[Dilangos]

Since getting all 'environmental' over on the sports drinks thread, I thought I'd start a thread dedicated to sharing ideas on how to limit your global footprint.

What ideas have you had? What are you doing now? How hard has it been? What have you got out of it?

I'll start.

I had this idea but haven't had the discipline to put it into action yet: to live for a year purchasing only products that are wrapped in paper, cardboard or glass. This would pretty quickly take my family back to our grandparents' era where staples such as flour and tea were bought in paper, or even decanted into reusable cloth bags. Nearly all value-added wheat based products were made in the home: bread, cakes, etc. I think it would be an interesting experiment to measure how much of an overall waste reduction this would lead to. It would certainly lead to a massive saving in money.

The second idea is a little more radical. I'm a cycle commuter. As carbon trading takes off, there's no reason why motorists couldn't purchase carbon credits from passing cyclists using an e-tag system similar to how tollways charge users. Imagine how many people would leave their cars at home if they realised that they could make money just by zooming passed hundreds of stationary cars sitting in traffic jams.

What ideas have you had or put into practice? Perhaps something as simple as stopping using tumble dryers in favour of sun and wind power to dry washing. I believe in some parts of the US, hanging washing outside is illegal, forcing people to use power-hungry dryers.

b

[Shiplyopidomi]

I am all for cycling ideas. I actually enjoy trips to the grocery store now since it's mostly an excuse to bike somewhere. Most people are easily impressed about others carrying lots of stuff on bikes, but it really isn't that difficult if they would just try it. I know many people aren't going to be full time bike commuters, but little trips add up to big savings if everyone did it.

I also like the idea of little gardens for ALL families. Even my personal 'failures' at gardening still yielded tons of food that didn't require much effort to plant and grow. If I actually did it right, I can't imagine how much I could actually grow and store. And with the use of hyrdroponic (I think that's the word) gardening containers, you don't need a lot of space to at least grow something. Every little bit helps and it's fresher and it tastes so much better!

I know people get all political and deny it's existence when they hear it, but there was a neat video I saw on peak oil and Cuba. Once they got cut off from Russia during the cold war, they had a simulated world with no oil. The video showed how they adapted to very low supplies of oil, used less cars, more mass transit and bikes, but the farming part was the most interesting. They adapted new growing strategies for food so it didn't require petroleum based fertilizers. And gardens were EVERYWHERE. Even on the roofs of apartment buildings and in balconies. The point being that we use a lot of oil to fertilize and move crops and it can be reduced with not a lot of effort. Again, it takes a little effort on everyones part, but even little steps for lots of people translate into big positive results.

[neguoogleX]

I started my own carbon offset business.




For every 100 dollars you give me, I will burn a tire.






That was a joke.

[trorseIrripsy]

I believe in some parts of the US, hanging washing outside is illegal, forcing people to use power-hungry dryers.

b

What's the bizarre reasoning behind this? Which parts of the US?

[ggiifdfalls]

This should explain it a little for you. Think 'Gated communities run by fascist busybodies'. No wonder our beloved Hills Hoist never took off over there.

b

[timgillmoreeztf]

I'm not into "green" culture, but if I can build a house which I will live in long term which consumes less power its not a bad thing. I'm waiting to close on some farmland which doesn't have access to all your standard utilities. I plan on doing some of the following:

1) composting. The local county government gives away woodchips for free, so you have a decent amount to start composting with one you mix in your other trash
2) Orchard/garden (its farmland already so I get a tax break too!)
3) setting up some rain barrels so I can water the orchard/garden
4) some passive cooling/solar chimney, basically put a big pipe underground for long distances to cool the air. you can feed air into a small room filled with waterbottles to have passive cooling/heat.
5) need to look into drilling costs for geothermal for water, at the very least a solar water heater system like I have used in china
6) passive solar design for the house with trees, maybe a few panels too. I wouldn't mind running some fibre optic lines as well for light distribution.
7) im not sure if overinsulating will work or not
8) heated floors to reduce use of the HVAC

[CreativeAcrobate]

This should explain it a little for you. Think 'Gated communities run by fascist busybodies'. No wonder our beloved Hills Hoist never took off over there.

b

Yeah most new constructoin in the US have home owners associations which theoretically preserve home values by forcing upkeep, and keeping out undesirables. They grew out of the segregation movement. They also tend to be against green technology because it is considered unsightly. Evenutally, just like with satellite dishes, the court system will probably tell them to take a hike on prohibiting solar panels.

Its pretty difficult if you want a new home not to have to buy into an HOA community unless you purchase your own land or buy an older house and demolish it. Around the DC area, older communities have been bought up, demolished and re-sold as HOA communities.

[janeemljr]

I used to be an ardent recycler of everything until I went to Japan. Then I realised, to my horror, that all of my hard work was being offset by the enormous amounts of packaging they use and throw away without thinking about it.

There are two things we can all do that will have a massive impact upon our global carbon footprint but nobody likes to hear about them- become completely or predominately vegetarian and stop having children, one child per couple only. Population control is the number one issue in the world but people don't like to hear this. David Attenborough, Britain's most respected naturalist and broadcaster, talks about it at every opportunity but he's all but ignored by the media.

[Bondjrno]

hl1978, for not being into 'green' culture, you sure have some good ideas to implement. Perhaps you mean you aren't a hippy? I don't know, but more people need to think like you.

