organic I would be down to a very small range of items, that I wouldn't have a clue how to cook. I mean, I struggle to be creative doing vegetarian dishes, but if I was limited to the stuff that can actually grow in this country, my family would very quickly go hungry. Not only would most of my cooking books be obsolete, but I would need a series of cooking lessons to figure out how to make kale and turnips exciting.
So despite being an OK cook, I am finding it really difficult to make big changes to our eating habits. To feed a family it is not enough to know 4 different dishes, there has to be variety, and because we are now so used to everything being available all year round, most of us don't really know how to cook with only local ingredients.
So in my confusion and frustration about all these food things I turned to my own garden again. (obviously I can't grow bananas or papayas, but at least I can do local and organic) This weekend the weather was actually dry, which has been fantastic, so I kind of saw it as my last chance to do a bit of garden work. Despite the fact that the only really successful thing in the garden this year has been parsley, I still seem to have boundless optimism, so today I planted a plum tree and some blackberries. I have also ordered 2 apple trees which will hopefully arrrive by the end of the month. It is amazing how a bit of gardening can lift the spirit and pottering about in my wellies I felt certain that next year I will definitely be able to 'harvest' lots of stuff. Long may this feeling last (!), then I just need to learn how to cook with all these local vegetables...
Sunday 1 November 2009
Kitchen Canny
I have just completed the first week of a food waste project. Interesting! I signed up to this project called Kitchen Canny a few weeks ago, but only last week did I manage to get started. It is a 4 week project. The idea is that the first week you continue as normal, but put all food waste into a separate bin. The second week you are supposed to look at your shopping habits and the third week is all about cooking appropriate portions. The fourth week you do the bin thing again, and hopefully things are a bit better.
Now, this is about all the food that you could have eaten, but you didn't for some reason. So it includes all the stuff you find at the back of the fridge which is out of date, all the vegetables left on the plate because the kids wouldn't eat them, all the half rotten apples you ended up with after a 'buy one get one free' offer etc. However it doesn't include banana peels or other stuff that isn't really eatable.
The result of the first week was interesting in several ways. I actually had less stuff in the bin than I had expected after the 4 days you are supposed to do it. I know that we can be wasteful sometimes and I probably thought the bin would be more or less full. However at the end it was only half full with a weight of 1.434 kg. I have a suspicion though that the time span isn't really long enough to fully capture our habits. You are supposed to pick 4 normal days in the week for collecting your food waste, and although we did have 4 pretty normal food days, I don't for example get round to clearing out the fridge every 4 days. Anyway I shouldn't really complain that I had less foodwaste than expected.
So what did end up in the bin? There were quite a few prawn skewers. They got binned because nobody actually liked them, the box had 2 varities and only one of them was nice. So I guess we won't be buying them again, but we had no way of knowing they would be that unappetising.
3 potatoes went in the bin, because they had started decomposing! I really must get round to finding a proper box or bag for storing the tatties.
A fair bit of bread crusts went in there as well, solely due to the fact that my daughter refuses to eat the crust of anything. It is a bit of a pain, but except for shoving them down her throat I have run out of ideas on how to get her to eat them? It was a bit of an eye opener to realise exactly how many crusts actually go out on a daily basis. I guess I could start buying crustless bread, but I don't think that is the best way to go, both because the rest of us are happy to eat the crust and because I don't want my son to change his mind and decide he doesn't like crusts either. I have been wondering if there is something I could do with the crusts, but the only thing I have been able to think of so far is bread crumbs. I am now going to make sure that we always have a supply of homemade breadcrumbs, but at the end of the day there is a limit to the amount of breadcrumbs a family can consume - what should I do with the rest???
Then there was a small bag of peas I had to throw out. They were meant to be frozen, but in my distracted busy mum state of mind, I managed to put the bag in the vegetable drawer of the fridge rather than the freezer... oops. If I find a way to avoid this kind of stuff I will probably have cracked the big question of how to be an organised and calm parent!
The one thing there was surprisingly little of in the bin was leftover food from the kids. I fully expected that to be quite a big part of the waste. It could be that we had 4 lucky days and for some reason the kids were exceptionally good eaters these days? Or maybe I just haven't realised that my children actually do very well and they are not really the fussy eaters that I claim?
We also didn't seem to have much waste due to cooking too much, something else I had expected. I do normally tend to weigh out things like pasta or rice, but it can still be difficult to cook the right amount. Some days 400 g of pasta is more than plenty, but other days it is not enough. Likewise with vegetables, one night a bag of beans is far too much and nobody wants to eat beans, 3 nights later beans have turned into the children's favorite food and one bag is not enough. On the 4 waste days it must all have been good days and all vegs got eaten, but I am pretty sure that 4 days taken out of a different week could look the exact opposite. With kids you just never know.
As I said I never had time for a fridge clear out, so nothing really went in the bin just because it was out of date, but I do know that happens. We didn't have any overripe bananas either which also happens on a regular basis, but maybe it doesn't happen quite as much as I imagined?
So what have I learned from this first week of Kitchen Canny. Well it almost looks like we primarily waste stuff because we buy stuff we don't like (prawn skewers, bread with crust...) - not a very clever thing to do, but not really intentional either. Not quite sure how to avoid this, unless I stop buying new products and always stick with the things I know everybody likes? Hm, that wouldn't exactly make dinner time exciting. The other thing to remember is to store food properly - no potatoes in plastic bags, no frozen peas in the fridge. I will just have to get organised!
Judging from the contents of the bin I should be happy, because matters weren't as bad as I feared, but I am still left with a sneaky suspicion that things could have looked different and somehow we had 4 good days. I am going to try my best to do week 2 and 3 even though they require a little bit more of my precious time and then week 4 will be interesting. If I end up with more stuff in the bin it will definitely be proven that this was a lucky week, if I end up with less then I shall be very proud of myself. Bring on the food waste challenge!
Now, this is about all the food that you could have eaten, but you didn't for some reason. So it includes all the stuff you find at the back of the fridge which is out of date, all the vegetables left on the plate because the kids wouldn't eat them, all the half rotten apples you ended up with after a 'buy one get one free' offer etc. However it doesn't include banana peels or other stuff that isn't really eatable.
The result of the first week was interesting in several ways. I actually had less stuff in the bin than I had expected after the 4 days you are supposed to do it. I know that we can be wasteful sometimes and I probably thought the bin would be more or less full. However at the end it was only half full with a weight of 1.434 kg. I have a suspicion though that the time span isn't really long enough to fully capture our habits. You are supposed to pick 4 normal days in the week for collecting your food waste, and although we did have 4 pretty normal food days, I don't for example get round to clearing out the fridge every 4 days. Anyway I shouldn't really complain that I had less foodwaste than expected.
So what did end up in the bin? There were quite a few prawn skewers. They got binned because nobody actually liked them, the box had 2 varities and only one of them was nice. So I guess we won't be buying them again, but we had no way of knowing they would be that unappetising.
3 potatoes went in the bin, because they had started decomposing! I really must get round to finding a proper box or bag for storing the tatties.
A fair bit of bread crusts went in there as well, solely due to the fact that my daughter refuses to eat the crust of anything. It is a bit of a pain, but except for shoving them down her throat I have run out of ideas on how to get her to eat them? It was a bit of an eye opener to realise exactly how many crusts actually go out on a daily basis. I guess I could start buying crustless bread, but I don't think that is the best way to go, both because the rest of us are happy to eat the crust and because I don't want my son to change his mind and decide he doesn't like crusts either. I have been wondering if there is something I could do with the crusts, but the only thing I have been able to think of so far is bread crumbs. I am now going to make sure that we always have a supply of homemade breadcrumbs, but at the end of the day there is a limit to the amount of breadcrumbs a family can consume - what should I do with the rest???
Then there was a small bag of peas I had to throw out. They were meant to be frozen, but in my distracted busy mum state of mind, I managed to put the bag in the vegetable drawer of the fridge rather than the freezer... oops. If I find a way to avoid this kind of stuff I will probably have cracked the big question of how to be an organised and calm parent!
The one thing there was surprisingly little of in the bin was leftover food from the kids. I fully expected that to be quite a big part of the waste. It could be that we had 4 lucky days and for some reason the kids were exceptionally good eaters these days? Or maybe I just haven't realised that my children actually do very well and they are not really the fussy eaters that I claim?
We also didn't seem to have much waste due to cooking too much, something else I had expected. I do normally tend to weigh out things like pasta or rice, but it can still be difficult to cook the right amount. Some days 400 g of pasta is more than plenty, but other days it is not enough. Likewise with vegetables, one night a bag of beans is far too much and nobody wants to eat beans, 3 nights later beans have turned into the children's favorite food and one bag is not enough. On the 4 waste days it must all have been good days and all vegs got eaten, but I am pretty sure that 4 days taken out of a different week could look the exact opposite. With kids you just never know.
As I said I never had time for a fridge clear out, so nothing really went in the bin just because it was out of date, but I do know that happens. We didn't have any overripe bananas either which also happens on a regular basis, but maybe it doesn't happen quite as much as I imagined?
So what have I learned from this first week of Kitchen Canny. Well it almost looks like we primarily waste stuff because we buy stuff we don't like (prawn skewers, bread with crust...) - not a very clever thing to do, but not really intentional either. Not quite sure how to avoid this, unless I stop buying new products and always stick with the things I know everybody likes? Hm, that wouldn't exactly make dinner time exciting. The other thing to remember is to store food properly - no potatoes in plastic bags, no frozen peas in the fridge. I will just have to get organised!
Judging from the contents of the bin I should be happy, because matters weren't as bad as I feared, but I am still left with a sneaky suspicion that things could have looked different and somehow we had 4 good days. I am going to try my best to do week 2 and 3 even though they require a little bit more of my precious time and then week 4 will be interesting. If I end up with more stuff in the bin it will definitely be proven that this was a lucky week, if I end up with less then I shall be very proud of myself. Bring on the food waste challenge!
Tuesday 27 October 2009
Where is this going
These last few weeks have been a bit hard! Some days it feels like I am going backwards rather than forwards. Don't get me wrong, I am still trying, but the realities of life sometimes catch up with you even when you have the best intentions in the world.
I have had to higher the thermostat for the hot water, I realised I was probably pushing things a bit too far when my two year old son uttered the word 'cold' when he got put in the bath. Poor little man!
I have also had to give up on walking to the weekly ballet class. It caused so much stress and frustration, because we literally had to walk straight from school to the leisure centre at a reasonably fast speed, and after a whole day at school this was just too much for a 5-year old. It always ended in tears and didn't really make for a good family experience. With changing the clocks it would now also be dark when walking home, which wouldn't exactly help matters. So we have started taking the car. This way my daughter has time to sit down for 10 minutes and have a snack between school and ballet. Now she is not completely exhausted, we don't have any tears and altogether we have a nicer afternoon.
The thing is that I have been extraordinarily busy lately and that isn't helpful for the green agenda. Generally I find that the green options require a slightly higher level of planning and often a little more time. If you want to avoid excess food in the fridge you need to plan out meals very carefully. If you want to cut down on processed food it might take a bit longer to cook the dinner. If you want to walk rather than take the car you need extra time. When you are really busy that becomes difficult. Tonight we ended up with fishfingers for dinner, something we haven't had for a long time, but I simply hadn't had time to think about the meals and do the shopping in advance.
