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My journey seeking a greener
life style.
By Andy
Hi I am Andy, and
one of the issues I wanted to include on this site. Was green issues as
I believe this is something we have no choice, but to take on board in
our every day life. I guess it can look so complicated or so expensive
to be green. Perhaps making many of us to give up on this concept. Well
I started thinking back to when I started buying fairtrade goods. This
was difficult to find fairtrade things in the shops and it looked so
expensive. However after a while I found fair trade items at reasonable
cost and took the attitude that I could buy smaller quantities of foods
like coffee and chocolate and enjoy them much more knowing they were
fairtrade. I also found it so exciting when I found a new fair trade
product in a shop somewhere.
I can remember
telling my brother how disappointing a fairtrade cake was. Because in
the list of ingredients the cake made reference that only 30 per cent
was fairtrade ingredients. My brother quoted something to me that he
heard from somewhere else "if a job is worth doing its worth doing
badly" he then went on to explain that "it's better to do some thing
how ever little than nothing at all".
Now to get
back to green issues. It might look like a giant mountain to climb and
it also might look very expensive. Then I started thinking perhaps I
should adopt the attitude "if a job is worth doing its worth doing
badly" ie it's better to do something green than nothing at all. Now
that giant mountain to climb can look even harder when you are
disabled. I have multiple impairments so I can understand just how
daunting some obstacles can look. However I am starting with the little
steps and working my way up slowly.
I use energy
saving lightbulbs and have done for some time. I'm now not using some
of the energy saving lightbulbs because I have started using even more
energy saving LED light in some areas of my home. Last year I purchased
a standard little travel kettle this is brilliant. I measure the exact
amount of water I need to make a cup of coffee. I also turn the kettle
off just before it starts to boil the water still gets up to boiling
point due to the heat remaining in the element. I use every drop of
water I boil because I only boil the exact amount I need. I work out
that I can get the cost of the kettle back in roughly one year. So that
wasn't expensive was it? So I guess we can still do green things that
aren't expensive.
My electricity bill for three
months is normally about £100 last year electricity went up
by about 30 per cent yet my electricity bill that I received in
December was just under £80. So I have saved roughly
£50 on my electricity bill. In three months I've saved
£50 just by being more energy conscious and very careful with
what electric I use. Now I'm starting to think that being green doesn't
have to mean being expensive!
Sometimes I do try
and get too clever. I wanted to try and make my transport situation
greener. As I am a wheelchair user finding a greener vehicle isn't
easy. Thinking about it finding any vehicle suitable for my wheelchair
needs takes a lot of hard work. Anyway I found this little diesel car
that is very economic and thought I found a solution for getting my
wheelchair in the car by myself. Only this project idea didn't quite
work out. It was so close just a couple of inches regarding how far
forward a front seat could be relocated to allow enough room for my
wheelchair. So my vehicle plans are back to square one and my brain is
constantly thinking of new ideas for my transport needs.
Well
I have been inventive with other ideas I'm using to be greener and I
have a brain flooded with lots of other ideas that need investigating.
However for now I'm going to have a pause with this article and will
tell you about my ideas on another day. If you would like to make any
suggestions of have any helpful information that you think would be
useful for me please feel welcome to contact me. See a link for contact
information on the site map, for this site.
Although
before I have my break I would just like to mention how thankful I am
for the BBC series "it's not easy being green". This TV series has
given me much encouragement.
Apologies if there
are any mistakes I use voice recognition software due to my impairments
and often don't notice mistakes.
Many thanks for
your time.
Andy
6th March 2009
