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?

This is such a great thread! So many good ideas here. So far this year i’ve:

Swapped driving for cycling to work and back
Started using a moon cup
Use glass bottles for water to cut down on buying water bottles
Use a reusable coffee mug
Am actively trying to avoid products containing palm oil, although it seems to be in everything!
Buy from local butchers and greengrocers to cut down on plastic packaging waste

Who Gives a Crap loo roll is great. Either recycled or bamboo and surprisingly good value, and 50% of profits go to build toilets for people who don't have them.

Really gets dc thinking that one.

If you want £5 off your first order pm me your email address - I'll get £5 off my next order too.

I do all that and haven't been abroad for over 30 years.

I'm more pissed off by stuff I can't change without racking up miles, instead.

I'm thinking of getting some cheap cotton material to use instead of wrapping paper and see if it catches on around here.

Not before goigling the environmental impact of cotton growing. Look for recycled paper, instead.

now I have to dye it

Nobody has to dye their hair.

I'm going to buy a waterbutt,I love gardening and have lots of plants so it will save lots of water.
I really want to have a wormery as well,both of those things I need to look into properly.
I really want to start growing some of my own fruit and veg.
Lots of my clothes I buy from charity shops(although I have to admit that's because I've found lots of lovely clothes in them)as a family we all donate clothes,coats,shoes,toys,books and ornaments to different charity shops(there's 7 of us)so it's very rare that anything gets thrown away.

We make sure we always use reusable bags(not the 10p one's from the supermarkets)now when we go shopping,weather it's on the highstreet,in the supermarket or at a local shop.

I grow my own herbs,strawberries and cress.

I can't do the things like walking instead of using the car because I'm disabled but I am trying to do better for my own DC's futures and for everyone else's DC.

I will also look into the shampoo and shower bars and can anyone reccomend any safer cleaning products to use?I need stuff that properly cleans but I'd love to get stuff that doesn't have so much packaging and so many chemicals.

switched to compostable coffee pods as well.

Or you could use coffee not in pods with a filter.

Reusable sanitary pads.
Train to work instead of car.
No buying water bottles or coffee in disposable cups.
Greengrocer for unpackaged veg.
Meat only once per week.

Gone Vegan and use a mooncup.

Don't have a dead or artificial Christmas Tree.
Don't use fairy lights or illuminations.
Don't Fly (anywhere, ever)
Don't Drive (no fossil fueled car in household)
Don't Breed (on average, each of your kids will be responsible for 700 tons of Carbon Emissions)
Bury rather than Cremate

@PickAChew no, true, I want to though as I’m young and it feels too early to go grey for me personally.

@flep I don’t think it’s quite as difficult as it’s impossible to know what the carbon footprint of a non existent child would be, whereas it’s possible (although also difficult) to work out a before and after picture of an individual’s impact. You’re probably right that it’s close to impossible even then though, for example you say you consume more non local foods than you did when you ate meat but many animals killed for food are fed on grain or soya that is imported and came from places where deforestation has occurred to grow it, so there are probably too many variables.

As for going vegan vs cars- www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jul/21/giving-up-beef-reduce-carbon-footprint-more-than-cars

“The biggest intervention people could make towards reducing their carbon footprints would not be to abandon cars, but to eat significantly less red meat,” Benton said.

I do think we fundamentally agree that almost all of the time, going childfree is the biggest thing someone can do. For someone who already has children or isn’t willing not to have them, only having one or having no more than they already have is best. Beyond that the best in my opinion is going vegan.

We’ve switched to bar soaps
Bamboo nappies
Brown recycled paper for all present wrapping - get the kids to decorate —scribble— on it
Buying books, toys and clothes secondhand
Cooking from scratch - no ready meals and we don’t get takeaways either

There was an article on one of the enviromental groups last week - the most enviromental thing to do by a huge margin - have one less child.

I have two children so just replaced DH and I. I think the issue is with more than that.

DD and I went on the Chris Packham meet up in London which opened my eyes and frankly scared me.

I've been veggie all my life but am moving towards vegan. No milk or butter and have cut down massively on cheese. Don't like the vegan ones though. Eggs only in (very rare) cakes. I've used fava water successfully in mousses and meringues.

I used to buy only organic but needed to save money so switched. Now I'm working ft again I'm buying some organic again. This is often prepackaged though so clashes with buying loose veg.

I've been switching to Ecover when things come up for renewal but am struggling to replace Mould and Mildew remover for the shower. I know it's probably bleach but I don't know what else to try.

No more Costa or Starbucks. I take my own in a travel cup. More for stinginess than the planet though.

The palm oil thing is a real shocker. Next focus is avoiding that!

Im getting better in the home;
*Don't eat red meat
*walk a lot
*use reusable drinking bottles
*use bar soap

But I work in a hospital baby special care unit and the waste and use of plastic would make your eyes water!
Everything is single use, bottles,teats,feeding syringines,antibac wipes, nappies,
Each bottle and teat come wrapped in individual plastic wraps, as does most of the equipment.Imagine how many we get through in just one day!
It makes what I do at home seem pointless

@PickaChew I don't think there is a problem using cotton material instead of wrapping paper. Wrapping paper won't get anything like the wear clothes do. Hell, it will barely ever get washed! Reused multiple times a year for probably many decades. Yes cotton production has a high impact especially on water but we are talking a once time thing, for a biodegradable reusable product.
Compare that to your one use brown paper even with all the transport getting it to the shops, plastic wrapping, transport to buy it. Multiple rolls a year for many many years. Not to mention use of plastics in decorating it (crayons, pens etc).

I think cotton wrapping is ok.

If you give that cotton wrapping to someone outside your immediate family, you have no idea whether they will reuse it, though.

whiteroseredrose Citric acid kills mould and biodegrades within 3 days. Also hydrogen peroxide, and oxygenating laundry bleach.
Look at the ingredients in Ecover products and learn about the chemicals they use, most are available to buy.

If households really cut down on single use plastics we could deal with the hospital stuff.
There is a place for the hygiene and convenience of that stuff, hospitals are that place

Recently I have:-

Started walking more. We do 2 shops a week and walk home with the bags rather than one and driving as we can't carry it all.
Using bar soap. Tried bar shampoo and conditioner but it's awful on my hair so I'm working on that one.
Buying organic clothes from local and British companies where possible. Want to eventually be in the position where we each (me, DP, DD) only have a smallish amount of high quality, long lasting clothes rather than a tonne of cheap clothes we were once or twice. Also buying clothes second hand.
I'm going to buy a mooncup soon also but it's still a bit sensitive down there since having DD a year ago so going to wait a little longer.

Thanks Crow

Our personal plastic use is not even a drop in the ocean. 10 companies create 90% of the world's waste... get them to change their ways.

@yips what are you doing to get them to change their ways? Would be keen to get involved.

I'd like to learn more about that yips.
Do they mean those 10 companies produce the plastic which we as consumers use?
Or is it their own direct waste