All of the countries are discussing climate change. But what can we do ?

greenbee

I usually park as far away as possible ... unless I'm having a day where I'm struggling with my mobility. 

I think it's worth bearing in mind that those of us living in rural locations probably have a greater need of our own independent transport that those in areas with better public transport or safer roads for cycling on. I'm 10 miles from the nearest town, with an hourly bus in each direction from 8am-7pm which takes about an hour for a 15 minute drive. Which is better than where I grew up - 15 miles from the town, two buses a week - so if you missed one, you were stuck for a week!

As I now work from home, and can shop online, it's not such an issue, but even so I'd be very socially isolated if I couldn't drive to meet friends occasionally. And before anyone suggests cycling, it's not always safe - at the moment there are tractors & trailers/sprayers etc belting up and down the lanes (clearly at no more than the legal 27 mph) as well as the usual traffic. On the main road, there are always idiots trying to overtake on blind bends and people speeding - sirens are a regular Saturday/Sunday morning sound stopping bikers or peeling them off the tarmac. And the crossroads is a known blackspot. 

So I keep my ancient car, which is currently averaging 3k miles a year. But I create very little waste, compost all my food waste (inedible bits - I don't waste edible stuff, I turn it into soup, but you can't eat eggshells, coffee grounds, cheese rind, bones, olive stone, avocado stones/peel etc and the odd mouldy/dead bit of veg) and use it to grown my own (zero food miles or packaging). Yogurt, milk, cream and kefir are delivered in glass; veg packaging is all returnable; egg boxes go back to the farm up the road; meat is paper wrapped (paper is composted) from the butcher; cheese is from the deli into my own boxes. I do use plastic food bags, but I wash and reuse the same ones. 

I do occasionally get things in plastic packaging I can't recycle here (and foil), so I save it and take it to friends/family when I visit. 

My house isn't as energy efficient as I'd like - I've insulated and replaced doors and windows, and swapped the open fire for a stove, but still have an oil boiler and it still loses a lot of heat. There's probably more that could be done - if I'm still here in a couple of years I'll be looking at solar PV, solar thermal and airsource to replace the oil. If I move, I'm going to be looking for an eco/passiv house. As well as the environmental benefits, neighbours who have built an eco house say the running costs are incredibly low. 

maryb

Our recycling here is pretty accommodating.  They take a lot of different types of plastic as long as it doesn’t make a crinkling noise.  But that is because a lot of it gets sent for incineration after sorting the stuff there is a market for.  Better than landfill perhaps but it’s still burning fossil fuels after one go around as packaging.  I too get milk in glass bottles.  If you look purely at the carbon emissions there’s an argument for saying glass is responsible for almost as much as plastic as it’s energy intensive to produce and transport.  But at least it won’t still be here in hundreds of years.

There is a big area of overlap between wanting to stop climate change and wanting to eliminate plastic waste and pollution but they aren’t always the same thing.  I’m tending to come down on the side of minimising plastic use.  Especially as more is becoming known about the harmful effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals

cuddlymarm

Hi guys
This is better, us all sharing what we can and want to do.
We had new windows two years ago, and the washer and dishwasher are also two. We revamped our flat then and had eco wall heaters fitted. The heat is very gentle but keeps the flat just comfortable, and as it is very small cooking tops up the heat. The dishwasher apparently uses less on an eco ( but longer) wash then on the quicker one, not sure how that works out but it seems to.
The only things we can’t do are out if our control. Upstairs has hard floors, which means some of our heat can escape that way. That should eventually be resolved because it’s empty and up for sale and the lease says you must have carpets for noise insulation, so the next people will have to abide by that rule.
We haven’t needed any heat on since March, which is nice, because we have a little buffer against the price rise of electric.
Today I’m going to make soup with the veg peel and some leftover veg that I froze. And then roast veg curry for tea. We’ve eaten mainly veggie this week and hardly noticed, which means I’ve hardly touched my freezer stocks. So I’ve cancelled next weeks online slot and the money can go on Xmas. Prepping and eco go well together I think.
Have a good day guys 😀

Effician

tooldle said:

Effician said:

tooldle said:

I see your point, although the things you mention can be done using a bike. Cargo-bikes are becoming more of a thing here, which saves the problem of balancing loads on racks

2 ton of wood ( most of which had to be moved within 2 days) & an industrial site saw may be a little tricky

I am in my early 50’s and experienced / remember a life in which cars were not ubiquitous.
Anyone here have a heat pump? 

