Eco Holidays

posted by Catherine on Sep 22

If your kids are always asking how long until we get home – think on your feet!

There is plenty going on in the countryside even when it all looks a bit bleak – maybe not noticable to us adults who are just thinking about the weather and the route back to the car.

But to the kids; the autumn cold weather and wildlife is nothing but one huge adventure!

So here are a few things that might inspire you to think about the fun side of things. Maybe walk less distance and do more things – that way you can keep the kids happy rather than constantly making them catch you up!

Don’t Leave The Leaves:
Plan to gather up all the leaves you can find that have fallen from trees into one great big pile – and then run through them kicking them up in the air! This game is so easy to play over and over again!

Autumn Gathering:
Why not use the opportunity to search the woodland floor for branches and twigs to build a secret den? There are no wildflowers in the way; just leaves, moss and building materials!

photo credit: Steve-h

Counting Conkers:
Depending on the woods – there should be plenty of conkers for you to collect – still in their spikey shells! Once you have a winner (and some string) you can set up your own tournament!

Searching For Seeds:
It’s not just conkers you will find – there are hazelnuts, acorns, berries and even helicopters! Why not try to guess which ones need to be eaten by animals and which ones float in the wind!

Puddles And Painting:
Find some different coloured berries, grasses and muds and mix up your own paint pot to make your own autumn scene – using real leaves and twigs if you want!

Get Lost!
Why not set up a treaure trail using chalk marks, wooden arrows and leaf designs. Follow the clues through the woods to the treasure – hopefully a nice picnic!

And – it doesn’t cost a penny or require any great planning!

posted by Catherine on Jul 21

Why buy one car to suit all your needs – chop and change whenever you can!

Just like buying that house with a spare room just incase a friend comes to stay, or keeping that extensive wine cellar just incase you throw a party – or even buying that hat for just one wedding – why do we need to buy something so short term?

To help save resources and to make sure that you always have exactly what you need only when you need it – hire it instead – and that is a very eco friendly choice, wouldn’t you say?

Well, the same can be said of cars; why have a variety of vehicles for the family that you have to use for everything that you need, when you could hire a more suitable car when you need it.

Flexible Hire Cars:
We all still need our family car for shopping and school runs, but do we need the spare ‘nice’ car when we want something less ‘family’. And why compromise on a more economical vehicle in luie of those odd holidays; I mean why drive around in a spacious 7-seater every day just so that during the school holidays you can get the scooters and suitcases in the boot!

Hiring cars is no longer such a hoo-haa, and there are varying prices, vehicles and hire periods these days that can help you make the most of different vehicles for your changing needs.

So if you are looking for long term car hire – why not consider all the options – and get the exact car you need whenever you need one.

Why Change?
Well, a sports car doesn’t do the same thing as a camper van. One is perfect for that romantic fast-paced get-a-way but isn’t really suitable for pulling over in a field and making a bacon sandwich! However the other is perfect for that impromtu lunch and life at a slower pace.

Yet you wouldn’t want both sitting on your drive all year waiting for that break!

So just like hiring your wedding dress, a holiday cottage or even a carpet cleaner – hiring a car to suit your needs is the perfect eco friendly alternative – and why not?

photo credit: Land Rover Our Planet

We can’t all afford a minibus, 2-seater or off-roader – yet these might be the perfect vehicle for our short-term needs. And if driven properly and to full capacity, they could be the most eco friendly choice for your needs.

So if you need a vehicle for more than a month and for a specific purpose – consider a hire vehicle which fits the bill perfectly and make the most of your trip or business needs.

No need to stretch your family car to the limit doing something it’s not suited to!

posted by Catherine on Jun 22

What is the fun in making a whole load of rules about the countryside?

The Countryside code is something that people rarely ever read – and this is for 2 main reasons. Either the people being shown the information are too rude and selfish to consider what might be best for the countryside itself and everyone else sharing in it’s beauty, so they have no interest in being ‘told what to do’.

Or they already know the code inside-out as it is all common sense to the the eco thinker!

I mean how more obvious could it be to anyone that dropping litter isn’t a great way to keep the countryside healthy! If you drop litter here today – what do you expect it to look like tomorrow?

