What do you/your family do for the environment? I am always looking for ways to lessen my environmental impact.
We recycle, reuse, freecycle, buy used, compost, properly dispose of batteries, electronics and medicines. We have bought high efficiency appliances, low flow toilets and shower heads. We practice selective flushing, do all laundry in cold, and only wash clothes when dirty. We don't use pesticides/herbicides in our yard, and try to use household chemicals sparingly. We try to walk or ride our bikes when feasable. I use reusable stuff in the kids lunch kits and reusable shopping bags. I only drive the van when I can't fit everyone/everything in the car. I usually get books and magazines from the library instead of buying, and try to borrow items we don't regularly use, like tools, instead of buying. We try not to have lights on in rooms when we aren't there. We've relaced our old Xmas lights with LED's. We use it up, wear it out or do without whenever we can!
What are your best practices? I would love to hear them!
Being frugal helps a lot when being environmental I find. Often the environmentally friendly ways of doing things are also the frugal ways to do things!
When you borrow an item as opposed to buying an item that is one less item that needs to be manufactured, transported and eventually disposed of.
Our local library collects batteries of all kids for recycling. It makes it much easier to recycle them.
We also replaced all of our windows and doors about five years ago, and reinsulated our attic last winter.
We have received many rebates from the city, provincial and federal governments as well as our utilities for making environmentally friendly upgrades.
Our kids school also does a recycling and composting program.
We also have a smaller home, so we spend less on heating, and I only turn the air on when it is very hot, about a week or two out of the year.
We bought our home to be close to schools. My kids can easily walk to the elementary, middle and high school. My husband can ride his bike to work in the summer, and has a very short drive in the winter.
When my kids and I go for walks in the neighborhood we take a shopping bag with us and pick up trash along the way. Every little bit helps. I teach my kids not to waste water, paper, food, etc. We cloth diapers and made my own baby food. I also support local farmers as much as possible. I teach my kids about plants, animals, and how we are all need to share the earth together :)
I strive for (but succeed in only about half) the things you mention, but my new favorite thing is writing letters. We live in a VERY behind the times area regarding recycling, and we go to GREAT effort to recycle (most of the people in our town don't bother and I can hardly blame them). We separate everything ourselves and haul it to a plant that's open once per week-pretty far away. I'm home alone most of the time with three kids so it's a major pain. The recycling really piles up some weeks for sure. Most local business DO NOT recycle and it's pretty darn lame when other parts of the country and world have recycling bins on every corner WITH trash cans...but anyway. Some of our FAVORITE restaurants STILL USE styrofoam (in 2012??!!?) and do not recycle. One of which is this incredible farm place we go to all the time with animals, corn maze etc, we take all our relatives and visitors there, they cater and do huge parties and country events-it's beautiful there....but I HATE the pit in my stomach EVERY TIME our food is served to outdoor picnic tables in huge styrofoam containers with plastic cups and plastic cutlery-all of which is dumped into the trash right after we eat. I can't imagine the volume of recyclables that get dumped in the trash at that pace. Same goes for several of our favorite places.
I started sending super supportive gushing letters to the owners about how much we love their places and food and love coming there frequently, but really hate that one aspect to their business. I phrase it in a way that is sympathetic to the expense and difficulty of recycling but that it would just be so great if they could manage it. I also have a sort of "community network" I started with a friend that is snowballing. We addressed this with some "connected" community members and they got a group of student volunteers to pick up recyclables from businesses once per week in a truck, and a couple of the businesses have actually started doing it!
I also take home way too many recyclables in my car each day to recycle (water bottles, dirty plastic to-go containers) rather than putting them in trash which drives my husband insane :)
This is going to sound snotty but it isn't, how does borrowing things help the environment? I can see it helping financially but my books go on my Kindle and my magazines go on my computer.
We swap tools with our neighbors but that again has to do with not wasting money on a tool I am going to use once, not the environment.
Pretty much we do a lot of what you do, if there is a better way we choose it.
Oh I replaced all the windows in a 15 year old house, well worth it but that was more about saving money too. Cut my utility bills more than half!
Hi! You've got a good list. If everyone just did something we would be better off. But please don't forget the larger picture. Be aware of what is going on around you. Be sure local industries are doing all they can do to not pollute our environment. Make sure your politicians know you oppose anti-environmental actions like fracking and strip mining. Encourage use solar and wind power in your community. Teach your children...
I have a transport business. I'm changing over to a hybrid-based fleet. Can't wait 'til some decent hydrogen cell vehicles are on the market!