Bit older than you &  have fond memories of few cars, the coalman & ice cream man used to deliver with horse & cart, .

Also remember the tin bath in front of the roaring coal fires, single tub upright washer & mangle, tripe & chitlins as the main source of meat, Happy times as a child but don't think mam & gran were so thrilled.

No thanks to a ashp not even if it was free.

Apintplease

Living very rural, we do need our cars, both diesel , mine costs me about £17 a fortnight to run, getting me to and from work and a trip into town once a week

My once a week trip will take all things I need to be in town for - dentist - doctor - chemist - post office - weekly shop. This week everything is being arranged around my flu jab, next week its the hair dresser. Whenever I HAVE to drive into town I arrange to do as much as possible 

I shop in our local town, supermarket of choice is lidl as in NI 90% of products are produced on the Island of Ireland. We eat whats produced here on the Island as much as possible and what we cant buy we make informed choices - like orange made from concentrate - not paying for the shipping of water

We buy second hand as much as we can possibly live with, Im not adverse to buying second hand shoes, as long as they are "as new" but obviously I buy new undies - Cotton

Toiletries are to a bare minimum , I use home made scrubbies for face cleansers, old undies and sheets/pillowcases are cleaning clothes. I only buy bleach, soap powder and washing up liquid to clean with ( an no my house isnt dirty although you may write you name in the dust at times ). If I do fancy polishing some furniture - bees wax

Consumerism is the biggest threat, stop spending

JIL

My dad asked my son over the weekend. Why should we bother doing the small things, when Russia and China just carry on as they are. My son answered because it's our world and our responsibility.
Something I hadnt thought about, is we meet our targets better than some other countries because we are happy for other countries to make the white goods and phones and computers and import them to use and chuck away when we want an upgrade.
We still import fossil fuels, we still contribute to the deforestation by stealth.
I feel that ultimately governments have to ALL work together but in the meantime we all have to do our bit.

KxMx

Never had a car and always had to manage without. 
Sometimes it is easy and sometimes it is hard, but it can definitely be done.

When you don't have a car choices are limited. Car owners from my observation get very defensive and unwilling to give up their lifestyle of unlimited choices.

Our household has managed education, ft work, disability and a whole host of other normal things. All without a car.
Just this year I had to clear my Nan's bungalow almost single handed, during lockdown. Admittedly, there were some taxis involved.

Did live in a rural area for a while but moved back to town eventually for better public transport.

(The circumstances that took us to rural area were not my choice and not in all likelihood one I would have made or at least not have stayed so long.) 

I don't currently view new electric cars as super green. 
Yes, they don't pollute the atmosphere with fossil fuels, which is fab. 
The manufacture and disposal of batteries is an issue, as is the question of how the electricity powering these cars is produced. 
That said, those things should improve with time time. 

The majority of cars I see have 75% or 50% of seats unoccupied. 
More and more cars just make traffic worse for everyone, more roads built destroying more natural habitat, and where do they all park, especially in towns or households with 2+ cars?

Apintplease

KxMx said:

Never had a car and always had to manage without. 
Sometimes it is easy and sometimes it is hard, but it can definitely be done.

When you don't have a car choices are limited. Car owners from my observation get very defensive and unwilling to give up their lifestyle of unlimited choices.

Our household has managed education, ft work, disability and a whole host of other normal things. All without a car.
Just this year I had to clear my Nan's bungalow almost single handed, during lockdown. Admittedly, there were some taxis involved.

Did live in a rural area for a while but moved back to town eventually for better public transport.

(The circumstances that took us to rural area were not my choice and not in all likelihood one I would have made or at least not have stayed so long.) 

