The Green Chain

PriceMinister launched a great new eco-blogging initiative.  The Green Chain enables bloggers to raise money for charity just by taking part in in their eco interview.  For each interview blogged, they will donate £10 to one of three great environmental charities - Surfers Against Sewage, Trees for Cities and the Young People's Trust for the Environment.


You can also tweet or join the Green Chain Facebook page as well as blogging, PriceMinister will donate an extra £1 for each. You can read all about The Green Chain and how to take part here.


I was tagged a little while ago by the lovely Di over at Super Lucky, and apologies because whilst I love this idea my mind has been elsewhere and I'm only just getting around to it now. Tssk tssk.


Here is my interview, and if you're also 'super lucky' I may have tagged you!


Turning the heating down by just one degree in your house saves 240kg of CO2 a year. It would take eight trees to soak up this amount of CO2! Are you currently doing anything to make your home eco-friendly?


We were recently offered a home energy survey by Sainsbury's Energy which would look at aspects such as insulation, energy consumption and heating, but as we are in the process of moving home we haven't undertaken it.  I do plan to book it for our new home though.


Living in Victorian houses it is more difficult - we currently have single glazed sash windows and no cavity wall insulation.  The new house does have replacement windows and solid fuel fires.  One of the first jobs there will be to update the boiler for a newer, more efficient model.


Rainforests once covered 14% of the earth's land surface, now they only cover 2%. How are you reducing your use of paper?


We rarely buy newspapers anymore, preferring to keep up to date by reading online. All the magazines and newspapers we do have are recycled.  I try to re-use magazines and cardboard packaging when doing craft activities with Ruby, and try to avoid excessive packaging when shopping.

At PriceMinister we believe that trading second hand items online is a great way to extend the life span of products. Have you ever thought of buying or selling second hand items on or off line?

Ooooh, you're preaching to the converted here!  There's hardly anything in my home that isn't 2nd hand.  I'm an avid fan of charity shops, jumbles, car boot sales, ebay, freecycle...


I host a weekly feature on my blog called Magpie Monday so people can link up their 2nd-hand purchases and hopefully encourage others to buy pre-owned.

One of the biggest environmental challenges we face is Freshwater Shortages. Are you taking measures to reduce your water consumption?

This is an area we could be better at.  Unfortunately our daughter is in the habit of having a bath every night before bed, as well as a shower in the morning.  I know this isn't strictly necessary, but I pay the consequences if I deviate from her routine - in the form of no sleep!


I have made a small adjustment to our downpipe from the bathroom, putting an extra elbow in.  This means in the summer, when I pull the plug on her bath, I can divert the water straight into buckets and watering cans rather than down the drain. Last year we managed to keep our entire veg patch and garden going by re-using this bathwater, along with rainwater from our water butts.

I also only use the washing machine and dishwasher when we have a full load, turn off the tap when brushing teeth, and the other half follows the 'if it's yellow let it mellow' approach to toilet flushing.  I'm not so keen!

How do you choose the produce that goes into your shopping basket?


I used to only try and buy organic produce, items with low air miles, fair trade products etc etc, but money's tighter now.  I do attempt to watch my food waste, make meals from scratch avoiding over-processed or ready-made meals. We also try to have at least one meat-free day a week.


I recently gone back to using a milkman - milk delivered in re-usable bottles, delivered by electric float!


What is your favourite green space near home?

I'm going to say my garden! I guess that's not what you mean, but I shall really miss it when we move. We're blessed with an enormous garden and vegetable patch.  Plenty of space for Ruby to play outdoors and get lots of fresh air.

Which charity will you support and why?

I'd like to donate to the Young People's Trust for the Environment a charity which aims to educate and inform youngsters about sustainability.


Please give us the url of a fellow blogger (or bloggers) you would like us to contact to raise an extra £10. 

I'd like to tag Kay at Brink of Bedlam; Maggy at Red Ted Art and Tattooed Mummy.