Climate change - what actions have you taken?

[SoTiredNeedHoliday]

HI, Can everyone tell me (and all of us) how your family is a tackling climate change and trying to help the environment.
My DD was crying this morning saying that people aren't doing enough and it is her and her children (if that happens) that will be extremely affected. It made me feel very sad to see her so upset about something we never thought of as children.
Over the last year we have implemented:

• Stated eating vegetarian 4 nights a week
• Only buy certified free range organic meat
• We now ride to work whenever possible
• We are changing to an electric car
• We don't buy bottled water at all now & use our waterbottles when going out.
• Using eco cleaning products where possible
• Recycle everything we can properly

What else should I be doing?

....

Buying as little stuff as possible, and buying second hand where possible.

Tiny car.

Very rarely fly (once every few years, short haul)

Massive reduction in amount of meat/dairy we eat

I haven't flown since about 1995

Recently switched to bar soap instead of handwash

Recycle everything we can (we are lucky in that our council is very good on what they take)

Buy stuff second-hand as much as possible

Grow own herbs

Try to buy local fruit and veg wherever possible

Have as little food waste as possible (dustbin DH)

Taking reusable mesh bags to the supermarket for fruit & veg instead of using plastic ones
Bar soaps / shampoos instead of plastic bottle ones (I use wild-sage.co.uk).

I also use organic soaps and hand wash..... good thought on the packaging though - I'm going to look into that

I’m vegan and child free for life. Use reusable bags, refillable bottles. Use public transport or walk as opposed to driving.

Eating less (or no) animal products and having no or fewer children are the things that make the biggest impact by far!!

Not as much as I would like tbh

-been vegetarian since end of December, DP mostly veggie
-get eggs from local lady who keeps chickens
-growing our own herbs
-never use plastic bags, have reusable plus backpack
-mostly walk rather than car for short journeys
-recycling better/properly
-buy second hand where possible
-very rarely fly
-get refills of handwash (only brand I can use due to eczema)

There's a lot more we can all do though, and now really is the time to make a big push and take it more seriously

Recycle properly, don't fly, buy fruit and veg from the local market.

I buy paper free loo paper on subscription (it's called Who Gives a Crap)
Get the bus to work
Holiday in the UK
Grow our own veg
Use refillable water bottles
Don't use single use plastic
Talk to the DC about nature/trees/plants so they have respect
Compost our food waste
Don't shop in Primark etc as the amount of bought but unworn clothes in landfill is shocking

Sounds like we are all doing similar things.

What else can we be doing to make a bigger impact?

MidnightVelvet9 I agree on the clothes, no fast fashion or unnecessary items bought. Also I give to the charity shops when things are no longer needed and are in good condition

Solar panels on our roof
Composting food waste
Reusable sanpro
Shampoo bars and soap bars
Method cleaning products
No disposable wipes
Buying clothes second hand
Reducing buying stuff in general
Never buying bottled water, taking reusable bottles out and about
Using recycled paper bags instead of cling film for sandwiches

We have just started getting all our fruit, veg,, salad, herbs, eggs and a lovely load of bread delivered weekly from a local organic farm. They deliver it in electric vans, so the cut down on carbon footprint with that is huge.

Also eating much less meat and trying to buy packaging free from the supermarket where possible.

We have a hybrid car (we're in Scotland and travel quite rurally so not sure of full electric yet, but soon hopefully.)

I use a mooncup, so zero period waste.

My DH cycles to work as much as possible and the kids and I walk to/ from school/ work most of the time.

We went abroad this year for holiday (hated it) bit it's the first time myself and DC have flown since youngest was 8months, that was 10 years ago.

There's also the "who gives a crap" environmentally friendly toilet paper that I'm looking at just now.

My DM has just finished reading a book about climate change called The Uninhabitable Earth. I've not read it yet- been putting it off as I know it will give me the dread.

Sorry the post is so long 😳

Also, composting most of our food waste and growing as much fruit/ veg ourselves as possible!!

I still don't feel that we do enough, though 😟

I just noticed that frozen pea packets (the brand I had anyway) aren't recyclable yet - I wonder why? i had assumed they were.