I don't currently view new electric cars as super green. 
Yes, they don't pollute the atmosphere with fossil fuels, which is fab. 
The manufacture and disposal of batteries is an issue, as is the question of how the electricity powering these cars is produced. 
That said, those things should improve with time time. 

The majority of cars I see have 75% or 50% of seats unoccupied. 
More and more cars just make traffic worse for everyone, more roads built destroying more natural habitat, and where do they all park, especially in towns or households with 2+ cars?

Being a Londoner for most of my life I never ever needed to learn to drive, Public Transport and Shanks Pony all the way. But then nothing is far away from you in London

When I say rural, I mean rural. We dont have ANY public transport, Id need to walk 4 miles to a bus route which would take me somewhere - not where I wanted to be, but somewhere where I could wait 2 hours for another bus to get me to where I want I had to learn to drive PDQ, without a car I couldn't work as I couldn't get to anywhere that had work. When I was learning to drive I even booked my driving lessons around hospital appointments, going to the bank or post office etc I always had to book two hour lessons anyway as it was a 30 min drive to the town where the tests took place and there were things like traffic lights and roundabouts and traffic

Im with you on the electric car front, battery production is rather worrying ( lets not mention Lithium mining ) but hey not our back yard so people turn a blind eye. BIL has gone electric but then he lives in a huge house which is lit up like a Christmas tree, heated to furnace levels and has the best of everything - hes a huge consumer. Two cars and only he drives, SIL will use the car once a month to meet a friend the other end of the country - she hates driving

So I do need a car but I use it as little as possible and make all journeys count, certainly dont jump into it to go buy a bar of chocolate when I fancy one. Chocolate, like everything is bought in the once a week shop, if I forget something or run out  - tough, we go without

We USED to go to the city every couple of weeks but soon realised we were just out buying stuff we didnt need, wasting money we didn't have and filling up landfill. Everyday I see on FB people offering up furniture for sale - as new - just changed decor. Like whats that all about? When did changing the decor mean you needed a whole new suite?. For me changing the decor is a lick of paint, the furniture stays

Were you around the time of the NOT BUYING IT thread? It was about then I started to really think about consumerism and changed my habits accordingly

tooldle

JIL said:

My dad asked my son over the weekend. Why should we bother doing the small things, when Russia and China just carry on as they are. My son answered because it's our world and our responsibility.
Something I hadnt thought about, is we meet our targets better than some other countries because we are happy for other countries to make the white goods and phones and computers and import them to use and chuck away when we want an upgrade.
We still import fossil fuels, we still contribute to the deforestation by stealth.
I feel that ultimately governments have to ALL work together but in the meantime we all have to do our bit.

I agree. As I understand it the  UK doesn't currently count emissions relating to goods and services imported from overseas, in our figures. Our consumption drives emissions across the globe.

For anyone who is interested in 'calculating' their own carbon footprint, there are many calculators available on the internet. If nothing else it gives a measure of the degree of change required from us as individual to reach net zero. Keeping the status quo will not get us there.

[Deleted User]

I agree that frugality and living with a lighter touch on the planet go hand in hand.

I gave up my car, and on the very rare occasion I need one I borrow a friend's for the day. This happens maybe once a quarter, maxiumum. We eat very little meat due to cost, but when we do we eat meat from the local butcher which comes from the farm down the road. Eggs are from our own chickens, and whilst I am not particularly green fingered, I can manage things such as courguettes, lettuce, potatoes etc. 

We don't fly anywhere as we can't afford to, and the cost of gas means putting the central heating on just isn't an option for us anymore. Instead, we use the woodburner for heating which is fired by pallets that are given to us by a local business FOC, and I chop up with my saw. We forage for kindling on our walks. Clothing is almost all second hand and only bought when absolutely necessary. 

This approach to life means we are having a lower impact life on the planet, and it is quite reassuring to know we can live on very little. 

I used to work full time, run a car, shop for the sake of it, and take many "holidays" a year (that I always found more stressful than just relaxing at home TBH!). I am far, far happier now and would urge anyone interested to give this lifestyle a go. Have a look at the Frugaldom thread xx