Springwatch

Coming up on BBC2 for the next three weeks is Springwatch. Hosted by Bill Oddie, Kate Humble and Simon King the series takes a look back at what's happened during the spring in peoples' back gardens, in the the glens and on the lochs of Scotland and around an organic farm in Devon. For more details visit the accompanying Springwatch 2005 website.

The main theme of this years event is spring and how apparently spring is coming earlier each year. We know this because of a branch of science called phenology, which collects data about the first sitings of spring indicators such as the first swallow, the first mayflower and the first frog spawn.

I urge you to watch it for the amazing views of wild animals going about their normal day to day lives. It's when you watch programmes like this that you realise exactly why you want to go green! So kick off your shoes and put up your feet and enjoy the best of the British countryside.

Schedule:
BBC2
8 - 9pm
Monday to Thursday
May 30th to June 16th
(Also repeated the following day at 2.30pm)



caldini

Grow your own

All over Britain are areas of land divided up into sections for individuals to cultivate their own food. A nominal fee is paid to rent one of these sections of land, known as allotments. Allotments have been around since the middle ages. However, the allotments in use today are areas allocated for the Dig for Victory campaign during the war, which were then handed back to the public in the 1950s.

Over the last fifty years interest in allotment cultivation has waned as food became cheaper and more widely available in supermarkets. Just lately there has been a resurgence as people have become more concious of what they eat and where it came from. Indeed, organic gardening is now very popular!

I tried and subsequently failed to start growing my own food on an allotment for a number of reasons. Here's some tips I have learned from my mistakes!

• Pick a site that is just a short walk from home.
• Looking after an allotment is hard work! Start off small with a "5 pole" allotment if you can.
• Only bother starting an allotment if you've got the time and energy. Neglect a site for two to three weeks and the weeds will have taken over!
• Try not to take on a neglected site at the height of summer when weeds and grass will be at their thickest.
• Get a shed or storage container of some sort if you can - transporting your tools to and from the allotment can be rather tedious. Make sure it has a good lock.
• Blog about your allotmenteering adventures. It will give you greater incentive to keep going. Read other peoples blogs too. Visit Jane Perrone's excellent Horticultural. There's plenty of links to other allotment blogs from her site too.
• Join the HDRA, the organisation that is dedicated to the research and promotion of organic food. They have a library of factsheets available online and through the post.

My allotment was too far from home, 20 poles in size and seemed like an endless task. I had no shed, and rarely had the time to visit and continue the work. I spent three weeks doing some quality clearing and digging but had only got through a fifth of the summer weeds. Needless to say, I soon gave up.

If you're thinking of giving it a go, I say all the best to you, and I hope you get some great results. For more information, try visiting these other essential sites by clicking here, here and here.

caldini

Buy British

Buy British. If you live in Britain that is!

Currently in the supermarkets there's organic strawberries, organic beef and organic breakfast cereal. Great for the environment you'd think, especially if you had read my previous post.

But look again - Spanish strawberries, Argentinian beef and Canadian wheat cereal. Each of those products has travelled more than 700 miles, 6900 miles and 3600 miles respectively to get to your kitchen. Consider the alternatives - strawberries from Kent, beef from Scotland and muesli made from Hertfordshire grown oats. A lot less fuel is used in getting the food product from A to B.

Most food is "shipped" to us by air, especially fresh products. Amazingly, kiwi fruit transported by freight carrier plane from New Zealand to Europe results in 5kg of CO2 being pumped into the atmosphere for every 1kg of fruit carried. What a waste!

So next time you're in the shops, take note of where the food you buy was produced and see if there is an alternative sourced from closer to home. Alternatively, you can buy from a farmers market where all products are sourced locally.

For more information on food miles (as they're now called), see this page on the Sustain website.

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The countryside code

Are you planning to take a day out in the country today? If so, you'll be joining many others. The Environment Agency reports that 5.2 billion leisure day trips were made in Britain in 2002/2003. Twenty percent of these trips were to the countryside.

With so many of us visiting the countryside it's important that we know how to take care of ourselves and the environment. Knowing the countryside code can help us do just that.

