What changes have you made to help the environment?

[babymother9238]

I am ashamed to admit that I have come a bit late to the urgent need to help the environment. We have always recycled as much as pos and walked shortish distances. But my DS and I have decided to need to do MUCH more. The problem is that my DH and other DS are not as bothered so we need to find easy ways to help the environment that they won't fight too much. I have done some googling and come up with these ways but I would love to hear about your ideas (and recommendations for eco friendly products):

1. Resolve to mend not buy new when something breaks/tears.
2. Use the new laundry sheets (e.g. Earth breeze) instead of large laundry liquid bottles.
3. Buy a Sodastream so I can make sparkling water (I am menopausal and am currently addicted to to sparkling water) so I don't have to buy plastic bottles.

4, Only use the drier when I genuinely need to i.e. it is raining or need something urgently. We have become way too dependent on just chucking all washing in the drier.

1. Only putting hot water on for a few hours in the morning.
2. Turning down the thermostat and not putting heating on until it is seriously cold.
3. Refusing to put heating on unless everyone is already properly warmly dressed.

8, Reducing the red meat we eat from about 4 times a week to twice.

WHAT ARE YOUR IDEAS PLEASE?

I had a similar thread a few weeks ago. Cant find it right now as using the app. But lots of ideas on it.

Use cleaning products from somewhere like smol to reduce waste.
Use shampoo bars.
Use bar soap instead of shower gel.
Use reusable sandwich wrappers/bags
Shower instead of bath (but I do indulge in a bath now and then).
Use refills for handwash.
Buy secondhand.

Bamboo products are available. Eg straws. Toothbrushes.

We only eat meat a couple of times a week.

I dont do this as not a shop near me but some places have a zero waste shop where you take your own containers and can buy pasta, rice etc.

Giving up dairy has been my biggest change with a noticeable impact on me - ie I miss it. Everything else I’ve done has had a benefit for me, or no impact - bar soap/shampoo, economical use of heating, no tumble drier, using public transport for shorter or easier journeys.

One child

Replaced oil boiler with ASHP

Removed log burner

Electric car

Become a single car house (bought an e bike with the money we save)

Deliberately chose to buy a smaller than average home and not extend (75m2/800sqft), it'll also mean we pay off the mortgage sooner.

Menstrual cup & cloth sanitary protection

Only eat vegetarian at home

It’s difficult when others in the house won’t do their part.
I came down the other morning to find a light had been left on all night unnecessarily 😡

None. It really is nonsense. My very informed 14 year old told me of his own volition that it was a publicity drive by the big polluting companies to take the attention off of them.
By all means do think if you wish. Don’t get me wrong I recycle as a much as I can, try to limit waste, had a hybrid car, buy local etc. But it has a negligible affect on the planet.

Reusable sanpro is a good one. I use washable silicon sheets instead of foil or baking paper when I’m cooking & have a collapsible reusable cup for takeaway coffee.

Is it too much of a stretch to drop red meat altogether or only have it fortnightly?

Since realising that my local supermarket recycles a lot of soft plastic packaging (frozen food bags etc), I’ve started washing them & taking them back. I know it would be better not to buy them at all but then I’d end up wasting fresh veg by not getting through it.

Im trying to do one thing at a time, we can't change everything all at once!
Local veg box.
Eat seasonally as much as possible.
Organic local meat box.
Laundry sheets.
Given up orange squash, just drinking water now.
Use as much hand me downs as i can for DD.
Don't replace things for the sake of it...eg we have had our sofa for about 15 years now.
Peat free compost.
Growing tomatoes, chillies, herbs etc.
Planting new shrubs, flowers and a small tree.
Bamboo toothbrushes.
Make meat go further by adding more veg, pulses etc to meals.
Pickle, preserve etc where necessary...eg when my courgette plants produce more than we can eat!

I want to try to avoid products with palm oil in... that's my next ambition i think.

I’ve always recycled and tried to buy from/donate to charity shops. I’ve recently stepped it up a notch by ordering no plastic/refil toiletries and cleaning products from a local eco fill business and also a local ‘odd box’ fruit and veg delivery which has a zero plastic packaging policy. I’m going to try to cook less meat and have the heating and tumble drier in less too.i have a little one in nappies that I need to look at too. SO many nappies!!

@Ilikecheeseontoast

I’ve always recycled and tried to buy from/donate to charity shops. I’ve recently stepped it up a notch by ordering no plastic/refil toiletries and cleaning products from a local eco fill business and also a local ‘odd box’ fruit and veg delivery which has a zero plastic packaging policy. I’m going to try to cook less meat and have the heating and tumble drier in less too.i have a little one in nappies that I need to look at too. SO many nappies!!

