Green Holidays

If you want to live in a Mediterranean climate – carry on regardless!

Climate change is real – and is happening every day.  Your choices every hour, even every minute are making it a reality.

You may well now be bored of hearing that you should ‘turn off your lights’, ‘don’t leave the TV on stand-by’ and ‘turn down the thermostat by 1 degree’ – but people still aren’t doing it!

I can visit a friends house and see these very basics being ignored; and taps left dripping, single item washes and radiators heating empty rooms.  People just aren’t taking this whole thing seriously.

And as a result – the world is getting warmer……

Your Green Holidays:
So, you need to make sure that the people you are paying your hard earned money to for holidays, trips and other services are doing their bit.

If you want to stay home and admire the beautiful Lake District, the Fens or some beautiful coastal villages – then you need to make sure that they can survive climate change:

If the temperature of the Earth rises just 2 degrees – you will no longer have those clear lakes.  The warmer weather will encourage flash floods – which will in turn encourage algal growths – as well as reduce the amount of water reaching the ground.  And with less water falling as rain in the first place; humans will need to ‘take’ more of it for survival and industry – so you won’t be finding it laying about in ponds and lakes!

Higher temperatures will also bring rising sea levels – and so the low-lying Fens will soo be underwater.  Just a meter sea level rise could see vast swathes of eastern England permanently underwater.  All that land which was so carefully drained for farming will be lost to ‘poisonous’ salty marshes – useless for human agriculture and living.

Rising sea levels and increased storms will soon put an end to a trip to the seaside!  Many cliffs and low level defences will be overcome by violent storms or just increased erosion.  Many houses are lost each year already due to this effect – but it could be worse if it happens when the country is already stressed.  Funding won’t be available to save a few cottages from destruction when the capital is under threat too!

photo credit: Orange County Archives

Higher temperatures and less rain will also mean that your local species will start to be outcompeted by more drought-resistant plants and animals.  Gone will be the oaks and chestnuts and in will come the corks and palms.  Apples won’t get their frosts so will soon die out and we will have oranges and lemons instead.

As a result, all the insects and fungi that feed on these plants will be gone too – and it feeds up the food chain.  If there are no insects to feed the blue tits and robins – they will be gone too – and the owls and hawks and foxes that feed on them?  If the seeds of these trees are no longer available – then what will the squirrels and deer eat?

Your Impact:
By all means carry on going on your trips – as your money spent on local services is vital for keeping these places alive and cared for – but make some demands of your own before booking.

I know it all sounds a bit petty to ask that your towels aren’t washed every day and food is locally sourced – but unless you do these things you are directly contributing to climate change and the ultimate demise of the English countryside.

You often hear the quotes of ‘if everyone in the world did A, then we could save so much of B’.  But everyone in the UK isn’t even doing A – so how can we make a real difference?

With your money. 

Money really does talk in the service industry – and if someone is running an eco friendly hotel and bed and breakfast; they should be encouraged to keep that up – with your money.

People who don’t make an effort to be green and continue to waste resources, waste water and buy cheap plastic over-packaged products should be left out of your holiday plans – ie: no money – you don’t stay with them at all!

They can either change their ethics to stay in business – or you can make sure they become extinct instead of our native wildlife and plants!

You might be paying to park on gravel or grass – but you are saving the view!

Have you ever stopped and thought about where the money from that Pay & Display machine actually goes? 

Well, have you considered that it is those few coins you push in the meter that are bringing you to that car park in the first place!

Without the ease of that carpark – would you really be visiting that place at all?  If there was no parking in that cute village – would you even go there?  I mean, if parking was banned around Longleat, Stonehenge, The Eden Project, the Lake District, Legoland and Hadrian’s Wall – would you go and visit them?

If your favourite restaurant, gastropub or countryside tavern had no parking – would they be your favourite anymore?

The Penny Drops!
The land that car parks are on always costs somebody money.  Whether it is the cost of maintenance, the cost of renting it off a landlord, or even the cost of not selling it – there is money involved with leaving land ‘spare’ just for cars.

Many businesses and companies think that it is worth the cost in terms of the customers it attracts – and they will usually offer ‘free’ parking to customers.  They will however factor in the cost of that parking into your bill somehow – but you don’t mind paying it in exchange for great food and great service!

photo credit: James Byrum

Others without food or the chance to actually come face to face with their customers sometimes charge for the parking itself.  The great service is however a bit more difficult for some to see.

