Reduce your carbon footprint

The World’s first chocolate offsetting scheme has been launched to show people how much fruit and veg they need to substitute during their week and how much exercise they ought to take to offset the unhealthy effects of eating chocolate.

Although understandably not quite as beneficial for the health of the planet as its carbon counterpart, chocolate offsetting has the potential to improve the health of all those living on it who aren’t always quite able to resist the temptation of a little sweet indulgence.

To make the offsetting process simple and easy to understand a free calculator has been set up on www.chocolateoffsetting.com which allows users to select their expected chocolate consumption and find out what they need to do and eat in order to positively compensate for it.

Reduce your carbon footprint

There are green alternatives to many products we buy. If you are thinking of buying a new rug why not have a look at the wonderfuil designs of Yvonne Autie more. Yvonne makes rag rugs in the traditional way and all the raw material she uses is recycled from second hand or discarded fabric. Yvonne runs courses usually for one day from her home where folk learn the techniques then start a piece of work of their choice during the latter part of the day.  All the tools plus some hessian and practice fabric are supplied and the students contribute fabric of their own for their projects.  The aim is to have fun & relax while learning a useful method of recycling with tools that last a lifetime for very little outlay 

More Green Ideas...

The grounds of Wayland prison are home to hundreds of rare breed Norfolk Long Horn sheep; this breed was almost extinct until recently but is now being brought back to a full breeding programme in Norfolk. The wool from the sheep is of exceptional quality. Fiona Dawson uses the wool from the fleeces to make a green alternative to burial gowns. More info

A hand made Norfolk willow basket more will last a lifetime; maybe even longer compared to plastic carrier bags which can take over a hundred years to rot and are a poor legacy to leave in landfill sites.

Every year, an estimated 17½ billion plastic bags are given away by supermarkets. This is equivalent to over 290 bags for every person in the UK.   Plastic carriers also have other problems; 

• They look ugly
• They often split leaving your shopping on the pavement
• Plastic carriers can hurt your hands if you fill them more than half full.

What do you think?  

email us with your views.