(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?!