I’m not a corporate so it didn’t seem right to call this my corporate responsibility page, I am an Eco Influencer, Holistic Health Podcaster & Content and Communications Specialist and I wanted a page on my website to list all the things I do in my life to try and make greener decisions on a day to day basis, as and when it is affordable, in the hope that I will inspire and inform you, perhaps of something you haven’t thought of just yet or maybe just simply to tell you how I do what I do, in the best way I know how in order to show you that I do indeed practise what I preach wherever possible. So I hope you enjoy this list and you find it helpful too.
Energy
- I consciously choose Green Electricity and Gas Suppliers – I have done this as much as possible since leaving my parent’s home. To be honest, the market in the UK is pretty screwed right now as all these individual little companies keep going under, which is such a shame as you do tend to get so much better customer service from them too vs the big 6, I’m not exactly sure what the future holds but I will try and keep consciously choosing who my suppliers are going forward, and this is my promise to myself and my family.
- We have as of the beginning of 2023 managed to switch energy suppliers from Shell to Octopus, which I am much happier with the ethics of:
Octopus Energy Group is a British renewable energy group specialising in sustainable energy. It was founded in 2015 with the backing of British fund management company Octopus Group, a British asset management company.
Wikipedia
If you are stuck with, not the most ethical supplier after yours went under (this happened to us previously) there are things you can do in the meantime/ in the future:
- Check you have smart meters installed and if you haven’t yet then pester your energy supplier so that you are paying for what you actually use, until they are installed set yourself a monthly reminder to send meter readings to your supplier
- Take a look at Ripple Energy: a company I discovered at Green Live, who are creating cooperative wind farms to make ownership of wind power accessible to all (this is on my list to look at ASAP)
- See about adding more insulation to your property, whether that be inside, outside, or loft… this is on my list to readdress next year, but in the meantime, we have added insulation (which we managed to salvage from one of our neighbours who had an extension) to our dorma windows when we were getting our new windows installed this year, so I’m hopeful that that will really help
- Look into new windows/ fixing what you have so they are more efficient: We borrowed some equity this year to replace the windows and doors in our house, but if that isn’t possible for you there is the option to fix what you have, re-silicone/ add draft excluder or go through a company like Cloudy2Clear, to refurbish what you have
Car
As electric/hybrid cars are yet to be in my price range I chose to invest in a modern (ish – 2016) car which was well-rated for efficiency as soon as the budget allowed me to do that.
The Cactus takes some beating on CO2 emissions, though, and it’s generously equipped. Fuel economy is good – at times excellent. Our BlueHDi 100 Flair’s overall return of 46.6mpg was deflated by plenty of fast motorway running and our performance figuring session. Drive this car more modestly and 60mpg is easily achievable.
AutoCar.co.uk
And then I found out about a fab little company called Neutral Ignition whilst at Green Live which allows you to carbon offset your car with a very simple website calculator and in a straightforward and affordable way in order to invest in planting trees in the UK. SOLD. Make sure you check them out too: