AUCHTERARDER TIMES
GREEN WINTER -
With winter just around the corner, and Santa and the Elves set to start gearing up for Christmas, it’s that time of year: the heating which has been off for most of the summer has now been put back on, jumpers and winter coats are being pulled out of storage, gloves and mittens and warm winter hats are being dug out, and thoughts of warm bowls of homemade soup and crusty bread abound.
This time of year certainly isn’t very green with the trees barren, hills brown, skies grey, and on occasion a wee drop of white snow for some, and perhaps more snow than they’d like for others. Winter brings a change in weather, and a change in us!
Yup, winter is hard on us, and in turn we’re hard on the environment. The weather makes us more likely to use our lighting and heating more and to set the thermostat to a higher temperature. We’re also likely to drive more, watch more television, and of course we have one of the biggest events of the year—Christmas, which means lots of gifts, and lots of packaging and paper waste.
So what can we do to try and reduce our environmental footprints this winter? Well here are a few ideas:
▪ When you find a comfortable temperature in your home, turn the thermostat down by one degree
▪ If you do feel a bit cold put on a jumper or fleece rather than turn the thermostat up
▪ Ensure your house is insulated appropriately—poorly insulated houses are a huge waste of energy, costing you money.
▪ Use your timer to turn the heating on only at key times of the day when people are home, and off when no one is in.
▪ Darker nights outside means more lights inside—try to make sure the lights you use the most in your home use energy efficient bulbs
▪ Close your curtains at night to help keep heat in the room from escaping out the windows
▪ Pelmets above curtains can also help trap cold air behind curtains, and warm air in rooms
▪ Buy a good waterproof jacket, and try to walk more and drive less. A good jacket, and warm top will keep you dry and warm on a wet winters day
▪ Use public transport rather than drive as public transport emits less emissions
▪ Try online shopping at Christmas—using one vehicle to deliver 20 gifts to 20 people is more efficient than 1 person using 1 car to buy 20 gifts
▪ If you’re staying in, instead of watching the telly, or a video, why not pick up a good book or magazine and spend a few hours reading? That uses far less energy than having the TV on.
▪ Get creative with your gift—rather than buying someone something that they’ll never use and wasting paper, why not try conserving rainforest, sponsoring a child in a developing country, or donating to your favourite charity as a gift to someone else?
▪ The really keen could try using newspaper to wrap gifts instead of Christmas Wrap. If you’re using Christmas wrap try wrapping a couple of gifts together rather than wrapping each gift individually.
Essentially we know that the winter isn’t the best time of the year for many of us, however how we react to this time of the year can have a bigger impact on the environment than we may realise, so with a few of the above tips in mind, I’m hoping for a green winter and a white Christmas!
scott Lescak is the
environmental project manager for eazyphone Ltd
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