Do you do anything in particular to lead a more environmentally friendly lifestyle?

[Tokis-Phoenix]

As the title says, Do you do anything in particular to lead a more environmentally friendly lifestyle ?


For me, the answer is certainly "yes"- some of the things that i do to lead a more environmentally friendly lifestyle are;

a. I recycle numerous waste products like cardboard, plastic and glass bottles, paper etc.

b. I avoid taking the car to travel whenever possible (as long as it is relatively practical to do so of course) and walk to and from places instead- i do this also for the sake of exercise/keeping fit as well .

c. I buy my food products from local sources whenever possible, and avoid food products which have been shipped long distances from abroad whenever possible.

d. If possible, I avoid buying food products which are wrapped in a lot of packaging.

e. I recycle waste food into compost in a compost bin in my garden.

f. I grow my own fruit, veg and herbs when the weather is good.

g. When i do water changes on my fish tanks/aquariums, i use the old water to water my plants.

h. I sweep the floors in my house rather than vacuum hoover them (when i re-decorated the house i opted for a minimal carpet but optimum lino and wooden floor look), only the carpets get hooved.

i. I used biodegradable/environmentally friendly cleaning products, i mostly use the Ecover range of products, everything from dishwasher tablets to surface spray cleaners etc.

j. I only buy free range & organic animal and non-animal food products products, although primarily for reasons of morality, i also understand that such products are more environmentally friendly to produce.

k. I never leave electrical items on "stand by" mode, when i'm done using them, they get turned off properly.



I'm sure there are more, but these are just some of the measures i can think of from the top of my head that i take to help lead a more environmentally friendly lifestyles .
IMHO Regardless of whether global warming exists or not, we still need to look after our environment at the end of the day, because it is suffering under our human civilizations and it is very important to maintain prosperity of our environments etc .

Do you do anything in particular to lead a more environmentally friendly lifestyle, and if so, what sorts of things do you do to make this so (and if you don't do anything in particular to help lead a more environmentally friendly lifestyle, please state reasons as to why if you have any in particular ) ?

 

[kameron]

Woah, you're doing great for the environment, Tokis-Phoenix. Makes me look like a bum.

My contributions to a more enviro-friendly lifestyle are:
a. catching the bus everyday instead of driving (i would walk if i wasn't 1 hour from the CBD)
b. anything that can be recycled gets put in the recycling bin
c. never use sprinklers, take shorter showers (for the drought)
d. I switch off electrical items rather than put them in standby mode
e. I listen to the radio rather than watch TV

well, five things...I guess I could do more to help the environment >< I would like to buy eco-friendly/recycled products but I'm usually not in charge of the shopping.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Ah you give me too much praise Kameron , there's more that i know i could be doing for the environment but that i'm not really doing enough about- for example i do probably watch too much tv and spend too much time on the computer for my own good, and there are times after i've showered when i use the hairdryer to dry my hair when i could just let it dry off naturally, and i do dote a lot of money on makeup or beauty products (which are probably very un-environmentally friendly to produce), but heh, can't be perfect !

I still want to live a life of comfort, i don't want to turn into some tree dwelling hippie who has no electricity or running water (although it would probably be great for the environment), but whenever i can make little changes to my lifestyle that don't take much change or effort to do, i do them whenever possible .

 

[Sarapva]

... i don't want to turn into some tree dwelling hippie who has no electricity or running water (although it would probably be great for the environment...

I've actually done this for about 5 years, quite a while ago when I was in my 20s. For the first year it was a real adventure, but after that it just became hard work. I could understand how people in earlier times died early from working too hard.

Now I recycle whatever I can (and here where I live the only things we can't recycle are certain plastics), reuse things instead of throwing something away that's still usable, use the least amount of water possible (and like you, T.P., when I had a fish tank I used the water to water plants with - good fertilizer!).