What should I do? My situation isn't exactly unique, most families are probably facing the same issue. I am still full of intentions, I am still motivated, but I am not superhuman and I can only do so many things in a day. Obviously we are still more green now than 3 months ago, because we have learnt a lot in this period and that is not going to change - but how do you fit in green priorities when life gets really busy??!
I haven't figured out the answer yet. Maybe I need to go on a meditation course or read a self help book? No, probably not - that would just take up even more of my time! Maybe I should give the project a rest for a bit and just be happy with the progress made so far? But that wasn't really the point, I still want to do this and I still have improvements to implement. Maybe I will just carry on the best I can and take heart from the fact that other people actually care about this as well.
Recently I have had people telling me that not only do they follow my project, but it has encouraged them make one or two changes in their own lifes. I think that is great. Not because I think I can be the saviour of the world, but because it makes me feel like I am not being stupid. I am not wasting my time, I am basically doing stuff that most people find sensible enough to copy.
On a similar scale my best friend in Denmark just send me an early birthday present: a climate cooking book. This book has just been published in Denmark (probably a date specifically chosen to coincide with preparations for the climate summit in Copenhagen in December...) and besides from recipes it has information about all sorts of climate change related stuff. It made my day to get this book. Not just because presents are nice, but also because it is lovely to get support for the project, and then of course it seems to have interesting information in it. So to finish this entry off here are a couple of things I have come across in the book so far:
-Boiling water in the the kettle before putting it in the pot can save energy, but only if you have an electric hob, no real saving is made if the hob is gas.
- Excess packaging is actually not the biggest issue on the waste front in relation to climate change, wasted meat and dairy products are far more serious
-Locally produced food are not only better because less transport is involved, but they have a higher content of vitamins etc, because they get to ripen naturally.
Interesting stuff. So many things to consider, when you are trying to do what is right...
I have had to higher the thermostat for the hot water, I realised I was probably pushing things a bit too far when my two year old son uttered the word 'cold' when he got put in the bath. Poor little man!
I have also had to give up on walking to the weekly ballet class. It caused so much stress and frustration, because we literally had to walk straight from school to the leisure centre at a reasonably fast speed, and after a whole day at school this was just too much for a 5-year old. It always ended in tears and didn't really make for a good family experience. With changing the clocks it would now also be dark when walking home, which wouldn't exactly help matters. So we have started taking the car. This way my daughter has time to sit down for 10 minutes and have a snack between school and ballet. Now she is not completely exhausted, we don't have any tears and altogether we have a nicer afternoon.
The thing is that I have been extraordinarily busy lately and that isn't helpful for the green agenda. Generally I find that the green options require a slightly higher level of planning and often a little more time. If you want to avoid excess food in the fridge you need to plan out meals very carefully. If you want to cut down on processed food it might take a bit longer to cook the dinner. If you want to walk rather than take the car you need extra time. When you are really busy that becomes difficult. Tonight we ended up with fishfingers for dinner, something we haven't had for a long time, but I simply hadn't had time to think about the meals and do the shopping in advance.
What should I do? My situation isn't exactly unique, most families are probably facing the same issue. I am still full of intentions, I am still motivated, but I am not superhuman and I can only do so many things in a day. Obviously we are still more green now than 3 months ago, because we have learnt a lot in this period and that is not going to change - but how do you fit in green priorities when life gets really busy??!
I haven't figured out the answer yet. Maybe I need to go on a meditation course or read a self help book? No, probably not - that would just take up even more of my time! Maybe I should give the project a rest for a bit and just be happy with the progress made so far? But that wasn't really the point, I still want to do this and I still have improvements to implement. Maybe I will just carry on the best I can and take heart from the fact that other people actually care about this as well.
Recently I have had people telling me that not only do they follow my project, but it has encouraged them make one or two changes in their own lifes. I think that is great. Not because I think I can be the saviour of the world, but because it makes me feel like I am not being stupid. I am not wasting my time, I am basically doing stuff that most people find sensible enough to copy.
On a similar scale my best friend in Denmark just send me an early birthday present: a climate cooking book. This book has just been published in Denmark (probably a date specifically chosen to coincide with preparations for the climate summit in Copenhagen in December...) and besides from recipes it has information about all sorts of climate change related stuff. It made my day to get this book. Not just because presents are nice, but also because it is lovely to get support for the project, and then of course it seems to have interesting information in it. So to finish this entry off here are a couple of things I have come across in the book so far:
-Boiling water in the the kettle before putting it in the pot can save energy, but only if you have an electric hob, no real saving is made if the hob is gas.
- Excess packaging is actually not the biggest issue on the waste front in relation to climate change, wasted meat and dairy products are far more serious
-Locally produced food are not only better because less transport is involved, but they have a higher content of vitamins etc, because they get to ripen naturally.
Interesting stuff. So many things to consider, when you are trying to do what is right...
Tuesday 20 October 2009
Motivation
I just read on Sky news that the Advertising Standards Agency has received more than 300 complaints about a government ad telling people that if we don't get our act together now our kids will suffer the consequences of climate change. Obviously a quite hard hitting ad playing on the fear of all parents that their children will end up unhappy.(http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20091020/tuk-outrage-over-drowning-pets-climate-a-45dbed5.html)
According to the article most people complained about the scientific evidence used, but the rest simply thought the ad was too scary...
I haven't seen the ad, so I can't comment on the science used (and I probably wouldn't have a clue anyway...), but the fact that some people find it too scary probably says a lot about the general attitude to our Planet. We don't really want to know. I certainly would rather live in oblivion! What is the Government thinking bringing this day of doom message right into our living room, just when you've sat down to relax in front of the telly? No wonder people are complaining.
Unfortunately the message is true - all signs are pointing towards a bleak future if we continue the way we are going at the moment. The question I am asking is what exactly are we expected to do? This is not me trying to run away from responsibility, but I would like some clear guidelines, how much do I personally need to do? I am trying to do what is right, but I am struggling to find out exactly how much is enough. What is the point in scaring people if you are not offering any solutions?
I wish somebody could tell me that if I do x,y and z, then things will probably turn out OK in the end. But unfortunately this is not the case. I think we need more information we can relate to at a personal level. Having a smart meter in the house was a hundred times more effective at changing my habits than 20 energy saving campaigns, because the smart meter gave me information related directly to me. Generic information is exactly that - generic, and therefore very easy to dismiss as not really relevant to me.
The parts of my project that have been the most successful are the ones where I either save money or don't have to do much. I am much better at saving energy now, because I can actually see it on the bill. I do my washing at 30 degrees, because it makes no difference to my daily life at all. The parts where I struggle more is where a real change of habit is needed - that takes a different level of determination (which I don't always have).
Maybe I need to think about my arguments for doing this. Am I trying to save the planet for the sake of my children? Am I doing this to feel better about myself? Am I just being a good citizen listening to the Government? (Probably not...). Am I really looking to save money rather than the Planet? Did I just want a subject for a blog? I am not sure, maybe it is all of them.
One thing I am sure of is that if the Government or anybody else for that matter really wants to help us change our habits then they need to help us find our personal motivation. They can dish out all the information in the world, but if they can't get people motivated one way or another it is all a complete waste.
To keep myself motivated I bought a fridge magnet the other day. It has a foolproof argument:
Save the Earth - It is the only planet with chocolate!
According to the article most people complained about the scientific evidence used, but the rest simply thought the ad was too scary...
I haven't seen the ad, so I can't comment on the science used (and I probably wouldn't have a clue anyway...), but the fact that some people find it too scary probably says a lot about the general attitude to our Planet. We don't really want to know. I certainly would rather live in oblivion! What is the Government thinking bringing this day of doom message right into our living room, just when you've sat down to relax in front of the telly? No wonder people are complaining.
Unfortunately the message is true - all signs are pointing towards a bleak future if we continue the way we are going at the moment. The question I am asking is what exactly are we expected to do? This is not me trying to run away from responsibility, but I would like some clear guidelines, how much do I personally need to do? I am trying to do what is right, but I am struggling to find out exactly how much is enough. What is the point in scaring people if you are not offering any solutions?
I wish somebody could tell me that if I do x,y and z, then things will probably turn out OK in the end. But unfortunately this is not the case. I think we need more information we can relate to at a personal level. Having a smart meter in the house was a hundred times more effective at changing my habits than 20 energy saving campaigns, because the smart meter gave me information related directly to me. Generic information is exactly that - generic, and therefore very easy to dismiss as not really relevant to me.
For action to happen we need arguments we can understand and a belief that the target is achievable. I started this green project completely voluntary, and so far it has not been just plane sailing. I still have days when the state of the planet comes very far down my list of priorities. I have times when I feel it is a never ending spiral and there will always be something else I can do to be that little bit greener. On those days I would rather the Government gave me some incentives to get my act together, rather than scaring me with grim pictures of the future. I would like some happy stories that showed me that it is worth the effort.
We are all comfort creatures and I think we are much more likely to listen and to act if we can see easy ways of doing stuff. Things for example would be looking great in Scotland, if we could help the planet by drinking beer!
The parts of my project that have been the most successful are the ones where I either save money or don't have to do much. I am much better at saving energy now, because I can actually see it on the bill. I do my washing at 30 degrees, because it makes no difference to my daily life at all. The parts where I struggle more is where a real change of habit is needed - that takes a different level of determination (which I don't always have).
Maybe I need to think about my arguments for doing this. Am I trying to save the planet for the sake of my children? Am I doing this to feel better about myself? Am I just being a good citizen listening to the Government? (Probably not...). Am I really looking to save money rather than the Planet? Did I just want a subject for a blog? I am not sure, maybe it is all of them.
One thing I am sure of is that if the Government or anybody else for that matter really wants to help us change our habits then they need to help us find our personal motivation. They can dish out all the information in the world, but if they can't get people motivated one way or another it is all a complete waste.
To keep myself motivated I bought a fridge magnet the other day. It has a foolproof argument:
Save the Earth - It is the only planet with chocolate!
Monday 12 October 2009
Small steps are OK
I had quite a shock this weekend! I was explaining my green project to a friend and she asked me: 'so what are you doing to become greener?' Uhm... After a few panic stricken moments I came up with: I wash the clothes at 30 degrees, we are vegetarians 2 days a week and we lowered the thermostat on the boiler. Not exactly an impressive list!
For a moment I had the feeling of complete failure, am I in fact not really doing anything? It sounded a bit silly to say we take all glass to the bottle bank, because we did that before as well, saying we have signed up for online billing isn't exactly a major feat either and I can't claim to grow my own vegetables, because our carrots are the size of overgrown peanuts and the beetroots are only tops and no root.
My lack of answer to the question was even more disturbing, because I have now become involved with the local climate challenge group and I feel I spend a lot of time thinking about environmental issues at the moment, yet I had no decent answer. (This involvement with the Climate Group is one of the reasons for the lack of updates on this site as well, apologies to you people who faithfully check in on a regular basis).
