How do you try to be more environmentally-friendly?
What do you do to live a more sustainable life? In what ways do you try and be environmentally friendly/green in your everyday life?
I just watched Seaspiracy, like so many others. Seeing documentaries like these always makes me want to help and have an impact. I’m already vegetarian for several years so reducing or eliminating my seafood intake is not an option anymore. I also use a metal water container instead of plastic water bottles, glass or metal straws and bamboo toothbrushes. I also shop over smile.amazon with Sea Shepherd as my charity, which i’m aware doesn’t do much, but it’s better than nothing. I would like to do more though as we’ve seen that we’re all part of the problem whether we want to be or not. So I was wondering what you guys do to help the planet and how you’re trying to be more sustainable. Often we don’t do anything because we don’t know what to do or where to start, so hopefully we can all give each other some tips and ideas. What can I do to be more environmentally friendly in my day to day life?
Other than just getting a more gas efficient car, what can I do normally and what can I go out of my way to do to help play my part? How can I become a more eco-friendly person without going over the top?
So, I try my best. I'm not vegan or vegetarian or anything like that. I recycle, I try to reduce my waste and reuse things whenever possible. I don't wanna be that person who carries a reusable straw because regular straws are a waste, or anything over the top like that, per se. If that's you, AWESOME! That's not a bad thing... I'm just not ready to get that deep into it just yet. But what are some quick things I can do that will reduce my environmental impact without reducing my quality of life or making my life significantly more difficult or expensive? What do you do in your life to be more eco-friendly?
Currently, I have a compost bin outside, one inside, use beeswax wrap (not all the time but on occasion) to wrap up unused vegetables, not take plastic utensils when I get food togo, etc.
I've been conscious about the environment ever since I started going to college. However, sometimes, I find it hard to keep up with going green 100%. What are some easy things you find yourself doing that is also helping the environment? Basically I want to transition to eco-friendly and sustinable lifestyle. But changing suddenly seems difficult and I want to make sure i succeed and keep the habits for long time, not just a couple of months. I think I'll start small and change 1 or 2 habits every week. My first weeks goal is to start using ink pens instead of use and throw pens to cut down unnecessary plastic waste and delete junk emails that take up serves spaces and energy. Both are aimed at reducing unnecessary contributed CO2 emissions. What are some similar small steps that I can take initially? Also suggest some big steps that I should eventually aim towards? I have the idea that I should recycle, grow my own food, not waste, live frugal etc etc. I need it broken down into actionable steps so that it would collectively be able to checklist them and not just have them in mind and never do them.
Edit 1: A lot of you are suggesting to avoid meat. My entire household is already vegetarian(due to relegion) and I'm moving towards vegan. I use heavy rail for almost all my trips which runs on electricity. I walk for short trips upto 2.5kms. I don't own a car. I am actively trying to reduce my consumption and reuse whatever possible. Recycling hasn't been entirely possible because all kinds of waste management systems are not in place yet. But I still want to make better choices. These were kind of obvious and come up on a simple Google search too. I want to make sure I'm a carbon neutral person by 2024 and that I don't generate wastes that can be actively avoided by better choices. Like one I'm including is getting rechargeable batteries instead of pencil cells. That helps reduce my waste. But I'll still do an LCA or EIAA to make sure it helps. Sometimes what looks green actually isn't always green. I have read somewhere that recycle paper plates without plastic lining are actually better than chinaware. The reason was glass needs to be blown at high temperatures and thin china takes more time so more direct burning of fuels. Plus we end up washing it over life so a lot of water and soap enters ecosystem. Which was less than what it took to recycle paper and make plates which is how they're typically done. Obviously the comparison was for a 1000 meals or so to make it equal functional unit. A lot of you suggested bamboo toothbrushes too. I'll do the same for those too. Because I don't want that to be a reason for deforestation or something similar. Will keep you updated about the studies\exercises. Do you try and be more sustainable/environmentally friendly and if so what do you do to achieve that? And do you feel like it's pointless because it takes everyone to make a difference?
As it says there really.
Do you also feel guilt trying to become more eco-friendly but finding it hard?
I tried to become vegetarian, but I gained like a million pounds and my wife really gave me trouble cause she loves meet.
I try to buy green products but they are 30% more expensive than regular products and also they're brands I don't know and never tried so there's a learning curve.
