Following on from yesterday’s post about oil’s part in the food chain and potential shortages, the government seems to be getting on the grow your own or buy local bandwagon. In the last couple of days, it’s been gabbing on about Greener Foods, its new micro-site of the enormous governmental behemoth Directgov, which is rapidly subsuming all of the previously discrete departmental sites.

It’s a shame, though, that from what I read it seems to be copping out on several fronts. Drink tap water, it suggests, as it’s 300 times less harmful to the environment than the bottled alternative. Spot on. Try not to waste food, it implores; the average home wastes £424 a year on food that ends up in the bin, gets poured into a landfill and releases methane - a greenhouse gas. Absolutely. Very admirable.

And yet it says very little about setting up your own back-garden smallholding, or restricting your food choices onto to those items grown or bred within 100 miles of your home. This is likely down to perceived responsibilities to the developing world, as the government would be keen to not be seen as discouraging international trade. Particularly with developing nations whose economies rely in part on selling us food that should really be used to feed the local population.

The whole issue seems to have been summarised to a single, easily-missed sentence:

…foods transported by air have much larger climate change effects than foods transported by sea, rail or road…

A clear indication of the reason why non-governmental campaigning and awareness-building organisations, no matter how disparate or disorganised, can sometimes be a more effective and valuable force for good than multi-billion pound governmental departments.

I’ve been trying to think of a better reason than simply ‘it would give me a sense of satisfaction’ to explain why I want to grow my own food. I think Caroline Lucas, a Green Party MEP writing on The Guardian’s Comment is Free site may have come up with the answer I was looking for.

Already, world oil and gas production is declining at an average of 4 to 6% annually, while demand is growing at 2 to 3%. The last time more oil was discovered than used in a single year was a quarter of a century ago… The fact of dwindling finite fossil fuel reserves is simply non-negotiable - and the implications of it are enormous.

So what are those implications of a shrinking global oil supply? Well, apart from bringing on higher petrol prices, which could impact on the cost of our food, it will also affect the other food-related products of which oil is a key component: pesticides, packaging and so on. In short, the whole of our food chain is entirely dependent on sustained availability of oil at current levels and - more worryingly - at current prices.

Her predictions make for uncomfortable reading, and her conclusion - that the UK will likely suffer worse food shortages than we have seen since the Second World War - makes me more convinced than ever that small-scale home farming is a responsibility, not a luxury.

The full column can be found here.

I’ve re-joined my local Freecycle group. It’s a simple idea that’s been up and running since 2003, when it kicked off in Arizona, where you and the other Freecyclers in your area advertise ‘offers’ or ‘wants’ online.

Need some paving slabs, a new front door or a mens’ bike, 26in wheels? Simple; post it to the group: ‘WANTED: Mens’ bike, Springfield’ in the header, and a short description in the body.

Have a dining table, some old CDs or a fridge that you need to clear out? Equally easy: ‘OFFERED: Half-height fridge, Boreham’ goes up top, the full SP down below.

On my local group right now, someone is looking for a moped and someone else wants software for a Philips CDI (no chance). On offer, among other things, are an exercise bike, a round blue table with four matching chairs, a couple of upholstered stools and a tumble drier. The TV that went up there yesterday has now been taken.

There’s only one rule, which is that money is strictly not a part of the equation: you can’t offer or demand money, hence the Freecycle name. Think of it as the ultimate, money-saving version of eBay, and hence the ultimate blagger’s destination. Best of all, as it cuts out unnecessary waste it’s green, too.

Find your local group at the Freecycle listings for the UK and other countries.

I’ve previously been a bit sceptical about Skype, but in recent weeks have found myself using it more and more. Of course, it helps if you have someone you want to talk to on a frequent basis, as in the past my fairly well-stocked buddy list has remained open but unused most of the time. Now, though, with a rapidly-expanding range of first-class hardware supporting the platform it’s getting easier to use it as a primary means of talking to your friends. For free.

For a couple of months now, I’ve been using the excellent VoIP Voice CyberphoneK, which has finally come to the Mac platform. With a full keypad you can use it for calling regular phones worldwide at local rates, although as I also have a SIP-based VoIP phone for that, my SkypeOut credit remains largely unused and the buttons unpressed.

I know it means that you have to have your PC (or Mac) turned on to chat to your friends, but I do, currently, prefer the cable-connected handsets, as they don’t suffer the processor lag of the true wifi alternatives, which may look good but, in my experience, don’t yet live up to their promises.

Most importantly, though, and the reason why I think I may start raving about Skype - at long last - is the signal quality. I have been enormously impressed by the smooth sounds Skype’s engineers are managing to squeeze out of quite limited bandwidth. It is this, combined with a good range of low-cost handsets, that could make Skype one of the easiest, fastest-to-pay-back money saving moves any home can make.

Especially if you have plenty of friends also on Skype.

Skype can be downloaded for free, for use on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, from www.skype.com.

It’s a tradition, isn’t it? Setting out your stall in post one, I mean. Saying hello and explaining your manifesto, quirks and vested interests.

So, I should probably explain what this is all about. This week, I’ve sold my flat, and my offer on a small house, out in the ‘burbs near a river and a park has been signed and sealed. All being well, I should be moving there in a couple of months.

It’ll be the first time I’ve had a garden of my own, a greenhouse and some out-buildings, so it’s the first opportunity I’ve had to try and live properly green. With land I’ll have space to grow my own food. With a greenhouse I’ll have room to nurture seeds. With out-buildings I have space to make cheese and jam, and room to store food that I make myself, and wine and beer that I plan to brew.

It’s the first opportunity I’ve had to live properly green, and it’s the drive to that end that I’ll be detailing here, both inside and outside of the four walls of my home.

So come along for the ride; it’s sure to be fun.