Green resolutions

No sooner had I posted up my New Year's resolutions than I realised I had made a pact with a friend (buy her book!) to come up with some green new year's resolutions,

1. Travel: Avoid overseas flights this year unless they're absolutely necessary, and next time I travel to Melbourne/Brisbane/Canberra go by train, at least to see what it's like. Offset air transport carbon through Carbon Planet, one of the more trustworthy offsetting outfits. Don't buy a car, and only use the carshare car for absolutely essential trips. Buy a bike and try to use it whenever possible for trips northeast of the seven-kilometre radius line.

2. Food: Eat meat as a main item no more than two days a week (meat as flavouring, eg a bit of pancetta in a soffrito, is allowed as long as it’s v small quantities). Only eat sustainable seafood, as outlined here. Get a compost bin if the landlord permits it, and use it.

3. Household: Make the house incandescent-free. Switch off lights if I'm not in the room. Get a rainwater butt if the landlord permits it, and use it for indoor and outdoor plants.

I feel a bit of a fraud because a lot of these I already do or won't find very hard to switch to. And there's get-out clauses aplenty in things like travel, which I find hard to cut back on. But anyone reading this can pick me up if they catch me breaking any of the rules.

What will I find hardest? I'll miss Tasmanian scallops, a lot (I'm hoping there's some other sort of scallop I can get away with eating) and I love the soft glow of light from an unoccupied room at night. Transport carbon could quickly get quite expensive, and I'm sure I'm going to struggle to replace the bus with a bike for as many short trips as I ought.