Last year, the government updated the countryside code with the emphasis on respect, protect and enjoy. The countryside code is just five simple guidelines to remember when outdoors. By following the code we can all get the most of the beautiful British countryside.

• Be safe - plan ahead and follow any signs
• Leave gates and property as you find them
• Protect plants and animals, and take your litter home
• Keep dogs under close control
• Consider other people
  

For more details about the code, visit the Countryside Access website.

If you're a birder, you may be interested to know that there's also a bird watchers code:

• Be an ambassador for birdwatching
• Know the law and the rules for visiting the countryside, and follow them
• Send your sightings to the County Bird Recorder and the Birdtrack website
• Think about the interests of wildlife and local people before passing on news of a rare bird, especially during the breeding season.
• Avoid disturbing birds and their habitats - the birds' interests should always come first

More information can be found on the RSPB website here.

Have a great day out!
caldini

Reuse plastic bags

People in Britain use 8 billion plastic bags every year. The bags are manufactured from polyethylene, which is a product of the oil industry.

Plastic bags have many advantages over paper alternatives. They are lightweight and not voluminous which makes them cheaper to transport from the site of creation to the store. They are also durable and reportedly cause less environmental damage in their manufacture.

Because they are so light, plastic bags are not given so much focus when it comes to issues of landfill and recycling. Bulkier items such as cardboard, glass and organic matter are given greater consideration. However, once you start recycling your household waste and composting everything else you'll soon see that plastic becomes the major item in your black bin bag. However, it's just as easy to apply the mantra Reduce, Reuse, Recycle to plastic bags as it is any other resource.

Reduce
Plastic bags are very strong these days and can easily handle a maximum load. Reduce the amount of bags you need by using their full capacity. Alternatively, you can choose to use a non-plastic alternative, such as these bags made from reclaimed materials that are mentioned on the excellent Hippy Shopper website.

Reuse
Plastic bags are durable, which makes them perfect candidates for reuse. Keep a number of plastic bags in the boot of your car ready for when you next go shopping. Invest in a bag for life, which is offered by some of the leading supermarkets. You can also use plastic bags as bin liners; to keep your muddy trainers separate from your gym kit; to carry your books to work or school (choose a bag from your favourite clothes store for credibility). There's loads of practical uses for them.

Recycle
Plastic bags can be recycled. Many stores have a recycling bin for them in their car parks. Anything that can be made from virgin plastic can be made from recycled plastic. The quality is the same.

Plastic bags can be a pain to store though. We use so many of them that they often end up taking over a broom cupboard, downstairs loo or spare cupboard. So why not make a handy storage tube for them? Here's how. You'll need a large rectangular shaped piece of material, or the leg of an old pair of trousers; a piece of elastic; an old boot lace or chord; some basic sewing skills.

Lay the material flat on the floor and place the piece of elastic along one of the short ends of the material. Fold the material over the elastic and hold it in place with some pins. Sew the fold into place.

Next, place the chord at the opposite end of the material and repeat the above. However you will not have to tighten or tie the chord. Make sure the chord is a few centimetres longer than the material is wide. This will be the end where plastic bags are stuffed into for storage. You can use this end for easy access if you want to remove all the plastic bags for some reason, e.g. cleaning.

Turn the material over so you can't see the seams from the two short ends. Fold the material lengthways and sew the two long edges together to make a tube. Turn the tube inside out to hide all the seams. Pull the elastic to about half of its full tension and tie a knot next to where the two corners of the material meet. This will be the elasticted hole at the bottom of the tube where you pull out the plastic bags. Tie the chord in a bow for tidiness. Add a hook if you want to hang it up in a cupboard.

If you've made a storage tube like the one above, post a picture on the internet and show us the link.

caldini

Don't use peat

This weekend, if you're thinking of doing a spot of gardening, please don't buy any peat or peat-based products.

Peat comes from blanket mires - large areas of waterlogged bogs. It is created by the slow decomposition of the special plants that live and die on the upper surface of the bogs. They can be anything from three to fifty metres deep.