Why is it that so many sustainable products tend to be so expensive? How can I conserve income for a more sustainable lifestyle?
When I look at products either online or inside a store, I often find that products listed vegan or more sustainable tend to be more specific, and this is especially exacerbated when shopping locally (I still have no idea how to tell if a shop is local or not). This also applies when I see cars online, and it always appears that electric cars or less environmentally-damaging cars are far more expensive. Why is that? Is it because of capitalism being capitalism? Any tips for shopping sustainably both for the environment and for my wallet?
Recycling isn't really a working municipal thing where I'm from. All-in-all I find it frustrating I can't help the planet more.
Do you feel the same? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this or get some wisdom on what I'm feeling and the challenges.
Many poor people do not have the financial capabilities to be environmentally friendly. Refusing to buy single use plastics, driving a new car, and buying food from sustainable places is all a very costly practice. People who act like being environmentally friendly is easy don’t realize the privilege that they have.
Edit: walking, riding a bike, or taking public transportation is not a viable choice for many people living in North America. People who live in rural communities, or in a neighbouring city have a commute that’s too long to walk/cycle. Also, public transportation infrastructure rarely is intercity and rarely serves rural communities.
Why not make bus routes then? is a massive diesel bus really worth the economic and pollution cost to pick up people from rural communities. Will an electric bus have the range to make these long trips multiple times a day?
One thing I noticed at my high school was the large amount of school supplies, mostly unused, that were thrown out on locker cleanout day at the end of the year. (I once stole about 50 brand new or hardly used notebooks out of the trash to prove a point. I gave most away and still didn't have to buy any all through college) If your school has this problem, my suggestion would be to have a donation bin for extra or unwanted school supplies. You can give them to a charity, or just allow other students to take them if they need them.
Shut down for three days a week. School has been proven to be a waste of fuckin' time for the most part; take the kids out to the park and let them dig in the dirt and run around for a bit. Or take them in small non-age-segregated groups and let them interact with high-functioning cooperative enterprises (put them on a fishing boat, or take them to a monastery, or a hospital). Also you'll have to completely rebuild society while you're at it, otherwise the sheer amount of handwringing will possibly destabilize the government and lead to local governmental collapse.
Are you environmentally friendly? If not, why not?
After living in a few different countries I realized that Singapore is really not environmentally friendly. And despite their high education, most Singaporeans I know don’t really care about the environment either. Not judging you guys but I just want to know what’s the reason behind it
One thing I think about is the scale of damage. An individual using plastic shampoo bottles is not the same as a homeowner demolishing a perfectly good kitchen every 10 years for remodel because it's out of style. Nor is it the same as a city implementing a policy that takes away pedestrian access and encourages more gas consumption via car dependency. All of this things are bad but at a vastly different scale. In my opinion, the best way we could be sustainable is to try our best to make sound individual choices but not beat ourselves up too much with perfectionism. Channelling some of that energy and time to community work, whether it's for an organization focusing on sustainability or finding others who care about this stuff near you is going to be more effective toward something that is causing more damage than an individual. Also for those who ARE environmentally friendly, please share some tips on how to improve our lifestyle!
People who need to commute are often forced into financial troubles if their car has been made obsolete by emissions testing. If your car is safe it should be allowed on the road. Why not? Because of poor emissions? Ok then let’s ban everyone’s ‘historic’ classic cars, why are wealthy people allowed yet another exemption.
I'm actually trying to build a product that would help people become eco-friendly without effort so any feedback could help.
I came across this website earlier: https://www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en
Take public transit or carpool, avoid meat and dairy one day a week or one meal a day, buy expensive eggs, try to buy things with less packaging, avoid bottled water, put a brick in the tank of your toilet, take shorter showers, turn the faucet off while you're scrubbing your hands, don't run the water while you're doing dishes, buy food at a farmer's market or CSA (even if it's not organic certified it's probably better than most grocery store produce), buy sweatshop free clothing and shoes.
And it made me realise there's still so much more I could do than what I am doing at the moment, however, it feels somewhat pointless at times. For example, one of my housemates dries her towel after showering in the tunble drier after EVERY SINGLE shower. Or you see people taking their cars everywhere and not being able to function without them. Or business promoting their products saying they are more sustainable yet cost a lot more meaning it's not really accessible for the vast majority of people. It just feels like me walking to the gym or eating less meat or wfh more etc etc achieve nothing when so much of the population don't give a crap.
