To ask what sacrifices you make for the environment

[HarryElephante]

So, do you make any? And I mean actual sacrifices. Not just putting recycling outside your front door or re-using old shopping bags.

And for the sake of this question, I will assume you agree we are harming the planet. If you don't agree that is for another thread!

I make annoyingly few sacrifices but am going to start.

TeacupDrama sounds very totaliarian. Unless you think implementing some sort of draconian control over population, I don't see how it is achievable

@fishcanfly
yes I think it is too much to ration people; people don't like it

but rationing people by pricing the poor out of the market is fairer???? as someone said tax meat etc very very high that is also a form of controlling population too surely

rationing people by pricing the poor out of the market is fairer?

No, it's not fair but that's the reality of taxing unwanted behaviour. We did it with smoking. What actually seems to happen is those on the lower end of the scale still do not modify their behaviour (becoming poorer as a result) while the moderate to rich do modify their behaviour and find alternatives.

Neither rationing not excessive taxation are fair. And there would be negative consequences, such as black market.
Also, let's say you limit people travelling. What about trade\cargo? All the imports and exports? What do you think would happen to the economy?🙄

What do you think would happen to the economy?

Well, that’s the crux of the problem. Our economy is built on ever expanding consumption which doesn’t really work for a world with limited resource. I don’t have answers but there must be some.

In my opinion - innovation is the key. Not prohibitions, not rationing, not sacrifice. Renewable sources of energy for example. Lab-grown meats seem promising. Many other things. Making your own life miserable - your children won't benefit from it.

Adding a few:

• Operating a plastic-free lunch box policy (and advocating at schools and kindergartens for this)
• Never buying those squirty packs of baby food or kids' yoghurt. They are impossible to recycle and have all that plastic on them. They are a classic single-use ecological disaster.
• Never buying single pack yoghurts. Buy a big, recyclable tub (or make your own) and decant into smaller tubs.
• Never buying single pack crisps or popcorn. Buy or make big bags and decant into smaller tubs.
• Reusable sanitary products (I love my cotton panty liners, they are less itchy and wash well).
• Bar soap over pump soap.

Lab-grown meats seem promising

Mmmmm appetising

There are a lot of things we could do to put it out. Are any of them free? No, of course not. Nothing’s free, you idiots. Grow the fck up. You’re not children any more. I didn’t mind explaining photosynthesis to you when you were 12. But you’re adults now, and this is an actual crisis, got it? Safety glasses off, motherf@ckers.*

Said someone.

What do you think would happen to the economy?

It would obviously tank.

But we'd all be dead by then, anyway.

I'm not into sacrifices. My contribution is humble and is drawn out of natural habits: recycling, reusing, having very little of technology and gadgets, buying few expensive clothes which last ages rather than a lot of cheap ones and often. I fly because my Mum lives abroad and I love foreign holidays. I'll have to learn to drive, although I am afraid of it, because I live in the country. I wont give up meat, unless for some medical reason.

The mantra is reduce reuse recycle

unfortunately our economy depends on ignoring the first and second which are much better for the environment than the third
cheap fashion 6 t shirts instead of 1 good quality one,
phones need replacing even after about 3-4 years they are made to slow down there are no updates after a while and become unsupported like anything before windows 7, they are built so can't be repaired with generic parts to protect commercial interests so often it is uneconomical to repair an iphone 8 so you buy a new one but in reality it could be repaired for about £20
Nothing should be recycled until it is no longer usable or repairable
a lot of the carbon footprint of tech, cars etc is in the dismantling if even another 3-4 years life could be got out of them it would benefit planet
all the food wasted in the world (I don't mean the inedible things like chicken bones coffee grounds kiwi skins apple cores ) but unused salad bread etc could feed at least another billion people all sources say there is plenty of food in the world to feed all the worlds people and more but it is mismanaged
Approximately a third of all food bought in the UK is never eaten so that is a third transported unnecessarily some of that third will have been imported the most wasted foods are fruit veg milk and bread the production of which has used land and resources for nothing
there are 65 million people in UK a third of food is wasted which is enough to feed 15-20 million people, some is wasted before it gets to shop, some is unsold some is bought and not eaten

unfortunately our economy seems to depend on people buying stuff they either don't need at all ( plastic tat something new when the current model works fine) or to buy more than they need ( too much food too many clothes shoes) or more environmentally unfriendly than they need ie they need a car but they don't need an SUV
unless we look fundamentally at how we run a successful economy without making stuff that's not needed or is extremely damaging I am not sure should we aim for a zero inflation zero growth economy? but an economy that depends on us replacing cars every 3 years our phones every 18 months and buying fast disposal fashion is not going to work long term

No ‘sacrifices’ as such, giving up meat would be a huge sacrifice - not there yet.

At the moment, I use the following:

• reusable bags, no plastic
• reusable sanitary protection
• reusable cotton wipes
• steel water bottle
• steel lunch box
• metal straws
• beeswax wrapping rather than foil, etc
• rice husk travel cup
• trying to reduce buying snacks/food when on the go

And my personal favourite - www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07H5PLMN5/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_dx-2CbT8BH9YQ?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

This has saved me a fortune in plastic cups and spending £££ on tea in coffee shops.

Not really sacrifices , and not enough

I compost and have a garden with as many flowers I can

I cycle to work

I try to avoid throwing stuff away

I don’t travel much by air (but down to work and money to be honest)

Tap water and reusable cups

Vegetable box (nut sure how great that is)

And I am only on 5% of what I really need to do

The interesting thing is stuff that I’ve made the switch to (for example reusable sanitary products, cotton pads, shopping bags, coffee cups, water bottles etc etc etc) as it becomes just habit then my DC will see that as their way of life which is a positive way to think of it.

Is someone out there developing electric planes?!