Info, news & debate
Transport
Join our new online community Living Low Impact
We’re excited to introduce our new Facebook group Living Low Impact – and you’re invited!
Why I walk: a conversation with a walking guide
Walking is as old as the hills, and yet so many aren’t getting out in their local areas. On a sunny October afternoon, with the backdrop of birdsong, I spoke to walking guide Emma Cunis about her story with walking and what she offers as Dartmoor’s Daughter; where she runs walks and nature connection events …
One man’s journey from diesel to veg oil
This week Lowimpact.org met Geoff, a.k.a the Veg Oil Guy, who runs two websites and a YouTube channel chronicling his exploration of diesel to vegetable oil conversion and proving veg oil motoring can be done!
What’s the most environmentally-damaging thing that a human can do?
This question is really important for us at Lowimpact.org, because we’re all about providing information and other resources on ways that people can live in a less environmentally-damaging way. So I was very interested to see that researchers at Lund University in Sweden recently put the hours in
SuperHomes: free open-house events for you to have a look at homes with renewable and energy-saving technologies
This year marks the 10th year of SuperHomes, the innovative and multi-award winning national network of over 200 homes which have all reduced their carbon footprint by a minimum of 60%. There’s a record 100 free Open House events occurring across all parts of UK
Building your own sea kayak part 3: cockpit, sealing & fibreglassing
In the third instalment of the building your own sea kayak series, after a long break in the build over the winter the materials have arrived for the next stage of the process. The Petrel’s cockpit is recessed to give it a lower profile, which makes Eskimo rolls easier. The forms are temporally glued to the …
Building your own sea kayak part 2: hull & deck
The first strips are on. I spent a while setting up the forms on the strongback and securing them with cleats. I then cut and shaped the stem pieces seen here on the bow.
Building your own sea kayak part 1: forms & ‘strongback’
I’m going to post three articles about how I built my own sea kayak, followed by some articles about the adventures you can have once you’ve built it. The idea is that you buy some detailed plans and follow them carefully. They will guide you through every step of the build.
More plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050? Could you give up plastic?
The Marine Conservation Society is urging people to get through June without plastic. The Plastic Challenge will highlight our reliance on this substance of convenience.
Help the Ecological Land Co-operative to set up more smallholdings
You can join the Ecological Land Co-operative as an investor, by moving some money from your bank savings account (and receiving a better rate of interest). If you agree with the ELC’s principles, this would be extremely helpful.
Smallholding with heart: advice about getting and running a smallholding from Janet Jenkins of Cuckoo Farm
Embarking on a new life in the countryside, away from the trappings of urban existence, is a dream increasingly common to many. This week we interviewed Janet Jenkins about her and her family’s smallholding journey, putting the heart back into the land at Cuckoo Farm.
University meets WWOOF: An interview with student and WWOOFer Iona Desouza
Hours spent in the library? Check. Essay and assignment deadlines flooding in? Check. Tractor driving, wool spinning and weeding at weekends? Check!
Will we reach ‘peak car’, after which we can begin to reduce the number of cars on the roads?
As a baby-boomer I have lived through a 50 year period where life has become dominated by and dependent on the use of the private car. I wonder whether other people are sharing my expectation that there will be a very much shorter period, equivalent to a revolution, where the car moves into the background?
How the corporate goldrush for incineration, gasification and pyrolysis of waste generates more consumption, more waste and more pollution
‘When waste to energy companies propose to build incineration/gasification plants they stipulate that contracts be in place which lock-in local authorities to providing them with a fixed tonnage of waste over the lifetime of the plant (often about 25 years).
Is modern life a mistake?
I was back recently in my old stomping ground of Bicester in Oxfordshire – it was not a happy visit.
How to reduce the environmental impact of your wedding
Your wedding day is obviously one of the biggest days of your life — but it can also be huge for your carbon footprint. In the UK, the average cost of a wedding is over £20,000. Not only is this a huge amount of money to spend on a single day
Help our off-grid, timber, straw-bale and stone ‘eco-pod’ project happen, then come and stay in it!
Hi, my name is Cassie. My daughter is called Bea, she’s the bigger girls in the picture there. She absolutely loves horses! I also have a son called David, who is going to be an actor; my husband is called Nigel, and our eldest son is called Ted.
Looking for the xmas gift that could change someone’s life? Here’s why WWOOF membership could be what you’re looking for
It’s late autumn and I’m sitting alone, feeling empty, in a comfortable house in High Wycombe. It’s 5.30 and I’ve just returned from work; I’m a single moderately successful professional doing the 9-5 in a very ordinary existence.
New report: number of plastic bags on UK beaches falls by almost half – so charging 5p for plastic bags works?
The number of plastic carrier bags found on UK beaches in surveys carried out by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has dropped by almost half between 2015 and 2016. This is the lowest number reported in over a decade, and fantastic news for marine wildlife.
Fancy kayaking around the Cornish coast to raise money for the Marine Conservation Society?
That’s a basking shark’s fin, by the way – they grow up to 26ft long, but eat plankton rather than humans. The Marine Conservation Society (MCS), the UK’s leading marine charity, is behind a fantastic opportunity to see one of the most spectacular parts of the UK’s coastline from a kayak