I use cloth bags to take to the grocery store now, where we get a 5-cent discount instead of using their plastic or paper bags. Unfortunately, there aren't many places we can walk here instead of using cars, but my car has good gas mileage. I also don't buy new cars - this car is now 13 years old. My last one I drove until it was over 20 years old!

I'm planning to eventually have a compost toilet instead of a flush toilet. During my time in Alaska without plumbing or electricity, we used a compost toilet and it's one of the most simple and usable things I've ever seen. Not one of the expensive ones you buy - just a 5-gallon bucket and a toilet seat, maybe a wooden frame around the bucket, and a store of dirt or other material to cover with. When the bucket is full you take it out to a compost pile and cover it with more dirt. There is no smell when using dirt or other organic material to cover it. Then after about a year you can use the compost, as it's turned into regular soil. (Sorry about this subject, but it fits so well in the environmentally-friendly topic!)

 

[Mars Man]

This thread is very border-line...Serious Discussion/Chit Chat & Miscellaneous...since it is just sharing personal matters, rather than making arguments or presentation for a certain position. So I had a hard time making up my mind if it were in the right location. I guess it'll stay here.

I never use weed killer (like Round Up) which the others in my area use, during the growing season...or at any time, for that matter. It's more work mowing the lawns, and using the weed eater to cut the weeds, and using the hoe in the garden...but it's surely better for the ecology in the immediate arena. Now, if I did all the grass cutting by hand rather than gasoline powered equipment, it would be even better...I know...for the over all environment, but there is a pay-balance, I reaon, and so continue to do so.

I try to be careful with my automobile usage, but living way out here where I do, I have little choice but to crank up my ole six-cylinder, and putt-putt off down the hill almost every day.

 

[Revenant]

I limit my driving, drive a car that gets 16km/litre, eat vegan at home, and limit my consumption to just the necessities and a few extras. That's about it for now. Someday I'd like to build a Passive house with green technology.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I never use weed killer (like Round Up) which the others in my area use, during the growing season...or at any time, for that matter. It's more work mowing the lawns, and using the weed eater to cut the weeds, and using the hoe in the garden...but it's surely better for the ecology in the immediate arena. Now, if I did all the grass cutting by hand rather than gasoline powered equipment, it would be even better...I know...for the over all environment, but there is a pay-balance, I reaon, and so continue to do so.

Same here, i never use pesticides, herbicides or synthetic/artificial fertilizers etc in my garden.
Round Up is not only very bad for the environment, its also actually very toxic to people too, many people unfortunately don't realize this though (i'm sure if they did it would be less abundantly used)- it can cause fetus's to have abnormalities, disrupt the flow of testosterone, can cause genetic damage and cancer etc. Its also highly toxic to aquatic life and stays in the soil for years, and weeds can also build up a resistance to the stuff, making its primary purpose useless.

It hasn't really been in use though long enough for us to see the greater cost of its long term effects in long term usage though, either way though i don't trust the stuff nor agree with its use.


With my own garden, i have planted a lot of the plants with the purpose of encouraging wildlife into my garden in mind. I also regularly feed the wild birds, i really enjoy hearing the frogs singing in my pond at dawn and dusk and hearing the bird singing away and stuff .
There are some endangered animals that live around my area, like slow worms (snake/lizard like creatures), which i try to make some habitat for too in my garden. I also bought a bumblebee nest box too not long ago which i hope to put out i my garden soon- i've seen a lot of hedgehogs around my area too, so i was thinking about buying or making a hedgehog house as well for the garden .

Actually i had a pretty cool experience the other day- while i was doing some gardening and taking some weeds out, this blackbird kept on making lots of noise at me. At first i thought maybe i was near its nest or something, but i couldn't see a nest anywhere- i then realized that it was looking at this fat worm next to me that had just come out of the soil. This wild blackbird came right up to me, quite literally just a few inches in front on me, and grabbed this worm- after that for the rest of the day it hung around me eating worms and stuff. Anyway, i thought it was pretty cool, its nice to be so close to wildlife and experience moments like this with wild animals .