Going green - give me your tips

[AriadneO]

We as a household try to be as green as possible, from using green energy suppliers, avoiding foods with excessive plastic packaging, using cloth nappies, etc.

However, I know we can do more. Further, I get confused picking between products, e.g. I've just read reviews saying the Carex refill bags we've been buying which use 80% less plastic are in fact worse for the environment as the plastic cannot be recycled.

So, can we have a thread where we share tips for being more environmentally friendly, and share research/helpful links?

I think there's one already, but it might not be active any more and I may be dreaming

Following with interest though!

I feel your pain OP! I started trying to live in a more environmentally friendly way 4 years ago and it can still be a challenge. I get so frustrated decoding packaging choices that I just blanket try to avoid anything packaged in plastic unless I'm certain it's reusable.

For liquid soap, you can refill containers at my local health food store so do look around. I then dilute it to use in an old pump bottle that foams up the soap (if you know the type I mean..!). I find the concentrations it's sold at aren't necessary anyway. Mostly we use bar soap though as I can get that unpackaged from local producers.

If anyone on Mumsnet has a decent solution for anti-perspirant I'd love to know. Deodorant bars don't cut it for me...

I make my own deodorant by combining bicarb and coconut oil with a drop of some nice smelling essential oil; it works really well for me!

Seriously? Stop getting derailed by the miniscule contribution you can make at home, get out in the streets, sit down in the road, and don't budge until the government legislates for serious, meaningful change. You cannot stop runaway climate change by buying bamboo toothbrushes- it might make you feel like you're doing something, but while we're collectively subsidising fossil fuels and the destruction of the biosphere to the extent that we are, it won't achieve shit.

rebellion.earth/event/international-rebellion-begins-7-october-2019/

Thanks to those who have contributed.

@crackofdoom I don't agree with that perspective at all, that's a complete fallacy. Of course one person can make a small difference, and if everyone thought like that, we can together make a huge difference.

I'm a food waste hero for OLIO, so may be a bit biased, but they are a great way to help reduce food waste. There's a range of people who use the app and go to food distributions (availability does depend on location). There's the people who pretty much rely on these distributions for various reasons, and there's people who use them (mostly the Pret or Friska) to provide food for lunch at work the next day. There's people who wait around until the end of the distribution and happily take the leftovers to the local hostel/refuge/homeless shelter to help those even worse off.
It's also not just food. I got the rollator I use to go to the shops from there (I rely on a walking stick to get around and it makes doing any shopping difficult) and it's useful for non food items.
If you're not a fan of free food that's otherwise going to waste, there's Too Good To Go, which partners with restaurants. For around £3/4 (sometimes a little more) you turn up at the end of service and are given a "magic bag" which has a variety of things in. I haven't yet used it, but I've heard good things.
I'm also on a few handmade groups on fb so can source sellers in the UK of pretty much most things and keep what I buy environmentally friendly.

I second TGTG, but it would be helpful if they actually had some restaurants that were less than half an hour's drive from me...!

OLIO and TGTG sound good - my only concern is is it easy to use when you have a toddler who goes to bed at 7 🤔

TGTG has collections throughout the day. Near me there's some hotels that do magic bags of breakfast items. There's restaurants that close early, so there's "lunch" items available to collect in the afternoon/early evening.
OLIO depends on the food waste hero. Private listings (so not Pret or Friska) can be collected at a time agreed between the lister and collector. Because Pret and Friska legally has to be eaten by 2PM the following day (FWHs have to say that, but people have noted that, it you refrigerate or freeze items they do last), some FWHs do distributions at night after they've done the collection. Others find it easier to do morning distributions. It's a matter of looking through the listings and finding those that have suitable times. Before I became a FWH I've been to distributions anywhere between 8PM -11PM at night and 7AM-11AM in the morning.

There are two MN tools you might like to start hanging out in

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/ethical_living
(particularly threads such as www.mumsnet.com/Talk/ethical_living/3617268-Ethical-living-for-beginners )

and www.mumsnet.com/Talk/climate_change

There's lots you can do. I also disagree with the argument that there's no point doing anything as it should be the government.

We've done the following "quick wins" :

solid shampoo instead of bottles
soap bars instead of shower gel
refillable washing up liquid, hand soap and cleaners from Splosh
never buy plastic bags
loose fruit and veg where possible
wear clothes till they are falling to bits rather than buying new
lots of my clothes are second hand
not treating shopping as a hobby

just a general more awareness about it all.

Saw someone post on FAcebook this morning urging people not to buy plastic-crap-filled christmas crackers. Make your own, do without. All of the shops are filled with aisles of Christmas and Halloween tat. You don't have to buy any of that. We don't.

What's your transport situation? Do you run a car?

If so have a look at cargo bikes - you can transport a toddler in them with ease, and electric versions are available (especially good if you have hills!)