The thing is that when you get put on the spot you want to be able to say big things like 'we have had solar panels installed' or 'we sold the car and only use public transport' or 'we converted the garage to a mini wind power station using a tricycle, an old sheet and 20 metres of organic cotton string...', but I had nothing like that to say.
It got me re-evaluating the whole project again, and I realised that being green isn't just about the big things, it is just as much about taking responsibility for your everyday actions. The main difference between now and then is my attitude. Before I would often leave the light on in the living room when going upstairs to put the kids to bed, because 'I am coming back down again shortly'. Before I would only occasionally walk to the shops rather than take the car. Before I would just grab the most convenient pack of veg in the supermarket without fully considering if we would be able to use it all up. I don't do that anymore!
I have become so much more aware of my actions. Yes, I still use my car, but I use it a lot less than I used to, and when I do use it I try to drive it in a fuel efficient way. We obviously still use electricity, but I make a very conscience effort to not use more than necessary. I always look at how much water is in the kettle before switching it on. I don't leave anything on standby and I know which kitchen appliances are the most energy consuming. I try to make sure I use up stuff in the fridge before it expires (try is the key word here...) and rather than thinking about putting in 1 fruit tree in the garden I am planning 2 or 3 and couple of berry bushes. I wipe my sons face with a washable flannel instead of disposable wipes, and my daughter's sandwich goes in a reusable paper bag rather than cling film.
None of this sounds like much, and there is still ample room for improvement, but I am heading in a direction rather than staying on the same spot.
I do hope that one day we will have solar panels and a garden that is full of useful stuff rather than weeds and miniature vegetables , just as I hope we will be nicely insulated and having a primarily vegetarian diet, but the fact is that small things matter as well. My actions won't have much of an impact on the level of CO2 spewed out in Scotland, but they do have an impact on how I think.
So next time somebody asks me what I am doing to become greener, I shall say something like: 'I am changing my habits gradually and I am taking responsibility for my actions. I don't do anything extraordinary, because most of us know what we should be doing, my bid to be green is to actually try and follow some of the advice that is given and not just leave it at good intentions.'
For a moment I had the feeling of complete failure, am I in fact not really doing anything? It sounded a bit silly to say we take all glass to the bottle bank, because we did that before as well, saying we have signed up for online billing isn't exactly a major feat either and I can't claim to grow my own vegetables, because our carrots are the size of overgrown peanuts and the beetroots are only tops and no root.
My lack of answer to the question was even more disturbing, because I have now become involved with the local climate challenge group and I feel I spend a lot of time thinking about environmental issues at the moment, yet I had no decent answer. (This involvement with the Climate Group is one of the reasons for the lack of updates on this site as well, apologies to you people who faithfully check in on a regular basis).
The thing is that when you get put on the spot you want to be able to say big things like 'we have had solar panels installed' or 'we sold the car and only use public transport' or 'we converted the garage to a mini wind power station using a tricycle, an old sheet and 20 metres of organic cotton string...', but I had nothing like that to say.
It got me re-evaluating the whole project again, and I realised that being green isn't just about the big things, it is just as much about taking responsibility for your everyday actions. The main difference between now and then is my attitude. Before I would often leave the light on in the living room when going upstairs to put the kids to bed, because 'I am coming back down again shortly'. Before I would only occasionally walk to the shops rather than take the car. Before I would just grab the most convenient pack of veg in the supermarket without fully considering if we would be able to use it all up. I don't do that anymore!
I have become so much more aware of my actions. Yes, I still use my car, but I use it a lot less than I used to, and when I do use it I try to drive it in a fuel efficient way. We obviously still use electricity, but I make a very conscience effort to not use more than necessary. I always look at how much water is in the kettle before switching it on. I don't leave anything on standby and I know which kitchen appliances are the most energy consuming. I try to make sure I use up stuff in the fridge before it expires (try is the key word here...) and rather than thinking about putting in 1 fruit tree in the garden I am planning 2 or 3 and couple of berry bushes. I wipe my sons face with a washable flannel instead of disposable wipes, and my daughter's sandwich goes in a reusable paper bag rather than cling film.
None of this sounds like much, and there is still ample room for improvement, but I am heading in a direction rather than staying on the same spot.
I do hope that one day we will have solar panels and a garden that is full of useful stuff rather than weeds and miniature vegetables , just as I hope we will be nicely insulated and having a primarily vegetarian diet, but the fact is that small things matter as well. My actions won't have much of an impact on the level of CO2 spewed out in Scotland, but they do have an impact on how I think.
So next time somebody asks me what I am doing to become greener, I shall say something like: 'I am changing my habits gradually and I am taking responsibility for my actions. I don't do anything extraordinary, because most of us know what we should be doing, my bid to be green is to actually try and follow some of the advice that is given and not just leave it at good intentions.'
And hopefully I won't get too many of my friends asking, because if I have to say that kind of stuff too often I will probably end up with no friends at all!
Tuesday 6 October 2009
Winter is coming
Autumn is definitely in full swing now! This weekend was seriously windy (the kids trampoline flew across the garden and landed in my vegetable patch squashing my poor pumpkin plant), along with lots of rain and rather cold temperatures. It was a strong taster of what lies ahead, and a check on how winter proof our new house is. Not very - there are a few issues!
Unfortunately it seems that making your house warm is one of those things that you can’t do on the cheap.
Although our house has double glazing, nobody (including the surveyor) picked up before the purchase on the fact that some of the windows seem to have been recycled from a different property. Obviously recycling is a good idea, and usable windows should not be thrown out, but quite a few corners seem to have been cut when putting these ones in. Some of the windows have no seals, other windows have handles missing, some have a hole where the ventilation grid should be and some just don’t seem to fit together properly. Hooray! We have obviously known this for some time, but because it has been summer it hasn’t really been top of the priority list, but this weekend really proved that we have to do something.
Step one has been temporary measures along the line of putting duct tape over missing vents and around very drafty windows, but not exactly the most effective draft proofing. Step two was to have a look at the net and in the DIY shop for something slightly more appropriate, but as we are not exactly experts in double glazing it became rather pointless, we have no idea what shapes the seals should have or how to fit vents and the manufacturer of the handles appears to have gone bust. Step three was to phone some double glazing repair people to come and have a look, but when I explained the problems to them they sounded far from optimistic and suddenly were very busy - so couldn't come till end of next week sometime. Step four - well either we will be very lucky and the guy actually turns up and is able to fix it very cheaply... (ha,ha,ha) or otherwise we will have to stock up on duct tape and wrap up warm for the winter. Unfortunately changing all the windows is just not possible, putting in new double glazing is so expensive!
All these drafty windows also led us to look at the insulation of the house. My husband found a couple of unused insulation blankets in the attic which is good, but some areas of the house could definitely do with improvements on that front. Insulation unfortunately is not cheap either. Although the Government is pushing for people to get better insulation for lots of good reasons, the grants they are giving just don't cover people like us. The grants are primarily aimed at elderly people and people on benefits, but there is no section for a pretty standard young family of four, who at the face of it should have money as we have an income, but in real life are quite short on cash.
There are lots of organisations promoting home insulation and endless calculations of how much you can save in the long term by insulating your home, but you still need to come up with a fair amount of money to begin with. If you try to google alternative ways of insulating your home, lots of innovative high tech solutions come up (e.g. insulation material made from Soybeans or recycled plastic bottles), but nobody seems to have come up with some really clever cheap ideas, like using empty loo rolls or old books or something. I briefly got my hopes up when I was looking in some inspirational home magazine from IKEA, which happened to have a green theme, and in an interview some Swedish guy said 'you have to think creatively, for example we have used old newspapers for insulation'. It sounded like a great idea, but as IKEA didn't tell you how to use newspapers I went on the Net again to investigate. That quickly stopped my insulation plans. Apparently by using newspapers you are not only creating a haven for rats and other lovely creatures, but also dramatically increasing the fire risk. Not a good idea then!
So right now it looks like we are headed for a cold winter (better tell Santa, that my kids would like new fleeces for Christmas...). When I first started this project I suggested that being green always requires either money or effort, and so far it looks like insulation is something that can only be done with money. No amount of effort I put in can insulate our house at a low cost, I can't grow my own fibreglass matting or make window seals out of cardboard. The only cheap heating we have at the moment I think is our exercise bike - we will just have to take turns at pedalling away...
Unfortunately it seems that making your house warm is one of those things that you can’t do on the cheap.
Although our house has double glazing, nobody (including the surveyor) picked up before the purchase on the fact that some of the windows seem to have been recycled from a different property. Obviously recycling is a good idea, and usable windows should not be thrown out, but quite a few corners seem to have been cut when putting these ones in. Some of the windows have no seals, other windows have handles missing, some have a hole where the ventilation grid should be and some just don’t seem to fit together properly. Hooray! We have obviously known this for some time, but because it has been summer it hasn’t really been top of the priority list, but this weekend really proved that we have to do something.
Step one has been temporary measures along the line of putting duct tape over missing vents and around very drafty windows, but not exactly the most effective draft proofing. Step two was to have a look at the net and in the DIY shop for something slightly more appropriate, but as we are not exactly experts in double glazing it became rather pointless, we have no idea what shapes the seals should have or how to fit vents and the manufacturer of the handles appears to have gone bust. Step three was to phone some double glazing repair people to come and have a look, but when I explained the problems to them they sounded far from optimistic and suddenly were very busy - so couldn't come till end of next week sometime. Step four - well either we will be very lucky and the guy actually turns up and is able to fix it very cheaply... (ha,ha,ha) or otherwise we will have to stock up on duct tape and wrap up warm for the winter. Unfortunately changing all the windows is just not possible, putting in new double glazing is so expensive!
All these drafty windows also led us to look at the insulation of the house. My husband found a couple of unused insulation blankets in the attic which is good, but some areas of the house could definitely do with improvements on that front. Insulation unfortunately is not cheap either. Although the Government is pushing for people to get better insulation for lots of good reasons, the grants they are giving just don't cover people like us. The grants are primarily aimed at elderly people and people on benefits, but there is no section for a pretty standard young family of four, who at the face of it should have money as we have an income, but in real life are quite short on cash.
There are lots of organisations promoting home insulation and endless calculations of how much you can save in the long term by insulating your home, but you still need to come up with a fair amount of money to begin with. If you try to google alternative ways of insulating your home, lots of innovative high tech solutions come up (e.g. insulation material made from Soybeans or recycled plastic bottles), but nobody seems to have come up with some really clever cheap ideas, like using empty loo rolls or old books or something. I briefly got my hopes up when I was looking in some inspirational home magazine from IKEA, which happened to have a green theme, and in an interview some Swedish guy said 'you have to think creatively, for example we have used old newspapers for insulation'. It sounded like a great idea, but as IKEA didn't tell you how to use newspapers I went on the Net again to investigate. That quickly stopped my insulation plans. Apparently by using newspapers you are not only creating a haven for rats and other lovely creatures, but also dramatically increasing the fire risk. Not a good idea then!
So right now it looks like we are headed for a cold winter (better tell Santa, that my kids would like new fleeces for Christmas...). When I first started this project I suggested that being green always requires either money or effort, and so far it looks like insulation is something that can only be done with money. No amount of effort I put in can insulate our house at a low cost, I can't grow my own fibreglass matting or make window seals out of cardboard. The only cheap heating we have at the moment I think is our exercise bike - we will just have to take turns at pedalling away...
