So, like winter heating, cars and other forms of transit, air-conditioning contributes to dirty air, acid rain and global warming."Based on government data, Stan Cox, a scientist at the Land Institute, Kansas, calculated that more than 1,500kg of carbon dioxide is emitted each year air-conditioning the average US home The effects of this are particularly bad at night, he says. "Air-conditioning puts enormous demands on the electrical system," says Marsha Ackermann, author of Cool Comfort: America's Romance with Air-Conditioning "In the US most electricity is produced by burning coal. For reasons of national security, fruit picking should not be done with the aid of any pointed object such as nail-scissors, tweezers, penknife, corkscrew, paper-cutter, screwdriver, cutlass, sabre, etc, etc.13. Plastic is strongly recommended, though only if guaranteed non-inflammable and combustible.10.

When a team of three or more people go out to pick wild fruit, at least one person should be of a different race and creed from the other two, so that berry picking may be a truly multicultural activity. And do remember that the word "blackberry" may have racial overtones, just as the word "elderberry" may be offensively ageist "Berry" is fine.11. If half or more of the persons involved are under the age of 12, then a member of the social services should be present.12. The container into which the fruit is put should not be made of any breakable material, such as a glass bowl, nor of any material which might harbour infection, such as basketwork and wicker, which should be boiled before each use. Not the same gloves as in para 1, which are thick protective gloves, but special additional stainproof gloves.8. Some fruits growing in trees, such as damsons and cherry plums, can be reached only by climbing the tree.

Such trees should be climbed only if they have been previously tested for climbing, and have been declared safe, and been given a "Climb Safe" certificate.9. Fruit juices are often liable to stain, so protective clothing should be worn.6 And gloves.7. Fruit picking is exacting and tiring work, so pickers should be allowed a break of at least 10 minutes every half hour.5. It is quite dangerous to use a stepladder in the wild, so when a ladder is used to pick fruit, at least two other people should be present to hold the ladder and the fruit container.4. Many wild fruit are guarded by fierce thorns, so gloves should be worn at all times.2. Wild fruits, especially the most attractive, are often "just out of reach" and difficult to pick, so a stepladder should always be taken on a fruit-picking expedition.3. At this time of year, there are plenty of blackberries and elderberries and other fruit in the hedgerows, and you may well be tempted to go out and pick them And why not! Well, we'll tell you why not.

Because there are all sorts of risks and hazards involved, and in order to guarantee the health and safety of everyone, we have introduced some new optional guidelines this year to make sure there are no mishaps.It is for the good of everyone if they are followed That is why we are making them compulsory.1. And what about someone who says the next turn off is "coming up soon - it's probably the width of my thumbnail on the page"? At least in future I can blame the machine rather than the person I have to live with More from Janet Street-Porter. Hello New Labour here. We've got a message for you today about the picking of wild fruit. This is at odds with the company's "ethical" code.* Having just returned from a holiday driving through Spain to the mountains north of Seville and back, via the Aveyron Gorge in south-western France, I've renamed my partner "slack-nav".Is there anything more irritating than a man with a map of Europe on his lap, who can't find his reading glasses as you are negotiating Toulouse's inner ring road? Even the irritating disembodied female SatNav voice would be preferable to the screaming matches that ensued as we headed for Paris instead of our destination. Second, it should post a target by which it will reduce packaging M&S tends to over-package all of itsproduce. Having just taken part in Gordon's telly series, The F Word, I spent time with the man, who is even ruder than me, and it was a salutary experience.