Tuesday 1st November 11

A hard-working day.  I went to Ginnie's to dig out her coal hole.  I'd spent some time thinking hard about this issue. 

Ginnie moved into the house about 20 years ago and there was a pile of coal in an outhouse... they didn't use solid fuel and it sat there.  She's selling up and wants the place as tidy and clean as possible, so she asked me if I wanted the coal.  Our stoves are 'multifuel', meaning they'll burn wood or coal in a smoke-free way, so that meant I was in a position to say yes.

However, this carbon was fossil carbon, extracted from the air millions of years ago.  And I've made a conscious decision to be as 'low carbon' as possible... that's mainly fossil carbon, but it also pertains to not wasting renewable energy too.  So, a dilemma.  What to do with this coal?  Should I say, no, I don't want it, and let her find someone else to dig it out, bag it up, drive it somewhere and burn it?  Or should I spend time bagging it up, to help Ginnie, and then take it to Hazel court to be landfilled, or find somewhere to bury it?  These last two options would mean the fossil carbon would be locked up underground, the ideal situation. But if I used the coal, it would add a little to my carbon footprint... which is about a twelfth of the UK average... so this 'carbon expenditure' wouldn't make my footprint particularly large, just a bit bigger than it would be if I'd just carried on using wood.  It would add carbon dioxide to the air, probably a similar amount that the logs would, that I would need to burn to get the same amount of heat. There is a theoretical difference between carbon locked away millions of years ago and that sequestered by plants more recently, although the molecules of CO2 are exactly the same.

I decided to help Ginnie, and to bring the coal home, and use it to supplement our log piles. 

So I filled lots of sacks and bags with the whole lot, probably about 250kg, and did several cycle rides back home with them in my trailer.

Later, I asked my facebook friends what they suggested I do with it.  Several said 'make an artwork' out of it (my mind boggled at how I should do this!) and several others said yes, just use it, as my years and years of being low carbon would not be undone by this small high-carbon act.  The burial solution was mentioned too, but by this time I'd spent several hours digging the stuff out, and the idea of chucking it away wasn't that appealing.

I'd love to know blog-readers' opinions.  Am I a hypocrite?  Am I just taking advantage of a freebie?  Does this 250kg coal being burnt 'matter' in the bigger scheme of things?  Should I burn it with a clean conscience?

Tuesday 1st December 09

A very busy day in the loft. Moved all my bottles. Decanted another 3 demijohns into bottles, including an amazing blackberry and elderberry 1994 (!), a grape and apple 1999 and an unknown red from an unknown date which also tasted great. So who's inviting me to a Christmas party this year?

I sorted out a big pile of paperwork into keep, recyclable, compostable and 'used on one side only so reusable'...

I collected a cheque owed to me from St Nicks for Apple Day and saw Helen, and agreed to meet with her at 6pm and have a bit of a social. She came back here and had my home-made soup and a roll which was made by our son at school. Good chats.

In the evening I worked out my ActOnCO2 carbon footprint, updated to give our exact electricity usage (1674kwh/year, renewable tariff) and gas use (132 cubic metres/year) which gave a household footprint of 1.04 tonnes/year, or an individual footprint of 0.27 tonnes/year. Obviously this isn't the total as it doesn't take into account my public transport use, food and goods purchases, and the things that national and local Government does on my behalf.

I also took advantage of a fallen and logged tree to stock up on my woodpile...

Wednesday 21st January 09

Got up at much the normal time, despite going to bed at 2.30am having done my column for Community Care... but had to get up as had a busy day ahead! I cycled down to the station at 8.20 to get the London train just before 9, for which I got tickets well before Christmas.

I popped into the WHSmith at the station to see if they had the February issue of The Ecologist, which several people have told me has the article about my low carbon lifestyle in... and yes, I was able to buy this and the article is pretty good, the photos are excellent. It was written by a journalist called Sam Southgate following a conversation we had, and it is mostly correct, apart from I'm sure I never said my diet was 'well over 99.99% non animal products'. The truth is it's probably over 95% non-animal, as I do eat some cheese, occasional egg and very occasional dairy milk. I am vegetarian, and am a 'wannabe vegan' apart I've never had a good vegan cheese, so I'd miss my occasional fancy cheeses...... Gill also makes cakes, and some of these contain eggs (free range of course, but out of chickens' bottoms) But, I'm DELIGHTED to be featured, under the banner 'How to reduce your carbon footprint'.

I was due to meet Peter Hale on the train, but he wasn't in the seat he was booked into so I just sat where my seat as booked, and chatted with a woman who was into arty fabrics and makes felt and all sorts of other things, and a Polish mum with a lovely smiley 10 month old baby girl who was the epitome of beautiful baby.

We were soon in Kings Cross, I bought a map which I didn't need as the meeting house, opposite Euston, was only 10 mins walk away in a straight line. I could have just asked... but I bought a £2.25 map and then asked the kiosk person. So, to the Friends Meeting House at Euston where there were already a couple of people from the Climate Speakers Network. Including Peter, the organiser, who had been on the train but had found a table seat so he could stretch his legs. It was good to finally meet him after much email conversation.

By 1pm, the start time, there were 15 of us and another 3 joined us soon. A very good turnout. The aim of the meeting was to meet other people who do talks and education about climate change, share information about what works and how to get bookings, and who from. I was particularly pleased to meet Anthony Day, who's from York and is on the York in Transition email list, and has written a book 'Will Climate Change Your Life', a CRAGger called Robin Smith, and my Green Party friend Janet Alty, whom I'm very fond of as she's very outspoken, radical, sensible and friendly. But everybody was interesting in their own way, and the meeting was very enjoyable and useful, lots of ideas, things to research and look up, read, people to email.

The meeting finished at about 5pm and a few of us went for a drink (bottle of 'pear cider' cost £4!!!) and then sometime after 6, walked along to Kings Cross to get the 6.30 train. This journey went quickly as I dozed for some of it and read the rest of The Ecologist. Got back home soon after 9pm.

What a day... really positive and inspiring. I'll have to send some notes to Peter so he can do a mail out to the attendees.

I had some left-over leek and potato soup and some toasted stale bread which was lovely! The family was happy to see my photo in The Ecologist and I read the article to the boys, who seemed proud of me. I am very happy today. VERY!