We've all got a responsibility to do our bit for the environment, but how hard is it really to go green. The St Helens Reporter's Ruth Clegg finds out...
The day Google went black was the day I realised that I had to stop leaving my straighteners on.
If the world's search engine looks like a dark day in the blitz then it was time I started to wage war on carbon waste.
Would I have to start smear
ing myself with left over banana skins and wearing brown paper bags as I get ready to battle the electricity reliant enemy?
Or should I just read on to find out exactly what this Google Gone Black means?
In a bid to make the world energy aware, Google has joined the Earth Hour. At 8pm on March 29, 24 carbon-conscious countries switched off their lights.
For one whole hour the corners of the world turned black. In a bar in Sheffield we all turned like grinning idiots wailing…oooooo, ahhhhh as darkness descended. And my straighteners were off too.
So what else could I do to help our, if we believe the rumours, ailing planet that is struggling to cope with the pressures of a booming human race?
Going green for a 26-year-old journalist with a carbon pumping car and housemates who are scared of the dark is no easy feat. So how many carbon crucial faux pas' was I committing? Was my carbon footprint bigger than the usual young professional?
Using a special calculator I answered questions like how many energy efficient appliances do you have in your home…what's your annual mileage….do you use hybrid petrol?
What's hybrid petrol? If I started putting that exotic sounding fuel in my decade old Nissan Micra it would spit it right back out at me.
Yup. Not doing too well on that footprint business. Actually I was the yeti of the modern world.
My energy indent on the planet was two whole tonnes over the national average. That's 20 size 'me's committing a litany of carbon crimes.
Looks like my aversion to recycling (not an aversion more of an inconvenience), my love of the car radio (even when stationery I was known to have car burring away so I could get a bit of Radio Four action) and lack of anything energy saving was not going to make me an Al Gore protégée.
After long discussions with one of my friends, otherwise known as Vic The Eco Warrior I realised changes had to be made.
She suggested helping to build an eco village. I said no. She inquired about my use of public transport; I snatched hold of my car keys.
We weren't getting very far. The Government's action plan to help reduce carbon waste was hardly going to match my idea of solar panelled machine guns. Nope. This meant a lifestyle change.
Leaving Vic's wind turbine fuelled home I had a list of easy and simple ways to cut my everyday carbon footprint.
My list of suggestions (after many cups of organic peppermint fair-trade tea) was:
1 - Get out of my car and use public transport wherever possible. I promised to catch the bus to and fro from work once a week and would have one weekend a month where I would not go near my trusty motor.
2 - My lights would be turned off religiously and I would get in the habit. Once I had a routine going I would feel guilty if one lonely light bulb glowed.
3 - All light bulbs would be replaced by energy saving ones.
4 - My attitude of if it breaks buy another one would be thrown out of my double-glazed windows and I would start to mend. This would mean purchasing a sewing kit.
5 - When cooking (preferably the organic variety of food I have been told) I would keep a lid on the pans.
6 - Any thoughts of having just one bag of rubbish were out of the question. I now have four different brightly coloured bin bags to fill with cans, different cardboard cartons, plastics, newspapers.
7 - And lastly, (which I found the most exciting) was to put my name down for an allotment and wait at least 30 years before my name reached the top of the list.
