´óÏó´«Ã½

Here I am again. Doing a bit better I think!

Well, I seem to be doing quite a bit actually – the whole thing is gaining momentum. The energy saving lights are well established and I have just found out that I can get energy saving halogen lights as well so it looks like I’m going to have to change all those too!

Gary and Howard from the Stockholm Environment Institute came round the other day and fitted an 'energy meter'. It’s quite fantastic but frightening too. When we switched two halogen spotlights on the reading went up dramatically. We could switch four energy saving lights on and NOTHING registered on the meter!

Gary got very excited and wanted to put an alarm on the meter so that it would 'bleep' every time we went over a set reading. Can you imagine the family’s response to that? I persuaded him to let me try it without the bleeper for a bit. Maybe when we get an idea of what is a good or a bad level we can have a go.

The problem starts when I have to buy packaged stuff or if I want to buy food for a special occasion. So much comes from abroad and has far too much packaging on it. Perhaps I need a major rethink. Maybe next month?

The dishwasher is not being used. We are very careful about how we wash up – as little water as possible and not too hot.

A freezer has gone.

Four out of five of us are using bicycles a lot more.

The other really exciting thing is I learnt to compost last week! Gary persuaded me to go to the environment centre at St Nicholas Fields to learn how to compost and to be filmed for the Inside Out programme with the ´óÏó´«Ã½. So now I am an Eco Star!Ìý

John at York Rotters gave me a brilliant lesson about all sorts of different types of composting. What really amazed me was the amount of paper and card that goes in a good compost bin and the wormery. I want one!

I was going to drive to the centre that night, I was running late and it looked like rain. As I got in the car it crossed my mind how bad it would look and how stupid I would feel turning up at the environment centre in the car, so on the bike! I found a new route through the university, avoided all the traffic and got there quicker than if I had taken the car.

Oh, and another thing is that I have started an environment group at school -Ìý we are all PESTs (Pupil Environmental Sustainability Team). We comprise of staff and pupils and we are all committed to making a difference in school. Our first campaign is paper saving and recycling and we have many more planned.Ìý

Do you get the impression I am getting a bit obsessed?ÌýMy family think so, but they are also secretly quite pleased. I think!

Can I keep up the progress this month? It is a bit addictive.

Louise