Behind the Scenes in Paradise (Feb17)
I’m hoping that my eco-footprint, on our luxury holiday staying at the Six Senses Hotel, Zil Payson, in the Seychelles – is considerably less than other guests! How so? It comes mainly from my aversion to air conditioning. Our residence was one of 30 beautiful villas nestled in the hills and rocks of Felicite Island. We […]
Christmas cringe over disposable baking tray (Dec16)
Sometimes you hear something on the radio which makes you cringe. Just before Christmas this happened… A woman rang the radio programme to say that something dreadful had happened. What calamity could this be? It was that she’d forgotten to buy a disposable baking tray for roasting the Christmas turkey… Aaaargh… Even more sickening to […]
Speech disaster to Bathroom Manufacturers… (Oct16)
My speech went down the plug hole! I spent ages preparing my speech. Had an inspirational idea on how to pull it together. And, I thought it was pretty good on the day! But apparently the audience – at least most of them – were not so impressed. And the Bathroom Manufacturer’s Association – the […]
Raw Foundation Making Waves about Waste (Jan13)
I was rather impressed by the Environment Agencies initiatives to reduce waste – as relayed to an audience pulled together by the Raw Foundation, at Bristol’s Create Centre. Did you know that the government organisation used to drive as many miles as the AA? Now they’ve reduced this by 21 million miles a year, as […]
E-Waste Poem – with help from Dr Seuss (Dec12)
I’ve always been a fan of Dr Seuss’s books. Green Eggs and Ham, Hortense the Elephant and The Sneetches are just some of his gems. And they all have a message – often quite subtle. The most environmental of his stories is the Lorax – ‘I am the Lorax, and I speak for the trees, which you seem to chopping […]
10 tonnes of e-waste an hour at SWEEEP (Dec12)
The huge grabber hand plunged into the pile of e-waste waiting below. You could see irons, toasters, kettles, hairdryers – all sorts of household electrical detritus on its way to oblivion. Or perhaps I should say reincarnation. Almost all of it is recycled in one form or another. The sorting process separates as much of […]
Women in Action (Sep12)
Melinda Watson and I travelled to Corby, not knowing what to expect for the Women in Action event, organised by Planet Aid. We arrived to music and a fashion show – promoting recycled clothes. Melinda was the first to take the platform. She talked about the illegal export of e-waste and its impact on developing […]
Which? on plastic bags (Aug12)
I’ve done a lot of speaking and writing about plastic bags! I’ve even written a poem on the subject, for one speech I made. Which? asked me to give them an expert view for an article in entitled ‘Plastic bags at breaking point‘. As well as being interviewed on the topic, I wrote a […]
FT Article written on Eco-renovating London flat (Apr12)
My article on eco-renovation was published in the House & Home section of the FT on 21st April, 2012. It’s explains how I set about greening my London flat – and the challenges I faced, despite being an eco-expert – see below for the original copy as written, followed by a pdf of what was […]
My eco-renovated flat is available for rent (Apr12)
Eco-renovated flat – Main room – Jan12 I bought my flat, near Portobello Road, in 1986, with my sister. We shared it for the first couple of years, before she got married and moved out. We re-painted and re-carpeted it throughout but didn’t do much more than that. The kitchen was quite dated even […]