I have had a fantastic summer - environmentally friendly camping in Ireland and Norfolk!

Posted on 11 Sep 07, by Louise Butcher

I have to admit that the long school holiday has meant that I have let things slip a bit - I am certainly not quite as "obsessed" as I was in July!

On the POSITIVE side ... I am MUCH better with the shopping bags! I rarely forget to take my own now so we have very few plastic bags at home. I think Ireland helped with that - nobody there uses supermarket plastic bags because you have to buy every one of them!

I have really got into the outdoor life again over the summer so I am cycling everywhere that I possibly can. However, the only trouble is that as soon as I got back into the "rat race" that is work I don't seem to have nearly as much time and it is so tempting to nip out in the car!

I have got into even better habits with food whilst on holiday and I think I have only been to a big supermarket once since the end of July! Everything comes from the local shops with occasional "special" items from shops in town.

Lastly, the remaining freezer seems to have stopped working and as we can't afford another one right now we are managing without - perfectly well. To think I thought I needed TWO a few months ago!

On the NEGATIVE side, our electricity use seems to have crept up again - despite the monitor! Maybe having all the family back home for the summer hasn't helped much (three extra young adults plus girlfriends/boyfriends and general friends) doesn't do much for electricity saving! The monitor always seems to be running high so I just stop looking at it! - NOT the right idea!

I am still concerned about car use by the rest of the family, BUT I do think I am getting somewhere. My husband has agreed to look at the savings we would make if we sold the bigger car and "made do" with just the small one!

He is not happy about it but if I can convince him that we would save a lot of money I might get somewhere. That's my next task!

So, when I look back at all that, maybe I haven't done so badly over the summer after all. I haven't been thinking about my carbon footprint all the time but hopefully we are adjusting to better habits! We will see what the autumn brings ...