Peatland is a very special kind of ecosystem. It is home to many interesting species of plant and provides a nesting habitat for many birds, especially waders such as the Greenshank. The slow but steady decomposition of peatland plants makes bogs an important sponge that soak up carbon dioxide from our atmosphere and hence reduce global warming.

Unfortunately, much peatland is being lost due to peat extraction for horticulture and the planting of trees for the production of wood, also known as agroforestry.

You can help reduce peat extraction by making sure you don't buy peat or peat based products from your local garden centre. I've also noticed that peat based composts are being stocked in supermarkets at the moment. Write to the manager of your garden centre or supermarket to let them know why peat products are bad for the environment.

A much better alternative to peat is home made compost. This is much better for your soil. It has the same water retaining features of peat but has more nutrients and is better at balancing the pH (acidity) of your soil.

For more information see this site from the RSPB, this site from Kew Gardens and this site from the Royal Horticultural Society.

caldini

Volunteer

Did you know that 2005 is the Year of the Volunteer? Each month has a different theme and this month (May) the theme is The Environment.

Volunteering gives you the chance to do something - unpaid, of course - for your local community and environment. You could get some exercise in the green gym we call the countryside by doing some hard labour, or help record wildlife in a certain area. Whatever you do though, you'll almost certainly learn something along the way.

There are a number of organisations in Britain that coordinate voluntary activities. These include the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers, Volunteering England, Volunteer Centre Network Scotland, Volunteering Wales and many others. A quick dig using your favourite search engine will bring up loads of tools to help you find volunteering opportunities in your local area.

Certain charities also organise their own volunteer schemes, for example Sustrans relies on volunteers for much of its work producing safe cycle routes around the country.

You don't have to give up the day job to become a volunteer. Any time you offer will be valuable, whether it's just a one-off stint, a week long residency or a couple of hours every week. And you'll feel a lot better about yourself too, knowing that you've really done something to help.

caldini

Visit a farmers market

This year, Tesco announced profits of over £2 billion. Other supermarkets have posted declines in profits over the last year, but that's not to say that they're still making a huge amount of money.

In the drive to reduce costs and increase profits, the amount of money these supermarkets are willing to pay the producers is declining all the time.

However, you can buy directly from local producers, cutting out the middle man. All over Britain, usually once a month, Farmers Markets take place offering locally grown food and produce. The National Association of Farmers Markets offers a certification scheme which ensures that what the markets offer is locally produced. They also ensure that:

The principal producer or a representative directly involved in the production process must attend the stall.

This gives you the chance to ask the producers questions about the food that you wouldn't be able to ask in supermarkets. Visit their site to see a list of farmers markets in your local area. A lot of farmers markets have their own website if you want further information, for example Orton Farmers Market in Cumbria was the first one to be NAFM certified and is National Farmers Market of the Year 2005.

And farmers markets are not just for country bumpkins. The discerning Londoner can also buy produce from farmers markets all over the City.

Much of the produce available is organic too, so find out where your local market is today and make a date in your diary to visit the next one.

caldini

World Environment Day

June the 5th is United Nations World Environment Day 2005.

The Environment Agency are promoting it in the UK. They want you to pledge to make a small lifestyle change and then tell all your friends and family to do the same.

I've pledged to Reuse plastic bags, Volunteer and Boil only the water needed.

Please do the same!

caldini

Switch to Ecover

Around the late 80's and early 90's there seemed to be a bit of a green revolution occuring. CFCs were being banned and detergents were being made more environmentally friendly. These seemed to be the main environmental issues of the time. I believed that since then all detergents produced, in developed countries at least, broke down completely into harmless substances. I thought they were completely biodegradable.

How wrong I was.

It seems that most detergents available in Europe conform to the minimum requirements set by the EU. But these minimum requirements are not good enough. For example, the active ingredients in washing powders become inactive after use. However, it takes a long time for these chemicals to break down completely. See the Greenpeace site, The Chemical Home for more information.

Those sensible people at Defra have set out legislation for the labelling of so-called environmentally friendly products. You can have a read of their pdf by clicking here.

