This page will have the assorted minor changes I make, in reverse chronological order
(ie most recent at the top).
For the past week, I’ve been counting the plastic items I throw out, as part of the GreenPeace “Big Plastic Count”. I’m fairly pleased with the result. What’s interesting is that the great majority of the plastic I chuck is in the form of cat-food pouches. Sadly, Chelsea-cat refuses to eat any other kind of catfood – and when she does rely on the perpetual cat-feeder full of dry food, she gets badly affected and her back legs stop working properly (which I think is a diabetes issue). Anyway, my results: 34 pieces of plastic chucked in a week in total, of which I noted 23 were cat-food.
16th December 2021
I got my annual energy use statements through from Octopus energy. I’ve used slightly less gas, and a lot less electricity, than last year. I’ve added updates to my carbon footprint accordingly.
14th December 2021
I’ve been appalled at the number of discarded single-use masks discarded at random. Wind catches them, and they end up everywhere! They’re not sensibly biodegradable, and release plastic fibres into the environment. Sure, they have a place in medical and high-risk settings, and I’ll continue to wear them there when asked to do so, but in general I will firmly stick to the reusable double-layer cloth (with optional paper insert) ones.
I have “support the NHS” and “Green Party” ones that I use regularly, and stick in the machine whenever I’m doing a load of laundry (which nowadays is usually at 60C).
12th November 2021
It occurred to me, as I was thinking about cooking three veg, that I haven’t used my steamer for a couple of years. It’s big enough for spuds or sweet potatoes in the boiling water bit, with two perforated baskets for veg on top.
OK, not a planet-saver. But once brought to the boil it happily steams away on the smallest gas ring set to medium, which is certainly a saving on gas. Every little helps, I suppose. I’ll be keeping the steamer at the front of the saucepan cupboard from now on.
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