People more concerned about doing their washing quickly than the environment.

[Starryskiesinthesky]

AIBU to think it is totally depressing that people arent willing to make even small changes to try and stop the environmental crisis that is here. For example, not wanting to use an eco programme on machines because it takes longer, not prepared to dry clothes outside rather than use a dryer, driving everywhere rather than walking. If people who could, made small changes, it would all add up and we might be able to halt some of the damage we are doing to the environment and childrens futures.

@thelegohooverer

I find it fascinating that these “small changes” have a disproportionate effect on women’s labour while the problem is caused primarily by the actions of profit mongering men.

Yup.

It's just not possible to get everything clean on time using eco settings. I do 2 or 3 loads a day, school uniform, PE kit, running kit, work clothes (I walk 2 miles each way and get sweaty), plus towels / pj's/ house clothes (not every day for all of these obvs) etc and there's always stuff going through
I do line dry all year round though. I don't think my tumble dryer has even been used this year.

For example, not wanting to use an eco programme on machines because it takes longer, not prepared to dry clothes outside rather than use a dryer, driving everywhere rather than walking.

The eco cycle on my washing machine is 5 hours, and recommends having half the load a non eco cycle. I’m not sure that having two loads of washing that takes ten hours, is better for the environment than doing one load in 3 hours. I don’t dry outside because there are large trees over the other side of our fence and if I hang washing out, it gets covered in birdshit and I have to rewash, not good for the environment. Plus, from September to March, you aren’t hanging washing out in Scotland! Drying washing indoors would lead to damp air which affects our daughter’s chest and would require us to dehumidify which is either tons of plastic waste with the disposable ones, or use of an electric dehumidifier. If I walked instead of driving, I’d be late to work. We can’t drive instead of walking for anything that involves our disabled daughter.

Instead, I choose the most eco-friendly machines on the market regardless of cost, wash clothes only when they really need it rather than wearing fresh clothes every day. I recycle everything that can be recycled, I choose products that are more eco friendly and have reduced packaging, and even before Covid did not fly abroad for holidays once or twice a year, holiday only in the U.K. My husband has just ordered a hybrid car, and if the model we need had been available on motability as a hybrid, we would have got it.

People will choose to be environmentally friendly in ways which are most suitable to their lives. It isn’t up to you to decide which “small steps” I take to make sure I’m doing my bit for the environment. Some of the steps I take, mean I’m paying more for things like appliances, sourcing more eco friendly products etc. The hybrid car is an extra 100 per month. I’m not about to decree that everyone should take those little steps as I’m sure I’d have hundreds of responses telling me that people are struggling to heat their homes, how tone deaf of me to suggest people just buy a more expensive washer.

@GoWalkabout

Would add Do you live with a dated bathroom and kitchen rather than replace, forgo the extension, keep old furniture

Yup, Old furniture is better made, cheaper (or free if got from freegle), and generally nicer, anyway.

@funinthesun19

I can moan. My family does 2 kids max, often just 1, I have none😁 Whoop us

Oooo look at you all perfect

Still contributing to the population.

But not to OVER population. Polishing my family's halo 😂

[quote grasstreeleaf]www.nationalgrid.com/stories/journey-to-net-zero/5-myths-about-electric-vehicles-busted[/quote]
Had a quick read of that. It doesn't help me understand how the people in narrow streets etc will charge their cars and it doesn't help my relative with the car across the main road away from the lights. Neither does it help me see that I can afford the installation of the charging point for my house.
I'm just off to put my washing on

I agree Op, but it's an unpopular opinions because we are naturally selfish. Some have it easier than others though so I think the burden of "doing something" should fall far more heavily on the middle classes than anyone struggling on a day to day basis (and I count myself in the former category).
I don't get the kid argument though - our reproduction rate in the UK is already well below sustainable levels and will only fall further as fertility drops towards the middle of the century (check out the book "Countdown"). We don't need to worry about overpopulation now.

[quote MatildaIThink]@canigooutyet
You list is pointless because it ignores the fact that the West has mostly exported it's pollution to many of those countries. We make very little in the UK, most of it is made in China, so that is where the emissions are. It also ignores the emissions per head, which place the UK much nearer the top.[/quote]
Yes, thank you to everyone who has pointed this out! Where do people think the tablet or phone they’re using to type out “But China!” is made? We manufacture hardly anything in the UK. Meanwhile ordinary folks in India and China are not doing the school run in an SUV and washing the bedsheets daily in their Miele

Op i think Yabu because you picked a bad example. A working parent can’t just put the washing on and stay up half the night waiting for it to finish and I’ve seen many threads on here from people whose neighbours have loud washing machines on at all times. We can all do something - I walk a lot rather than drive - but your washing machine example irritated me.

To be honest, until I read on here the longer programmes rely on soaking and use less energy and the shorter ones rely on agitation and use more energy I had no idea what eco meant.

It's not written anywhere on the machine. There is no eco programme as such, yet it's A+++

Then we are also told not to leave these machines working overnight or in the house unattended in case they catch fire. Or is that a myth?

