The ethical consumer It takes 2,000 years for one plastic bottle
to breakdown in a landfill. Bottled water is transported long
distance via lorries and energy is also used by on board
refrigeration methods. There is no noticeable difference between
most bottled water and tap water, either in taste or quality, so
it's much more sustainable to get your water straight from the
tap. Photos © iStockphoto/Millanovic/Martijn Gouman Not
switching off electrical equipment over night from the main
socket wastes a huge amount of energy - enough to run a small
car for 100 miles. A report from Wiltshire College says leaving
a PC monitor on all night wastes enough energy to microwave 6
dinners. If everybody switched off their television at the mains
each night we could save enough energy to power a small town.
Photo © iStockphoto/Jeff Gynane 10 million tonnes of carbon
dioxide were emitted in the UK in the course of getting our food
to us in 2001. According to a 2005 DEFRA report these food miles
cost £9bn a year in terms