Following on from another thread who is the 'saintliest' environmental mumsnetter?

[Lauriefairycake]

I don't fly anywhere (last time 5 years ago)

Have two old, crappy cars (1.2 engines) only used if necessary (luckily live in town centre)

Have hideous low energy bulbs in every light fitting

Have allotment (got it at end of last season so not grown anything yet)

Keep chickens

Try to buy less stuff (not great at this)

Buy local wherever possible and use independant shops wherever I can

Buy meat only twice a week at most(and always free rang)

Don't buy imported fruit/veg

Recycle whatever I can - green bin always totally full

we have solar panel (for heating water)
wood burning stove (which is fuelled with waste wood only) one oil heater and a cold 3 bed. house
I don't drive and rarely use public transport (because I live in the country and it is sooo limited) so I...
cycle or walk
we have hens (who eat any waste food)
veg patch/fruit trees and bushes
haven't flown in 5+ years (and have only flown about 5 times in my life)
use eco cleaning products
hang washing out on the line

CaptainKarvol your inlaws sound lovely

It must be me.

Good:
one 5 seater car for 6 people, rarely used and driven eco-carefully.
nearly always cycle or walk for shopping
grow some veg
try to let a little of garden go wild for wildlife
compost lots
recycle and reuse like crazy, very creatively, like using old bread bags when buying vegetables
only use ~40 litres water per person per day
no tumble drier
minimal heating and wood-burning stove (about 50% waste wood)
wind-turbine
lots of insulation, low energy bulbs
buy most things 2nd-hand, buy little ever
use local shops and services if at all possible/practical
Buy organic milk products
Mostly use eco-friendly household products and non perfumed toiletries
Mostly washable nappies
Mostly cook from scratch
Boycott Nestle, nasty companies in the bananas war, buy Fair Trade sometimes

Bad:
We all fly transatlantic about every 2 years (guess that obliterates all the Goods! )
Eat meat
Am not concerned about food miles, if DS2 wants strawberries in January he gets them
Consume milk products (I hate the way cows are treated)
Dishwasher
Don't make own yogurt or bread (tried but hated it)
1-2 Take-aways every week

Biggest first

We have a Rayburn which means virtually all our heating, hot water and cooking and clothes drying is done on wood gathered and chopped by us. Sustainable, renewable, wood. (I say us, I mean dh really.) Also as the hot water is 'free' it means I usually wash up rather than using the dishwasher.

Have allotment.

Never fly.

Vegetarian.

Organic veg box delivered.

Recycle.

Compost.

Saving up for solar panels to suplement energy needs as the wood chopping is one hell of a committment.

I'm new to Mumsnet, can I play?

Good

• I walk to work and DH cycles to work
• We have a vegetable patch in our London garden and grow veg, herbs and salad
• If we can get somewhere by train rather than plane we do (eg Scotland, France, Spain)
• I compost food waste and recycle
• Get a veg box delivered & avoid EvilTesco
• Buy some high street clothes but try to avoid ones who use sweatshops. I wear a lot of PeopleTree, Howies and charity shop clothes. (not really a hardship as the charity shops round my way have awesome stuff).
• Eat meat very occasionally (like once every 3 weeks) and never fast food or cheap factory meat, only meat that's had been humanely reared.
• No washing machine, tumbledryer or telly

Bad

• Fly long distance about once every 18 months (my mum lives abroad).
• Had a big fuck off expensive wedding.
• Addicted to using kitchen towel. I know it's wasteful but it's so handy for cleaning up cat puke!
• Heating our draughty Victorian conversion of a flat in winter.

Just rereading that and not quite sure how not having a telly is saintly and environmental, apart from the fact that I never see adverts so I don't want new stuff all the time.

Nah Riven you ike me fall down on the 4 kids fact though the rest of your lifestyle is probably loads better than mine

It really needs indepth analysis and is dependent on little things such as 4 or 5 minutes in the shower for each family member and how that water was heated what products they used in that shower, what they did with the grey water etc etc.

We can but try