How to reduce your home energy bills

With seemingly constant gas and electricity price rises follow these tips on how to reduce your home energy bills by around 20%.

Get cash by recycling old mobile phones and other unwanted electronics

Whilst 90 million handsets are gathering dust in homes throughout the UK, Money4MyMobile give customers the opportunity to turn all their old mobile phones into cash. They are one of the biggest recyclers of mobile phones with exclusive contracts with some high street stores. What a great way to help the environment, recycle your old phones and earn money. Check now to find out whether that old mobile phone could be worth up to £150!

Cut your carbon footprint - eat less meat!

A 2006 United Nations report called the devastation wreaked by the meat industry "one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global." The report went on to describe all the ways meat production has negatively affected the environment, from air and water pollution, to global warming, to land degradation, water shortages, and loss of biodiversity. It also explained how the meat industry produces more greenhouse gases than all the transport in the world combined, equivalent to 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Over the past 50 years whilst the world's population has doubled, meat consumption has increased five fold and is expected to double again by 2050 as rapidly developing countries such as China aspire for more Western meat based diets - in part pushed by the vast marketing budgets of global fast food outlets such as KFC and McDonalds. This is likely to lead to an unsustainable pressure on foodstuffs for animal feed and the planet in terms of water resources and environmental degradation. The livestock which provide the population of Europe with meat already require an area of vegetation seven times the size of Europe to keep them in feed. There simply isn't enough space on the planet for us all to eat like Westerners. Another consideration to take into account is the waste products of cattle farming - 37% of global methane emissions, which is 23x more warming a greenhouse gas than CO2, and excrement - the US cattle stock alone produces 130x more excrement than the global human population in a single day. In addition 40% of the world's grain goes towards feeding animals, driving up prices for what is a food staple in many parts of the world. Whilst beef is the most carbon intensive of all meats - at 35kg of CO2 produced per 1kg of beef, compared to 5kg for chicken or 6kg for pork on average (taking into account the typical Western diet) meat emissions amount to 12kg per kg of meat, or 2kg per portion.

Once a weekly treat for many families meat now forms a huge part of the Western diet, much higher than recommended guidelines with many Westerners consuming more protein than is healthy - which can lead leach calcium from bones. Most people eat double the amount of protein required - excess often being stored as fat. The average person in the UK is already getting about 31g of protein per day from cereals, fruit, nuts and vegetables - just short of average daily requirements of 36g for women and 44g for men. Throw in milk and eggs and most people would be comfortably over this, that's even before meat substitutes such as Quorn, soya and pulses. We're not saying you need to go completely vegetarian ASAP, but consider reducing - if we all substituted just one or two meals a week it would make a big difference. With the variety of fresh produce and tasty meat substitutes available in Britain's average supermarket these days, making a few substitutions is a no-brainer. We doubt you'll be able to tell the difference when you substitute Quorn mince (or any of the equally tasty store brands) into your spaghetti Bolognese. And with less fat and calories, and zero cholesterol, you'll be doing your heart (and your ass) a favour. In addition to the environmental benefits of shifting to a more plant based diet there are numerous health benefits as vegetarians have a lower risk of obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and some forms of cancer. For more information visit Go Veg.com.