Author Topic: Reduce your environmental impact 2019  (Read 25102 times)

A mom

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #150 on: June 30, 2019, 06:27:13 PM »
So far, so good, with the ebike. Left the car parked for a full six days last week. Saturdays I will still have to drive my disabled son around, so that will be about 25 miles per week. And I have to drive to another city at least once a month, so that will average around 80 miles per month. Over the life of the car, I have averaged about 550 miles per month, so if I could keep it below 200, that would be good.

Hirondelle

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #151 on: July 01, 2019, 04:42:17 AM »
Took a step in reducing plastic. I traveled to a country where tap water isn't drinkable, so I got a filter bottle which will allow me to drink the tap water, eliminating the need to buy small plastic bottles. It felt good to not be buying any plastic bottles during the trip, although I didn't avoid it for the complete 100% (once forgot the bottle, once didn't have an opportunity to fill it and once wanted COLD water).

dashuk

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #152 on: July 03, 2019, 05:07:05 AM »
Half way through the year.

Transport stuff:


Miles I've cycled so far this year - 2431
Miles our family car has moved - 1315

Cycling is about 10% just for fun, 90% going places, 75% commuting.

Driving is dominated by the two big 500 mile round trips (one to friends, one to in-laws) we've made so far this year. Two more trips to in-laws planned this year. We've got our other car mileage down to something like 50 miles a month.

Unlike last year, we have done a standalone trip to my parents (as well as seeing them on the way to the in-laws), but we managed to take the train, rather than 200 miles round trip in the car.

I think we've made some progress on internalising not using the car and dwelling less on relative cost of trains/buses. What's the point being (marginally more) rich on a dead planet?

So well on track for targets upthread (no driving to work, <3000 car miles). But is it good enough? Still 0.7t CO2 to do 3000 miles even in a Yaris, but getting kids and stuff to in-laws is another level of public transport logistics, and quite limiting on doing stuff while there.

TLDR: Frustratingly trapped in the tyranny of car ownership

Food:

Still somewhere between vegetarian and vegan (kids have more dairy, adults very little).

Trying to buy more organic and get more seasonal rather than lazy eating the same stuff year round without really paying attention to origin. Am more or less treating 'Western Europe' as a hard boundary and UK as a strong preference. Throws up some interesting questions about what is 'least harm' - organic spinach from Italy, or non-organic from within the UK? Then add in loose vs plastic wrapped to the mix.

In the last few weeks, we've acquired an allotment (not sure how much of a thing that is in US, so https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allotment_(gardening)). Way more space than we have at home, so might eventually make a dent in food miles and food packaging.

TLDR: Going pretty well

Domestic energy:

Not really made progress on this front. Do now have six months worth of regular readings, and some idea how our annual gas use breaks down into hot water vs space heating. Roughly:

 - 2000kWh electric
 - 2000kWh gas for hot water
 - 8000kWh gas for space heating

Total gas use gives about 2t CO2 pa, so 0.4t water, 1.6t heat.

Notionally electric is 100% renewable, but the supplier isn't building any windfarms, so aside from a bit of demand stimulus we're basically just buying the clean bits of the same old UK energy mix and leaving the dirty bits for people on non-green tariffs. Honest assessment is probably 0.6t CO2 pa as the UK grid gets pretty dirty in the winter.

What to do, what to do?

Loft insulation upgrade, as per my original post, is a must-do before the heating comes on again. Don't think there's other easy wins on reducing usage.

I think the long-term answer is some combination of heat pump, heat storage, and solar PV.

Could easily fit enough solar on the roof to exceed current electricity usage over the course of a year, although would end up exporting a lot in summer and importing in winter and still using a lot of gas. Also involves designing a loft conversion we're not expecting to need to do for a decade and a bit of prework taking a chimney stack down and putting roof windows in now so we don't end up having to move panels.

Straight up swap of the gas boiler for an air-source heat pump is probably the right first step, but there's a bit of me that would quite like to get rid of the wet central heating (just for maintenance hassle/disaster potential), and investing in an ASHP would lock that in.

Phase change heat batteries are really interesting, and might be a good way of getting the hot water off gas while also fixing some non-environmental shortcomings of the system - ridiculous length of piping from boiler to any taps, plus start-up time of the boiler means a lot of water wasted waiting for it to get hot. But new tech/early adoption issues.

TLDR: Decision fatigue


Consumption of stuff:

Feels like too much, but not really tracking it well enough to figure out where it's going.

TDLR: Meh

Hirondelle

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #153 on: July 03, 2019, 05:29:28 AM »
So many great steps @dashuk! As your 2nd car only drives about 50 miles/month, would it be an option to ditch it completely? I can imagine 50 miles of extra trains/busses or even Uber/taxi/carshare may be cheaper than maintenance + registration + insurance.

dashuk

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #154 on: July 03, 2019, 07:03:39 AM »
Sorry, by 'other car mileage', I meant mileage that isn't those four big trips per year. We only have one car.

We wouldn't keep a car for 50 miles per month of local miles, it would be gone by now and we'd find alternatives - I can cycle to a car club car within 30 mins for stuff that can't be done by any other means.