Friday 2 October 2009
Smart meters
Smart meters are a revelation! I finally got round to sorting my library card and I was then able to borrow a smart meter for 3 weeks. We have had it set up for 5 days now and it is almost turning into an obsession watching the figures go up and down.
I have trailed the smart meter all over the house testing out how much it affects our electricity usage to switch on the lights, work on the computer, make a cup of tea, have the lights on in the fish tank, hoover and all sorts of other things. It is fascinating.
I have made some interesting discoveries. Switching on one energy saving light does not create a massive spike (as expected), however using the oven, the microwave or the kettle is very energy intensive. To my surprise some things aren’t really that bad, e.g. having the laptop on or doing the ironing. Obviously nothing should be left on, if you are not using it, but having the oven on longer than absolutely necessary is a lot worse than forgetting to switch an energy bulb off.
Just to illustrate here are some examples:
When everything that can be switched off is off the energy usage is about 0.05kW. Some things like the fridge, the freezer and the pump for the fish can’t really be turned off, so there is a level of permanent energy use. If we switch on the main light in the kitchen, which has an energy saving bulb the usage goes up to 0.06. If I switch on the light in the bathroom, which has a complete overflow of lighting including 4 halogen lights usage goes up to 0.13kW
Using the normal electric oven means an increase of an amazing 1.92 kW, but using the fan assisted oven is even worse at 2.28kW. (Yes, I am one of the very lucky people, who has a range cooker that includes 2 ovens. In fact I have an incredible selection of kitchen gadgets, if only my cooking skills matched my collection of kitchen ware, I would be heading right for Master Chef...). The grill on the other hand 'only' uses 1.61kW, so now I know that using the grill in stead of the oven might sometimes save me energy.
Putting the TV on causes an increase in the energy usage of 0.08kW, and interestingly enough having the TV on standby has an energy usage of 0.02kW. Think about that - the lowest level of energy use would go from 0.05kW to 0.07, just by having the TV on standby. That is the same increase as if we left two energy bulbs burning all the time. Thankfully we are in the habit of switching the TV and various connected boxes off at the wall, but I hate to think about the money we have wasted in previous years leaving stuff on.
Charging a mobile phone is at the same level as switching energy bulbs on, but making a cup of tea is very energy intensive, it has shown increases of up 2.59kW to put the kettle on. It makes you think twice about how much water you are boiling. You can buy an eco kettle, that only heats the amount of cups you need (I think is has two chambers or something and loads a measured amount of water from one chamber into the other chamber that then heats the liquid???), but just looking at the water level indicator is a good start.
Anyway I should probably switch off my computer now and then sit and watch the figures go down on the smart meter by 0.01kW. Who needs entertainment, when you have a smart meter to watch...
I have trailed the smart meter all over the house testing out how much it affects our electricity usage to switch on the lights, work on the computer, make a cup of tea, have the lights on in the fish tank, hoover and all sorts of other things. It is fascinating.
I have made some interesting discoveries. Switching on one energy saving light does not create a massive spike (as expected), however using the oven, the microwave or the kettle is very energy intensive. To my surprise some things aren’t really that bad, e.g. having the laptop on or doing the ironing. Obviously nothing should be left on, if you are not using it, but having the oven on longer than absolutely necessary is a lot worse than forgetting to switch an energy bulb off.
Just to illustrate here are some examples:
When everything that can be switched off is off the energy usage is about 0.05kW. Some things like the fridge, the freezer and the pump for the fish can’t really be turned off, so there is a level of permanent energy use. If we switch on the main light in the kitchen, which has an energy saving bulb the usage goes up to 0.06. If I switch on the light in the bathroom, which has a complete overflow of lighting including 4 halogen lights usage goes up to 0.13kW
Using the normal electric oven means an increase of an amazing 1.92 kW, but using the fan assisted oven is even worse at 2.28kW. (Yes, I am one of the very lucky people, who has a range cooker that includes 2 ovens. In fact I have an incredible selection of kitchen gadgets, if only my cooking skills matched my collection of kitchen ware, I would be heading right for Master Chef...). The grill on the other hand 'only' uses 1.61kW, so now I know that using the grill in stead of the oven might sometimes save me energy.
Putting the TV on causes an increase in the energy usage of 0.08kW, and interestingly enough having the TV on standby has an energy usage of 0.02kW. Think about that - the lowest level of energy use would go from 0.05kW to 0.07, just by having the TV on standby. That is the same increase as if we left two energy bulbs burning all the time. Thankfully we are in the habit of switching the TV and various connected boxes off at the wall, but I hate to think about the money we have wasted in previous years leaving stuff on.
Charging a mobile phone is at the same level as switching energy bulbs on, but making a cup of tea is very energy intensive, it has shown increases of up 2.59kW to put the kettle on. It makes you think twice about how much water you are boiling. You can buy an eco kettle, that only heats the amount of cups you need (I think is has two chambers or something and loads a measured amount of water from one chamber into the other chamber that then heats the liquid???), but just looking at the water level indicator is a good start.
Obviously this is just how things look in our house and for our appliances, but it is a strange feeling all of a sudden to know exactly how much energy you are using, and there just might be days, when I would prefer to forget this information. Christmas Day for example, when I usually have absolutely everything on in the kitchen, not to mention christmas lights and all the other stuff. Suddenly Christmas becomes expensive at a different level.
Actually I think I might be turning into a bit of an energy geek. When setting up the smart meter you have the option of entering the rates you pay, that way it shows you the actual cost of the usage. So looking into all this really got me thinking about the rates we are paying and the best way to be set up. This sounds really boring, but I sat down and calculated how much it would have cost us if we had been on some of the other rates and hey it turns out, it doesn’t really make any difference. If I change to the rate that has a standing daily charge then electricity will be about £15 cheaper, but gas will increase by about £10, so overall not a huge benefit. I really should know it by now – the utility companies have lots of clever people working for them figuring all this out, so the chances of me out-smarting them by changing rates are not very high. But at least I did the calculation, so now I know for sure.Anyway I should probably switch off my computer now and then sit and watch the figures go down on the smart meter by 0.01kW. Who needs entertainment, when you have a smart meter to watch...
Tuesday 29 September 2009
Saving water
We have a tap in the kitchen that has been dripping since we moved into the house, and all attempts at fixing it have been unsuccessful. Our DIY skills just don’t extend to include taps with ceramic plates and grit trapped in the middle. Listening to the dripping yesterday reminded me again that we really must do something about it, wasting water like that is plain silly.
The problem with water conservation in Scotland is that in general we have loads of the wet stuff and it keeps coming... On top of that in a lot of areas we are not even metered on water usage, so there is no financial gain in closing the taps. In general the incentives for saving water are almost non-existent here, but just because we have plenty supply that doesn’t mean we should be playing about with something that valuable.
So I decided to have a quick look and see if there are some easy water saving advice out there. Again I got down to a couple of different categories, the useful ones, the ones that involve money and the just silly ones...
- Don’t leave the tap running when you brush your teeth. This one I guess is useful, if you tend to leave the tap running, I don't though. Frankly I am not quite sure why you would leave the tap running? Does it make a soothing sound or does it make your teeth cleaner?
- Fix any dripping taps. Well I know we need to do this, but plumbers don't come cheap.
- Take shorter showers. Now this advice I will probably have to implement at some level, I know that I am more than guilty of taking long showers. It is my luxury in the morning, because it gives me a little bit of quiet time to sort my thoughts, before starting the day. I read in a Danish energy book that you should take an egg timer with you to the bathroom and set it for 5 minutes, that way you know exactly when you have been in the shower too long. I guess I will have to give it a go tomorrow (or maybe the day after...).
- Put a brick in the cistern, that way the water level will be reached quicker when refilling, and obviously less water will be used. Something else I will need to try out. I am sure there must be a stray brick somewhere in the garage or the back of the garden - I just need to find it!
- Get a water butt. This is something I would definitely do, it seems a pretty straight forward thing to do, and it makes sense to collect rainwater to water your garden – the only problem is that it costs money. Money that I haven’t got. So like quite a few other improvement it will just have to wait till the bank balance looks a bit healthier.
-Use a watering can when watering the garden rather than the hose. That way you kind of get tired before using up huge quantities of water. Again another straight forward idea, although slightly out of season by now - we don't tend to get long dry spells in Scotland in the autumn...
So far so good, nothing too demanding and generally cheap suggestions - I just need to get my act together.
As always there are lots of items you can buy or install to save water, e.g.flow reducing aerators for the shower head, ultra-low water usage cisterns or even composting toilets, but these things cost money and are therefore not an option!
But there are also more adventurous suggestions. The Guardian is suggesting installing a grey water system that can take water from the washing machine into the toilet, which makes perfect sense to me - it is almost obscene that we use drinking quality water to flush away our waste. However I am not quite sure how the system works and you would obviously need somebody to install it for you (=another expense), but it might go on my green wish list.
Tesco is also talking about grey water systems in their new 'greener living' section, unfortunately they are about as good at giving green advice as they are at selling local produce. Amongst the 'brilliant' ideas for saving water it is suggested to use the water from the bathtub or the shower to water the garden. All fine and well, but how I am supposed to get the water from the bathtub to the garden??? It would be a lot of work to carry it all out in buckets and by the time I would have finished I would be so sweaty I would need another bath. I am not even going to start thinking about how to get water from the shower drain to the garden... OK, fair enough they do actually suggest that you can set up a hose running from the bath and out of the window, but I struggle to see that working. The principle is obviously the same as emptying a fish tank, but it would take quite some suction to get the water flowing through the meters of hose you would need to get to an upstairs bathroom. The stuff you want to water is probably not going to be right under the bathroom window either, so to distribute the water you would either need a very long hose from the bath (=even bigger suction problems) or another bathtub under the window to collect the water in... Oh yes, Tesco- every little helps!
At least there is a bit more creativity to be found from a Brazilian environmental group, who has been running a campaign this summer encouraging people to pee in the shower. They calculated that an average household can save up to 4.400 litres of water every year, by reducing the number of times the toilet is flushed by just one per day. So if you are in the shower anyway, why not engage in a bit of multitasking... Their slogan is: 'pee in the shower, save the Rain Forest' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEulkK7SpRs) Hmm, I might just have to think about that one.
The problem with water conservation in Scotland is that in general we have loads of the wet stuff and it keeps coming... On top of that in a lot of areas we are not even metered on water usage, so there is no financial gain in closing the taps. In general the incentives for saving water are almost non-existent here, but just because we have plenty supply that doesn’t mean we should be playing about with something that valuable.
So I decided to have a quick look and see if there are some easy water saving advice out there. Again I got down to a couple of different categories, the useful ones, the ones that involve money and the just silly ones...
- Don’t leave the tap running when you brush your teeth. This one I guess is useful, if you tend to leave the tap running, I don't though. Frankly I am not quite sure why you would leave the tap running? Does it make a soothing sound or does it make your teeth cleaner?
- Fix any dripping taps. Well I know we need to do this, but plumbers don't come cheap.