As for Japans obsessive use of materials, they at least try to counteract it with all the garbage sorting they do and then recycle as much as they can. I don't remember the percentage, but I saw an article that showed how much garbage different countries accumulate and what percentage they recycle. Despite all the packaging, Japan had some pretty good ratios.

And I like the idea of population control although I agree that no one is gonna like it. Although I am also thinking from a society perspective of the families that keep popping out kids when they can't afford or take care of the ones they already have.

[Gometesstem]

As I have argued with my hippie greenie wife unsuccessfully (typically as she was sitting in an air-conditioned room and using 5 other electrical appliances at the same time) many times over, if no one is willing to give up their life style to save the planet, the most effective way to be green would be population control, from both ends...

[M_Marked]

Population control is the number one issue in the world but people don't like to hear this. David Attenborough, Britain's most respected naturalist and broadcaster, talks about it at every opportunity but he's all but ignored by the media.

Bang on.

I'm working on a couple of offshore windfarm projects at the moment. I scares me that people think these will solve all our energy problems.

[mnhloot]

There are two things we can all do that will have a massive impact upon our global carbon footprint but nobody likes to hear about them- become completely or predominately vegetarian and stop having children

Easily the stupidest thing I have ever read. One child = end of the human race. Why not just advocate nuclear warfare?

@ Nodachi - Yes Japan wastes tons of effort on 'recycling' by separating garbage into 4 different bags, but it all goes to the same place. Pure and simple window dressing.

[Nzmoafzn]

One child = end of the human race. Why not just advocate nuclear warfare?

Please explain? I'm not flaming, just interested.

I realise that most natural resource consumption is by the developed world, but that's not the argument. On a global scale, humans are outstripping their capacity to feed and generate energy.

Other than reducing birth rates (global population), how else would you reduce energy demand?

[pumpineemob]

Easily the stupidest thing I have ever read. One child = end of the human race. Why not just advocate nuclear warfare?

You're equating birth control with nuclear warfare? Speaking of stupid arguments...

I don't feel a responsibility to preserve the human race so having children is unimportant to me, but I do feel responsibility not to cause unnecessary harm so I'm opposed to war and other forms of violence, as much as they can possibly be avoided.

[duribass]

I bumped across this on the net several years ago. I have always wanted to know if it really works. Has anyone tried this method http://mb-soft.com/solar/saving.html. It looks fascinating. However, I don’t have enough technical knowledge to know if this is a good idea or is someone just blowing air?

Please comment!

[dabibibff]

I think the populate or not argument is a tricky one, but one thing I realised after having children, and also as my own (and my friends') parents enter their final years is that without children there is no-one to care for the previous generation. That means when you get old, who is going to look after you? The government? Good luck if you don't live in Scandinavia.

Declining birth rates are going to put a huge burden on the younger generations as their parents require care. Already aged-care has outstripped hospitality as the largest casual employer in Australia. Which basically means that if you're a struggling young actor you're more and more likely to get a part-time job wiping old people's arses than waiting on tables.

I'm not saying overpopulation is not a problem, it is. But not reproducing is not the answer. Personally I think that China and India's growing middle-classes and their desire to have all the material wealth the West has enjoyed is a bigger and more immediate danger than simple overpopulation. It is the habits and desires of those already on the planet that we need to address, not hypothetical future populations.

Hence this thread. So to get back on topic, thanks for the link annoraderenart@. Looks interesting. Need to sit down and have a good read through.

BTW, have any of you tried this? The Freecycle Network is a network that links people who want to chuck stuff out with people who might need it. It so simple that it's genius.

b

[Vomephems]

Hi Ben

You might be interested in this site: http://www.rubbishfree.co.nz/information.php/info_id/98 It is about a NZ couple who tried to live rubbish free for a year - of course, they took it to the extreme and only made 2 kg of rubbish for a whole year, but the site has some useful tips about how to replace common items with non-rubbish generating items.

Alicia

[Pashtet]

You're equating birth control with nuclear warfare? Speaking of stupid arguments...

I didn't say a thing about birth control. Population reduction = population reduction. Pretty easy equation there, we are just arguing methodology.

Just look to Japan for an great example of how badly a low birthrate kills a country. Sure Tokyo and the big cities are fine for the moment, but look at most of Kyushu. The population of Nagasaki City is down 30% in the past 10 years, the outlying islands are down 50%. The cities are bankrupt. The socialized heath care system is bankrupt, and the nenkin system is out of money. Healthcare and nenkin are parts of the country wide infrastructure. Population reduction is not a sustainable model.

The keys to protecting the earth are putting sustainable practices in place and educating people. A great example of this is the guy who lives in Chicago and buys organic vegetables from California instead of locally grown produce thinking organic is some how more 'green'. The fact of the matter is that shipping produce that is easily grown locally causes more damage to the environment than the BP oil spill, and that is on a global scale.

[wbeachcomber]

Since our carbon footprint while we are in the dojo is practically nil, let's
1. Add one more practice per week.
2. Carpool, cycle or walk to the dojo.

-- well after all this is kendo world.

[doolarsva]

Once upon a time separation of church and state happened in your countries, now you have to fight for the separation of corporate and state which IMHO if it doesn't happen will always make those of you that want to "save the world" a rare occurrence or a small minority at best.