Countryside Parking:
When you turn up to a car park in the countryside to walk your dogs, spend time outside with your family, visit that castle, earthworks or river, or just admire the view – you are stepping into that service without even noticing.

Someone has had to create that car park – and then maintain it.  Someone else probably makes sure that there is an up-to-date information sign for you to read, a leaflet or 2 about wildlife and landmarks, some seating and possibly some signage to make your stop here more pleasant.

Yet another person might be in charge of installing and maintaining toilets on the site, creating a bus link to the site and even finding/hiring an ice cream van or hot food stall on site in the summer. 

Another team of staff or volunteers may well be engaged in fixing fencing, marking parking bays and bicycle racks, fixing potholes amongst other things.  They may also arrange for bins on site – both rubbish and dog poop – and even for picking up dropped litter in and around the car park and disposing of it elsewhere.

Now can you see the service?
So if you turn up at a place you want to visit and you easily find a well marked parking space which isn’t filled with empty food wrappers and dog poo – the view is just as you expected with information and clean toilets close by – and there isn’t a burnt-out car in sight – why are you complaining about paying £2 to park there?

You wanted to visit this site didn’t you?  And you expect it to be as beautiful as it was last time?  So why are you not happy to pay somebody for keeping it that way?

Sometimes, people assume that all councils just charge for car parks to ‘make more money out of us’ – but if you look closely at parking signs – most of them go directly into funding the site you pay at – like all National Trust car parks (however if you are an NT member your parking is free anyway).

So before you grumble about spending a few coins to be somewhere you want to be (I mean it is just like paying an entrance fee to visit a museum or castle, etc except it is outdoors) – think about these 2 things:

1) The fact that you actually wanted to come here to this exact carpark of your own accord because it offers something special or something different, and;

2) The fact that there are plenty of free carparks and laybys across the country and plenty of other bits of quite similar-looking fields you could go for a walk across instead!

Your choice!

This nature reserve is on the tidal waters of the River Arun, north of the historic town of Arundel and coastal town of Littlehampton on the south coast.

One of the most important wetlands in the south of England, this reserve has excellent facilities and is cram-packed with all types of wildlife.

This is also an education centre at certain times, and there is plenty of advice around the site for visitors.

Habitat Features:
The main feature is obviously the daily flooding wetlands off to the east of the river – filled with waterfowl, cattle and deerherd.

There is also some restored heathland, a small pine woodland, some grassland and sloping deciduous woodland as well as a hillfort and many footpaths and bridlepaths.

Famous for it’s visiting wetland birds, 50-strong ‘escaped’ fallow deer herd and ‘dancing adders’ – where the males twist around each other trying to pin each other to the ground.

The Reserve:
Quite a lot of the restored heathland and grasslands are accessible without passing through the main reception building – although at only £3 to pay anyway – it would be rude not to pay such a small amount to maintain and improve this reserve – after having had a great day out here yourself!

Heading through the main reception building takes you up a typical footpath bordered by old hedgerows and rabbit-friendly grassland.  This leads you a junction where you can head 4 ways really.  3 are within the reserve and form a dissected circle so you can get back to where you started with ease. 

The fourth way to the right takes you to a small hamlet with a delightful church and churchyard – filled with Orange Tip butterflies and meadow flowers crammed on every inch!  Ultimately this leads to the main road – so head back the way you came to get back onto the reserve itself.

Look on every leaf in the reserve as there are mini beasts all over the place – and we got some great close up shots of all sorts of invertebrates here.  And on the other end of the scale – don’t forget your binoculars as the woodland birds are all over too – and worth a look!

And you will need the distance to hunt for the huge herd of really chilled out deer that roam these wetlands – footprints show that they walk along the very footpaths you are standing on now, but you will more often see then in the distance, relaxing on the well gnawed grasses alongside the cattle and rabbits!

There are 3 hides here with totally different angles and depending on whether you are high or low tide you can see a whole range of wetland birds including migrants and rarities!  I saw mainly common species myself – I did get some great views of a very young grey heron and many of one of my favourites: shelducks.

I didn’t get to see the ‘dancing’ adders either although there were plenty of photos and stories about them in the reception area – along with other great information to get more out of your day – as if you would run out of things to interest you here!

There is even a kiddies play and learn area and education rooms as well.

Reserve Details:
Here is a general summary of the site for the visitor as in Spring 2010.

