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This page catalogues our other efforts at energy efficiency as we go about our daily lives. They are all surprisingly simple and don't invoke any feelings of hardship or that we're missing out on anything. Readers who like to watch the pennies will probably already undertake a lot of initiatives as they often have the knock on effect of being green. Transport: Easy! We walk, cycle or use public transport where practical. We also often share lifts with friends and colleagues. We currently have a camper that we use for holidays. Its diesel and I think we need to look into whether we can use bio diesel to run it. We also were given an old car for exchange for a case of lager ( not sure what was the best deal!), we try not to use it too much but it is handy for lugging wood back for the wood burner and when it does die we think we may try to get an electric car for shorter journeys... we'll see. Food miles. We've changed our habits to make sure we buy seasonally and locally. The local farmers market is fantastic There are plenty of companies that deliver organic produce we use Abel and Cole. They deliver once week in a bio diesel van and have a great website. Holidays . Do we really need to fly to a destination to enjoy a great
holiday? The short answer for us is that we don't. However if you feel you need
to travel to far flung places it is becoming more popular to off set your
carbon.
Fairtrade. If you're sold on the concept of only buying stuff you need over that of what you want then that's a great start. The natural point to follow is to consider carefully where the stuff you're buying is made and who it was made by. Large clothing and shoe brands have been targeted in the past for using sweatshop labour. Not only do many thousands of workers have to tolerate unsafe and atrocious working conditions but they have to work many more hours that their contemporaries in industrialised nations. The trainers you're buying may be a bargain to you, but largely at the cost of the health, welfare and family life to the people who cut, stitched and glued them together. Are they really such a bargain now? Please support those companies who have established themselves as offering the UK fairly traded goods. Tea, coffee, sugar, chocolate, clothing, linen and shoes can now all be sourced from a wide range of companies who specialise in these areas. Also, buying from these companies lets you break you own rule of treating yourself to something you want; if it's fairtrade and has ideally been transported by ship, then it's ok!
Blagging stuff So far I've managed two water tanks for the allotment and wood for burning on the open fire. All from skips... I did ask permission!
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Water. At the time of writing water table levels in the UK are already low; we have the prospect of a harsh winter but the rain levels throughout the autumn were low. Water companies have run campaigns to ask users to still be sparing, yet we still see people in our street regularly washing their cars! In addition to the obvious stuff like having a shower rather than a bath and turning the tap off when brushing our teeth we have a couple of water butts to keep the garden watered and always use the washing machine on a short cycle to reduce water consumption. We also have a water hippo to reduce the volume in the toilet cistern. We opted to have a water meter installed mainly because we believe this is the only way people will start to think of water as a finite resource.
Buying stuff Easy! Try not to... but I tell you this is quite hard to do. We have all been conditioned! Buying things is quite a habit that's hard to break. Second hand clothes can be cool and charity shops can have some real up-market bargains. When you do buy things try to limit the packaging and hand back the carrier bag to the shop assistant. Come on what are you going to do with it... I bet there's a special hiding place for them in your house somewhere! Growing stuff We try to compost our food waste. It seems pretty easy so far. Most local authorities have cheap deals on garden composters. I think ours was £6.00. You can then use this to grow some simple vegetables or herbs. Or if you have the time or energy get an allotment. They are really cheap and if too big you can share it with friends. We do this and it shares the work out if you can't make it to do the watering one day - your mates can.
Food growing photos from our garden
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