Going Green Podcast, Video blog and Daily News

  Could This Be Britain’s Greenest Christmas Day Ever?   There are many ways to measure Christmas success. Some people count roast potatoes. Others count arguments. This year, Britain may be counting grams of carbon dioxide . Britain’s electricity system could deliver its greenest Christmas Day on record , according to the National Energy System Operator (NESO). If the weather stays mild and windy through the rest of December, NESO says carbon intensity on 25 December could be the lowest ever recorded for Christmas Day . What does that actually mean? Carbon intensity measures how much CO₂ is produced to generate each unit of electricity . Lower numbers mean: More electricity from wind, solar, and nuclear Less from gas and coal A cleaner grid overall Christmas Day is a perfect storm (the good kind): Factories and offices are shut Electricity demand is lower Wind farms keep spinning whether anyone’s carving a turkey or not In other words, the ligh...

  The Greenest Thing You Can Do Today? Stop Buying Stuff. There’s a particular kind of pressure that appears in the final hours before Christmas. The shops are still open. The ads are louder. The emails insist you’ve forgotten something . Somewhere, someone is telling you that love can still be expressed with a last-minute purchase. It’s exhausting. And environmentally speaking, it’s spectacularly unhelpful. The lie of the “one last thing” Last-minute shopping rarely produces meaningful gifts. It produces: Panic purchases Poor quality items Fast fashion Gadgets that need batteries Things that will be returned, regifted, or quietly binned by February Each of those steps adds transport, packaging, energy use, and waste — all for something nobody actually wanted. Consumer pressure thrives on urgency Sustainability fails when we’re rushed. Urgency bypasses thought, values, and restraint. The entire system depends on the idea that doing nothing is not an optio...

  A Greener Approach to the Traditional Christmas Dinner Christmas dinner is one of those moments where tradition, nostalgia and comfort food collide. Roast potatoes must crunch just right, gravy must be plentiful, and someone will inevitably ask whether Brussels sprouts are meant to squeak. But Christmas is also one of the most resource-intensive meals of the year. From imported ingredients and energy-hungry ovens to food waste and disposable decorations, the environmental footprint of the festive feast is larger than many people realise. The good news? You can make meaningful improvements without turning Christmas into a joyless exercise in self-denial. Here’s how to keep the spirit of Christmas while lightening its environmental load. Rethinking the Centrepiece For many households, turkey is non-negotiable. If that’s the case, choosing free-range, UK-reared turkey with strong welfare standards already reduces impact compared with cheaper, intensively farmed alternatives....

  2025’s AI Boom Came With a Hidden Environmental Cost Artificial intelligence had a spectacular year in 2025. Faster models. Smarter assistants. AI everywhere — from education and healthcare to marketing and music. But while the tech headlines celebrated innovation, a quieter story emerged in the background: AI’s rapidly growing carbon and water footprint . Recent research has shown that the explosive growth of large AI models in 2025 drove significant increases in CO₂ emissions and water use , largely due to the energy demands of data centres that train and run these systems. Why AI Uses So Much Energy Training modern AI models requires: Vast data centres running continuously Thousands of high-performance GPUs Massive cooling systems to prevent overheating All of this consumes electricity — and in many regions, that electricity still comes from fossil fuels . Even once trained, AI models continue to draw power every time they are queried. As AI tools become embe...

  The EU Just Weakened Its Own Green Rules – And That Should Worry Us All This week, the European Parliament approved a major rollback of the EU’s flagship sustainability reporting and corporate due-diligence rules. It didn’t make many headlines. It probably should have. The changes dramatically reduce the number of companies required to report on environmental damage, human rights abuses, and supply-chain harm . Even more concerning, they strip out plans to harmonise access to justice across member states , making it harder for affected communities to hold companies to account. In short: fewer companies covered, weaker oversight, and less legal protection for people and the planet. What was supposed to happen? The original laws were designed to: Require large companies to report honestly on their environmental and social impacts Hold businesses responsible for human rights abuses and ecological damage in their supply chains Create consistent legal routes across the E...

  Still Burning: When Will the Age of Fossil Fuels Actually End (and What Can You Do About It?) Governments dither. Oil giants drill. But change can still start at your front door. ⏳ The Clock Is Ticking. Loudly. We’ve known for decades that fossil fuels are the main driver of climate change. And yet… the coal chugs on, the oil keeps flowing, and natural gas is still branded “clean” in some circles. While world leaders shake hands at summits and sign pledges with increasingly distant targets, emissions continue to rise. The age of fossil fuels is like your least favourite dinner guest — long overstayed and increasingly toxic. Why the Delay? Despite the science being clear: Fossil fuel subsidies still amount to trillions globally Many climate pledges are non-binding or delayed until 2050 or later Countries fear economic instability or political backlash from a rapid transition Fossil fuel lobbies are… not shy And all the while, extreme weather events ar...