I just watched Seaspiracy, like so many others. Seeing documentaries like these always makes me want to help and have an impact. I’m already vegetarian for several years so reducing or eliminating my seafood intake is not an option anymore. I also use a metal water container instead of plastic water bottles, glass or metal straws and bamboo toothbrushes. I also shop over smile.amazon with Sea Shepherd as my charity, which i’m aware doesn’t do much, but it’s better than nothing. I would like to do more though as we’ve seen that we’re all part of the problem whether we want to be or not. So I was wondering what you guys do to help the planet and how you’re trying to be more sustainable. Often we don’t do anything because we don’t know what to do or where to start, so hopefully we can all give each other some tips and ideas. What can I do to be more environmentally friendly in my day to day life?
Other than just getting a more gas efficient car, what can I do normally and what can I go out of my way to do to help play my part? How can I become a more eco-friendly person without going over the top?
So, I try my best. I'm not vegan or vegetarian or anything like that. I recycle, I try to reduce my waste and reuse things whenever possible. I don't wanna be that person who carries a reusable straw because regular straws are a waste, or anything over the top like that, per se. If that's you, AWESOME! That's not a bad thing... I'm just not ready to get that deep into it just yet. But what are some quick things I can do that will reduce my environmental impact without reducing my quality of life or making my life significantly more difficult or expensive? What do you do in your life to be more eco-friendly?
Currently, I have a compost bin outside, one inside, use beeswax wrap (not all the time but on occasion) to wrap up unused vegetables, not take plastic utensils when I get food togo, etc.
I've been conscious about the environment ever since I started going to college. However, sometimes, I find it hard to keep up with going green 100%. What are some easy things you find yourself doing that is also helping the environment? Basically I want to transition to eco-friendly and sustinable lifestyle. But changing suddenly seems difficult and I want to make sure i succeed and keep the habits for long time, not just a couple of months. I think I'll start small and change 1 or 2 habits every week. My first weeks goal is to start using ink pens instead of use and throw pens to cut down unnecessary plastic waste and delete junk emails that take up serves spaces and energy. Both are aimed at reducing unnecessary contributed CO2 emissions. What are some similar small steps that I can take initially? Also suggest some big steps that I should eventually aim towards? I have the idea that I should recycle, grow my own food, not waste, live frugal etc etc. I need it broken down into actionable steps so that it would collectively be able to checklist them and not just have them in mind and never do them.
Edit 1: A lot of you are suggesting to avoid meat. My entire household is already vegetarian(due to relegion) and I'm moving towards vegan. I use heavy rail for almost all my trips which runs on electricity. I walk for short trips upto 2.5kms. I don't own a car. I am actively trying to reduce my consumption and reuse whatever possible. Recycling hasn't been entirely possible because all kinds of waste management systems are not in place yet. But I still want to make better choices. These were kind of obvious and come up on a simple Google search too. I want to make sure I'm a carbon neutral person by 2024 and that I don't generate wastes that can be actively avoided by better choices. Like one I'm including is getting rechargeable batteries instead of pencil cells. That helps reduce my waste. But I'll still do an LCA or EIAA to make sure it helps. Sometimes what looks green actually isn't always green. I have read somewhere that recycle paper plates without plastic lining are actually better than chinaware. The reason was glass needs to be blown at high temperatures and thin china takes more time so more direct burning of fuels. Plus we end up washing it over life so a lot of water and soap enters ecosystem. Which was less than what it took to recycle paper and make plates which is how they're typically done. Obviously the comparison was for a 1000 meals or so to make it equal functional unit. A lot of you suggested bamboo toothbrushes too. I'll do the same for those too. Because I don't want that to be a reason for deforestation or something similar. Will keep you updated about the studies\exercises. Do you try and be more sustainable/environmentally friendly and if so what do you do to achieve that? And do you feel like it's pointless because it takes everyone to make a difference?
As it says there really.
Do you also feel guilt trying to become more eco-friendly but finding it hard?
I tried to become vegetarian, but I gained like a million pounds and my wife really gave me trouble cause she loves meet.
I try to buy green products but they are 30% more expensive than regular products and also they're brands I don't know and never tried so there's a learning curve.
Why is it that so many sustainable products tend to be so expensive? How can I conserve income for a more sustainable lifestyle?
