What do you do to help save the planet?

[RiverMeadow]

Looking for more ways to help so any ideas would be much appreciated!

[nannybeach]

The solar panels are being installed soon,plus batteries. Electric fire in lounge, bathroom, Emersionheater for hot water. Compost bins,don't waste food.house well insulated.shampoo and cleaning bars,no plastic. Clothes dried outside whenever possible. Bought DH 3 nice jumpers in charity shops this week.

[FissionMailed]

There was a thread on Mumsnet not that long ago about how many loads of washing people do, highlighted how pointless everything I do is.

It's as though people don't realise fabric can be worn more than once before it needs washing... Unless your hiking 20 miles or shifting tons of steel etc, you're unlikely to get so moist you need to wash every item of clothing after each wear and entire sets of bed linens after 3 days of sleeping.

[IfNot]

I grow plants and hedges in my garden and don’t tarmac over the front to park my car so I can see it out my front window and I don’t put up fences and Astro turf everywhere like my neighbours. Seriously in the town I live in it’s like people think nature is the enemy.
Insects need habitat and we need soil and plants and trees not 3 cars per household and endless trips to B&M.

[JennyForeigner]

I just... try to think every day about bad habits.

We've cut out the big bads like flying (although I still want to take the kids around the world for a year before I hit retirement age and show them EVERYTHING). We're on what you might call a longer-term affordability/viability project to do the stuff like whole house insulation and solar (but live in a very old thatched cottage so it's both naturally low impact and limited in what we can do). I'll run my (hybrid) car into the ground while pushing work into an electric lease scheme for others.

Changing day to day decisions is much harder because we are time-poor and knackered. I know buying pre-grated cheese is lazy and crap, but still do it half the time. Same with making cleaning stuff - I love Nancy Birtwhistle's Green and Clean book but somehow the antibac spray still makes it into the basket. We throw away far too much, although I buy second hand when I can, and I am pushing myself hard on deliveries/buying ethically. Lastly to make time for a bit of MP-harassing and prodding of power. That might be my new year's resolution.

[nannybeach]

Being online does have a carbon footprint, downloading films,big carbon footprint! I imagine it would be impossible to add solar panels to a thatched cottage roof,can't pretend I'm not seriously jealous!

[MummyJ12]

Bought a hybrid car and a fully electric moped.
Buy expensive investment pieces, usually pre-owned that I wash less often. I only regularly wash loungewear, underwear and gym wear. Other than the kids clothes.
Use small local retailers.
Walk as much as I can.
Recycle as much as I can.

[JennyForeigner]

Not something we ever expected, but it's lovely and warm . Amazingly eco-friendly too. Bring back thatch!

[nannybeach]

Is a woodburner bad,smoke. Someone having a laugh. Fine particulate matter,big carbon dump. I wanted one, I REALLY wanted one. The village where I live most of the detached houses have got them. We bought an electric fakey. Not a cheap one with a visible fan (heater) Just waiting for the surveyor for solar panels. Will never be able to afford an electric car

[nannybeach]

I will happily keep Jeans, Jeggins on a few times. Happy with clean undies daily. Most of the washing done on cold wash,only full load

[Daftasabroom]

@nannybeach could you post a link to condensing dryers having double the carbon footprint of conventional, that doesn't ring true to me as the heat energy remains within the building envelope.

[Daftasabroom]

A great article here:

www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/18/ten-ways-confront-climate-crisis-without-losing-hope-rebecca-solnit-reconstruction-after-covid

[nannybeach]

Daftasabroom,I have no idea how to post a link, (the ony thing I post is letters!) However the site is called: Confusedaboutenergy.co.uk it says a condensing dryer produces 1.7kg of carbon per annun, a vented C rated dryer 0.9kg and an A rated vented dryer 0.6kg

[Daftasabroom]

@nannybeach I couldn't find the data on the site so I had a quick look at ao. All the condenser dryers were B rated, all the vented dryers were C except one B. I checked the product data sheets for the first tumble dryer of each type and there was surprisingly little between the two. The difference between a full load and half load was almost 2:1 in both case which hints that it takes X amount of energy to dry one kilo of laundry which ever machine you choose.

There is a lot of misinformation out there.

The other thing you need to factor in is that a vented dryer wastes most of the heat outside while a condensing dryer will keep all the heat inside.

[nannybeach]

I think the people who sell these things these days have a vested interest in trying to convince you their particular product has best energy rating,best carbon footprint
I did these carbon footprint calculators,and they varied ridiculously,from 7.5 to 2.5 different questions of course. One I put I don't eat meat (haven't got over 40 years) haven't flown for 13 years. My results said I need to fly less and stop the dairy, nope not giving up my cheese. It also seemed to think eggs were dairy,and there was me thinking chicken laid them. I'm amazed how many people are unaware. Talking to my neighbour about the solar panels,he said why didn't I have a nice woodburner,and unaware about the phasing out of has boilers
My other neighbour has just had a new gas boiler. We hope we have future proofed with the solar panels,we can go over to fully electric heating
My lump sum is paying for that
That's all our savings,DH is only 64 no pension for 3 years,we only have my pension to live on,so there will never be an electric vehicle

[Daftasabroom]

@nannybeach the standards for energy performance declarations are set in law and they have to be independently audited. It is illegal to make false or misleading claims. Look at the trouble VW got into by trying to cheat the system.

I really liked the Guardian article because it was positive and upbeat that we can all make a difference, just as you are doing.

[nannybeach]

Daftasabroom,oh my God have you seen the thread on here people saying how long (or short,) their washing machines last!!How many loads they do in a week

[Daftasabroom]

@nannybeach I couldn't tell you how old ours is, maybe 15 years? Our tumble dryer is probably 8 years. My car has 271500 miles on it.

[pastypirate]

@IfNot

I grow plants and hedges in my garden and don’t tarmac over the front to park my car so I can see it out my front window and I don’t put up fences and Astro turf everywhere like my neighbours. Seriously in the town I live in it’s like people think nature is the enemy.
Insects need habitat and we need soil and plants and trees not 3 cars per household and endless trips to B&M.

My estate is like this. We are next door to a national trust estate and we have abundant wildlife - deer and bats and pheasants and all sorts and there's more Astro than I've ever seen here. I have a regular lawn - it doesn't always look amazing but it's full of grasshoppers in summer ❤️