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?

LOts of things make a tiny difference, but if you realise that millions of people are making small changes, those tiny changes start to count.

I re-cycle, I shop at local bakeries and farm shops and I buy much, much less wasteful disposable consumerist tat than most people, but there is no way I am going to cut down on travelling. There is still so much world out there to be explored, and only one life.

BonnieF, I agree with you on the traveling, but look at it like this: animal agriculture causes far, far more environmental damage than all of the methods of transport put together. Therefore if you went vegan but continues to travel, you would be doing a lot less harm to the environment.

@ferntwist we are in Australia and use Redcycle - they have collection points in most supermarkets.

They take most 'soft' plastics (anything you can scrunch in your hand) and turn it into outdoor furniture, amongst other things.

@TheMythicalChicken so true!

So far this year I’ve done the following:

Changed from tampons and panty liners to washable sanpro

Stopped buying kitchen roll, tin foil, cleaning wipes, face wipes

Changed from shower gel and liquid hand soap to bar soap.

Started an eco brick for non recyclable plastics

Turned down the temp of heating and hot water and using less of both.

Learned to knit and sew so lots of gifts this year have been hand made

Bought an eco egg for laundry (just ordered so haven't tried it yet.)

Still to do:

Change all cleaning products to eco friendly.

Change to bars of shampoo/conditioner

Make beeswax food wraps so I can stop buying sandwich bags.

Make as many Xmas gifts as is practical. Make the wrapping too from recycled fabrics.

Make own Christmas cards from self recycled papers. These are for my parents, sister and nana and close friends. Nothing being posted. I stopped that years ago.

Now to read through the thread for more changes I can make!

we're airline crew, so fail on the not travelling bit!).

I don’t think your airline travel for work counts as those flights would be happening with different staff anyway if it wasn’t you on board!

I’ve gone vegan which imo is a huge step.
I will buy a mooncup
Made a really conscious effort to cut down on single use plastics, not buying bottled water etc
Walk/use public transport where possible
New double glazing/boiler/heating system in my house which was to selfishly save money but should help!

I’m just pondering my car at the moment. I have a 17 plate 1.6l diesel that we bought in a hurry just over a year ago - my previous car died, we needed something quickly and this was the best that we could afford that suited our needs (3dc and I have to have an auto because of dodgy knees). It is ok, but I’d far rather have an electric or plug in hybrid. Is it more environmentally friendly to keep my current car and run it until it’s finished, or trade in for a far more eco car? Once you’ve factored in manufacturing/transporting the new car, etc?

Thought this thread would be a good place to see what people think!

@littlepeas it’s a tough one but keeping old car I think: (this is American but broadly the same should apply here)

www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-used-cars-are-more-ecofriendly/

@lastqueenofscotland well done on going vegan it is a huge step and the single biggest thing an individual can do to reduce their impact :)

We’re hoping to get a new boiler early next year too, because our old one is knackered but should help environmentally.

Veganism is not the single biggest thing an individual can do to reduce their impact on the environment.

Choosing not to reproduce has the biggest impact. By far. But few people are going to make that sacrifice.

Living car free also has a much larger effect than veganism.

Pretty graph here:
phys.org/news/2017-07-effective-individual-tackle-climate-discussed.html

I'm largely environmentally friendly, but it's more incidental than my own conscious effort.

Childfree
Car free
Laundry once per week (twice at most), coolest setting
Air dry my clothes
Recycle
Don't really use the heating (also a convenient excuse to snuggle up under a blanket on the sofa)
Largely plant based diet
Minimising water waste in the shower

@flep

Your infographic looks at CO2 only:

“A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use,” said Joseph Poore, at the University of Oxford, UK, who led the research. “It is far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car,” he said, as these only cut greenhouse gas emissions.”

www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoiding-meat-and-dairy-is-single-biggest-way-to-reduce-your-impact-on-earth

Changing energy supplier for one that invests in sustainable sources eg ecotricity or similar

@flep but absolutely I agree that not having children must be one of the best things a person can do environmentally as having a child is adding another consumer so could have a very large impact depending on that child’s consumption in their life.

I have some very small things.

Delete your spam email. The energy used to run servers that horde massive amounts of digital garbage is just pointless. And it's no inconvenience to do this apart from the time it takes to click a few buttons.

If you have a garden, get a compost bin. You can compost paper and cardboard, as well as vegetable food stuffs and egg shells. In this way, you can reach a point where you have no paper waste at all and very little food waste.

Plant things that flower. Helping the environment is not just about lowering consumption but also supporting wildlife. Bees and butterflies need flowers. Birds need trees.

@kikisparks

Yes I saw that.

But they were only looking at the impact of diet. A study titled 'Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers' isn't going to focus on the environmental impact of reproduction, though, so the Guardian's headline is a bit misleading. More accurate would have been 'Avoiding meat and dairy is ‘single biggest dietary way’ to reduce your impact on Earth'. I agree that veganism is the best way to make a change via dietary choices, but it's not the single most effective change you can make full stop.

All food production impacts on the environment. By having fewer/zero children, you're preventing one more person from enormously impacting the entire system. Because not only might that person choose to eat meat, they'll go through a fuckton of plastic and water and non-renewables for years.

