Christmas bah Humbug Environment

I find it difficult to believe that we are on the countdown to Christmas 2009 - where has 2009 gone? For the past few weeks you couldn’t avoid being bombarded with the pre Christmas retail hype. Seriously, each year the retail industry seems to start their Christmas marketing earlier and earlier. A couple of weeks ago, I heard one of the money experts on the radio having a go at the commercialism of Christmas and how it in effect changes our behaviour, with everyone ‘blackmailed’ into buying, buying and buying. OK yes, Christmas is very important for the economic survival of many shops but it becomes a competition between the corporate giants, which I believe  is not really what Christmas is about. This year however, we as a family have decided that we will have a Ho-Ho-Home Made Christmas, so we won’t be rushing out to join the crowds in the run up to Christmas. So it’s going to be a really exciting Christmas and I think we are all looking forward to it. The one shop I will recommend is the Do the Green Thing shop “Amazero”, they have fantastic offers. Try it out, I can guarantee that you will not be disappointed. I certainly was not disappointed with my first purchase of Nothing. Check out what they do and give consideration to their seven tips to reduce our impact on the environment.

1. Rather than jump in the car, walk the walk
2. Really think about the high environmental costs of flying, stay grounded
3. Rather than throw something away and replacing it, wear it or use it more.
4. Go easy on the meat, because believe it or not, the way we rear our animals, it produces more CO2 than the car industry.
5. Turning down the thermostat by 1degree can have a marked effect on ur CO2 emissions. Better still put on some extra clothes and turn the central heating off.
6. Even on stanby your electrical items still consume a lot of electricity so switch off and pull the plug out.
7. Stick with what you have got. Do you really need that new phone or lap top?

It is not going to be easy to ensure that we all do our bit to help reduce the green house gases and the impacts of climate change, but we can make a difference.

One of the best gifts I think that we could all get for Christmas is an agreement on climate change and reductions in CO2 emissions. So with the days rapidly approaching for the UN Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change our eyes are on the world leaders and what steps they are prepared to take. Sadly, there appears to be little chance of a legally binding agreement but who knows what may happen. Basically what we have to do to try and keep global warming below the projected and dangerous +2oC rise, is to reduce our CO2 emissions by 40% relative to our 1990 levels. Our long term aspiration must be a low carbon economy. So it will require something short of a miracle to get the world leaders to agree new legally binding targets. I will no doubt keep you posted on their progress.
In the meantime if you would like to know what more you can do, then drop me an e-mail or phone me on 01874 638 979
Have a great Advent

Chris

Ethical man versus the Petrol-head

I don’t think my eldest son forgave me for high jacking his Facebook entry the other day when I demonstrated little sympathy for him having to travel by train and put a link on his website to my Blog. So with his impeccable style and charisma, he somehow tracked down the BBC’s “ethical man”, Justin Rowlatt and his article on how the car could actually been greener than public transport.

My first car was a Mini like this

I actually have a great deal of sympathy for anyone who has been forced to give up their car. Since passing my driving test all those years ago, the car has been part of my life and that of my family. We’ve driven the kids to school in them, dragged them round National Trust properties, taken them on holiday and provided the family taxi service until they could drive themselves. Jonathan was whinging last week that he had to take the train to meetings in Glasgow and Edinburgh and I had little sympathy, but it has got me thinking, could I give up my car?

For my recent birthday, a very dear friend gave me among other things a book by Colin Beavan called “No Impact Man”. I am only half way through it but the book is about how he and his family embarked on a project to minimise their impact on the environment. The book is sub titled “The adventures of a guilty liberal who attempts to save the planet and the discoveries he makes about himself and our way of life in the process”. To say that I am engrossed in the book would be an understatement. I think it has got both me and my dear wife thinking that our own efforts to reduce our impact on the environment are fairly half hearted. Before rushing off and doing something rash we will both wait until we finish the book. But already I suspect that there will be some easy options and many more challenging.