The basic principles of the Countryside code are really just the exact same things as we see everywhere else in our lives – but maybe with sheep instead of hamsters, and oaks instead of rose bushes.

Would you leave the door to your friends hamster cage open after you put something inside? Would you start pulling roses off your neighbours bushes because you wanted a closer look at the leaves? Would you hit your dog waste under a hedge with a stick and into the school playground? While looking around a shop, would you start opening all the doors just to see what’s on the other side?

Strange. Because that is just what people expect to be able to do in the countryside.

How Are They The Same?
Unfortunately, because the countryside (and beaches and woodlands and mountains, moors and marshes) are all free to visit – some people assume that they have no value. And so they treat them as such.

For example, Family A travel to a small village for a visit and decide to wander off up a footpath as it is sunny. As they have not ‘done this before’ they may well ‘lose’ their way, find the path turning the ‘wrong’ way or come across a huge muddy puddle.

photo credit: robertsharp

Rather than thinking that the footpath goes another way for a reason or that the place they want to go might be private anyway – they say to themselves: ‘Well, we can see where we want to go – so if we just jump this fence, we can walk across this dry field and get there anyway’.

Now if you went around your friends house for a visit, walked to the end of their garden and saw a beautiful lake across someone else’s garden – you wouldn’t just bunk over your friends fence and trample your family across somone else’s garden to get to the private lake, would you?

So what makes it OK when it is just a farmers field?

All Are Welcome:
The countryside is usually ‘free’ to enter as many charities and private owners alike want people to experience to wonder and amazing character of the open countryside.

They do this by opening up for private business, extending their existing footpath and bridleway network to allow great freedom of the visitors and by making their land as easy to access and walk through as possible.

However, at any time they can revert to the bare minimum of access for walkers and riders. And repreated trespassing and vandalism will only bring this about sooner.

For example, shops that find large numbers of children encourage thefts restrict the number of children they allow in to their stores. Private Houses and Gardens open to the public often put barriers around precious items, flower beds and lawns and even close of certain rooms – usually due to past visitors damaging or breaking something with their carelessness.

The same could be true for your favourite areas of the countryside.

Imagine if all footpaths were fenced in; Open Access land was restricted back to the by-ways and gardens and houses were closed of?

Imagine also that due to the cost of repairs and alterations due to damage by visitors was placed on future visitors.

I remember a whole host of places that used to have ‘free parking’ or ‘free entry’ all year round – and churches that were left open all day.

That is not always the case anymore. More and more landowners, farmers, clergymen and charities are finding that unquestioning hospitality and generosity just are not traits that keep things ticking over.

Times are changing, but hopefully people can too!

Please pass on the Countryside Code to whoever you take out with you on your eco adventures. Pass on the reasons – not the rules – and hopefully you can change a few yourself.

posted by Catherine on Feb 8

If you see ‘poisonous’ Ragwort alongside a footpath – would you destroy it?

After all, Ragwort is known for it’s toxic nature – and is always destroyed on equestrian land and is generally unwanted on cattle grazing land and in hay meadows.

Eating it over a period of time will usually cause permanent liver damage, but this is very, very rare in reality. However, some walkers take it upon themselves to snap off the ragwort stems as they pass them by – for reasons only known to them.

However – I bet it didn’t oocur to them that the land owners or reserve wardens may in fact be actively encouraging the ragwort to grow there.

photo credit: MGSpiller

Who’s Land Is It Anyway?
Many countryside walkers assume that the land is unchecked, not cared for and little visited by the owners – but they would be wrong in nearly all cases.

All land is ‘owned’ by someone and they would either look after it themselves or have someone else look after it for them (usually with some financial incentive).

And if you studied any biology or geography in your life you would know that there is a natural pattern of succession in the plant world, starting with bare rock or dried riverbed, leading up to mature forest.

(If you are one step ahead of me now you will know what I am about the say.)

As a result of this natural pattern – if land wasn’t tended to or ‘controlled’ by somebody – then the very grassy patch or field where you just snapped that ragwort in half in wouldn’t actually be grassy – or even have any ragwort in. It would be a mature forest.