Instead of polluting the water in our rivers and seas I've decided to switch to Ecover products, which are available in most supermarkets. By a lucky coincidence, I ran out of Ariel Liquitabs* and Comfort* fabric conditioner at the same time so last night I tried my first wash using Ecover non-bio laundry liquid and Ecover fabric softener. This was a dark wash (trousers and boxer shorts if you must know!) and I was impressed with the results. I couldn't see any difference in the quality of the wash when compared to my normal products (mind you, I haven't exactly been rolling around in the mud). The main difference I noticed was the lack of a strong chemical smell in the kitchen while the clothes were drying. Instead, my clothes now have a light fragrance of what I think is lavender, although I can't be sure - I'm a bloke!

The great thing about these products is that I can get the bottle refilled. However, I don't know where from yet, so I'll update you when I find out.

Have a good read of the Ecover website as it's very interesting, particularly the section about its environmentally friendly factory.

If you're a regular Ecover user, let us know how you find their products.

caldini

* I'm not saying that these products are of particular harm to the environment, it's just so you know which products I'm comparing Ecover to. I've provided links to their product sites so you can make your own mind up!

Organic food

Having worked on a farm for seven months as a teenager, this issue is very close to my heart. I think back and remember the amount of antibiotics we had to give to a small group of new calves just to keep them alive - half died within a few weeks; the pesticides that were sprayed onto the pick your own orchard - the site manager had to wear a mask and protective clothing; the amount of lambs that got ill and had to be kept in a special enclosure; the feed that we gave to the geese just weeks before new years eve that doubled their size; the weed free arable fields that turned to dust in the summer.

But this wasn't a farm run with cruel intentions, nor was the farmer evil or disrespective of the environment. This was similar to the day-to-day goings on of any normal farm in Britain - one dominated by man-made chemicals and antibiotics.

Consider the implications of this type of system on:

• the welfare of the animals
• the welfare of the farm workers
• the state of the farm environment and its immediate surroundings
• the food that ultimately you eat

Organic farming methods try to address the above by implementing a strict set of rules to be followed in the production of food. The rules try to avoid the use of artificial pesticides, fertlisers and anti-biotics. Food may be labelled as Organic if it has met a number of government set minimum requirements. Each country in the EU has a certification body, the main one in the UK being the Soil Association:

The Soil Association organic symbol is the UK’s main certification mark, appearing on approximately 70% of organic food produced in the UK. The symbol tells you that produce has met and in some important areas exceeded minimum government requirements. Our standards are continually developed to raise the quality of organic food higher.

The Soil Association symbol looks like this:

Organic food is usually more expensive than its non-organic equivalent. This may be attributable to a number of factors including the higher cost of production or a higher percentage of mark-up by supermarkets to make more profits - although a lot of supermarkets deny this.

You don't have to switch completely to Organic food if the cost is too high for you. It is for me, but I tend to make sure that at least one Organic food product makes it into my shopping basket each week. I make sure that cupboard items such as olive oil, which I don't have to replenish weekly, are always organically produced. Also, all meat I buy is Organic.

I hope that one day, all worldwide food production will be to strict Organic standards. This is something we can achieve by voting with our feet - buying Organic food whenever possible, spreading the word and pressing for Organic food production to be made law.

caldini

Update: Use the farm, Cuc! See this great Flash animation from North America's Organic Trade Association.

Car share

Do you work regular hours at work? Are you making a long journey this weekend? Are you worried about the amount of pollution created by your car? Do you want to help stop global warming?

Perhaps you should consider car sharing.

If you work regular hours at work and use a car to get there, why not give a lift to one of your colleagues? Then the following week, they can give you a lift into work. Your travelling costs are halved instantly and for half the year you can get to work stress free! Each car share also reduces the amount of traffic on the roads, which can help reduce traffic jams, which means even less fuel is wasted by idling engines.

