Summer's here, and so is the noise pollution!

It's been really humid and hot in Norwich this week. Time for opening up the doors and windows to let some air in the house.

Not that I'm complaining about Summer weather, its just takes it's toll with our young children. Being able to keep the windows open overnight makes a big difference to helping them get a good night's sleep.

What I do object to is those inconsiderate neighbours who are displaying selfish behaviour and playing their booming music, normally reserved for modded Vauxhal hatchbacks with oversized amps in the boot.

Its dire music and we don't thank you for extending your living room into our homes by turning the volume up to the max.

What happened to consideration for others?

I must be approaching middle age. If I don't watch out, I'll end up voting Tory. Aaaah!

Think twice before buying Simple slippers - not so sustainable after all!

In a previous post on receiving for Christmas what I thought were the best eco-slippers ever. These were from Simple, and were the grey coloured underlay sort.

Regretfully, I had a duff pair with the sole peeling off one of them.

After having these replaced without any problems by John Lewis, my replacements have started to self-destruct with the upper on one of them coming apart in two places.

I have worn these as slippers around the house and have not caught the woollen uppers on anything.

These are expensive and Simple promote them as sustainable. Frankly, that seems like rubbish to me, much like the materials from which they are made.

It is disappointing and makes me angry that a company has such poor testing in its product development and seems to have jumped on the "sustainble living" bandwagon to cash in.

When you next are in the market for some slippers, please think twice before spending a lot of money on Simple Shoes products.

Might be better to make your own, as suggested on Sew Green or maya*made, or maybe support your local market traders and buy some there?

If you read this Simple Shoes, selling duff products at a premium price is outrageous and two sets of slippers coming apart like this for the same person must mean they are dodgy. And by the way, where is my reply after contacting you about the first pair?

Simple Shoes give sustainability a bad name and undermine an important lifestyle change that we all need to make. :-(

Springwatch in Norfolk - be inspired

Watched the BBC's Springwatch programme last night. It's at Pensthorpe Nature Reserve again this year, which is a great place to go if you like birds. Chris Packham suggested that we site our bird feeders closer to our houses so we get rewarded at being able to watch the birds feed at close quarters. Our feeders are at the bottom of the garden away from the house so not to scare away the birds. Decided to have a go although I thought moving a feeder this late in the day would mean the birds will lose track of it and no longer visit our garden. After a few hours I have been rewarded and I watched this little chap eat some peanuts while I washed up! Happy days. :-)

The joy of pegs

We had good weather in East Anglia yesterday, and maybe I'm a bit sad but it was pleasing to be able to peg out some washing to dry. We try to use a clothes airer when the weather is bad but with children, we sometimes have to use a dreaded dryer or drown in piles of damp washing. It may not be much but pegging out your washing can be a simple act to reduce how much money you waste on electricity and the CO2 produced.

Think feet

Had to go to London for a conference on reducing corporate carbon footprints. Was staying in a hotel near the venue and had to work out how to get there in time for the early start. Saw this 'Think Feet' campaign being promoted by the London Mayor, suggesting that many journeys can and should be made on foot in London. If you use the Underground, it is easy to miss the fact that you may only be around the corner from your destination with the Tube costing more and taking more time. It took me less than 200 minutes to walk in the lovely sunshine we had today. The thought of the Tube wearing a suit in the heat was not inviting. Had to do this on the way back to catch the train home to Norwich and had my own taste of global warning, or at least of melting rather than the glaciers. ;-) Maybe Think Feet should go nationwide?

Energy Wasting Day on 1st April and the eve of the G20 summit

Yes, it's Energy Wasting Day again, just like last year.

Dan Power is urging us to buy his T-shirts,

and get his new single in at No.1. See the video here.



On the eve of the G20 summit in London, the 1st April sees a meeting between our Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the President of the United States Barack Obama at No 10 Downing Street.



Let us hope that they do more for us than produce a lot of hot air. Certainly, this first official trip for President Obama has a lot of pitfalls and a lot riding on it.



They will need to achieve quite a lot to offset the financial and environmental costs of hosting the G20, put in the region £50 million, and ferrying the President around the world.


Not sure that President Obama will be added to this list of the top 5 most environmental US Presidents quite yet.

Plastic bag free day and Earth Hour - 28th March 2009

Two good causes on the same day.

If you are in Norwich following last year's successful Plastic Bag Free Day, the Norwich Carbon Reduction Trust is holding another event this Saturday 28th March 2009.

The Norwich Carbon Reduction Trust will be at the Forum to promote Plastic Bag Free Day, and urge shoppers to not use plastic carrier bags.

According to CRed, most plastic bags have on average a lifespan of 12 minutes and yet take over 400 years to degrade in landfill sites! Each year in the UK, 13 billion plastic bags used in a year in the United Kingdom.

So join the people of Norwich - both traders and shoppers – and support the NCRT in saying no to plastic bags on Friday 28th March – make that the day you start to use a bag for life and prolong the life of the earth.

On the same day it is Earth Hour, and we are encouraged to switch off our lights for 60 minutes from 8.30 p.m. until 9.30 p.m.

We can all show that we care about the problem of climate change and choose to save one hour of electricity. Collectively we can make a huge difference to the amount of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere.

As the campaign says...

and sign up here.