It's the four 500mi round trips that force us to keep it. We're working up to doing at least some of them by public transport, but not there yet. Getting to the in-laws would be two trains plus an hour on a rural bus service, basically all day with 5yo and 2yo plus luggage in tow. I'm fine with paying for the train, as it actually has some environmental benefit. But sitting on a hire car for 3-4 weeks a year is more expensive even than the train, and likely environmentally worse as would be a bigger, newer car. So for the minute, ours stays.

Hirondelle

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #155 on: July 03, 2019, 07:25:09 AM »
Ah ok then I misunderstood! I thought you talked about 1 car that you did most driving with including the big trips and a the remaining 50 miles with a 2nd car. I totally get that going to the in laws by public transport in that case would be a pain, especially with the kids.

dashuk

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #156 on: July 08, 2019, 11:29:25 AM »
Notionally electric is 100% renewable, but the supplier isn't building any windfarms, so aside from a bit of demand stimulus we're basically just buying the clean bits of the same old UK energy mix and leaving the dirty bits for people on non-green tariffs.

Today I learnt that the parent company of our energy provider is actually the biggest owner of solar farms in the UK - so actually there is a slightly more direct link between us choosing a green tariff and more renewables getting built.

Nevertheless, reducing demand still best.

A mom

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #157 on: July 10, 2019, 08:58:07 AM »
maybe many of you knew this already, but I just learned it. I have always thrown away clothing that is worn out or stained, instead of giving it to Goodwill. But it turns out that it’s actually better to give it to Goodwill because it will then be recycled as something like furniture stuffing instead of being sent to the landfill where natural fibers will eventually decompose and produce methane. I even called my local Goodwill to confirm this. So this will be a change in my behavior going forward . I’m sure they’d appreciate having things sorted and labeled as unwearable though.

JoshuaSpodek

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #158 on: July 10, 2019, 09:58:48 AM »
maybe many of you knew this already, but I just learned it. I have always thrown away clothing that is worn out or stained, instead of giving it to Goodwill. But it turns out that it’s actually better to give it to Goodwill because it will then be recycled as something like furniture stuffing instead of being sent to the landfill where natural fibers will eventually decompose and produce methane. I even called my local Goodwill to confirm this. So this will be a change in my behavior going forward . I’m sure they’d appreciate having things sorted and labeled as unwearable though.

If you appreciate learning about clothing, you might like The True Cost, a documentary on clothes, available free here: https://thoughtmaybe.com/the-true-cost. The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDx711ibD1M.

It will change your views on clothes. I've shopped almost exclusively at thrift shops since. Coincidentally, this weekend I'm visiting my mom and scheduled a sewing lesson.

Roots&Wings

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #159 on: July 10, 2019, 11:52:21 AM »
maybe many of you knew this already, but I just learned it. I have always thrown away clothing that is worn out or stained, instead of giving it to Goodwill. But it turns out that it’s actually better to give it to Goodwill because it will then be recycled as something like furniture stuffing instead of being sent to the landfill where natural fibers will eventually decompose and produce methane. I even called my local Goodwill to confirm this. So this will be a change in my behavior going forward . I’m sure they’d appreciate having things sorted and labeled as unwearable though.

If you appreciate learning about clothing, you might like The True Cost, a documentary on clothes, available free here: https://thoughtmaybe.com/the-true-cost. The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDx711ibD1M.

It will change your views on clothes. I've shopped almost exclusively at thrift shops since. Coincidentally, this weekend I'm visiting my mom and scheduled a sewing lesson.

+1 The True Cost is well worth watching, and eye opening too about where the thrift store cast offs end up, in case anyone uses that as justification for buying new stuff ("oh, I'll just donate it when I'm done with it").

RetiredAt63

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #160 on: July 10, 2019, 11:53:53 AM »

So well on track for targets upthread (no driving to work, <3000 car miles). But is it good enough? Still 0.7t CO2 to do 3000 miles even in a Yaris, but getting kids and stuff to in-laws is another level of public transport logistics, and quite limiting on doing stuff while there.

Would renting a car for those trips work?

A mom

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #161 on: July 10, 2019, 04:10:16 PM »
maybe many of you knew this already, but I just learned it. I have always thrown away clothing that is worn out or stained, instead of giving it to Goodwill. But it turns out that it’s actually better to give it to Goodwill because it will then be recycled as something like furniture stuffing instead of being sent to the landfill where natural fibers will eventually decompose and produce methane. I even called my local Goodwill to confirm this. So this will be a change in my behavior going forward . I’m sure they’d appreciate having things sorted and labeled as unwearable though.

If you appreciate learning about clothing, you might like The True Cost, a documentary on clothes, available free here: https://thoughtmaybe.com/the-true-cost. The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDx711ibD1M.

It will change your views on clothes. I've shopped almost exclusively at thrift shops since. Coincidentally, this weekend I'm visiting my mom and scheduled a sewing lesson.

Thanks, Joshua. Did watch the trailer. I don't buy a lot of clothes (living in a 1950s house with small closets makes that kind of a necessity). I usually wear things until they wear out, and I do buy some things second-hand, but that tends to be work-out or work in yard clothes. If i want to look "nice" i find it hard to find clothes that are flattering in thrift shops. BUT, that trailer has inspired me to work harder at avoiding new. I will see if I can alter used clothes to look better on me. I am not into fashion at all, I just want to look respectable.

