Blog Action Day - wot I did today.

I was told about Blog Action Day by one of the moderators of Bolton Freecycle and as I have already blogged about using plastic bags to knit with, I thought I would help this global environmental effort by ruminating on how I help the environment.

I have knitted with recycled materials - the aforementioned plastic bags and also video and audiotape. I hope to do more of this in the future.

Also, my stash is so enormous I am working through it and only knitting with yarn from my stash. This will taker me about 5 years to use up so I haven't bought any new yarn for about 6 months - this has had a lot to do with me being broke as well though!

I am also a member of my local Freecycle group and so try to stop household goods and other things going to landfill.

The other great thing about being involved in Freecycle is that I have made loads of new friends in the Bolton area; some of whom are quite creative types. Having lived in Bolton since 1989, I can safely say I have met the most interesting people within this last year through Freecycle.

I am also a keen bookcrosser, which means that I sometimes buy new books but those that I do buy I pass onto to others through bookcrossing. That's the theory anyway - I now have so many books in my house I can't see the floor in some rooms; at least I am saving money on carpet and floorcoverings...

If I can't pass books on or they are too old and battered to be read anymore, I recycle them through the wastepaper collection run through the local council.

It is "bin day" tommorrow so I have sorted out my plastic, tin and bottles ready to go into the green crate, which is collected every fortnight. I also have a bulging bag of wastepaper. (This is collected every week by a company called Paperchase, who raise money for Bolton Hospice I think).

I also demanded a huge green wheelie bin from the council when they came available. They were understandably reluctant as my house isn't big enough and posh enough to earrant a big bin all of my very own. They have been proved right, unfortunately - I only have a small back yard and an even smaller front garden but I still should be filling it to the brim every fortnight. However, usually I only manage a few pathetic onion and potato peelings which lie sadly at the bottom of the bin.

So I should try harder at that really.

I also help the environment by not driving a car - this is more because I am too poor to afford one and also most importantly, I am useless at driving! I have the attention span of a flea, get easily distracted by Lloyd Loom chairs outside shops and the like while driving with an instructor and cannot grasp the concept of clutch control. So I have never managed to pass a test.

I should be a green bike rider and pedal everywhere but I am useless at that as well. I do toy with the idea of buying an adult trike every so often and enjoy dreaming about cycling to the shops like Catweazle. In reality, I would probably show the same road sense demonstrated when driving and thus be a danger to small children, old people and animals of all description.

The other thing I do daily to help the environment is being a VEGAN. People try and make me feel guilty about the rainforests being burnt in order to grow soya but I take no notice - that soya is being grown for cattle feed, not my milk, so there. (I have no idea if this is true).

So I am a bit of a flawed eco-warrior really but I probably do more than most people, maybe.