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Adventures of an armchair activist: Going green-er… gingerly (2)

In my last blog I started exploring how we could live in a way that is better for our environment. As our personal biggest contributor to carbon emissions, I thought about what Lois and I are doing in terms of travel and transport, the struggles we face, and what more we could potentially be doing.

It seems to me that, after travel and transport, the big areas in which I, personally, have an impact on our environment are (not necessarily in this order):

  • Housing and energy
  • Food
  • Waste
  • Consumer goods

 

So, as with travel and transport, I have to ask myself what am I doing about each of these? What could I be doing? And where is it that I am struggling?

 

Housing and energy

This is the area that I’m most tempted to give myself a pat on the back. When I calculated our carbon footprint, I worked out our energy use on the basis of zero kgCO2e/kWh. Was this a bit ingenuous? It certainly made a significant difference to our overall carbon footprint, but is it really true?

When we moved to Breathing Space, there was no active gas supply for heating or cooking. We decided to keep it that way and rely on electricity.

For several years now we have been purchasing our electricity from a company that only supplies renewable electricity (first Good Energy, more recently Bulb).

One of the first things we did when we moved in was to install solar panels.

Our newly-installed solar panels

So, although between us and Breathing Space, we consume 13.7MWh of energy per year, all of this does come from renewable sources, and we are putting 2.4MWh of energy back into the grid from our solar panels.

My slight reservation about all this is that we remain very high energy consumers. So far we’ve done what I think we can do to insulate our home, turn our heating down, use low energy bulbs and appliances, and turn things off when we’re not using them. But is this enough?

And what about our appliances? Our cooker, fridge/freezer, dishwasher and washing machine are all quite old and I’m sure not as energy-efficient as newer models. Should we replace them? Or run them firmly into the ground and then replace them? Or could we do without any?

And, much as I might like to congratulate myself for using green energy companies, the reality is that our energy comes from the national grid, so ultimately remains a mixture of renewable energy, coal, gas and nuclear.

The domestic sector accounts for 28% of all energy consumption in the UK. Over 2/3 of this energy comes from fossil fuels. (Source: Energy consumption in the UK. HM Government, 2018) 

 

Food

The other evening, Lois and I went out for a lovely vegan meal at Arabian Bites, a Middle Eastern restaurant run by recently arrived refugees from Syria and Iraq.

The food was great and the staff friendly and welcoming.

The following day, sticking with the vegan theme, Lois persuaded me to try my cereal with apple juice rather than milk. I don’t think I’ll be trying that one again.

Much as it may be better for our environment. I’m ready to go vegan yet. I confess – I am far too attached to milk on my cereal and in my coffee, a bread and cheese lunch, meat of fish for at least some of my evening meals.

 

So what can we do to reduce our food imprint?

  • We have already cut down our meat intake, rarely eating red meat, and eating vegetarian several times a week;
  • We now shop mostly at our local OneStop store,  buying only what we know we will consume and local, seasonal produce rather than air-freighted food from NZ or Morocco;  but how to avoid unnecessary packaging? where is our nearest greengrocer?
  • We may not be particularly green-fingered, but we more and more grow our own vegetables, salad leaves, and fruit; and commit to preserving, freezing, or giving away any surplus
  • We are avid composters – the three compost bins behind our greenhouse are one of my favourite parts of the garden. To see, smell and feel all that wonderful, rich humus is a pleasure few can beat! (Nah .. there are many others! but its good) (Lois added that last bit!)

 

Waste

Which brings us onto waste.

The UK statistics on waste make interesting reading. As a country, we generate over 200 million tonnes of waste each year, mostly from construction, demolition and excavation (61%), followed by commercial and industrial waste (19%) and household waste (12%). Nearly half of this is recovered or recycled, but nearly a quarter (52.3 million tonnes) goes into landfill.

While we have seen increases in the proportion of waste recovered, recycled, and used for energy production, and decreases in the proportion going to landfill, the overall volume of waste generated has gone up over the years. We clearly have a long way to go.

We are doing what we can here at Breathing Space, but it sometimes feels rather like a drop in the ocean – particularly as the third skip from our building work is now full and ready to be taken away, no doubt to go to landfill somewhere!

  • We strive not to buy things we don’t need; to repair things that are broken and to reuse things for different purposes
  • We are taking some steps towards upcycling – I enjoyed making a bench from an old pallet last year and recently used an old drawer to repair our wheelbarrow and made a sorrel composter out of an old dustbin
  • We give unwanted clothes and other items to charity shops, or offer them on Freecycle
  • We do our best to allocate our waste appropriately – composting what we can in the garden; putting other garden waste in the brown bin and recycling in the blue bin
  • Should we be weighing our different types of waste so we can monitor and set our own targets for waste reduction? Does anyone know any sensible way of doing this?
  • It seems to me there is some value in keeping things that we’re no longer using in case they come in handy somewhere else (e.g. old bits of wood, or hardware that could be upcycled), but that takes up space. How do you strike a balance between sensible reuse and pointless hoarding?
  • How do we deal with all the senseless packaging – particularly from things ordered online?