- Take shorter showers. Now this advice I will probably have to implement at some level, I know that I am more than guilty of taking long showers. It is my luxury in the morning, because it gives me a little bit of quiet time to sort my thoughts, before starting the day. I read in a Danish energy book that you should take an egg timer with you to the bathroom and set it for 5 minutes, that way you know exactly when you have been in the shower too long. I guess I will have to give it a go tomorrow (or maybe the day after...).
- Put a brick in the cistern, that way the water level will be reached quicker when refilling, and obviously less water will be used. Something else I will need to try out. I am sure there must be a stray brick somewhere in the garage or the back of the garden - I just need to find it!
- Get a water butt. This is something I would definitely do, it seems a pretty straight forward thing to do, and it makes sense to collect rainwater to water your garden – the only problem is that it costs money. Money that I haven’t got. So like quite a few other improvement it will just have to wait till the bank balance looks a bit healthier.
-Use a watering can when watering the garden rather than the hose. That way you kind of get tired before using up huge quantities of water. Again another straight forward idea, although slightly out of season by now - we don't tend to get long dry spells in Scotland in the autumn...
So far so good, nothing too demanding and generally cheap suggestions - I just need to get my act together.
As always there are lots of items you can buy or install to save water, e.g.flow reducing aerators for the shower head, ultra-low water usage cisterns or even composting toilets, but these things cost money and are therefore not an option!
But there are also more adventurous suggestions. The Guardian is suggesting installing a grey water system that can take water from the washing machine into the toilet, which makes perfect sense to me - it is almost obscene that we use drinking quality water to flush away our waste. However I am not quite sure how the system works and you would obviously need somebody to install it for you (=another expense), but it might go on my green wish list.
Tesco is also talking about grey water systems in their new 'greener living' section, unfortunately they are about as good at giving green advice as they are at selling local produce. Amongst the 'brilliant' ideas for saving water it is suggested to use the water from the bathtub or the shower to water the garden. All fine and well, but how I am supposed to get the water from the bathtub to the garden??? It would be a lot of work to carry it all out in buckets and by the time I would have finished I would be so sweaty I would need another bath. I am not even going to start thinking about how to get water from the shower drain to the garden... OK, fair enough they do actually suggest that you can set up a hose running from the bath and out of the window, but I struggle to see that working. The principle is obviously the same as emptying a fish tank, but it would take quite some suction to get the water flowing through the meters of hose you would need to get to an upstairs bathroom. The stuff you want to water is probably not going to be right under the bathroom window either, so to distribute the water you would either need a very long hose from the bath (=even bigger suction problems) or another bathtub under the window to collect the water in... Oh yes, Tesco- every little helps!
At least there is a bit more creativity to be found from a Brazilian environmental group, who has been running a campaign this summer encouraging people to pee in the shower. They calculated that an average household can save up to 4.400 litres of water every year, by reducing the number of times the toilet is flushed by just one per day. So if you are in the shower anyway, why not engage in a bit of multitasking... Their slogan is: 'pee in the shower, save the Rain Forest' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEulkK7SpRs) Hmm, I might just have to think about that one.
Friday 25 September 2009
Green energy
I have found another campaign to launch! Let’s take on the big energy companies and force them to make green energy affordable...
I got notification from my energy supplier that my monthly direct debit was going to increase dramatically. Despite the fact that we are quite a lot in credit it seems their crystal ball is predicting that we are going to have such massive increases in energy usage over the winter that on top of the credit already collected they need to double the monthly payments! In an attempt to get my heart rate back to normal I decided it was definitely time to do a supplier comparison, and in line with my new greener lifestyle I thought a green supplier would be a good idea.
Looking through green tariffs however did not stabilise my heart at all! There was quite a difference between the cheapest green rate and the cheapest normal rate, which forced me to re-think the situation. I quickly realised that going onto a proper green tariff would be financial suicide for us, and the whole situation frankly made me quite angry. When I started thinking about it, I began questioning the whole reasoning behind green tariffs and I came to the conclusion that they are just a way to squeeze some extra money out of the people who actually care. OK, I know this might just sound like sour grapes, but this is the way I see it:
The energy companies know that things have to change. Not only do we need to slow down the global warming process, but we are quickly running out of a lot of our energy sources – therefore the energy providers have no options. If they don’t make any changes at all either we will all be extinct due to the climate changes or they will simply run out of stuff to burn to make energy – either way the energy companies will be out of business. Investing in renewable energy technology is not just a fancy little side product they do to cater for eco warriors, it is a fundamental part of securing their own survival. So why do I have to pay extra for green tariffs?
At the end of the day we are all getting the same product. Signing up to a green tariff doesn’t mean that the electricity that comes into your house is necessarily from a windmill, they can’t target the distribution like that, it is more a question of overall production, so if for example 5% of a company’s customers sign up for green tariffs, then at least 5% of the energy produced will come from greener sources.
But what would happen if they never got more than 5% of customers signing up to green rates? It certainly wouldn’t mean that they would stop investing in renewable energy and just leave it at 5%, because that would be an extremely bad business strategy. Or what if -by some miracle- all of a sudden 90% of customers signed up to green energy, how would they deliver that?
Obviously the energy companies need extra money to be able to invest in new energy sources, but I think green rates are just a clever trick. A group of corporate people sat around a table discussing how to find the money they need to invest in renewable energy and somebody came up with the idea, ‘hey why don’t we get some of all these green eco friendly people to pay extra, they won’t mind they have the heart in the right place’.
Please don’t get me wrong, if you are actually one of the people who pay extra for green rates, then I applaud you for making that choice, but I would like you to join a campaign saying that all rates should have an element of green, you can't charge some people extra simply because they agree with your business plan. No other business would get away with asking for extra money for delivering something that is just part of their own development strategy - unless they are a charity, and last I checked I didn't see any of the energy suppliers in the Charity register.(Obviously by the time I get round to organising my campaign global warming will probably have finished this planet anyway, but I will keep you posted...)
I am not suggesting that we should all be paying the green rates as they are at the moment, but it is not right that the energy companies are playing on our green conscience to make money, it is not up to a few caring people to pay for the sustainable energy we all need. If they want people to pay more they need to give more, so until they start offering to install solar panels or set up garden windmills when you sign up for green tariffs, I am afraid I am out.
I got notification from my energy supplier that my monthly direct debit was going to increase dramatically. Despite the fact that we are quite a lot in credit it seems their crystal ball is predicting that we are going to have such massive increases in energy usage over the winter that on top of the credit already collected they need to double the monthly payments! In an attempt to get my heart rate back to normal I decided it was definitely time to do a supplier comparison, and in line with my new greener lifestyle I thought a green supplier would be a good idea.
Looking through green tariffs however did not stabilise my heart at all! There was quite a difference between the cheapest green rate and the cheapest normal rate, which forced me to re-think the situation. I quickly realised that going onto a proper green tariff would be financial suicide for us, and the whole situation frankly made me quite angry. When I started thinking about it, I began questioning the whole reasoning behind green tariffs and I came to the conclusion that they are just a way to squeeze some extra money out of the people who actually care. OK, I know this might just sound like sour grapes, but this is the way I see it:
The energy companies know that things have to change. Not only do we need to slow down the global warming process, but we are quickly running out of a lot of our energy sources – therefore the energy providers have no options. If they don’t make any changes at all either we will all be extinct due to the climate changes or they will simply run out of stuff to burn to make energy – either way the energy companies will be out of business. Investing in renewable energy technology is not just a fancy little side product they do to cater for eco warriors, it is a fundamental part of securing their own survival. So why do I have to pay extra for green tariffs?
At the end of the day we are all getting the same product. Signing up to a green tariff doesn’t mean that the electricity that comes into your house is necessarily from a windmill, they can’t target the distribution like that, it is more a question of overall production, so if for example 5% of a company’s customers sign up for green tariffs, then at least 5% of the energy produced will come from greener sources.
But what would happen if they never got more than 5% of customers signing up to green rates? It certainly wouldn’t mean that they would stop investing in renewable energy and just leave it at 5%, because that would be an extremely bad business strategy. Or what if -by some miracle- all of a sudden 90% of customers signed up to green energy, how would they deliver that?
Obviously the energy companies need extra money to be able to invest in new energy sources, but I think green rates are just a clever trick. A group of corporate people sat around a table discussing how to find the money they need to invest in renewable energy and somebody came up with the idea, ‘hey why don’t we get some of all these green eco friendly people to pay extra, they won’t mind they have the heart in the right place’.
Please don’t get me wrong, if you are actually one of the people who pay extra for green rates, then I applaud you for making that choice, but I would like you to join a campaign saying that all rates should have an element of green, you can't charge some people extra simply because they agree with your business plan. No other business would get away with asking for extra money for delivering something that is just part of their own development strategy - unless they are a charity, and last I checked I didn't see any of the energy suppliers in the Charity register.(Obviously by the time I get round to organising my campaign global warming will probably have finished this planet anyway, but I will keep you posted...)
I am not suggesting that we should all be paying the green rates as they are at the moment, but it is not right that the energy companies are playing on our green conscience to make money, it is not up to a few caring people to pay for the sustainable energy we all need. If they want people to pay more they need to give more, so until they start offering to install solar panels or set up garden windmills when you sign up for green tariffs, I am afraid I am out.
Monday 21 September 2009
Excuses, excuses
Trying to change your lifestyle to a greener colour can - surprise, surprise- be just as difficult as any other lifestyle change. Now I am not saying this to put anybody off trying, because even small steps are better than no steps, but sometimes it is difficult to keep the enthusiasm up and continue going.
Last week I felt we were doing quite OK, we had made some small progress and that was really nice. But now I am finding myself slightly resting on the laurels. The thing is that the weather has changed. Last week we had mostly dry weather and a fair bit of sunshine, so it was no problem walking to town or sorting a few things in the garden or not switching the heating on. This week has started off with rain, strong winds and generally depressing conditions. This is when your true green colour shows.
Today I was taking the kids to the library, and despite me making some kind of agreement with myself not to use the car for local trips, it obviously still happened. Grey weather can make you incredibly imaginative, it probably only took me a minute to come up with several 'good' excuses to take the car:
- with the wind and the possible rain the kids will make a fuss after 2 minutes if we are walking and we will have a nightmare trip,
- it will be quicker to go on bikes, but my daughter still struggles a bit on a bike uphill, so it wouldn't be safe, and oh, I still haven't had my own bike serviced,
-we could go on the bus, but I haven't got the timetable and we could end up waiting for a long time at the bus stop, which would again mean grumpy kids,
-and then of course there is the issue of my daughter saying this morning that she had a sore throat, so I can't risk her getting cold... (The sore throat did seem to have been miraculously cured by a cup of hot chocolate, but you never know).
All very valid excuses for pumping a bit more CO2 into the atmosphere...
I still felt slightly guilty when I got in the car, but convinced myself that one small trip wouldn't matter that much, and of course I did sign up for online billing last week!
Obviously we all have bad days from time to time, and I don't think one car trip makes me a green failure, but here is the problem: we are heading for winter and it will be cold, wet, windy and dark, how in the world I am going to keep myself motivated. Walking anywhere is not going to be particularly enjoyable, I won't be able to go out in the garden and feel all green and earthy while sorting my vegetable plot and I will probably be wearing at least 4 layers of clothing in an attempt to stay warm. OK I will always have my excuse of having signed up for online billing and we are managing fine with the 2 vegetarian days a week, but that is not exactly going to turn me into a green hero.
