The next environmental step for me...

... is to try and switch to as much locally sourced products as possible. Did you know that nine tenths of our carbon emissions are actually found in the food we buy? It's worse than flying, because once you start adding up all the miles food travels to your local Tesco's (even food produced locally for your supermarket will probably end up going on a roundabout route via a central processing depot) it's a frightening thought.

So far, my efforts have been shambolic - I've switched to Mersea beer almost exclusively (exclusively if you ignore the big box of Stella Artois a friend generously left behind after a recent visit). Now I'm enjoying Tiptree raspberry (seedless, for those who know me!) jam. This was bought in Sainsbury's, so the "local" argument doesn't count, but Tiptree itself is just 15 miles down the road, so when we finally pull our finger out and start using local farm shops, we need to find one that stocks Tiptree jam!

If it's not practical to apply the "local" argument to everything you buy, try and go for British products as your next step. We've discovered butternut squash, but our Tesco's organic variety is shipped all the way from Argentina, so we're trying to grow our own (one shoot so far suggests it may be possible, and evidence from the Net suggests we should have a fighting chance of doing so). We've not yet transferred any seeds to the allotment, but we're about to do so.

The other thing that's been forgotten in our globalised economy is buying vegetables and fruits "in season". Strawberries are traditionally associated with Wimbledon because this is the time of year they were readily available, but now you can ship them from the US or other places in the middle of winter. That's another thing I'm going to try and get us to do - buy as many vegetables and fruits in season as possible.

Just one thing: is it possible to grow grapefruit in this country?