Cost:     The reserve is £3 (adults) to visit.
Hours:   The reserve is open all hours – but Reception as office hours.
Carpark:There is a carpark for about 100+ cars.
Shop:     There is a wetland-based retail shop on site.
Eating:  There is restaurant on site with indoor and outdoor seating.
Toilets: Toilets are open until 5pm each day.
Dogs:     Dogs should be kept on leads on the by-ways through the reserve.
Kids:      Families are welcome and there is plenty for young children to do.
Other     There is no playpark, however cycling/horseriding is permitted on bridleways.

Could Supporting Local Bee Farmers Help Reduce Demands On The Environment?

We need to think big these days – and certainly look to be sympathetic to the developing world – who are living in conditions similar to those that we were only a few 100 years ago.

They are mainly subsistence farmers or herders who live on what they can grow and the little that they can sell.  They have to rely on resources that are local to them and are as good as free – just as those in the US and Europe did not so long ago.

Now, unfortunately – we are painfully aware that living like this is not going to be possible for the millions of people now currently living in the developing world.

The climate is changing to make herding and farming virtually impossible in some areas; the population has risen to ridiculous and unsustainable numbers making a few trees for the family firewood become a whole woodland for the expanding village; and the demands of the (comparatively) richer individuals are stripping whole countries bare of resources, taking land and water from local people and dumping waste in their backyards.

So – What Can We Do?
Well, as we know what is currently ‘damaging’ to our planet – we can use our buying power to make the right choices.

Just as back home – what you buy determines what manufacturers make – the same applies to internationally traded goods.  Although the honest truth sometimes slips by us:

If you keep buying illegally logged hardwoods (ie. by not opting for FSC approved alternatives) you are actively supporting the destruction of the rainforests and the extermination of orangutans, jaguars, and the endless number of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and plants that depend on them.

If you keep buying any old fish or seafood that you like the look of (rather than opting for MSC approved sustainable alternatives) you are actively supporting the extinction of many endangered species that are being over-fished.  You are also actively supporting the wasteful and destructive nature of bottom-trawling and long-line fishing that are killing off more than just the fish you get to eat; this includes all sorts of birds, mammals, other fish and sea creatures.

I could go on with this list – but sometimes we don’t think or the end result of our ‘easy’ food choices.

Alternative Living:
So back to the bees: They reproduce extremely fast, do all the hard work themselves and don’t need a huge amount of space to grow. What a great alternative to cattle and dessicated crops! But they need someone to buy the honey.

And so, if a family has chosen to ‘farm’ these insects rather than farm something illegal or damaging to the environment – then shouldn’t we support that?

All across the globe we are trying to help communities to become more self-sufficient and sustainable by introducing bee-keeping, fairtrade specialist products and co-ops so that they don’t have to plunder their local area just to survive. 

We are also helping to make sure that they have access to biomass heating, solar cookers, water purifiers and education and skills so that they don’t have to depend on limited rainwater, local forests, bushmeat and food handouts.

So, make sure that you support these efforts back home with your shopping choices.  If they are making something that you don’t buy – then they won’t be sustainable alternatives, will they?

If they are saving the rainforest and it’s endangered wildlife buy manufacturing fairtrade honey, organic coffee or FSC approved furniture – then you had better make sure that you buy it over the ‘not so eco friendly’ alternatives.

If not – then they will have to go back to living off the land – even if that means killing another tiger, clearing some lush forests or over-grazing their land with cattle.

Your choice!

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Who is Ramsar – and why does he run our local wetlands?

Small nature reserves in the UK aren’t just for local people to admire or picnic in – some of them are deemed of international importance! Just like the Great Pyramids of Egypt and the Grand Canyon in the States – we have places in the UK that are of interest to everyone in the world and are therefore protected as such!

Such sites have specific names and acronyms to identify them – and here are a few of them to look out for on your holidays:

UNESCO World Heritage Site:
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation Heritage Site scheme is known the world over as amazing locations – but did you know we had a few right here?

Heritage Sites are divided up into Natural, Cultural or Mixed and the UK has 28 in total! (Only 6 countries have more sites). These sites can also include just buildings without any surrounding land – but that is why they have split them up into either Natural or Cultural sites to distinguish between them.

They include Hadrians Wall, Giant’s Causeway, Neolithic Orkney as well as Stonehenge and Avebury – and are a mixture of paying and free sites to visit. Imagine; our stone circles being as important as Macchu Pichu and the Grand Canyon!