When I look at products either online or inside a store, I often find that products listed vegan or more sustainable tend to be more specific, and this is especially exacerbated when shopping locally (I still have no idea how to tell if a shop is local or not). This also applies when I see cars online, and it always appears that electric cars or less environmentally-damaging cars are far more expensive. Why is that? Is it because of capitalism being capitalism? Any tips for shopping sustainably both for the environment and for my wallet?
Recycling isn't really a working municipal thing where I'm from. All-in-all I find it frustrating I can't help the planet more.
Do you feel the same? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this or get some wisdom on what I'm feeling and the challenges.
Many poor people do not have the financial capabilities to be environmentally friendly. Refusing to buy single use plastics, driving a new car, and buying food from sustainable places is all a very costly practice. People who act like being environmentally friendly is easy don’t realize the privilege that they have.
Edit: walking, riding a bike, or taking public transportation is not a viable choice for many people living in North America. People who live in rural communities, or in a neighbouring city have a commute that’s too long to walk/cycle. Also, public transportation infrastructure rarely is intercity and rarely serves rural communities.
Why not make bus routes then? is a massive diesel bus really worth the economic and pollution cost to pick up people from rural communities. Will an electric bus have the range to make these long trips multiple times a day?
One thing I noticed at my high school was the large amount of school supplies, mostly unused, that were thrown out on locker cleanout day at the end of the year. (I once stole about 50 brand new or hardly used notebooks out of the trash to prove a point. I gave most away and still didn't have to buy any all through college) If your school has this problem, my suggestion would be to have a donation bin for extra or unwanted school supplies. You can give them to a charity, or just allow other students to take them if they need them.
Shut down for three days a week. School has been proven to be a waste of fuckin' time for the most part; take the kids out to the park and let them dig in the dirt and run around for a bit. Or take them in small non-age-segregated groups and let them interact with high-functioning cooperative enterprises (put them on a fishing boat, or take them to a monastery, or a hospital). Also you'll have to completely rebuild society while you're at it, otherwise the sheer amount of handwringing will possibly destabilize the government and lead to local governmental collapse.
Are you environmentally friendly? If not, why not?
After living in a few different countries I realized that Singapore is really not environmentally friendly. And despite their high education, most Singaporeans I know don’t really care about the environment either. Not judging you guys but I just want to know what’s the reason behind it
One thing I think about is the scale of damage. An individual using plastic shampoo bottles is not the same as a homeowner demolishing a perfectly good kitchen every 10 years for remodel because it's out of style. Nor is it the same as a city implementing a policy that takes away pedestrian access and encourages more gas consumption via car dependency. All of this things are bad but at a vastly different scale. In my opinion, the best way we could be sustainable is to try our best to make sound individual choices but not beat ourselves up too much with perfectionism. Channelling some of that energy and time to community work, whether it's for an organization focusing on sustainability or finding others who care about this stuff near you is going to be more effective toward something that is causing more damage than an individual. Also for those who ARE environmentally friendly, please share some tips on how to improve our lifestyle!
People who need to commute are often forced into financial troubles if their car has been made obsolete by emissions testing. If your car is safe it should be allowed on the road. Why not? Because of poor emissions? Ok then let’s ban everyone’s ‘historic’ classic cars, why are wealthy people allowed yet another exemption.
I'm actually trying to build a product that would help people become eco-friendly without effort so any feedback could help.
I came across this website earlier: https://www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en
Take public transit or carpool, avoid meat and dairy one day a week or one meal a day, buy expensive eggs, try to buy things with less packaging, avoid bottled water, put a brick in the tank of your toilet, take shorter showers, turn the faucet off while you're scrubbing your hands, don't run the water while you're doing dishes, buy food at a farmer's market or CSA (even if it's not organic certified it's probably better than most grocery store produce), buy sweatshop free clothing and shoes.
And it made me realise there's still so much more I could do than what I am doing at the moment, however, it feels somewhat pointless at times. For example, one of my housemates dries her towel after showering in the tunble drier after EVERY SINGLE shower. Or you see people taking their cars everywhere and not being able to function without them. Or business promoting their products saying they are more sustainable yet cost a lot more meaning it's not really accessible for the vast majority of people. It just feels like me walking to the gym or eating less meat or wfh more etc etc achieve nothing when so much of the population don't give a crap.
