AIBU to ask you to change your life in 5 ways to help the environment

[Deadbudgie]

The world is messed up. We are killing our life support systems. What 5 ways, big or small, are you willing to change your life to help the environment? Mine are:

Walk anywhere less than 2 miles
Stop buying “stuff” where I could make do and mend with what I have and where I can’t I’ll think about it for at least a week if I really need it! Especially round Christmas/Easter etc
Buy British/local wherever possible
Buy stuff that will last made out of natural materials rather than cheap plastic covered crap.
Cut back to one foreign holiday every 2 years at most.

What’s yours?

Im vegan and walk everywhere, use a menstrual cup etc. 5
Since that cotton documentary I have only bought a couple of items of clothing and they were 2nd hand.

My bggest sacrifice is trying to stop drinking (plastic bottled) sparkling water... The other stuff is easy
I might get myself a soda stream for christmas.

I do still fly

Wherever you go and see places offering tap water (great) and then you notice towers of single use plastic drinking vessels, ask them for a glass.

This really upsets me as it is even less than a single use item. Often it's a single gulp item.

There is no excuse. (some say they dont' have time to collect glasses. rubbish! they also have to collect plastic.)

1. Eating less meat (only on weekends now)
2. Cycling or walking shorter distances not driving
3. Not buying clothes I don’t need
4. Never buy disposable coffees/cold drinks
5. Rarely print anything at work or home anymore

having watched the banned Iceland ad today I’m going to do a serious review of our shopping to reduce the amount of palm oil. I had no idea!

ahh soda stream. that was on my wish list.

driving is essential with sn kids, so mine is clear the crap out the car to make it lighter. rty to be organised with driving places.

heating is broken and uysing electric radiators sparingly.

air dry clothes already. (campaign for the airnig cupboard to make a return?)

already reduced single use plastic as far as possible. SN child consumes a lot of plastic wrapped items though. Use the toilet roll bags as bin bags for the bathroom. (reusing)

already buy second hand clothes wherever possible. or keep them til they become home clothes, decorating clothes, then cleaning cloths.

I wash on cold cycle

we have cut back on meat, and rarely eat fishfingers or my takeaway.

I plan to: insulate the loft further.
put draft excluders on ds's window, buy blinds for windows and get thicker curtains. (sew new material to the front of the existing ones to make triple layered.) insulate the loft hatch and draft exclude. make an old tights draft excluder for the front door.

try to change the air vent in ds;'s room for a closing one. his room is the coldedt.

-Reducing Palm Oil
-Have cut down on meat and dairy
-Currently rely on bus and trains and walking
-Am going to look into local produce more (Tesco are shocking for the amount of packaging on their fruit and veg)
-Have a mooncup and looking at reusable pads/those period pants
-Use blankets! Layer up before we switch heating on
-Trying to find an affordable supplier for reusable cling film etc
-Have bought a bar of shampoo

Isn't it mad that the human race went so long without a lot of what we currently take for granted, and 50-100 years on we're having to worry about sustaining it and not ruining the planet (not that the industrial revolution was ideal for that tbf)

I’ve enjoyed reading this thread - there are some great ideas on here. Also I’ve generally found MN to be a very un-environmental community (all the competitive hygiene ‘I wash towels at 60 degrees after every use and anyone who doesn’t is disgusting’ threads!) but clearly there are some environmentally conscious posters here.

Mine aren’t anything previous posters haven’t suggested but for our part we are:

Giving up plastic bags and bottles and disposable coffee cups
Taking packed lunches to work in Tupperware rather than buying plastic wrapped sandwiches
Walking whenever possible
Eating less meat and fish
Not buying disposable fashion
Wearing extra layers inside and keeping blankets on the sofa

TBH - these changes are also good for our wallets and/or waistlines!

• Go vegan
• Buy palm oil-free
• Repurpose food containers
• Avoid cheap, wasteful shops like Ikea
• Use washable nappies & sanpro.

I walk all distances possible, but that's for fitness purposes as much as anything else.

I don't have kids, so I feel I've done my bit, and I'll continue flying and eating meat.

Not all synthetics are bad - for example Patagonia use recycle plastics; also organic cotton and recycled/reclaimed down, and make their priducts to last for years - I still have tops I bought in 1995 and have used frequently since. They do a lifetime guarantee on their jeans.

We’ve stared using bamboo toothbrushes, never leave the house without a water bottle.

We’re starting to cut down on palm oil. I buy or nKe peanut butter which is just peanuts, and Bionia “Nutella”. We stopped buying shanooo, liquid soap, shower gel and replaced with bar soap - until I realised that all mass produced soap has palm oil in.... the more arrisanal soaps don’t, but tbh I am struggling at the cost.

