Category: low carbon living;

the practicalities and pitfalls of making changes to my lifestyle in an effort to reduce my own carbon footprint.

A New Life

In the midst of a gloomy English autumn and winter its not unusual to dream of escaping to a place with better weather. The change in my mood when I can see a blue sky, rather than a steely grey monotone is remarkable. For many years, that is all it was, an idle dream. We watched the TV programmes and discussed the places that people were looking at and the properties they viewed. Would we go for France or Italy or Spain or further afield? What type of place would we go for? An apartment near a golf course or with a sea view or a larger place somewhere in the countryside. These glimpses into the lives of people buying an apartment by the sea, or a French country chateau started to shift my perception. The people were from all walks of life, perhaps we too could make our dream a reality. If they could do it, then so could I.

Armed with a dream and not much else, we began to idly talk about the possibility of getting our own place in the sun. We talked about places we have been to on holiday, and if we would want to live there for longer periods of time. We start to look in estate agents windows whenever we travel, being either delighted or disappointed at the prices. Everywhere looks lovely in the sunshine. Sitting outside a café overlooking a harbour or a beautiful square feels like an attractive life, but is it sustainable beyond one or two weeks?

If we are really going to get serious about this we have to turn this conversation, pleasant though it is, into a real plan. Firstly we need to narrow down the list of possibilities, decide what we want our lives to look and feel like day to day, and build up that picture. Then at least we can match the place against the dream, and then maybe we can start to do something about it. Those TV programmes have taught me that if you are clear about what you want its easier to make a decision.

One day sitting in a pavement café in Malaga in March, having escaped a cold rainy London for a few days, the conversation starts again. Malaga is one of my favourite places to go to for a short break, its basically a city with a beach; small enough to walk around, big enough to have plenty to do, and you can sit outside without a coat in March. Could this be the place? But he says it’s a bit busy, he wants to be somewhere quieter. Its clear that we have to talk more about what we both want. This time we get out a notebook and start making lists.

It becomes clear that we want a lot of the same things, but there are also quite a few differences. I have lived in cities all my life, and so find it difficult to image not living in one, or at least a large town. He has also lived in cities all his life but wants an escape from that. We agree on a lot though, we want to escape the UK winter weather, have time to relax and enjoy simple pleasures, we want to have beautiful views to look at and have a sense of expansive space. We want it to be easy to travel to, attractive for visitors so that our friends and family will want to come and visit us, and we want to be there for extended periods of time, months rather than weeks. We do agree that the first priority is the weather in the winter, and the travel time. That narrows the geography down a bit, it’s probably going to be Southern Europe. Its time to get down to some serious research.

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is this the beginning?

I am noticing my views on life are shifting. Not travelling to and from the office 5 days a week is allowing me to discover my neighbourhood. I’ve spoken to more neighbours, usually on the Thursday ritual of showing our appreciation for key workers; than I have ever done before. Using my bicycle for leisure and exercise rather than commuting is also changing my view of London.

The roads are starting to get busier with cars, but for a few weeks, I had a glimpse of what a city could look like without them.

Traffic never disappeared completely, there was still some cars around and buses were continuing to run their routes; but the spectacle of many roads completely car free felt as special as coming across a beautiful, magnificent vista after a long uphill walk to its vantage point.

The sound of birds returned to the parks and streets previously dominated by the roar of traffic. The previously ubiquitous noise was now almost shocking in its absence.

As I cycled I could feel my pace slowing down, no longer felling it necessary to keep up with the flow of the cars. My attention changed, from looking out for my own safety to looking out for the safety of the pedestrians, who were also relishing the freedom to step off the pavement. The tarmac had been reclaimed by people, the barrier between pavement and road blurred by the absence of speeding traffic, and the desire to spread out a bit. Pedestrians and cyclists seemed to navigate around each other quite easily, now that the cyclists could free themselves from riding in the gutter. The space felt glorious. It was strange to feel that I was now the most dangerous thing on the road.

