Hearing that I'm an environmental consultant, people often ask me what they should buy to reduce their climate-change impacts. A Toyota Prius? A condensing boiler? Solar panels? Reminding myself that it is indeed progress they are even asking, I try to say something positive about whatever gizmo has caught their fancy, but add that the really big, foolproof savings come from just using less. The truly green consumer is the [...]

Suppose the average family had to go only three-quarters as far to reach its places of work, education, shopping and entertainment, and that these were grouped more in town centres so more errands could be combined in each trip. This would reduce the total number of journeys to ¾ x ¾ = 9/16 of the current level - just over half.

If trips are shorter, more of them can [...]