Here we are again, work, decorating, cleaning, washing sheets, hoping the weather will stay fine enough to dry them, and searching for time to write in the cracks. Weekend visitors, and more students coming shortly. Seeing friends a bit, and trying to deal with the in-tray, summon up courage to talk to the Nationwide and the Council about Council tax... so it goes.
Having had a great jag of reading I suddenly came to a grinding halt and couldn't settle to any book. After a very social and busy Easter (lots of cooking for Looping the Loop theatre fest and another trip to my father's) I hadn't had a chance to read. In the last few days though a real appetite for reading has returned, although sadly not the time to do it in. I have even borrowed books from the library - a Balzac (have read very little of the Comedie Humaine - must do better!) and "How Bad are Bananas?" by Mike Berners-Lee. This is really interesting book, about carbon footprint. It gives a discussion on a number of everyday items and activities and discusses the carbon footprint. It uses a measurement of CO2 e - i.e. the equivalent to CO2 but looking at methane and nitrous oxide (both worse greenhouse gases and heavily implicated in some of my favourite things - e.g. cheese). For the last few years I've been aware that our life styles probably doesn't consume the 17 tonnes of CO2 common to the average UK citizen - poverty, the lack of air travel and not owning a tumbler dryer have more or less guaranteed that. Berners-Lee suggests we all try to get our levels down to a more sustainable 10 tonnes p.a. and I think on the whole, we're nearly there. However, I was distressed to find what a difference a relatively small amount of regular car use could make. Unfortunately there really is nothing I can do about this - the public transport options are ludicrous, just as expensive - yes, better for the footprint - but.... And this is the trouble. We all have our "buts" - "But I had to go to the international conference in Mexico about climate change. But it was raining so I had to get the kids' clothes dry for tomorrow. and so on. I can pat myself on the back about the lack of air travel (none for 4 years - last time a single flight to Madrid - returning on the bus!) but I expect we will do a couple of trips in the next few years.
Looking at the book and feeling smug that one's not too bad is hopeless, because even if we are doing "well" how would we choose to do better - what else could we give up? Cheese, lamb, beef? I am delighted to discover that keeping our old cathode ray tv is terribly green, as is the old car, I am delighted to find that my text messages aren't too damaging and that I can drink all the water I like really. And that bananas aren't too bad at all, and thin plastic bags are actually better than paper (gulp!). But the question ought to be - what shall I give up next? Can I give up the electric fan heater I sometimes use during the day in winter when the heating is off?
The book is not about guilt tripping us - just about challenging us to reduce our carbon footprints - but you realise how difficult it is. All the things we do, we "have to" do. M is very good about getting on his bike to perform errands, and I walk about a bit - but I have yet to decide to get the shopping on foot (we did try it on bikes once... not easy). I could use the car less for really short distances - I already try to amalgamate trips - i.e. don't go to the recycling place unless I am going in that direction anyway - don't go to the big supermarkets unless I have another mission in that part of the island... and I've stopped taking "scenic" journeys - which used to be one of my little treats. Clearly driving to Sittingborne to have my hair done ought to be reconsidered in the light of this info. But...
I do like this book - it explains things fairly clearly, and outlines alternatives. It prioritises reducing carbon footprint and thus, it is hoped, affecting the course of climate change. This is useful, for years I've been prioritising not exhausting the fossil fuel supply and refusing plastic bags in favour of paper. The energy involved in the production of the latter is far greater. I have now learned about "embodied" CO2 - i.e. the stuff used in manufacturing the vehicle or tv or bag. This is all pretty basic stuff - and the fact that it comes as such a revelation to me now is an indictment of my assumption that I know "all about" green issues, simply because I was an early adopter - I knew all this stuff 40 years ago...
The terrifying thing is, we could do a lot - but will we? If even a fairly motivated person feels resistance to losing any of her CO2 producing activities or objects, how can we expect the less motivated, or the frankly sceptical to change their ways. I hate to think that we really might be going to doom ourselves; I am always confident that we'll pull something out of the hat eventually, but given what one knows of human nature, and the extent of the problem, then one can't help feeling less than totally sunny about the outlook!
