Making New Year's resolutions can be hard, especially if you want to stick to them for more than a fortnight! If you really want to make a difference this year, how about something green? We've outlined five easy possibilities below that won't make you miserable and if you can stick to just one of these that you don't already do, you'll be making a genuine contribution.

• Change your electricity provider. If you haven't already, buy your electricity from a renewable supplier, such as Good Energy or Ecotricity. Switching is easy, and there are many to choose from - if you don't like wind turbines for example, there is a tariff from Scottish and Southern Energy that uses hydro-electric power only. This saves on average a massive 1,420 kg of CO₂ per person per year.
• Take at least one journey a week by foot, bicycle or public transport, where you would otherwise have used a car. You'll get some exercise, cut congestion, and reduce climate change in one fell swoop! Sometimes it may even be quicker than driving.
• Make full use of the local recycling facilities, including the green box and bin, as well as the plastic bottle banks and the Sustainable Girton shredder. Recycling just one glass bottle saves 0.5 kg of CO₂ compared to making a new one - that's nearly its own weight!
• Think about your shopping. Consider how far your food has to travel to get to you, how much packaging it has, and how the people who produced it were treated. Try to buy locally produced or Fairtrade-certified products.
• Plan to holiday in Britain or continental Europe this year, and travel by land instead of flying.

If you're already doing all of the above, or they're not for you, perhaps you could come up with your own resolutions? If you do, spare a thought for the planet! If you'd like to know more about how you can do any of these, you can visit our website: http://www.sustainable-girton.org.uk/.

This article first appeared in the January 2006 edition of Girton Parish News.