We are now back in Scotland after a great time in Denmark, but the holiday did make me think about the issues that occur when you go visiting - how do you keep up your green ways outside your normal daily life?
Obviously the situation very much depends on the people you are visiting. If you are visiting people with no green tendencies whatsoever you might want to consider how many hints you can drop without damaging the relationship, I can honestly say that I have been in situations where I thought it better to hold my tongue, rather than to go on a green crusade. Thankfully a lot of people actually are concerned about the Planet and are happy to discuss such issues, but even then a bit of normal politeness can be needed - you rarely get results from insulting people, especially in their own home.
Luckily we were staying at my parent's house and as they have already put up with a lot from my side over the years a bit a green badgering didn't really offend them...
So we arrived and although we were on holiday I was determined to not completely slip into old habits (especially since I had the carbon footprint of the flight to make up for). Did we manage?
To some extent yes - we didn't make much use of the car, but we did some cycling and a lot of walking. In fact one of days I don't think I was the most popular person in the world: we had agreed to go for a walk to the local park, a walk of about 20 min with 2 kids in tow. It was looking rather grey and there was a distinct possibility of rain, so the suggestion was made to bring the car in case heavy rain started. I objected furiously, saying that a bit of rain wouldn't harm anybody, and we all agreed to walk. Unfortunately the wetness started already before we had made it to the park, although more of a drizzle than real rain, but on the way back the heavens opened and by the time we reached the house everybody were totally soaked! Nobody said anything, but I am sure that more than one person thought 'I wish we had brought the car'.
The one slightly longer journey we made was done by train - an enjoyable trip, Danish trains are generally very nice; and then we seemed to spend quite a lot of time introducing our daughter to the technique of cycling without stabilisers!Surely that counts for something on the green scale.
But there are other elements of visiting that are slightly more out of your control, e.g. the food you eat. It is rather impolite to demand in season veggie meals and locally sourced meat, when people are in fact trying to cook you some nice food, because they are happy to see you. Just like I didn't complain when my mum made a strawberry and blueberry dessert in the hope that the kids would eat something not made from cocoa beans - that was a very worthy cause, which certainly didn't deserve a lecture on seasonal food (not to mention that it was delicious and the kids did eat it...)If people make an effort for you, I think that should always be appreciated.
I should probably add here as well that my parents are in fact quite conscious when it comes to food and they have been eating primarily organic food for years, so it was far from a complete return to ungreen ways.
So what do you do if there is something you really want mentioned when visiting people? My suggestion: bring a kid - they can get away with all sorts of things.
My daughter proved once again that she has caught on to some of the lifestyle changes when one day at the dinner table she turned to my mum and said "why are the lights on over there when there is nobody sitting there?" Kids can be great for getting a point across, and the lights got swithced off!
So all in all how green was this holiday? Well, flights aside, I don't think we did too badly, it is possible to retain some green habits when you are away. However some concessions will often have to be made, because you are less in control of the details. I think the key question is the attitude of the people you are visiting, so if you don't want to compromise, then I guess you need to pick your friends and family(!) with care.
Sunday, 11 April 2010
Sunday, 4 April 2010
Denmark
I am currently in Denmark. Yes I have increased my carbon footprint for a trip to see the family, but I think I have already said enough about that decision, so this blog has a different theme. This is my first trip back since we started our project and it is interesting to see this Scandinavian country through green glasses.
Denmark generally has a good reputation when it comes to environmental matters, and there are some very obvious differences, e.g. during the 1 hour drive from the airport we saw at least 100 windmills, I have seen loads of people of all ages on bikes and you can buy locally grown veg from little local stalls by the road side; but being here I am realising that even environmental matters are culturally loaded.
I don't think Danish people in general are more clued up on the environment than Scottish people, but there are differences in the lifestyles that make Danish people greener. So can we learn anything from this in Scotland??? Afterall there are similarities between the 2 countries that make them comparable eg. population numbers are in the region of 5 mil in both countries and they both have a rather wet and windy climate.