I need to come up with some kind a strategy. Something that can keep me going in the cold, or even better things that are completely independent of weather changes. Guess I could start by getting my bike serviced and finding the bus timetable, but it probably needs to be slightly more than that. I need to find a way to have a happy green winter - all suggestions welcome.
Last week I felt we were doing quite OK, we had made some small progress and that was really nice. But now I am finding myself slightly resting on the laurels. The thing is that the weather has changed. Last week we had mostly dry weather and a fair bit of sunshine, so it was no problem walking to town or sorting a few things in the garden or not switching the heating on. This week has started off with rain, strong winds and generally depressing conditions. This is when your true green colour shows.
Today I was taking the kids to the library, and despite me making some kind of agreement with myself not to use the car for local trips, it obviously still happened. Grey weather can make you incredibly imaginative, it probably only took me a minute to come up with several 'good' excuses to take the car:
- with the wind and the possible rain the kids will make a fuss after 2 minutes if we are walking and we will have a nightmare trip,
- it will be quicker to go on bikes, but my daughter still struggles a bit on a bike uphill, so it wouldn't be safe, and oh, I still haven't had my own bike serviced,
-we could go on the bus, but I haven't got the timetable and we could end up waiting for a long time at the bus stop, which would again mean grumpy kids,
-and then of course there is the issue of my daughter saying this morning that she had a sore throat, so I can't risk her getting cold... (The sore throat did seem to have been miraculously cured by a cup of hot chocolate, but you never know).
All very valid excuses for pumping a bit more CO2 into the atmosphere...
I still felt slightly guilty when I got in the car, but convinced myself that one small trip wouldn't matter that much, and of course I did sign up for online billing last week!
Obviously we all have bad days from time to time, and I don't think one car trip makes me a green failure, but here is the problem: we are heading for winter and it will be cold, wet, windy and dark, how in the world I am going to keep myself motivated. Walking anywhere is not going to be particularly enjoyable, I won't be able to go out in the garden and feel all green and earthy while sorting my vegetable plot and I will probably be wearing at least 4 layers of clothing in an attempt to stay warm. OK I will always have my excuse of having signed up for online billing and we are managing fine with the 2 vegetarian days a week, but that is not exactly going to turn me into a green hero.
I need to come up with some kind a strategy. Something that can keep me going in the cold, or even better things that are completely independent of weather changes. Guess I could start by getting my bike serviced and finding the bus timetable, but it probably needs to be slightly more than that. I need to find a way to have a happy green winter - all suggestions welcome.
Thursday 17 September 2009
A few small steps at the time
There is progress – yippee! OK I shouldn’t exaggerate, I haven’t managed to turn into a green hero overnight, but I have made some small steps.
First of all I actually did sign up for paperless billing for both the phone, gas & electricity and the bank and just as I thought, it took me less than 10 minutes to do all three!
Secondly I have made a great discovery: there is a local green group and they have a website which gives links to lots of local stuff. (http://www.linlithgowclimatechallenge.org.uk) . Now this is useful! There are lists of local green events, I realised I can actually borrow a smart meter from the local library (once I get round to sorting my library card of course) and I can even get local gardening advice. Who knows next year I might get some beetroot, that has more than just the tops and onions bigger than pinheads...
The website also gave me the link to the local Freecycle group, which is something I had planned to join for a long time, but along with all the other things never really got round to doing. Freecycle is a network where you can advertise useable stuff you no longer want and other people in the network can then pick it up if they can make use of it(http://www.freecycle.org/). It is a great way to recycle, especially since the charity shops often have restrictions on what they can take. Obviously I still haven’t got round to putting any of my excess stuff up for grabs, but joining is an important first step (isn’t it?). As a footnote signing up for freecycle also made me think I had become extremely popular all of a sudden, the amount of e-mails in my inbox almost tripled – I should probably change my settings on how to receive info from them...
Looking at the website also made me a bit more optimistic about my whole project, because I realised that there are things that I do already, but I hadn’t really thought about when listing my green credentials. For example it is suggested to sign up for Mail Preference Service to avoid some of all the junk mail – I did this years ago. Originally I just did it because I was joining Tele Preference Service to avoid all the horrendously annoying phone calls you get about new kitchens and double glazing and I stumbled upon Mail Preference Service along the way, but now I can pretend it was a green choice I made a long time ago. I also realised that there is an option to avoid some of the mail that still gets through (stuff addressed to ‘the occupier’ etc) by sending letters to them. Obviously this is a bit more of an effort job, because you have to write to each individual company, but if I put it on the to-do list it might happen eventually. It actually made me think that I should start a campaign for the same system that exists in Denmark, where you can go to the post office and get a sticker to put on your letter box saying ‘No ads, please’ and the postie will then not put any leaflets etc through your door. Hmm, something to think about when I have a couple of minutes spare.
Anyway the morale of all this is that it is definitely worth investigating what is already happening locally. You might not have to re-invent the wheel yourself and if the advice comes from a local source it is much more likely to be relevant and achievable, than some generic ‘cover all’ websites. I have a strong feeling that discovering this group is going to be quite helpful for my green project.
The last really positive thing on the green front is that my daughter is beginning to be more accepting of the fact that we walk to local places, so much so that this morning she got upset when I said we were going to school by car. (My husband has damaged a ligament in his knee and sometimes struggle to do the usual walk to the train station, so we had to give him a lift). In the end I had to promise to go to the train station and then come back home to park the car before walking to the school. Well done, girl. This might obviously change when the usual rainy weather returns, but for now she definitely deserves applause.
There might just be a bit of green light at the end of the tunnel.
First of all I actually did sign up for paperless billing for both the phone, gas & electricity and the bank and just as I thought, it took me less than 10 minutes to do all three!
Secondly I have made a great discovery: there is a local green group and they have a website which gives links to lots of local stuff. (http://www.linlithgowclimatechallenge.org.uk) . Now this is useful! There are lists of local green events, I realised I can actually borrow a smart meter from the local library (once I get round to sorting my library card of course) and I can even get local gardening advice. Who knows next year I might get some beetroot, that has more than just the tops and onions bigger than pinheads...
The website also gave me the link to the local Freecycle group, which is something I had planned to join for a long time, but along with all the other things never really got round to doing. Freecycle is a network where you can advertise useable stuff you no longer want and other people in the network can then pick it up if they can make use of it(http://www.freecycle.org/). It is a great way to recycle, especially since the charity shops often have restrictions on what they can take. Obviously I still haven’t got round to putting any of my excess stuff up for grabs, but joining is an important first step (isn’t it?). As a footnote signing up for freecycle also made me think I had become extremely popular all of a sudden, the amount of e-mails in my inbox almost tripled – I should probably change my settings on how to receive info from them...
Looking at the website also made me a bit more optimistic about my whole project, because I realised that there are things that I do already, but I hadn’t really thought about when listing my green credentials. For example it is suggested to sign up for Mail Preference Service to avoid some of all the junk mail – I did this years ago. Originally I just did it because I was joining Tele Preference Service to avoid all the horrendously annoying phone calls you get about new kitchens and double glazing and I stumbled upon Mail Preference Service along the way, but now I can pretend it was a green choice I made a long time ago. I also realised that there is an option to avoid some of the mail that still gets through (stuff addressed to ‘the occupier’ etc) by sending letters to them. Obviously this is a bit more of an effort job, because you have to write to each individual company, but if I put it on the to-do list it might happen eventually. It actually made me think that I should start a campaign for the same system that exists in Denmark, where you can go to the post office and get a sticker to put on your letter box saying ‘No ads, please’ and the postie will then not put any leaflets etc through your door. Hmm, something to think about when I have a couple of minutes spare.
Anyway the morale of all this is that it is definitely worth investigating what is already happening locally. You might not have to re-invent the wheel yourself and if the advice comes from a local source it is much more likely to be relevant and achievable, than some generic ‘cover all’ websites. I have a strong feeling that discovering this group is going to be quite helpful for my green project.
The last really positive thing on the green front is that my daughter is beginning to be more accepting of the fact that we walk to local places, so much so that this morning she got upset when I said we were going to school by car. (My husband has damaged a ligament in his knee and sometimes struggle to do the usual walk to the train station, so we had to give him a lift). In the end I had to promise to go to the train station and then come back home to park the car before walking to the school. Well done, girl. This might obviously change when the usual rainy weather returns, but for now she definitely deserves applause.
There might just be a bit of green light at the end of the tunnel.
Monday 14 September 2009
(Possibly) Easy Green Advice Part 2
I am still struggling with the whole green shopping thing, but I shall attempt to continue the list of supposedly green ideas without dragging supermarkets into it...
Lower your thermostat. This is obviously an easy thing to do, just find your boiler and turn the thermostat. But is it just as easy to live with the effects of this action? We did turn the thermostat to its almost lowest level last weekend and so far it is fine, but I have to admit I have noticed a difference. For example I struggled quite a lot cleaning the grill for the delightful fat deposits you always get after grilling bacon or similar heart attack inducing stuff, the water was just not warm enough to dissolve the grease. I ended up boiling a kettle of water to remove the last bits, that I couldn’t wipe off with paper. From a green point of view I assume it is still better to boil one kettle of water than having the thermostat set permanently on a higher level, but from a convenience point of view it was a reminder that being green requires effort.
I also have to admit that I miss my hot showers in the morning. The water is still warm and perfectly acceptable, but it doesn’t give me the nice cosy warm wake up feeling it used to. The thing is as well, we haven’t reached winter yet, so it is too early to say how it is going to be in January – how cold is it acceptable to be? Lowering the thermostat is easy, but it can also be a reminder that saving our planet might require leaving some luxuries behind.
Choose electronic billing. I know I should do this, I spend so much time on my computer anyway, that it makes perfect sense to get all bills electronically – but it is the whole effort thing again. It would probably only take me 15 minutes to set up electronic billing for the bank, the gas & electricity bill and the phone bill, yet I still haven’t done it. It always seems to fall down the list of priorities. It is at least 2 months since I got a new mobile phone contract, and I still haven’t logged in to check the details. Maybe this is something to add to the list of targets? Or maybe I should just get my act together and sort it right now...
Buy only manmade fibres. Apparently the production of natural fibres like wool and cotton is very carbon intensive, and it is therefore better to buy manmade fibres. I am not sure I like that idea. My experience so far with manmade fibres is that they tend to make the skin conditions of both me and my daughter flare up. They also usually make me rather electric and I end up getting shocks from static electricity all the time, especially in the winter. Somebody said that the electric thing is because I don’t use fabric softener, but I do find it a little silly to change a green habit of many years to start a new habit that I don’t really like. I guess for the sake of the planet I could give manmade fibres another a try, it would probably be cheaper than buying organic cotton or bamboo products, but if I end up not using the product that would be a waste as well. Hmmm... Guess this one didn’t really give me an excuse to extend the wardrobe as I had hoped.
