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.

Thinking about ice lollies, can anyone remember the days when nearly all ice cream (including the Neapolitan one with three flavours) came in a block and choc ices were wrapped in a sort of waxy paper? I don’t have a problem with ice lolly sticks though, as they can be used in the garden to label things.

Have changed to a hybrid car. We live rurally and needed something with 4-wheel drive function. When it came down to it I just couldn't justify a diesel when I live somewhere so beautiful. I'm not convinced I'm getting as many miles as I could out of the battery, but it will do until technology catches up and fully electric vehicles have a longer range.
Sadly, living in the countryside means fewer "clean" energy choices - our only options are oil, wood burner, or fully electric (£££!). The government really needs to work on green infrastructure.

Vegetarian
One car we barely use
Buy less: share/borrow get second hand, and just reduce need
Solar panels
No flying
Organic veg box, buy whole foods in bulk
Reusable wipes (failed at cloth nappies-just couldn't get the fit right and it's an expensive way to experiment).

TBH I feel we're about as eco as we can be, now, without living a significantly more alternative lifestyle (which I have done). I'd welcome any structural/societal change to make being more eco easier-especially think we should ban single use plastics, improve public transport, and have better sharing infrastructure e.g. tool and toy libraries (not both together). And change our expectations-we just cannot keep consuming at this rate.

• grow own salad veg
• buy fruit locally
• red meat only once a week
• fish x3 times a week (not local but within country)
• glass Tupperware - no clingfilm or plastic
• reusable water bottles and compost able coffee cups
• Ecover dishwasher tablets/washing powder / washing up liquid and bleach
• no wipes for cleaning
• no tumble drier
• wash on 40 degrees
• recycle our waste
• shop for meals weekly and cook what we buy that week
• put our lawn cuttings in a compost heap
• public transport to work
• spent a lot insulting the house
• electricity is from provider using wind energy
• next car will be a hybrid when we can afford it

However - fly 3-4 times a year, get takeaways, order stuff on amazon, don’t buy second hand clothes, still seems to be loads of plastic in our shopping somehow. So while the above sound good in reality it’s not much.

However we

Agree about meat. Totally blows my mind that some people eat it 3 x a day-it's just so selfish and greedy. I don't have strong feelings about the ethics of eating animals but the level of meat consumption does disgust me.

Anyone doing anything to be really careful with water? I'm a gardener so have a rain butt, and use baby bath water too.

spent a lot insulting the house I hope you are spending money on therapy for the poor thing.

@derxa 😂😂😂😂😂 oops.

we like most people do somethings really well and some things badly

I have only 1 child, we have flown twice in 10 years, we have no pets, we do not shop as a recreational activity and rarely buy fast fashion , plastic tat ( when DD was younger we did buy some like shopkins!!)
we do not replace things for fashion reasons, we try and buy secondhand and quality if possible 90% of our furniture is secondhand. I like antiques so this is no sacrifice and practically all antique furniture is built to last a lifetime None of us has more clothes / shoes than we need, we buy what we need when worn out or outgrown
I do not wash things that have been worn for a couple of hours or one day or used once unless actually dirty as a family of 3 we do 4 loads of washing a weeks, one light one dark one bed linen and towels, and DH's work clothes

we try and eat fruit and veg in season we don't eat much processed food

Sacrifices buying only truly spacious free range eggs which has a financial cost, sometimes I could be tempted by cosmetic or fashion products that are nice but unnecessary. While I would perhaps like a new kitchen the wooden units in kitchen have lasted 130 years and will last much longer I would not remove them on the grounds that they are not so easily wipeable or a bit dark for my tastes, the wooden worktops need care and new linseed oil occasionally The only furniture we are likely to buy for the rest of our lives is a new sofa as ours is worn out and a new bed, we may buy an antique sofa and get reupholstered but it will be a new bed

