So not wanting to deprive you of vital information you’re going to need real soon, I set myself the honourable task of exploring the pros and cons of the four main energy options. And it wasn’t easy. Shopping for energy is like shopping for milk. The choices are endless.

Now before you close this post in a fit of rage, convinced that a self-confessed greenie can’t possibly be unbiased, bite your tongue. In the time-honoured tradition of heavyweight boxing, the energy contenders here have been weighed up, put on different sides of the ring and promised a fair fight. No low blows. No hidden agenda. Just the good points and the bad ones, eco-spin free.

So let’s get the fight started, drum roll please…

Fossil Fuels
The big baddies of the energy world, they’ve made some nasty enemies over the years. Not to mention made some very nasty people very rich. Coal, oil and natural gases, their main advantage is their low cost and ability to keep up with peak demands. But they’re extremely bad for the environment and won’t last forever, which kind of rules them out as a future option. Plus their cost fluxuates with supply and demand, which can be seriously annoying.

Nuclear Energy
A touchy little subject, this energy source can never be discussed without stirring up images of green mutants. It has its pros, like low CO2 emissions, readily available technology and ability to generate lots of electricity. But, of course, its not renewable, has the minute chance of exploding and leaves you with radioactive waste that takes millennia to breakdown and cannot, despite popular belief, be rocketed into space.

Solar Power
Who knew that big, hot ball in the sky could give so much? Solar power is free, renewable, available all over the world and well suited to powering a house or office. Brilliant. Except that we need a large area to produce the energy we need and a place to store it. Not to mention we’d have less on a cloudy day, just think of the poor Tasmanians.

Wind Power
An up-and-comer in the energy field and our last contender, wind power has won over more than just greenies over with its recent success. Relatively cheap to run, wind plants are clean, efficient and sustainable. Unfortunately, they’re also unreliably dependant on weather patterns, not exactly the most beautiful things to look at and, according to research, dangerous to birds…ouch.

So there you have it, your four main choices in black and white. But remember this is by no means a complete list. I’m no scientist or energy expert. Just a humble human trying to help her fellow peers better understand the decision we’re all going to have to make in the near future.

So let’s hope you’re better at making decisions than I am…or else we might have to resort to eeny, meeny, miny mo.

Instead it’s one humble person’s thoughts about a global phenomenon that has been described by some as the single biggest threat to humanity, and by her as the boogeyman: you can’t see it but you know it’s gonna get you.

Sorry to get nostalgic, but back when nobody had even heard of global warming there was a little problem known as the hole in the ozone layer.

People across the world blamed him for bad crops and the need to always ’slip, slop and slap’ when you went outside.

But then, all of a sudden, people stopped talking about the ozone. Our fears about this giant hole abated and in their place came global warming.

As far as I see it, there are two sides to this global debate: there’s the ‘not my problem, let my future descendants worry about it’ side and there’s the ’sky is falling, we’re all doomed,’ or as I like to call it, Chicken Little side.

Al Gore will tell you that glaciers are melting ten times faster than previously thought and that greenhouse gases have reached levels not seen for millions of years.

The former vice president with too much time on his hands will also tell you that extreme weather events and rising sea levels are what we have to look forward to if we don’t all buy hybrids.

But then again there’s equally believable sources such the seemingly endless array of skeptics and respected scientists who say climate change is all rubbish and we should continue with business as usual.

Now this is where I, a self confessed environmental worry wart, draw the line.

Whether you believe in global warming or not, it’s hard to object to what the eco nuts are preaching.

After all, these greenies are asking us to reduce our impact on the environment, so you’ve really got to have a grudge for the green not want to use less water, cut down less trees and stop going crazy with the plastic.

Honestly, what we’re being asked to do to save ourselves from cooking like a Sunday roast in the oven that is our globe is simple and hardly taxing.

And even if none of Gore’s nightmares come true, the environment will still thank us for switching off lights and recycling more.

Like all environmental soon-to-be-apocalypses, global warming shouldn’t be about whether we have enough hard evidence.

During the ‘hole in the ozone saga’ we learnt to go easy on the hairspray and not drive everywhere.

We got it through our thick heads that Mother Nature isn’t indestructible and changed our ways.

So whether you’re a global warming denier or believer, you shouldn’t say no to being nicer to the environment.

Instead you should do everything you can not to trash it.

From Al Gore to the new 2012 movie, everyone’s talking about saving the world from a new kind of terrorist: greenhouse gas.

So taking a leaf from Tinsel town we mere mortals must too think about how to help Mother Earth.

After all, everyone should be worried that James Bond now cares about saving water.

And it’s the younger members of society, the future, that have the most to be concerned about.

Honestly, anyone who’s in government now can talk all they like about climate change but they’ve got nothing to worry about. They’re not going to be alive when Antarctica finishes melting. It’s the younger generations (like yours truly), who’ll be standing on the edge of the world as the sea covers us and the Titanic music starts to play.

So what can you do to avoid going to this watery grave?

For a start we should look at our obsession with bottled water. Sure it tastes better and we do look very cool paying for something that normally comes for free.

But think of all the fossil fuels used to make those bottles and where they end up.

According to Total Environment Centre only 35 percent of 118,000 tonnes of bottles are recycled each year.

Not to mention that we’re wasting $2.50 on what is probably just tap water anyway.

But bottled water is just the beginning, we should also look at another much loved treat: chocolate.

Now I don’t want to be a fun killer but fairly traded organic chocolate doesn’t use slave labour, keeps poor farmers afloat and has a reduced environmental impact…And just because chocolate has a conscious doesn’t mean it tastes any less divine.

Sure it’s no Mars Bar but it’s absolutely guilt free.

Now in the grand scheme of things these two tips might seem small. But by considering these we can start to look at the way we shop as a whole and avoid excess packaging and unfairly traded products.

Ethical shopping isn’t hard and not something we should write off. Almost everything you buy has an ethical counterpart.

Even some of the most fashionable designers have organic clothing that are green, sustainable and no longer just for hippies.

It’s not much, but it’s sure better than just sitting waiting for the sea to rise.

So we thought we’d put together a little blog to run alongside our pages and pages of tips.

While these tips can sometimes get a little heavy, our blog is all about the lighter side of saving the world…because doing your bit doesn’t have to be boring!!!

So sit back, enjoy, get some great ideas on how to help the world and feel free to comment or add in your own tips… we’d love to hear from you!