Green with naivety?

Guardian Unlimited Special reports Green with energy

Saving the planet begins at home, writes Hilary Osborne, with some top tips for UN environment day Monday June 5, 2006
Every year, on June 5, the UN marks environment day. The event, established in 1972, is meant to foster worldwide awareness of environmental issues and stimulate political action.
This year the theme is "deserts and desertification" and the focus of attention is on the drylands that cover 40% of the planet and are home to one-third of humanity. In the UK, the trade secretary, Alistair Darling, will be calling on utility firms to help consumers to cut their energy use. The Conservative leader, David Cameron, has already been to a branch of Ikea to back the retailer's scheme to cut carrier bag usage by charging customers for them.


Article continues




The UN has urged people on environment day to "consider the actions which each of us must take and then address ourselves to our common task of preserving all life on earth". The Environment Agency's message is that small changes can save the planet. So how do we start making a difference?
Turn off the lightsAnd the TV. And your mobile phone charger. These are all quick and easy ways to save energy. According to the Energy Saving Trust, if all UK households turned appliances off rather than putting them on standby it would save the energy produced by two-and-a-half 700 megawatt power stations each year. Unplugging mobile phone chargers could save consumers £60m a year and cut C02 emissions by 250,000 tonnes, the trust says.
Switch to low energy lightbulbs. The Energy Saving Trust says that if UK households each swapped three regular bulbs for greener versions, it would save enough energy to supply all the country's street lights. You can buy energy saving bulbs at most DIY and home shops, or through our reader offer page.
RecycleAccording to the charity Waste Watch the average UK household produces more than 1 tonne of rubbish a year, with each person on average disposing of their own body weight in rubbish every seven weeks.
Most people are now switched on to the idea of recycling paper waste and some packaging through council-run kerbside collection. However, last year almost 60% of cans still ended up on landfill sites and around 10% of all household rubbish is still made up of newspapers and magazines. So the message isn't always getting through.
To find out what waste your local council will pick up from your home, and where your nearest recycling banks are, search www.recycle-more.co.uk. The site also helps you to work out which items are recyclable, which may include things you have been putting in the dustbin.
If you have a garden, you could recycle some of your waste as compost. Many councils now offer cut-price compost bins or you could even recycle some old wood to make a compost heap.
Rather than chucking out items that are still in reasonable condition, you could recycle them by giving them away to friends or to a charity shop. You may also find takers for your unwanted furniture and white goods, for example, on community websites such as Free2collect and Freecycle.
Or you could just use a workplace or supermarket noticeboard to do the same thing. Giving things away reduces not only the amount of waste in landfill sites but also the energy needed to produce new goods.
Reuse carrier bagsNext time you go to the supermarket, reuse some bags from your last visit, thereby saving the energy and materials needed to create a new bag.
According to Waste Watch, every year some 17.5bn plastic bags are given away by supermarkets - equivalent to more than 290 bags for every person in the UK. Retailers are realising that we think twice about using bags if we have to pay for them and some have launched a charge to cut down on the number they hand out.
Ikea announced today it would no longer be offering free bags in the UK. In a trial at its Edinburgh branch, the use of plastic bags was reduced by 90% after a charge was introduced. Other retailers, such as the supermarkets Tesco and Waitrose, run "bags for life" schemes, whereby you pay once for a sturdy plastic bag that is replaced when it becomes unuseable.
As well as reusing bags for shopping you can line bins with them, rather than buying special bin bags.
Take public transportDriving a car uses energy and produces C02 emissions. You can cut the amount of fuel you use by walking or taking the bus when making short trips, or taking the train on longer journeys.
If you must use a car, there are ways to be as fuel efficient as possible. If you drive to work, find out if there is someone you could car-share with. Some workplaces have schemes that put employees in touch with colleagues living nearby to share transport - post a message on a company noticeboard or intranet if such a scheme doesn't already exist where you work. Car-sharing also cuts the cost of petrol, of course
For longer journeys, you could find someone online to share your journey. Liftshare.org puts travellers in touch with each other to match journeys.
When driving, you can cut emissions by turning off the air conditioning and driving between 50 and 60mph. According to the Environmental Transport Association (ETA), driving at over 70mph will rapidly increase your emissions - in fact it can cost you up to 25% more in fuel to drive at 70mph compared to 50mph.
The ETA offers a carbuyers' guide with information on the most environmentally sound new cars.
Use rechargeable batteriesUse rechargeable, not disposable, batteries. They can be used in many household electronic items and are fairly cheaply. They save energy because the power needed to manufacture a battery is on average 50 times greater than the energy it gives out. It also means spent batteries - and the chemicals inside them - do not end up as landfill.
Buy energy efficient productsLook out for a logo developed by the Energy Saving Trust denoting products it recommends. You can search for items carrying the logo here.
By law, white goods must now be labelled to show how energy efficient they are. The most energy efficient products get an A grade (AA for fridges and freezer). A guide to the labels is available here. If you are buying online, the retailer should include energy-efficiency grades in its product information online.
Insulate your homeDouble glazing and cavity wall insulation keep the warmth in and the cold out, and lagging your boiler and hot water pipes will keep water hot. Some such measures are expensive, but you may be eligible for grants from the government, your local council or an energy provider. Consult the Energy Saving Trust's grant search.
Offset your emissions If you really can't, or don't want to, change your lifestyle to reduce the damage you do to the planet, you could consider doing something to offset it. You can calculate the carbon cost of a flight, for example, and make a donation to a project that will absorb or reduce an equivalent amount of greenhouse gases elsewhere using a calculator on our travel site.
The Climate Care website has similar calculators for emissions produced by cars and homes. You could also give someone the gift of a carbon neutral wedding or make them a carbon neutral citizen for a year.
If you are interested in finding out how your lifestyle impacts upon the planet, you can check out your "Green score" and get more tips on energy reduction here.Interactive guidesGlobal warmingThe slowdown of the Gulf StreamSpecial reportsSpecial report: climate changeMore useful linksIPCCUN framework convention on climate change