Now then, I’m new to the world of ‘blogging’ but an old hat at armchair activism!

By that I mean doing my bit to help make a difference, create change, influence friends, and ultimately feel better about my life and the way I live it.

I’m not going to start preaching to you because if you needed preaching to you wouldn’t be here, I merely want to pass on any hints, tips, and products I come across to help you in your quest for a more ethically minded, environmentally friendly lifestyle.

So, I’m going to start this series of posts with my Top 5 tips which can help you save money, and help save the planet!

1. Recycle rain water: I live in the north east of England. A pretty wet place. So, I have set up a water butt in my back garden to collect rain water ready to reuse on those odd occasions when the sun decides to shine and my plants need a watering! Still need convincing? Check out this article on the merits of saving water in the UK

2. Compost your food waste: composting is easy, fun, and beneficial to both the environment and your garden! Don’t throw your tea bags, banana skins and potato peelings away, chuck them in a composter and let the worms do the rest!

3. Switch off your appliances: I know this might sound like an obvious one but did you know that about 10% of your annual electricity bill is spent on standby electricity! So either switch off or invest in some standby busting devices now!

4. Keep an eye on your energy use: although this sounds complicated it couldn’t be easier! Ethical Superstore has a range of devices designed to monitor your energy use so you can always be aware of where your money goes. You’ll become obsessed with checking it every five minutes!

5. Grow your own: whether you only have enough room for one pot on your balcony or your garden in the size of a football pitch, there’s no excuse for doing a bit of organic gardening at home. Not only will this save you a bit of cash, but your produce will taste all the better having been lovingly tended to by you!

There you have it, 5 little things that can make a huge difference, see you don’t have to scheme to take down the major supermarkets . . . just do your bit

Any other suggestions or top tips? Send them in!

Thanks to Ned Trifle for the photo.

Alas, National Shed Week has come to a triumphant end! If, like me, you yearn for a simpler time where man and shed were as one and hours could be spent pottering and tinkering in your wooden retreat, then check out the National Shed Week finalists and be inspired to get creative!

Of course, it’s not just about a pub-shed, or creating bike storage, a shed can be the hub from which you begin a regime of great British gardening. Plant some bulbs, grow your own veg, live on what you plant yourself! This is not only an extremely satisfying way of living, but can prove cost effective and reduce the impact that your weekly shop or trips to grocers has on the environment!

Ethical Superstore has some great stuff that would make any shed enthusiast, sustainable gardener, or wannabe compost king whoop with delight! There’s the shed light which works via solar power ensuring that you can always see what you’re doing, the brilliant potting shed kit which includes everything you need to get going, and a wide range of composting and water saving solutions!

So, you don’t need to have an award winning shed to do your bit to live sustainably, reduce your environmental impact, and have a great time in your garden! Just check out the links above, get creative, and do your bit!

One man (or woman!) and his/her shed can really make a difference!

If you do have a shed, organic garden, or vegetable patch that you want to share with us, please feel free to do so!

There’s always a lot of controversy around the topic of reusable nappies. After all, having a baby is a sure fire way to increase your carbon footprint. There’s all the extra energy that a washing machine needs to heat the water etc.

Introducing Gary Lamont, the Real Nappy Guy from the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust.

Gary’s job is to promote the use of real nappies, so here are all the answers about using cloth nappies and how they’re better for babies.

Find out more about using cloth nappies »

What do you think? Should we be encouraging the use of reusable, washable nappies? Or should we be using something like Moltex - the eco-friendly disposable nappy. Or, in these times of economic uncertainty, should we all be jumping in our Hummers and heading down to Tesco to buy the biggest economy pack of <insert popular brand name here> we can find?

Our kids believe everything they read on the Internet. If something is written down, then it must be true.

I guess we all are a bit like that. We can be swayed by the latest research, the article in today’s newspaper, the current bestseller…especially if it feeds into the niggling doubts at the back of our mind that we choose to ignore most of the time.

So when James Lovelock, the author of Gaia, the book that us young idealists all embraced in the eighties, tells us in this month’s Rolling Stone magazine that the human race is doomed and that there is absolutely nothing we can do about it, then we can’t but wonder if he is speaking the truth.

In his latest book, The Revenge of Gaia, Lovelock claims that the Earth is heading towards the “tipping point” when it comes to global warming. In the article, he takes it one step further. He is convinced that by 2100 the world’s population will be as few as 500m, down from 6.6 billion today - due to mass migrations and pandemics caused by global warming. Droughts and extreme weather will be the norm and populations will have to live off man-made comestibles such as Quorn because there will be no land to grow food.

So far, nothing new. We have heard the climate change argument in the media every day in recent years. Many of us believe we are doing our bit. We think twice before booking a foreign holiday. We buy all the energy saving gadgets available. We take the bus to work. We share a bath. We think we are making a difference.

But according to Lovelock, we are not even scratching the surface. It’s just too late and we might as well stop trying now. He claims that ethical shopping is a scam and “Green is the colour of mould and corruption,” Strong words ( and in my experience, mould is grey spots on damp white T shirts or fluffy white patches on forgotten cheese at the back of the fridge.)

What if he’s wrong? This could be precisely the WORST moment to stop trying. As Rachel Johnson says in her article about this on TimesOnline. says, “If Lovelock is right, well then it is all over, hard cheese, but if he’s wrong then he is telling people that nothing can be done, just at the point when there’s still one last chance to prevent the doomsday scenario that he lays before us with something bordering on relish.”

And ultimately, whether he is right or wrong, if hope is removed from human life, then what are we left with? No aspirations, no motivation, no purpose…no reason for living. There is within each one of us a belief in something better. The desire to make the world a better place is part of being human. We were made to care for the world and all that is in it. Admittedly, we have not made a particularly good job of it, to say the least. But whilst we have hope, then the essence of humanity remains intact.

We can be responsible about what we flush down our drains. We can improve the quality of the air we breathe. We can reuse, recycle and reduce the quantity of rubbish reaching the landfill sites. We can improve the quality of life for farmers around the world by buying organic. We can be less wasteful with the energy that we use. We can keep the hope alive.

Call me naïve, but in my world, green is the colour of the grass and the leaves, nature at its healthiest, new life. That’s the world view I want my kids to grow up with.

First published on Hometruth.org.uk

Thanks again to Helen for allowing us to republish it.

Link to a video that helps you visualise CO2:

http://www.climateprotect.org/ah12