Eco Worrier - Times Online - WBLG

Rise of the eco-argument: the top 10 subjects that my boyfriend and I argue about and how to avoid them

Time was when domestics were simple. You quarrelled over who did the washing up/made tea/cleaned the toilet. Now there's a moral dimension to kitchen sink drama. Green arguments are on the rise. Or they are in my house anyway. Not perhaps for Tony Wrench and Jane Faith who live in this roundhouse made of wood, turf and straw in Wales - both of whom must be equally committed to their sustainable lifestyle (click here to see more of these marvellous photos - thanks to the BBC In Pictures section). But here's a list of ten things that have sparked us off in the last few months. Because I'm the diplomatic sort, I have made notes on how one might remedy the situation.

Let me know what eco-feuds you have - if nothing else to lessen my growing sense that I am a green monster to live with.

Green clubbing

Solar power is yesterday’s news. Welcome onto the stage dance power. A club in Rotterdam plans to feature a floor which converts the movement of the dancers into electricity. The concept is still being worked on but hats off to the Sustainable Dance Club for trying. Such a sensible idea - trust the Dutch - it brings a whole new reason to throw some wild moves. And it knocks on the head the idea that greensters stay at home eating lentils and knitting recycled yarn shawls like this one (or perhaps I am just bitter because this is a very charming shawl).

Still on the bike theme...

... I see in the city of Missoula, in Montana, police are giving away free lights to cyclists stopped for not having them. What a sensible idea. Unlike here where you get a slap on the wrist and a £30 fine. When I was a student, I was stopped on Oxford high street. I naughtily gave a fake name (actually, my mother's maiden name) but my correct address. Telling half a lie seemed somehow easier. Police letters, then threats from bailiff companies, then eventually court summons dropped menacingly through our letter box, until my boyfriend phoned up and said he'd never heard of the name in question. I know I was in the wrong but all this bother would have been saved had the bobby reached into his pockets, passed me some lights and bid me safe cycling.

Ten ways of making cycling bearable in November

Since no one has responded to my post about eco-friendly cars, I’m sticking to bikes. My own vehicle of choice. But I’m struggling. I mean, how does anyone carry on saddling up in cold, rainy winter months? This guy has no problem with it. But then I only started cycling this spring, so I fear I’m a fair weather cyclist. Here is my list of ten ways to make cycling bearable when it’s cold. Feel free to suggest add your own or let me know if I've got it all wrong. In which case, I'll take the car...

Ten of the best green cars

People often ask for my advice on buying an eco-friendly vehicle. I have no idea. I cycle. Smug? Never. But the latest issue of sustainable futures magazine Green Futures has this helpful look at the greenest cars on the road.

Eco-Worriers called to defend sense of humour

As you know I write a column for the Saturday Body&Soul section, sharing its name with this blog. Much of it takes the form of questions and answers. In other words, you write in asking how to recycle your underpants, I respond with witty insights and practical information for which you are eternally grateful. All very cosy, until now. Spiked, the online arm of the Institute of Ideas, has come along with a new column called Ask Ethan ripping it out of this delightful format. Prey tell me what is funny about us earnest, chunky knit clad individuals struggling to do the right thing? Oh, you mean that itself is funny. Well, I hope Mr Greenhart (ha ha) isn't suggesting that Eco-Worriers don’t have a sense of humour?

Why I am pleased with Boots

Not only is it a beloved British institution that I could not contemplate the snotty season without, but twice now I have spotted signs by the check-out saying: help the environment, only take a plastic bag if you need one.  So sensible, Mr Boots, just what I would expect of a down-to-earth, respectful retailer. Why don’t all our shops follow suit?
Whether it’s a national policy or just a few well-meaning store managers in London, I don’t know, but I’m impressed. Has anyone seen a similar message being spread in other places?

And can someone give me one of these Emma Bridgewater shopping bags for Christmas, please? I promise I'll never go near plastic again.

At last the message has got through all those layers of non-recyclable plastic: consumers don’t like over-packaged products. You’ve been saying it for years, I know, I’ve ploughed through your emails. After today’s meeting between Environment Minister Ben Bradshaw and supermarket retailers, the Government has joined in calling for retailers to take more responsibility for the example they set. Quite right too. What’s the point in living by the three green commandments – reducing, reusing and recycling – if every trip to the supermarket loads us up with more plastic?  Let’s hope this spells doom for shrink-wrapped coconuts and avocadoes in plastic moulds. In the meantime, consumers have been asked to report examples of excessive packaging to their local Trading Standards officers. While you’re at it, let me know what bugs you the most as you’re cruising the aisles. For me, it’s Jaffa Cakes and squeezy bottles of Marmite. Grrrr.

