Get Fresh Air AND Exercise

Your countryside needs you. I was out yesterday volunteering with the local wildlife trust again, clearing scrub to allow the Downland plants to recolonise the area.

Much of the English countryside has been farmed for many years and so it isn’t in it’s natural state. Grazing of sheep, cattle and ponies has an impact on the variety of plants and animals that inhabit a particular area. Grazing here on the South Downs has resulted in the chalkland fauna and flora, much of which would disappear if it wasn’t for the grazing and the work of volunteers keeping the scrub down.

Most local councils and wildlife trusts do not have the funding and resources to manage the land, so they rely on the work of volunteers and there is always far too much work to be done and not enough volunteers.

If you’d like to get involved, it only involves one day a month and most working parties don’t work over the summer. You get out into the fresh air for a few hours. Work hard, there are always a variety of tasks for different physical strength and abilities. It’s very rewarding even if you only feel your scratching the surface of what needs doing. We started at 10.00am and were finished by about 2.30pm but carried on chatting, admiring our handiwork and sitting in the sunshine for another hour.

If you work for a company – why not organise a day out for your team. Most companies these days get involved in the community as part of Corporate Social Responsibility so why not do something worthwhile and make a difference to your local countryside.

Local Wildlife Trust Volunteering
British Trust for Conservation Volunteers
RSPB Volunteers

OK ... I'm sorry this is very UK centric but I hope that our European/International members can find something similar in their area.

I found this for the US - National Wildlife Federation

Feel free to add any other useful links to this post.

Have A Green Christmas

I dread to think how much some people's electricity bills are going to increase over the Christmas period as they light up their houses with an annual display of lights varying from pretty, traditional, tacky to downright over the top with all manner of santas, snowmen, christmas trees etc.

There's a road not too far away where they all compete with each other to raise money for charity but I don't suppose it's helping the environment much.

Here are a few tips for a greener Christmas.

Shopping - if you don't want to jump on the mass consumerism bandwagon this Christmas, why not buy presents from charities or fair-trade sources and where possible don't buy over-packaged goods. Think about what you're buying and why - don't buy just for the sake of it. I've picked several eco-friendly ideas this Christmas - wind-up torches, something for the garden. There's a wide range of 'green' gifts available from adopting and endangered animal to 'buying' a sheep to support your local wildlife trust.

Christmas Lights - switch them off when you go out and don't have them on all the time. Use energy efficient bulbs in the rest of the house to at least offset some of the energy used. One low energy bulb will save as much energy in the coming year as 30 strings of fairy lights over 12 days. LED lights are brighter and use a lot less energy than traditional bulbs.

Wrapping paper - most of this can't be recycled as it contains little actual paper and too much foil and plastic with added sticky tape and labels. Save as much as you can for re-use next year. Use ribbons and string to tie up packages.

Cards - save money and resources by sending electronic cards to colleagues and give the money saved to charity. Recycle cards to local charities or cut up into gift tags for next year.

Festive spirit - recycle all those bottles in the nearest bottle bank or in your kerbside collections.

Trees - if you have a real tree - make sure it's from a local, sustainable source. Thousands of Christmas trees and grown, cut and dumped each year. Most councils will take trees for recycling after Christmas so they can be composted or chipped for local parks and gardens. Buy a rooted one and plant it out in the garden - if you're lucky you can re-use it next year.

Decorations - deck the halls with boughs of holly - well at least see what you can harvest from your garden to decorate the house - holly, ivy, berries and evergreen plants provide a more natural display and can be composted at the end of the festive season.

Christmas Dinner - buy locally at your farmers market and steer clear of intensively produced food which stresses not only the animals but the environment. Farmers markets can be cheaper than supermarkets, have a wide range of seasonal produce, reduces the food miles and tastes far better.

Check out some of the other energy saving tips here that apply year-round and not just at Christmas.

Clare

Make The Most Of Your Time Online

Manage your online networking time in the same way that you manage any other area of your business or personal life.

What is your reason for going online? Limit the amount of time you spend there by setting yourself goals. Post xx blogs, connect with xx new members, connect with xx people in my network etc.

How much involvement do you want in the Clubs you are a member of? Some you can check every day, some you may only need to check once/twice a week. If you can, change the Settings to notify you automatically. Check the list of Clubs you’re a member of regularly and leave those you no longer use. Set your Email Notification settings to notify you for Private Messages so that you can quickly see new PMs.

Limit yourself to around 15-30 minutes at a time to read and comment on blogs, connect with people and make postings. Spread that time over the week and set aside your 15-30 minute chunks once a day. I have set times to do my regular club postings - once a week.

Responding to private messages takes priority, responding to blogs is a lesser priority and only gets done when I have time. I then get on with the important stuff and might come back to it later in the day - often in the evening when I have free time to read, respond and connect.

There's nothing wrong with taking a break from your other work to check what's going on online. Perhaps 15 minutes a couple of times a day. It's my equivalent of the 'water-cooler' conversation when working from home. Just make sure when you get to the end of the day you've achieved what you set out to do and didn't squander your time online.