A few observations:
There are lots of people cycling in Denmark, from schoolkids to business men in suits to elderly ladies going shopping. I have always argued that the reason Danish people cycle more is because the infrastructure for cycling is in place, there are lots of cycling paths, plenty of bike parking and cyclists even have certain priorities over cars in traffic, but this visit has made me realise another major difference: cycling is considered a form of transport, not a sport or anything else.
Danes don't wear special clothes for cycling, they don't wear special shoes, many don't have fancy bikes - they just use them because they are convenient. We don't do anything special if we go to the shops in the car, nor if we are walking - we just get on with it, that is exactly what Danes do with bikes as well. I remember as a student we would get dressed up for a night out, and even if wearing high heels or a skirt, we would still get to the party on our bikes - because it was cheap, fast and convenient transport. You would never see that in Scotland!
Cycling in Scotland is to some extent considered elitist and lots of people think that you can only really go on a bike if you are fully and expensively kitted out including non-flattering lycra. I have no idea how to change this attitude, but I am sure it is one of the keys to a successful cycling culture.
How about the windmills? How come Denmark can have windmills all over without hordes of protesters everywhere? You could argue that it is because windmills are quite important to the economy (Denmark is one of the largest producers of windmills in the world), but if people really objected that would probably never have happened. I think it might all go back to a political decision following a powerful grassroots campaign in the 80's to keep Denmark free of nuclear power. Already then the Danes started thinking about alternative ways to get power, so there has been a long period of getting used to it. The funny thing is that all the problems that protesters bring up in Britain don't seem to appear here. There are no dead birds all over the place or other wildlife problems, the noise (which is primarily a low humming) doesn't seem to bother the neighbours and I think most Danes would get rather upset if anybody claimed their countryside is spoiled. Could this ever be the case in Scotland?
Scotland is in fact even better placed for windmills than Denmark, because the actual size of Scotland is much bigger than Denmark, so much more room for them - yet windmills always seem very controversial. I think we should send some of the protesters on a trip to Denmark (by train and ferry of course...), so they can see for themselves that it is perfectly possible for humans and windmills to live in harmony side by side.
Then there is the issue of bottle recycling. The Danes have been recycling bottles for decades. Just like the brits used to return milk bottles to the milk man, there has been a system in place for returning beer and soft drink bottles to the breweries for a very long time. When you buy beers in shops you always pay a deposit for the bottles and when empty you return the bottles to a special bottle bank and your deposit is returned. The bottles are then taken to the drink producers, washed & cleaned and used again. It works well and a Dane would never dream of throwing a bottle in the bin (or in the street or a river for that matter). I realise that we don't have the infrastructure for such a system in Scotland and it would be too costly and complicated to set one up, but I think the money aspect is worth considering. Wouldn't we be more likely to put stuff in the recycling bin if it meant a rebate in council tax for example?
We have a lot to do if we are to reach a sustainable way of living and I think it is important that we look in all directions for inspiration. So my personal mission when we return to the land of the Scots shall be to bring a bit of Danish inspiration: I shall get on my bike wearing my usual jeans and sweater (no lycra for me thank you very much!) and go somewhere to campaign for some windmills (and I will probably end up in the category of village idiot, but hey I can always blame it on my Danish heritage).
Denmark generally has a good reputation when it comes to environmental matters, and there are some very obvious differences, e.g. during the 1 hour drive from the airport we saw at least 100 windmills, I have seen loads of people of all ages on bikes and you can buy locally grown veg from little local stalls by the road side; but being here I am realising that even environmental matters are culturally loaded.
I don't think Danish people in general are more clued up on the environment than Scottish people, but there are differences in the lifestyles that make Danish people greener. So can we learn anything from this in Scotland??? Afterall there are similarities between the 2 countries that make them comparable eg. population numbers are in the region of 5 mil in both countries and they both have a rather wet and windy climate.
A few observations:
There are lots of people cycling in Denmark, from schoolkids to business men in suits to elderly ladies going shopping. I have always argued that the reason Danish people cycle more is because the infrastructure for cycling is in place, there are lots of cycling paths, plenty of bike parking and cyclists even have certain priorities over cars in traffic, but this visit has made me realise another major difference: cycling is considered a form of transport, not a sport or anything else.