Also, recently watched the video of you cooking vegetable stew in your pressure cooker. Very tempted to try, but don't own a pressure cooker, pretty sure my husband will refuse to eat it anyway... It was fun to watch, though, and the wheels are turning in my head to come up with healthy, earth friendly food that will actually get eaten. So thanks for what  you are doing.

dashuk

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #162 on: July 11, 2019, 12:06:06 AM »

So well on track for targets upthread (no driving to work, <3000 car miles). But is it good enough? Still 0.7t CO2 to do 3000 miles even in a Yaris, but getting kids and stuff to in-laws is another level of public transport logistics, and quite limiting on doing stuff while there.

Would renting a car for those trips work?

Low end of hire car would be £30/day, and £40 might be more realistic. Those trips add up to about a month of the year, so £900-1200.

Insurance, tax, service parts for the car ~£500/year. Ten year old Yaris, so not depreciating very fast, sale value pretty low.

It probably gets close enough that we wouldn't sink money into replacing it if it wears out before we crack using the train for the big trips. But not close enough to run out and sell it.

From the point of view of this thread, there's no tangible environmental benefit -we'd be doing those miles in a bigger, newer car. Into questions like "would feeding our car into the bottom of the used market eventually trickle up to one fewer person buying a new car?.

afterthedark

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #163 on: July 11, 2019, 12:54:25 AM »
Notionally electric is 100% renewable, but the supplier isn't building any windfarms, so aside from a bit of demand stimulus we're basically just buying the clean bits of the same old UK energy mix and leaving the dirty bits for people on non-green tariffs.

Today I learnt that the parent company of our energy provider is actually the biggest owner of solar farms in the UK - so actually there is a slightly more direct link between us choosing a green tariff and more renewables getting built.

Nevertheless, reducing demand still best.

Just to throw another suggestion into the soup of decision fatigue, I get my electricity and gas from Good Energy. The electricity is 100% renewable and they do invest in new schemes including Swansea Bay tidal scheme (finally a big tidal scheme in the UK). The gas is 6% biogas, and the rest they currently offset, but even that 6% is better than any of the other energy companies as far as I’m aware. They also buy from individuals so if you do get pv at some point that might be worth looking at for evening out your supply and demand.

I haven’t checked for a while but I’m sure they are more expensive than the bigger companies, which can obviously be a consideration. As you said the important step lots of people miss out is using less energy in the first place and insulation etc.

JoshuaSpodek

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #164 on: July 11, 2019, 10:13:42 AM »
maybe many of you knew this already, but I just learned it. I have always thrown away clothing that is worn out or stained, instead of giving it to Goodwill. But it turns out that it’s actually better to give it to Goodwill because it will then be recycled as something like furniture stuffing instead of being sent to the landfill where natural fibers will eventually decompose and produce methane. I even called my local Goodwill to confirm this. So this will be a change in my behavior going forward . I’m sure they’d appreciate having things sorted and labeled as unwearable though.

If you appreciate learning about clothing, you might like The True Cost, a documentary on clothes, available free here: https://thoughtmaybe.com/the-true-cost. The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDx711ibD1M.

It will change your views on clothes. I've shopped almost exclusively at thrift shops since. Coincidentally, this weekend I'm visiting my mom and scheduled a sewing lesson.

Thanks, Joshua. Did watch the trailer. I don't buy a lot of clothes (living in a 1950s house with small closets makes that kind of a necessity). I usually wear things until they wear out, and I do buy some things second-hand, but that tends to be work-out or work in yard clothes. If i want to look "nice" i find it hard to find clothes that are flattering in thrift shops. BUT, that trailer has inspired me to work harder at avoiding new. I will see if I can alter used clothes to look better on me. I am not into fashion at all, I just want to look respectable.

Also, recently watched the video of you cooking vegetable stew in your pressure cooker. Very tempted to try, but don't own a pressure cooker, pretty sure my husband will refuse to eat it anyway... It was fun to watch, though, and the wheels are turning in my head to come up with healthy, earth friendly food that will actually get eaten. So thanks for what  you are doing.

I'll say you're welcome because you said thank you, but I'm just sharing what I've found that happens to save time and money, create community, and taste great.

Used versions of my pressure cooker (which I bought used) are about $80 with shipping. Near me Craig's List has maybe 20 for less.

These posts augment the video and got a few people started:

- My famous no-packaging vegetable stew formula, take 1

- My famous no-packaging vegetable stew formula, take 2

My nieces and nephew are picky eaters with many food allergies and they like the stews.

former player

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #165 on: July 17, 2019, 04:33:15 AM »
Investigated the new no plastics food shop in town and I will be able to cut down on some plastic food packaging.  Bought a shampoo bar so if it works well enough (and I'm not exactly fussy about my hair) that's one plastic bottle that should never need to be replaced in my lifetime.