I waste very little food although our food waste bin is collected weekly it would actually take me 4 weeks to fill it, apart from inedible food waste like bones, coffee grounds peelings the only actual waste this week was a dry crust from a loaf and half a cucumber that had gone soft and about 2 tablespoons of leftover macaroni
DH is really good at mending stuff we do not update phones, computers tv's etc until no longer working and not repairable, we don't buy new tech unless we actually need it we have no alexa and will not be getting one

we live rurally and go most places by car, which is a diesel but it does almost 60mpg my work requires a car, my DH will continue to repair/ service car until it is no longer usable
we have no intention of being either vegetarian or vegan
a lot of the sheep hill farms by us are on land that is too steep and unsuitable for crops
DH has a crisp habit and the bags are not recyclable here, though we use the library a lot I prefer real books to a kindle, we don't use many consumables single use

We've got a zéro waste shop in our town and I haven't managed to get there yet because the opening times are not 100% convenient for me, I'm quite embarrassed by my inability to put myself out such a tiny bit.

Once both dc are at school I'd like to cycle to work but at the moment it's impossible to fit in the working hours and the childcare runs without driving - again, I'm sure it could be done with effort on my part but I'm not prepared to do it.

We don't fly any more because I'm so horrified at the cost for 4 people in school holidays!

Recycle as much as I can
Don't eat red meat
Dry washing outside on the line
Use the bus or train as much as possible
Don't fly on holiday very often

Recycle as much as possible.
All cleaning/personal care/makeup products are environmentally friendly and cruelty free.
Limit single use plastics
Haven’t flown for a couple of years, carbon offset when I do.
Have an efficient car.
Try to buy better quality and ethically sourced clothing and furniture, and keep for a long time.

The big one though was deciding not to have children, which was very much for environmental reasons.

There are things I would like to do though. I’d like to dry clothes outside but it’s not allowed in our area. We’re also not allowed to collect rainwater. I’d happily use public transport but as there is none its not an option. The nearest bus stop is 8 miles away and there ate only two buses a day to the city. Even the nearest shop is six miles away.

Wtf is with the virtue signalling over not having a pet? Are pets supposed to languish In shelters now to save the planet?

This thread has made me realise we do nothing significant. We've reduced meat but mostly for ethical reasons. And I have horses so they're not good for biodiversity. I'm going to have a good look at our setup here.

They're the new black of virtue signalling, MLM, another MN stick to beat others with, like this idea that if everyone goes vegan the world will be saved.

There are some things are things I've done which are environmentally friendly, but I confess it hasn't been with that in mind.

The main ones are:
Meat free Mondays
Using cloths and hot soapy water for most cleaning jobs
Solar panels
Only drive about 5000 miles a year between us - DH walks 3 miles to work
Solar panels
Use green energy provider
Try to avoid using heating / electricity unnecessarily
Buy mostly second hand clothes / toys and keep stuff until it wears out
Give away stuff that's still useable
Completely avoid takeaway coffees
Have flown once in last 8 years
Breastfeeding each child for 2 years (although have had 4 children, which is pretty much a big two fingers up to the environment)

It's hard to motivate yourself and agree change needs to happen at governmental and societal level.

Someone upthread asked if giving up meat has more of an impact than giving up a car, and I think the answer to that is yes (based on my research but I am no expert). Obviously massively reducing meat consumption and car use is best!

I don’t think anyone should be eating meat more than a couple of times a week really. If everyone committed to 5 meat free days per week the environmental impact would be huge.

I do agree that there needs to be wearable industrial and political change to save the environment. But I think that when people say individuals can’t make an impact, it’s defeatist. The main problem is that the things that make the biggest difference (cutting meat and dairy and not flying) are the things people least want to do. So we reduce use of straws etc which, while not useless, isn’t going to make a different on its own, and find excuses not to make the changes that could really help.

Not trying to be at all preachy - I fly and still consume some dairy so I absolutely am culpable for this. But I do think we could all be doing more.

