Like so many people I know, I have days worrying about the environment.  Am I doing enough? Is anyone doing enough?  In fact, what exactly is being done, and by whom?

There are now a multitude of programs on the web covering progress, suggestions and guidelines and one of my favorites is CNN Eco Solutions.  This is an environmental program shown on Mondays with a follow-up monthly report, and covers the globe specifying ordinary people, rather than governments, who are making a small dent of difference in their area. 

I’m listing here some of the ideas which I particularly remember and which could be repeated in other parts of the world. In Somerset, England, a man who owned a property which included an old, decrepit waterwheel decided to bring it back to life. He cleared, cleaned and repaired the wheel, cleared weirs, repaired leaks, installed new machinery and encouraged five other people to join him in his venture to produce hydro-power. They adopted his methods and, with the help of a local town council, were able to form a Hydropower Group and are now producing green energy for their entire local areas with enough excess to be donated to the National grid. Ten other sites followed suit and six of those are presently on line in this inspiring idea.

In another part of Britain, two women decided that there were many spaces which could be used to grow food and threw themselves into their project with great determination and tenacity. Raspberry canes have been planted on spare land, cabbages thrive among the flower beds in the local parks, beans have been planted between graves in the cemetery and fruit trees are planned to surround sports fields. Some of the produce will be free and, of course, much of it is in areas already being watered by the local town government. 

Appalled at the number of Christmas trees which were being cut, then thrown away after the festive season, an Englishman has started a business to rent them. They are kept in the pots, his company picks them up again when the season is over and he continues to tend them throughout the year, then rents them again when they are, naturally, taller. He has many sizes to offer and it sounds to me like a winning idea.

There are organizations in many cities guiding citizens to use balcony spaces, even window boxes, with start-up kits and offering horticultural advice. Spare land is being developed as market gardens and the local communities find it a delight to be working together on a project from which they all benefit and which brings a great sense of camaraderie.

I wrote about Wangari Maathai a year or so ago, presented with the Nobel Peace Price for the Environment in ’04 for her redoubtable efforts in planting trees in Kenya and for starting her Greenbelt Movement. If we all planted at least one tree in our life we could help the environment so much and, hopefully, we will all plant several.

We’ve all heard a lot about our carbon footprint, but what about our water footprint? Yes that is being measured, too. Did you know that, overall, in the manufacturing process, 75 liters of water are necessary to make one glass of beer? 140 to make a cup of coffee? Water usage is extraordinarily lopsided:  85% is used in the industrial sector, 10% for agriculture, and only 5% for household. However, if we all worked hard and thoughtfully we could reduce even that percentage.  My shower usually runs about a gallon of cold water before the hot kicks in; I therefore keep a gallon bucket there to trap it and use that on the garden, to wash vegetables, as a cold rinse of hand-washed laundry, and for several other uses.

Do you know what a CRAG is? (We have to learn the new jargon!) It is a Carbon Rationing Action Group, an organization dedicated to stopping climate change. Each member, or cragger, takes responsibility to reduce his or her own carbon emissions and encourages others to be accountable.

It is encouraging and reassuring to know that President Barack Obama has given a clear indication of his intentions in the matter of environmental change by selecting Dr. Steven Chu of the Lawrence National Laboratory at Berkeley as his climate czar. Dr Chu is a Nobel Peace Prizewinner in Physics and should be an inspiring leader in this field.

You might want to put some of these ideas into practice in your own community. Remember, oceans are composed of droplets and if we each become a droplet, we can engulf the globe and save it.