Few of us know that while we think our machines are sleeping, they are actually leeching 25% of the power that they consume from us. We also don’t often think about the fact that more than half the trees chopped down in the world are used for paper.
In an ecologically challenged world, just these two facts make a compelling argument for turning to green printing. Not printing in green ink, but printing in an ecologically sustainable manner. How do you do that?
The food sitting in tins, bottles, cardboard boxes and plastic bags in your cupboards and fridges can have a huge impact on your family’s carbon emissions. Processed convenience food, is the answer for many people who need to get around the problem of a hectic lifestyle, but it has a huge disadvantage; the amount of energy required to produce it. In addition, the amount of additives, preservatives and artificial colours and flavourings contained in a lot of processed food, although being reduced by some manufacturers, is still a consideration when choosing what to buy.
Fruit and vegetables are an important part of most people’s diets, and although we all strive to hit our 5 a day quota, cooking from scratch is not possible for everybody. The fresh fruit and vegetables we buy also have important considerations however, in terms of their production and origins. Cheaply produced fruit and vegetables are usually grown intensively on a large scale, therefore likely using harmful pesticides and fertilisers to make up for the goodness lost from the soil through the intensive processes being used to grow it. In addition, the food miles our veg has travelled is an issue that can’t be ignored. Often supermarkets carry apples shipped in from New Zealand even when there are British apples on the trees in UK orchards. Where goods only grow abroad, such as bananas, pineapples and coconuts, this is obviously unavoidable unless people choose to stop eating these fruits, which will never be a practical solution to the problem. However there are still steps we can tale to reduce the carbon emissions of these items, as well as a large number of other items on the weekly shopping list.
The minds behind the Self Sufficient-ish website, which aims to help people find out about becoming more self sufficient and live a lower impact lifestyle whilst still enjoying the conveniences of modern life have published their pearls of wisdom in The Self Sufficient-ish Bible.
The 6th August 2009 saw the launch of the paperback version of Andy and Dave Hamilton’s guide to urban self sufficiency. Following on from the launch, we have an exclusive interview with one of the authors, Andy Hamilton, and posed a few questions about his thoughts on self sufficiency and how people can reduce their carbon emissions. In line with this we are giving away a free copy of the Self Sufficient-ish Bible; details available at the end of the interview.
For many people, the kitchen is the hub of the home; a busy room where lots goes on. For that reason the kitchen can also be one of the best places to start if you want to take steps to reduce your carbon footprint. The following information can help you take ten easy steps to cut carbon from your lifestyle and help make your home an eco home. In many cases, cutting your carbon emissions can also reduce the amount of money you spend running your home; money you can then spend on yourself, your family or making other more environmentally friendly choices to help green other aspects of your lifestyle too.
Most kitchens are filled with appliances, from the necessary white goods for refrigerating food and washing clothes, cooking appliances, whether gas cookers or electric ovens or microwaves, to those slightly more luxurious items and gadgets like smoothie makers and George Foreman grills. The appliances we choose to fill our homes with are a major area to consider when it comes to reducing carbon footprints and the carbon emissions of our homes, not only in terms of the energy they consume when in use, but also in the energy used to produce them in the first place and the longevity of the items. If goods don’t last long before they need to be replaced due to poor quality and unreliability, we can quickly start to contribute to the amount of waste sent off to landfill every year.
Free range is on the up, with popularity growing for both meat and egg production across the UK. Even the country’s supermarkets and businesses are getting in on the act, and about time too. But there is a concern that free range might not be all it’s cracked up to be, at least not in the long term if some revisions to current standards are rolled out across Britain’s poultry farms.
A number of UK supermarkets have made the switch and stopped selling eggs from caged birds. In addition, an increasing level of support is being shown by businesses and corporations, who have made commitments to chicken welfare by banning the use of battery eggs in the production of their food, and this is certainly a feather in their caps. Hellmann’s have switched to only using free range eggs in their mayonnaise, Little Chef, who use 13 million eggs every year, and many other companies including the BBC, Channel 4, John Lewis and Debenhams have been recognised for cutting caged eggs from the menu.
Compassion in World Farming, who have been handing out ‘Good Egg Awards’ to congratulate those who make commitments to animal welfare to companies for 3 years now, including those mentioned above, have also been involved in Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s flagship free range chicken campaign, ‘Chicken Out!’. CIWF was started 40 years ago by a farmer who was disgusted by the standards and conditions inflicted on animals under modern intensive rearing processes, and as well as working to promote free range, they work to put a stop to all cruel intensive factory farming methods.
Buying a new outfit or three is most girls’ (and a fair few men’s) idea of fun, but although throw-away fashion can satisfy most budgets, the implications of fast fashion and keeping the prices low for consumers often cost the environment a great deal more. Every single year in the UK, over 900 million items of clothing are cast aside and typically find their way straight into landfill.
One way of preventing such a waste of textile products in the UK is to recycle unwanted clothes. There are a number of options available to people to enable them to do this, such as selling them on at car boot sales or on eBay, putting them in recycling bins, such as those for textile recycling organisation TRAID, or donating them to charity shops. This ensures a new life for clothes, shoes and other textiles, as well as many other unwanted items, and also reduces the ridiculous amount of waste being shipped off to landfill each year.
Supporting charity shops also helps raise money for a wealth of causes, from third world charities like Oxfam, children’s charities such as Barnardos and NSPCC, animal organisations, both national charities like PDSA and local organisations that support local animal homes and shelters, charities supporting the elderly and infirm, and many cancer and hospice shops such as Douglas MacMillan in the Midlands, Marie Curie Cancer Care and The Donna Louise Trust. And in addition to knowing that donations given and the money you spend supporting these charities will work hard to make a difference to many lives around the world, your money will go further and your green credentials get a welcome boost. (more…)
