How to be a good ancestor in 2022

Tip for January 2022.  And, for me, to reduce my hypocrisy quotient by driving less:

2019: 14,000 miles driven in the car for nearly all medium to long journeys with six hillwalking trips to Scotland.

Climate emergency declared by national and regional governments.  In Nov 2019, I declared a 50% cut on my 2019 total in my car mileage for 2020 and thereafter.  Summer: over 80 mpg.  Winter: over 70 mpg.

2020:  6,300 miles with two trips to Scotland

2021:  5,500 miles with two trips to Scotland

Tip for February

Insulate front, back, sides and, top and bottom of your home.  External insulation, internal insulation with warmer, specially designed, thicker wallpaper and more, much more loft insulation.

Tip for March

Layer up, aka lagging yourself.  Wear more clothing.  No more going round in T-shirt or short sleeves in the depths of winter.  Wear 5 or 6 layers like me.  And, then you go out for a brisk walk or bike ride with less clothing on so you don't get too hot!

Tip for April

Warmer weather now, so dust off the cobwebs and get that self-powered, fossil fuel-free bike out (ebikes if you must) and take a spin along residential side roads and on Brum's all-weather, mud free, free draining towpaths and cycle-walkways.

Tip for May

My 3 petitions for the UK's only mothballed, existing, principal, mainline railway to be finished with the rather vital stations and trains.  If you've signed one, could you sign a second, please?

Tip for June

Have you got PV solar panels on every roof - even north-facing, as I have seen in Scotland?!  I've yet to do the low roof on the room at the back of the house.  REASON: the urgency of getting out of reliance on fossil fuels.  And, you get some electricity, enough for LED lighting, from PV solar panels without the sun.  Store the electricity in batteries for evening use.

Tip for July

Move towards a plant-based diet of fruit, vegetables, bread, pulses and beans.  Meat, even white meat is poisoning the River Wye with so many chicken farms in its catchment area.  Be a flexitarian if you can't go the whole hog.  But cut back on all meat.

Tip for August

Stop being a frequent flyer and minimise this damaging practice as much as possible.  Even condensation trails from jet planes is bad news.  HS too fast to stop flying through the air gives another choice for flyers to choose plane or train but, at a horrific cost.

Tip for September

DO NOT COMMUTE if you don't need the car for the job.  I did need the car but still gave it up in the early 1990s and resorted to the self-powered bike even for my social work visits.  I went down from over 40p/mile on official council business by car to 15p/mile when cycling.

Tip for October

Support my regional Fare-Free Public Transport for all and not just the OAPs like me who are well past it, aka being over the hill.  Vote Left Unity who want it to end this blatant discrimination against the young and middle-aged.

Tip for November

I have stopped buying clothes or being given them by Linda.  I even turned my back on a lovely studded (button-free) overshirt from M&S last December!

Tip for December

Throw away as little as possible.  Burning up and turning our precious finite resources into very greenhouse gas intensifying methane and carbon dioxide is the height of folly.