Green Meme #1:

I have been tagged for this green meme by moonroot.

These are the rules:

1. Link to Green Meme Bloggers

2. Link to whoever tagged you

3. Include meme number

4. Include these guidelines in your post

5. Answer questions

6. Tag 3 other green bloggers.

I have to answer ten questions.

1. Name two motivations for being green

Firstly, I try to be green to minimise the impact of my life on the planet because I want it to remain a safe place to live for future generations.

Secondly, I've always liked things to be fair and those of us in the "developed " world take so much more of our fair share of the worlds resources. We are living unsustainably, using more than the planet can provide every year and I feel the way to tackle it is for us to consume less.

2. Name 2 eco-unfriendly items you refuse to give up

At the moment I don't feel ready to give up my car as it would make it so much more difficult to live where I do.

I love my morning coffee and coffee is not very eco-friendly.

3. Are you at peace with, or do you feel guilty about no.2?

Partly guilty about both car and coffee.

Car...

I have a small car and do well under the average mileage and it does enables me to make eco friendly choices like having an allotment to grow food and also being able to shop more sustainably even if the car itself is very eco unfriendly. Perhaps in the future there will be changes so that once agin it is easy to live in rural areas without cars. A hundred years ago my village had a dozen shops selling everything that was needed on a day to day basis while now we need to travel several miles. 

Coffee...

I could live without coffee but grinding the beans each day is part of my waking-up morning routine and that first cup is a favourite part of the day. I make sure that the coffee is organic and fairtrade but its still not a good eco-friendly choice.

4. What are you willing to change but feel unable to/stuck with/unsure how to go about it?

I would like to be able to do without the car but at the moment where we are living it would mean a real lifestyle change. Also I use the car to take the boys to sporting events and my eldest son to and from work so it would reduce the opportunities available to them as well. Maybe in a few years when they are independent I will be able to recoonsider, or perhaps if we move to a less car essential area.

5. Do you know your carbon footprint for your home? If so, is it larger/smaller than your national average?

I have done a few of these carbon footprint calculaters and as a household we are below the national average - about a third of the UK average. Our total is kept low (although not low enough) by driving a small ecconomical car, not flying, eating seasonally and locally, and also by the fact that there are four of us living in the house.

6.What's eco-frustrating and/or eco-fantastic about where you live?

Eco- frustrating = the reliance on the car, especially having to drive to my allotment, its eco-friendly to grow vegeatables but not when you have to drive to do so.

Eco-fantastic = having a garden even if its not very big and also living in a village with a railway station.

7. Do you eat local/organic/vegetarian/forage/grow you own?

I try to as much as possible. Ideally I would buy local organic produce but this is not always available or affordable. I choose local foods over organic foods which have travelled long distances. None of us is vegetarian although I am not a great meat eater. For family meals I cook meat usually about twice a week, we eat fish once or twice and the rest vegetarian. I don't forage much, just blackberries, elderberries and sloes. I grow vegetables and soft fruit on the allotment. In the garden I have two small apple trees, a crab apple, a grape vine and a plum tree. I also grow herbs and of course we have the chickens.

8. What do you personally find the most challenging in being green?

Sometimes it is easier not to be green and the greener options take more time, effort or money.  It can be difficult to maintain motivation when that happens. 

9. Do you have a green confession?

I am guilty of using my car for non-essential journeys. Most of the time I plan my journeys carefully, go to the allotment after work, visit the supermarket near to my sons sports practice etc etc but then sometimes I drive off on my own for a few miles just to get out of the house and walk somewhere different. One of the things I would miss if I did get rid of my car is the ability to get to remote quiet places in the countryside that can't be reached by public transport.

10. Do you have the support of family and/or friends?

Generally, yes, friends and family are supportive. Work colleagues think I am a bit mad though!

I now tag these three bloggers,  

Simply Authentic,

Alexah at Learning to live lightly

Val at Woolly Shepherds diary