Friday 7 November 2008

Baby steps to green living....

5 simple ways to go green right now!! Join me in changing the way we live for a greener (and cheaper) future...

1. Eat less meat - I actually learnt this off the kids cbbc website, oops! It costs more and uses more energy to raise 1 kg of meat than 1kg of non meat food (crops etc). Making a change to a few more meat free meals will not only help the environment but your purse too!
We've gone slightly further and gone totally meat free at home now, but make sure you dont just buy meat replacement products, get out your cookbooks and try wholefood recipes, better still grow your own ingredients.

2. Change your lightbulbs - Low energy lightbulbs use less electric and can save you money. We changed our main lights ages ago but never got around to the moredifficult fittings in lamps etc. Tesco have a promotion on instore now for buy one get one free or even £2 bulbs down to 40p each when you buy 5. Lots of different fittings available!!!

3. Save water - Keep a container by the sink to save the water wasted down the plughole whilst you wait for the warm tap to heat up. This can be used later in the day. Fill a jug with the amount of water you need for your cuppa then pour it into the kettle, so you only heat what you need! If you do boil too much pour it into a flask for hot water needed later!!

4. Carry a couple of reuseable bags inside your handbag for unexpected shops and keep some heavy duty bags in your boot for the grocery shop.

5. Thing twice before parting with your money and buying something. Do you really need it? Can the old one be repaired? Can you get it cheaper elsewhere? How much will it cost you in the long run (running cost etc.) I've put off several buys in the last week.
, not replacing one item, fixing another and buying an alternative for the third saving me £15!!


These are all things i've changed or done in the last week, how are you getting greener?

Wednesday 5 November 2008

I found this quote today from the book "Better Off" by Eric Brende... on the consumption rebellion blog

The rich man from the North came by one day and saw the southern fisherman sitting, just sitting by the water. This horrified him.
'What are you doing?' he asked.
'I'm sitting,' replied the fisherman.
'Why aren't you out there fishing?'
'I've caught enough fish for one day,' he said.
'Don't you know,' returned the rich man, 'that if you continued, you could earn more money, and with that, buy another boat? With two boats you catch even more fish and pretty soon you'd have a whole fleet of boats. Then you'd be rich like me.'
'What would I do then?' asked the fisherman.
'Then you could really enjoy life.'
Replied the fisherman, 'What do you think I'm doing right now?'"

Doesn't that just sum it all up?