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Can Fetes, Regattas and Festivals Be Greener Without Losing the Fun?

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The Hidden Footprint of Summer Events Can Fetes, Regattas and Festivals Be Greener Without Losing the Fun? “A summer event should not need three skips, two generators and a small mountain of plastic cups to be considered successful.” There is something wonderfully British about a summer event. A school fair with bunting flapping in a slightly uncertain breeze. A village fete where someone has bravely agreed to run the tombola. A regatta with boats, flags, tea, cake, damp grass and at least one person carrying a clipboard with the seriousness of an air traffic controller. A sports day, an open day, a festival, a church event, a community barbecue, a charity fundraiser or a sailing club weekend. These events matter. They bring people together. They raise money. They create memories. They give children something to look forward to and adults a chance to stand around saying, “Well, at least the rain held off,” even when it clearly did not. But they also have a hidden environmental footprin...
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Summer Water: Are We Treating Rain Like Rubbish?

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  Summer Water: Are We Treating Rain Like Rubbish? “We spend half the year trying to get rid of rainwater, then buy hoses to replace it in July.” There is something very British about complaining about the rain from October to May, then standing in the garden in July looking mournfully at a crispy lawn and wondering why the water butt is empty. We are a nation that has perfected the art of grumbling at drizzle. Rain spoils barbecues, school sports days, sailing plans, photography sessions and, if you are unlucky, the one afternoon you chose to varnish something outside. Yet when summer arrives, we suddenly behave as if water is a scarce and mysterious substance that has to be dragged reluctantly through a hosepipe. The odd thing is that a great deal of the water we need in summer falls on our roofs, patios, driveways and school buildings during the wetter parts of the year. We simply rush it away as quickly as possible. Down the gutter. Into the drain. Out of sight. Then, a few mon...
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The Great Summer Declutter: Why Tidying Up Can Be an Environmental Act

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  The Great Summer Declutter: Why Tidying Up Can Be an Environmental Act Hook: Decluttering is only green if the clutter does not simply migrate from your house to landfill. Summer has a dangerous effect on the British householder. The sun comes out, the garage door is opened, and suddenly we discover that our home has been quietly breeding cardboard boxes, mystery cables, half-used paint tins, old tools, garden equipment, broken chargers and things that “might come in useful one day”. The traditional response is simple: hire a skip, throw everything into it, feel virtuous for three hours, and then quietly start buying replacements for half the things we have just thrown away. That is not really decluttering. That is environmental relocation. A genuinely green declutter is different. It is slower, more thoughtful and, occasionally, more annoying. It asks not simply, “Do I want this?” but also, “Could this be repaired, reused, shared, sold, donated, repurposed or used before I buy a...
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The Barbecue Problem: Can Summer Food Be Greener Without Becoming Miserable?

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  The Barbecue Problem: Can Summer Food Be Greener Without Becoming Miserable? Hook: The problem with a summer barbecue is not the sausage. It is often the mountain of plastic plates, half-eaten buns and forgotten salad wilting in the sun. There are few things more British than deciding it is finally warm enough to eat outside, dragging the barbecue from the shed, discovering it is full of last year’s ash, and then confidently declaring that dinner will be ready “in about twenty minutes”. Two hours later, somebody is eating a blackened sausage in a roll, somebody else is wondering whether the chicken is supposed to be that colour, and a large bowl of salad is slowly giving up the will to live beside a packet of slightly sweaty burger cheese. Summer food should be joyful. It should involve family, friends, smoke, sunshine, laughter, and somebody’s uncle explaining that he has “a system” for lighting charcoal. But summer eating can also produce a surprising amount of waste: plastic p...
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The Summer Heat Survival Guide: Keeping Cool Without Cooking the Climate

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  The Summer Heat Survival Guide: Keeping Cool Without Cooking the Climate A Well-Insulated House Is Not Just a Winter Jumper “A well-insulated house is not just a winter jumper. In summer, it can become a cool box.” That sounds slightly odd at first. We tend to think of insulation as something that keeps warmth in during winter. We imagine loft insulation, draught excluders, thick walls, woolly jumpers, hot drinks and trying not to look too closely at the heating bill. But insulation works both ways. In winter, it slows heat escaping from the house. In summer, it slows heat getting into the house. The same principle that keeps a flask of tea hot can also keep a bottle of water cold. The trick is not just having the insulation, but learning how to manage the house as temperatures rise. As UK summers become hotter, this is going to matter more. We are not quite a Mediterranean country, however much the garden furniture catalogues would like to pretend otherwise. Many British homes w...
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