Use busses instead of trains. Now here is some advice that just depresses me! I am not a huge fan of public transport in general, because I find them annoying, unreliable and a complete nightmare when travelling with young children, but as we are lucky enough to live in a town with a rail link, I have quite happily been using the train thinking I was making a green effort. Now it seems I need to get on the bus to be proper green. Frankly I am not sure I can make that shift. A least the trains are faster, more comfy and you can move around in them, which is quite important if travelling with an energetic two year old. The thought of swopping a 20 minute train journey to Edinburgh for almost an hour in the bus, with 2 impatient kids who have to stay in their seats all the way is just not appealing. Even when travelling on my own I do my best to avoid busses, I always end up feeling sick and I can’t spend the time doing anything useful, at least in a train I can read a book or work on my laptop. So this one I am afraid is just going to have to wait. I will try lots of other things first to become greener and maybe when I am out of ideas I will consider changing to busses instead of trains (until then I can only hope that there are other people out there less fussy than me who are willing to make this change of transport and save the planet...)
Looking at the list so far I am not sure how well I am doing on the green front. These were supposed to be things that can be done easily without costing extra and I am struggling with several of them. I think I need to have another look and maybe do a part three 3 at some point – there must be something I can get away with doing easily?!
Lower your thermostat. This is obviously an easy thing to do, just find your boiler and turn the thermostat. But is it just as easy to live with the effects of this action? We did turn the thermostat to its almost lowest level last weekend and so far it is fine, but I have to admit I have noticed a difference. For example I struggled quite a lot cleaning the grill for the delightful fat deposits you always get after grilling bacon or similar heart attack inducing stuff, the water was just not warm enough to dissolve the grease. I ended up boiling a kettle of water to remove the last bits, that I couldn’t wipe off with paper. From a green point of view I assume it is still better to boil one kettle of water than having the thermostat set permanently on a higher level, but from a convenience point of view it was a reminder that being green requires effort.
I also have to admit that I miss my hot showers in the morning. The water is still warm and perfectly acceptable, but it doesn’t give me the nice cosy warm wake up feeling it used to. The thing is as well, we haven’t reached winter yet, so it is too early to say how it is going to be in January – how cold is it acceptable to be? Lowering the thermostat is easy, but it can also be a reminder that saving our planet might require leaving some luxuries behind.
Choose electronic billing. I know I should do this, I spend so much time on my computer anyway, that it makes perfect sense to get all bills electronically – but it is the whole effort thing again. It would probably only take me 15 minutes to set up electronic billing for the bank, the gas & electricity bill and the phone bill, yet I still haven’t done it. It always seems to fall down the list of priorities. It is at least 2 months since I got a new mobile phone contract, and I still haven’t logged in to check the details. Maybe this is something to add to the list of targets? Or maybe I should just get my act together and sort it right now...
Buy only manmade fibres. Apparently the production of natural fibres like wool and cotton is very carbon intensive, and it is therefore better to buy manmade fibres. I am not sure I like that idea. My experience so far with manmade fibres is that they tend to make the skin conditions of both me and my daughter flare up. They also usually make me rather electric and I end up getting shocks from static electricity all the time, especially in the winter. Somebody said that the electric thing is because I don’t use fabric softener, but I do find it a little silly to change a green habit of many years to start a new habit that I don’t really like. I guess for the sake of the planet I could give manmade fibres another a try, it would probably be cheaper than buying organic cotton or bamboo products, but if I end up not using the product that would be a waste as well. Hmmm... Guess this one didn’t really give me an excuse to extend the wardrobe as I had hoped.
Use busses instead of trains. Now here is some advice that just depresses me! I am not a huge fan of public transport in general, because I find them annoying, unreliable and a complete nightmare when travelling with young children, but as we are lucky enough to live in a town with a rail link, I have quite happily been using the train thinking I was making a green effort. Now it seems I need to get on the bus to be proper green. Frankly I am not sure I can make that shift. A least the trains are faster, more comfy and you can move around in them, which is quite important if travelling with an energetic two year old. The thought of swopping a 20 minute train journey to Edinburgh for almost an hour in the bus, with 2 impatient kids who have to stay in their seats all the way is just not appealing. Even when travelling on my own I do my best to avoid busses, I always end up feeling sick and I can’t spend the time doing anything useful, at least in a train I can read a book or work on my laptop. So this one I am afraid is just going to have to wait. I will try lots of other things first to become greener and maybe when I am out of ideas I will consider changing to busses instead of trains (until then I can only hope that there are other people out there less fussy than me who are willing to make this change of transport and save the planet...)
Looking at the list so far I am not sure how well I am doing on the green front. These were supposed to be things that can be done easily without costing extra and I am struggling with several of them. I think I need to have another look and maybe do a part three 3 at some point – there must be something I can get away with doing easily?!
Friday 11 September 2009
(Possibly) Easy Green Advise Part 1
I have been trawling through some of the vast number of websites and publications giving green advice, looking for ideas and for some way to find targets. There are lots of them and you could easily use a lot of electricity keeping your computer going while looking at them all.
The good news is that the advice is often similar, so at least there appears to be no major conflicts or contradicting advice, although it often differs how far it is suggested to go. So I managed to find a selection of things that should not cost me neither too much money nor effort to try.
Do your washing at 30 degrees. Yes I know, this advice has been around for a long time and well publicised, but I have to admit that until now my washing machine has always been set at 40 degrees. Anyway, I tried it today, and as far as I can see the washing looks fine. I will probably have to run a tougher test at some point and see how 30 degrees cope with spaghetti sauce and similar delights, but so far so good. The only thing that concerns me slightly is that I remember reading that dust mites and other tiny house guests only die if washing is done above 50 degrees...
Go vegetarian. According to the Guardian Newspaper the issue with green house gasses when it comes to food isn’t really about foodmiles or excess packaging, but about the actual production of meat and dairy. So it is a good idea to cut down on these two food categories. The question is how far do you need to take this? Paul McCartney and his showbiz friends suggest 1 vegetarian day a week, but the Guardian advises an almost entirely vegetarian diet and three vegan days a week! However much I want to go green, having three vegan days a week is just not going to work. My kids would be devastated if they were denied their cheese and yoghurt, and I would have a hard time explaining it to them when general food advice tells them to consume the stuff. Oh, and I would have to drink my tea black – no, it would definitely cause an awful lot of misery. But 2 vegetarian days a week I think we can manage, after all macaroni cheese, tomato pizza and pasta with red sauce all qualify. Hey, I think I might have something to put onto my list of targets....
Avoid foodwaste. Apparently people in Scotland throw out 566.000 tonnes of food every year. I know we are part of this, bread for example has a tendency of turning green and bananas very brown in our house, but apparently the way to avoid this is planning! Now this creates a few issues for me. First of all I do try to plan and write shopping lists (sometimes I even remember to bring the shopping list to the shop as well...), but supermarkets are extremely unhelpful when it comes to buying just the food you need. I know I have already had a rant about supermarkets and their ungreen ways, but here is another issue to add to the list. They sell lots of stuff in bags or bundles or boxes, so I am often forced to buy a bigger quantity than I need. Not to mention the ‘buy one get one free’ offers, they should really be called ‘buy one and get another one you don’t need’, especially when it comes to fruit and veg; there is a limit to how many apples or leeks or beetroot we can eat in a space of a few days before they go off. So planning ahead is fine, but after a shopping trip you find yourself with a selection of odd extra bits that you struggle to use. Right now for example I need a recipe that can use up 3 leeks, a courgette, half a tub of yogurt and 2 overripe bananas – suggestions anyone? I guess I really must find a farm shop where I can buy the quantities I need, but that contradicts another piece of advice from the Guardian:
Never use the car for shopping, buy online. This is interesting advice I think. The good thing about online shopping is that you are less likely to come across all sorts of bargains and offers, that you end up buying, so if everything is fully planned it can be useful. The down side is that you don’t pick your own stuff, and I have experienced ending up with some rather battered bananas for example, where most of them became foodwaste in the end. Online shopping doesn’t take away the issue of preset quantities either.
Going back to the farm shop, there are of course a lot of them who do weekly deliveries, which like online shopping would save the car journey (yes, I do know the van is then making the journey in stead, but it should be more efficient to have one person doing a planned out route, rather than 15 car journeys to the same place). Unfortunately you can easily get stuck with a box half filled with food the family won’t eat, because again you are not fully in control of what and how much goes in the box.
And I am just realising now, that what should have been a list of easy to try green advice, has turned into another rant about the difficulty of green shopping, hmmm! I shall leave the rest of the list to another day and instead go and consider what to do about my shopping today...
The good news is that the advice is often similar, so at least there appears to be no major conflicts or contradicting advice, although it often differs how far it is suggested to go. So I managed to find a selection of things that should not cost me neither too much money nor effort to try.
Do your washing at 30 degrees. Yes I know, this advice has been around for a long time and well publicised, but I have to admit that until now my washing machine has always been set at 40 degrees. Anyway, I tried it today, and as far as I can see the washing looks fine. I will probably have to run a tougher test at some point and see how 30 degrees cope with spaghetti sauce and similar delights, but so far so good. The only thing that concerns me slightly is that I remember reading that dust mites and other tiny house guests only die if washing is done above 50 degrees...
Go vegetarian. According to the Guardian Newspaper the issue with green house gasses when it comes to food isn’t really about foodmiles or excess packaging, but about the actual production of meat and dairy. So it is a good idea to cut down on these two food categories. The question is how far do you need to take this? Paul McCartney and his showbiz friends suggest 1 vegetarian day a week, but the Guardian advises an almost entirely vegetarian diet and three vegan days a week! However much I want to go green, having three vegan days a week is just not going to work. My kids would be devastated if they were denied their cheese and yoghurt, and I would have a hard time explaining it to them when general food advice tells them to consume the stuff. Oh, and I would have to drink my tea black – no, it would definitely cause an awful lot of misery. But 2 vegetarian days a week I think we can manage, after all macaroni cheese, tomato pizza and pasta with red sauce all qualify. Hey, I think I might have something to put onto my list of targets....
Avoid foodwaste. Apparently people in Scotland throw out 566.000 tonnes of food every year. I know we are part of this, bread for example has a tendency of turning green and bananas very brown in our house, but apparently the way to avoid this is planning! Now this creates a few issues for me. First of all I do try to plan and write shopping lists (sometimes I even remember to bring the shopping list to the shop as well...), but supermarkets are extremely unhelpful when it comes to buying just the food you need. I know I have already had a rant about supermarkets and their ungreen ways, but here is another issue to add to the list. They sell lots of stuff in bags or bundles or boxes, so I am often forced to buy a bigger quantity than I need. Not to mention the ‘buy one get one free’ offers, they should really be called ‘buy one and get another one you don’t need’, especially when it comes to fruit and veg; there is a limit to how many apples or leeks or beetroot we can eat in a space of a few days before they go off. So planning ahead is fine, but after a shopping trip you find yourself with a selection of odd extra bits that you struggle to use. Right now for example I need a recipe that can use up 3 leeks, a courgette, half a tub of yogurt and 2 overripe bananas – suggestions anyone? I guess I really must find a farm shop where I can buy the quantities I need, but that contradicts another piece of advice from the Guardian:
Never use the car for shopping, buy online. This is interesting advice I think. The good thing about online shopping is that you are less likely to come across all sorts of bargains and offers, that you end up buying, so if everything is fully planned it can be useful. The down side is that you don’t pick your own stuff, and I have experienced ending up with some rather battered bananas for example, where most of them became foodwaste in the end. Online shopping doesn’t take away the issue of preset quantities either.