Danes don't wear special clothes for cycling, they don't wear special shoes, many don't have fancy bikes - they just use them because they are convenient. We don't do anything special if we go to the shops in the car, nor if we are walking - we just get on with it, that is exactly what Danes do with bikes as well. I remember as a student we would get dressed up for a night out, and even if wearing high heels or a skirt, we would still get to the party on our bikes - because it was cheap, fast and convenient transport. You would never see that in Scotland!
Cycling in Scotland is to some extent considered elitist and lots of people think that you can only really go on a bike if you are fully and expensively kitted out including non-flattering lycra. I have no idea how to change this attitude, but I am sure it is one of the keys to a successful cycling culture.
How about the windmills? How come Denmark can have windmills all over without hordes of protesters everywhere? You could argue that it is because windmills are quite important to the economy (Denmark is one of the largest producers of windmills in the world), but if people really objected that would probably never have happened. I think it might all go back to a political decision following a powerful grassroots campaign in the 80's to keep Denmark free of nuclear power. Already then the Danes started thinking about alternative ways to get power, so there has been a long period of getting used to it. The funny thing is that all the problems that protesters bring up in Britain don't seem to appear here. There are no dead birds all over the place or other wildlife problems, the noise (which is primarily a low humming) doesn't seem to bother the neighbours and I think most Danes would get rather upset if anybody claimed their countryside is spoiled. Could this ever be the case in Scotland?
Scotland is in fact even better placed for windmills than Denmark, because the actual size of Scotland is much bigger than Denmark, so much more room for them - yet windmills always seem very controversial. I think we should send some of the protesters on a trip to Denmark (by train and ferry of course...), so they can see for themselves that it is perfectly possible for humans and windmills to live in harmony side by side.
Then there is the issue of bottle recycling. The Danes have been recycling bottles for decades. Just like the brits used to return milk bottles to the milk man, there has been a system in place for returning beer and soft drink bottles to the breweries for a very long time. When you buy beers in shops you always pay a deposit for the bottles and when empty you return the bottles to a special bottle bank and your deposit is returned. The bottles are then taken to the drink producers, washed & cleaned and used again. It works well and a Dane would never dream of throwing a bottle in the bin (or in the street or a river for that matter). I realise that we don't have the infrastructure for such a system in Scotland and it would be too costly and complicated to set one up, but I think the money aspect is worth considering. Wouldn't we be more likely to put stuff in the recycling bin if it meant a rebate in council tax for example?
We have a lot to do if we are to reach a sustainable way of living and I think it is important that we look in all directions for inspiration. So my personal mission when we return to the land of the Scots shall be to bring a bit of Danish inspiration: I shall get on my bike wearing my usual jeans and sweater (no lycra for me thank you very much!) and go somewhere to campaign for some windmills (and I will probably end up in the category of village idiot, but hey I can always blame it on my Danish heritage).
Sunday, 28 March 2010
Electric power!!!
Saturday was Earth Hour: switch off your lights for an hour in the evening - so we spent an hour in a candle lit house. It was quite nice, it reminded me of spending time in my grandparents little summerhouse during my childhood. The house had no electricity, and to us kids there was something exiting about lighting petroleum lamps and candles in the evening, on special occasions we even got to light little plastic lanterns with tea lights in them on the patio - a 'beautiful' sight.
This was only in the 70's, not thaaat long ago -yet can anybody imaging having a place with no electricity today. What would my kids think if they had to spend a week in a place with no TV? Could I manage for a week with no Internet? Not to mention warm showers and a fridge. My grandparents had a hole in the floor with a trap door, where they could keep milk and other things cool enough to last for a few days, but it wasn't exactly a fridge.
We are so used to electricity now for all sorts of purposes that most of us would struggle if it became less available. In fact while I was reminiscing about candlelit summer holidays my husband was reminded of his time in Baghdad during the first Gulf War and he will tell you any day that life without electricity is not great! Maybe it is time we started appreciating this power a bit more, and started using it wisely.
Currently we produce a lot of our electricity in ways not very environmentally friendly. I am not going to go into details about coal fired power stations, nuclear power stations or even renewable energy for that matter, because I simply don't know enough about it to say anything intelligent,(and no smart comments about the intelligence of my other entries please...) but I would like to raise a point about the way we just take electricity for granted.
