An email from B&Q just popped into our inbox this morning entitled "GO GREEN without going into the red" from those UK giants of home DIY B&Q. They state that

"an average UK house produces enough carbon emmissions in a year to fill six hot air balloons"

...and then they offer a number of solutions to help bring that figure down.

Now, the DIY trade isn't normally known for it's eco-awareness, so for a "high-street" company as high-profile as B&Q to encourage people to buy into the green way of life is very welcome.

At last, the compost bin turned up.
After 10 whole weeks without one, after graciously leaving the other one behind at the last place, we now have our very own 330 litre compost bin. Whoopee.
And it was worth the wait because it was a good price and it's HUGE too.
The local council were offering these composters at a discount; so we ordered direct from the manufacturers, quoted the promotional code and save a few pence too - the money we saved allowed us to get a water butt to collect our rainwater.

Yes, that's right: Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin boss has pledged all the future profits from his travel & transport businesses, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Trains, toward renewable energy and investments.

With natural gas & oil running low in the North Sea, Britain is resorting to importing more and more of its energy needs.

Renewable energy is also on the agenda and yet the prices are constantly on the rise. Take yesterday’s gas price hikes from the French firm EDF – consumer gas prices up 19% due to the increased wholesale prices they say.

According to Secretary of State, Peter Hain, the Government of Northern Ireland is proposing changes to the Building Regulations to make renewable energy generation compulsory on all new builds from 2008.

That means that within 2 years it will be mandatory that all new homes, company and public buildings will be micro-generating energy via solar panels (to heat hot water) and solar photo-voltaic panels or small wind turbines to self-generate electricity.

So, you wanna save the planet huh? Well, here's a list of the top ten tips to combat climate change - these things don't cost the earth and you could get up off the couch now and go turn the fridge down a notch ;)

Oops! Todays the day Britain starts eating the world!

We have just run out of our own natural resources and are about to become dependant on supplies from abroad, according to a study by the New Economics Foundation.

The UK government's chief scientist, Professor Sir David King, warned today that the earth is likely to experience a temperature increase of 3°C because we are all failing to agree on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Professor King warned that even if international governments agreed and acted to restrict CO2 emissions climate change is inevitable.

Oxfordshire County Council began trials in January to use the power of the sun to illuminate bus stops at night.

Oh no, we ran out of Ecover washing up liquid, and just after a massive curry too. There is a shop just around the corner but it only sells those household brands, you know, the sorts of washing-up liquid that "cuts greasy grime in half the time"... sounds dodgy!

So, our support of the environment and the Belgian company Ecover continues with a trip to grab some of their Camomile & Marigold washing-up liquid.