How big is your carbon footprint?

[tatt]

Just did the quick one and we come out a litle below average (halo emoticon)

no no nooooooo to wormery, just start me off gently pls

yes let's talk compost

I have to go out Picking Your Own in a minute, but the fear is basically:

it will smell
there will be rotten things in it
and insects

those are 3 of my least favourite things in the world, so not a great start

get one of the plastic compost bin so you don't have to see what is in it and site it away from the house but in a place that gets sun. I suppose a plastic bin is better than not composting? Ours came "free" with the water butt. Keep it moist and it rots quickly. there are insects, I'm afraid, but keeping the lid on helps.

insects?

la la la

franny, it is ok try it

whats the worst that can happen?

ok there is a few composting-lite options

one is to simply dig some holes in your garden, if you have such a thing, and fill them with compost material (um...make them fairly deep). Then when they are full, which should take 1-2 weeks and by which time there should not be insects or anything, cover them with earth. And dig another hole and repeat.

this was the method by which we rejuvenated our lawn

The worst that can happen is that it will smell and make me feel nauseous, and I won't be able to go out into the garden or have the door or windows open (putting it a long way away from the house is not possible. Our garden is very small)

and that it will be all rotten and mouldy which is kind of a phobia of mine

and that it will have maggots and stuff in which is another

the digging holes thing is not an option, we have just enough room to grow a few veg and flowers, which we are doing in the available space

3.34! (did estimate the rubbish though its never much more than 1 bag in the wheely bin [smug])

Whwre is the car thread?

Oh well done MrsWho, have you got a car? Am interested in how we compare to other people who have a car but don't use it much.

How much did you put for rubbish then? We guessed 50 l in the bin and 50 l recycled, but it was a guess

oh actually I can't even remember what we said now, dp is saying we said 75 and 75 - what's a good way to tell?

the other thread we're talking about was Filly trying to find a car that would take 3 car seats in the back

Dp says 1 and a bit rubbish bags a week, and 1 of recycling (god that sounds a LOT)

Yes have a car, only really use it for getting to and from work and to Tesco so put 100 miles a week and for my bin I did 50 for the bin and 100 recycling

Think I saw that thread before I went away is it still going?

Hmm

we use ours very seldom but still do 3000 a year

I wonder if it is our gas consumption that really let us down, it was scary

I did the quick one, ame out at 7.7. Which is ok i think, I will need to do the full one to get a bigger piture, but the quick one says nothing about saving water/recycling/washing machine use etc and this saves too. Esp water conservation as it reduces the amount of carbon used to doesnt it, ie if less hot water is used, no tumble dryer/short washes etc...

the short one is really random in our opinion Pavlov

where is this calculator?

I'm above average.

Only did the quick one tho & that didn't take into account the fact I do lots of recycling.

2.33 on the detailed one. It's easier for us though as dh is able to cycle to work so we can get away without needing a car. We don't have holidays away either so no flying either. We probably throw out more rubbish than a lot of people though, even though a lot of it goes into the recycling bin. Disposable nappies are our downfall too but with 2 children in nappies full-time I don't think I could cope with reusables.

Think my downfall is having to use the car to get to work & my flights.

well I am getting worried now why mine is so ruddy high

The detailed one didn't mention water did it?

I don't fly but it told me to cut down on my flights in the advice bit

Actually my driving didn't include us going away as I did 277 miles yesterday

No it didn't mention water

but it asked you if you turn off your Sky doodah

our driving is almost all going away, we only use it about once a week otherwise

I got called all sorts of names such as lentil weaver etc by my BIL, from USA as he stayed in a caravan in cornwall last week and was chucking all his rubbish out and I told him off, then it took him 10 mins to log onto our computer as I had turned the router off as we were not in! He said 'it only uses 5watts' . So I spouted that if everyone turned off standbys when not using, it would save this country £900million. He said '£19 per household per year, probably even less...not worth it' AAAAAAARGH. I tried to explain it all to him, not just how incrementally we can save significantly save money, not just that it means less profit for the energy company fatcats, but more importantly that we can save our world. He said 'no you cant, because there will always be others who wont do it' Yeah like you.....aaaargh. He just would not get it. {angry]

Mine comes out at 11.14 on the long one when I put in 4 people and stays the same when I switch it to 2 people. However, when I deduct mine and DH's 'work' mileage (we have no control over that) it drops to 7.38.

TBH, I'm surprised - I thought we'd get more points for not flying anywhere.

I'm going to put my parents stats in just to see how much difference that makes - they fly 4/5 times a year...