A Nice Green Glow

Just like a certain major British retailer, I feel the need to demonstrate my environmental credentials today.

I could walk the 10 minutes to school with my kids in the morning instead of taking the car. I could invest in energy-saving improvements in my home, like new light bulbs. I might get radical and turn off the lights when I'm not using them. It's even been suggested that I might put on a jumper and turn down the central heating thermostat by one degree. I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet.

But the longest journey starts with a single step. So today, inspired by the example of Britain's returned prodigal retailer, I'm taking a first few tentative steps. I've saved food miles by buying 50 kilos of winter apples from the very nice farmer who knocked on my door, and I've changed the template on my blog to a nice leafy green.

Like many ordinary concerned consumers, I am instinctively cynical of profit centred big business and their green claims. That's because I know that even when the nice green choice is laid on a plate in front of us, I - and millions of others like me - need a dose of ECT to change our behaviour in anything more than the most simple of ways.