Gareth Kane

“… how about starting with switching off the lights when you leave a room?” “Yes, if you’re serious about climate change, the very least you can do is save some energy. ” I know it’s a complete Dad thing to moan on about “the house being lit up like a Christmas tree”, but I’ve been trying to instil in my three that being aware of climate change is one thing,  but nothing will change unless we change

I’m sure every Sustainability professional gets their fair share of interesting communications from the whole spectrum of eco-eccentrics ranging from mad inventors – “I’ve solved the energy crisis using magnets!” – to the ‘modern life is killing us’ brigade – “LED street-lighting is a death sentence hanging over everyone!” (both examples are genuine). While I tolerate all this nonsense with a wry smile, the fact that campaigns of any kind attract the conspiratorial fringe often puts off those in the mainstream

Our dishwasher appears to have been attacked by a rat which chewed through a seal leading to the heat pump shorting out, and my streaming hi-fi’s power supply blew out. For the former, we got the manufacturer-approved repair company to come and fix it; for the latter I went to the local ‘man with a soldering iron’ repair shop. Here are my thoughts: Repair costs for both were just over half the cost of replacing the unit with a brand new one with new features, new components etc. OK, these are just two examples, but if we are going to switch to a circular economy where we refurbish complex products rather than buying new ones each time one component fails, then the whole repair business needs to up its game.

Last Friday it was my birthday and middle child got me a rather wonderful vintage cycling top from our rather wonderful new(wish) local vintage shop, Flea Circus. So I just had to take the day off with Mrs K and cycle around some of my favourite cafes and pubs to try it out