The BBC has recently followed two families, one from Texas and the other from rural Cheshire, who exchange their lives for one week to compare their carbon footprints.
The Spencers live in a gated-community with a spa and swimming pool in Dallas - Mr. Spencer is an American Airlines pilot, while the Thomases - husband and wife are a building surveyor and environmental campaigner, live in a "dolls' house" in Cheshire, just outside Manchester. (Incidentally, the two houses are worth the same amount of money.) The radio program compares the two families' attitude towards energy and global warming. The Thomases are somewhat shocked that Mrs. Spencer's computer has been on for three years and at the wide roads - "why do they need all that concrete?" Mr. Thomas asks. Meanwhile, the Spencer daughter admits to thinking that environmentalists are "tree huggers," who "smell horrible." It's fascinating stuff - although I don't think Mrs. Spencer is likely to take on board Mrs. Thomas's hints for composting. In the next program, the Thomases spend a week in Cheshire. It will be interesting to see how they get on with all the recycling which is now mandatory in the U.K. The program can be seen at
Energy Swap. I think the next installment will run this Friday.

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