#26 Help Save the Planet

The book has a checklist for this one. It asks if I recycle:
Paper? Yes
Glass? Yes
Plastic? Yes
Tin? Yes
Cans? Yes

We're pretty lucky where we live as our council provide us with 2 wheelie bins, one for general household waste, and one for recyclables which covers just about everything, except glass, but they gave us a separate box for that. We don't even have to sort the stuff out, just chuck it in willy-nilly. I've been thinking though, if we didn't have it so easy, would I still recycle as much? True, we used to keep the glass and take it to the bottle bank before we got the glass collection box. But I can't honestly say I'd make a huge effort to keep all our paper, cardboard, plastic, cans, etc if we didn't have a bin for it right outside the front door. Primarily because our house is just too small. If we lived somewhere more spacious I could see myself being all fussy about having well organised boxes to sort it all into.

The book also asks how often I:

Forget to recycle? Almost never. As I said, it's so easy to do it, I can feel really virtuous without having to exert myself at all!

Turn lights off when you leave the room? Not as often as I should. The husband frequently nags me about this. What generally happens is I leave one room to fetch or do something in another, with the express intention of going back to the first room straight away, therefore leaving the light on. And, I confess, I sometimes get distracted in the new room and don't end up going back to the first room for some time. We have got round this to some degree by using energy saving light bulbs all over the house, which, these days, give out a nice bright light. What we haven't managed to get round is my general dizziness....

Leave power switches on? Sometimes. Now, I'm a bit confused by this one. Do they mean leaving things on standby? Because we don't do that. However, if they mean just leaving things plugged in with the plug point switched on, then I have to say we do that a lot. Is that bad? Surely if you're not using something and it's not on standby it won't be using any power, will it? I would be grateful if you could help me out with this one!

Ask for a lift in the car when you could walk, bus or bike it? Often.... (hangs head in shame). I will admit to being pretty bad on this one. I drive everywhere. I cycle a lot too, but only for recreation, not usually for trips that would otherwise have been made in the car. In my defence I do sometimes get the train to work, but as I don't live within (sensible) walking distance of the train station that involves using the car to take me to the station. And getting the train doesn't make economic sense as the fares are so blooming high. As a couple we are fairly good only having one car, and the husband cycles to work to limit the daily joint commute. Occasionally I will walk to the local shop if we need something, which is about a mile away, but only if it's not something we need in a hurry. OK, I will try and be better on this one....

Fill the kettle with more water than you need? Rarely. Apart from the energy saving aspect, if you overfill it you just have to wait longer for your cup of tea. Boo to that.

Leave the tap running when you're not using it? Rarely, if ever. Got this one nailed I think. And we're not even on a water meter!

The book also wonders if I've ever persuaded someone else to start saving energy or recycle? I'm sure I have. I remind people at work to use the paper recycling bin and am asking you all now to make steps to recycle as much as you can - and this doesn't just mean giving your rubbish to the council to recycle. What about keeping the fronts of greetings cards you have been given and using them as postcards? Or re-using carrier bags, as bags for your next shopping trip, or as bin bags? And don't just chuck clothes you don't wear anymore - give them to a charity shop, or clothing bank. And if you're clearing stuff out, why not see if someone else wants it? Use www.uk.freecycle.org to give your things a new home.

And it asks if I have ever campaigned for a greener world? I remember getting a letter from Sting when I was about 10 or 11. I think he was writing on behalf of the Rainforest Foundation and I think I'd written to them as part of a school project. I was well chuffed with this letter. I had never heard of Sting before but knew he must be someone famous and I didn't care that the letter was a facsimile, it was addressed to me, and I don't think I got much post at that age. More recently I have campaigned to save the rainforests by signing up to The Prince's Rainforests Project (www.rainforestsos.org) - which is headed up by Prince Charles, who I think is a jolly good egg.

So, I've done all the above, I've watched 'An Inconvenient Truth' (and have to say it left me LESS convinced about climate change, which I know wasn't the aim), I have offset my carbon emissions when I have travelled by airplane, I make an effort to buy Grade A energy efficient appliances and we virtually never chuck food away (good grief, the mere thought makes me shudder), but - I could probably do more to help the planet and thinking about this has given me an idea how I could complete another of my things to do!....

Do post a comment for other ideas how I (and others) can help save the planet, if you've got any good ones.

Green star for me - how appropriate!