the wastelands

For some the journey to living responsibly requires fewer strides but for others great changes need to be in place to make just a minor adjustment.

For some, cycling is a natural way of life: not so for me! I have never had my own bike and never wanted to ride when I lived in London because of the traffic and the reliability of Londaon Transport. Even when I got a bike a few years ago, breaking the pattern of using the car was a hard one to break. The bike sat in the garage, going to pot slowly as things do without due care and attention.

So-I have a "green" blog! So- I recycle my toilet roll tubes! What of it? I am still surgically attached to my car!. I have for many weeks been monitoring how much I use my car, with the intention of limiting my weekly mileage. I felt that 20 miles per day was adequate and on the odd day where I do go over that amount, there are days where I do significantly less which makes it balance. I was aiming for driving no more than 150 miles per week.

Trouble is, I use the car less and less for none essential journeys but it doesn't seem to have much impact. It was time to reconsider a greener option than that: it was time for the bike!

The bike got it's overhaul and the time had come to justify the money spent. This week was the week...
Monday: I went to a friend's house. Probably less than a mile each way but it was a good test run, away from heavy traffic just to get myself used to it
Tuesday: A bigger step- cycled to work and back home, about 1.5 miles each way. Again, pleasant roads with a fairly mild hill
Friday: This was the biggest test of all! I didn't want to park in the city and I knew I needed to get from the city quickly to work. The bike seemed ideal, but was I up for

• going the distance
• coping with big roundabouts
• hills
• getting wet
• lugging work stuff with me?

The answer is: yes! I cycled from my house to the railway station, met my mum there and we walked to Kings Church. I then went from there to Parkside School on College Rd and then back to the Forum. Then the final leg of the journey was from the city back home. I did it! I probably did 8-9 miles that day, which isn't huge but it's a big deal for me. I saved myself the hassle and expense of parking and the cost of petrol.

OK, it didn't save the world but I'm guessing this may well change a few of the habits I am so comfortable with...watch this space!

I heard via a forum of this organisation who hand out Eco-congregation awards to churches.

The Award is given to churches that have:

• undertaken an environmental check-up/audit
• and activities/initiatives in each of the following three areas:

1. spiritual – linking environmental issues with the Christian faith e.g. through worship
2. practical – practising what is preached e.g. an energy, churchyard or recycling project
3. community – worked with or through their local community on environmental issues
e.g. a litter pick, project with a school or other community group, gaining positive publicity.

I think this sounds like a positive start to an eco friendly church

Al Gore has released his climate change film "An Inconvenient Truth" and it's great to see that someone who may well appeal to the American "market" focus on the way the planet is being destroyed and heading for destruction. It has had positive reviews in the US where it has been released for 4 months although some say it focuses heavily on the worst case scenario and doesn't spend enough time on solutions.

Gerry McAfee who is principal partner of a Northern Ireland estate agency McAfee Properties, was left with the firm's For Sale signs after his company decided to rebrand. With no way to recycle the boards in Ireland and with people telling him to just dump them as waste, he decided to find an alternative use for them. Through his involvement with the Feed the Hungry charity working in a township in the South African city of Port Alfred, he discovered that they could use the boards as roofing slates.

BBC story here

I was directed by Joolian to this article. It seems to tie up with the article from the Evening News about the plastic bottles we recycle going to China. It would appear that we have stricter and stricter targets for recycling in our country so we use poorer parts of the world as our dustbin, either dumping waste there or for them to suffer the consequences of melting down the plastics.

Daily Mail story here...

but I do." These could be the words of someone who exhibits brand loyalty. It could be to Coca-Cola, Heinz, Reebok or Mercedes. Branded goods are worth billions and in an average day, we see 3000 advertising messages. Kevin Roberts, worldwide CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi says...

"For great brands to survive, they must create loyalty beyond reason. The secret is the use of mystery, sensuality and intimacy... the power to create long term emotional connections with consumers."

I know that I was mysteriously "attached" to Sainsburys which I tracked down to a feeling of nostalgia (my dad shopped there and there were no Sainsbury stores "Up North"), a perception of quality and feeling comfortable with the brand.

I now shop at Waitrose which isn't through loyalty but more convenience as it is across the road but we have to be wary of the power of brands. Neil Boorman realised that he was living a branded life and has sworn to burn it all in order to return to a simpler, more "true" way of living. Although I applaud ignoring brands, I (as many other on the BBC website have verbalised) would rather he donate the items to charity. He also mentions a Habitat sofa- now would you describe that as a branded item? The other thing that makes me questions his motives are the fact that I followed from the BBC link to his blog and found, surprise, suprise, that he has a book deal. Even so, with brand conscious teenagers around me for a lot of time, it is interesting to take stock of the pull that branding and advertising has on you.