And as with your own land (generally just your garden) – even if it looks a bit messy and you are at work 5 days a week – you really wouldn’t want someone to walk through it while you were out and then take it upon themselves to cut down your only tree and uproot your rhodedenron bush.

Understand Nature’s Way:
By cutting down young or densly growing trees down to create a glade, or patch of open grass in the middle of a woodland can be a fantastic haven for dozens of butterfly and moth species – and some of them just love Ragwort!

The day-flying Cinnabar Moth (a bright red medium-sized moth) is most renowned for this association and has bright yellow and black striped caterpillars that feed on the ragwort plants. Many other moths also use the plant for parts of their lifecycle.

photo credit: MGSpiller

And strangely enough – bearing in mind how horrible the plant tastes – sheep tend to love an appetiser of Ragwort amongst their normal grasses and flowers. It is believed to kill off internal parasites for them!

Woodlands all over the country are managed to a certain extent – even though they tend to take care of themselves most of the time – but if you want to attract any birds, mammals or insects that don’t live in woodlands, then you need to cut them down.

And that is just what happens throughout the year on the very land you are walking on.

Some plants are best cut down at certain times of the year – and of course you can’t disturb a nesting bird over the spring – so rather than taking on the role of dangerous plant destroyer (ivy cutter/squirrel scarer/dead wood clearer/or anything at all that isn’t agreed in advance with the land-owner) – just walk on by.

If you have anything you would like to share with them about their land, then contact them in the appropriate fashion rather than just sabotage their property.

So, when you are out exploring the countryside – think of their trees as you would of your garden fence; their plants as you would of your rosebush; their gates as your own front door.

Would you want someone to leave your front door open, break down your fence and snap your rosebush in half?

I didn’t think so…….

posted by Catherine on Jan 6

Your empty car could cause charities to lose money and reduce visitor numbers!

Thinking about what your car can do when you aren’t using it is one of the first step towards eco friendly living and the right attitude.

Anything that limits the chances of other people enjoying their day or makes them have to try twice as hard to get to where they want to go – isn’t very eco friendly.

And in the case of your car – your decisions can make all the difference.

Let’s say that you parked your car in a local viewpoint car park – but you only noticed that you were taking up just over 1 space after you had got out the car. There weren’t many other people in the car park, so would you leave it there or would you move it?

If you aren’t going to be there long, you might be inclined to leave it there – but how do you know what might happen while you are away? What if you are longer than expected or it suddenly fills up. You are preventing someone else from parking where you are.

photo credit: Blyzz

You might be having a lovely walk out there – or a delightful picnic with friends – but there could be a whole family wanting to do the same – but instead they are left in the car park staring at three-quarters of a parking space and no doubt a little bit annoyed as well!

Long Term Effects:
Yeah, that might only be a one off for you as you live close by and go there all the time – but what if that person you prevented from parking had come a long way to see your local coastline or woodlands – and they never got to see it because of your actions.

What if they were going to spend their holiday money in the area – your area? But instead they drove off to a town further down the way and spent it there. Their loss or yours?

What if the car park was a pay and display car park funding the very location you love to visit – and you just lost them some money as well – paying once but using 2 spaces and driving of another customer to boot!

And do you think those people would recommend your viewpoint to their friends back home who are planning a road trip or will they just say ‘there wasn’t enough parking’. How can they tell them about the beautiful countryside near you if they didn’t get to see it – they will just have to say how wonderful the other place they went to was instead.

Your loss again I think!

posted by Catherine on Aug 24

Make Your Eco Holidays More Eco Friendly By Setting Your House To Work

Rather than leaving your home empty while you go off on your eco holidays – make it work for you – and for the environment.  I mean what’s more of an eco waste than an empty house?

Now we have all heard of ‘house swaps’ – but that means that you have to take your holiday in just the one place – and agree on how long for with the other person – but there are a few more options open to you while you are away.

1) Special Events:
If you live near a well-known location or event – why not coincide your trip to allow you to let out your home for a great price!

It’s not just about the ‘really’ famous places these days either as there a local festivals and events popping up all over the place these days.  Especially if you have a property right in the action – or far from it!

