Ben Caldecott has writen a great piece in this week’s Guardian (http://tinyurl.com/4ej29p) highlighting the fact that daily decisions regarding the environmental impact of our lifestyles are sometimes unnecessarily complicated. Far too often making the green choice is ridiculously unaffordable, time-consuming, or perhaps even impossible.

Like most people I’m prepared to make some effort, but at the same time can only do as much as my free time and finances allow. With this in mind here is a list of 5 policy ideas the government could implement, which would make being green a whole lot easier - starting today (feel free to add your own ideas in the comments below).

1. Subsidise rail and coach travel during periods of school hoidays.

With cheap air travel contributing so much to the climate change problem it seems like a sensible place to begin. Tony Blair controversially said that it was ‘unreasonable’ to expect people to take holidays nearer to home on account of the environment. But the real issue is cost - not climate change. After all it is perfectly logical that a family of four might choose to fly to Spain or Italy for a holiday when a ticket can cost as little as £40, while a train to Cornwall or the Welsh Coast might easily cost upward of £60 per person.

By focusing only on summer holiday periods the scheme could be managable financially and would make the choice of holidaying domestically far more attractive, meaning the greener choice is also the cheaper choice. The scheme could be managed with a ‘Holiday Railcard’ (available on an individual or family basis), much like a Young Person’s Railcard, which can be purchased for a fixed sum (£20?) per year, and grants 50%-off rail fares for example.

2. Increase the subsidies available for domestically produced food.

In doing so such environmentally friendly options (home-grown fruit and veg for example obviously has far fewer food-miles attached than imported food) would be more financially viable - a key factor in consumer choice in the current climate of rising food prices. Such an initiative would have to be managed in accordance with EU rules on protectionism and trade but is easily possible. The subsidies can be granted on the condition of lower wholesale prices being offered by farmers (thereby not simply working to boost farming profits).

3. Grant local councils additional funds to implement plastic recycling.

Most UK local councils now run some sort of recycling scheme, mainly collecting glass, aluminium and paper on a weekly basis. However, due to the higher costs and more complicated processes involved in recyling plastic few councils will touch it. With some degree of investment, plastic collections could also be incorporated into such schemes making it far easier to reduce landfill site impact in countryside areas.

4. Fund free domestic insulation upgrades for pensioners.

With many older people due to be left vulnerable this winter by high heating costs the government is being called on to provide increased winter fuel credits for pensioners. Why not also fund free efficiency assessments and upgrades (if required) so that the problem is tackled on a long term basis rather than on a yearly makeshift level? It would satisfy older people knowing that the problem would not cause fresh anxiety each year, and make the choice of saving on fuel use far more possible.

5. Introduce environmental awareness information into the national curriculum.

Ok, so this one would not reap immediate benefits, but could work to improve the level of education and awareness of young people relating to such matters. It would be perfectly feasable to include a few relevant topics in secondary school science and geography syllabuses for example. In the long run a more clued up population will find it easier to support environmental initiatives, and will be better informed for the choices presented by future challenges.

Such proposals would all require varying degrees of investment, but most would yield cheaper consumer essentials for taxpayers and so could be justifiable from this basic financial level upwards. Not only a step in the right direction, they would also make decisions made at an individual level far easier and go some way towards removing the ridiculous financial and time costs often incurred by those seeking to do the right thing.

Dejan Levi