Day 112: Random crap in your house (or how to "upcycle")

We've all gotten to the point where we now what type of plastics we can, and can't, put into our recycling bins. We have come to recognise the dreaded type '7' plastic as being a horrific blend of chemicals (all with unpronounceable names) that should not go anywhere near your little green box. How about though, we do something with our used products before we throw them out?

Some frustrated Googling threw up a delightful article on what is known as 'upcycling' - basically giving a new life and purpose to something before we cast it into the green box or the blue bag. It's a 'pre-recycle', cycle. If you will. 

Ideas ranged from saving the fat from bacon to (eventually) make a bird feeder, to toilet roll tubes as cable tidies - have a peek and get your craft on!

http://www.ecosalon.com/green_your_junk_16_creative_ways_to_upcycle_before_you_recycle/

- James

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Day Ninety-Three: Carbon Neutral?

Well, I think a giant BP sized slap on the wrist is in order for me. I have not blogged for nigh on six weeks. Shame on me. This project, to go 'carbon neutral', was always going to be a struggle. I knew that from day one. I was under no illusion that I could make a few small changes and I would suddenly become some beacon of eco-wonder. It's testament, I think, to how difficult this whole subject is.

I've continued to behave in as 'eco friendy' a way as possible. I've been recycling, composting, growing my own veg and have made a conceited effort to make those little, arguably easy, changes that we can all make. What does it all add up to? A slight underwhelming feeling, to be honest. We do like to see results, don't we?

I've come to the realisation that's it's all about context. Had I started this journey as an abysmal planet hating 'throw away' kind of guy, there may have been more of a dramatic change. I am, of course, not that kind of person. I harbour the same sort of middle class guilt that I think many of us share - I recoil at my neighbours who still do not recycle, at people who continue to buy unethical produce from the supermarket - but then who am I to judge? So I think it's time this project changed it's destination. A modest, humble acceptance that I am not going to become carbon neutral, but that I can continue to strive to improve my lifestyle within certain, boring, constraints.

An improved understanding and awareness of the world around me has opened my eyes to issues I was previously blind to, so I can only hope for a slow but definite upward trajectory to something resembling an environmentally 'sound' lifestyle. As and when I stumble across groundbreaking information I will continue to share and discuss them here on this blog, but I want to avoid the preachy 'do this, do that' mentality and focus more on the reality of the environmental state we're living in, and how the big stories and events around the globe affect us on a smaller, more personal level. I promise, therefore, that the next blog should be day ninety-five, or thereabouts, and not in another six weeks.

By the way, my compost is looking wonderful.

- James

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Day Two: 50 Things You Can Do

So it's day two. I've successfully calculated my own personal 'carbon footprint' and I'm ready to take on the world! Not that it's that easy, of course.

Those of you who may follow my Twitter feed (@c02neutralproj) may know that I already hit a small hurdle this morning. The mission: to get into the city centre to buy one item (a bike pump) without the need for cars, buses or public transport. Now, I used to walk to work everyday and it never bothered me, but faced with an ominous, heavy gray sky and seeing the bus, which stops virtually outside my house, every hour made my 'lazy gene' kick in, and I very nearly succumbed. You'll be glad to hear that I did not take the bus, and I did indeed cycle - and I feel all the better for it!

So now, new bike pump in hand I feel a renewed sense of 'eco-pride' (if there is such a thing) and am ready to get on with living the environmentally friendly life I've subscribed to. As a good start my partner came home yesterday, from a course of renewable energy, with, low and behold, a leaflet called: '50 things you can do to lead a more sustainable lifestyle' - my project, it seems, has the backing of the Powers That Be, or something like that. The list is mostly very achievable with things like: take showers instead of baths, turn your thermostat down by 1 degree and change to energy efficient light bulbs. These are all things that I am either already doing, or can easily fit into my lifestyle so, you know, kudos for me. You can find the full list of 50 on my page '50 Things' here, so you don't have to read through pages and pages of bullet-points in this post. Suffice to say, of the 50 things, I reckon I can easily fulfill at least 36 of them, but that does still leave me with a heinous 14 that either do not really apply to me, or are unachievable at the moment (install Solar Panels, for example - I do not have the cash for that right now).

One thing I have come to notice in all my research is that this whole 'environmentally friendly' lark really is a lot more complex than you might think. I stumbled across this video from the blog Every Small Thing and it just goes to show how you may think you're doing something beneficial for the environment, but in actual fact you're not helping at all. You'll never look at a paper towel in the same way again.

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