Inspiring Changes

The Independent ran an article recently which highlighted lots of inspiring examples of people making various little everyday changes to begin to live more sustainably. Sometimes the way the media reports news about the environment can seem overwhelmingly negative, but I’ve learned to treasure positive reporting! There are so many small changes we can all make to improve the situation, for me it’s always a case of ‘hope springs eternal’.

The Independent found people were collecting rain water in water butts, for re-use as ‘grey water’. ‘Grey water’ can be used anytime you need water but it doesn’t need to be ‘drinking quality’. For example, you could use it when you want water garden plants or give the patio a good scrub.

There was also news that 38% of our rubbish is collected for recycling and that the EU target is to achieve a rate of 50% by 2020.

I was also delighted to read that people were also aware of both food miles and carbon emissions from farming. On this point, choosing to grow your own vegetables, herbs and fruits can help. And there are now superb products that will allow you to grow organic produce even in city spaces without a garden of your own.

Finally, it was really encouraging to read that more people have realised the win-win benefits of converting waste into energy. This is one of my favourite green ideas. You take your worthless rubbish, use it as a fuel and make savings on your fuel bills. It costs you nothing and doesn’t produce harmful environmentally harmful waste gases. You can do this using briquette bands for waste paper and newspaper. The little briquettes produced will burn for longer in your fireplace than simply ‘feeding it’ with paper. Or there’s always the Dry Paper Log Maker which works on the same principle. There’s no messing about soaking anything - its really very easy and quick to do.

I really was inspired by all the changes people were making in their everyday lives. It just goes to prove you really don’t have to be a big corporation in order to help the environment; we can all do it in our everyday lives.