green/ethical challenge

nethesi

hi all,

relative newbie but some of the challenges people for example on the dfw board do are really inspiring and i thought why not do a green/ethical challenge. one thing that is a permanent change in my life style a month, with extras as i think of them.

i've always thought of myself as fairly green and eethical - hey i don't smash rabbits faces in:A ! but since we should all do our bit i'm going to review how friendly to our world i really am! i know we're not perfect:eek:

The rules:

1. should benefit the world outside myself
2. should either save me money, be no cost or low cost
3. be feasible for anyone to do: no moving to a self sufficient plots in wales
4. at least one thing a month, but more of people want to suggest it
5. other people joining in welcome :T

right: challenge 1: electricity consumption

november is almost over but i have switched this month to a 100% green energy provider {good energy if anyone wants to know!}

this isn't strictly money saving but according to uswich will cost £50 a year more. however i did get£15 back from quidco and ffor some reason my direct debit is now £20 a month lower. largely because npower were overcharging us!

£41 a month ddebit for a couple in a 2 bed flat (no gas).

to offset the higher unit cost i will:
turn down our storage heaters - check!
unplugg obile phone chargers - check!
switch iff everything properly. i do this mostly already but dh doesn't always remember- time to be a nagging wife!:o

nethesi

ok sad to reply to myself, but i've decided to think about my december challenge:

christmas theme: buy ethical/green presents for friends and family. i have a little savings pot for this and having already bought about 1/2 my presents can afford £10-15 a head.

Ken68

Must admit, Net., most of my green ethical stuff is to gain personally.
Like to see where the money goes so won't go green energy but using the cheapest provider is half way there, and don't buy food miles stuff, forage instead.
A new thing EVERY MONTH that's a hard one Net.
Perhaps give up the car for a week in December, then two weeks in January, then 3 weeks in Feb and so on.
Are OAP's exempt from this challenge !! :-}

nethesi

hi ken,

good idea on the car front. we've only got a car temporarily (long story, but my husband is borrowing one to get to work atm) january's challenge will probably be going back to no car when he changes where he works....

Perhaps i should make the challenges more general so anyone can do it. november's challenge reworded: reduce emissions from home electricity use.
ideas:
- green electricity (some suppliers =have green-tinge options whuch are the same price as thier regular tarriff)
- wear more jumpers
- turn off things on stand by etc.
- cook meals involving less cookwear eg baked potatoes, squash and pie (all in oven - our dinner tonight!)
- turn the heating down a notch
- turn lights off

some off this will save you money: as you say it is 1/2 way there and you benefit as much as the world

OAPs - i reckon this depends on the circumstances - don't like the idea of my grandad getting cold!:snow_grin

nethesi x

Ken68

I do miss the cooker, Net., the grille door rusted off, then the oven door, so bought a microwave.
Not the same, no roasts e.g., but cheaper to run.
You name me an ethical Christmas present, something that doesn't use resources, and I'll give you a good reason not to buy it !!

banthecar

In terms of ethical Christmas presents my brothers, mum and dad and I have agreed just to give to the oxfam unwrapped scheme.
We've decided in this materialistic world there isnt actually anything we want and most of the stuff you buy for christmas is junk anyway so we'd rather the money go's to someone who really needs it. aswell as this we do swap a few books we've been reading.

Seakay

My heating and stove are gas fired, so that is the fuel that I am trying to cut consumption of. So far I have turned off the central heating every day between 8am and 6pm (it comes on at 7am and goes off at 10.30pm) and turned the thermostats down on all the radiators. The settings range from 1-6so I have the kitchen, sitting room and bathroom on 3 and all the others on 1.
We have a wood burning stove in the sitting room, so using that means that the radiator in that room doesn't have to work so hard (wood has been free so far this year as my MIL had a tree pruned, and also begged the branches from the pruned trees in her local churchyard on our behalf!)
I'm also trying to organise cooking so that I never use the oven for just one thing.

BungleGirl

I'm giving ethical Christmas presents this year - at least I think they are ethical!

I went on a sewing course and learnt how to make a shopping bag. I then posted on freecycle for any old curtains or heavy fabric...got a roll of tapestry style material and two pairs of curtains from some very nice people.

I've already told everyone that they will be getting a hand-made shopping bag for Christmas this year - most people are looking forward to finding out if I can actually make something without it having holes in it or falling apart

So, appart from the little bit of electric used to run the sewing machine I think it's pretty ethical. And hopefully my friends will use their shopping bags and stop accepting plastic carrier bags!

Oh and I am in no way skilled in sewing - I'm using one I made now so I know that it is good enough to do the job but there is no chance any of them will be perfect - my friends would be disappointed if they turned out too well!

nethesi

hi guys,

thanks for the encouragement - i agree that the oxfam unwrapped pressie idea is a great one. and wow good marks on home made pressents! unforunately all my family seem to have lists of things that they want and also i've broken my arm, so can't do much making at the moment but it's a great idea for future pressies (but one of the reasons I joined this site so every cloud :cool: ) anyway this is what husband and i have done:

"Good things"
- bought each other small presents (books we really want)
- a couple of people we went with the oxfam unwrapped route, but had to be careful there
- bought some lovely fairtrade and second hand items for my immeadiate family's stocking presents
- bought cycling related presents for some of DH family (green, but not money saving...)
- RHS garden membership for MiLaw: low resource use and gardeningee
- bougth most of the rest of our pressies from a local craft fair (including an 'antique' mirror made from wood salvaged from 19th C buildings, for those we knew a goat/bucket from Oxfam wouldn't be acceptable!
- set up a wish list on oxfam unwrapped
- walked in to town to shop money saving and green

"Bad things"
- bought toilettries gifts that probably are full of chemicals, and packaging for a few older rellies. (ran out of steam!)
- some of our pressies from the craft fare probably high resource use...
- oh and my presents are guidebooks to egypt where we are planning a once in a life time trip next summer... not very green since we'll be flying: but thats anougher challenge!


so over all not too bad... but not great.

other green things for christmas:
going on train to visit rellys: probobly @same as car but less bother so sort of money saving!
eating free range venison for xmas dinner: ms because we're at my mum's
must make sure to reuse old wrapping paper (old style ms)
reusing last years decorations (low resouece use!)
not getting a tree: we live in a flat so we can't get one that you can plant so ms and green

nethesi

ok so I thought I had christmassorted, but there's a secret santa at my work and I got our buildings manager who's main hobby is MG cars...

What to get him that's green or ethical?! for £5...

I also have a dilema: we recieved a bottle of posh organic wine in the post, which I think was a reward for switching to good energy?

Anyway can I give this as a present (possibly solving my secret santa dilemma): it's money saving, because I don't have to spend money, but is it ethical: would I be cheating!

Opinions please!

lynzpower

give away the free wine! definately the most moneysaving thing to do for an ethical sceptic