tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124019092007-05-11T16:01:02.467ZcaldiniBlogger68125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1149029457740314912006-05-30T22:21:00.000Z2006-05-30T22:50:57.753Z

So the Bank Holiday weekend is over and for those of you who don't use alternative means of transport you'll be back at work, commuting in the car. Make sure your car is efficient as possible: Remove all bike racks, roof racks and roof boxes. The wind resistance is wasting fuel and costing you money. Remove them now! Lighten the load. What's in the boot of your car? A set of golf clubs? A des

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1148824951108049892006-05-28T13:47:00.000Z2006-05-28T17:31:12.520Z

I'm a big fan of Springwatch, which returns to our screens this month at 8pm on Monday the 29th May on BBC2. Set your video recorders and your PVRs to make sure you don't miss an episode! As usual Bill and Kate will be discussing spring events around the British countryside and using hidden cameras they'll be giving us a priveliged look into the lives of some of our fascinating wildlife.

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1148505022258387812006-05-24T19:44:00.000Z2006-05-24T21:14:53.803Z

If you buy milk from the supermarket it's very likely that it will be in a Tetra Pak style carton or a plastic milk bottle made from high density polyethylene (HDPE). The Tetra-Pak cartons, because they are made of different materials fused together, are very hard to recycle and many kerb side collections do not allow for carton recycling. The HDPE bottles require lots of energy to be recycled.

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1148205513941339432006-05-21T08:58:00.000Z2006-05-21T10:09:58.046Z

Did you know that since the 1st January 2006 nearly all domestic boilers sold in the UK have been gas condensing boilers. They are super efficient due to the way they use the heat from the exhaust gases to further heat the water. James Watt would have been proud. This post was originally going to be dedicated to gas condensing boilers but the National Energy Foundation have an excellent article

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1148132636046796572006-05-20T12:28:00.000Z2006-05-20T13:43:56.093Z

This week I saw a presentation about bats by local expert Patty Briggs. It was a fascinating talk - she dispelled some of the myths about bats and explained how they use echolocation to find insects in the dark. She even had a couple of bats to show us - a couple of pipistrelles and a long eared. These were disabled bats - you're not allowed to keep them unless you are specially qualified.

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1147802254359479552006-05-16T17:23:00.000Z2006-05-16T18:17:46.743Z

I've covered double-sided printing in an earlier post. Today I'm going to give you a few handy tips about printing Excel spreadsheets and what you can do to reduce paper use. I'm aware that other spreadsheet packages are available and if you use them and have any tips please leave a comment below. So, Jeff from Sales has just emailed you an Excel document showing last weeks sales figures and

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1147652062762703012006-05-15T01:12:00.000Z2006-05-15T00:17:28.556Z

If all our gardens were put together they would make a massive nature reserve, perhaps the most important in the country. Neatly manicured gardens are not the best for wildlife though and with a bit of thought they can be turned into sanctuaries for birds, mammals and invertebrates and lots of other native species. The key to a good wildlife garden is food, water and shelter - for that is what

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1147604054591309872006-05-14T10:01:00.000Z2006-05-14T10:54:14.963Z

In the drive for increased profits the environment often loses out. The overfishing of our seas illustrates this perfectly. Simply put we are taking fish faster than they can reproduce and so their numbers are decreasing rapidly. Eventually stocks plummet so low that local populations become extinct. This is bad for the environment and bad for the people whose livelihoods depend on the fishing

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1147510036330448382006-05-13T08:09:00.000Z2006-05-13T08:47:16.343Z

You may have an energy efficient fridge with an A rating or like me you may be stuck with the noisy, old piece of junk that your landlord provided you with. Either way, there are still steps you can take to make it more efficient. A fridge wastes most energy when you open the door - cold air drops out, warm air replaces it, the thermostat realises that the temperature has risen and it chugs away

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1147381481810393972006-05-11T20:24:00.000Z2006-05-11T21:04:41.830Z

In my ongoing quest to discover how to go green my focus recently turned to brushing my teeth. I bought, by mail order, toothpaste and mouth wash by Green People. The toothpaste proudly proclaims that it has no fluoride, no sodium lauryl sulphate, no chemically processed chalk and no aluminium contamination from the tube as it is lined with a food grade lacquer. It also professes to be 100%

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1147131821828856592006-05-08T23:28:00.000Z2006-05-11T20:10:01.540Z

Not just any farm, but Fordhall Farm - a family run farm shop selling home reared produce including grass fed beef, lamb, pork, poultry and free range eggs. For just fifty pounds you can buy a non-profit making share in the Fordhall Community Land Initiative (FCLI) with the aim to take Fordhall Farm out of private ownership and to put it into community ownership forever! For full details please

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1127038833075875862005-09-18T09:21:00.000Z2005-09-18T10:20:33.313Z

Yesterday, I had a workout in the green gym. The great outdoors. While there I worked up a sweat, and this morning I woke up with practically every muscle in my body aching. A truly great workout. For a good two hours I was helping my local Wildlife Trust clear overgrown vegetation from a small stream - a job they do every autumn. The stream, which starts way up in the Chilterns, has a gravel

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1126981850845148262005-09-17T16:43:00.000Z2005-09-17T18:34:55.226Z

