Carbon-abuse ‘worse than drink-driving’

Nine in Ten admit they lie about their lifestyles. (TheTimes)

The article goes on to claim that flaunting your green credentials has taken over from buying a bigger car or installing the latest electronic gadget as the preferred means of getting one over on the neighbours.

Here is a list of Brownie Points to be given for 19 actions. (Half points for honest excuses eg broken leg, bad back, live in one room on the top floor)

• Walk, cycle or take Public transport.
• Grow your own vegetables and flowers.
• Time the families showers.
• Put a brick in the cistern.(A plastic bottle is safer, no gritty bits)
• Insulate your home.
• Collect rainwater in barrels in the garden.
• Compost food waste.
• Recycle other waste.
• Use renewable energy.
• Install solar panels or wind turbines ( No excuses, we built our first solar panel in 1975).
• Refuse to holiday abroad
• Use a manual lawnmower (Anyone know where to buy one?)
• Use only long-life bulbs.
• By locally produced food to cut food miles.(No strawberries in the winter)
• Turn off appliances instead of standby
• Use only wood products from sustainable forests
• Ditch using plastic bags. - Then you would have to buy bin liners or use newspaper!
• Turn the heating down.
• Be buried in a wood with a tree planted on top.

My score is 15. Whats yours? Any more ways we can save Energy & Money painlessly?