I thought I wan't using all that much plastic, but when I look around I have liquid soap in a push pump bottle, and my shampoo and conditioner are in plastic bottles.  I use real soap for washing.  The basic issue is, solids do not need to be in plastic bottles, but liquids need to be in bottles, and almost all those bottles are plastic, not glass.  So back to solids it is as the liquids get used up.  Hmm, the only exception (what is the alternative?) is dish-washing liquid.  There is powdered laundry detergent, and powdered dish-washer detergent, but I have never seen powdered dish-washing soap.

I'd love to know how the shampoo bar does for you, and if you miss having conditioner, or if you not need a conditioner.

The shampoo bar is going great, and as @chaskavitch said it seems to last forever. I'm still using up the conditioner bottle I had before switching and have reduced how much I use with no ill effects.

The no plastics food/household store is looking at bringing a van out to my rural locality once a fortnight: together with using the local farmer's veg stall that will save on driving into town.

My big win this month has been less than £10 of electricity used, in a house that is all electric (renewables tariff).  No heating or cooling (the summer weather has helped a lot on that), clothes washing on cold and hanging outside to dry, showers instead of baths, turning off everything at the plug when not in use.  Winter will be different, because my old dog's bones will need to be kept warm, but I can keep on with all the other behaviours with no difficulty.

Plina

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #166 on: July 17, 2019, 05:05:01 AM »
Investigated the new no plastics food shop in town and I will be able to cut down on some plastic food packaging.  Bought a shampoo bar so if it works well enough (and I'm not exactly fussy about my hair) that's one plastic bottle that should never need to be replaced in my lifetime.

I thought I wan't using all that much plastic, but when I look around I have liquid soap in a push pump bottle, and my shampoo and conditioner are in plastic bottles.  I use real soap for washing.  The basic issue is, solids do not need to be in plastic bottles, but liquids need to be in bottles, and almost all those bottles are plastic, not glass.  So back to solids it is as the liquids get used up.  Hmm, the only exception (what is the alternative?) is dish-washing liquid.  There is powdered laundry detergent, and powdered dish-washer detergent, but I have never seen powdered dish-washing soap.

I'd love to know how the shampoo bar does for you, and if you miss having conditioner, or if you not need a conditioner.

The shampoo bar is going great, and as @chaskavitch said it seems to last forever. I'm still using up the conditioner bottle I had before switching and have reduced how much I use with no ill effects.

The no plastics food/household store is looking at bringing a van out to my rural locality once a fortnight: together with using the local farmer's veg stall that will save on driving into town.

My big win this month has been less than £10 of electricity used, in a house that is all electric (renewables tariff).  No heating or cooling (the summer weather has helped a lot on that), clothes washing on cold and hanging outside to dry, showers instead of baths, turning off everything at the plug when not in use.  Winter will be different, because my old dog's bones will need to be kept warm, but I can keep on with all the other behaviours with no difficulty.

You can buy conditioner bars if you need conditioner. I cut my hair short so I will probably eliminate altogether the conditioner when my bar is finshed. I really like the schampoo bar and are only emptying my current schampoobottle before going totally over to schampoo, conditioner and soap bars. My goal for the next purchase is to find ones without palmoil because it is an industry that I don’t want to support.

Frugal Lizard

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #167 on: July 17, 2019, 06:30:45 AM »
We just started the next big project to move our house to net zero.  The house was built in '69 and is a u-shaped floor plan which means it has the most exterior walls possible to enclose the floor space.  This week instead of a spendy vacation somewhere exotic, we are going to insulate a large portion of the basement.  The infra-red photos showed the west wall of the basement with the same heat loss as the windows, one big long fuchsia strip - except for the little rings where the spray foam was filling the gaps around the windows.  Hubs has been doing the research and the plan is to:  rigid foam insulation against the concrete with tape and then roxul bats in a framed wall that doesn't touch the foam. Then drywall for fire protection. 
We are surviving the humidity without AC - because we have no choice - in our quest to get the house to net zero we won't be installing it.  Once the drywall is up, most of our basement will be living space.  We will set up spaces that can have beds for the really hot nights.  Our master bedroom is in the basement so we don't notice the heat but the kids are finding their rooms hot.  It should get better though when we get their walls insulated properly too!  I am hoping we can do one of them this fall when the kid moves out for university.
We have also been doing great on reducing food waste and plastic coming into the house.
My garden is producing lovely fresh vegetables and I am reusing a ton of stuff to make barricades to keep out the critters and to hold up the vines.
Clothes dryer is sitting idle while the lines are in constant use.
We had a dry spell and the rain barrels got totally empty so I watered with city water twice at home and five times at the veg garden.
I planted 72 native perennials in my garden this spring to landscape a large area that was bare. 
We removed 30 face feet of railway tie retaining wall and replaced it with a rockery that the chipmunks love.  The ties are going to the toxic waste at the sorting plant.
We cleaned up all the rotting shed and have sorted all materials (except for all the nails in the wood).  We are taking it to the sorting plant instead of just ordering a dumpster and hauling it away to landfill.

A mom

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #168 on: July 31, 2019, 03:34:56 PM »
It's the end of July and have put only 172 miles on my car this month, which is nowhere near dashuk's level, but a significant improvement over my previous average of 550/month. I used the car only when I needed to transport another person or a cat. :) Have been using the ebike for everything else and feel great!

dashuk

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #169 on: August 06, 2019, 07:28:50 AM »
We just started the next big project to move our house to net zero. 

