Going Green

There is a huge drive about going carbon neutral and saving the planet. We have blue and green recycling bins and bi weekly collections even though our council tax increases every year. We get told to use public transport and get hammered with taxes when we dare to fly anywhere. There are god knows how many carbon off setting schemes. We also have numerous green tariffs for electricity.

I do my part any recycle, use a carbon off setting scheme when taking any flights and obviously pay all of the required taxes when flying. My heating is turned down and off unless it is very cold and I switch electrical appliances off when I am not using them, although this is also to do with saving money. I personally think that protecting the planet is very important but with regards to going green that is as far as I am prepared and able to go.

Why you ask? Like everyone I have a monthly budget which I can’t go over. I buy organic food where I can but have previously written there is a limit to how much I can buy. What gets me is that all the green tariffs are more expensive than normal tariffs. So the pressure is to go green and pay more, I am afraid it doesn’t work like that. I buy what I can within my budget and I really don’t see why I should pay even more to run my house and increase the profits of the companies supplying me. Bring the prices down and yes by all means I will sign up for green tariffs

Public transport is another way that we apparently can save the planet by using. Fair enough but to put it diplomatically my local public transport is next to useless. 90% of the time it is turn up at the bus stop and hope for the best. I have lost count of how many times I have given up waiting for the bus and walked home or had food thaw out whilst waiting. So yes you could say the bus is more environmentally friendly because I end up walking. Oh and we have to pay for this as well. You want more people to catch the bus then kindly sort of the public transport system. If I am being honest I would say that given the choice of car or bus then I choose the car every single time.

I am afraid I can’t afford to carbon offset all of my activities due to the fact that I can feed myself for nearly a month with that money so I will be limiting it to flights only. Likewise I do have my doubts about the schemes that are advertised.