I think it would be fair to say that I didn’t begin 2019 with this post in mind. In fact, back then I was more intent on celebrating my recent 50^th birthday and all the lovely things I was going to do to make 2019 the ‘best year of my life’. And I did… skiing, golf at St Andrews, more time with my Mum. All great stuff… albeit I’ve still to do that Billy Joel concert (Shona are you reading this?!!).

But then a couple of things happened…

I’ve definitely grown more aware of what is happening to our planet… I walk my dogs and there’s plastic along the river banks, I drive up the A68 to Edinburgh and there’s plastic all along the verges, I watch TV and there’s talk of our plastic infested oceans rising.

There’s plastic everywhere and all I can do is feel a bit hopeless.

What can little old me do that will make a difference? Maybe you recognise that feeling, maybe you don’t… but two recent (ish) events stood out for me that made me think enough… it is time to act.

So, first of all spoiler alert… I am not going all Eco Warrior on you!! I’m still going to eat meat, I’m still driving a car, I’ll still go on flights abroad, but – and this is the BIG but – surely there is some stuff that I can do that lessens my and Brett Investment’s carbon footprint?

I’ll tell you now that I am no expert here but it turns out there is some stuff that I can do. I’m looking into solar panels, hybrid cars, green energy and ways to offset the carbon footprint that I either cannot or choose not to avoid.

And back to those ‘Wake Up’ moments. The first was the BBC programme: Meat – A threat to our planet. Whilst this was slightly sensationalised (and I am reliably told not representative of the grass fed farming methods in the UK) it did demonstrate the impact of battery farmed meat on the environment in the race to the bottom to produce ever cheaper meat products (are you listening Boris!).

The second, and I am sure you will join me here, has been the horrifying sight of all the bush fires in Australia and the ever-rising temperatures in that part of the world.

So what’s to be done – it’s still very early days but I plan to share with you my findings and subsequent action. I’d also be keen to hear about any tips or actions that you may have taken or plan to take. As I say I am far from an expert here and I need all the help I can get!!