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.
Most people are familiar with the sounds of Spring Watch announcing its return to TV each year, with its hidden cameras keeping an eye on the antics of the creatures living in and around the farm site in the south of England. With the glimpses of sun and signs of spring, we decided that we should do our own bit of Spring Watching. Well, not in the sense of Bill Oddie keeping tabs on frog action in the local pond, or Kate Humble spying on badgers, but that is an idea for the future perhaps. Looking around in the hedgerows and gardens, there really is the sense that spring has finally sprung. Of course we won’t be safe in the knowledge that the frosts are gone for a good month yet, but everywhere you look there are many varieties of daffodils nodding their heads in the breeze (perhaps wind would be more accurate, especially for how breezy today has been!) and crocuses opening their petals to the sun, in shades of lavender and yellow, white and deep purple.
Apart from the colourful displays of spring bulbs decorating the towns and villages, I was really pleased over the weekend to find a cluster of frogspawn tucked away in the corner of the pond. It’s good to know that some of the local frogs managed to escape the clutches of the many patrolling cats of the neighbourhood! I always think there’s nothing like the colour and new life of spring to make you feel happier; whether it’s the anticipation of watching those tiny black dots grow bigger, then escape their jelly homes to test the water as tadpoles, until their little limbs develop and they seek out dry land; or the joyous bounding energy of new-born lambs dancing across the fields, or even down to the first unfurling leaves of a willow tree that has stood naked all winter with its whip-like branches hanging about its trunk. (more…)
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…)
For a few years now alpacas have been increasing in popularity, mainly because of their sought-after fleeces which are much softer than sheeps wool, and you have to admit, they are beautiful looking animals to have around too. The popularity of alpaca wool is largely thanks to Sir Titus Salt, a Yorkshire born entrepreneur who joined his father in the wool trade at the age of 18, who discovered the fleece for sale at Liverpool docks. He went on to create garments with the fleece which were popular with the upper class and from this went on to build his own mill.
Today there are many small scale producers of the wool, and some of these sell the fleece through websites making it more accessible to those who don’t have the space to keep their own alpacas, but love the quality and lustre of the wool and wish to use it for spinning or weaving, and to make homemade items from shawls and blankets to socks and hats and even super-soft fluffy teddy bears. (more…)
As the first rays of sunshine peer through the clouds we’re given an inkling that maybe, just maybe spring could be around the corner. Of course things can change so quickly we’ll probably be scraping frost from the windscreen before setting off to work by the end of the week, but we can but hope! One thing for sure however, is that now is the time for preparation.
As the cold winter days are starting to subside and the ground is warming up, now is the ideal time to get yourself outside into the fresh air and start to tend to the Veg Plot. Although sowing seeds is not a good idea, as they will likely rot, digging in manure and making repairs to raised beds or building new ones are good jobs for the winter months and will help keep you warm while you work.
If you don’t feel quite ready to don the wellies yet however, you can always get the seed preparations underway. Garden centres are full of displays of seeds, onion sets and seed potatoes. However the first stage isn’t necessarily to go and throw ten packets of veg seeds in a basket just to feel as though you’ve done something. An hour or two spent laying out some plans for what you want to grow and designing the layout for the year would be time well invested. (more…)
Most people have heard of tea tree and know it to be beneficial, however most people would associate it with skin products for drying up spots or chemist bought products for treating headlice. The uses for tea tree however are far ranging, and although most are due to it’s antibacterial action, because of it’s suitability for a range of applications, keeping a bottle of the oil in your medicine cupboard is well worth it.
This article aims to provide a comprehensive guide to the applications of tea tree oil, and in many cases, tea tree can be an effective alternative to many chemically produced products on the market. In addition, what could be better than one ‘cure all’ product to cover many things instead of paying out 4 or 5 times as much money for 4 or 5 different products that you many only use once, then they sit on the shelf, often not used again before their use by date. So even before we look at the many uses for this wonderful essential oil, there is already an argument that alternative remedies can be more cost effective!
As mentioned at the start of the article, one of the most well known uses for tea tree oil is as an astringent for drying up spots. Tea tree can easily be found in small glass bottles with a dropper top which makes it really easy to add to cotton wool or cotton buds for application to the necessary area. A couple of drops of neat oil on a cotton bud can be dabbed onto the surface of a spot, and the surrounding area, to help dry out the grease build up on the skin. You will often see results in a couple of days, maybe less if applied twice or three times throughout the day, and the overall time taken to heal is reduced too. (more…)
