After spending more than half of 2007 in the US due to a family emergency, I’m now back home in London. With all those unavoidable airmiles, it’s time to redouble my efforts at going green to make up for lost ground.

 

As on all my visits to America I encountered a virtual silence on climate chaos – though I heard every lurid detail of Britney’s woes and the Anna Nicole Smith trials. The US media is obsessed with celebrities, whose antics are so extreme they distract the average citizen from their own problems, such as maxed-out credit cards and skyrocketing health insurance costs. They're increasingly turning to pharmaceuticals to ease the stress. Forget Prozac Nation, America's now the Xanax Nation. Americans appear flummoxed that the lifestyle of overconsumption leaves them unsatisfied – feeling as empty as their SUVs' gastanks.

 

The American public certainly doesn’t seem to want to hear about the environment, despite Al Gore’s success at the Oscars. I really get discouraged: 9 out of 10 cars I saw were giant gas guzzlers, everyone has king-sized TVs and dozens of peripheral electronic devices (all on standby, mind), and the ubiquitous disposable plastic plates and storage boxes stack up into a mighty mountain of waste. I still see no rise in public awareness or concern and no sense of any personal responsibility to do one’s part.

 

Back home, there’s a hint of green everywhere I look (and not just in the disconcertingly early signs of spring). Even Nigel on the Archers is going green, having given up his car. It’s one thing for those of us in London, but quite another for those in tube-free Ambridge. Maybe he’s just trying to weasel out of the school run, but who knows, maybe he’ll soon get a bicycle trailer for that.

 

So, enough of being discouraged, it's time to get back on track, investigating what my family can do to go greener. I’ve just volunteered to be the guinea pig for a water usage experiment. They’ll monitor our water use now and again after we fit some water-conserving devices, to see how much water we’ve saved. Maybe they'll suggest sharing showers – the family that bathes together saves together.