If you have a tumble dryer then give cloth nappies a go, even just part time. thenappylady.co.uk is really good for explaining cloth nappies and the various types plus how to care for them, and the nappy lady also has a good buying and selling site on Facebook for second hand cloth nappies.

Eating less meat and fish as well
Bar soap instead of shower gel
Line dry laundry as much as possible
Buy clothes second hand instead of new
Buy cosmetics that do not contain microplastics and I try not to wear glitter makeup for this reason
Using washable cotton rounds instead disposable ones

Thanks I will have a look at this.

• don't fly
• don't own a car
• don't eat meat
• use renewables tariff for electricity
• buy secondhand where possible
• insulate properly

Plus the smaller stuff

I have cut down on meat, recycle and recently got an electric car

Also

Use public transportation instead of car as much as possible

A thick throw on the bed means it’s not necessary for us to turn on heating in the bedroom at night so less waste of energy

Don’t eat meat or dairy.
Recycle.
Bar soap
Live on a caribbean island and haven’t left in nearly 2 years

@Serenschintte

None. It really is nonsense. My very informed 14 year old told me of his own volition that it was a publicity drive by the big polluting companies to take the attention off of them. By all means do think if you wish. Don’t get me wrong I recycle as a much as I can, try to limit waste, had a hybrid car, buy local etc. But it has a negligible affect on the planet.

You are really seriously using your 14-year-old child as someone we should listen to about climate change?

If cutting down on meat is new for you, you might like the approach we tried. I committed to trying one vegetarian meal a week that we hadn't tried before. It's not a huge commitment. If you don't like it, don't have it again. If you like it, repeat another week, as well as trying a new recipe. After a couple of months you'll probably find it easy to plan a week's meals with no meat.

I don’t own a car and I don’t fly.

Have recently switched to milk delivery in glass bottles.

Only put the heating on if absolutely necessary but e.g. at night will go to bed with a hot water bottle instead.

IME veg boxes are a bit of a false economy because they contain so many veg that you probably don’t eat or have never cooked with before that even if you do eat a lot of veg you are likely to end up with a lot of waste as wel.

I buy all my meat from the butchers but our only greengrocer is crap and more or less only sells fruit, and the veg they do sell is still in plastic packaging so might as well buy that from the supermarket.

IME veg boxes are a bit of a false economy because they contain so many veg that you probably don’t eat or have never cooked with before that even if you do eat a lot of veg you are likely to end up with a lot of waste as wel. I haven't found this, if you get a scheme where you can select different boxes then you can avoid things you don't like.

No car, no kids.

Although not for environmental reasons. That's just a happy coincidence.

• much less meat (because I can't afford it)
• no heating (same reason)
• no children
• no car

•We have an electric car and a hybrid (need to be a two car family for our commutes).
•Use eco-fuel on our coal fire, and only on very cold nights
•recycle and use zero waste shops where we can
•we buy local dairy products and local high welfare meat products. This is a huge one. You don't have to go vegetarian (in fact, there's a lot of evidence to suggest small scale cyclical farming is better for the environment than removing animals from the chain because it gives land the chance to rest, improves the fertility of the land and reduces soil erosion). Animals are sent locally to slaughter, and then only a short distance to our door. We buy less, but buy much better quality.
• we are looking at ASHP and solar panels but currently out of our price range
• we buy 100% green energy from Octopus and use their nighttime EV tariff which has the benefit of not only being cheaper for us, but also uses electricity in the quiet hours which otherwise goes to waste on the grid.
• really focus on cutting down on food waste

Food waste has huge carbon emissions. Wrapping broccoli in plastic might look bad, but it means it can make it from farm to shop and be on the shelves for a few days. If it wasn’t wrapped, chances are it wouldn’t make it past 24hr in a shop and it would go to waste. however it’s not just about reducing plastic usage, it’s about reducing total carbon emissions. A plastic wrapped cucumber is actually better for the environment than a non plastic one that makes its way to the shops, and goes in the bin either un sold or in your bin at home because it went off before you could use it.
Not all plastic is bad. Carton is not always better either!

twitter.com/botanygeek/status/1455074854017933316?s=21 Thread for thought.

Eating in season, buying regularly and only what you’ll eat is smart.

@ rrhuth I just found a build your own box site, and for onions, potatoes, spring onions,mushrooms, leeks, tomatoes and sugar snap peas the price came to £15.15. priced up the same on sainsburys and it came to £6.49

It’s so prohibitively expensive to do it that way that it’s just not worth doing if you’re on a budget.

TBH it also doesn’t help that you can e.g. never buy loose potatoes in the supermarket any more meaning you get an awful lot of waste there as well.

Wear clothes several times before they go for a wash, only my pants get one wear. Towels and bedding get washed every 2 weeks.