Going back to the farm shop, there are of course a lot of them who do weekly deliveries, which like online shopping would save the car journey (yes, I do know the van is then making the journey in stead, but it should be more efficient to have one person doing a planned out route, rather than 15 car journeys to the same place). Unfortunately you can easily get stuck with a box half filled with food the family won’t eat, because again you are not fully in control of what and how much goes in the box.
And I am just realising now, that what should have been a list of easy to try green advice, has turned into another rant about the difficulty of green shopping, hmmm! I shall leave the rest of the list to another day and instead go and consider what to do about my shopping today...
Monday 7 September 2009
Carbon footprinting
We need targets! I am so confused about my green efforts that I have decided we need some clear targets, something we can measure and hopefully celebrate when we reach the goal. At the moment I am constantly in doubt whether our efforts are going anywhere, especially because after doing something I often realise that in the process I have managed to be 'ungreen' somewhere else.
For example my parents came for the weekend, they had kindly agreed to give a hand with our rather patchy looking garden, so we spent quite some time trying to make it look as if there actually is some kind of plan to it. Among the jobs were elements that were part of my greener living project, e.g. extending the vegetable plot, so that next year we are all set and ready for lots of homegrown fruit and veg. So far so good. I was quite happy in the knowledge that I was doing something, until I realised that to do these various projects we had also ended up with 6 trips to the local DIY centre and 4 of those trips were by car. How many fruit and veg will I have to grow next year to offset the amount of fuel burnt in one weekend???
The question now is what makes sensible targets.To get me started I thought it would be a good idea to calculate our carbon footprint, at least it should give us some figures to work on.
There are different sites for doing these calculations, but I opted for the calculator on the government website Act on CO2 (http://www.direct.gov.uk/actonco2). I put in all the information to the best of my ability although I didn't have any very accurate information about our gas and electricity usage - we have been in the house for less than half a year and it has been summer, so we don't really know how much will be needed to keep the icicles away from our noses during the winter period.
The calculation was done and the final result was an annual carbon footprint for the household of 12.88 tonnes.
That figure didn't really mean a lot to me, is 12.88 tonnes a lot? Then I almost spat my tea out all over my laptop when I saw the little note saying that the national average is 4.46 tonnes. HELP! Could things really be that bad? Are we in fact some overindulgent family with complete disrespect for the environment?
It took me a good few minutes to gather enough courage to look at the figures again, but then to my relief I realised I was looking at the wrong comparison figure. I think the 4.46 tonnes is the average for an individual. As a matter of fact the comparative figure for a family of our size living in a similar house is 15.48 tonnes. Phew. There is still hope. It looks like we at least have a pale green colour.
I returned to my original plan of setting some targets and realised that the government had very kindly suggested that we should aim for a reduction of 20% followed by a long list of possible actions to take.It was no surprise however that once again I was brought back to the 'no money' issue. Like everywhere else the suggestions included getting more insulation, draft proofing and other options that cost money.
So after due consideration I have decided that my first target should probably be to figure out where we are at the moment. I need to get some gas and electricity readings, I need to check exactly how things are on the insulation front, how much we use the car etc and then I should make a list of the things that we can possibly improve. (Hey, while I am at it why don't I write a business plan, set some KPI's and in a few months I can float my green life on the stock market...)
For now I have saved a copy of the carbon footprint calculation, and once I know where we are heading, I will try it again.
For example my parents came for the weekend, they had kindly agreed to give a hand with our rather patchy looking garden, so we spent quite some time trying to make it look as if there actually is some kind of plan to it. Among the jobs were elements that were part of my greener living project, e.g. extending the vegetable plot, so that next year we are all set and ready for lots of homegrown fruit and veg. So far so good. I was quite happy in the knowledge that I was doing something, until I realised that to do these various projects we had also ended up with 6 trips to the local DIY centre and 4 of those trips were by car. How many fruit and veg will I have to grow next year to offset the amount of fuel burnt in one weekend???
The question now is what makes sensible targets.To get me started I thought it would be a good idea to calculate our carbon footprint, at least it should give us some figures to work on.
There are different sites for doing these calculations, but I opted for the calculator on the government website Act on CO2 (http://www.direct.gov.uk/actonco2). I put in all the information to the best of my ability although I didn't have any very accurate information about our gas and electricity usage - we have been in the house for less than half a year and it has been summer, so we don't really know how much will be needed to keep the icicles away from our noses during the winter period.
The calculation was done and the final result was an annual carbon footprint for the household of 12.88 tonnes.
That figure didn't really mean a lot to me, is 12.88 tonnes a lot? Then I almost spat my tea out all over my laptop when I saw the little note saying that the national average is 4.46 tonnes. HELP! Could things really be that bad? Are we in fact some overindulgent family with complete disrespect for the environment?
It took me a good few minutes to gather enough courage to look at the figures again, but then to my relief I realised I was looking at the wrong comparison figure. I think the 4.46 tonnes is the average for an individual. As a matter of fact the comparative figure for a family of our size living in a similar house is 15.48 tonnes. Phew. There is still hope. It looks like we at least have a pale green colour.
I returned to my original plan of setting some targets and realised that the government had very kindly suggested that we should aim for a reduction of 20% followed by a long list of possible actions to take.It was no surprise however that once again I was brought back to the 'no money' issue. Like everywhere else the suggestions included getting more insulation, draft proofing and other options that cost money.
So after due consideration I have decided that my first target should probably be to figure out where we are at the moment. I need to get some gas and electricity readings, I need to check exactly how things are on the insulation front, how much we use the car etc and then I should make a list of the things that we can possibly improve. (Hey, while I am at it why don't I write a business plan, set some KPI's and in a few months I can float my green life on the stock market...)
For now I have saved a copy of the carbon footprint calculation, and once I know where we are heading, I will try it again.
Wednesday 2 September 2009
Still trying to be green
More than a week has passed now since I embarked on my green adventure, but it is not an overwhelming success yet. Old habits die hard! The main difference between now and 10 days ago is the dominant place my guilty conscience has taken in my life and the amount of questions that has popped up about green living.
I am trying, but half the time I am not even sure what the greener option is. For example we have a slimline dishwasher, so it is smaller than an ordinary dishwasher and according to the manual it only needs half the amount of detergent (20g). This week I needed a new supply of the soapy stuff and the initial choice was obviously an eco brand. But I could only find this in tablet form. Tablets are made to suit normal sized dishwashers, so by using them I would actually be using double the amount of what is needed. Loose granules which I can measure in the correct amount were only available in some fully synthetic chemical option. Now which one is the greener option, using double the amount of the eco brand or the smaller amount of the not so green brand??? Or is this going to be an effort thing again and I need to cut the eco tablets into halves myself?
Likewise at our BBQ on Saturday, which as feared turned out to be a rather wet affair - mostly for my husband who in true hunter gatherer style had to brave the rain and strong winds to provide for the family (= cook the burgers). I had planned to use up some of all the disposable cups and plates that have been sitting in the cupboard for a long time, but again I ended up in a green crisis. Usually it wouldn't be green to use paper plates and I would certainly never have gone out to buy some, but what should I do with all the left overs from my less green past? It would be a complete waste just to get rid of the plates and cups without making use of them, but I can't exactly give a collection of open packs of paper plates to a charity shop. Should I just leave them on the shelf to collect dust? Suggestions anyone? I did end up using some disposables on the day, but I had a bad feeling when putting those in the bin later.
These are the kind of questions they don't answer on all the many green advice websites. There are loads of them, just type 'green living' or something similar in google and you will be spoilt for choice, but frankly a lot of them come out with the same rather generic stuff: recycle, reduce your waste, use your car less, turn down your thermostat, insulate your house, save on water, buy organic, buy local etc.
I wish they would have sections with advice like: 'How to convince your tired 5 year old to walk to ballet class in the pouring rain, when you would all rather go in the car' or '3 easy ways to break old habits, because old habits stand in the way of greener living'
It is not from lack of willing that my green project is progressing slowly, but a lot of the time I am simply stuck in the old routine with out thinking too much about it. For example I still forget to put leftover food in a reusable container rather than cover the plate in cling film. I still reach for the pack of babywipes to clean my son's hands after dinner even though I have put a washable flannel in the kitchen for that exact same purpose.
Maybe I should put post-it notes up everywhere to remind me of the things I should and shouldn't do - or is that wasting paper?
At least I still have 50 weeks to figure it all out, surely that should be enough time to change a few things?!
I am trying, but half the time I am not even sure what the greener option is. For example we have a slimline dishwasher, so it is smaller than an ordinary dishwasher and according to the manual it only needs half the amount of detergent (20g). This week I needed a new supply of the soapy stuff and the initial choice was obviously an eco brand. But I could only find this in tablet form. Tablets are made to suit normal sized dishwashers, so by using them I would actually be using double the amount of what is needed. Loose granules which I can measure in the correct amount were only available in some fully synthetic chemical option. Now which one is the greener option, using double the amount of the eco brand or the smaller amount of the not so green brand??? Or is this going to be an effort thing again and I need to cut the eco tablets into halves myself?
Likewise at our BBQ on Saturday, which as feared turned out to be a rather wet affair - mostly for my husband who in true hunter gatherer style had to brave the rain and strong winds to provide for the family (= cook the burgers). I had planned to use up some of all the disposable cups and plates that have been sitting in the cupboard for a long time, but again I ended up in a green crisis. Usually it wouldn't be green to use paper plates and I would certainly never have gone out to buy some, but what should I do with all the left overs from my less green past? It would be a complete waste just to get rid of the plates and cups without making use of them, but I can't exactly give a collection of open packs of paper plates to a charity shop. Should I just leave them on the shelf to collect dust? Suggestions anyone? I did end up using some disposables on the day, but I had a bad feeling when putting those in the bin later.
These are the kind of questions they don't answer on all the many green advice websites. There are loads of them, just type 'green living' or something similar in google and you will be spoilt for choice, but frankly a lot of them come out with the same rather generic stuff: recycle, reduce your waste, use your car less, turn down your thermostat, insulate your house, save on water, buy organic, buy local etc.
I wish they would have sections with advice like: 'How to convince your tired 5 year old to walk to ballet class in the pouring rain, when you would all rather go in the car' or '3 easy ways to break old habits, because old habits stand in the way of greener living'
It is not from lack of willing that my green project is progressing slowly, but a lot of the time I am simply stuck in the old routine with out thinking too much about it. For example I still forget to put leftover food in a reusable container rather than cover the plate in cling film. I still reach for the pack of babywipes to clean my son's hands after dinner even though I have put a washable flannel in the kitchen for that exact same purpose.
Maybe I should put post-it notes up everywhere to remind me of the things I should and shouldn't do - or is that wasting paper?
At least I still have 50 weeks to figure it all out, surely that should be enough time to change a few things?!
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