A brave new green world

Here's a thought for you this morning. If you had a choice between two houses: an in-your-face imposing villa full of high-tech gadgets and automation systems and steel surprise panels opening into sleek cold bars à la James Bond or a hobbit-like house with solar-powered TV, wind-powered washing machine, watermill-propelled air-con with a little vegetable garden and original furniture made out of recycled stuff crafted by local artisans, which one would you go for?

Many would opt for the second choice. And so would I. This answer is a clear mark that we're in a new era. An era full of bright green plans for the future. We are all somehow or other getting in touch with our inner hippie. And this is not the 1960s uncombed, flower power, make-love-not-war hippie we're talking about. This is the neat hippie, the hybrid hippie - the hippy sans the VW van and sans the spliffs. It's a bit what Kennedy then is to Obama now.

It's a bold concept being gradually adopted by everyone. And this time round it's not by people with shapeless camisoles and drawstring pants but - if you look at Vogue - by the whole fashion razzmatazz. Think George Clooney, Brangelina, Johnny Depp, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio. Everyone who's anyone wants to make the eco-headlines, showing how they are all embracing the fusion of art, music and culture - for a greener world.

"We are entering a period of consequences," says Al Gore in his shocking An Inconvenient Truth movie. Whereas the theory of global warming originally started out being dismissed as nutters' talk, there are now so many scientists behind it that it is a de facto consensus. In this time of melting glaciers, drowning polar bears and upside down weather forecasts, the material girl rock'n'roll days of health-shunning hedonism are over. We're all having proper one-to-one with our soul and embracing rather calmer ways of greener, cleaner living. We're all turning into a generation of eco worriers just so we can look at our kids, nieces and nephews in the eye in years to come.

As a result we are all washing out bottles, cutting ourselves on kunserva tins, asking for cloth carrier bags at supermarkets, turning off appliances before we head to bed, buying eco-friendly products, changing to energy-saving light bulbs and rushing to the local council to get the recyclable garbage bags. And when the all-new, all-important phrase for investors is no longer "disabled friendly" but "environmentally friendly" - see the several billboards announcing Energy Saving Apartments - you know that environmentalism has gone mainstream.

When it comes to food most of us are tuning in to the Good Life mode. Gone is the kwart ċeddar from the shopping list. We now buy our very own ġbejniet because we know that by buying local we're not only supporting our economy but it's also the healthiest option. And while we're still being dazzled by the opening of new overwhelming supermarkets every other month, we'll soon be following the path of our neighbouring countries. How many trolley wars can we survive? How many once-in-a-lifetime special offers can we throw away after we realise that in fact the trolley was bigger than our stomach?

Very slowly the western world is realising that food should not be hunter-gathered and microwaved in five minutes flat; that there is no joy in bright orange tasteless carrots neatly packed in a plastic bag picked off from the supermarket shelves; that our bellies are worth vegetables with soil on them.

Being a "greeny" is a label of eccentricity no more, nowhere. Look at Prince Charles. Nobody sniggers anymore when he talks about organic produce and such like - and everyone seems to have taken his cue and is talking to plants now. In Italy, on Easter day I was met by a sizable crowd of energetic "warriors" dressed as lamb, petitioning to save the agnellino from a cruel end on the day. And this in the country where up to a few years ago vegetarianism was an incomprehensible concept.

In the UK, what with recyclable nappies and biodegradable coffins (made from bamboo, wicker or banana leaf) it's now possible to be green from the cradle to the grave. In Malta, alternative therapies are fast becoming popular. We are acknowledging the fact that the doctor is not always right - that a prescription to a set of antibiotics for flu and sore throat is not the best medicine. More and more people are turning to homeopathy, are reorganising their lifestyle to one on a lower gear and more are adopting a yoga class - in search for earthy happiness.

As I write I am sitting in a café in Valletta where my coffee cup is washed up and used again (an impressive example of sustainable practice) and the owner is talking to customers about his day. The throw-away culture is over. We want permanent not temporary and as Christina Aguilera says, we are going Back To Basics. We all want to have a go at the drums and sit in a circle by the fire. This is the real dawning of the age of Aquarius.

• The second edition of the Earth Garden, a festival of art, music and culture is being held today and tomorrow at the Ta' Qali National Park. The principal aim of Earth Garden is to minimise the increasing hazard of global warming by educating the public on how this change may be brought about via a collective individual effort. For more information on the events log on to www.earthgarden.com.mt.

What colour is your collar?

Top tips to earn yourself a place in the Green Room

Turn off electronic devices you're not using
Simply turning off your television, DVD player, stereo, and computer when you're not using them will save you thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Unplug electronics from the wall when you're not using them
Even when turned off, things like hairdryers, cell phone chargers and televisions use energy. In fact, the energy used to keep display clocks lit and memory chips working accounts for five per cent of total domestic energy consumption and spews 18 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year!

Plant a tree
A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. Shade provided by trees can also reduce your air conditioning bill by 10 to 15 per cent.

Be sure you're recycling at home
You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide a year by recycling half the waste your household generates

Eat less meat
Methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas and cows are one of the greatest methane emitters. Their grassy diet and multiple stomachs cause them to produce methane, which they exhale with every breath.

Have a bath with someone you love
Save water and have fun. A bath full of hot bubbly water is too good not to share. And when you consider an average bath uses 65 litres of water you'll not only feel good in the bath but feel good afterwards too.

Try watching less TV
Only turn on the set when you know what it is that you want to watch.
Never leave the TV on in the background just filling the room with noise.
Turn it off when your programme has finished.

Don't overfill your kettle
Only fill your kettle with the water you need. If everybody did we could save enough electricity to run all the street lighting in the whole country.

• For more green tips log on to: www.climatecrisis.net and www.wearewhatwedo.org.