Treading Softly - Environmentally considerate living in a rural english home and garden

Treading Softly is the ongoing story of how one couple manage their home, land, life and businesses in a way that is considerate of the environment and wildlife, minimises waste, uses resources carefully and considerately and avoids damage to the environment beyond their own.

This website illustrates some 80 environmental initiatives that have been taken since 1995 to minimise the environmental impact of their home and lifestyles.

Of these, the majority are "Behavioural Initiatives" made up of "no cost or, low cost" lifestyle decisions. The other 30 are "Technological Initiatives" which range from low cost to high cost.

Treading Softly aims only to explain the good environmental initiatives we have so far implemented. It does not address things we have not done or those which we still do badly. Compared to the life of many millions, our lives are still unsustainably excessive. Compared to that of middle-class European and Americans, we set a good example. As we were once told by an environmental specialist:

The initiatives are published as a resource that may inspire others seeking to minimise their carbon footprint further, reduce their costs of living, take care of their natural environment and/or encourage wildlife and biodiversity. The website intends to be informative and share experiences. It does not intend to be prescriptive.