At home all our lightbulbs have been changed over. We waste very little food, we have low-flow everything, recycle etc.
Well, my very best practice is that my husband works for an environmental organization. And I subsidize his wages with my job. Sometimes I think that counts for a lot, sometimes I think it's nothing at all.
Otherwise, let's see, we drive a fuel-efficient vehicle, which we share (one car for the family); walk and/or take public transit when feasible; recycle; compost (okay, honestly, he composts; I do it when he reminds me to); we try to buy used things rather than new, though that's less than consistent. Reusable shopping bags? check. Eco-friendly light bulbs? check. Biodegradale dish soap, laundry detergent, and all that. Oh, and lunchbox rather than disposable bags for the kid. Eco-friendly lawn care, and no deet in the bug spray.
But all told, I don't think we're anywhere near as good as you, especially when it comes to hot water issues. I'm really impressed with what you do!
Enviro nerd here so love these posts.
All water from my washing machine goes into a rain barrel which then waters my plants. Of course use biodegradable soap. Mostly line dry.
We don't buy plastic bags, use reusable.
We don't buy paper towels, use sponges and towels.
Take canvas bags to grocery store but if I do get brown bags, I shred and put in my compost.
Use compostable toothbrushes
Drive only when I have to, in my Prius.
No meat, grow our veggies organically
Compost, recycle, rarely use trash now
Old cartons can be containers or art projects
Learning to sew so I can use our old clothes for other things or maybe make a fun patchwork dress/apron for daughter
I feel like the best thing I can do is "brain wash": ) my daughter so that this life style will come naturally.
We keep the thermostat set to the highest and lowest we can handle. Try to be a lot more conscious about the water we are using, we recycle, try to keep all electronics off and unplug everything not in immediate use.
My husband seems to think he is saving the planet by shoving as many clothes in the washer as he can. All he's really doing is making me run the dryer twice and annoying the hell out of me. :)
The best thing I did for the environment was used cloth diapers rather than disposable. My daughter is over 30 years old and even way back then I was telling people that I could see that we were going to drown in a see of shitty diapers.
We also wash our laundry in cold water and only do laundry once a week. I buy used books and donate them when done.
I recycle more trash than I actually through out. Also, I buy a lot of my clothes at thrift shops. I shop for good quality, designer things, and have made some great purchases. A lot of the things I buy are brand new (with the tags attached!) I recently purchase a black leather purse for $2.00!
I do most of the same things. Probably one of the biggest items is that when we bought our house we made sure it was close to many amenities and my husband's work. He walks to work, the kids walk or bike to school. We often walk to the library, restaurants, etc.
Also we have a small house which decreases energy use for heating and cooling a great deal. When we moved in we added some heating vents to the living room and installed closers for the vents that go to the bedrooms. That way we can have it nice and warm in the living room and fairly cool upstairs in the bedrooms. Before we did that, in order to get enough heat in the living area it was extremely hot upstairs. A lot of wasted energy.
We hardly ever use the AC. I usually only turn it on a few hours in the evening on very hot days.
We also don't eat meat and we have a garden full of veggies. In addition I try to shop as locally as possible. It makes me so sad that we live right next to Michigan that has tons of apple orchards but half the apples in our store are either from Chile or New Zealand. It's just wrong!
Oy vey! All five of my children wore cloth diapers.So do my two Grandsons. I never waste water-ever. I never use pesticides or herbicides. Not only do I try not to drive-I try not to leave my house. I wash and reuse some zip loc bags. I wouldn't dream of getting a book out of a library-that's just uncivilized. I keep leftovers, and I cook meals that begin as one meal and evolve into another-most of what I do would be termed as shocking deprivation. I live in an area where you have to wash your recycling, sort it, and write it a thank you note-so-I no longer recycle. I use a Norfolk pine every year at Christmas-the same one-I bring it in for winter and put it out in spring. I bring all my plants in for winter-you know the ones that don't come back every year? Well...they do! Do you know how many trees were spared using 50,000 cotton diapers? Run with that.
I breathe and this helps the trees. We have a digital thermostat and it adjusts the temp in the house. We do not recycle, I drive an SUV, I'd get a Hummer but my husband is afraid that I would run over other cars in traffic, we did put in new windows on our older home but really did that to cut my air conditioning cost. So yep. Not so good.
Reuse, recycle, use high efficiency appliances, and and use non toxic cleaning, laundry and personal products. We buy concentrated cleaning and laundry products and reuse the spray bottles and containers so we are not contributing to the landfills. We also have a water purifier so we can avoid plastic bottles and BPA.