 

Consumer goods

It sounds like a dirty word now. I don’t like it. But the reality is, I am a consumer.

The issues surrounding our consumer lifestyle go way beyond waste and the impact on the environment. They also affect my fellow human beings, the inequalities we see both within and between countries, and the exploitation of so many who work to produce the goods I consume.

So I will put that on one side for now and tackle it more deeply in another armchair activist blog.

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Adventures of an armchair activist: Going green-er… gingerly (1)

Going Green-er…

Last week’s UN report on biodiversity and ecosystems, together with the 2018 IPCC report on global warming have dramatically highlighted the damaging effects that we are imposing on our planet. Greta Thunberg and the leaders of Extinction Rebellion are surely right in emphasising that this is the most pressing issue for all of us: politicians, corporate leaders, and individual citizens alike.

So it seemed an appropriate place to start in my deliberations on how to live ethically in an exploitative, unjust, consumerist world.

I am so grateful for the beauty and goodness of our world, and the privilege I have in being able to enjoy that beauty. I long for others too – both now and in the future – to be able to enjoy and appreciate this goodness, and for the destruction and exploitation that has devastated so much of our planet to be rolled back.

And yet, as a wealthy consumer living in one of the wealthiest nations of our world, I have to acknowledge that – in spite of the small steps I have taken to reduce my carbon footprint – I am really more a part of the problem than the solution.

…gingerly

I recently calculated my carbon footprint and my conservative estimate came out at 7.69 tonnes of CO2 per year – higher than the reported UK average of 6.50 tonnes (although I note that other sources put this at closer to 10 tonnes), nearly double the global average of 4 tonnes, and four times the required target of 2 tonnes.

 

So what are we doing about it? What could we be doing? And where is it that we are struggling?

  • The biggest contributor to our carbon footprint is flying. Lois and I both do it: to visit family and friends abroad; for work and conferences; to support others living and working in challenging circumstances. Neither of us enjoy it: the long waits in airport departure lounges and arrivals halls; the uncomfortable seats and tray food; the jet lag; and most of all, the knowledge that with every flight we are contributing to the destruction of our planet. But still we do it. We do what we can to offset our flying by buying carbon credits, but recognise that can never undo the damage we are doing. We try to limit our flying: not using a plane if there is an alternative transport option; limiting our flying to visiting family and friends; cutting down the number of such trips; avoiding international conferences where possible; and taking holidays in this country rather than abroad. And yet, we chose a cross-national marriage, our families are spread across four countries and our friends even wider, and we do want to prioritise our relationships. So we will continue to struggle with this. Is one long-haul flight per year acceptable? Is seeing grandchildren just once a year enough? Should I turn down invitations to international conferences on environmental grounds?

 

  • Other forms of transport make up our next biggest contribution. Here, perhaps we are taking some worthwhile steps (literally) by walking, cycling (me), and taking public transport when we can, rather than driving. Last year, we passed on our diesel estate to Joe and bought a smaller, hybrid car. Perhaps we should have gone fully electric, but the cost, patchy infrastructure, and limited second-hand market all put me off doing so at this stage. So we try not to use the car unless we have to, tend to drive at 60-65 rather than 70-75mph, and avoid heavy acceleration and braking. We are privileged, living where we do, that I can get into town by bike in 20 minutes, or the University in 30; that we have 4+ buses an hour going from outside our door to Coventry or Birmingham; and that we have such a good rail network from Coventry and Birmingham International. But it does frustrate me that rail travel is such an expensive (and time consuming) option. Travelling to Nottingham to see Esther and Rob would take 2 ½ hours and cost around £50 by train, compared to 1 hour and about £5 by car; further or more remote excursions increase dramatically in both time and cost. So, do we go further in our efforts to travel sustainably? Should we aim to ultimately get rid of our car? Do we sacrifice efficiency and cost (both of which we can afford) for the sake of sustainability?

 

  • When we set up Breathing Space a year ago, we deliberately chose a place on the outskirts of Coventry so it would be accessible by public transport. We have the advantage of regular buses to outside our front door combined with a sense of peace in the garden, and countryside walks from our doorstep. We encourage others to travel sustainably to Breathing Space. The reality is, however, that most of our visitors come by car, even those who live in Coventry (and we would probably do the same if it were us visiting somewhere else in the city). We don’t apologize for having no parking available on the property and will install a bike rack once the access ramp is completed, but is there more we could do to promote green-er travel among the users of Breathing Space?

 

  • And we have voted (in both local council and European elections) for the Green Party – a party that clearly has greener transport policies in its manifesto, and has done for years. But could we be doing more to lobby the government to incentivize train travel? to not build more airports but actually close a couple? to fund cycleways within towns?

 

So there we are – struggling to travel sustainably; succeeding in some aspects and failing in others; wrestling with the dilemma of balancing family relationships with green living.

What about you? Are there ways you have managed to cut down on environmentally damaging travel? Do you struggle with the same dilemmas as us? Do you have any suggestions that we could take up? Add your comments to the blog or join in a conversation on Facebook…