Sustainability

Have your car serviced regularly - Inefficient, under-serviced engines can reduce fuel economy by 10% or more.

Correct tyre pressures reduce wear & helps fuel economy. Under-inflated tyres need replacing more often.

Light weighting – How many kilos of stuff are you carting around that you don’t need to?

Reduce the drag factor - Remove roof racks & carriers when not in use.

Air conditioning – Uses loads of energy – Might using the vent settings in summer, or keeping your coat on for short journeys in winter do instead?

Get the reversing out of the way when you park - The engine will be cold and at its most fuel inefficient when you start it.

Take the most direct route and go at off-peak times if possible to save fuel and time.

Finally, if you get stuck in traffic, turn off the engine.

Ovens: Does that oven really need to go on? Might the food be microwaved instead? Or swap hot food for fresh salads, raw vegetables & fruit.

Dishwashers: Once finished, don’t open that dishwasher straight away, let it cool down first thus avoiding the blast-of-hot-air-that-steams-your-glasses-up effect.

Laundry: Dry your laundry on a clothes line. There is nothing better than the smell of fresh bed linen dried in the open air.

Fridges: Don't keep opening your fridge as this can overwork the compressor and when packing your fridge it is important to leave enough room for air to circulate around the fridge’s interior (especially at the back) to ensure the interior temperature is maintained. If the appliance is crammed with groceries, cold air will not be able to circulate fully, meaning temperatures will vary.

Hair Appliances: Apart from not being very energy-efficient, hair dryers, curling irons & straighteners generate a lot of heat. Might this be time for a summer wash & dry 'au naturel' instead?

Windows: Keep windows closed during the day when temperatures are high, with blinds and curtains in use to block direct sunlight. You should then open your windows at night when temperatures drop to allow the cool air to enter and circulate your home. This strategic use of your windows can help you save energy by making you less reliant on energy-consuming cooling measures such as air conditioning or fans.

Finally, a water bottle full of ice or ice water behind the knees & ankles will cool you down, as will dipping your feet in cold water!

Did you know if you take a minute less time in the shower it can save 10 litres of water? Shorter showers saves water and energy.

Environment Agency boss-man, Sir James Bevan, warned recently that within 25 years England won’t have enough water to meet demand. With this in mind, time your showers (you could use a playlist to help you!), then see if you can shave a minute off (then two…).

Another great tip is to turn the water off when you are lathering with soap and washing your hair. Then turn back on to rinse off. Done.

With all the recent heat & prospect of drought & hosepipe bans etc this summer (2022), the Government’s advisory committee on climate change has asked us to remember water butts. Perhaps, even small ones for shed roofs, in order to trap as much as possible of this free resource when it falls from the sky.

In 1994 I was an environmental science student & remember a botany lecture on how, as it looked like we were going to get a lot less rain in the south-east, British gardeners would have to start thinking along Californian lines & planting species that didn’t need so much water....like cacti....I’ve never liked cacti myself, but it did get me thinking about the gardens of my relatives in Portugal - Tough, spiky grass & the colour (other than green & brown), coming from bushes & fruit trees.

Lots of talk of ‘adaption’ these days. That’s the business of adapting the built environment to cope with climate change. These days that means being ready as possible for the hottest & coldest of weather with everything else in between – especially flash flooding. The Government has an advisory body on what to do about the environment called the Climate Change Committee. The CCC’s head of adaption, Kathryn Brown, has planted creepers to shade her sun-facing walls. She also recommends home owners - especially in south-east England, fit window shutters to keep the sun off the glass. This isn’t ‘new’ news, but was common practice in Victorian times. I wonder what else we’ve forgotten.

With all this heat (Summer 2022), it’s lovely to see birds coming in for a quick dip in our bird bath (although a magpie seems to have taken over ours for sole use...).

No need to spend money on one, even an old washing up bowl would do. St Andrews has just got one that started life as the glass in the front of a washing machine (a neat bit of reuse there), so expect to see that in the grounds soon. Remember to keep the bird bath topped up & it will need a clean every now & again to stop that water going green.

Just in case you didn’t know this already, our local Co-Op (Chorleywood) now accepts ‘soft’ / ‘film’ plastic for recycling. Watch out for the blue bin on the left near the entrance. The sort of plastic we’re talking about would be crisp or pasta packets, magazine wrapping (except when they tell you it’s compostable), dry-cleaner’s bags etc. We’re not talking about ‘rigid’ plastic here like the bottles, punnets etc. They have one ask & that is that the plastic be clean.

If yours is a family that gets through a lot of this sort of packaging (crisp packets, say), then you should notice the difference in the level of what’s in your waste bin with the removal of this ‘padding factor’, as this sort of plastic is the ultimate in most amount of space taken up for least amount of weight.

Most of the major supermarkets chains now offer collection points at their larger stores. There is currently no resale value in this material, so this recycling works as a result of heavy subsidy from the likes of PepsiCo, who own Walkers Crisps & were fed up with people posting empty packets back to them using the Freepost address (that used to be) on the side.

Summer is here and it’s barbecue time, so here are a few suggestions on cutting down on food waste.

First off, alert those present to adopt the ‘Portuguese wedding’ approach.....By this, I mean reassuring them that there will be plenty of sumptuous food available throughout the event and that there is no need to start off with a plate piled high, only to be defeated shortly afterwards when attempting ‘seconds’. Like a distance race, you’re in this for the long haul and need to pace yourself.

Skewers – Only half fill them – I know this means using more skewers, but ½ a skewer’s worth of food allows flexibility to come back later for seconds, thirds etc.

Don’t get the biggest of rolls, that bread can be so filling.

Have the food waste bin readily available (and tell people it’s there). Handy to have an old dish washing brush for people to brush food waste off plates and bowls straight into the food waste bin. Then, if those plates and bowls are compostable, they can be stacked neatly in the compost bin, taking up no more room than the packs they came in.

Finally, try and avoid single-use plastic cutlery (although I have known it washed and reused). A) In the heat of the moment, it can get mixed in with the food waste or compost. B) Although technically recyclable, there’s currently no end-market for this sort of plastic (high-impact polystyrene (HIPS)), so even if you did send it off with the rest of your recyclables, once at the sorting plant it’s not going to be picked off the line and will be destined for landfill or incineration.