Sounds like a really interesting project. Retrofit is complicated.

It's the end of July and have put only 172 miles on my car this month, which is nowhere near dashuk's level, but a significant improvement over my previous average of 550/month. I used the car only when I needed to transport another person or a cat. :) Have been using the ebike for everything else and feel great!

It's pretty much spot on our mean monthly mileage for the year to end July - just that we have a few 550 mile months in amongst the <50 mile norm. July was 36 miles, but August will be another trip to the in-laws.

Really glad the eBike is working out for you!
« Last Edit: August 06, 2019, 07:32:14 AM by dashuk »

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #170 on: August 06, 2019, 07:42:18 AM »
DH read an article in the newspaper about meat consumption being horrible for the environment so we've decided to eat meat only once a week and fish also once a week.  We weren't huge meat eaters before (probably ate it 3 times a week before including chicken and ham/bacon) but it's nice to cut back.  We also need in increase our consumption of beans and lentils to make sure we're getting enough protein. 

imadandylion

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #171 on: August 14, 2019, 11:36:23 PM »
DH read an article in the newspaper about meat consumption being horrible for the environment so we've decided to eat meat only once a week and fish also once a week.  We weren't huge meat eaters before (probably ate it 3 times a week before including chicken and ham/bacon) but it's nice to cut back.  We also need in increase our consumption of beans and lentils to make sure we're getting enough protein.

Kudos to both of you!!

Raenia

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #172 on: August 15, 2019, 05:46:54 AM »
I forgot to post here when we finally got our compost tumbler set up!  Looking forward to generating some lovely compost for next year's garden, as well as savings from not having to take out the trash as often, as it won't have much in it to get smelly (we hardly ever fill the bag, so odor is the determiner of when we take it out).

dashuk

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #173 on: August 15, 2019, 07:35:24 AM »
DH read an article in the newspaper about meat consumption being horrible for the environment so we've decided to eat meat only once a week and fish also once a week.  We weren't huge meat eaters before (probably ate it 3 times a week before including chicken and ham/bacon) but it's nice to cut back.  We also need in increase our consumption of beans and lentils to make sure we're getting enough protein.

Kudos to both of you!!

Seconded.

This is how we arrived at a household of (pretty much) vegan adults and vegetarian kids.

"Let's try and eat a bit less meat"

"This seems to be going fine, what if we added another meat-free evening meal?"

"How about we just have fish once a week and no land meat?"

"Oh look, we're vegetarian now, maybe we should try and cut back on the dairy?"

"Hey, we've never really talked about this with either set of parents, just eaten whatever they fed us when we visit, but maybe we should?"

And so on. Don't think either of us anticipated ending up here when we started, but it always seems logical and attainable to take the next little step.

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #174 on: August 15, 2019, 08:08:09 AM »
We're forced to use air conditioning during part of the season due to where we live, but we replaced our air conditioning unit and it immediately reduced our summertime energy usage by 38%. We're also improving our house's insulation and using eco-friendly mineral wool in replacement of fiberglass insulation in the process. I'll let everyone know how that turns out as well.

Next year's big project is going to be replacing our 43-year-old windows. We toured an eco-conscious model house at the science museum where we have a membership, so we think we have some excellent ideas on how to replace the windows with environmentally-friendly and money-saving stuff. When we have the windows replaced, I also want to install several solar tubes for naturally lighting areas inside the house.

JoshuaSpodek

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #175 on: August 15, 2019, 09:34:37 AM »
I forgot to post here when we finally got our compost tumbler set up!  Looking forward to generating some lovely compost for next year's garden, as well as savings from not having to take out the trash as often, as it won't have much in it to get smelly (we hardly ever fill the bag, so odor is the determiner of when we take it out).

I predict another effect if it hasn't happened already, which is when shopping to favor more fresh fruits and vegetables and less packaged food, leading to yet less trash to take out, among other results.

Raenia

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #176 on: August 15, 2019, 10:42:05 AM »
I forgot to post here when we finally got our compost tumbler set up!  Looking forward to generating some lovely compost for next year's garden, as well as savings from not having to take out the trash as often, as it won't have much in it to get smelly (we hardly ever fill the bag, so odor is the determiner of when we take it out).

I predict another effect if it hasn't happened already, which is when shopping to favor more fresh fruits and vegetables and less packaged food, leading to yet less trash to take out, among other results.

We already buy mostly fresh produce and bulk dry goods, and very little packaged foods.  Anything more would involve a lot more time investment cooking, but I'm working on that too :)  Trying to work up to making all our bread from scratch, and once I'm keeping up with that, adding on granola and yogurt to replace breakfast cereal (I eat overnight oats, but DH likes his cereals).

Today I remembered to save my plum pits and paper napkin from lunch, to throw in the compost when I get home.  Also remembered to bring in a mug and spoon for an ice cream event at work this afternoon, so I don't have to use plastic.