Crackofdoom is right, though I will say that personal actions are necessary but wholly insufficient. We need to tackle the problems at both ends - personal actions and collectively. Watch the video “Forget Shorter Showers” (around 10 mins). Would other big events in history have been solved by personal actions, stopping Hitler or ending racial segregation in the US in the civil rights era. Of course, personal choices can play their part, eg there was a big sugar boycott in the slavery era, but ultimately it’s system change we need and that requires collective action.

Looking at personal actions, it’s important to think of them as a hierarchy and choose the big fruit, rather than the tiny low hanging berries like bamboo toothbrushes when you fly longhaul every year for example.

Don’t fly (or limit to one or two more flights in your lifetime).

Cut back on driving, walk, cycle, or catch the bus where possible.

Buy second hand clothes and look after the ones you have. Mend holes (darning tutorials on you tube). Prevent clothes moths, reduce tumble drying (all that lint is your clothes wearing out faster). Take shoes to the cobbler to be resoled. Don’t buy fast fashion, this is a big contributor to climate change.

Eat locally produced organic unprocessed food where possible. Buy the best meat you can afford. Pastured meat sequesters carbon in the soil, so is a different beast from intensively reared meat, which requires soy/grain feedmeal and is hugely polluting. Get a meat & veggie box if there’s no local market and independent butchers/greengrocer near you. Go for cheaper cuts of meat to help the budget (and they happen to be delicious slow cooked).

Take your own tupperware to the butchers and mesh bags to the greengrocers. At the supermarket likewise take your containers to the counters. Look out for refill shops near you where you can buy loose dry goods and refill liquids like shampoo, conditioner and washing up liquid.

Insulate your house well, it is a much bigger savings vehicle than current interest rates on savings accounts. Put a jumper on before putting on the central heating.

Be mindful about using the internet, it is one of the fastest growing electricity demands globally. All that data is held on servers and data centres that have to be cooled and requires large amounts of energy to transmit to you. Watch videos at a lower resolution (click on the cog), delete unwanted emails, unsubscribe from mailing lists, don’t buy bitcoin (requires a phenomenal amount of processing power) etc. Delete unwanted photos/videos etc you store in the cloud (inc social media).

www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/11/tsunami-of-data-could-consume-fifth-global-electricity-by-2025

It's also little things like kids' lunchboxes. We have little plastic tupperware pots with lids which snap on and we use for making up jelly, decanting yoghurt, making bananas and custard. Yes they're plastic but they're GOOD plastic in that we use them every day.

Friend who also has three kids "can't be bothered" and buys little individual jelly or yoghurt pots. 15 pots over the course of a week between her three kids. It's a lot for a something there's a simple alternative for.

Some great ideas, thank you all. In particular @BahHumbygge thank you for the link on internet usage. I had no idea!

Re meat, free range meat might be better than intensively farmed meat, but really veganism is the elephant in the room isn't it.

I went to an event this morning where the speaker covered sustainable living and she said that one of the easiest ways to reduce your carbon footprint is to use an eco-friendly energy supplier. She also said you may well save money, they are not necessarily more expensive.

Be mindful about using the internet, it is one of the fastest growing electricity demands globally. All that data is held on servers and data centres that have to be cooled and requires large amounts of energy to transmit to you

Funny you should say that, I had not thought of this but someone brought it up at the meeting. We wondered if they (data centres) are powered by solar power in the US.

She also said that non-dairy products are always better than dairy products (not sure, if they come from the other side of the world, and dairy milk comes from the road, I'll reserve judgment on that until I am better informed).

And also said think about second hand goods rather than buying new, especially with clothes.

And fix things, Youtube videos are your friend (although I am completely ungifted in such things, so will pay someone to fix things).

Finally - someone asked about deodorant, I was listening to a radio programme yesterday where they interviewed this lady: www.posy.london/product-category/deodorant/

Stop getting derailed by the miniscule contribution you can make at home, get out in the streets, sit down in the road, and don't budge until the government legislates for serious, meaningful change. You cannot stop runaway climate change by buying bamboo toothbrushes- it might make you feel like you're doing something, but while we're collectively subsidising fossil fuels and the destruction of the biosphere to the extent that we are, it won't achieve shit

Or you could take the view that if everyone does something, rather than only a few people doing a lot, meaningful change WILL happen.

This place do environmentally friendly hair and skin products with plastic free packaging.

Ok here,s what I do/have done.
Use cloth nappies.
Use cloth wipes. (instead of loo roll for me as well, made out of upcycles cotton.0
Use cloth sanpro or a cup.
Only buy clothes when you need to. Look at second hand first.
Buy local.
Avoid palm oil. (Actually quite tricky to do.)
Buy seasonal and British food.

Oh, in the interest of transparency, that's my affiliate link where I get points from it... which goes back into products.

If you want to avoid my link, click www.thelovingnature.co.uk instead.

People on extremely low incomes have a lower carbon footprint than middle class people who try to be eco friendly.
So live like it isn't a choice whether to recklessly consume energy and goods.

Don't fly.

Consider a low carbon, fairly local, fairly plant based diet.

Destroy capitalism and the mentality of economies needing to 'grow'. Or at least hold governments to account. Save willpower for that rather than cleaning out metal straws.