David Field

Going green is, in an ideal world, something that everybody should be doing. Although our government seems to make it look incredibly difficult to come to any agreement, with developing countries insistent on their chance to grow, it is actually fairly simple from a personal perspective. Without trying to compare ourselves to others, Britons should be motivated by the fact that we produce two per cent of the world's carbon emissions, yet represent only one per cent of the population. We're punching way above our weight and should certainly curb our fossil fuel lifestyles.

But how economically viable is it to go green? It's all very well recycling bottles, papers and various other household wastes. But what about our cars and the kind of things we buy. Organic food and fair-trade produce, although only fractionally, are more expensive than standard food. Taking public transport everywhere can be impractical and renovating your home with solar panels can be ridiculously expensive, as well as unrealistic.

These are all valuable arguments, although they do miss the point somewhat. If everyone walked or took a train or bus for just a couple of days a week, carbon emissions would significantly drop. However, many people tend to look over the road at their neighbour, flying out in their Range Rover on the way to Heathrow for what is without doubt a long plane trip to the US, at which point they'll rent a big 4x4 and head to New England. This may seem unfair as you mount your bike and get ready to head into town while the smoke pours out of the back of the Range Rover, but I guess you could always see it as off-setting.

The fact is that the battle against climate change and ethical injustice is a tough one - a baton that must be relayed from idealist to idealist while people who couldn't care less go on regardless. However, the point is that an individual effort to tackle the issue yourself need not be something that costs you a lot of money. The simple tips too make you and the planet feel better are: Skip a car journey at least twice a week; install double glazing or a low-cost water-saving measure; cut back on power usage; and consider buying products from companies with decent green credentials.

Saving power only requires a small amount of intelligence and the ability to overcome ignorance. It doesn't mean you'll be cold in the winter or that you can't have your lights on; simply boiling the kettle with only a cup's worth of water in it will suffice. Selecting companies with good green credentials is also easy and you can even tell your bank or supermarket that you're jumping ship for environmental reasons on one of their little feedback cards.