Recent Comments

1. See An Inconvenient Truth. - 24 Jan 2007

   I bought the DVD cos I missed it in the cinema, and I now have a queue of people waiting to borrow it off me. Several are organising groups of friends to watch it with them. The extra section on what has happened in the year between the making of the film and the release of the DVD is worth watching, too.

2. Become A Blood Donor - 24 Jan 2007

   I have just donated very nearly an armful for the second time, and want to do it as often as I can – I think that’s about four times a year – to make up for all the gallons of blood I’ve hogged all my life. It is a very easy way to feel good.

3. Get Rid of Your Car - OK, ambitious, but... - 24 Jan 2007

   I’m cheating a bit, as I can’t drive and have always got around on my bike. My wife drives a small car, but… a) I’m trying to persuade her to buy a motor scooter and join a car club, b) I try never to ask her or anyone else for a lift anywhere and c) I’ve just bought her a MagnoFuel (see http://www.ecozone.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=555), which is supposed to make her car 10-15% more fuel-efficient. We’ll see. By the way, has anyone else used a MagnoFuel? If they work, how come everyone isn’t using them? (Same question as with Ecoballs, I guess…)

4. Wear Your 'Make Poverty History' Band - 24 Jan 2007

   Still wearing mine, though it’s a bit grey now. It isn’t as if poverty is history yet…

5. Switch To Energy Saving Lightbulbs - 24 Jan 2007

   I got into these long ago, when they still cost an arm and a leg, just because I like novelties; and all but one of mine are still shining away after many years. But I’ve just discovered the Biobulb (see http://www.ecozone.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=488). It’s expensive at a tenner a bulb (I bought a pack of five and found takers for the other four), but it’s amazing! It burns 25 watts but floods the room with a cold, northern daylight which is apparently (and it seems to be working for me) a good antidote to SAD. The bulb is also a nice shape, by the way.

6. Put Eco Balls in your Washing Machine - 24 Jan 2007

   I’ve just started using these, and so far so good. I’ve also bought some soapnuts as a back-up. I’m trying to work out how I can save the water that comes out of the back of our washing machine so I could put it on the garden. Does anyone have any ideas?

7. Improve your home's energy efficiency - 24 Jan 2007

   We have just forked out a small fortune to replace our 23-year-old-at-least boiler with a condensing job. No way will we ever recoup the cost, but it’s got to be done. I looked into insulating our loft to a depth of 10 inches – I got all excited that the insulating material Which? made its best buy was both one of the cheapest and made out of recycled paper – but I worked out it would take 16 years to recoup the cost. If our country was run by people who had genuinely Got the Idea, the government would pay from the public purse for every loft to be properly insulated in the next 12 months. It would create loads of work for all the East Europeans who are supposed to be flooding into Britain, plus it would boost the market for recycled paper, and it would probably mean they could close down Drax power station. As long as it is incumbent on homeowners to pay for loft insulation, a lot of lofts are never going to be done, as it takes so many years to recoup the cost. We’ve got about four inches of insulation at present, and of all the houses in our street, ours is one of the few whose roof is still covered in snow…

8. Put A Save-A-Flush Device In Your Cistern - 05 Mar 2007

   Actually, I haven’t done this and don’t intend to – but instead I am pursuing the same policy that (apparently) Ken Livingstone pursues in his private life, which is summed up by the Aussies as:

   If it’s brown, flush it down. If it’s yellow, let it mellow.

   I can’t persuade the rest of my family to follow suit, but we do have a dual-flush cistern, so…

   There is nothing unhygienic about pee – in fact, it has antiseptic properties – and it strikes me that if everyone observed the Aussie rule, the savings would be colossal.