Often companies send several people to a training course at once as it is cheaper to bulk buy the course than to send each person individually. If you're part of a group like this, why not meet up beforehand and then share the car journey to the training site? (Another alternative is to get the tutor to come to your workplace if suitable training facilities exist at your work site)

You may not know anyone at work who lives in your area, but that's not to say they don't exist. Wouldn't it be great if you could find other like-minded people wanting to halve carbon emissions! Liftshare is a site that offers you the chance to do just that. I've added my details to the site. I'll let you know if anyone contacts me and how it went.

If you're a car sharer, let us know by leaving a comment at the end of this post, especially if you've got any tips!

caldini

Update: National Liftshare Day is on the 14th June 2005. Visit the website for more details and then tell all your friends about it - for example, you could add the link to http://www.nationalliftshareday.com at the bottom of your emails.

Compost your waste

Between 40 and 60% of your household waste may be organic waste, i.e. it was once living but now is dead. Most of it ends up in landfill sites which is costly - a load of energy is used getting it there too. However, there are a whole host of different ways to dispose of organic waste effectively and they may even be of benefit to you.

A large proportion of organic waste is from the garden, for example grass clippings, prunings and weeds. Your municipal waste disposal site (the local tip) is obliged to take this waste for recycling. You'll find that there's usually a couple of huge skips dedicated to garden waste. Be careful not to add other wastes (plastic, glass etc) to your garden waste as it lowers the quality of the finished product - compost.

Many local councils now offer a monthly or even fortnightly collection of garden waste. Schemes usually involve hiring a large green wheelie bin for about fifteen quid a year. However, most schemes only allow garden waste, so you can't add things like old teabags and vegetable peelings.

The ultimate way to dispose of green waste is home composting. There are many benefits:

• you can compost both garden waste and kitchen waste
• no energy is required to transport the waste away
• it doesn't contribute to landfill
• you get to keep the finished product
• compost heaps may provide a refuge for toads (gardener friendly slug eaters!)

To find out more about composting, try clicking here, here or here.

My favourite solution to recycling garden and kitchen waste though is the Wiggly Wigglers Can-O-Worms. This uses native British worms to compost all kinds of household waste from kitchen scraps to vacuum cleaner dust to dog hair. I gave some friends of mine the Can-O-Worms as a house warming present. They were quite surprised to get a bag of worms through the post, but now they love it. They recycle most of their other household waste, so their black bin bag is hardly ever full on collection day!


Why not set up a compost heap in your garden this weekend?
caldini

Write to your MP

No matter who you voted for (if you voted at all), your new Member of Parliament represents you and your constituency in the House of Commons. Here they question the Prime Minister and the Cabinet and raise matters of importance to the people in their constituency. Groups of MPs also debate and investigate specific matters as part of select and standing committees.

Today, I'd like to make you aware of two excellent sites brought to you by mySociety.org.

The fist is WriteToThem.com.
This site gives you the opportunity to write to your local Councillor, Member of Parliament, Member of the European Parliament, Member of the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly Member or London Assembly Member for free!
Before doing so though, read the Help section. The Help section tells you how to use the site, but more importantly it tells you how to use the site effectively (and is actually quite interesting!) Pay particular attention to the Who should I write to? and Guidelines for campaigning sections to really get your point across - whatever that may be.

Next up is TheyWorkForYou.com.

A non-partisan, volunteer-run website which aims to make it easy for people to keep tabs on their elected representatives.

You can also comment on debates, written answers, Westminster Hall debates and written Ministerial statements.

Get involved and let your representatives know what you think otherwise your voice might be left unheard by the people who matter - the decision makers!

caldini

Walk or cycle to work

If you live within 5 miles of your work place you may find that it's very easy and rather much quicker to ride a bike or even walk to work. Not only will you be reducing air pollution, you'll also get much fitter.

