Ali and Gary have made some new years "envirolutions".

We've decided to challenge ourselves with some new years envirolutions... a term invented by the ever-creative gary. These will be measurable and the outcomes will be closely followed and reported on - right here on our trusty blog! Check in to see how we're doing.

Gary's New Years Envirolutions:

1. Buy a water bucket for discarded cold shower water
2. Reduce my consumption of red meat
3. Investigate the expense of purchasing a higher percentage of GreenPower, and ways to minimise the cost increase by using less power
4. Discover some sustainably-produced alcoholic beverages
5. Start using the compost bin in my apartment block

Ali's New Years Envirolutions:

1. Keep my tomatoes alive until they bear fruit
2. Move my money to a more ethical bank, and roll over all of my superannuation into an ethical/sustainable super account
3. Discover who my state government representative is, then write them lots of love notes.
4. Build a guerrilla garden
5. Ethically shop and eat for 1 week

Do you have any envirolutions for 2009? It's more fun than joining a gym or drinking less!

Top 5 things to do in 2009!

Hello and welcome to the new blog for HEATING UP, Joy94.9's enviro news show, hosted by Ali and Gary.

It's the last show for 2009 so we've done the typical thing and compiled some great new years resolutions for everyone to try out in between attending the gym more regularly and eating better.

Top 5 ways to shrink your carbon footprint!

1. Sign up to 100% Green power – so no ghg from coal for you!

2. look at ways to reduce your energy use – change your light globes for ee ones, turn of appliances at the switch (stand by power can use up to 10% of your total power use), reduce your shower time and investigate installing SHW, install insulation in your ceiling, use curtains, use draft stoppers around doors etc etc

3. Leave the car at home – walk, cycle or PT it!

4. Consume less (see list below)

5. recycle and reduce your waste - 50% of domestic waste is organic matter, so investigate a worm farm or a compost heap

ACF has a good list of places to recycle your consumer waste from corks to mobile phones: their Product Reuse and Recycling Guide at http://www.acfonline.org.au/articles/news.asp?news_id=160

Top 5 ways to consume less stuff! (while still shopping – for all those shop-a-holics)

1. Op shops

2. E bay it!

3. swap parties -the new Tupperware Party

4. sew your own clothes, make your own food, and knot your own beanies

5. buy less, party more. If you consume less you will save money…this excess money can be spent on less carbon intensive things like …………

Top 5 ways to eat better!

1. Eat organic

2. East less meat and dairy : If you reduced your dairy intake by just 2 cups of milk (or equivalent) per week, you would save 13,000 litres of water and 250kg of greenhouse pollution in a year

3. Cook more – so buy less packaged, manufactured foods

4. Eat locally grown foods (Farmers mkts are the go here!) or Grow your own & swap excess at an “Urban Orchard”

5. don’t throw food out – see below

In 2004, Australians threw away a total of $5.3 billion on all forms of food.

This shocking statistic includes:

■ $2.9 billion worth of fresh food
■ $630 million worth of uneaten take-away food
■ $876 million in leftovers
■ $596 million of unfinished drinks and
■ $241 million of frozen food.

Unbelievable!