To my son’s continued annoyance (I keep telling him that I’m doing this so that there will be a planet for him and his children to inherit) my green crusade continues. I’m not an extinction rebellion campaigner, but I am trying to live responsibly and sustainably.

My visits to New York and Dubai few years back, with their gas guzzlers and ubiquitous air-conditioning, makes it feel like gesture politics; a small drop in a vast ocean. But as someone once said, making a gesture is better than doing nothing at all.

I dabble.

I recycle, eat organic, have cut down on red meat (not ready for veganism yet…), take the train and cycle whenever I can, my gas and electricity come from a green supplier and my 2020 resolution not to buy new clothes but to buy from charity shops instead got off to a flying start with a successful sortie on Saturday morning.

Small gestures that involve a bit more inconvenience and a bit more expense.

The car is the next on the list… Responding to the directions of a previous government, like many people I bought a diesel; so much more fuel efficient; the car of the future - much better for the environment.

140,000 miles and 14 years later, science has changed; I find myself driving one of the great culprits of air pollution.

Time to go green and switch to electric?

An online search reveals the growing number of manufacturers offering all electric models. A quick phone call to a local dealer, a day’s test drive arranged and I’m buzzing around the countryside behind the wheel of one of the latest models.

Quiet, as you’d expect; quick (they all are; it comes with the electric territory), full of hi-tech wizardry, a ubiquitous touch screen incorporating some pleasantly distracting, quirky features that allow you to adjust the way you drive to maximise range.

More expensive than its petrol equivalent; slower to refuel (though with the growing number of public charging stations, it’s a ‘way of life’ rather than availability issue), cheaper to run and, I’m being told again, the car of the future - much better for the environment.

Overall it was fun to drive and I returned the keys with some sadness.

Back in my ‘oil burner’ I pondered the pros and cons of going electric.

The decision turns out to be the same as all my other ‘green’ decisions; more inconvenience, more expense to add another small drop to the ocean.

A car, however it’s powered, is just a box to get you from A to B. This wouldn’t be a motoring decision, but a lifestyle one.

How much am I really prepared to pay to ease my conscience and do what I can to preserve the world for my son and his children to inherit?