Karmacat: To Infinity And Beyond!

taxi73

honeybear wrote: »

Cat On A Hot Green Roof?

lame, I know...sorry

that's a good one

Karmacat

Taxi, I asked the matrix members what they thought about green products - the green premium, what they wanted to know about what they were buying, whether they thought it was all a con. And I got more than a dozen responses.

What do you think, if you can order your thoughts - actually, don't bother ordering, just do a stream of consciousness thing

Just had a thought ... cat on a cool green roof .....

???

honeybear_2

Karmacat wrote: »

No, thats brilliant! I think you've got an idea there :kisses3:

taxi73 wrote: »

that's a good one

I feel so absurdly pleased I may actually be blushing :rotfl:

honeybear_2

Karmacat wrote: »

Taxi, I asked the matrix members what they thought about green products - the green premium, what they wanted to know about what they were buying, whether they thought it was all a con. And I got more than a dozen responses.

What do you think, if you can order your thoughts - actually, don't bother ordering, just do a stream of consciousness thing

Just had a thought ... cat on a cool green roof .....

???

That's better

Karmacat

Sweetie, we crossposted - what do you think of cool green?

ZTD

Karmacat wrote: »

Haven't thought of a proper title yet....anybody got any ideas?

The idea should flow from you. What do you want it to be about?

Karmacat wrote: »

Aw, thank you! Bearing in mind the feedback on the green issues I've had from the matrix, I've just been swooping around the web, and honestly - if you started with that, as of course most of us do these days with a new area of knowledge, you'd be confused in about 2 minutes, its **horrendous**. There's definitely a need for what I've got envisaged, but I can see it'll take a bit longer than I thought to get going. I'm deffo going to start with insulation tho, thats the first thing that everybody recommends (apart from energy saving light bulbs, lol).

The rationale for energy saving lightbulbs is derived from taking all the good bits and ignoring all the bad bits. On balance they're probably a bad idea, which is why they have to be enforced by law.

Insulation is definitely the way to go - just be careful around water and winter...

Karmacat

Okay, thats settled then! I don't *think* I'll do it tonight, I'm just about internetted out, but tomorrow, absolument.

Thanks all!

Z, I usually come up with my own idea, but today I could tell a new title was needed, and couldn't see the wood for the trees - but I like what Honeybear and me have come up with - its got resonance - cats for me, a play on hot and cold as well as putting the green bit right in there.

Its got Paul Newman lurking around in the background, and Tennessee Williams, and Elizabeth Taylor and Vivien Leigh as well, for me :D:D ...

Just like Scarlett said, "tomorrow is another day"

taxi73

MMM my thoughts on green..this is with little thought off the top of my head..lol..well you did ask.
I always replace white goods with the most energy efficient products and I don't particularly think there is a premium to pay on these products...as the onus is on the firms to produce energy efficient products as that is what the consumer expects.
on insulation cavity wall insulation,loft insulation are very cost effective as is draught proofing.
I use low energy light bulbs but do not like them as find the light very poor...
totally believe in energy efficient boilers

All of the above are pretty cost effective.

will type another post in a minute as slow typer

Cheery_Daff

Brilliant new name

Realised I'm not going to be able to get anything (else!) sensibly-ordered out of my head today, and if I leave it any longer I won't get round to it... so here's my thoughts!

I go with the 'buying less' side of being green. I think a lot of the time being green is sold to us as a lifestyle choice - we have to buy Ecover instead of fairy liquid, we have to buy recycled whatevers, or ethical clothes, or organic this, that and the other. I don't have a huge income right now, and much as I'd love to be able to buy everything fair trade and organic and local, I don't. However, I buy all my clothes second hand (and don't buy many of them at all). I have a hot water bottle rather than putting the heating on if I'm in alone. Our cooker isn't the most efficient on the market - but it's older than me, and possibly older than Mr Daffs (who is 48, so that might be pushing it) - so like I say possibly not too efficient, but we haven't contributed to making a new one.

We don't have the most up to date efficient car, but we DO live somewhere we can walk to the shops, and the countryside, and most of our friends' houses.

For me, part of it is about the things you *do*, not what you *buy*. Generally, doing more for yourself works well (although I admit you've got to *want* to, and you've got to have the time, which comes partly with having to work less because you're spending less on *stuff* which gives you more time to make stuff...)

Ok - rambling now! <checks back at KC's questions!>

Oh dear, you asked about green PRODUCTS! So all that is probably irrelevant You're right - it's very confusing. We did buy Ecover washing up liquid, even though it's more expensive, partly because it's something we don't buy too often, so the extra price isn't noticed all that much. Couldn't bring myself to buy Ecover (or whatever else) washing machine powder though - far too expensive for me at the minute - so I learned to make my own soap and made that into soap powder by adding washing soda and borax Far fewer chemicals and much cheaper than cheap washing powder anyway! :j :j

Overall, I don't think it's all a con - but it IS something I already know quite a lot about, so I'm willing to trust my own judgement most of the time. I'd rather buy local than organic that's been shipped round the world - if possible - and a lot of the time I won't even do that.

Sometimes I think so much time is spent by people (like me!) worrying about doing 'the right thing' we forget that doing *something* is better than feeling completely overwhelmed and doing *nothing*. In my experience, a lot of info comes from just chatting to people, so I'm part of the local Transition towns group, and conversations crop up, and sometimes I learn new things. But then I hang round with a bunch of old hippies, so that's only to be expected really

Overall - very confusing, but eyes and ears open, trust your judgement, I'm willing to pay a premium if I'm in a position where I can because something being organic/locally produced/in some other way environmentally friendly is valuable to me - but in some circumstances I don't earn enough to do that (because I've chosen to work part time to have more time) - so I learn how to make things instead

Er, that probably wasn't of any use at all, sorry! But thought I'd get it all out of my head anyway

taxi73

Solar panels and wind turbines...I would not give the time of day to..in principle a good idea but very expensive.
We are so far behind even places like Cuba as the government installs them in the properties over there..if the government were serious about cutting emissions then they could learn a lesson from Cuba.

As far as ecolgical soap powders and cleaning products are concerned..they are not much dearer than other branded products and have far less chemicals involved and are better for the enviroment.

I do not believe in bio oil as it takes too much food away from the poor countries to produce the oil in the 1st place.

I would like to see a family sized car that can be used for a taxi that can be run without polluting the enviroment and run on something that doesn't deplete the earths resources...

I don't really look into this sort of stuff a lot but it does interest me and I don't know a lot but thats a few of my thoughts.