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Green change without the Pain Before I tell you how I’ve gone from a personal carbon output of approximately 11.2 tonne to a current level of about 6.4 tonnes and how I hope to get down to a target of 4 tonne very soon, let me explain what those figures mean. I have based my calculations on the online carbon dioxide calculator found at www.resurgence.org/carboncalculator, but there are others out there including a new one launched by the UK governments’ Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs found at http://actonco2.direct.gov.uk What these carbon calculators enable you to do is measure how much of the major greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, your lifestyle is personally responsible for creating each year. Measuring and monitoring where you are helps to identify areas where change is possible. Just as you might record household expenses and budget to keep living with your means, these calculators facilitate carbon budgeting. OK, so that does not sound very exciting. Let me put it another way; if you were told that half of the cost of your electricity bill could remain in your back pocket and not wing its way to the MEA you’d do it, right? Well that’s a good starting point. Mukti Mitchell highlights 10 areas of modern living that can be monitored and changed to reduce emissions with little pain. These are electricity usage, food, how we shop, transport, home insulation, rubbish, recreation, energy sources, our workplace, and holidays.
I had a great time, with an expense account and money to burn. On the flip side I worked most weekends, many evenings. I had no time for much of a live outside work. Arriving on the beautiful Isle of Man did not convert me to an instant eco-warrior, but the simple fact of cutting out my commutes and globe trotting did reduce my emissions significantly. Straight down from an above average 11.2 tonnes to approximately 9.6 tonnes, without even knowing what a carbon footprint was at the time. By down-shifting I had slashed my transport emissions, but what about the rest of it? My first island house purchase, a little two-bed cottage in Laxey began to have an impact on my other emissions. My motivation was renovating the property to make a profit and not saving the planet. Double glazing was installed along with a wood burning stove and thick insulation in the loft space; reliance on the aging gas central heating was quickly replaced by a cosy glow. Daily car sharing with a fellow commuting neighbour did mean that the Laxey to Douglas run did not have such a huge impact on the environment, but living in Douglas meant that I could roll out of bed and walk to work each day.
As I became more careful with the pennies I limited my energy usage, remembering to turn lights and electrical equipment off, and sticking extra clothes on rather than putting on the heating. My tumble dryer was replaced by an extra washing line, light bulbs switched over to low energy versions (an investment of £55 that cut my lighting bill in half in a year). I ended up with MEA and Manx Gas owing me money because I had been so careful! When it came to shopping I reduced my bills by starting to grow my own in my back yard and discovered the joys of Ballabrooie’s Green Man organic market on Thursdays. Had the Douglas Farmers’ Market been up and running back then I would have used that too. The days of getting the Tesco home delivery van to drive the half mile to fill my freezer and cupboards with goodies from all over the globe were over. I redoubled my recycling, composting and dusted off my bicycle. I took a Permaculture course last summer to link my emerging green ideas with my growing passion for gardening and started to recognise that sustainable low impact living is possible. I spent much of the winter tucked away in Ramsey Library’s Permaculture section planning an eco-dream. Then in February of this year the Douglas house sold and I took a leap of faith with my small daughter to start an all together greener life in the North of the island. For months we lived with no electricity source, as wind and solar generation plans were finalised. We ‘borrowed’ energy charging phones, and laptops at friends’ houses.
There is more I could be doing; I have set myself a personal target of 4 tonne CO2 emission by the end of the year knowing that the sustainable target is 2 tonne.
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Website © Louisa Bawden
Last month I stuck my greening neck out and declared that I had more than halved by carbon emissions in the last eight years. To be honest I had not done my maths but I figured that was about right following a lengthy chat with Mukti Mitchell, he of the lowcarbonlifestyle sailing tour featured last month. A few calculations later and I can say that changing to a lifestyle that makes me feel happier, minimises my stress and going a bit green has had a positive environmental impact.
Back to my going greener, cleaner and happier story: In 1999 I moved to the Isle of Man having quit my editorship of a trade magazine to seek a slower pace of life here. My life in the South East of England was pretty typical of a career journalist. I had a company car in which I clocked up an average of 70,000 miles per year, I worked in an office two-and-a-half hours drive from home for three days a week, had a fully kitted home office and drove up and down the UK in chase of stories. My job sent me on regular trips to our head office in Glasgow, across Europe, Scandinavia and to far flung places such as Japan and Hong Kong. 
The plan was to renovate the central Douglas house, make a profit and move on. The project was large and was never completed, but improved insulation the installation of an efficient condensation gas boiler and roof repairs made a start. My divorce focused my mind on household economics and plans for the future, meanwhile I started to wake up to global warming and linked the issues together.
Now in August 2007 I can generate my own clean electricity, I grow my own food on large allotment and buy the remainder from farmers markets, local producers and fair trade sources where I can, I try and minimise my car usage, I live in a small well insulated space heated by a wood burning stove and use bottled gas to cook on when the stove is not fired up. My main carbon luxury is my gas guzzling camper van, but it provides cheap holidays and transports lots of friends and things with little hassle.