Prairie Moustache

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #177 on: August 15, 2019, 02:38:39 PM »
The concept of turning to veganism/vegetarianism and eating pulses cropped as a monoculture is something I still struggle with. I have markedly increased my intake of pulses to reduce my meat consumption for environmental reasons, but it's definitely not a magic fix to our problems. Does anyone have some good resources on the topic of land use and mass adoption of plant based diets? I'm aware of a few people in the Permaculture space that argue that a vegan in an urban centre eating monocultured crops from breadbasket areas (Canadian Prairies) and then disposing of their waste (sewage) into the ocean (Victoria, BC) or incinerating the organic matter (Montreal?) is ridiculous in a vein parallel to our emissions problem.

RetiredAt63

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #178 on: August 17, 2019, 05:12:35 PM »
The concept of turning to veganism/vegetarianism and eating pulses cropped as a monoculture is something I still struggle with. I have markedly increased my intake of pulses to reduce my meat consumption for environmental reasons, but it's definitely not a magic fix to our problems. Does anyone have some good resources on the topic of land use and mass adoption of plant based diets? I'm aware of a few people in the Permaculture space that argue that a vegan in an urban centre eating monocultured crops from breadbasket areas (Canadian Prairies) and then disposing of their waste (sewage) into the ocean (Victoria, BC) or incinerating the organic matter (Montreal?) is ridiculous in a vein parallel to our emissions problem.

There are huge problems with modern agriculture, both for plant crops and animals.  But it is not the plants or animals, it is the methods.  There is lots of good information on the web.  Look at mob grazing and carbon sequestration, for an example.  Or for something a bit less technical, read Joel Salatin's blog.

Plina

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #179 on: August 18, 2019, 02:08:50 AM »
The concept of turning to veganism/vegetarianism and eating pulses cropped as a monoculture is something I still struggle with. I have markedly increased my intake of pulses to reduce my meat consumption for environmental reasons, but it's definitely not a magic fix to our problems. Does anyone have some good resources on the topic of land use and mass adoption of plant based diets? I'm aware of a few people in the Permaculture space that argue that a vegan in an urban centre eating monocultured crops from breadbasket areas (Canadian Prairies) and then disposing of their waste (sewage) into the ocean (Victoria, BC) or incinerating the organic matter (Montreal?) is ridiculous in a vein parallel to our emissions problem.

Ipcc published a report a out landuse: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/srccl/

nessness

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #180 on: August 22, 2019, 02:47:55 PM »
Also, any recommendations for environmentally friendly cat litter?
I'll answer my own question from earlier this year - I've been using walnut shell cat litter for several weeks now and it works pretty well - not quite as good as traditional clay litter for odor control, but it clumps well and is a decent substitute.

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/blue-naturally-fresh-multi-cat-clumping-cat-litter

Also, the pet store employee recommended against the litter made out of wheat - she said it turned into mush and smelled disgusting as soon as her cat used it. Just in case anyone was thinking of trying that.

imadandylion

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #181 on: August 22, 2019, 06:51:23 PM »
I regularly use Swheat Scoop, which is wheat, and it doesn't turn into mush or smell IME, so maybe worth a shot? I have used it for 5 years.

nessness

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #182 on: August 23, 2019, 04:08:39 PM »
That's good to know! I'm not sure if that's the brand my store carries or not - I just googled Swheat scoop and it has really good reviews.

A mom

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #183 on: August 26, 2019, 01:12:56 PM »
I was worried that the wheat litter might attract mice. Any thoughts on that?

A mom

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #184 on: August 26, 2019, 01:14:51 PM »
I drove to visit my son this past weekend and used about three months worth of my driving budget. :( I think I can take the bus about 3/4 of the way there if I drive the first quarter, so will try to do that next time.

JoshuaSpodek

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #185 on: August 26, 2019, 02:33:33 PM »
I was worried that the wheat litter might attract mice. Any thoughts on that?

Get a cat?

A mom

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #186 on: August 26, 2019, 02:44:12 PM »
I was worried that the wheat litter might attract mice. Any thoughts on that?

Get a cat?

I sent him a strongly worded letter, but he still isn't meeting expectations in that department. :)

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #187 on: August 26, 2019, 03:07:27 PM »
I was worried that the wheat litter might attract mice. Any thoughts on that?

Get a cat?

I sent him a strongly worded letter, but he still isn't meeting expectations in that department. :)


GreenToTheCore

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #188 on: November 09, 2019, 07:55:28 PM »
-  DH brought a reusable container to the deli, guy had no problem putting the sticker on the container instead of using a ziplock bag.
- Re-used produce bags as dog poop bags

A mom

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #189 on: November 09, 2019, 08:09:44 PM »
-  DH brought a reusable container to the deli, guy had no problem putting the sticker on the container instead of using a ziplock bag.
- Re-used produce bags as dog poop bags

Good work.

I don’t have a dog, so I reuse my produce bags as produce bags. :)

Plina

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #190 on: November 09, 2019, 10:36:24 PM »
-  DH brought a reusable container to the deli, guy had no problem putting the sticker on the container instead of using a ziplock bag.
- Re-used produce bags as dog poop bags

Good work.

I don’t have a dog, so I reuse my produce bags as produce bags. :)

I have bought reusable producebags. I have used the producebags as garbagebags.