Swapping two wheels for two feet, London had never looked so beautiful. The ability to stop and look at buildings instead of focusing on dodging through a crowd, eyes constantly scanning for the gap, always in a rush to get from A to B felt strange at first. The museums and galleries may be closed but the streets and buildings were showing me their history in a different way. Looking up beyond the shuttered modern shop fronts I saw glimpses of the London that Dickens knew in the narrow houses and mullioned windows. The upstairs downstairs lives lived in the homes on the grand garden squares, now taken over by company headquarters and hotels. The shadows of the painted wall signs left over from the butchers, bakers and tobacco shops that preceded the global brands.

The homeless had disappeared from doorways into vacant hotel rooms, those few weeks now feel like a slight bright star in an otherwise dark and scary time.

Queues of traffic are returning and yesterday I saw a man in the doorway of a bank huddled down even though the day was warm, and holding out a paper cup.

We are now all being encouraged to cycle and walk and to stay off public transport. I switched to cycling for my commute some time ago, and can understand that this will feel impossible to many. The increase in cars on the road may make it more frightening and difficult for those that do give it a try. If enough people brave it, then it could be the start of a new phase, and maybe pedestrians and cyclists don’t have to lose the territory the virus helped them to reclaim

Tags life in lockdown, London life, low carbon living; cycling

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Life in lockdown

There wasn’t a VE day party on my street yesterday, but many other streets had really got into the spirit. On my daily walk to the park I passed streets decorated with flags and bunting, music spilling out from open windows, families and neighbours chatting and drinking together, the sunshine helping the good feelings along. It looked like some of the rules of social distancing were being bent if not completely broken, and there was not a face mask in sight, which surprised me. Since lockdown began I have been astounded at how compliant people have been with the restrictions imposed on our freedom. There have been some small rebellions, but mostly people have stayed home. It also seems that wearing some sort of face covering has become a must have accessory quicker than any designer handbag, but I guess it’s a bit difficult with a glass of rosé.
Is everyone anticipating the relaxation of some of the restrictions, and just starting a bit early? The signals have been leaking out over the past few days. I can imagine Boris working on his speech, trying to emulate his hero Churchill. Being surrounded by the VE day anniversary in the street and on the tv makes the comparisons even more vivid.
We hear the language of war every day. It would seem that all we need to win this particular battle is good old British pluck, a bit of pulling together, our fighting spirit and tenacity. There is little talk of strategies or plans, nor how resources are being organised and allocated. That’s all a bit tedious and boring, not very British, that isn’t how we won the war!. We prefer stirring speeches and armies of ordinary people tearing up their old sheets to make PPE.

In Germany it seems that their approach also conforms to national stereotypes. They appear organised and strategic. Having a good plan and sticking to it does not make for a great dramatic twist when success is grasped from the jaws of failure, but I’m betting on Angela not Boris emerging as the staring role in this movie.

Perhaps this time victory will not take six years, perhaps this really will be all over by Christmas.

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Planting trees

Thanks to Saranda Grey who has alerted me to the search site Ecosia. They plant trees if you use their search. Just use that instead of google.

Tags low carbon living;, trees

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The Market

I felt a bit strange at the market. The veg was all on display in little plastic bowls some of it obviously past its best, but some of it great. The ban on the thin plastic bags hasn’t hit market traders. They are still handing them out by the bucket load. The transactions were well practised, with the customers either pointing to or saying what they wanted, the stallholder mechanically pouring the contents of the bowl into a plastic bag, and being ready with the next one immediately. The pricing at £1 a bowl meant that queues moved quite quickly.

I took my own supermarket bags for life, much to the bemusement of the stallholders. I could feel the strange looks as I handed over my bags to be filled. One stallholder saying, don’t worry we don’t charge for bags. And I responded with, its not the money, it’s the planet I’m worried about. A few grins were exchanged, but mostly it felt like I was slowing down the well practised routine. The shopping trolley was de rigour in this street market. I could see why. The prices encouraged buying, and food is heavy.

The sights sounds and smells transported me to my childhood, where I had spent many a Saturday being dragged around the local indoor market by my parents, until a Tesco opened up and they shifted their allegiance, seemingly preferring food to be prepacked into uniform portions and quantities, instead of specifying the number of apples or slices of ham that they wanted.