Peak season in the Lake District or the South Coast could be a great time to go away yourself.  Your home would be looked after, secure and making you some funds for next years holiday while you are still enjoying this years!

2) Your Front Garden:
Even before you go away, you could be finding a person who needs a parking space right about where you are living!

Thousands of people drive into work every day looking for that elusive safe parking spot where they won’t get a ticket.  What better place than your front garden!

If you can find a ‘tenent’ for your gravel before you head off then there is always someone visiting and leaving your home everyday while you are away – for added security – and you aren’t wasting that patch of land either!

3) Your Back Garden:
If you are lucky enough to have something great in your garden – like a tennis court, pool or riverbank or whatever – then why not consider ‘renting’ it out while you aren’t there?

Of course you could rent it out while you are at home too – but while you are away those resources are going to be wasted.  So share them out – either free or for a small fee if you like!

People also need a place to camp in small villages or remote footpaths – so maybe a small donation for your unused garden wouldn’t be too much trouble for you – maybe give a share to a neighbour who checks up on things too.

Obviously make sure that everything is safe and secure before leaving and that you are covered on any necessary insurance or health and safety things to cover yourself – as you sometimes need to these days!

Otherwise – enjoy your holidays knowing that they are twice as eco friendly as everyone else’s!

posted by Catherine on Mar 19

Could your travel plans help to promote a new business agenda?

Yet another ‘day’ has been put into place to try to get companies and individuals to think more about their impact on the environment and how to change things for the better.

People sometimes get so used to certain procedures or suppliers or activities that they don’t even consider the alternatives.  And those people who looked into alternatives a few years ago and found that they were not viable may well now be quite surprised at the options now available to them.

In the same way that the thought of drilling for tiny amounts of hard-to-get oil in remote parts of the world was once written off as pointless (ie it would cost more money to get at the oil in the first place than they would make for selling it) business ideas may well also have been ‘out of reach’ of most small businesses and ‘not worth the time’ for larger firms. But times have changed!

Long Haul Travel:
Many businesses have certain staff that will travel to other countries as part of their everyday running.  And this has long been widely accepted – and even a perk – as part of a job.

However, with the added expense of flying (due to rising oil costs) and the added pressure from society (ie: their customers) it is now seen as somewhat ‘bad business practice’.

Why fly one person all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to talk to someone when they can call them up on the phone, talk to them over the internet or video conference them for an almost face-to-face meeting?

Action can be taken on laptops at either end these days, and we can communicate with virtually every person and place on earth if both people have a hand held device. 

Live news can be beamed from a cell phone in the middle of a desert in a war zone; safari guides in the middle of the Kalahari desert can send images to UK wildlife charities reporting poaching, and marine biologists can communicate with scientists around the world whilst sitting on the bottom of the ocean!

So why on earth businesses can’t decide which book to publish or which policy to agree on unless they are sitting in the same room?

What Can They Do?
Well, for a start they can take a look at the latest video conferencing equipment – either on their own or with the professional help of an expert in the field. 

By just thinking about alternative means of communication within their own business and between other businesses, it is possible that they could find a viable option that will not only save the planet – but also save themselves money and time, as well as increasing the productivity (and happiness levels) of their staff.

Planet: Less carbon emissions from travel
Money: Not paying for travel and accommodation
Time: Staff could be working rather than travelling
Productivity:  More time spent working – more targets reached
Happiness: Not leaving family for days on end – and being tired!

Also: Updating your business’ technology and reducing your climatic impact can also be seen by others as a positive attribute – and could therefore improve your customer base, ‘green-up’ your company image as well as letting other businesses know that you are a serious player in the future of your industry.

See for yourself at Climate Care Day.

posted by Catherine on Nov 20

Less miles is good, but fuel-efficient driving is even better!

I know that driving your car less is a great way to lower your carbon footprint, and that always will be true – but you could improve the fuel used when driving by following the golden rules below:

1) Different Day – Different Car
We all have certain things in the car that we need there all the time, like a map-book and a car jack, etc.

But, just because we use the roof rack occassionally or that baby seat for the weekend there is no need to drive them to work every day – or to the stores for your shopping. And that 5 litres of oil in the back is costing you more in gas – every day it’s there!