We’ve been talking at home about how we can help the environment. We are already pretty eco friendly, no car, don’t fly, use reusable where we can, always recycle.
The ones the kids and I came up with are
Meat Free Monday - we’d struggle to go veggie completely but can start to cut down
Turn lights off when leaving a room - kids are terrible for leaving lights on.

I’m struggling to think of anymore, we don’t do Christmas cards, we have reusable water bottles, sandwich boxes, coffee cups etc.
I’m really aware of it all at the moment though! So am trying to make changes when I see where I can.

These are excellent, thank you

I might share the love by buying other people eco gifts for Christmas, thinking practical things like laundry eggs, bees wax food wraps, water bottles, coffee cups, soap bars, shampoo bars, wool jumpers... What can I add to this this??

Don't drive your kids to school if you live near enough. Walk or cycle.

I already walk everywhere and don't buy stuff because I don't really earn much. I also rarely fly.

However I am not very good at recycling so am trying to get better at that.

I think as others have said upthread you do need a degree to figure out what is good/bad! And it’s such a tiny dent in the problem...I think people are catching on slowly, how do you spread the word without sounding like a sanctimonious prat? To be honest I think I’ve only started to take notice as I’m on mat leave and have more time on my hands.

Anyway in the meantime, here’s what we’re doing:

1. Using a milkman
2. Farm shop for veggies
3. Reusable drinking bottles, bags & coffee cups
4. Kit & Kin eco nappies - only trouble with these is I don’t know where to dispose of them? If they’re going in our bin bag then they’re lined with plastic. Maybe need to look into biodegradable bin bags? Massive gap in knowledge here about what actually happens to our waste as well.
5. Walk/public transport wherever possible and 1 car household (husbands work requires it)

Lots of interesting ideas on here, we’re slowly making changes in our family. After switching to bar soap for shampoo, body and hand I’m shocked at how many plastic bottles I was buying a month for our family of 5. I went with a local producer in the end, but I love their products.
www.friendlysoap.co.uk

Oh and can anyone recommend some reusable period pants please? I’ve seen a couple but they’re both abroad so the delivery fees are £££

When people talk about using the heating less and wearing extra layers, I'm always keen to know what they mean. My thermostat is set to pull the house up to 18 in the morning (on for an hour) and then again to 18 in the evening. At night it's set to 14 which means it won't come on under any normal circumstances. That leaves the house not-very-warm in my wimpy eye, and I would be using a blanket or two on the sofa and generally wearing a vest, top and one or two jumpers. I think I cool down very rapidly if I'm not moving, as I'd be much too hot wearing that lot if I was cleaning the house.

So are people talking about having their house cooler than 18 when they say to put an extra jumper on?

We have cut out red meat (although DP still has it when we go out for a meal, I have banned it from the house or from our weekly shop)

We no longer buy drinks in plastic bottles when we're out

I am trying to drive less although this is difficult when you live in a village!

We no longer buy fresh veg from supermarkets- individually plastic wrapped peppers I'm looking at you Morrisons instead I plan to walk up to our village greengrocers when we need something

i did switch to soap bars but found the soap dishes began to smell really bad after a while, so I try to buy soaps and shower gels made from recyclable plastic

One more- I managed to find and clean up our food bin to use

I've switched to a moon cup
Used cloth nappies on both babies (and cloth wipes). When DD2 potty trains, the nappies will go to a charity that sends them to developing countries.
I'm trying to find ways to use less plastic bottles at home for cleaning products etc. But I'm also trying to reduce the amount of online shopping i do due to the packaging produced /extra vehicles on the road. Most eco friendly products seem to be online only! Online food shopping comes without bags.
I use reusable cups and have a chilly bottle for out and about.
All kids clothes are passed down or sent to charity shop. Most come to DD1 second hand.
I'm trying to buy wooden toys only now, but that's a challenge. I've asked for wooden toys for them for Christmas but I can't dictate to others.
But I work in the NHS, one of the biggest plastic waste producers in the country so feel I'm fighting a losing battle!

Ditch the car
Recycle clothes as in buy from eBay and then donate to charity shops

We cook from scratch aboutv6 days a week, and buy meat (such as we eat), eggs, milk and fruit and veg locally. We’re fortunate that we are surrounded by farm shops. Milk and eggs are delivered direct from the farm, 3 miles away.

Oh yeah I’m going to set up a recurring large order for some “what the crap” toilet paper as that comes wrapped in paper instead of plastic and is fully recycled.

uk.whogivesacrap.org/ I use Who gives a crap toilet paper. I was an Andrex only person before I started using it.

I've also just started buying beeswax wraps instead of plastic role. Love them. www.beeinspiredcreams.buzz They cover the item tightly with the heat from your hands and work on everything apart from raw meats. Wash under warm water, air dry and they are ready to be used again (and again and ....)

www.beeinspiredcreams.buzz/product/beeswaxwraps-the-thoughtful-alternative-to-clingfilm/