*wearable = widescale

Have two DC but they are twins, and no plans of having more.
I do have a dog but I rescued him from a shelter and we try to feed him as many scraps as we can (no onion or garlic as it's bad for them) so cutting down on food waste as well.
Try to have two meat free days a week and use less meat in meals and bulk out with veg.
Use bars of soap from my friends farm that come in recycled packaging.
Have a bottle with me at all times when I'm out for drinks.
Dont drink hot drinks or milk and never have.
Walk locally where I can but we live rurally so a car is needed. Mine has very low emissions and gets used twice a week for food shopping/visiting my grandma.
Starting to dig out a veg patch in our garden and create a wildlife area but some parts are already wildlife friendly.
My mum makes alot of our clothes.
Haven't been abroad for 7 years and my kids will probably never go.
Use single plastic use bottles as refills for cleaning. No kitchen roll and wont be purchasing clingfilm again.
Dont buy into fast fashion I've had the jeans I'm wearing for 5 years and they've a hole in the knee.
Wash up once a day, have quick showers. Soon purchasing a water butt for washing the car with.

Will be doing more, but my DH loves meat so that's hard. Our DC eat very little meat.
Another contribution is our kids love fairy Lee drinkers, so I do my own now after buying small reusable plastic pots.

I try to do my best but the only "sacrifice" is baths. I miss baths.

@MLMhun I assume it means not buying from a breeder. If they’re in a shelter, and therefore already here, then they’re having an environmental impact whether you adopt them or not.

Don't drive (use public transport).
Don't fly abroad.
No plastic cups, cling film or bags.
Loose veg.
Products in boxes, rather than plastic.
Eco cleaning products and toiletries.
Recycled bog roll.
Instant combi boiler (more efficient than the sodding solar panel setup which completely failed to work - the company's gone bust, so couldn't even get it fixed).
Lots of insulation.
Mooncup.
Showers instead of baths.
Clothes that can be washed together, rather than needing separate loads.
No wasting/overpurchasing of food.
Waiting until fruit/veg is in season, rather than flown across the world.
Growing food (completely organically) and taking physical action/encouraging predators in the event of pests, rather than opting for poisons.
Repairing clothing/linens until beyond all redemption, then using rags rather than buying cloths specifically for that purpose. They are natural fibres whenever possible.
Not using finite resources such as silica, fuller's earth or suchlike in the cat litter tray, choosing grain based litter topped with woodshavings.
Buying cat food in recyclable tins rather than foil packs and large bags of kibble where possible.
The garden is left to do its own thing to benefit insects, birds etc, and food is grown as part of a living garden, rather than supported by using resources such as tap water. If things need support, it's from last year's raspberry canes, not bamboo shipped in, plastic coated metal or plastic bought for the purpose.
Footwear is bought to last and have minimal plastic.
Things are repaired until they cannot be any longer.
Appliances only replaced when we can afford it outright when they can't be repaired and then with something that has the highest efficiency rating that can be afforded.
Blown bulbs are replaced with LED ones.

The difficulty comes when you try and balance different environmental concerns. Do you buy plant based pastry because it doesn't involve animals and their environmental impact, but risk finding out they've snuck some fucking palm oil in it because you haven't had time to scrutinise the label, or do you use a mixture of butter and lard and make it yourself? Do you buy meatfree burgers and get fucking palm oil, plus the massive factory setup involved in making them plus the costs of transporting the ingredients across the world, go for a small piece of meat from the UK, or have something like halloumi, which is imported and uses sheep/goats' milk? Is it worth using eco washing products if the clothes don't get clean and have to be rewashed or can't be worn in public ever again? What about e-cloths? Are they not synthetic? Recycling plastic cups into fleeces - is that better or is washing a fleece introducing more microplastics into the water course?

Ugh. At least we're trying. We won't get everything right, but at least we're trying.

@kikisparks hiya. Yeah, I drink oat milk now and it’s much nicer than almond milk!

The only one that feels like a proper sacrifice is not having as many children as I’ve always wanted.

I make yoghurt which is delicious instead of buying it in plastic tubs.

We've switched to real butter wrapped in paper which we keep in a butter dish in the larder (instead of plastic tubs in the fridge).

This is a really great blog for more ideas...
www.facebook.com/365EcoDecisions