Avebury World Heritage Site

Geoparks:
These areas are a relatively new scheme of natural sites monitored by UNESCO to preserve the geography of a region.

Whether it’s the oldest rocks in the world in Scotland or a great landscape feature like the Fforest Fawr – it could be included. The UK has 10 Geoparks including the Cotswolds and the Pennines and may well get more in the future.

Biosphere Reserves:
Again by UNESCO, these parks are focusing on the biological side of the natural world and these park are meant to represent the balance between man and nature – basically they are to be managed sustainably by humans.

The UK only has 9 sites out of a worldwide total of 553 – and they include the North Norfolk Coast and Beinn Eighe – but there have been no recent additions to the UK listings.

Ramsar Sites:
These sites are specifically about protecting international wetlands, and so are focused along waterways and estuaries around the world.

The joining parties wished to make sure that other countries do not abuse or destroy their wetlands and so set up criteria in the 1970′s (in a town called Ramsar) for everyone to adhere to.

They now oversee 1,888 sites across the globe covering around 1,850,000km² in total! The UK has the highest actual number of protected Ramsar sites (168 in total) although Canada has the greatest protected wetland area (130,000 square kms).

February the 2nd each year is World Wetlands Day – and is celebrated with events through many of the wetland sites – as well as other similar sites that are not yet classified as Ramsar.

Hope this helps!

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It’s your chance to meet some inspirational people – and get your hands on some great equipment!

It’s not all about birds – but if you love birdwatching and great wetland landscapes – then I suggest you clear your diary for any day over the weekend of 20th to 22nd August 2010!

For only £10 entry – you could have the opportunity to ask Chris Packham for some wildlife-watching tips, listen to Mark Carwardine discussing endangered species and maybe watch a slide show of great wildlife moments from Simon King – not bad, eh?

The Show:
Basically, BirdFair is one of the biggest bird-watching and outdoor shows in the UK and is set in the most beautiful scenery to add even more to your day.

As with many great shows, there will also be the opportunity to visit the stands of all the local and international wildlife stands and ask questions about the work they do and how to become a supporter or volunteer.

Add to this stalls that are filled to the brim with the best photographic equipment to improve your photos and to increase your viewing range as digiscopes and binoculars of all shapes and sizes are on offer.  As well as a host of specialist manufacturers and users to help you decide on the best items for your needs.

Whether you are hoping to get some advice for starting out or whether you are looking to take the next step in your craft and hoping to increase your equipment collection to cover more wildlife and birds – it will all be there.

Using A Zoom Lens Can Get Great Images

And it’s not just about technical things – there will be a whole host of stalls selling outdoor clothing, camping goods, walking shoes, wildlife holidays, travel books, field guides, wildbird seed, nest boxes, wildlife art, and so much more!

And, to be ‘green’ the organisers are offering free transfer buses to the show from the local train station to save on all those cars on the roads!

Show Extras:
It’s not all about just being a show – there is so much more there than stall after stall.

For example, there is a grand auction selling a whole range of random goodies from paintings to one-off experiences – all donated to the show specifically to raise funds for this years fundraising targets.

There are also 3 different agendas for events and talks throughout each day and kids events as well for the little learners!  Bushcraft skills, art and education are the themes you can find here in the several big tents on site.

And, your entry ticket gives you free access to the nature reserves here too – so after you have brought that new camera you have been promising yourself – or upgraded to a better digiscope – you can get straight out there are try it for size!

If you plan to go for the day – make sure you get there early and plan to do a lot of walking, and you won’t regret it.  If you know you love this type of show then make sure you stay for the weekend as you might not get to see everything on just the 1 day!

And this only happens once a year!

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The streets of London are now filled with 500 new community bicycles!

As with many cities in Europe, UK’s capital is now promoting the use of city bikes – a simple hire system for local people, commuters and tourists.

Whether you need to get from A to B without the fuss and congestion of the roads or the sardine-like underground system – or you want a leisurely cycle ride through the Royal Parks – this system could be for you.

The Scheme:
Put simply, there are bikes parked up around London that you can borrow for any length of time (albeit the longer you have them the more it costs).

You can sign up online and ‘pay as you go’ so to speak, or soon you will be able to pay with your credit card at a paypoint on the street and take a bike there and then – with your card being charged at the end of your hire period (24hrs after taking the bike).

It is all very simple once you know the limits of the system and the basic charging periods: basically you pay 1 fee for the bike in the first place (for 24hrs) and a seperate fee for the length of time you use the bike for in that 24 hours.