I wonder how many other packages aren't recyclable on items we all use a lot.......

So thats something i'm starting to do - read all the packaging before buying and also before putting into the recycle.

I've stopped flying. Trying hard to cut down on single use plastics (dh SAYS he will). We buy local organic food as much as we can. I recycle water for watering the garden.

All my food waste either goes on my compost heaps (to our neighbours' ducks and chicken and dogs) or down the garden for the local wildlife , hedghogs etc. I have an organic garden esp. for the wildlife ( we live in the countryside of course). I cut right down on car use.

Yy to no flying and reducing car use. Surprised no one has mentioned insulating their house yet. While single use plastic is jorrible, it is more of a wildlife issue than a climate issue. But the gas we use at home goes straight to carbon dioxide and as a bonus some methane leaks out of most gas wells too., especially fracking wells. Insulating the roof and if possible, the walls and floor can make the house warmer and cut gas use at the same time - it did for us. New windows made a big difference too

Don't outsource pollution - so buy local where possible. That T-shirt from Primark was made in a factory in China or India - that makes T-shirts for us, but pollutes their environment not ours.

Don't replace stuff that is not needed with more crap. That steel straw is made in polluting factories in the far East - shipped over here (they are heavy so cost in fuel is high), with a multimillion pound industry now in making cleaning brushes, pouches/caddies for them, belt clips, silicone spouts etc. WHY. Most people can drink from a glass. And why are they sold in sets of 4/6/8 - you need 1. Don't give them as presents - most end up in a drawer.

Use a mooncup, try to mostly eat vegetarian now (I just don't think I could do vegan long term), try not to make unnecessary car journeys. The obvious stuff like trying to buy stuff with less packaging, reusing water bottles (this is such an obvious one and I can't believe that people are only now catching onto it tbh). etc. Our house is very well insulated (it's triple glazed and was built to be well insulated) but it's quite big so that probably offsets the energy saved?

Not much really in the grand scheme I have to say.

Don't replace stuff that is not needed with more crap. That steel straw is made in polluting factories in the far East - shipped over here (they are heavy so cost in fuel is high), with a multimillion pound industry now in making cleaning brushes, pouches/caddies for them, belt clips, silicone spouts etc. WHY. Most people can drink from a glass. And why are they sold in sets of 4/6/8 - you need 1. Don't give them as presents - most end up in a drawer.

Yes!!!

I might be stupid but why is organic food better for the environment? I have recently read this article which disagrees.

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181213101308.htm

I don’t drive at all. DP uses his car very rarely, perhaps once a month and is planning on getting rid of the car entirely if a car rental club becomes an option round here.
We’ve switched our energy supplier to a renewable provider.
I’m trying to buy less stuff and use less single-use plastic.
I recycle what I can.
I don’t have any children.

We’ve reduced plastic use drastically but fly frequently for business and to see family so need to find different areas to improve in as we’ll be continuing to fly.

Great thread, getting lots of ideas.

Recommendations for shampoo and conditioner bars please.

No car
Renewable tariff for electricity
Keep house cool in winter (thermostat is set to 17)
No tumble drier
Wash clothes less frequently (spot clean uniform - aim for just 2 sets/week)
Non-milk milk - I'm struggling w this one, but DS is evangelical about it and I want to support him
Mooncup and washable pads
Minimal clothing
plus all sorts of others mentioned here.

It's really hard...

I have really tried to step things up:

• Eating far less meat
• Eggs from local lady
• Try to buy veg locally although not always 100% on this

-composting

• bee friendly garden
• try to help hedgehogs but they avoid my garden!
• milk and more in glass bottles, i can't quite give up milk in tea yet but down to 1 pint a wee
• guppy friend to wash clothes
• Eco egg for washing
• coconut husk scourers/reusable washing clothes

-buy only if I need it and try to get 2nd hand first. Never rrally bought fast fashion -more mindful use of car

I won't have children but i do have a house bigger than i need. I also currently commute by which I can't do much about at the moment but looking at sponsoring tree planting to offset this and heating emissions. I can't see myself taking a foreign holiday for a while but I travel with work. I travel short haul occasionally to support family around work, the train is prohibitively expensive unfortunately.

I am trying!