No, I’m not talking about chocolate or red wine, I mean when it comes to environmental issues! For many people its holidays; for others it is a big fast car.
I’ve got a friend who is a very keen environmentalist, but there’s no way she would give up her very old and very inefficient jeep. She likes big old motors. And we’ve got a member who runs a garage and does loads of fabulous stuff in terms of both the community and environmental issues, but he loves big American cars, although he promises he really keeps it to very low mileage and that they are not as juicy as people think if they are well maintained!
Caring about the environment isn’t about sack cloth and sandals so I do think we can be forgiven some of our weaknesses if we are trying to compensate in other areas.
But I must admit, I personally find it quite difficult to understand why someone who does 10,000 miles per annum or more would want to purchase a car that only does 18 mpg. In today’s example a colleague has just purchased a nice red, sporty thing (sorry, as you can probably tell I’m really not a car person.) Apart from the carbon the car is emitting he is probably spending £40 a week more on fuel than he would if he had a fairly decent family car. As we all know, fuel will continue to rise so that £40 easily increase to £50, £60 or more in a very short period. As he is a family man who is comfortable but not particularly wealthy I do find this strange. Boys toys eh? But then lots of women do the same with space wagons don’t they?
Ah well, those little weaknesses I suppose……………..
Anyway, I was delighted when one of our newest members, Q Lawns of Norfolk, sent us an e-mail today to say they had changed the sales team’s gas guzzlers to eco-friendly cars. Apparently, as Sales and Marketing Manager 
Chris Carr proudly explains, their two new state of the art VW Golf Bluemotion cars average 74.3 mpg. Q Lawns are natural lawn turf growers and also supply green roofing and wildflower matting, so their ethos is to care for the environment. Apart from saving money, and being much more authentic, it makes sense to promote their business on their new eco-friendly cars doesn’t it?
OK, so cars aren’t my thing. But there are some fabulous cars on the market now with impressive environmental credentials, so surely it makes sense to save money and consider the environment at the same time?