Author! Author!

I am again grateful to reader Dave of Solarventi, who sent me this link to a piece entitled 'Fifteen painless ways to save the World', with the comment 'they are missing re:use'.

Quite.

One day I am going... need to write a book based on Junkk.com.

In many ways it will be totally pointless, because all it will contain is a synthesis of the thousands of pages freely available on the site. But some people just like to pay money for a thing, and as I need money it seems like a good exchange.

Of course, there is the small matter of it being produced in bookly stuff, which may be deemed a tad un-eco, as opposed to squirted down a broadband connection near you, with an almost infinite and searchable database of whatever takes your fancy.

Tricky to browse in the loo of a morning, or the conservatory on a Sunday, I'll grant you, but compromises need to be made, I guess.

Whether on not it will include a link to the author of the piece above, or her book, is rather down to her. When I first heard of it, as always I sent a cheery hello and invited them to upload, for free, onto the site. I even called a few times to see how we could do stuff together for mutual benefit. Sadly, she has people, and people who have people are the luckiest people in the world. Because they are very busy, and thus the people they have can deal with so much more. Or not. They're still welcome to upload, but I am not doing it for them.

And, I guess, despite knowing full well who I am and what Junkk.com does, they are more in the business of selling green rather than sharing it, so we may be on a hiding to nothing.

Pity.

Because while there are some fine, if obvious, suggestions, I could have suggested a few things, such as...

3 Ask your water company for a free "hippo"..

...or... an even simpler plastic device to put in the cistern from what you throw out, to obviate the need to make a new thing out of plastic simply to fill some space. Oh, and if it doesn't flush properly because of it, careful you don't end up flushing several times, which kinda defeats the purpose.

4 Install a condensing boiler to heat your water and home...

For sure. Though how that is easy and painless I'd like explaining. As stated, at least you get a return for your outlay, but not all have the outlay, and this needs facilitating, Gordon, about... now (Budget speech is on)

5 Use energy-saving light bulbs.

Yup. And the shops to buy them come in all shapes and sizes beyond ebulbshop.com. Many however make claims they don't live up to on lifespan. Write when you fitted one in felt tip on the housing. You can soon see if you are getting your average as claimed. If not, take it back.

6 Don't overfill your kettle.

There may be others, and I'll sahre equally if they let me know, but our EcoKettle does the trick. Maybe they are not good mates like ecobulb.

7 Lower your thermostat.

Yup. Try telling my Chinese missus that is painless. I'd say insulation was a better bet, but there you go.

8 Buy organic food .

Er, maybe. This jury is still out, at least on such a broad claim. Big Barn is good, though, as a start.

9 Reset your computer.

There is theory and there is practice. My monitor goes off. My CPU stays on to get updates. I am also debating the damage due to spinning up and down and hence requiring renewal. Sorry.

10 Save paper.

Ever tried reloading used paper into the printer? It's a nice theory. I am trying to figure out just how much value there is to this (plus security issues) when my paper is recycled and/or from managed forest. Isn't this like creating a carbon sink?

11 Don't buy "sweaty" fabrics such as nylon and polyester

That's the fleece made from old Coke bottles out then.

12 Use your washing line.

Today (lovely & sunny)... no prob, though in the conservatory. It doesn't work so well in the rain. Or if you have a flat. Or don't have much time. I converted our airing cupboard to a drying version of same, and it takes damp from the washing machine to dry overnight. Not so sure about the humid air driven off. I think Dave may have a suggestion on that! A wall mounted solar dryer!

14 Convert to a green energy tariff

Just make sure you do the maths and know the provenance chain. It's one thing to blow extra cash to save the planet. Another to line some green spiv's pockets.

15 Recycle!

This may sound obvious, but try re:use or re:pair first. That way you are stopping stuff going into a target-based system that gobbles up energy and may not be as good for the planet as contractor's profits and public servant's pensions.

ADDENDUM:

Have written to the Enviro Ed, Charles Clover:

One of our readers has just popped this over.

While it's great to see interest in such matters generating informational resources, it can be disappointing when some of the advice may be a bit 'Islington vs. Ipswich' with, for instance, the purchase of a new boiler being possibly slightly more painful to some than suggested, no matter what the long term ROI. With luck Mr. Brown may be helping with this as we speak. A boy can dream:)

I just like to suggest that there could well be many, more, and more down to earth measures than those indicated, and would fly the flag for a few more to add, such as re:use and re:pair to that 15, in time to come.

I am please to say that he replied in short order, and was kind enough to see my point.