Shopping for green products isn't as easy as it could be. The eco-lifestyle is, for now at least, considered an alternative lifestyle. Hopefully, this will soon change - let's face it, it's going to have to! Until all the products available in our shops are sustainably manufactured, locally produced and have no major impact on the environment, we'll have to look to alternative sources. Online

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1126905915676489342005-09-16T21:18:00.000Z2005-09-17T07:54:56.253Z

Another letter in the howtogogreen postbag. This one's from Graham at bynature.co.uk. A group of key environmental groups have launched an initiative to find out what the public think about the environment and ‘green lifestyles’. The aim is to see if a groundswell of public participation and enthusiasm can reduce pressure on the natural systems of the planet that we rely on, and all too often

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1126654758149485172005-09-13T23:16:00.000Z2005-09-16T21:39:42.633Z

This evening, I received a mail from Jon Cheek who works for Zinio. Here is what he had to say: Dear How to Go Green, My name is Jon Cheek. I am a recent college graduate concerned about the environmental impact of printing millions of college textbooks every year. Although I bought used textbooks whenever possible, I frequently had to buy new textbooks to keep up with new editions or to

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1126820139736171212005-09-15T20:00:00.000Z2005-09-15T21:35:41.186Z

Thanks to the Internet and the World Wide Web, broadcasting these days is now truly in the hands of the public. There's millions of blogs just like the one you're reading here and now a new phenomena is sweeping the digital world. Podcasts. Essentially podcasts are just a radio show saved as a file you can play on your computer or even copy to your digital mp3 player. However, through the wonders

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1126361567956124812005-09-10T13:03:00.000Z2005-09-10T14:12:47.963Z

I've got a leaky tap. It's been dripping for several days now. I haven't had the time to sort it out, but at least it's the weekend now and I can get down to my local DIY store. I was interested to see just how much water I had been wasting so I left a pint jug under the tap. It was full within three hours. That's equivalent to eight pints a day, fifty six pints a week or 364 gallons a year.

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1126128359531169352005-09-07T20:29:00.000Z2005-09-08T22:11:02.656Z

I've talked about Food Miles and how we can reduce them by buying British and visiting farmers' markets. To get the best of British, it's good to know what's in season. Some things are obvious, like apples in autumn and strawberries in summer, but there's a whole plethora of seasonal foods out there that you may not have even considered eating before. Luckily, Eat The Seasons addresses this

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1123115048575432632005-08-03T23:54:00.000Z2005-09-06T00:10:01.993Z

Just lately there has been a huge drive to make sure that dog owners clean up their dog's mess by collecting the poo in a plastic bag. This is especially important as the roundworm Toxocara canis can be passed to humans causing symptoms such as blindness and problems with the gut. The eggs of Toxocara are extremely resistant to adverse environmental conditions, and, once an area is contaminated

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1125963701514403982005-09-05T23:22:00.000Z2005-09-05T23:59:37.986Z

From the 3rd to the 11th of September it's Organic Week, brought to you by the Soil Association and sponsored by Hambledon Herbs, Whole Earth and Highland Spring. The aim is to promote organic food to those people who haven't tried it yet. There's lots of events taking place all over the country including wine tasting, farm walks and coffee mornings. Want to know how you can help? See their "10

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1124305489302419202005-08-17T18:51:00.000Z2005-08-22T23:04:03.896Z

At last, going green gets its own slot on television. Penney Poyzer - an eco-expert - uncovers wastefulness in the home and gives viewers the "know-how" to change to a greener lifestyle in a new series airing on BBC2. No Waste Like Home, a Celador production starts on Thursday 18th August. There's eight programmmes in the series, so don't miss it. We'll see what the series has to offer and report

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1124543534969601532005-08-20T12:10:00.000Z2005-08-20T13:14:35.403Z

Many portable electrical items come with their own in-built rechargeable batteries, for example, mobile phones, electric razors and laptops. Others require you to supply your own batteries. These include remote control hand sets, cameras and digital radios. Normal, use-once batteries are expensive and bad for the environment as they contribute to landfill and once there, dangerous chemicals and

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1123022029664310322005-08-02T22:17:00.000Z2005-08-04T18:42:55.320Z

If you're Irish, you may want to visit aNSwer Online, the online register of environmental research being undertaken in the island of Ireland. Indeed the site is worth a visit even if you're not from the emerald isle. As well as providing search facilities for environment-themed projects and resources, there's also a list of useful links. Also available is an shared register of Environmental

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1122750898292332412005-07-30T18:51:00.000Z2005-07-30T19:22:18.430Z

Hot on the heels of Springwatch, is Autumnwatch (I wonder what happened to Summerwatch?). Join thousands of other people and record six signs of Autumn: First ripe blackberryFirst ripe conkerLast swiftFirst flowering of ivyFirst ripe hawthorn berryFirst tint of oakFor more details, visit the site. Recording times of the year when natural phenomena occur is known as phenology. Phenologists have

caldinitag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12401909.post-1122499663625687042005-07-27T20:55:00.000Z2005-07-27T21:27:43.633Z

It was raining when I woke up this morning so I drove into work. Luckily, as it's now the summer holidays, there was no school traffic on the roads in the morning. This evening though an accident somewhere else in the town had caused "gridlock" on the roads around the area where I live. I spent most of the drive home in a continuous queue that went all the way home - the ubiquitous traffic jam

caldini