We can't win 🤷‍♀️

What a load of nonsense. Uk emits tiny amounts compared to USA. What about the main culprits, oil and gas industries, big factories, corporations?

I doubt my occasional wash at 40 degrees will make that much difference.

@FlyingFlamingo

People saying to put machines on overnight - what about the fire risk?

I know someone who put their tumbler - in the garage - on overnight, it went on fire and burned the garage down. And insurance did not pay out, unsurprising.

I agree OP.

The threads on here ‘it’s too hot to hang my washing out’ ‘who likes to go for a random drive for no reason’ with hundreds of posters agreeing are frankly depressing. Saying anyone who has children may as well not bother is ridiculous- the aim isn’t to kill our species off and if people don’t have kids who do you think will be paying your pensions in future?!

People don’t seem willing to make small changes that may make things take slightly longer/be less convenient when that added up would impact on the environment so much. Yes we account for 1% of world emissions, why not 0.5%? Or less? The criticism of people who do cycle etc also doesn’t help.

I think plenty of people agree in principle but are too selfish to actually do things that help. It’s a shame.

@FlyingFlamingo

People saying to put machines on overnight - what about the fire risk?

The fire risk is minimal, only around 1,400 washing machines catch fire each year in the UK out of an estimated 30 million, most of those will be older, or with clogged filters, overloaded etc.

I generally don't put the washing machine on overnight because of the noise when it spins, but sometimes I put it on the timer so that it starts early so it is only spinning when we are already up. I also put it on during the day on the timer so it finishes just before I get home so I can hang the washing up.

Do you have children? If so, congrats. You've already cancelled out any environmental benefit you might get from using eco cycles on your washing machine

THIS! Anything else makes a fraction of the difference. So if you are so concerned about the environment, don't have children

I find posts like these two (and several others on the thread) a bit baffling; sure, maybe don’t have children if you don’t already, but the logic seems to be that anyone who already has children (not having children isn’t a change we can make retrospectively, like using a new WM setting) shouldn’t bother caring about the environment or trying to implement environmentally friendly practice into our lives as it’s too late: we can’t “cancel” out the damage we’ve done.

Surely it’s about what we do NOW and in the future that we need to get right. The children (and I bet most posters on this thread are parents) are already here. It would be good for everyone to make changes to our lives and show our children how to adopt more sustainable living.

The entire country could stop washing clothes entirely and the noticeable effect on world CO2 emissions would be.. nil. A single short haul flight creates more than your washing does for your entire life so the best thing you can do is stop going on overseas holidays, not turning your washer down.

It’s not me, it’s China and the US

@Oblomov21

What a load of nonsense. Uk emits tiny amounts compared to USA. What about the main culprits, oil and gas industries, big factories, corporations?

I doubt my occasional wash at 40 degrees will make that much difference.

If a hundred people are kicking you, then obviously you want all hundred to stop kicking you. But even one stopping to put the boot in is helpful. And if that one has been paying a few of the other to put the boot in (as people in the UK do, by exporting their pollution both in the form of manufacturing and in waste) then it's even more important they stop.

Where do people think the tablet or phone they’re using to type out “But China!” is made? We manufacture hardly anything in the UK. Meanwhile ordinary folks in India and China are not doing the school run in an SUV and washing the bedsheets daily in their Miele

Mrsfrumble has it right. ^^

It's pouring down with rain, how a I supposed to dry anything outside. Although I don't have a tumble dryer so maybe I can get a gold star?
Normally I walk a lot but my son has a horrible chest infection at the moment so driving everywhere.
Sometimes there are reasons why people do things rather than laziness.

@FakeFruitShoot

It taies the piss that we tell women (and it is usually women) need to dick about making their lives hellishly inconvenient by walking the school run, using cloth nappies and san pro, using eco spin cycles and drying out doors, arranging to shop locally, cooking vegan unprocessed food, cleaning windows with vinegar... meanwhile 70% of emissions come from just 10 multinational companies. And guess who profits most from those companies? Not the befannied among us, that's for sure.

This. I do what I can but without a tumble dryer we would never have dry clothes.

You knock yourself out with your 5 hour cycle - it will make fuck all difference. We could all hand scrub our smalls in the river and it would still make zero impact.

@Gatehouse77

Until there is systematic change at a much higher level there's very little impact of the measure you state.

I was going to post this exact link. The best thing we can do is put all our time into changing things at a higher level. Even if everyone in the uk stopped using washing machines and dryers altogether today, it would make very very little difference. Changes need to be made at the top and that is where we need to focus our efforts and time. Watch the video

@HereticFanjo weird, I have a family of 5 and no tumble dryer at all. Seem to manage just fine!

The one thing that strikes me in the last week, OP, is how far an awful lot of people drive in their cars every day. From 75 mile round trip commutes to someone here travelling 45 miles a day for cancer treatment. The whole of society is set up around cars.

Whereas I use my car infrequently, and feel absolutely no guilt about using my tumble drier when I can't put washing on the line. It might cause slightly higher energy use, but it isn't contributing to air pollution.