We don't just use it when we need it, we overuse it! Take a walk down any high street and several of the shops will have the lights on outside opening hours. In my own town we have a beautiful old historical palace and lights are shining on it all through the night - why? I know it looks pretty, it definitely does, but is that really what we should be doing with the electricity we produce at such cost to the environment?
What about our own personal actions. We all know that we are supposed to switch the lights off when we leave a room, but what about all the other electrical appliances that we just use without giving it much thought.
I remember in my home economics class in school we were taught that the first thing to do when baking was to switch on the oven; but why should I do that if it is going to take 25 minutes to get the mix ready, and it would take the oven max 10 minutes to reach the required temperature? (yes, it can take 25 minutes to get the mix ready, especially if you have 2 kids involved in the process...)
Not to mention when we buy yet another T-shirt, do we give it any thought at all how much energy was used in the production of just that one garment?
I think we all need to wise up when it comes to electricity, and if we realised that it doesn't just appear by magic, we could save both money and the environment.
I have mentioned several times that I would like to put solar panels on our roof. I am no longer just saying this because I want to increase my green credentials - solar panels are after all quite a symbol of green homes, but also because I really don't want to give up on all my electric comforts. It is not unlikely that prices for electricity will go up in the future - it will follow on from increased oil prices and stricter limits on CO2 emissions, and in that situation I would feel very happy to know that I have access to at least a basic supply. We still wouldn't be able to continue the way we are at the moment, generally domestic solar panels can't really supply that amount of energy, but we would have some power cheaply available.
Anyway time to go and put the kettle on, start the washing machine, get the shopping in the fridge, whisk up a cake, wash my hair, dry my hair, hoover the living room, watch some TV and do some work on my laptop...
This was only in the 70's, not thaaat long ago -yet can anybody imaging having a place with no electricity today. What would my kids think if they had to spend a week in a place with no TV? Could I manage for a week with no Internet? Not to mention warm showers and a fridge. My grandparents had a hole in the floor with a trap door, where they could keep milk and other things cool enough to last for a few days, but it wasn't exactly a fridge.
We are so used to electricity now for all sorts of purposes that most of us would struggle if it became less available. In fact while I was reminiscing about candlelit summer holidays my husband was reminded of his time in Baghdad during the first Gulf War and he will tell you any day that life without electricity is not great! Maybe it is time we started appreciating this power a bit more, and started using it wisely.
Currently we produce a lot of our electricity in ways not very environmentally friendly. I am not going to go into details about coal fired power stations, nuclear power stations or even renewable energy for that matter, because I simply don't know enough about it to say anything intelligent,(and no smart comments about the intelligence of my other entries please...) but I would like to raise a point about the way we just take electricity for granted.
We don't just use it when we need it, we overuse it! Take a walk down any high street and several of the shops will have the lights on outside opening hours. In my own town we have a beautiful old historical palace and lights are shining on it all through the night - why? I know it looks pretty, it definitely does, but is that really what we should be doing with the electricity we produce at such cost to the environment?
What about our own personal actions. We all know that we are supposed to switch the lights off when we leave a room, but what about all the other electrical appliances that we just use without giving it much thought.
I remember in my home economics class in school we were taught that the first thing to do when baking was to switch on the oven; but why should I do that if it is going to take 25 minutes to get the mix ready, and it would take the oven max 10 minutes to reach the required temperature? (yes, it can take 25 minutes to get the mix ready, especially if you have 2 kids involved in the process...)
Not to mention when we buy yet another T-shirt, do we give it any thought at all how much energy was used in the production of just that one garment?
I think we all need to wise up when it comes to electricity, and if we realised that it doesn't just appear by magic, we could save both money and the environment.
I have mentioned several times that I would like to put solar panels on our roof. I am no longer just saying this because I want to increase my green credentials - solar panels are after all quite a symbol of green homes, but also because I really don't want to give up on all my electric comforts. It is not unlikely that prices for electricity will go up in the future - it will follow on from increased oil prices and stricter limits on CO2 emissions, and in that situation I would feel very happy to know that I have access to at least a basic supply. We still wouldn't be able to continue the way we are at the moment, generally domestic solar panels can't really supply that amount of energy, but we would have some power cheaply available.