If you're thinking of biking into work, I'd recommend the following:

• a set of paniers - much better than a rucksack which will leave your back all sweaty
• a safety helmet - essential
• windproof clothes - stops you getting sweaty from cycling but keeps you warm
• a comfy seat - look after your bum - this is a ride into work not the Milk Race!
• a spare tyre and pump - much easier than a puncture repair kit - although do repair punctured tyres for re-use
• bike-clips - look after your trousers

If you're thinking of walking, I'd recommend:

• a stout pair of walking shoes - don't wear out your smart work shoes
• a shoulder bag - suitable for light loads, for heavier loads get a comfy rucksack
• a pac-a-mac - usually no need for a coat when you're walking, unless it's winter
• a wooly hat and gloves - for when it's cold

If you've got any more tips for walking or biking into work, please leave a comment at the end of this post.

Got to dash now...

caldini

Liquid Petroleum Gas

Liquid Petroleum Gas, or LPG is the generic name for commercial butane and commercial propane. Although it is a gas at atmospheric pressure, it can be easily condensed to a liquid, reducing the volume up to 250 times. This makes LPG easier to transport.

LPG can be used to power a normal car engine, although a few modifications need to be made first. It's sold at petrol stations as Autogas.

The benefits of LPG are easy to understand. According to Shell, LPG cars...

• produce 90% fewer particulate emissions than diesel cars
• produce 90% less NOx than diesel cars
• produce 75% less CO than petrol cars
• have 87% less Ozone forming potential than petrol
• run up to 50% quieter than diesel cars

Not only that, but LPG is much cheaper than petrol or diesel. According to BP, £10 spent on Autogas will take you 139 miles as compared to 105 miles for diesel and just 89 miles for petrol.

To take advantage of LPG, you will need to get your car converted. Boost LPG provides the information you need to get started and the people who run Boost LPG have a list of approved converters.

Grants for conversion were recently available through TransportEnergy but have now been halted while the schemes are updated to be more "technology neutral". Keep an eye on their site. Conversion costs around £1600 but Powershift grants could be claimed for up to 70% of the cost - a massive saving! Lets hope that the European Commission and the Department for Transport get this sorted as soon as possible.

caldini

Insulate your home

Insulate - protect by interposing material to prevent loss of heat or intrusion of sound - or for our purposes - how to save money on your heating bill and at the same time reduce pollution and carbon emissions.

Insulation usually involves an initial cost which may seem prohibitive at first, but insulation is a long term investment and it will pay for itself sooner than you think. It may even have a positive impact on the value of your house.

Loft Insulation
Insulating your loft can save up to 20% on your heating bill. For more information see the DIYnot guide to loft insulation. If you want to be really green consider insulating your loft using Warmcel, available from the Green Building Store, which is made from 100% recycled newspapers.

Cavity Wall Insulation
Most heat loss from your home (up to 33%) is via the walls, but you can reduce this loss if your home has cavity walls by filling the cavity with an insulating material. Have a read of the Energy Saving Trust FAQ by clicking here.

Hot Water Tank Insulation
Get a nice comfy jacket for your hot water tank. As Friends of the Earth points out - it's cheap and it pays for itself within a year. The Kent Energy Centre gives simple instructions on how to fit your jacket.

There are other, cheaper ways to insulate your home:

• Fit a draught excluder to the bottom of your doors and across letter boxes.
• Attach a piece of tin foil between radiators and external walls to reflect heat back into the house.
• Fit a window sill or shelf above radiators to push the warm air into the middle of the room.

If you think that insulating your home may be too costly then why not consider applying for a grant. See the Eaga Partnership site for more details.

caldini

Recycling schemes

The Household Waste Recycling Act 2003 requires all English waste collection authorities to collect at least two types of recyclable waste from all households in their area, which could include batteries, garden waste, glass, hazardous household liquids (i.e. paint and varnish), kitchen waste, metals, paper, plastics, textiles and shoes, electrical or electronic waste (e-waste) and wood.

Most local authorities now run a home collection scheme for recyclable materials. For example, you may have a blue box / red box recycling scheme, where glass is stored in the blue box, paper in the red box and is put out alongside the weekly refuse for collection. To find out more about your local scheme and exactly what you can recycle, visit the website of your local authority. Tagish provides a list of local government websites. It's usually quite easy to find the information - check sections on waste, refuse collection or even environment.

