I don’t know about you, but I’m not a big fan of constantly having to make decisions.

If it’s not enough to choose which pair of socks to put on in the morning, I have to consider whether to switch car and home insurance providers every year – those phone calls are always a grind trying to get the price down. Then it’s on to which school we should send the children to (admittedly not an everyday problem, but we’ve had to do it twice now and it never gets any easier). Throw in mulling over where to go on holiday, whether I should go to the doctor to get this niggly knee dealt with, and if I should put out the recycling this week, and it’s a non-stop world of constant consideration and indecision.

Then we come to being green.

When I was younger, so much younger than today, as Paul McCartney warbled even more decades ago, I had several trips to the dentist where Mr Dyer had to yank out a bad tooth. I blame the Midget Gems. As a whippersnapper, I was put under using Nitrous Oxide – laughing gas. It didn’t occur to me then that there was a sustainability impact. Then again, I doubt I had ever heard – let alone used – the word at that point in my life, and global warming was only just starting to gain traction as a wider topic of discussion.

Even if I had known about it all, I’ll go out on a limb and say it’s not something I would have asked Mr Dyer about prior to going under. “I’m sorry, but before you yank out that pesky molar, can you tell me the carbon footprint of this operation, and what you are doing to offset it. Is there a more carbon neutral alternative that would also not result in my screaming in agony?”

This came to mind during our recent discussion with Cliff Shelton and Fanny Burrows from the NHS about how healthcare can achieve net zero.

We came to talking about whether a patient was responsible for the carbon footprint of their care. Cliff was very clear they were not, but this sparked worry from at least one of our listeners, who posted online upon seeing a clip on Instagram, “I’ve been hearing a lot about decision fatigue recently and your caption sent me down a thought of, “oh no another thing to have to think about and decide on!”

I had never come across the concept of decision fatigue. A quick search revealed it was not similar to army fatigues, but rather the state where you have so many decisions to make you become useless at it.

And it’s true. Each of us have so many things to mull over every day. And a clutch of these choices have environmental and sustainability elements to them.

Let’s take how I get about, for instance.

Are Cars Electric?

I tend to drive to work when I am here in the office. We are a two-car family. Both are petrol vehicles. Every day I drive into work I am contributing to the destruction of our planet. It bothers me. But when we both work more than an hour from home, it is the only way we can make it work without moving.

So, when the main family car recently developed an expensive problem after almost 10 years’ faultless service, it was time to discuss alternatives. We got talking about electric cars, and our desires to have one, but it did not take much venturing down the rabbit hole to realise a good second-hand one would not be cheap. We would need to think about a home charger, where we would stop on longer journeys to visit in-laws and the like, facilities for charging at our workplaces, and much more than if we got a similar petrol replacement. But we don’t want to do that. There was the stress and worry, and no little contemplation about what comes next.

A repair job has held off the move for now. This gives us time to save up more of the required funds, but an electric car (eventually, we suspect, cars) will follow. It is the right thing to do by the environment (well, not having a car at all would be the completely right thing to do, but we are where we are), and by our long-term pockets.

Still, that was a lot of umming and aahing, head scratching and headaches.

Let the Train Take the Strain

Then there are trains. I like trains. I come from the home of Thomas the Tank Engine; it’s built into my very DNA.

On a train, I can travel hundreds of miles without having to concentrate on the road ahead of me, or without wearing out the soles of my shoe and buckling my aforementioned knees. I can get up, walk around, read, listen to music, even work (if I have to).

In fact, part of this blog was written on the 0730 from London Euston to Lancaster as a party of inebriated rugby union players (even before we had reached Stafford) blared music through the carriage and drove us to distraction before a stern Scottish train manager put them in their place. Okay, that might not be selling the experience, but stick with me.

I would like to take the train more often. Love to, in fact. But they do not make it easy. It costs more than a little bit more per day for me to travel from home to the University by train than it would by car – including parking. It also takes almost twice as long because there is a long hop, skip and jump between the station and my office, albeit usually better tackled by bus than via an inner channelling of Jonathan Edwards.

When going further afield, such as my galivanting to the capital, it is rare I do not take the train. Some people would – and do – fly Manchester to London, never even thinking about other options. Not me, thank you very much. The quicker we follow France’s example on that front, the better.

I went to Antwerp in a day not so long ago via the Channel Tunnel, and it was a breeze. Door-to-door from sunny Barrow-in-Furness, it took only an hour longer than if I had flown. Next year, the mission is Cologne, only a little bit further down the line.

But in between there have been engagements in Athens and Malaga, and trains would have taken an eternity. Nigh-on two days to the southern tip of mainland Greece on the rails, or eight hours – including two for breakfast at the airport – in the sky. It was no contest on many levels.

That does not mean I did not feel guilty about it. I wanted to take the train and did proper research on how it might be done (a ferry was involved at one point), before realising I would need another day to recover in both directions, end up out of contact with the world during transit through many WiFi dead zones, and more than likely spoil the trip. Flying it was then. Sorry Sir Topham.

Spoilt for Choice

Planes, trains, automobiles, and dentists. And this is without the space to discuss greener housing renovations, heat pumps over gas boilers, the use of AI for personal pleasure and information (that is a multiple-page rant using words unsuitable for this platform), our diets, and so, so much more.

I can see why decision fatigue is a thing. But some choices need to be made, and the planet will thank you for making the right one.

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