Anyway time to go and put the kettle on, start the washing machine, get the shopping in the fridge, whisk up a cake, wash my hair, dry my hair, hoover the living room, watch some TV and do some work on my laptop...
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Water, water, water
Due to a very generous donation from my mother in law we are currently in discussion with a plumber to get our bathroom sorted. This has flagged up a couple of interesting things to me. We are getting a new suite fitted and looking through the catalogue of various options, we reasonably quickly agreed that an eco suite with built in water saving features would be the best option. It has a shallower bath, but as only the kids use the bathtub, that shouldn't really matter and the toilet uses only a third of the normal average amount of water to flush. Amazingly this suite wasn't even expensive - to me this was a no brainer.
In fact it really made me wonder about the priorities we have in this country. If it is possible to make toilets that flush on minimal water and seemingly without causing a massive price hike, why are all new toilets not like that? How come that when looking through pages and pages of options for toilets and bathtubs, there was only this one if you wanted to reduce water usage? I am amazed - has the toilet producers not realised that water is another resource we need to be careful about. OK, as I have mentioned before water shortages are not really an issue in Scotland - we have plenty of the stuff and it keeps coming; but many other places have issues, including areas in England and I am sure that whoever sells toilets in Scotland also supplies in England, so water consumption should be a concern.
The plumber actually unknowingly confirmed that water saving is not a huge issue for him and probably his fellow workers. On one visit he said to me that he had noticed that we had chosen quite a plain suite, 'if he could get us a different suite for the same price, would we be interested?'. I replied that 'we had chosen the suite because of its water saving features, so unless he could source another one with those credentials, then no thanks'. His jaw almost hit the ground, and he looked as if he had seen a ghost - can it really be that I was the first of his customers to be concerned about water usage??? Just imagine what would have happened if I had asked for a grey water system to be installed...
Anyway it reminded me of some statistics I have come across lately, which I think are quite good to know:
97% of all the water on this planet is sea water and therefore difficult to turn into drinking water. 2% of fresh water is caught in the polar ice caps. That leaves just 1% for the Earths population to live from - that is not a lot for a growing population. (And here in the western world we use it to flush toilets!)
This again led me to think about the issue of drinking water and not least the amount of bottled water we use and the money we spend on it. There are ridiculous examples, such as the '10 Thousand BC Water', which is basically melted glacier ice, costing upto $45 for 750ml, or the nine times purified 'Bling H2O' costing $40-60 per bottle - complete with Swarowski crystals...
But even if you are drinking bottled water from a spring in Scotland you pay mad money: bottled water costs twice as much as petrol, three times as much as milk and 10.000 times more than tap water!
On top of the silly price we are paying for bottled water the environment is also paying a heavy price, in particular concerning all the plastic bottles used. According to a report from WWF from 2001 roughly 1.5 million tons of plastic are used every year in the bottling of 89 billion liters of water. That's a lot!
So where does all this leave me. For a starter it has emphasized that buying bottles of water is a complete waste and we really should stop that all together. Secondly it has reminded me that even if it doesn't save me money directly I should get organised about collecting rainwater for use in the garden. Thirdly I have made a mental note to include a greywater system to the longterm priority list, it does make sense to reuse water for flushing toilets etc (and by the time I get organised hopefully the plumber will also have converted to a more water efficient attitude...)
Last but not least all this thinking about water has made me very thirsty, so I shall now go and get a glass and fill it with...juice. Cheers
In fact it really made me wonder about the priorities we have in this country. If it is possible to make toilets that flush on minimal water and seemingly without causing a massive price hike, why are all new toilets not like that? How come that when looking through pages and pages of options for toilets and bathtubs, there was only this one if you wanted to reduce water usage? I am amazed - has the toilet producers not realised that water is another resource we need to be careful about. OK, as I have mentioned before water shortages are not really an issue in Scotland - we have plenty of the stuff and it keeps coming; but many other places have issues, including areas in England and I am sure that whoever sells toilets in Scotland also supplies in England, so water consumption should be a concern.