The aim is to reduce the amount of waste that makes it into the black bin bag at the end of the week. It is a well known fact that the house with the smallest black bin bag on collection day is the coolest, most respected and best loved household in the neighborhood! For starters, have a good read of the excellent Recycle now website.

Sort out your waste religiously. Remember that jars can be cleaned and recycled with bottles. That piece of cardboard around your microwave meal can be recycled with the newspapers. To help you, why not get a bin especially for sorting out waste for recycling. Visit homerecycling.co.uk to see their list of products.

caldini

Update: To find out what you can put out for kerbside collection and to locate your nearest recycling facilities, check out the bank locator on the Recycle More site.

Green energy

Energy from renewable sources contributes to only 2.8% of the UK's electricity production. However, it has the potential to supply 100%. This would be a good thing as I've heard that 30% of the UK's carbon dioxide output (responsible for global warming) comes from the production of electricity from non-renewable sources such as gas, coal and oil.

Renewable energy can be harnessed from the environment in a number of ways. Each has its benefits but you should also be mindful that there are disadvantages. The politics governing the positioning of wind farms reminds us that switching to renewable sources isn't clear cut.

Whatever changes need to be made, they're not being made fast enough, but you can do something about it. There exists in the UK a number of electricity suppliers that make sure that the amount of electricity you use is matched by harnessing the same amount of energy from renewable resources. The excellent uSwitch website clarifies this:

If you were to switch to a renewable energy tariff, the electricity you receive will arrive through the same cables and wires, but for every unit of electricity you use your supplier will plough an equal amount of green energy into the National Grid.

On their site, you can also find out how much it would cost - or even how much you could save - by switching to a renewable energy tarrif. For more information click here.

If you do switch, don't forget that energy efficiency is still very important. Wind turbines, hydro-electric dams, solar panels and tidal barrages all have an impact on the environment even though they reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

caldini

Check your tyre pressure

If you regularly use your car for the journey in to work then you may want to check your tyre pressure.

An under-inflated tyre has a reduced lifespan - the rubber is more likely to degrade and crack, and it also increases drag on the road - in laymans terms, this means reduced fuel efficiency.

An under-inflated tyre is also dangerous as it can increase braking distance or cause a major accident if it comes off the rim of the wheel.

For more advice on improving fuel economy, check out the 4Car guide to cutting fuel consumption.

Happy motoring!

caldini

Update: I checked my tyre pressure at my local garage today. All four tyres were under-inflated by up to 3 bar. It wasn't long ago since I last checked my tyres, so I'm changing the advice to Check your tyre pressure regularly!

Nest boxes

Putting my vote in the ballot box today reminded me about nest boxes.

Did you know that gardens make up over a million acres of the British countryside. That's an area 2/5 the size of Wales.

Therefore, gardens are a major habitat for wildlife, but there are several problems:

• Most gardens are bordered by fences.
• Garden shrubbery is either relatively new or not very dense.
• The build quality of houses is generally high compared to 100 years ago.

Generally, this means less nesting places for birds, bats and other wildlife. You can help though, by buying or making a nest box to put up in your garden.

The Bat Conservation Trust has loads of information about bats and offers a whole range of bat boxes for sale via its website. Most bat boxes follow the same design - a draught free box with a narrow entrance to the box at the bottom.

Bird boxes on the other hand come in all different shapes and sizes depending on the type of bird it is suitable for. Common types include "Blue Tit" nest boxes with a hole in the front about the size of a ten pence piece. "Robin" nest boxes have an open front. All kinds of birds nest in these popular designs, not just Blue Tits and Robins.

The most important factor when considering a nest box for your garden is the position, particularly the way it faces - between north and east is best as this avoids strong sunlight and wet winds.

The RSPB provides instructions on how to make both bat boxes and bird boxes.

If you want to help "other wildlife" there's also nest boxes available for hedgehogs from CJ Wild Bird Foods.

Ahh. Home sweet home!
caldini

Dumping on Britain

On the 4th May, 2005, at 7pm BST, the BBC broadcast a programme called "Dumping on Britain". The documentary followed the Environment Agency in its investigations into illegal dumping all around Britain.