Website of the week

If you are not familiar with Recycle This, I heartily recommend it. It's my latest eco-discovery. Every week, it focuses on several different materials and what you can do with them instead of putting them in the bin. Out of date condoms, for instance, readers wrote in to suggest ingenius uses, from homemade watering devices to a waterproofed storage pocket for valuables when you're going surfing. As well as reading other people's quirky answers, you can add your own 'what do I do with...' questions and wait for helpful feedback.

We need more websites like this, and more people should know about this one.

Zanzibar bans plastic bags

The tiny island off the coast of East Africa has done the honourable thing. Anyone found importing, producing or using plastic bags faces a £1,500 fine. Which makes me wonder why this larger island can't do the same? Ali Juma, Zanzibar's environmental director, cites the problem of bags clogging sewers and releasing poisonous fumes when burnt as reason enough. He did not mention what the one million islanders should do with bags they already had. Perhaps someone should teach them how to make plastic bras out of them.

Electric cars in India; tuc tucs in Brighton

Here is the super little electric vehicle that silently sped me around Agra last week. It was so nippy and green, I wanted to slip it into my backpack. Back in London, something like this would be perfect for ferrying friends around - and without intermittent power cuts, recharging its battery would be easier too.

India is also keen on low emission vehicles that run on CNG (compressed natural gas) as I wrote in my Body&Soul column last week. Raving about it on my return to England, I discovered that Brighton (where else?) has its own flleet of CNG fuelled tuc tucs in operation since July this year. Why haven't they spread elsewhere in the UK?

A rhino-woman at the climate change rally today

If you look closely you will see her face peeping out from just below the Save The Rhino poster. 24 year-old Lizzie Whitebread is doing a paid internship at a rhino charity which she says is a great way of getting into conservation.

On the crowd gathered today, she said: "It just shows, doesn't it, that this is the biggest issue of our day."

And you thought you were green for using Ecover washing powder...

You can go more natural than that. I have just had my first experience with soap nuts. You throw a handful of these acorn-sized fruits (they come from the Indian soap nut tree) into a little cloth bag and then put it in with your washing. Don't be put off by their peculiar smell, that goes away when you use them. My clothes didn't smell at all when they came out. If you want a pleasant whiff to your laundry, the company recommends putting a few drops of essential oil, such as lavender, into the fabric conditioner dispenser. I'm quite impressed. It looks like a proper hippy gimmick to leave you with grey undies. But, so far, these nuts aint half bad.

Dimming the planet from space?

Have you received this email yet? It's a good excuse to wrap up in several woolly jumpers, get out of the house (turning everything off before you leave), climb a hill and watch some fireworks. No doubt some bright spark is going to tell me that Katherine Wheels aren't actually very eco-friendly. But you can't win them all.

"You are invited to take part in the largest demonstration of People Power that London has ever seen on Saturday 4th November 2006, by turning off all your lights, and switching off all your non-essential electrical equipment at Sunset.

Are you feeling peaky?

Anti-Apathy detects a new epidemic...

"We at Anti-Apathy are worried about a new epidemic that is starting to infiltrate our rich and plentiful lands called CCB (Climate Change Blues).  The symptoms?  Lethargy, anger, denial, sadness, nervous ticks and/or sudden irritability after every TV, newspaper or radio report about climate change and how it could possibly pose the greatest threat ever known to human existence and life itself.

If you or anyone you know is suffering from CCB, we would like to invite you to take part in a very important clinical trial this Saturday (after the Stop Climate Chaos event in Trafalgar Square from 1-3pm).  In order to develop a cure for CCB as quickly as possible, we urge you to get involved.  Remember, the more people that take part, the closer we get to finding a cure."

A letter about bulky eco light bulbs...

Patricia Paton, from Odiham, Hampshire says that they don't give out enough light to read by. Here is her letter:

"We are keen to replace our light bulbs with low-energy bulbs, but find that the low-energy ones simply do not give out as much light as the normal ones. We are old, and need a good light to read by. We have purchased a low-energy bulb that claims to give out the equivalent of 100W, but when compared to a standard 100W bulb the light given out by the low-energy one is yellow and insufficient for reading by.

The low-energy bulbs are fine for outside lights, hallways and passages, but not for reading lamps. And unfortunately the low-energy bulbs are too bulky for some of the light fittings that we recently installed in our house at some expense. Any suggestions would be welcome."

Patricia - I've been told it's all about the shade. A different shade might maximise the light given out. I've also been assured that the latest developments in energy saving bulbs should be only a touch larger than conventional ones. I found some decent ones in John Lewis but I am inclined to agree with you about the slightly yellow light. Can anyone give any good tips about finding bright, non-bulky bulbs?