The plumber actually unknowingly confirmed that water saving is not a huge issue for him and probably his fellow workers. On one visit he said to me that he had noticed that we had chosen quite a plain suite, 'if he could get us a different suite for the same price, would we be interested?'. I replied that 'we had chosen the suite because of its water saving features, so unless he could source another one with those credentials, then no thanks'. His jaw almost hit the ground, and he looked as if he had seen a ghost - can it really be that I was the first of his customers to be concerned about water usage??? Just imagine what would have happened if I had asked for a grey water system to be installed...
Anyway it reminded me of some statistics I have come across lately, which I think are quite good to know:
97% of all the water on this planet is sea water and therefore difficult to turn into drinking water. 2% of fresh water is caught in the polar ice caps. That leaves just 1% for the Earths population to live from - that is not a lot for a growing population. (And here in the western world we use it to flush toilets!)
This again led me to think about the issue of drinking water and not least the amount of bottled water we use and the money we spend on it. There are ridiculous examples, such as the '10 Thousand BC Water', which is basically melted glacier ice, costing upto $45 for 750ml, or the nine times purified 'Bling H2O' costing $40-60 per bottle - complete with Swarowski crystals...
But even if you are drinking bottled water from a spring in Scotland you pay mad money: bottled water costs twice as much as petrol, three times as much as milk and 10.000 times more than tap water!
On top of the silly price we are paying for bottled water the environment is also paying a heavy price, in particular concerning all the plastic bottles used. According to a report from WWF from 2001 roughly 1.5 million tons of plastic are used every year in the bottling of 89 billion liters of water. That's a lot!
So where does all this leave me. For a starter it has emphasized that buying bottles of water is a complete waste and we really should stop that all together. Secondly it has reminded me that even if it doesn't save me money directly I should get organised about collecting rainwater for use in the garden. Thirdly I have made a mental note to include a greywater system to the longterm priority list, it does make sense to reuse water for flushing toilets etc (and by the time I get organised hopefully the plumber will also have converted to a more water efficient attitude...)
Last but not least all this thinking about water has made me very thirsty, so I shall now go and get a glass and fill it with...juice. Cheers
Monday, 15 March 2010
I am not failing!
Over the last few months I have had a few comments regarding the success -or more precisely lack of success- of our green project. It has even been suggested that I am not helping the green cause by describing the difficulties I sometimes have. I feel the time has come to defend myself!
Changing your lifestyle is a big effort, nobody does that overnight. Changing to a seriously green lifestyle is huge, because it impacts on every single bit of your life! It impacts on what you eat, what you do, how you travel, what you buy, what you use, what you don't use, your energy consumption, what you waste, what you teach your kids - the list could go on. No area of life is safe from environmental dilemmas.
I am going to stick my neck out and make the claim that the main difference between a lot of the people who claim to be serious about the environment and me is that I admit to having gaps in my green lifestyle. (OK, quite a few gaps) I am not saying this to be mean and I most definitely don't want to criticize anybody's efforts, but I think it is important to realise the complexity of the situation - and just because somebody has gaps in other places than me that doesn't necessarily make them greener.
The other argument about not spelling out how difficult it is to become green is to me frankly nonsense. Making everybody believe that turning green is easy and straightforward is not helpful, the truth will very quickly become known and make anybody trying to change feel like a failure.
I recently looked at a model created to show successful lifestyle changes and one of the key elements is 'expect relapses'. If you are changing to healthier eating expect to still have a piece of cake from time to time - it doesn't mean everything is lost. If you are turning towards a more active lifestyle expect to have days when the exercise routine won't get done - but that isn't equal to the end of the project. So when I sometimes end up taking the easy solution, then I am actually just being human (Nice to get that confirmed...)
Another key element of a successful lifestyle change is apparently congratulating yourself on progress - don't dwell on the times things go wrong, focus on the progress that does happen.
So this is where I stand:
This project is not failing just because we own a car and I occasionally drive it to the school.
we are not failing simply on the grounds that my son loves blueberries and I on the odd day give in and buy some in the supermarket imported from Argentina.
