Would anyone be interested in trying to do one small thing each week to tackle climate change?

[riotlady]

I’ve seen a few threads on aibu recently with people panicking about climate change and I often find myself worrying about it too, especially in light of the report published today. Studies show that one of the best ways to combat anxiety is to feel like you’re doing something about the problem, so I’ve decided to challenge myself to do one small thing to reduce my impact on the planet each week. I’m wondering if anyone would like to join me? I’m thinking small actions like walking or cycling a journey when you would normally take the car, swapping shower gel for bar soap, switching to a greener energy supplier, etc. No judgement about what is and isn’t feasible for people- for example I have ME and am very fatigued, so often use my tumble drier instead of hanging things out as I just don’t have the energy. There’s no point guilting myself over that, so I might as well focus on the things that I CAN change.

I’ve just sent an email to my MP so that’s my start to this week :)

@riotlady

Actually properly boycotting all Nestle products might be one of my next steps, they’re a bloody despicable company

This is extremely doable for me at this stage of my life, though I am sure tough for some. Good idea.

I’ll join! We have made lots of changes in the past two years and I’ve been looking for inspiration for what more we can do, so this thread is really well timed. Thanks!

I haven’t read the whole thread, so apologies if this has been mentioned already, but the book ‘How bad are bananas?’ was good for balancing up the things to focus on prioritising e.g. we still have diesel cars and want to switch to electric at some point, but at the moment we are driving minimally and the impact of the production of a new electric car would outweigh the benefits of replacing our current models.

Most of the easy wins such as eating less meat, turning the thermostat down, using the car less, bar soap instead of shower gel, we started doing years ago on financial grounds.

There's plenty further to go, but when you're living hand to mouth the idea of replacing a four year old gas boiler with heat exchangers, or switching to an electric car at £200 a month is real pie in the sky stuff.

@mustlovegin

It is because they had very little to begin with

What does this mean? We've had our turn so now we need to suck it up and move over so that they can have a go?

Yes. I think the average Burmese would like a motorable road before the average American buys his third SUV.

Without wanting to get into the arguing, I would like to tell you all about something got a few weeks ago that has made a massive difference to how much longer our hot water tank stays hot for

www.screwfix.com/p/hot-water-cylinder-jacket-18-x-80mm-x-1219mm/43483

We have an insulated hot water tank but putting this jacket over the top of it has made a massive difference and so we are not having to use so much energy to heat water which has to be good - for the environment and for the wallet.

The other thing we could do is ask some firms why they still have their lights on all night or do environmentally unsound things. I noticed on GMB today they were discussing this, but they still send presenters all over the place and Andi Peters flys all over the world promoting competitions giving away holidays and cars.

Doing little things shouldn’t be just doing them at home it can also be about asking companies why they aren’t doing more

I think the average Burmese would like a motorable road before the average American buys his third SUV

This is politics and ideology, nothing to do with climate change. Sorry

Great thread and following for ideas

I’ve already started buying shampoo bars in the last year as much as possible. It’s trickier to organise as they need ordered online so more planning and bulk buying required. Wish the supermarkets would readily stock them.

But I use sites such as Gruum and my little Exo shop

Also bough mesh exfoliating bags on Amazon which you can pop bars of soap into and use in shower instead of plastic bottles of shower gel.

@derxa 😂

fb.watch/7i9SfJ7kFP/

I know it's maybe not the best source but he makes some very valid points.

It's not fashionable to back British farmers..... but we are not to blame!

@Alaimo that graphic is really interesting! Would not have guessed that washing clothes in cold water has more of an impact than line drying clothes. I tend to wash at 40 but might experiment with 30. I’ve subscribed to that professor’s sub stack as well, great thread.

@OlivesTree I’ve seen that book mentioned a couple of times, got it on my library list now!

Completely agree Thelnebriati.

Small changes from everyone add up to big changes overall.

We should all do what we can reasonably do, which will be different for everyone.

@Otherpeoplesteens

Most of the easy wins such as eating less meat, turning the thermostat down, using the car less, bar soap instead of shower gel, we started doing years ago on financial grounds.

There's plenty further to go, but when you're living hand to mouth the idea of replacing a four year old gas boiler with heat exchangers, or switching to an electric car at £200 a month is real pie in the sky stuff.

I agree that replacing a fairly new gas boiler is crazy. However, if you haven't already done so, could you switch to a Green/Renewable Energy Tariff? I switched years ago, but remember being surprised that the price was actually about the same as the standard tariff I had been on with Scottish Power.

We have started to 'recycle' plastic bottles. Our council has a special box you can put plastic bottles in and they collect with the bins

I believe you can do similar with tins and glass? Will need to look into it

Please can anyone recommend a decent non- greasy conditioning bar.

