Who can help me and my family care for the environment?

MortgageMamma

Hi All

I'm new to this particular part of the forum and I have been reading with interest

I'm ashamed to say at the ripe old age of 31 I've suddenly become very conscious of what a state our planet is getting in

This is partly because of the media hype of late, and that fact that over the past 15 years I have noticed the climate changing, and the increase in household waste

I'm writing this post because I want to do my bit to help the enviroment and I'm not sure what I can do - I have a family and run a business from home (mortgage brokerage)

I currently recycle my tins plastic clothes, waste paper, cardboard and glass

We buy recycled loo roll

But apart from that, and trying our very hardest not to waste energy (low wattage lightbulbs etc) I just dont know what to do

I want to get into good habits now and teach my kids the right way while they are still you

So if anyone can make any suggestions how I can improve the situation I'd be really grateful, but please remember my knowledge is limited so be gentle with me!

With thanks

MortgageMamma

pboae

It really depends what it is you are trying to do. Are you just generally trying to reduce your impact on the planet, or do you have specific things that concern you (like CO2 emissions)?

In terms of energy efficiency, how well is your home insulated?

In daily life keeping car use to a minimum is better for the environment and better for people if they walk instead.

If you are trying to reduce your environmental 'footprint' have you thought about foodmiles at all? I.e. how far your food travels and the amount of energy that uses. Or buying food, especially meat, that has been farmed with less intensive practices. If you can shop at local farmers markets you'll reduce your foodmiles, get better quality food, less packaging and probably save money too.

If you want to get your kids involved then growing your own veg is great start. You know exactly what's gone into it, and kids love picking fresh veg. (I have some spare seed potatoes that are chitted and ready to go if you want to try growing some in containers?)

Justie

small things like doing all that recycling and generally thinking about waste reduction are a great way to start. Apply it to your shopping too and think as you're buying things, can I get this somehow without as much packaging. Also asking yourself do I need it, will it get used, can I borrow it will all help reduce the amount of stuff in your house and save you money too. Register with your local Freecycle group and get stuck into ebay so that anything you don't use as a family can be rehomed easily. When needing new furniture etc think about whether you can buy/get it second hand so that you're not using up more resources. Think about car use - can you walk or cycle? Would it be fun to take the kids on the bus instead? Every little thing helps.

MortgageMamma

Thanks for your replies

I'm just at this moment trying to learn more and generally reduce my overall impact on things

I cant insulate my house as its listed and 300 years old and the walls are 3 ft thick in some places but we do have loft insultation. Its naturally a very cold house so we have learnt over the last few months to wear warm clothes!

We have one car, a 1.6 petrol megane but I'm ashamed to say that as I live rurally we really do depend on it to get the kids to school etc but I am consciously trying to reduce journeys and stop switching the engine on and off all the time to save on petrol

We buy recylced toilet roll, eco friends washing up liquid and dishwasher tablets, and clothes detergents so thats a start I suppose. We have a lot of land on which we could grow veg so thats a good option and I guess the kids would enjoy it (I must find the time though!)

I've never really thought about packaging and how far food has to travel but we do have a farmers market once a month abotu 3 miles away so I could give that a try

One thing I dont know the answer to is, what is best if you do need to use fuel in the home? Wood. Coal or central heating? we are lucky we can choose btu I just dont know which is the best option...

pboae

MortgageMamma wrote: »

One thing I dont know the answer to is, what is best if you do need to use fuel in the home? Wood. Coal or central heating? we are lucky we can choose btu I just dont know which is the best option...

Unfortunately there isn't a simple answer to that.

You would need to think about the efficiency of your heating, have you got a fairly modern condensing boiler for example? Coal is generally not a great choice, because it's not sustainable, but then neither is gas. If you can get pelleted wood, from a local sustainable/managed source, then I think that would be my first choice, as it is roughly carbon neutral. But it would very much depend on where the wood came from originally. But even then the efficiency gains of using a good central heating system over a solid fuel system, may well outweigh the benefits.

I guess the main thing is, whichever you use, use it as little as possible.