And the fees vary considerably. If you sign up online for annual membership, you can pay less than 12p a day for a bike – paying on the street for it will cost you £1 a day. For the usage fee it varies from Free if you dock the bike within 30 minutes of use – all the way up to £50 for the full 24 hours (and a lot more if you forget to return it before that time!).

Needless to say – as with most things – the more you plan to use it, the cheaper it becomes. What a great incentive!

The Bikes:
The bicycles will be spread all over the City at docking stations – secure lockable bike racks around the streets. All the bikes are identical, suitable for basic riding for over 14 year olds, and all fit into the docking stations perfectly!

The number of bikes at each site will vary, as will the popularity of others – so it is a work in progress to find out how the bikes are used and when.

There are currently over 12,000 registered users and only 500 cycles – so it will be interesting to see how it goes from here!  In theory people will use them at different times for different lengths of time – but the data collected in these first few weeks will be all important in shaping this great scheme for the future.

There is of course always the chance that you turn up at a docking station and there are no bikes for hire – or you arrive at a docking station to find that there is nowhere to park your bike!  Ideally, their maps will help you find the closest alternative – but you could lose time in the early days!

Obviously, for some people this is a much better and cheaper way to travel - as using the bikes for less than 30 minutes is free – so could save a few £’s each way over the bus or tube, and in the summer it will be all that more of a pleasure!

The Future:
Well, I am hoping that the rise in the use of bikes around the busy London streets will make headway for a more pedestrian and cycle friendly destination.

Why do pedestrians always have to have their path blocked by metal railings and have to walk well out of their way to cross a road while congestion-making drivers crawl past in straight lines? 

Why do people and cyclists have to stand in the rain waiting for traffic lights to change to cross the road while polluting drivers are in the dry?

Shouldn’t pavements and cycle lanes have priority over traffic?  If we want a people-friendly and green city – then surely this is the way to go. 

And the more people supporting cycling in the city – the sooner this could happen!

Have you ever wondered where you can watch bats from your own front door?

Well, I have put together a short list of some bat watching holiday destinations where they virtually guarantee you a sighting or 1 or more species every night – and are working for the bats best interests!

Now, although you yourself will not be allowed to touch the bats or disturb their roosts, by going out on an adventure with a bat specialist you may well get to use highly specific equipment on your trip.

For example, the organisers may well lend out night vision goggles, bat detectors and know specific roosting or feeding sites that you can stake out from a distance. And of course – being experts – they will actually already know how to identify the species you see in an instant, making your experience even better!

1) In The UK;
Many of the buildings that are managed by the National Trust contain bat roosts – and many have had camera installed too. Dunster Castle and Arlington Court have both installed viewing and information for visitors – and even do late night bat events throughout the year.

And other nature charities like the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust and various Wildlife Trusts offer night-time events through the year. There are 18 species of bat found in the UK – although not all in the same place – some can be quite location-specific.

The Bat Conservation Trust also offers a range of free or paying courses to get you closer to bats and their habitats.

By offering up your time to train as a volunteer or if you pay for a introductory course – you will certainly get close up and personal to bats in their natural environment – and willl be taking a huge step forward in studying them and identifying bats day to day!

2) EcoTours Hungary Bat Tour:
If you are a bit more serious and want to really see a huge variety of bats, then maybe this bat watching holiday in the Bükk and Aggtelek National Parks in Hungary will impress you – with 26 bat species to choose from!

They virtually guarantee you will see 15-20 of these as standard – and that adding on a further 3 days and another location could help you see even more. You may also see beaver, lynx and wolves as well as many other unusual species along the way.

The tours offer all safety precautions for you and the bats of course, with a little waiting around sometimes to allow only small group to intrude into roosts at a time. Obviously disturbing the bats is the last thing they want!

There aren’t many great – or green – bat watching holidays, but there are plenty of ways to see some great wildlife without over-running their habitat or destroying the very things you went to see!

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Should you avoid holiday destinations that require extra vaccinations or tablets?

I know it is only a small thing – but taking malaria tablets does have an impact on the environment as do specific vaccinations like Rabies and Yellow Fever – just like any medication or remedy.

Now I am not saying that you should travel to regions of the world that have these risks WITHOUT taking the necessary precautions – I’m just considering the option of not visiting those areas just for a vacation.

