|
One Life Live team member Helen Marriott and her husband Allan decided it was time to put their money where their mouth was and in the last 12 months have been undergoing a green and ethical makeover, supported by Observer journalist and green and ethical expert, Lucy Siegle. Find out how they got on:
The Observer - December 31st 2006
Allan Smith, a 36-year-old civil servant, and his wife Helen, 31, founder of One Life Live, live in London from Monday to Thursday but spend the weekends at their cottage in Sussex.
'Sorry about the disarray,' says Allan Smith, gesturing at a perfectly orderly sitting room. Then his wife bursts in through the side door, just back from dropping her mum home. 'Yes, everything goes a bit awry when we have people to stay,' she explains.' That's not the end of the apologies, because they both feel they fall short of ethical expectations. 'This is not our only home,' says Allan, as if in a confessional booth. The couple drive down to their timber-framed cottage in Sussex every Thursday night, heading back on Sunday to London, where they have a small studio flat in Battersea. 'Commuting from here is just too far,' explains Allan.
You can see why they do it. The house is a very pretty Grade II conversion, and because it's not on the commuter path, it's relatively unspoiled. There's a shop and a pub in spitting distance, and more importantly - at least from a biodiversity point of view - the house is in a conservation zone on the edge of Ashdown Forest.
'Going back to London to the studio flat is difficult,' admits Helen. 'It's so small and stuffy that we tend to eat out all the time, so coming down here represents a complete change of lifestyle.' And the couple have made a really concerted effort to go green; their sportscar, for example, has been replaced by a fuel-efficient Honda Civic and they are assiduous recyclers, 'although because there's no kerbside recycling here, we do end up driving it to London,' admits Helen. 'I normally try not to leave anything on standby,' says Allan, looking aghast at the fact that he actually seems to have left the entire contents of the TV cabinet on standby. There is further shiftiness over the tumble dryer (full of freshly tumbled clothes). 'I know, I know, that's bad,' says Helen. But even this doesn't come close to the opprobrium that Allan and Helen heap on their own heads when Helen pulls out the cleaning products. 'On the whole,' says Allan, 'we really want to do the right thing, but often we're pressed for time or it's not easy enough.' Helen agrees: 'I find myself getting really angry about environmental transgressions and companies trampling on social justice these days. I feel very strongly that having a more ethical lifestyle isn't just a question of responsibility for shared resources and protecting what we have, but that it actually enhances your lifestyle.'
The expert Lucy Siegle is the Observer Magazine's ethical living columnist
Helen's obvious passion for ethical values convinces me within minutes that she has the potential to be a real ethical activist, but her theories don't always translate into practice. She reveals she just bought a pair of jeans from a less than reputable company, and I start my life-changing mission straight away by referring her to the War on Want report from November that traces sweatshop production through to several retailers. I also sign her up to Ethical Consumer magazine's website (www.ethiscore.org), where she can just type in the drinks/clothing/appliance manufacturer she's considering purchasing and get a rating for them.
There are several other areas we need to look at, too, including Helen and Allan's food-shopping habits and energy consumption. Ultimately we need to get them living in just one house, as driving an average of 300 miles a week is really swelling their collective carbon footprint. I've also had a look in their bin - I couldn't help myself - and it's clear they need to adopt zero tolerance to overpackaged food, particularly from the supermarkets. I'm going to order a box of local organic fruit and vegetables (mostly unpackaged) to be delivered to the house on Thursday mornings that'll be waiting when they arrive down from London on Thursday evening. In the months to come we'll also be looking at how to stock the larder with ethical produce, which will teach them how to get back in control of their food chain and stop their reliance on eating out when in London.
Energywise, the house is leaking a lot of heat, like most houses in Britain. I am aiming to future-proof it, which means detaching their home from the reliance on oil, because by 2015 it's estimated 75 per cent of gas will be imported, sending prices soaring. At the same time I'd like them to switch to a fractionally more expensive renewable tariff with either Good Energy or Ecotricity - both companies that actually invest in building new renewables rather than just providing a rather toothless 'green tariff'.
The main fire in the sitting room looks good and uses local, sustainably felled logs, but is only about 15 per cent efficient. I'm hoping they'll go for a cleaner, more efficient wood burner in the months ahead. We'll look at their outside space too - I've suggested they put up some hazel hurdles as windbreaks and increase the rather meagre amount of composting action that's going on, using a wormery to munch through any organic waste (www.wigglywigglers.co.uk). There's also an embryonic vegetable patch that needs to be given the kiss of life, and there's enough space for a couple of water butts.
Luckily both Allan and Helen are keen to embrace all sorts of ethical options, even exploring renewable-energy alternatives by trialling a mounted wind turbine on the house (like the Windsave model now sold in B&Q). However, all three of us expect that the local planning department might have a less adventurous outlook given the Grade II listing. But that's something we'll all have to find out. We're in this together now
So how did they get on?
Observer: June 27th 2007
In January, Allan Smith, 36, and his wife Helen, 32, were spending weekdays in London and weekends in Sussex. Ethical columnist Lucy Siegle helped them live a greener life
Six months ago, Allan and Helen were experimenting with doing the right thing by the environment. They had swapped their cherished Mazda sports car for a Honda Civic (the car that has topped the green car league two years running, due to its fuel efficiency and low emissions) and were assiduous recyclers. They also talked a lot about social justice; it was important to them to know the provenance of the products they bought and the working conditions of the workers who had made them.
But there was one big elephant in the room, or rather heading up and down the M25 burning up carbon, because the Smiths were living between two homes. Dividing their time between a romantic grade II-listed cottage in a Sussex village on the edge of a forest, and a small flat in Battersea, they were torn between the good life and a city pied-a-terre with a kitchen so tiny it forced them to eat out or buy ready meals. Keeping their carbon footprint low was a challenge when they were keeping two properties heated and lit.
Now, however, they've gone a long way to reducing it by selling the London flat, and relocating to Sussex full time. Helen says: 'We are making plans so that we can more easily live a more ethical life,' she enthuses. These include a new work focus that allows Allan to commute to London by train, when he needs to, from the local station. 'True, the train times are a bit limited from here,' continues Helen, 'but we just work round them.'
Meanwhile, she has managed to move her office to Sussex and concentrate on running One Life Live from her base there. The pair also made many other significant changes in their daily lives towards a greener lifestyle, changing over to a green energy company, growing much of their own food in the garden and looking into installing a domestic wind turbine.
The expert: Lucy Siegle is The Observer's ethical living columnist
Helen and Allan have made a major breakthrough by downsizing to one home. The couple have taken up my suggestion and signed up with Good Energy, (good-energy.co.uk), a green energy company that actually invests in renewables, as opposed to one that just has a green tariff. They are also researching a domestic wind-turbine project, growing their own food (about half of the fresh food they eat now comes from the garden), and the toxic cleaning products they once owned have been replaced by environmentally friendly ranges such as Ecover.
Allan and Helen's carbon footprint has gone down to about 10.7 tonnes a year (the national average), but next year we can shrink that to an even more respectable 7 to 8 tonnes.'
|
|