This was a street market not a fancy farmers market. There were stalls that sold everything from clothes, toys, jewellery, copycat perfume, fabrics, ribbons as well as fruit and veg, and one or two fish stalls, the ice from their cold packs slowly melting and dripping into the gutter. There was plenty of bellowing about the goods on offer, mainly from the veg stalls. Those selling pots and pans or towels didn’t seem to feel the need. I was surprised how good it felt to talk to people as I did my shopping rather than anonymously filling a wheeled, wire trolley and taking it to the auto check out, even being called “darling” didn’t make me scowl.

I decided that the length of the queue at the stall was the best indicator of the quality of the goods on offer, after all with all this choice; there must be something to make it worth the wait.

I wanted to buy loads more. But remembering that I was restricted to what I could carry on my bike. I had to prioritise. I I could carry enough fruit and veg to last us the week, but I did have to make some tough choices. The thought of the big bowl of blueberries that I had to not buy still lingers. The shopping trip took a bit longer, but not that much. I had no hard plastic containers to dispose of, and I spent a lot less than I would have done at the supermarket. I reckon I saved about one third in terms of cost. I thought that was well worth the extra time it took.

The moment of truth came with the cooking and the eating. The fruit was ripe, not rock hard and tasted fantastic. It might not last much beyond a few days, but it tastes so nice I don’t think it will be sitting in the fruit bowl for very long. The veg seemed better for not being bagged up and chilled to within an inch of its life.

This is an easy switch for me to make. I actually enjoyed this shopping trip, in stark contrast to the supermarket where passing over the threshold turns me into some sort of zombie, and I want to run out screaming within about 10 minutes. I’ve saved petrol and packaging. I also feel better for spending my cash with the stall holders than with the supermarkets.

Tags low carbon living; cycling; shopping; plastics

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Shopping and Cycling

I am inspired by a TV programme I caught by accident whilst channel surfing. It showed a young couple and their child who were living on a boat in Greece. The woman had to swim one mile to the shore to go to the supermarket after her husband had failed to catch some fish. She had a waterproof bag that she towed along with her as she swam. Now that looked really inconvenient. If she could do that, then I can surely make a cycle trip to a supermarket.

Our usual habit of just getting a trolley and filling it would no longer be an option. Now we would have to plan the meals we want to eat and buy only what we need. I was nervous about this; it felt like a loss of freedom, Just writing that down makes me feel a bit pathetic. Many people in the world really don’t have any freedoms, and I am getting anxious about having to stick to a meal plan for a couple of days. My main worry is how he is going to react. Women are most often painted as fickle, but in my little household it’s him who is the one who changes his mind. He takes the art of keeping all options open to a new level. So far, my lifestyle changing endeavours have had no direct impact on him, he says he’s supportive of my efforts, but I wonder if committing to a particular meal two days ahead of time, and having no plan B might be a step too far, especially since he does most of the actual cooking.

I decide to approach this with a bit of creativity, perhaps we can still have the “what do you fancy for dinner conversation” but it will be limited to “what do you fancy for dinner that uses three particular ingredients, none of which have been wrapped in plastic.” I have to try and make this an attractive proposition to him, so I make an appeal to his inner geek. After I have explained the challenge, and bribed him with the promise that it means he doesn’t have to drive me to the supermarket, and so can spend the time watching the rugby or anything else he wants to do, he gets really into it. All the cookery books get brought out, and he starts cross referencing ingredients to give us the most options. About an hour later he presents me with a matrix of recipes and ingredients. I resist the temptation to say anything about his ideas, keeping my powder dry for the “why can’t we eat meat” moment.

I feel quite intrepid as I cycle to the supermarket. It’s not far, and I can take a shortcut down the canal towpath, making for a much more pleasant journey than the usual battle through the traffic in the car. I have panniers and a back pack, my shopping list and I am confident that all will be well.

Then it hits me. It’s the packaging. All the vegetables that are on my list are either pre packed in a plastic bag, or individually wrapped in plastic film. I am rooted to the spot next to the potatoes filled with indecision. The number of “sorry’s “and “excuse me’s” build up as people are forced to manoeuvre their trolleys round me, and I scuttle away into the in store café. I nurse my coffee (china mug not take away cup) and study the list again, trying to think of alternatives that don’t involve going to the butchers counter. Which is worse, plastic covered vegetables, or non plastic covered but high carbon produced meat? All these new dilemmas to navigate make my head spin.

