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Ethical living

Discover eco friendly brands and sustainable fashion on our Ethical Living forum.

I count - do you?

20 replies

HallgerdaLongcloak · 20/10/2006 08:02

I've just signed up to the campaign against climate change here . Anyone care to join me?

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HallgerdaLongcloak · 20/10/2006 08:05

Bother - messed up that link. Try here .

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maluta2 · 20/10/2006 12:29

I have just signed too. Thanks for the prompt! Anyone else who gives a damn?

maluta2 · 20/10/2006 12:34

Hello there! I have just done the same thing. Thanks for the prompt!

NOMurDErousPLUME · 20/10/2006 12:43

What are you guys actually doing to minimise your impact on climate change, other than signing this ?

Not provocation, just a genuine question.

AnAngelWithin · 20/10/2006 12:48

done!

QueenQuootieSpookypieBee · 20/10/2006 12:54

done

HallgerdaLongcloak · 20/10/2006 13:00

NDP, I've got low-energy light bulbs all round the house, have set the computer to hibernate if unattended too long instead of just sitting around on standby, and I am generally Embracing The Power Of Off. I've followed the link from the I Count website in order to send a slightly cheeky e-mail to Tony Blair. And I've just been looking at the Energy Saving Trust website to see what else I could do, though most of it doesn't look terribly practical for us right now.

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maluta2 · 20/10/2006 13:08

TBH I'm embarrassed I don't do enough!!! Hope to do much more in the near future. For the time being: use Ecover products for all household chores,use soap nuts, use tumble-dryer sparingly, buy local and organic and fairtrade foods where possible, in the process of setting up a wildlife-friendly garden (using organic methods obviously), compost heap, energy-efficient light bulbs, don't leave appliances on stand-by, re-use plastic bags and/use canvas bags, often refuse to take plastic bags in shops, don't always flush the toilet after wee-wee ,recycling books through greenmetropolis.com site,give unwanted things to charity shops, buy children's books and toys in charity shops (sometimes)[Oxfam have some lovely new fairtrade toys],re-use envelopes for letters and old packaging for parcels, switch off the car engine when waiting more than a few seconds at traffic lights, use natural cosmetics, recently bought eco-friendly wood varnish for my decking,re-cycle what I can think of,try to boycott unethical companies (the good shopping guide comes in v. handy)like McDonalds, KFC, Asda (part of Wal-Mart), think about researching the B@Q wind turbine, feel very bad about flying (about twice a year to European destinations) and try to have more local holidays. Sorry for chaotic writing. WHAT GREEN THINGS ARE OTHER MUMSNETTERS DOING? Very interested to pick up some more hints.

HallgerdaLongcloak · 20/10/2006 13:11

maluta2, I think you're doing rather well . I tried composting kitchen waste but got rats . I've considered a wormery, but a friend's recent bad experience has rather put me off.

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maluta2 · 20/10/2006 13:20

hallgerda, did you put cooked food or meat in your compost bin - that would attract rats; I have had two compost bins for a year and have not encountered this problem at all. Hope you might try again!?What was your friend's bad experience with a wormery - curious to find out.

hooOOooleymama · 20/10/2006 13:20

I like the look of this
but the price is silly - probably wouldn't deter rats though.

HallgerdaLongcloak · 20/10/2006 13:31

No meat - we're vegetarian - and no cooked food. I think the rats may have been attracted to our compost bin as a nice warm des res as much as for the food - they had dug tunnels into it and the man from the council who dealt with them thought they might have taken up residence. I'm in an urban area with quite a high rat population.

My friend with the wormery has found that her worms are breeding too fast, trying to escape and her liquid fertilizer from the wormery contains too many worm corpses for her to feel able to pass it on to her friends - the worms aren't moving to upper levels like they're supposed to. And the wormery's attracting clouds of small flies.

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HallgerdaLongcloak · 20/10/2006 13:32

hooleymamma - I like the look of the pigs, but they are a bit pricey as you say.

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Freckle · 20/10/2006 13:35

I've signed up. I've changed our light bulbs to energy saving ones. I recycle everything that I can and got stupidly excited when I discovered that our local recycling bins at Sainsbury's had been joined by one for plastics!! I try to walk the boys to school and back when I can (rather than drive but having to use car at the mo because of broken toe - mine - and a child on crutches - not helpful on a 30 minute walk).

I buy organic or fairtrade products whenever possible (although have had to stop using recycled loo roll as it caused a blockage and resulted in an insurance claim of over £2000 ).

Am trying to persuade dh that we should switch our energy supplier to one of the renewable ones. I am a member of 9 Freecycle groups and try to pass on anything we don't need there. All kitchen waste is composted and a large part of our garden is wildlife-friendly. Any new plants must be butterfly or bee attracting. Lots of bird feeders hanging around.

Try to remember to take my own bags to supermarkets . Try to shop ethically where I can or where I have the knowledge to choose. And am trying to pass all this on to my children so that they won't have to think about it because it will all be second-nature to them.

MrsWednesday · 20/10/2006 13:48

I've signed up, thank you for the link.

Maluta2, you do loads! I'm off to have a look at the greenmetropolis link, thank you. We do a lot of recycling, re-use carrier bags, switch everything off at night, compost, grow veg on our allotment etc, but there is a lot more we could do.

HallgerdaLongcloak · 20/10/2006 14:31

I know your question about what else we were all doing wasn't a dig, NDP, and this isn't a dig back again, honest, but there is a limit to how much any of us can do as individuals. That's why I think it's worth signing on-line petitions like this one, to show the politicians that we care about climate change and they won't lose our votes by taking tough measures to tackle it.

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NOMurDErousPLUME · 20/10/2006 14:37

Thanks for answering my little Q. I try to do the same wrt switching things off etc, more to do with saving on our energy bills than any environmental benefit (I'm a bit ashamed to admit).

TBH, I get very very frustrated by the 'save the planet, switch off a light' type stuff we get chucked down our throats - surely it is heavy industry that is doing the most damage ? We as consumers do have a degree of responsibility of course, but it cannot all be laid at our door.

Worse than that is when the US govt start evangelising over climate change and how we can reverse it, that it is a global problem etc. Just ridiculous. THEY are the biggest consumerist, polluting nation in the World, ffs. Sort out your own sh*t before you start preaching to me/us about ours .

madmarchscare · 20/10/2006 14:45

Agree with industry being a problem. Does anyone know if there is anything in place with regards to packaging? eg food, toys, electrical goods..

knickless · 27/10/2006 01:50

Hi Everyone!

While I had a scarce spare minute the other day(unusal!) I found a website that had all sorts of envrionmentally friendly washing lines which the website says hepls reduce energy needs at home.

I think I should get a washing line and do a small bit at least as I know my dryer does use a lot of power.

If anyone is interested check out washing lines

joelallie · 03/11/2006 07:41

Done it - can't get to London tomorrow though but will do/have done everything else they mention. Standby is a dirty word in this house

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