Hirondelle

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #191 on: November 10, 2019, 10:28:06 AM »
I have lately put a bit more effort in reducing my (plastic) waste, even if it costs a little more. I have started to always pick the unpacked veggie where available, even when there's a plastic-packed cheaper option. Also replaced my plastic (yet reused loads of times) grocery bag by a cloth one, which should be more durable and easier to wash when I've carried loose veggies/fruits or sth that leaks.

My flight-habits are still a disaster though. That's basically the only thing that keeps me (way) above my 'fair share of resources' (e.g. how many earths you need calculator).

Frugal Lizard

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #192 on: November 10, 2019, 10:35:02 AM »
Took containers to the shop for re-filling for rice, almonds, peanuts, cashews.

Used my electric vehicle for errands yesterday.

Last night for an outing we carpooled with an EV but walked home after the event.

RetiredAt63

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #193 on: November 10, 2019, 01:49:29 PM »
I have lately put a bit more effort in reducing my (plastic) waste, even if it costs a little more. I have started to always pick the unpacked veggie where available, even when there's a plastic-packed cheaper option. Also replaced my plastic (yet reused loads of times) grocery bag by a cloth one, which should be more durable and easier to wash when I've carried loose veggies/fruits or sth that leaks.

My flight-habits are still a disaster though. That's basically the only thing that keeps me (way) above my 'fair share of resources' (e.g. how many earths you need calculator).

This gets me too, especially this year when I am going to be taking a longer flight than usual.  Anyone know of good carbon-offset plans for Canadians?  David Suzuki's websites gives guidelines but not recommendations.

Poundwise

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #194 on: November 13, 2019, 10:12:36 PM »
I had french toast left over from breakfast, and instead of grabbing the plastic wrap, I used a sandwich holder.

There's a lady I know on the environmental committee at church, and I proposed that we try to reduce the amount of leaf blowing that the landscapers do on the property. I'm willing to organize the youth group to rake. She got very enthusiastic. I'm also going to bring this up to a mom that I know on the PTA too, regarding the school grounds.

Because,
Quote
To equal the hydrocarbon emissions of about a half-hour of yard work with this two-stroke leaf blower, you'd have to drive a Raptor for 3,887 miles, or the distance from Northern Texas to Anchorage, Alaska.
https://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/features/emissions-test-car-vs-truck-vs-leaf-blower.html

dashuk

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #195 on: January 02, 2020, 06:33:15 AM »
So, 2019 is done, anyone want to check back in?

For me:

Transport:

The two goals I wrote down last year were:

 - No private motor vehicle use for my commute
 - Get the family car mileage under 3000 miles.

Success on the commuting front. I went to the office about 130 times (I'm part time), 110 of which were cycling the full 30 mile round trip. Rest were part bike/part bus.

Final score on the car was an infuriating 3045 miles. A month ago I was convinced it was going to be under.

Other transport stuff - didn't fly, didn't have much business travel, but what there was I did mostly by train with one car-share, bought a longboard and did actually use it in a few transport situations where it was more convenient than a bike.

Food

Goal was a slightly woolly "closer to vegan", which we did. I think all that's left coming into the house is 4-6 pints of milk and a small tub of soft cheese a week. 5yo has whatever he wants for lunch at school, and both kids do on the odd occasions we eat out. OH and I will always eat at least veggie away from home now.

In other food stuff, we got an allotment mid-way through the year, and made pretty good progress on getting from a patch of weeds to something productive. I planted four fruit trees at home and helped plant another 30-odd to create a community orchard nearby. I also started buying dried beans/peas/pulses from a company which is focused on increasing farming of plant-based protein in the UK.


Domestic Energy

The good:

- We went through 2150kWh of electricity and 9400kWh of gas in 2019, which is slightly down on 2250/10000kWh in 2018.
- There's still a bit of finishing off to do, but most of the loft is now very well insulated.

The bad:

- I spent the whole year stuck in a massive decision-fatigue rut on what "big project" to do first to start making our house really sustainable. This shit is complicated. I have a bit of a better idea now, but ultimately, we sat on a big chunk of cash all year without doing anything.


former player

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #196 on: January 02, 2020, 07:27:39 AM »
Update on last year's projects -

1.  More insulation on the house - this is a work in progress at the moment. Done, and a big improvement in comfort (too soon to tell on energy use)
2.  Minimise plastics coming into the house.  This is primarily a food packaging issue, which can be resolved by taking my own bags/jars/wax wraps to the shops - (and we have a new food shop in town which has no plastic packaging that I need to investigate).A work in progress.  The bulk items shop now brings a van to my locality once a month which I'm using. I've also moved to bar shampoo and conditioner, so no more plastic bottles there.  None-recyclable waste is now a small bag once a week, to be improved on further.
3.  No palm oil (oh, Nutella) and replace soya milk with locally produced oat milk.I've cut out palm oil but not yet soya.
4.  Reduce car miles (currently about 5k a year). Just over 4k this year.  Again, a work in progess
5.  Grow food: currently only a few herbs, which has to change, but a big project to make my land accessible and productive. Land is cleared but apart from a few herbs and lots of blackberries getting it to produce might start this year.