So back to the dear old automobile, could I live without my car? The quick answer is I don’t know. We live in a very rural area, with very few services. Very few buses, no trains (nearest station is an hours drive away) and definitely no underground. Obviously, if I share my car when I go somewhere, then I could reduce my impact and carbon emissions. Could I cycle to Brecon (to the bus interchange) or Swansea (nearest rail station)? Going back to my last post, could I afford the rail fares? There is clearly some work to be done on our transport options. I need to weigh up the time travelling and the opportunities to do work on the public transport journey, with the convenience and costs of using my car. Of course, if I didn’t have a car, then this debate would be academic! Somehow I suspect that I will be returning to this subject again. So in the meantime, I will try when possible to use public transport as I did last week, but I will drive to the station, for the moment at least.

If you would like to know more about what you could do to improve your environmental performance give me a call 01874 638979 or e-mail me. I am shortly going to roll out a series of seminars/workshops on business and the environment and how you can save money from your waste and energy costs.

As always keep thinking about your environmental impact.

Keep smiling

Chris

Transport- what a cost

It seems an age since we got back from holiday, but life has been rather busy these last three weeks. However, I couldn’t help smile when I read last week that a walk in train ticket from Newquay in Cornwall to Kyle of Lochalsh is now £1002. Hardly a price to encourage anyone to take the train. It would also take you just over 25 hours to get there. You can see why people choose to find alternative ways of travel. Oh, I did forget that this was for a first class ticket. So a quick web search throws up a price of £456 for an open second class return and £244 for an off peak return. It also takes 28 hours. Not that anybody would just take the train to Lochalsh, there would be an onward journey say to Skye or up to Ullapool.

The Kyle is not an easy place to get to easily by public transport so I thought that I would look at another fairly long journey from Bristol to Inverness. So what are the options? You could fly to Inverness (Flying easy jet from Bristol to Inverness will set you back as little as £30 but can be over £250 dependant on when you fly but takes only 90 minutes), drive (529 miles and just over 9 hours) or you could opt for a bus to get to Inverness from Bristol (15 hours), you still have to find £72. There seems to be little logic in our approach to public transport in the UK. The train will take 10 hours and cost you £160.

Time and Cost

Bus 15 hours £72pp

Plane 90 minutes £30 - £250pp

Train 10 hours £160pp

Car 9 hours £65





When you consider that by flying you have to get to and from the airport, you could allow an extra 3 hours, so the total time jumps up to 4 and ½ hours. This still is better timing than the bus or train, but think about the Green House Gases and the impact on the environment. The prices and times are such that there is little encouragement to leave the car behind, especially if there are several of you travelling.



However on the environmental side the big bus companies have come together to promote bus travel to save the environment. The campaign is to encourage people to get out of their cars and onto buses and coaches; a quick and cost-effective way to reduce carbon emissions. It is called the “One billion challenge”

Switching from car to bus or coach for just one journey in 25 could save 2 million tonnes of CO2…



• That would mean one billion fewer car journeys on our roads …

• 50% more CO2 savings from transport than planned by the Government

• And it could be achieved in just three years if everyone played their part

If they reach their goal, there will be a reduction of 2 million tonnes of CO2, which would deliver an additional 50% reduction in CO2 from domestic transport to that anticipated over the same period by current Government policies. These measures would see both existing and new passengers attracted by added comfort, reliability and convenience, choosing to travel more often by bus or coach instead of car.



To succeed in the ONE BILLION Challenge, all they need is for car drivers to make one in 25 journeys previously made by car by bus instead. Here are some small changes that can make a big impact:

• Make just one extra commute by bus or coach a month

• Three out of every 100 parents letting their children travel to school by bus

• Every couple of months taking the bus to the town centre to do the shopping instead of the car

• Instead of driving to the bank, the doctor or the hairdresser, just take the bus

• Do one leisure trip per month by bus or coach – such as taking the bus to the cinema, for a day out, or to visit friends



So good luck to them I will do my bit. But what about the government putting subsidies into bus and coach travel to encourage more of us to get on board.

I wonder how many world leaders will use public transport to the Copenhagen?

Chris
Future Directions