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.

Again- small changes rather than sacrifices here. I think that’s the best way so you don’t feel like you’re changing to much and you’re more likely to stick to it.

I eat vegetarian 90% of the time.
Have a safety razor rather than a disposable one
Have ‘bars’ of soap for washing hands, body and even a hair conditioner one (which is surprisingly very good)
Try to re-use before we recycle - plastic pots get used to plant seeds etc
Our company allows us to work from home a few days a week to save on travel
Just recently bought a mooncup.

I wanted to start thinking about trying to eat only seasonal fruit and veg as well.

I know how much trains cost, believe me. It's why we don't have a lot of holidays. I do count that as a sacrifice.

No children-- having a child is the single worst thing you can do for the environment, in terms of impact
No car
Vegetarian
Pay more (double) for renewable electricity
Wear clothing made of natural fibre until it falls apart

But--I was raised by a pair of hippy 1970s feminists, so I was probably brain-washed

I suppose we've made some financial sacrifices, not taking up jobs that involved excess travel or long commutes and also spending company money or more expensive but more environmental materials and processes but I've been aware of environmental issues since I was a child in the 70 s, and have never felt capable of just ignoring them so I'm used to thinking about it all.

Oh and stopping at one child as well!

I cycle to work and cycle/ walk for other short journeys ( not really a sacrifice). I tend to take the train when I travel for work, again not a sacrifice as I hate driving.
I try and keep meat based meals down to 1 or 2 per week, and don't have meat for breakfast/ lunch. My kids are both veggie but DH not. This is more of a sacrifice, as I enjoy meat, but possibly enjoy it more because I have it less often.
We don't often fly for holidays, and never long haul. Not really a sacrifice, mostly happy with Cornwall / Wales for holidays.
I try and keep food waste down and use leftovers when I can, use bags for life, and recycle.
I don't often have takeaway coffees, I prefer to sit down if I have a coffee out.

Things I want to do but haven't yet :-
I'd love to reduce the amount of single use non recyclable packaging I use. This is tricky, as it would mean taking the time to shop at the greengrocer rather than Aldi for fruit and veg. We have one of those zero packaging shops about 20 mins walk away, but I'm not sure I've got enough Tupperware for all the pasta etc we use, and I'm not sure what else to put it in.ive started using soap bars but i haven't tried shampoo bars yet.
I haven't really thought about electricity use in the home, and how we could use less.
I probably buy clothes more often than needed. I take what I can to the Charity shop, but don't buy many second hand clothes.
I probably drink too much wine / beer. This is completely non-essential, and glass bottles require energy to be made / recycled, so I guess if I was a proper greenie I would cut it down / out, but that may be a sacrifice too far at the moment !

None, and nor do I intend to.

I don't really see any of it as sacrifice I think. Maybe at the beginning with some things but then it becomes habit:

Haven't flown for about 20 years - DH and DC never have
Beeswax wraps
Bar soap
Bar shampoo
Grow our own veg, buy loose where we do buy.
Make purchasing decisions based on packaging/miles travelled etc
Electric is from renewables
Solar panels
Eat little meat - local, high welfare
Second hand clothes (not exclusively)
DH walks to work

The initial outlay when changing from disposable X to reusable X can make it difficult too I think. We've just been given some money by a family member and I'm planning to use some of it to buy reusable wipes, sanitary stuff etc.

I want to make a big effort in part because we have a lot of unavoidable plastic use, and car use. Both DCs have medical conditions which mean we use a lot of single use plastics in the form of feeding tubes, tube feeding equipment, catheters and so on. I reduce this where I can (and have recently discovered it's possible to buy reusable stainless steel syringes, so they're going on the shopping list) but much of it is unavoidable. Also car journeys to distant hospitals! (Between them they're seen at six.) So I want to make as much effort as we can in other areas of life.

DD (10) is also still in nappies. We're having a big push towards toilet training at the moment but if that's unsuccessful I'm going to look into reusables but I don't know if you can even get them out of standard baby/toddler sizes. That, I think, might be classed as sacrifice!

None, and nor do I intend to

Obviously fair enough. But is there a reason behind it?

I don't make sacrifices, simply because I always look to minimise impact.
@Freezerbird, try www.snuggleblanken.co.uk

Obviously fair enough. But is there a reason behind it?

I’m not prepared to negatively affect my lifestyle, give up hobbies I enjoy etc for the sake of the environment. My commute alone produces more than 8 tonnes of CO2 per year so I have a pretty big carbon footprint but nowhere near as big as people who are flying weekly for business for example.

I take string bags with me everywhere to avoid having to accept plastic bags in shops. I walk and take public transport. I buy produce from in the country I live in even if it is moe expensive. I try to buy direct from farmers. I buy organic produce, cleaning products, cosmetics. I have gone plastic free.

having not much money to consume stuff counts as sacrifice?

I’m not prepared to negatively affect my lifestyle, give up hobbies I enjoy etc for the sake of the environment

Again, fair enough. Do you believe the science? Do you have children?

Just curious as to the thinking of both sides of this debate.

The only changes that an individual can make which have any kind of meaningful impact are:

• have fewer children (big fail by me with 4)
• eat plant based and ultra local (we are vegan but ultra local is very hard with a plant based diet and living in London.)
• stop flying (big fail by me as I fly a lot with work and we take the kids to visit family on the otherwise of the world);
• don’t have pets (big fail as we have a dog)
• campaign for change (we do quite a bit of this).

So although we recycle, compost, use mooncups, have glass bottles milk, use shampoo bars, use keep cups and shun straws etc I do not feel we do enough and I know our overall impact is negative.

I've flown once in last 15 years

I eat 98% plant based

Our family only has one car and I only drive at weekends if unavoidable - I commute every day using public transport

I buy second hand as far as possible

I didn't add to planets population

Things I do badly:

I eat almost exclusively ready meals - they come in recyclable plastic
I spend about £300 a month on second hand stuff I don't need
I have beauty treatments done
I have a dog

I think any real sacrifices are not sustainable long-term - be they financial, time-wise or inconvenient, as they will be the first ones to go once times get harder/ less time or money is at hand.

• shopping bags in handbag
• cycling to trainstation
• buying yoghurt etc and decanting
• buying efficient appliances when the old one needs replacing.
• getting rid of car (hiring one for long drives 3x a year)

having not much money to consume stuff counts as sacrifice?

In our case, the money is there. We just choose not to spend it that way.

being able to cut down on travel, cars, and other fancies means being able to afford that in the first place.

A lot of this sounds bloody miserable. Plenty of it is also expensive. Life is short, why make it harder on yourself?

being able to cut down on travel, cars, and other fancies means being able to afford that in the first place.

Exactly!

A lot of this sounds bloody miserable. Plenty of it is also expensive. Life is short, why make it harder on yourself?

Because I'm not the only person in the world?

Don't eat meat, use a reusable cup- water and coffee, use a mooncup. These aren't really sacrifices just something I do that happen to have a good impact

Go for it then, Freezer.