Having had a great jag of reading I suddenly came to a grinding halt and couldn't settle to any book. After a very social and busy Easter (lots of cooking for Looping the Loop theatre fest and another trip to my father's) I hadn't had a chance to read. In the last few days though a real appetite for reading has returned, although sadly not the time to do it in. I have even borrowed books from the library - a Balzac (have read very little of the Comedie Humaine - must do better!) and "How Bad are Bananas?" by Mike Berners-Lee. This is really interesting book, about carbon footprint. It gives a discussion on a number of everyday items and activities and discusses the carbon footprint. It uses a measurement of CO2 e - i.e. the equivalent to CO2 but looking at methane and nitrous oxide (both worse greenhouse gases and heavily implicated in some of my favourite things - e.g. cheese). For the last few years I've been aware that our life styles probably doesn't consume the 17 tonnes of CO2 common to the average UK citizen - poverty, the lack of air travel and not owning a tumbler dryer have more or less guaranteed that. Berners-Lee suggests we all try to get our levels down to a more sustainable 10 tonnes p.a. and I think on the whole, we're nearly there. However, I was distressed to find what a difference a relatively small amount of regular car use could make. Unfortunately there really is nothing I can do about this - the public transport options are ludicrous, just as expensive - yes, better for the footprint - but.... And this is the trouble. We all have our "buts" - "But I had to go to the international conference in Mexico about climate change. But it was raining so I had to get the kids' clothes dry for tomorrow. and so on. I can pat myself on the back about the lack of air travel (none for 4 years - last time a single flight to Madrid - returning on the bus!) but I expect we will do a couple of trips in the next few years.
Looking at the book and feeling smug that one's not too bad is hopeless, because even if we are doing "well" how would we choose to do better - what else could we give up? Cheese, lamb, beef? I am delighted to discover that keeping our old cathode ray tv is terribly green, as is the old car, I am delighted to find that my text messages aren't too damaging and that I can drink all the water I like really. And that bananas aren't too bad at all, and thin plastic bags are actually better than paper (gulp!). But the question ought to be - what shall I give up next? Can I give up the electric fan heater I sometimes use during the day in winter when the heating is off?
The book is not about guilt tripping us - just about challenging us to reduce our carbon footprints - but you realise how difficult it is. All the things we do, we "have to" do. M is very good about getting on his bike to perform errands, and I walk about a bit - but I have yet to decide to get the shopping on foot (we did try it on bikes once... not easy). I could use the car less for really short distances - I already try to amalgamate trips - i.e. don't go to the recycling place unless I am going in that direction anyway - don't go to the big supermarkets unless I have another mission in that part of the island... and I've stopped taking "scenic" journeys - which used to be one of my little treats. Clearly driving to Sittingborne to have my hair done ought to be reconsidered in the light of this info. But...
I do like this book - it explains things fairly clearly, and outlines alternatives. It prioritises reducing carbon footprint and thus, it is hoped, affecting the course of climate change. This is useful, for years I've been prioritising not exhausting the fossil fuel supply and refusing plastic bags in favour of paper. The energy involved in the production of the latter is far greater. I have now learned about "embodied" CO2 - i.e. the stuff used in manufacturing the vehicle or tv or bag. This is all pretty basic stuff - and the fact that it comes as such a revelation to me now is an indictment of my assumption that I know "all about" green issues, simply because I was an early adopter - I knew all this stuff 40 years ago...
The terrifying thing is, we could do a lot - but will we? If even a fairly motivated person feels resistance to losing any of her CO2 producing activities or objects, how can we expect the less motivated, or the frankly sceptical to change their ways. I hate to think that we really might be going to doom ourselves; I am always confident that we'll pull something out of the hat eventually, but given what one knows of human nature, and the extent of the problem, then one can't help feeling less than totally sunny about the outlook!
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