Christmas carbs (not a typo!)

Festivities in full swing now – we had our first family meal today at the in-laws. Over the next few days we’ll be doing a fair bit of travelling to see family. All of our journeys will be by car, so adding to our carbon consumption (first ‘carb’). I’m not trying to be a killjoy, and have no intention of reducing family visits to somehow salve my eco-conscience. But it’s still worth pausing for thought. During Lent 2008, Tearfund will be suggesting ways to reduce our emissions as part of a Carbon Fast, that might be a time to take action and change some of our ingrained habits.

In addition, the usual manic supermarket binge-shopping is upon us again. A quick walk round tonight looking for a few things made me think a wee bit about the air miles that our food clocks up. More pertinently, I heard a lunatic statistic yesterday that on average we put on 8lbs over the Christmas period through over-eating/ drinking (second carb – as in ‘carbohydrate’!) and under-exercising. Maybe there is a need for radical action here. A degree of self-restraint would eliminate the need for all those New Year resolutions about diets and exercise that will be broken anyway. And if the shopping bills are reduced, there are plenty of good causes working with hungry people around the world that could use the money!