Eco audit: one foot, two foot

If you put one foot in front of the other, often enough, pretty soon you’ll discover that walking is the way to get about.  No parking.  No timetables.  And, with a rucksack to hand, you can even schlep your things about too. Not really a huge discovery.  Except that it’s got to the stage that …

Eco audit: making your own entertainment

I don’t mean you have to gather round the piano.  (But you can if you like.) I’m thinking about ways to relax, be with others, that are also not too draining on the environment. In my teens, it was books and music – and TV at points.  The obligatory Friday night long soak in the …

Eco audit: cucina povera or using things up

I like leftovers.  I particularly like leftovers when other people come over and bring food with them.  Unplanned leftovers – and the planning then of what to do with them – is a treat for the food mind as well as the body. I’m trying to remember what leftovers were like when I was growing …

Eco audit: to heat or not to heat

I’ll confess this now.  I’m writing in bed.  It’s possibly my favourite place to write.  And, when you get the luxury of the house to yourself, you get to do what you want a little more. But another reason for writing in bed is because it’s cold.  It’s still February.  Snow is coming and going. …

Eco audit: only reduce

‘Only connect’ is the classic injunction by E. M. Forster – that we might reach out beyond ourselves, amongst other things.  In environmental terms, my attempt at encouraging myself starts with: only reduce. Forster might well have been surprised at how well his phrase works in the multi-connected world of today.  But our world may …