?

My energy provider plants trees on my behalf and use energy from renewable sources. My local fruit and veg box supplier plants a tree for every 5 boxes I order.
My car doesn't incur road tax due to low emissions. Haven't been abroad in 8 years and counting. Use smol for dishwasher and washing.
I need to improve on the amount of waste we generate, trying to get back to soap rather than shower gel and showers not baths.
Will be making notes of other things to try.

@mustlovegin

Well yes, it would be silly for us all to become malnourished, but literally nobody is suggesting that

I (like many other people, depending on genetics - not everyone, of course) do not do well on a plant based or reduced animal products diet. And I'm saying this based on my own labs - before anyone starts. So yes, we are condemning many in the West to become malnourished while other countries get a free pass to thrive.

Who is saying we all to become vegans? We can eat less meat, change the diet of animals to cut methane emissions & get rid of the huge ranches eating up rain forest.

Maybe we need to close down MacD's or is that a step too far???? lol!

We cannot force other countries to make changes but from artic circle downwards, people are being affected and if we vote differently and demand change, politicians will reflect that in their decisions.

@VeganVeal

We have started to 'recycle' plastic bottles. Our council has a special box you can put plastic bottles in and they collect with the bins

I believe you can do similar with tins and glass? Will need to look into it

Is this serious? Did you just move to Britain? This has been happening for fucking donkeys years now.

Great idea, I’ve not really been doing my part for the environment and I want to change! I’m going to stop using the car as much for sure! Thanks for encouragement

Great thread! Just finished reading all 12 pages and have made lots of little changes! I've signed up to Klima and Treeapp so feel like I'm doing something every day. I've added a monthly donation to the Woodland Trust as I like that they're UK based. I felt awful when finding out my personal carbon footprint though! I haven't been on a plane in years, but we do have a diesel car and van which my husband has to drive all over the place for work. We eat loads of meat and I have 2 in disposable nappies with disposable wipes! So I guess I need to change a lot. I've got reusable makeup wipes and pads, and have signed up for smol dishwasher and laundry tablets. I didn't realise about emails being bad, so I'm currently going through and deleting and unsubscribing from everything. I have millions just sitting there! I've also thought about how to change my food shopping - found a local butchers to get meat delivered from, a veg box and have also found a local no packaging shop to get other food from. I looked at 'who gives a crap' toilet rolls but feel like it's a bit too expensive at the moment! £9 vs £24 from Asda..might have to wait until after maternity leave! But loving the ideas on here, will adjust to these changes and then make some more.

We've cut our meat right down and trying to do so even more, currently on fish once a week, beef every 2 weeks and chicken once every month!

Use soap nuts and have for a while

Going to start growing veg next growing season after sorting garden

Definitely believe that small things add up

My biggest contribution is being child free but I'd love my workplace to become better. The Trust won't spend any money and the waste in the NHS is despicable

• Repurpose lots of items, rarely fill the bin up (and I'm not a hoarder!)
• Walk to any nearby shops, never take the car if it's under a mile
• Period pants
• Smol tablets
• I don't have a tumble drier (but I do have a garden!)
• I grow fruit and veg
• Use peat-free compost
• Started my own compost piles
• I have kept a good size lawn
• I have flowers that bees love and a bee house
• I go to clothes swaps (rather than buying new) and I also buy from charity shops or second hand online
• I buy second hand furniture
• I repair a lot of things instead of buying new
• I try and buy things for function and long shelf life so I don't keep buying new things
• I rarely buy coffee
• I cook lots of veggie meals
• When I eat fish, 80% of the time it's fish that is caught locally (with a license)
• I reuse a lot of packaging that I get from online shopping
• Stopped buying cosmetics willy nilly, just replace what I need
• Use bamboo flannels to remove makeup
• Don't use bleach unless 100% necessary, scrubbing with water and soap or diluted flash is fine most of the time. Dettol for kitchen surfaces!
• Use washable scrubbing clothes for most things, done away with most wipes and one-use washing / dish cloths
• Wash most clothes at 30 degrees
• Not averse to heating the house, but try to keep the thermostat not too high

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@HoboSexualOnslow

My biggest contribution is being child free but I'd love my workplace to become better. The Trust won't spend any money and the waste in the NHS is despicable

Quite. I remember reading well over ten years ago that the UK's public buildings were responsible for more CO2 emissions than the whole of Kenya

www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/dec/23/carbon-emissions-uk

We can tinker at the edges but so much of our per capita carbon footprint is our allocation of things that are way beyond our control.

Dishwashers are actually more energy efficient than regular washing up

This is unfortunately only true if you were washing up using loads of very hot running water. It isn’t true if you wash up in the normal way using warm water.