Otherwise I've also managed a 15% drop in energy use at home (all renewables) mainly by reducing hot water usage and line-drying clothes.  Positive work for the environment has been continued volunteering on beach cleans and new volunteering on a woodland survey and a pollinator project. 

This year I need to continue to work on plastics, soya and car miles and make a start on a productive garden. Our parish council has declared a climate emergency and I need to ensure that it is followed through in our actions over the next year - we have a spend of £45k a year and input on local development, all of which should be aligned with that policy.

Syonyk

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #197 on: January 02, 2020, 09:53:25 AM »
So, 2019 is done, anyone want to check back in?

"Nothing of significance."  Annual energy emissions are roughly 8 tons CO2/yr, fairly stable from last year.  The truck dominates fuel use, even though it has very few miles driven annually, and the Urals now consume more than the car (Volt, so most of the trips into town are on battery - that's been a success, using about 70 gallons this year instead of the nearly 400 the previous car would use).  An electric motorcycle of some variety would reduce fuel use further, but short of building an electric Ural, which is more project than I really need at the moment, there's not much out there that's both affordable and covers my needs.  The kids aren't tall enough to ride on the back of a standard two wheeler, and the limited cargo capacity on them would mean I'm still taking a Ural frequently.  The sidecar is quite useful.

Unfortunately, long range BEVs are still quite expensive, and we do still take some longer trips every now and then.  Plus winter is a problem - we occasionally have temperatures below zero, which would make it questionable if a short range BEV could actually make it to town and back.  So... probably going to stick with the Volt for a while.  Fuel use is up due to the home school coop moving from fairly close to about a 45 minute drive away, which can't be done round trip on battery.

I did install 240V charging for the car, which will reduce winter evening battery use, but we still just put a lot of miles on (10k-12k/yr on the car).  My wife does a trip into town with the kids 3-4 days a week, and most of our activities involve heading into some town or another.  On the other hand, we're quite sane and happy out here.

Quote
- I spent the whole year stuck in a massive decision-fatigue rut on what "big project" to do first to start making our house really sustainable. This shit is complicated. I have a bit of a better idea now, but ultimately, we sat on a big chunk of cash all year without doing anything.

I did roughly the same, though mostly due to being trapped in red tape with solar permitting.  I wanted to do something complex, and the red tape that exists to fund the red tape just kept saying "No, it doesn't appear you meet the requirements of NEC 2017."  No details or anything, nothing actually helpful, beyond "No, try again."  So solar isn't in.  I'll do a crappy grid tie setup in the spring and get my backup power sorted out separately, instead of trying to do something grid friendly and combining them.  NEC ends at plugs, so I'm going to add plugs and a manual transfer switch.

So, 2019, another year of just consuming a lot of energy, producing zero for the grid, working from the property in a solar powered office.  No actual change.

(translate as "total and complete failure" as I have)

Frugal Lizard

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Re: Reduce your environmental impact 2019
« Reply #198 on: January 03, 2020, 07:43:30 AM »
Most of my work travel is now by train.
My Hubs commute is 6km round trip and is made 80% of the time in our BEV, 5% in our old acura, and 15% by bicycle.
We car pool or use the BEV for fetching our oldest from college where he lives on campus.  He comes home once a month for a rest weekend. 
Our daughter takes a school bus or car pools to high school.

40%of basement walls are now R24 up from R2 last year.  (The difference is already noticeable and we have yet to have some serious cold this winter)
10% of basement walls are still R2 - but are on tap for next summer.
The remainder are somewhere around R10.  We are currently debating the merits of thickening them up with studs and roxul - and capturing the opportunity to add more electrical receptacles.
Basement forced air heating is now more efficient with the abandonment of the poorly supplied in floor ducts (very little air came through the run and by the end it was only cold air.  The best we could do was some new 'whisper vents' of the main run.  The can pump out a lot of warm air but it is not near the big window so not idea.  Next solution would be to thicken the exterior wall to make it super warm and to make a screen to completely stop air leak up the chimney.

Main floor: 
Wall between house and garage is now R18.5.
Dining room is now R18.

Lots of air sealing happened.
New door between the kitchen and the garage.

Planning our 2020 vacation as a none flying holiday somewhere - currently looking at a combined drive / train trip.

Dialing down on food waste and increasing the percentage of plant foods in our diet.
Plastic waste is still being generated but the entire family is working on reducing.

We are eating something I grew and stored  or harvested from a farm at just about every meal - whether that is pickles or condiments or potatoes and canned fruit.  I am dreaming about my gardens for next year already.

Lighting in the garage is changed to LED's.

House is electrically ready for converting to 100% electrical heating once our natural gas furnace is done.  (new in 2011 so this is pretty far out)  We will be replacing the natural gas hot water tank with electric on demand system when existing tank is pooched) 

Most of my cooking is none done on the single induction cooking plate or our very ancient oven (1980's).  It is not a huge oven but it holds heat so well and my baking turns out great.  I like to bake. 

We have a great set up for drying clothes inside in the winter and outside in the spring summer and fall.  I do the laundry in the evening when power is cheaper (and cleaner) and then hang it up in the basement that night or outside first thing in the morning.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!