Taking a 2 week sunshine holiday in Kenya might mean 6 weeks of malaria tablets and a Yellow Fever vaccine.  All are using natural resources – all being used up for you here when a trip to the Maldives requires neither (nor the expensive Visa!).

The Maldives

If it was the safari you were after then consider Southern Botswana (Kalihari) and Lesotho (Drackensburg) which are both virtually malaria free.

The Holiday:
If you are just after a holiday somewhere warm with a few interesting sites to visit then there are plenty of places to choose from around the world where you are at no risk of malaria or other diseases.

Take the Seychelles, the Bahamas, Cuba, the Canary Islands, Japan, Hawaii and anywhere in Australia and New Zealand – all free from Malaria and Yellow Fever – and nearly all of these are rabies free too!

Not only are you limiting the initial purchase and use of very strong medications – you are also planning to not use any more in the future – as opposed to exposing yourself to the disease in the first place and having to have follow up treatment for months or years to come afterwards!   

The Green Holiday:
However, if you are planning to help out either paid or voluntarily abroad for a specific cause – then you might not have such a choice in the matter of destination.

And depending on what you are doing, you might need to have extra vaccinations or medications, so why not make it worth while by staying for longer and/or visiting the same locations over and over again. For example, if you have had all the vaccinations to work with animals in Asia – then keep doing so.

Planning Ahead:
The same goes for all sort of other medications – including headaches tablets, antiseptics, after sun remedies and even anti-diarrheals!  Try to avoid the reason to use them.

Don’t sit in the sun unprotected – and wear a hat.  Use natural insect repellents and wear suitable clothing.  Don’t drink untreated water or eat uncooked or unknown foods. Avoid excessive alcohol and unprotected intercourse.  And on and on….

All these obvious things can reduce your requirements for routine medications and lotions, and keep chemicals away from delicate habitats.  As they all get urinated out or washed off – by reducing your reliance on remedies and therefore using less product – you will help to reduce the concentrations of pollutants in community drinking water and wetland habitats as well.

And don’t get me started on packaging and transporting these things around the world in the first place!

Think. Plan. Prevent

Rather than focus on using your car less – you should be thinking about using it to do more!

And by more I mean cramming more into your day than ever before. I mean if you are going into town in the car – make sure that you plan ahead to do everything while you are there!

Sometimes public transport just will not cater to your needs – or you have to add another hour or 2 on to your journey time!  So sometimes it is better to take the car if you can make good use of it!

I mean – it’s far better to drive into town 1 time than pootle in and out 3 times a week!  So let’s start thinking about planning our lives a bit better to better suit our planet!

The Plan:
Well, I live about 14 miles away from my family and about the same from one of the places where I volunteer – totally out of walking distance.  So, I always plan to visit my family on the way home from volunteering.  And while I’m out I plan to grab the shopping and maybe a trip past a friends house too.

It would also work for other things, like if you had booked a trip to the dentist or optician – why not look at meeting friends in town too, or arranging to grab lunch with a colleague who is working that day?  Or even bring a neighbour into town too and then meet up to go home together.

It can even work for passing things on to save a journey – like I don’t often get to my brothers, but he often visits my mum – so I just pass things to her and she passes them to him when he’s next over.  No extra journey needed!

The Benefits:
This obviously will save you petrol and wear and tear on the car – which has a direct impact on the amount of energy your use and the emissions you create.  And possibly reduce the replacement car parts you need if you are using it less!

It also encourages you to make more use of your time and to fit more fun into your day rather than wasting the same 30 minutes driving the same route over and over again!  There is a horrible route to town for me, so the fewer times I have to do that – the more time I get at home or volunteering!

And car sharing could mean that you get to make new friends – and help out your neighbours.  Elderly people still want to get out and about – but it’s the journey that can be the problem, and of course carrying everything back home!  You don’t need to escort them everywhere – just leave them to it and arrange a ‘home time’!

The Results:
So, there we have it – a good reason to use your car!  So rather than 3 or 4 separate journeys a week – you could cram everything into just the 1.  Better for you, better for your wallet and better for the planet!

It is using exactly the same green travel technique as travel abroad – if you are going to take the big trans-Atlantic flight – then cram in everything else you can while you are there!

If you are heading over to Europe, then make it a long trip and visit city after city rather than March: Paris, May: Berlin and July: Madrid.  Look to use the train and see them all at once! 

So plan ahead and see the Dr, Dentist, Optician, family and friends all on the same day – and then relax, knowing that you have the rest of the week to yourself!