10 things you could do to become more green and ethical

Liney_2

Unplug your mobile phone charger
Did you know that 95% of the energy used by the UK’s mobile phone chargers is wasted energy? Only 5% is actually used to charge phones, the rest is used when the charger is plugged into the wall but not switched off at the socket. That’s over 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions that could be avoided if we all just unplugged our chargers after use – the equivalent of almost 500 football pitches’ worth of forest every year.

wigginsmum

Sadly we don't have an upstairs bath - we have a downstairs walk-in shower, so I'm not sure what we can do to recycle the water.

Liney_2

wigginsmum wrote:

Sadly we don't have an upstairs bath - we have a downstairs walk-in shower, so I'm not sure what we can do to recycle the water.

Try putting a bucket in the shower with you, it's bound to catch some water, even if you use it to flush the loo its better than using clean water.

ailuro2

Something I read in a magazine today- put a margarine tub in the sink when you're washing your hands and you'll soon collect enough to flush the toilet with.
Probably works best with a mixer typre tap.

Ken68

Liney wrote:

Try putting a bucket in the shower with you, it's bound to catch some water, even if you use it to flush the loo its better than using clean water.

...and a large sponge made from an ex cushion, will absorb a lotta water.....

caroline1973lefty

d.o.o.g wrote:

I read an article recently that said Lettuce is one of the biggest wastes of the Earth's resources. Yes it's essentially free food because it has no calories and goes straight through you, but growing it takes up a huge percentage of the earth and it has no real nutritional value.

hmmm... i sort of know what you mean, i think lettuce does take a lot of water to grow. i think part of the problem is that lettuce is being grown in vast greenhouses in arid areas like spain, then flown here. i think so long as i grow it in my garden and use a waterbut, it's ok?!
i suggested lettuce because even i managed to grow it successfully! (and i think it does have a lot of good nutrients in, including being a natural sedative, hence loved by peter rabbit before bedtime). but i am trying to become more water concious, so if anyone can suggest food i can grow which doesn't need so much, that would be cool...

ailuro2

Mulching the surrounding area can help retain water where you grow them.And cuts down on weeding.

headintheclouds

If you want lots more ideas, you could try the Generous website - http://www.generous.org.uk
Some interesting stuff and worth looking at.

AgentOrange

I've always found that the biggest obstacle you have to overcome in the struggle to be a green & ethical consumer is the guilt when you cave. Unless you want to take it to the extremes (I once read about a young woman who collected all the free napkins she got from sandwich shops and cafés and used them as loo paper) you're only going to be able to do so much. There's no point beating yourself up over food waste if you don't have a garden in which to compost it. Decide what you can realistically do and then do that. Even if you only switch to a 'green' electricity tariff, turn lights off when you're not in the room, don't leave the tap running whilst cleaning your teeth and forgo the standby button and switch your TV/VCR/DVD player off at the plug you'll be helping and probably be doing more than most.
As far as the ethical side goes, well buy Fairtrade branded products where possible. It's getting easier all the time and the choice is growing. There's plenty of Fairtrade tea & coffee out there as well as chocolate, bananas & honey (actually, except for the tea & coffee, that'd make a pretty good recipe for a quick pud).
Ultimately do what you can and if you find you can do more than fine. I've always considered myself green & ethical but I still own a car, occassionaly take long a shower when I'm hungover, buy fruit from far flung parts of the world 'cos I frankly really want an apple and it isn't quite the right season and buy orange juice in TetraPaks despite the fact that my council doesn't recycle them. Who's a naughty boy then huh?

rag_doll

In hard water areas use water from your filter instead of straight from the tap, never had to descale our kettle after 5 yrs, keeps kettle like new, boils efficiently & no need for nasty chemicals to descale.

Only fill the kettle with the amount of water you actually need for your tea/coffee/etc, you save water & electricity

:T