I'd like to bring to your attention a comment by one of the Agency workers. He pointed out that if you see somebody with waste out of hours it's probable that the waste is going to be illegally dumped. After all, it's very unlikely that the correct facilities for legal waste disposal are going to be open late at night - when most illegal dumpers are going to be operating.

The BBC site that accompanies the programme says:

Illegal dumping costs taxpayers tens of millions of pounds each year and causes serious damage to the environment. Very few of those responsible are caught and tip-offs from members of the public are often vital in bringing those responsible to justice

The site also links to the Environment Agency's advice for people wanting to report illegal dumping.

It makes me so angry when areas of the countryside - and our towns - are used by ruthless ripoff merchants trying to make a fast buck by totally ignoring the plight of the environment. With a little extra vigilance we can all help to stop these crimes.

caldini

Defrost food naturally

As a single bloke, I find the freezer to be very convenient. I can buy four organic chicken breasts, split them up into single food bags, freeze them and then defrost them as needed.

Unfortunately, I'm not what you'd call organised. Each day that I come home from work I invariably have to defrost the evening meal in the microwave.

I could save a load of electricity if I transferred my meal to the fridge in the morning and let it defrost there. Once again though, it's a question of habit. I need to train myself to remember to get food out in the morning.

To help me, I'm going to set a daily reminder on my mobile phone to alert at 7.30 every weekday morning. Some other ideas I've thought of include:

Writing a note on the milk bottle in permanent ink.
Puting a post-it note on the cupboard door.
Forfeiting my evening meal if it hasn't been defrosted in the fridge - not really an option!

Just remember to practice good hygeine when defrosting food in the fridge. Put meat on a plate or in a bowl so that it doesn't drip on other food stuffs. Keep all foods wrapped up. Keep foods that you eat raw in a separate container in the fridge etc etc.

Bon appetit!
caldini

Stop junk mail

In my opinion, junk mail is a waste of paper, a waste of energy and a waste of my time! I never read it.

Luckily, it seems there's a way to combat the steady flow of junk through your letterbox. There's an online facility to opt out from receiving junk mail, which is provided by the Mail Preference Service. Signing up is easy and after a few months there is a notable decline in the amount of junk mail you receive.

caldini

Switch off

Today I'm urging you to switch things off when you're not using them. Lights, computers, televisions, printers, photocopiers. You name it - if you're not using it, switch it off.
When you power down your laptop or computer, it's still using energy - even after the battery has been fully charged. I didn't believe this at first but it's true. I have a work laptop sitting next to my home laptop that has been unused for a couple of days now. However, it's been plugged into the mains all this time and the power pack was warm, proving that it had been wasting energy all that time. I unplugged it immediately and will do the same with my home laptop once I've finished using it.

Here's some more facinating facts that I've picked up from the The Carbon Trust website:

• Lighting an office overnight wastes enough energy to heat water for 1000 cups of tea.
• A photocopier left on overnight uses enough energy to produce over 1500 copies.
• Leaving a PC monitor on all night wastes enough energy to microwave six dinners.
• Switching off non-essential equipment in an office overnight saves enough energy to run a small car for 100 miles.

At my current place of work, the security guards turn off the lights after hours - which is great news - perhaps you can encourage your security guards to do the same. I wonder if I can convince them to turn off the photocopiers too?

I'm a major culprit when it comes to switching off. I often leave a room without turning the lights off, so to get into the habit, I'm going to leave a post-it note by each switch saying "SWITCH OFF"! Once I get into the habit I can remove them as they are a bit unsightly!

Also, before I go to bed I'm going to switch off the television at the mains so that it isn't on standby. Here's some interesting facts from Powergen's Energy Efficiency website...

A television on standby uses 7% of the electricity of a television that is switched on and 85% of the electricity used by your VCR is consumed when it's not actually on!

...and this one...

Set the screen saver on your computer to "blank screen". Screen savers were originally designed to prevent screens being burnt by a constant image, but they aren't necessary for modern screens.

Well there's some great reasons to switch off - after all, if you do, you'll save money too, not just the environment.

caldini