Well as widely expected the third runway at Heathrow is today likely to get approval by the Labour government, but it is far from certain that it will go ahead and should not be a cause for panic just yet.

It is however worrying nonetheless that the government still think this is a positive project to approve despite the widely acknowledged environmental issues with adding an additional 125,000 flights a year, never mind the environmental impact of the existing Heathrow operation which is far from fit for purpose!!

When oh when will governments, not just in the UK, but across the world begin by valuing natural capital in the way it should be, and less of this hell bent desire for economic growth and crazy drive to push consumerism to its limits.

I was however heartened to see that Greenpeace had managed to purchase a bit of land on the proposed site of the development.  Please take a look at their website and join the airplot campaign.

I am becoming a bit disillusioned about some peoples views on the benefits of and commitment towards recycling following some recent press and media reports on the lack of market for recycled produce, i.e. stacks of paper being stockpiling in warehouses around the country.

However, people are beginning to think “what is the point of sorting my waste if it is just being stockpiled”. Well I will tell you the point, if it was not sorted then those large piles of paper, etc that you are seeing will end up in landfill and wasted, this is not what we want. I would encourage you all to keep recycling and to put pressure on your local authorities to continue recycling schemes which they may currently feel is uneconomical in financial terms, but as we all know it is not just money that matters in the world today.

What I would suggest in the meantime is a bit more micro household recycling and reuse. Just simple little things. Reuse plastic bottles rather than buying yet another bottle of water, use both sides of paper when printing, put waste paper in your compost bin, use shredded paper as pet bedding, and so on. This is much more efficient and productive than sending it to the local authority in the present economic climate. You may even see an improvement to your own ‘bottom line’ as a result!!!

Hi all,

Belated new year wishes to you all.  I hope 2009 is a happy and prosperous one for you all.

Has anyone made New Year resolutions, are you managing to stick to them or relented!

I have a few short term goals in mind don’t know if I could class them as New Year resolutions though, more a case of things that need done.  Number 1 is to construct a storage wheelie cabinet for sorting waste - at the moment it does done to cumulate in a boxes lying in various different places.  Hopefully I will get a storage solution that can be wheeled in and out from under a space on the worktop in the kitchen.

Number 2 task is to sort out some for of renewable energy generation for the shed that has no electricity supply.  Don’t know if solar would be as effective as wind so looking at some small scale turbines.

So lets have them, what are your resolutions/immediate tasks for the year.

Don’t be shy!

Belated Xmas wishes to you all from me.  I hope that you are enjoying the Christmas break.  I got really some quite good presents - a couple of really good books and some excellent Po Zu slippers.  I hope ‘Santa’ was equally as good to you.

I’ll get a review of all my goodies once things settle down, and I have had time to wear them in/read them!  Now on with preparing the lovely free range duck that we are having tonight!

Now the wearing of contact lenses is a problem area for me; not that I don’t like wearing them but the environmental impact of wearing them as opposed to glasses. As someone who uses daily disposable lenses I feel very guilty about the impact that I am creating both from the production of the lenses themselves and also the packaging. However I have chosen a supplier that does seem to use as less packaging as possible.

It is not that I am vain and won’t wear glasses it is just that contact lenses are far more practical for me and wearing glasses is often problematic for me. I do try to minimise the number of days I wear them, wearing glasses instead, however this is not always possible.

How do I find the balance between environmental responsibility and day to day practicality?

I would be interested to hear other peoples thoughts on this issue. Do you wear lenses? What is the lowest impact method - daily disposable, monthly? Have you found any site/resource detailing actual impact.

Pardon the pun but I think it is important not to lose sight over these small things!!