Every extra pound in your car is using more fuel, so make sure that everytime you plan a day out, you make sure that the car only contains those things that it needs for that one time.

However, that doesn’t mean have less people in your car or only car share with skinny people! Cars are designed to carry 4 or 5 people, so make sure that yours does. Always offer to car share for work and vacations. Just 1 less car on the road in your region every hour can make huge savings over the year – and over the whole country!

2) Bike Racks & Trailers
There are times when you want to have your bikes on the back or the roof, or a small trailer attached to your car to move those awkward items about – but consider the aerodynamics!

There was a recent survey where different bike racks were used on the same car to drive 2 bikes a long distance – and there was quite a staggering difference in fuel economy depending on where the bikes were positioned.

Some bikes created huge drag as the wind hit them when driving at speed and others just created an instability in weight distribution causing the car to perform differently over distances.

And of course they would produce much less drag (and so save more fuel) if they were inside the vehicle – so maybe a longer car is better for certain people?

So, before you buy your next car, van, trailer or bike rack – read the facts about it. Ask the retailer or check online for more details about fuel efficiency – or you could be costing yourself a lot more in fuel than the amount you saved on your purchase!

3) Creating a Draught
The same goes for having your windows or sunroof open as well. The air flowing into the windows or over the sunroof cause drag on the car, making it use more fuel to keep the same speed.

Close them for most of the faster portions of your driving to be more fuel efficient, using your vents to create a cool draught. Using the air conditioning uses a lot of fuel too – and make the engine work harder, putting it under more strain than it needs!

4) Clean Cars
Do we all really need them? Using an inefficient automated car wash can use over 100 litres of water per wash – that is just totally unnecessary – and that’s what younger brothers and scouts are for!

With a bucket of warm soapy water and a sponge – you could save endless gallons of water being wasted – and help earn someone some extra pocket money!

Although, make sure they wash on gravel or grass rather than the road – otherwise the soapy bubbles will flow straight down the drains rather than percolating through the soil – so could possibly cause low level pollution or diseases!

And anyway, as long as your vehicle has clear windows, lights and licence plates – the rest doesn’t matter really if you are on vacation – or driving through woods or countryside. Why clean something that is going to get dirty again? Save it for a special occasion……..

posted by Catherine on Oct 20

There is no longer any good reason to not be concerned about carbon emissions!

If you even have one tiny part of you that is seeking to become more eco friendly, it must be to reduce your carbon emissions and helping to reduce (considerably) your by-products and those of your workplace, friends, societies and any other groups of people you can!

It’s true that saving wildlife, reducing deforestation, species conservation, cutting poverty and the like are all very, very important – but if we don’t stop the world heating up like a giant radiator – none of these will matter.

How much more difficult will it be to preserve the habitat of an endangered species of turtle when people are struggling to feed their families?  How can you justify preventing agricultural development of a vast area of natural rain forest when food isn’t growing anymore in the fields that people have used for centuries?

They all becomes a bit less of a concern when human lives are becoming threatened instead!

There is a whole host of information out there about cutting your carbon emissions, and trying to make more ‘eco’ choices for your energy, your travel and your home and business, and it’s always great to support any new ones that come onto the scene. 

If the number of ‘green’ internet sites increases and the number of ‘green seekers’ online increases, then larger bodies can see that they need to start becoming interested too.  Lots of voices all saying the same thing make changes happen!

One such new site is CarbonCredits.cm, which has a growing selection of relevant articles about the environment and tips for reducing your carbon footprint.  It also has very up to date comments and reactions to current affairs!

It’s called global warming because it involves everyone on this earth, regardless of where they are, how old they are and what they want for their family and friends.  Unfortunately, the time has passed for someone just recycling their newspapers to make a difference – it is all caught up in a giant web.

The sooner we get the governments themselves to start doing something – the sooner we can all start thinking about something else worth our time and energy!  The longer we put off making a big difference to our carbon emissions, the less chance we have of recovering what we have lost.

It’s time to think big and act on your environmental concerns – otherwise just surviving might be your biggest concern!