It is not a failure just because I admit to disliking public transport.
It is not the end simply because I haven't signed up for a veg box scheme yet
It can still be a success even if we ended up booking flights to go see much missed family
In fact our green family project is succeeding because:
I walk my daughter to school at least nine times out of ten
I am trying to grow my own vegetables
I got on my bike last week and enjoyed it, even if I completely underestimated the route and almost gave myself a heart attack trying to go up a steep hill.
we have reduced our meat intake and saved money in the process
even my friends have accepted and support my changed priorities -one gave me a gardening book as a present
Our energy bills haven't gone through the roof
I recently managed to have a conversation about renewable energy without sounding like an idiot
my daughter switches off the lights to help the polar bears
I do go on public transport sometimes, although not with joy
and most of all:
I have had comments regarding this blog saying that it had actually made people sit up, think and take some form of action.
To me that is success!
It is only just over 6 months since me and my family started the process and there has been a lot to take on board in a short space of time. The most important thing I have learned so far is that being green is very complex. It is like putting a jigsaw of a 1000 pieces together: it takes a long time, some areas you can put together quite easily, others take a lot more effort - but focusing on just one piece or claiming that the right hand corner is more important than the left is pointless, you need the whole picture.
Changing your lifestyle is a big effort, nobody does that overnight. Changing to a seriously green lifestyle is huge, because it impacts on every single bit of your life! It impacts on what you eat, what you do, how you travel, what you buy, what you use, what you don't use, your energy consumption, what you waste, what you teach your kids - the list could go on. No area of life is safe from environmental dilemmas.
I am going to stick my neck out and make the claim that the main difference between a lot of the people who claim to be serious about the environment and me is that I admit to having gaps in my green lifestyle. (OK, quite a few gaps) I am not saying this to be mean and I most definitely don't want to criticize anybody's efforts, but I think it is important to realise the complexity of the situation - and just because somebody has gaps in other places than me that doesn't necessarily make them greener.
The other argument about not spelling out how difficult it is to become green is to me frankly nonsense. Making everybody believe that turning green is easy and straightforward is not helpful, the truth will very quickly become known and make anybody trying to change feel like a failure.
I recently looked at a model created to show successful lifestyle changes and one of the key elements is 'expect relapses'. If you are changing to healthier eating expect to still have a piece of cake from time to time - it doesn't mean everything is lost. If you are turning towards a more active lifestyle expect to have days when the exercise routine won't get done - but that isn't equal to the end of the project. So when I sometimes end up taking the easy solution, then I am actually just being human (Nice to get that confirmed...)
Another key element of a successful lifestyle change is apparently congratulating yourself on progress - don't dwell on the times things go wrong, focus on the progress that does happen.
So this is where I stand:
This project is not failing just because we own a car and I occasionally drive it to the school.
we are not failing simply on the grounds that my son loves blueberries and I on the odd day give in and buy some in the supermarket imported from Argentina.
It is not a failure just because I admit to disliking public transport.
It is not the end simply because I haven't signed up for a veg box scheme yet
It can still be a success even if we ended up booking flights to go see much missed family
In fact our green family project is succeeding because:
I walk my daughter to school at least nine times out of ten
I am trying to grow my own vegetables
I got on my bike last week and enjoyed it, even if I completely underestimated the route and almost gave myself a heart attack trying to go up a steep hill.
we have reduced our meat intake and saved money in the process
even my friends have accepted and support my changed priorities -one gave me a gardening book as a present
Our energy bills haven't gone through the roof
I recently managed to have a conversation about renewable energy without sounding like an idiot
my daughter switches off the lights to help the polar bears
I do go on public transport sometimes, although not with joy
and most of all:
I have had comments regarding this blog saying that it had actually made people sit up, think and take some form of action.
To me that is success!
It is only just over 6 months since me and my family started the process and there has been a lot to take on board in a short space of time. The most important thing I have learned so far is that being green is very complex. It is like putting a jigsaw of a 1000 pieces together: it takes a long time, some areas you can put together quite easily, others take a lot more effort - but focusing on just one piece or claiming that the right hand corner is more important than the left is pointless, you need the whole picture.
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