There are numerous articles and features written about becoming "environmentally friendly", most of which is tedious and boring to many people.

So is it possible to be a good friend of the earth, without going over the top and boring everyone to death with your "Green" exploits?

We have all seen the articles telling us how to turn off the lights, recycle the paper, cardboard, bottles......the list goes on and frankly most of it is common sense. We don't need some council official telling us to flatten cardboard and remove any sticky tape.

Some of the instructions issued by local officials are really quite comical. Place paper in the blue bag...no envelopes dummy!

When does paper become cardboard? I mean when is thick paper no longer paper but cardboard? It's a tough one.

The most amusing piece of advice this week from an "expert" (don't you just love self styled "experts"?) was the brilliant idea to "back your car into the drive, so that in the morning you don't have to manoeuvre the car to turn it round, whilst the engine is cold, thereby saving fuel. Yes really, that's the advice of an expert.

Now if you have a nagging partner who is aware of this brilliant advice, beware. After you get home from work, said partner will inform you that you've parked the car the wrong way, you know you're supposed to reverse into the drive. So off you go to turn it round in order to .....Save fuel?

Now saving the earth for future generations is highly commendable and should be encouraged but can we just have less of the nonsense and more really practical solutions. (Unless of course they're amusing).

Practical idea of the year: Generate your own power. (Please stop laughing ) This is serious. There are several very good guides available complete with plans and blueprints which show you how to create your own power supply by building a windmill and homemade solar panels. The guides show you everything you need to accomplish this and save 80% of your energy bills (have you stopped laughing now).

The whole thing can be accomplished by anyone with basic DIY skills for less than $200.
The guides themselves are around $50.

Now that is a really practical solution to helping the environment and saving money.
Now is this paper or cardboard?