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Our home, Earth, is crumbling in front of our eyes...

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MTROIS
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...so what are you concretely doing, what changes have you implemented in your life to hopefully revert the tide (no pun intended)?

Looking for practical solutions on reducing carbon footprint, on eco-friendly investment ideas, reducing quantity consumed in favor of quality, etc...
 
STANDY
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As mentioned previously.

STANDY STANDY
Not in my eco friendly house, that has banned all products that are harmful to the environment or animal tested. I live remote and am a keen fisherman, scrutinise everything that goes in the water. We even make our own washing powder and cleaning products.
Mrs Standy is a entomologist who even cares for the insects by building houses like below for them

763250-6235c00e3b8f0e49af0852d3bf7471b9.jpg



Even have a little basket hanging in the garden for birds to get nest supplies, sticks, grasses, wild cotton. 😉

Buy once buy right. Like buy a bowl that will last forever instead of plastic.
 
arturo7
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Stop buying so much shit.

Pay the extra money and buy things that last.

The throw away mentality is our largest liability.
 
JimInOz
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I wouldn't worry, we'll all probably be wiped out by the nuke nutters before we can the place completely.

Then the planet can take its time and fix itself.

It was around for 4.5 billion years before we came along and started turning everything into shit.

And it'll still be around when we are nothing more than cosmic dust.
 
eugeneandresson
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I have similar sentiments to Jim, however I don’t think that should make us complacent and not care and just carry on like it’s the 60s. It also doesn’t make it easier seeing the scale of retreating glaciers around these parts year after year, as well as witness the changing weather. A lot of life will suffer (and already has). What do I do? Recycle/reuse. As much as possible. Keep things as long as possible and avoid consumerism behavior - (except for watches 🤦) think long and hard about every purchase and try buy once and for keeps. Consume less electricity as possible. I keep my electronic gadgets for as long as possible till it’s no longer possible to use them (my MacBook is 10 years old, and iPhones normally last about 4/5, battery depending, try replace battery instead of phone). Haven’t owned a car for many years (that changed with Covid…still don’t drive it all that much) and cycle wherever possible. Spend half the value of a bicycle on servicing it, instead of just dumping it and buying a new bicycle. Stopped flying all over the world on holiday - quite frankly it’s hard to beat the country I live in. Daily : Try and buy / support as much local fresh produce as possible…imported stuff is usually flown in…but that’s hard as not much grows here (I’m looking at you my beloved Avo). Avoid plastic in all forms.
Edited:
 
JimInOz
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eugeneandresson eugeneandresson
I have similar sentiments to Jim, however I don’t think that should make us complacent and not care and just carry on like it’s the 60s....................................

I try to maintain my good habits and pursue most of the objectives noted by yourself, @STANDY, @arturo7 and others.

I'm using a new MacBook Pro as my old one became unusable after faithfully serving me for over ten years. I also bought a new iPhone12Mini to replace my iPhone6 which died after being dropped too many times.

We recycle all of our food scraps into my worm farm or into the compost. I don't need to exclude meat/fish/dairy from those processes as there's never any meat/fish/dairy left after I have late night snacks of left-overs.

Our weekly garbage volume is usually two 5 litre bags, our fortnightly recycle volume is approx 200 litres and all plastic wrap gets sent to the local supermarket "Redcycle" program.

If I have a large volume of garden refuse I put it in my 200 litre green bin where it goes into the local council compost program.

However!

It's hard to maintain my drive when I put my last small bag in the bin before the truck comes, and see some arsehole has filled my bin to the top with their shit, half of it recyclable!

And on recycle days I see bins overflowing with non-recyclable stuff and just shake my head.

There's also the fact that I suspect that some or all of the items I carefully squash/fold and put in the recycle bin ends up in landfill.
But I keep going in the hope that it doesn't.

I won't get into the political aspects (of both local/state and federal governments) of these issues as this usually causes threads to go ballistic and get deleted or locked.

Now to crack a can of draught Guinness, rip the can open to get the plastic widget, put the aluminium can in the blue bin and settle down for a Friday evening of watch browsing.

(PS: I'm waiting to see if anyone asks what I do with the widget).
 
Alfista88
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Avoiding plastic whenever alternatives are available. Switched to reusable thermos, water bottles, grocery bags, etc.

