Mad Eejits

Carnival of the Green #114 - 11 Feb 08

Hello and Welcome to Mad Eejits, your hosts for the 114th Carnival of the Green. Last week’s carnival was hosted by the Tao of Change and next week’s will be available on the Greener Side.

full entry

Going Green - One Year On - 10 Feb 08

On the eve of Mad Eejits hosting the Carnival of the Green for the first time, I thought it might be worthwhile to look back on our first year of trying to be more eco-friendly to see what we’ve achieved.

full entry

A Breath of Fresh (MacBook) Air? - 16 Jan 08

Browsing through my subscribed news feeds, its not often that the same subject crops up in both my “green” category and my techie/geek one, but today is one of those rare occasions. Its seems that everyone wants to talk about Apple’s newly announced MacBook Air, whether it be from a technology stand-point or with a view to its eco-friendly credentials, which make it quite probably the greenest Apple yet.

full entry

Toiletries With Less Packaging - 28 Nov 07

Back in our little six month review of ‘going green’, I stated that I’d like to switch to toiletries which come in returnable or refillable bottles/containers and avoid aerosols as much as possible. That was in July, but I’m glad to say that, this month, I’ve finally got round to doing something about it.

full entry

No Impact Year Ends - 21 Nov 07

I, like many others, have been following the adventures of ‘No Impact Man’ as he and his family tried to live for a full year with no net impact on the environment, which he explains as follows:

full entry

Discovery Buys Treehugger - 02 Aug 07

If, like I did, you start poking about the internet for information on green issues and environmental news, sooner or later (but probably sooner) you’re going to stumble across Treehugger. Between their news, green guides and forum, there probably isn’t much information that you can’t find there and I’ve been a regular visitor (and subscriber) since I first discovered the site.

full entry

Going Green - 6 Month Review - 19 Jul 07

Its just over 6 months now since we brought this site to life and, as hoped, we do feel more accountable for our plans and intentions that have been posted online, than if we’d simply kept them to ourselves. So, it seems like a good time for a review of how we’re getting on with our plan to become more eco-friendly.

full entry

Eco-Libris - Moving Towards Sustainable Reading - 05 Jul 07

We’d like to thank Raz Godelnik for getting in touch regarding his new project Eco-Libris, a service that allows book readers balance out the paper used for their books by planting trees.

full entry

Green Google - 21 Jun 07

If you weren’t already convinced that ‘Green is the New Black’, then check out the actions of Google who, following a similar announcement from Yahoo, have declared their intentions to go carbon neutral. Google, though have a bit of a head start, having started work a massive photovoltaic solar panel system last October. In typical Google fashion, you can now access live(ish) statistics for the solar panels online.

full entry

Act On CO2 - 16 Jun 07

Chances are, if you live in the UK, you’ve seen the government sponsored Act On CO2 TV adverts, featuring little engines on wheels, driving around like cars. The purpose of the campaign is to provide advice on how to reduce the emissions from your car journeys through ‘smarter driving’ and making a more informed decision when buying a new car.

full entry

Change a Bulb, Change the Channel - 08 Jun 07

For some time now, we’ve been experiencing the intermittent phenomenon of our TV (or to be precise, our digital TV box) changing channels and adjusting the volume without anyone using, or even being near to, the remote controller. The problem occurs just once each evening and then disappears as quickly as it started. At first we figured that the digi-box must have been picking up signals from another remote controller somewhere, but then don’t remotes work using infra-red and require line of sight to the receiver?

full entry

RecycleBank Dollars - 05 Jun 07

When I read about RecycleBank over on WorldChanging, I was struck by what a great idea it is for encouraging people to recycle. The basic idea is that the amount of waste that you recycle is measured and you are then rewarded with a related number of ‘RecycleBank Dollars’ which can be used at a good number of participating stores and websites

full entry

Make Compost Not War - 28 May 07

Our subsidised compost bin has arrived at last!

In anticipation of its arrival, Sarah has been storing kitchen scraps in a bucket outside the back door, so we’re off to a flying start already. However, with only a small garden, the compost itself isn’t our main motivator, but rather the opportunity to further reduce what we put in the landfill bin each fortnight.

full entry

M&S to Trial Plastic Bag Charge - 23 May 07

Northern Ireland to be the Guinea Pig

British retail giant Marks & Spencer has announced that it will trial a 5p charge per plastic bag, in their Northern Ireland stores, to encourage shoppers to use fewer disposable bags. If successful, the initiative could be rolled out through the entire UK as part of the chain’s ‘Plan A’ environmental policy.

full entry

Yahoo! Green - 14 May 07

Just days after noting that Yahoo! was promoting Freecycle through its Mail service, comes the news that Yahoo has now launched its own Yahoo Green mini-site.

full entry

Carnival of the Green - 12 May 07

I have to admit that until a few days ago, when it popped up on the Times Online blog ‘Eco Worrier’, I’d never heard of the Carnival of the Green. Its a fairly simple idea though and one which appears to have worked well over the last couple of years.

full entry

TreeHugger Gets a Forum - 09 May 07

Popular environmental website TreeHugger has recently increased its range of features with the addition of a forum for the discussion of all things green and not-so green.

full entry

A Greener Apple - 03 May 07

With the appearance of an statement entitled ‘A Greener Apple’ on Apple’s website, Greenpeace is celebrating the apparent success of their I love my Apple, I just wish it came in Green campaign.

full entry

Fortnightly Bin Collections - 26 Apr 07

Who knew that something as simple as how often rubbish bins are collected could be blown up into such a large issue that the Daily Mail would start a campaign to save weekly rubbish collections and it’s being speculated that the issue could affect local council elections in England and Wales. The whole debate revolves around whether normal rubbish bins should be collected every week or if fortnightly collections would be sufficient.

full entry

Cheap Compost Bins for Belfast - 20 Apr 07

Proving that free papers are good for more than just being firelighters or recycle bin fillers, our local “Belfast News” this week included an advert about cheap compost bins.

full entry

Sainsbury's ban disposable bags - 19 Apr 07

Albeit for one day only

A BBC Report states that Sainsbury’s are scrapping disposable plastic bags, for one day, in favour of their recycled ‘Bags for Life’ in an attempt to encourage shoppers to reuse their bags rather than taking new ones on every shopping trip.

full entry

It's Not Easy Being Green - 18 Apr 07

We’re currently enjoying the second series of It’s Not Easy Being Green on the BBC. Whilst the first series followed the efforts of presenter Dick Strawbridge (best known for his exploits on Scrapheap Challenge) and his family to live as green a life as possible, the second follows Dick and son James as they travel the country helping other people with their own green projects.

full entry

Goodbye Standby - 13 Mar 07

Today, we heard that the UK’s Chancellor, Gordon Brown, would (amongst other things) like to see the Standby button removed from all electrical appliances, so that they are all either on or off with no energy consuming, grey areas in between.

full entry

Making the Switch - 20 Feb 07

Here in Northern Ireland, we have the choice of a grand total of one electricity supplier. So much for healthy competition.

However, its not all bad. That one supplier, Northern Ireland Electricity, offers a “green” electricity option called Eco Energy, and according to their website:

full entry