To ask what one thing you would ban to help the environment?

[AngryBirdsNoMore]

Following on from @GADday’s well meaning thread about disposable sanitary products being an option to phase out to help the environment - what one thing would you ban to help the environment?

Let’s not get into sanitary products again. That thread makes clear that disposable sanitary products are probably here to stay for a range of reasons…

Ill go first:

Private planes. I’m struggling to think of any reason why they’re necessary especially for short flights.

But you pick things up cheap knowing that the the quality matches the price,

You and everyone doing the same is part of the problem.

I've known about it, believed it and feared it for 45 years now, it's unravelling in front of us in real time and still it's just rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic isn't it.

That's not what makes it 'fast'...
It's the fast production and shipping that makes it fast. If you buy quality clothing online you usually have to wait a couple of weeks before receiving it because they will make to order so as not to have so much wasted product by making all the sizes/colours possible, before they have the actual orders. The quick stitch and go, mass production method by over worked employees also makes it fast

That's an interesting idea @notsayingmuch Me and DH were at an event in an arena where beers were served in plastic cups that you could refill for £1 less than the original drink or or return the cup for £1 back. Obviously there were queues at the end of the night to do this but lots of people didn't bother and left their cups on the floor. Some children who were there (age around 10) were gathering as many as they could to return and get the money. We gave them our cups. A couple of quid wasn't worth the big queue for us but for the kids, they were made up! They probably had £20 each from it! So I suppose it's a similar concept.

That's your problem if you're 'terrified' by people having different opinions.

Drastically reduce the number of cars on the road.

Well you've also got an issue with me having my own opinion. Stop picking arguments with people and move on.

Hmm ok how about not wasting water in the pursuit of eco wellness? That’s what I’d give up.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-65666775

Stop buying so much shit. Most of it is made in the Far East. Why do China and India have such a high carbon footprint? Because they are making stuff for everyone else, then shipping it around the world. Just have less stuff.

Food to be produced locally to where it is consumed unless there is simply no alternative.
Massive fines for excessive packaging of any product unless it's justified (e.g for protection in transit of fragile / very valuable product).

@DesdamonasHandkerchief the paper that the Guardian article is based is basically a lie.

Amongst other things, non-biodegradable poo bags.

Yes Daft, I hit reply and then RTFT, not quite as cut and dried as it appeared.

@JMSA totally agree with you. I can't have a plastic carrier bag even though as a pedestrian my carbon footprint was lower than everyone else, and I may suddenly need one because 'm on foot and can't just stash them in my car, but irresponsible dog owners can load up their trolleys with plastic bags to seal shit in for thousands of years!

@AngryBirdsNoMore I don't think we actually need to ban very much that impacts people's lifestyles. However we do need to change how do those things.

Roughly 80% of emissions come from burning fossil fuels, energy required to make things, energy used to and cool buildings, energy use in transport.

I remember a fabulous sustainable scheme in my childhood where milk was transported on a battery powered vehicle and delivered to people's homes in reusable glass bottles - the slogan was "rinse and return". We also got fizzy drinks in glass bottles with a refundable deposit for return. You could also get bread, eggs, and other items this way.

Some places are bringing a similar scheme back but I'm not sure if they are using electric vehicles. I hope so because apart from anything, early morning deliveries would benefit from being quiet.

@TheFeistyFeminist the village I live in has a vending machine across from the farm that dispenses fresh milk and milkshake and you reuse your glass bottle, I’ve not bought supermarket milk since it opened a year ago

Actually one of the things I would ban is poor journalism and deliberate misrepresentation.

You’re all right of course that individual changes will make little difference in the larger scheme of stopping the planet burning. As long as governments and industry carry on as they are, I could indeed go and live in a cave and it would make no difference.

For improving the immediate physical environment, some really interesting things here. Like glitter, single use plastic, bottles - all damage marine life, clog up rivers, choke and damage the habitats of birds and animals.

I like the bottle return schemes. I saw them functioning in Delhi and in bits of New Zealand too (with coffee cups). Feels like little things that make the place a bit cleaner and more humane and less dirty and shit. Realise that may feel like fiddling while Rome burns.

Hear hear!

Feels like we’d lose most of the profession at the moment, though…

Yes! And bunting for every event which is then left up in the trees / lampposts for AGES. If you put it up, TAKE IT DOWN.

Theres bunting around lampposts near where I live that has been there since last year’s jubilee party. Everyone’s too polite to take down someone else’s bunting and it seems like the person who put it up is too lazy / ‘well I put it up why should I take it down’ / thinks the rest of us are enjoying faded and tattered red white and blue plastic a year on.

I hate it that when new trees are planted they are planted in these plastic roll things and then the plastic rolls are never collected. I was walking recently through an area which had had a lot of trees planted. Most of the plastic rolls were just lying on the floor next to the trees that had grown out of them or decided to grow in a different direction. I would have picked them if there had been one or two, but you’d have needed many bin bags.

Also, I would ban artificial grass in residential settings, tarmacing huge spaces etc. I know it doesn’t have the biggest impact on future climate change but in terms with living with the climate change we have created we need as much greenery as we can to take the flooding and high temperatures.