I want to be a conscientious consumer

I not only want to be a good consumer by always hunting out the best deals, I want to be a good consumer by doing the right thing.

I have just spent two weeks sunning myself in Spain. I wanted to pay an optional  'green tax' with BA, only I couldn't find the option when I was booking the flights. Instead I will go direct to do this with www.climatecare.org - I apparently need to pay £5 to make amends for the CO2 my journey created. I was expecting far worse.

Refreshed from my holiday I'm now determined to do the right thing on food shopping. I've lazily slipped into regular visits to our local giant Tesco - it has helped wipe out nearly all our local shops. Instead I'm going to try a farm delivery service. A box of organic fruit and vegetables (sourced from local farmers where possible) will be delivered to my door once a week.

The benefits are:

* Producers get a better deal.

* The food is organic, so my insides are better, the land benefits and there's no CO2-creating industrial processes for pesticides, etc.

* The food is seasonal and sourced locally - so produces very few food miles in shipping it to me.

* My vegetable box is refilled each week - so no packaging or plastic bags. (Our reporter Simon Lambert has strong views on this).

I've opted for farmaround.co.uk which seems to be pretty cheap - I'll get a veg box for £7 and fruit for £5, plus £1 for delivery.

Rival sites include organicdelivery.co.uk, abel-cole.co.uk, riverford.co.uk, organics-4u.co.uk and freshfood.co.uk. It's hard to make direct comparisons on price as box sizes may vary. However, info on ethical commitments are pretty clear on all the sites. Have a browse and tell me what you think. I'll let you know how I get on with farmaround.co.uk

Also let me know any other ideas you might have about being a conscientious consumer. (How to post a comment)

- Andrew Oxlade, Editor, This is Money

Useful links

* If you want to fightback against Tesco, Asda et al, don't miss our brilliant round-up at www.thisismoney.co.uk/supermarketwatch

* See more about how This is Money is holding big business to account and how we can help you in my editor's message at www.thisismoney.co.uk/message