Eating less meat, exercising more. I'm a firm believer that personal fitness indirectly leads to environmental savings, as fewer visits to to hospitals for illness = reduction in throwaway bio-hazardous waste that comes from administering care.

Walking to the grocery store, to run errands, etc, instead of short drives around the city. I now only drive my car around once or twice a week, for recreation, rather than as an essential mode of transport. My 500-hp car only gets around 10 miles per gallon the way I drive it, but I've put less than 5,000 miles on it in 3 years of ownership.

Second what others have said about buying less, but spending money on quality goods that last. I've had some jackets and shoes for 10+ years, and they get repaired / restored rather than thrown away.
 
Charlemagne1333
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JimInOz JimInOz
(PS: I'm waiting to see if anyone asks what I do with the widget).
I’ll have a guess…

You stick ‘em on the end of gardening canes, so you don’t poke your eye out?
 
Tony C.
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While I am certain that I could do better myself in some regards, what I find most objectionable when I observe others is the terrible waste of single use plastic water bottles. I am a big believer in the value of clean drinking water, and in many municipalities around the world what comes out of one's pipes at home is far from being optimal. But rather than squander money on bottled water, there are filters available that make far more sense, and on every level. The ones to which I am partial are made by a company called Berkey. I have been using this one at home for over 20 years:

https://www.berkey-waterfilters.co.uk/collections/frontpage/products/big-berkey-water-filter-system

Yes, it costs a bit upfront, but note that the filters last for ~23,000 liters! That is equivalent to up to 10 years of clean, delicious water, and for a total cost (for replacement filters) of 140€. Ten years!

Highly recommended!
 
Pvt-Public
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JimInOz JimInOz
(PS: I'm waiting to see if anyone asks what I do with the widget).
Ok, I’ll bite. What do you do with the widget?
 
p4ul
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Tony C. Tony C.
While I am certain that I could do better myself in some regards, what I find most objectionable when I observe others is the terrible waste of single use plastic water bottles. I am a big believer in the value of clean drinking water, and in many municipalities around the world what comes out of one's pipes at home is far from being optimal. But rather than squander money on bottled water, there are filters available that make far more sense, and on every level. The ones to which I am partial are made by a company called Berkey. I have been using this one at home for over 20 years:

https://www.berkey-waterfilters.co.uk/collections/frontpage/products/big-berkey-water-filter-system

Yes, it costs a bit upfront, but note that the filters last for ~23,000 liters! That is equivalent to up to 10 years of clean, delicious water, and for a total cost (for replacement filters) of 140€. Ten years!

Highly recommended!


Completely agree with you on plastic bottles.

One idea to re-use is to fill with tap water (or filter in your case), put in the freezer then grab one or two when you are having a day out….cold water all day even in the hottest summer.

(Can last longer than one day in the winter!😉)
 
JimInOz
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Pvt-Public Pvt-Public
Ok, I’ll bite. What do you do with the widget?


Charlemagne1333 Charlemagne1333
I’ll have a guess…

You stick ‘em on the end of gardening canes, so you don’t poke your eye out?

Are you serious?

What sort of idiot would do that?

IMG_0233.JPG



I was so amazed by that answer that I turned the light on out the back and took a shot of one of the planter boxes (Winter mode).

The others are all over the back garden and have saved our eyes/face a number of times.
 
LuckyLes
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Still waiting to see what you do with the widgets. We have an abundance of them up here, most of my mates drink Guinness Draught in cans.
 
JimInOz
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LuckyLes LuckyLes
Still waiting to see what you do with the widgets. We have an abundance of them up here, most of my mates drink Guinness Draught in cans.

Hey Les, if you get your mates to save them, and if you get enough of them, you can use them as an insulating layer to keep your new swimming pool warm.

You are getting a pool in the new place aren't you?

😉
 
LuckyLes
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I think I'm a bit past pools now, but I will give it some thought.
 
Charlemagne1333
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JimInOz JimInOz
Are you serious?

What sort of idiot would do that?

IMG_0233.JPG



I was so amazed by that answer that I turned the light on out the back and took a shot of one of the planter boxes (Winter mode).

The others are all over the back garden and have saved our eyes/face a number of times.
It’s in the clues, Jim 😉
You mentioned a wormery, and compost, so I figured you, and Mrs. JimInOz must be keen gardeners.

A friend of mine nearly turned himself into a cyclops, with a garden cane. Caused a fairly deep scratch across his eyeball - not very pleasnt.
 
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