Practical steps to change the world

During this term, we have been collecting simple actions that each of us can do to make a difference to the world we live in. Ryan has kindly typed these up, so here we have a top 25 Everyday Tips for Ordinary Radicals.

1. Switch your energy provider to one that uses more renewables.
2. “Soap-up” before running shower.
3. Cut down on petrol ‘fill-ups’ (conserve fuel).
4. Allotment sharing, or collective sharing of your fruit and veg harvest.
5. Do some gardening for the elderly in exchange for growing fruit and veg in their garden.
6. Use E-Cloths.
7. Buy ecover washing up liquid and clothes washing liquid. You can even get refills from local natural food and health stores - so it saves plastic too.
8. Send less to landfill less - get a compost bin.
9. Turn off unnecessary lights at home.
10. Turn off plug sockets that aren't in use (eg. mobile phone chargers).
11. Don’t leave TV on standby – switch it off when you're not using it.
12. Eat meat sparingly (say, once or twice a week). Its very energy and water intensive to farm.
13. Go vegetarian, vegan or pescetarian.
14. Make your own cleaning products for bathroom / kitchen / glass / floors (lemons and limes have natural cleaning properties).
15. Buy organic food.
16. Recycle.
17. Walk or cycle to places rather than driving.
18. Don’t waste paper - use portable electronics rather than printing things out that you only need once.
19. Reuse old paper by tearing it into quarters and using it for shopping lists and fridge notes.
20. Research the ethics of your supermarket. Consider switching to Waitrose, M&S or Sainsburys.
21. Make your own clothes.
22. Get involved in clothes swaps.
23. Shop at charity shops - supports people in need and extends the life of discarded clothing. The ones that in affluent areas often have top fashion labels and barely worn items!
24. Convert car engines into being fuelled by recycled vegetable oil from restaurants (bit more effort but great idea!)
25. Don’t get a lawn mower – get a goat! You get a mowed lawn without the cost of fuel plus regular milk - what's not to like?! To be fair, this probably isn't too practical for most of us, but Urban Shepherding is a real thing. Perhaps a more practical response is to share a lawn mower with your neighbour - after all, how many mowers does one street need?

At the end of our last gathering, Victoria challenged us to commit to doing one of these by the next time we meet. We'll be looking forward to hearing what people get up to when we meet in November. 

Which one will you do?