I realise that shopping in a supermarket is going to be a thing of the past for me. I leave and get back on my bike. It’s down to the market for me.

Tags low carbon living; cycling, plastic packaging

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Cycling # 3 shopping

Its amazing the amount of shopping you can carry in a couple of panniers. The benefit is that you don’t have to carry the bags in your hands.

Tags cycling, low carbon living

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the commute #2

I’ve been caught out by gloves. Cycling has been OK, the rain is not too bad, the waterproofs work better than I expected. Yesterday the temperature dropped quite significantly, there were snowflakes in the rain. I didn’t quite realise how much it would affect my hands. I found a good solution though; wear two pairs of gloves. Luckily I had my thinner pair of gloves in my bag. The ones for use when I’m off the bike. I managed to squeeze my cycling gloves on over the top and it was all OK.

Cycling in the rain isn’t the most pleasant thing to do, but then neither is walking down the road and waiting for the bus, getting your umbrella turned inside out by the wind, whilst juggling a bag and an oyster card. All in all I think I prefer the bike. I have calculated that I am actually getting to work quicker. And apart from the hands, the rest of my body warms up quickly as soon as I start peddling. The waterproof outfit is not flattering, but no ones looking. I feel better in just a week. It feels like I’m getting a bit more fresh(ish) air and exercise, something that is really easy to miss in the winter.

Tags cycling, cycling commute in winter, low carbon living;, low carbon living; cycling

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Plastics #2

I have to be away from home for a night, so I pack a water bottle, and put a few pieces of fruit in my bag so that I can avoid the plastic packaging of snacks and drinks. I am staying in the Holiday Inn Express. The low budget chain has initiated a number of changes to the hotel experience, I am sure that cost control is the primary motive, but if they also reduce plastic waste, then I’m OK with that. There is only a shower, no bath, there is also a dispenser in the shower containing shampoo and shower gel, I’m disappointed for a moment, it means I can’t have that little pleasure of taking the little bottles away with me when I leave, but that is a small price to pay. The bathroom also has plastic glasses, that are in plastic bags, presumably to show that they are hygienic, and not used. So Holiday Inn you lose all the brownie points you won with the soap dispensers.

As I look around the room, I notice the bins, more specifically the bin liners, I’ve never thought too much about bin liners before. The bin in my room has one tea bag in it at the end of my stay. That plastic bin liner will be collected by the cleaner, put into another bigger plastic bin liner, then sent off to landfill. Surely there must be a better way of dealing with the rubbish? The Tea bag came in a paper wrapper, and I put that in my bag instead of the bin, for later deposit into a recycling bin.

This was an eye opener, I use bin liners, I am questioning why, and if I can deal with my rubbish at home without using them, or is this a step too far. Surely there was a time before they were invented, what did people do? I realise the plastic problem goes beyond the shopping bag, and its going to be really hard for me to reduce a lot of the other plastic that is embedded into society, the vegetables and bread that come bagged, the plastic wrapped magazine in the Sunday newspaper and all the rest.

Even if I recycle all the plastic bags that come into my home, there is still everything else that I have no control over. It starts to feel overwhelming.

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Plastics

I am travelling North on a train, watching the waterlogged fields pass by the window. I have made this journey countless times, and I have never seen the landscape look like this. It’s as if the whole country is trying to be a new lake district.

Sometimes it feels difficult to make the link between what I do every day, and the freaky weather that brings floods and heartbreak to so many people. Plastics are the evil poster child in relation to climate change. We know that plastics get into the oceans, kill fish, other sea creatures and birds and are ugly when the wash up on beaches. I’m not certain of their contribution to carbon, but as a by-product of the petro chemical industry, they must have something to do with it. Surely its pretty easy to stop using plastic bags. After all, the government and large stores are incentivising us by charging 5p every time we forget to take our own bag with us. Why is it that since the introduction of the 5p charge, we are apparently all using more plastic bags not less? I think it will be pretty easy for me to go a week without using a plastic bag for my shopping, and so I want to try and take it a bit further, and avoid all plastic packaging. I’m interested to notice what choices I am forced to make by the packaging industry.

Tags climate change