Dave's blog

Prashant Vaze’s book the Economical Environmentalist is one of the best books of it’s kind.  He leaves no stone unturned and scrutinizes every aspect of his life in order to lower his carbon footprint.

He comes at the subject from quite a different angle as many of the recent trend of ‘have a go’ journalist who begin knowing absolutely nothing about climate change or so called ‘green’ living in general. Having worked for (amongst other things) the UK’s office on climate change and on the board of the Energy Savings Trust he approaches the subject from a level of expertise not normally associated with books of this kind.

For example rather than insist we buy local he looks at the difference between tomatoes grown in artificially lit and heated UK greenhouses and Spanish grown one’s under natural sunlight.  Even if we include the impact of  shipping the result can be quite surprising!  Perhaps the answer isn’t always UK, organic or local but we have to include seasonal also?

He also recognizes that we need to make profound changes in our lifestyles if we stand any hope of getting through the next few decades unscathed.

His book is a real eye opener and although he does go into quite detailed science at times he does so in a way that makes it accessible even to the most unscientifically minded.

The book is jam packed with tables and graphs the book can be dipped into or read from cover to cover.

An excellent read and one that comes highly recommended.

I’ve made a decision this year on the advice of a old friend to just say bollocks to, not only the environment,but also to the way of life I’ve been used to.   He quite rightly pointed out that there really is no need for me to carry on doing what I’m doing and I would be much better off if I did something else.

I have a drawn up a 11 point plan to get me started.

1. Bin My Energy Saving Bulbs – It will be good getting back to the good old fashion type, they’re a lot brighter and cheaper to put in.
2. Stop Recycling – I’ll just bin all my plastic, paper, cardboard, glass, garden and kitchen waste. Not separating these out should save me at least 2 minutes a day.
3. Buy a wide-screen TV – One the same size as my living room wall, the biggest I can get with as many channels as humanly possible.
4. Stop walking – I tend to take at least one or  two walks a day, especially in the summer but instead I’ll get my exercise in front of a Wii wired up to my wall sized TV.
5. Stop growing my own and stop foraging – From now on all my food will come via a supermarket delivery service.  This also means I can spend more time playing on the Wii or watching TV. It will mean I no longer have to wait for the right season for my food, I can enjoy it all year round.
6. Bin the bike – I’ll learn to drive and get a car. It will be handy for those short trips to the shops.
7. Fly more – Perhaps I’ll fly to see my sister in Brussels next time I see her rather than get the Eurostar. She does live much nearer the train station than the airport but isn’t that what taxi’s were made for?  I’ll also try and squeeze in around 2-3 long haul flights a year, some of those resorts you don’t have to leave all week sound nice.
8. Turn the heating up – It can get cold in my house and there is no reason I should not be able to walk around my house in just my underpants in the middle of winter!
9. Start shopping for fun – I don’t have nearly enough things, I mean I only own 2 DVD’s for christ sake, how have I survived all year I must be in an entertainment deficit, I don’t even own a box set of anything!!!
10. Get a 9-5 job – This change in life-style doesn’t come cheap so I’ll have to give up my studies and get a full time job. I could get a job in a bank or go back to office temping, I did really enjoy my old job as a data entry clerk.
11. Take some medication – I might get a little down at first, this is inevitable when undertaking such a change in lifestyle.  I hear Seroxat is good for that kind of thing and it   has very little side-effects. Failing that, I’ll just drink heavily.