@flep yes but they do consider the car and flights and say going vegan is a far bigger impact than those, which contradicts your infographic which only looked at co2. As I say procreation is kind of in a league of its own as you’re adding another consumer over whom you’ll have limited/ no control.

Also on consideration I think not having a child is a bit less easy to quantify than the other changes.

As soon as a child is born (and to an extent before that) they are taking resources from the world. However they are also influencers. For example I imagine I have still caused a net harm to the environment by being alive but some of my impact could be said to be offset by the fact that I was raised to be environmentally conscious and as a result of living with me my husband lives in a more environmentally conscious way. Because of me he is also now vegan and his DM and Dsis are now vegetarian mostly vegan. My parents and Dbro and his gf all now vegan due to my influence too, although they were vegetarian before. My impact in reducing the footprint of a few people may not wholly erase my footprint but if there is someone who is a massive influencer for environmental change and has changed 100s or 1000s of people they are probably a net gain for the environment.

The issue is that you can’t tell which your child will be and I’d guess 99% plus of children born are net contributors to environmental damage, indeed some will cause massive damage with negative influence, but it’s not as simple to quantify as e.g. giving up a car or going vegan is where you can say “I did this, now I do this, and this is the environmental difference.”

That’s not to say childfree people haven’t helped the environment hugely, they have, its just not as easy to say exactly how much the environment is harmed by each individual child.

Rarely buy clothes, they set off as good clothes then sitting around in clothes then working in clothes then rags, this process takes at least 10 years and up to 20 years

Likewise. Clothes get downgraded and get worn until they wear out, then they become cleaning rags/ patches for other clothes.

Otherwise I do a lot that's on this thread, but not all of it yet. I have no children so I guess that's the biggest thing . Shop locally where practical - I have a lovely local greengrocer and can choose local produce and no plastic wrapping. I'm pescetarian but have cut right back on fish - maybe once a month. I've cut back on dairy and don't buy milk or yoghurt. Cheese is my weakness.

No car, even though I live rurally, but that is possible because no children. Heating is set to 17 deg. 2x a day, 14 the rest of the day. For the PP who asked, it means wearing a jumper and a thick cardigan but I've adapted to it and find 17 quite balmy these days.

One thing I don't think has been mentioned yet - one pan cooking, plus there is a fair bit of residual heat when you turn off the hob and cooker and things will cook on just this for quite a while (or use it to heat the room).

For those who cycle, companies like Cycle of Good will take your old inner tubes and make things out of them. Recycled rubber is a good, vegan alternative to leather. For those who don't cycle, you can still buy wallets and bags made from recycled stuff.

Giving up a car or going vegan is just as difficult to quantify as choosing to be childfree, for the simple fact that how much of an effect it has depends entirely on how much that person used the car in the first place and where their vegan friendly food is now coming from. I know I consume more avocado and chickpeas and other non-local foods than I ever did while eating meat.

And the article in the Guardian mentioned switching to an electric car, not going entirely car free.

You're right that the graph is only looking at CO2. But even just looking at the CO2 aspect would indicate it's nigh on impossible to cancel out the footprint of someone already in existence, considering all the smaller changes only add up to ~10tCO2e savings annually while each person is, on average, contributing close to 60tCO2e per year.

Even if if an individual choosing not to have children was ridiculously un-environmentally friendly, and we bump their contribution up to 70tCO2e, and a parent and child were both vegan from birth and environmentally conscious and only contributing about 50tCO2e annually each, they still contribute 30tCO2e more to the environment overall than the person who doesn't give a crap.

And that's a parent who, from a reproduction standpoint, is only replacing herself. When you take into the account the number of families who have 3+ children, and families that split up and have more children with new partners, and many of those children will grow up start their own families...it all quickly adds up.

And that's just the CO2/carbon footprint aspect.

I don't object to the statement that going vegan is one of the biggest things an individual can do. I agree with that. But I do object to the statement that it's the biggest thing an individual can do, because it's simply not true.

Just not buying endless stuff, it’s sickening to see hordes of people all loaded up with plastic bags at this time of year containing endless stuff, it’s just crazy
Also will not buy from shops that use plastic bags

Switch to a renewable electricity supplier - it's easy to do and they are often cheaper too.

I've made quite a few changes already. Things to add:

Using plain brown recyclable paper at Christmas. Will get kids to potato print stars or something on the paper.

Give fewer gifts - most gifts are things like plants or home made consumables. I'm repotting lots of succulents babies at the moment which will be gifts next year. I pick up containers to plant them in from car boots.

Increases veggie meal days. We eat very little meat these days.

Make my own clothes from fabric I already have.

Put jumpers on indoors and keep thermostat on lower setting.

Shop in car boot fairs.

In general buy less.

We now have food waste recycling and it really highlights my food waste. I am
Better now, but there is still room for improvement. I tend to overstock on food, but I'm making big effort to let fridge empty, meal plan etc.

It's all the classic reduce, reuse, recycle.

Kids birthday parties - use existing china, cups, paper straws etc.

Have birthday bunting from 2nd hand shop, and ones I've made from old clothes.

no party bags but give a nice notebook or book as thank you.

I do like to make a birthday cake.

It's all do easy to get caught up in buying "easy cute single use crap" when it comes to kids - birthdays, Halloween, Christmas, Easter - it's endless. I'll put my hand up to that in the past.