What do you personally do to help the Earth/environment?

[darnheather]

Mostly little things. I take my own straws or don't get a straw. I take my own cup for refills/Starbucks. Eat less meat. My next car will be a hybrid. I buy most of my clothes from thrift stores or make them myself.

 

[darnheather]

More so grandparents, used things forever. None of this, I'm tired of this style of whatever, lets get a new one. Saved jars and such for storage. How many of us have laughed at the collection of coolwhip and butter containers in their houses.

My granny saved the cotton out of pill bottles too. One thing I learned from her was always buy some toilet paper when you go to the store because you never know if you won't be able to go for awhile. Saved us during Covid!

 

[Turn the Page]

Reusable stuff is great.....if you use them enough times.

I fully admit I do not use reuseable grocery bags, etc. because my understanding is you have to use each one 150 times or so to equal the carbon footprint of the disposable bags. I know I won't use them that much so I use the disposable plastic bags and use them for other things or recycle them.

I REALLY want to know how many times I need to use my YETI water bottle before it actually provides a reduction in cargon footprint.

 

[BayouQueen]

Great thread and lots of interesting ideas.
People all seem to want to do their best and they have different strategies. DH does things to be helpful, while allowing him to maintain current lifestyle -- installed solar, got an electric car. I, on the other hand, prefer to just cut back on what I consume -- drive little, eat less, buy less of everything. Just live a quieter life. DH's way is probably better for the economy.

 

[PollyannaMom]

We recycle a decent amount. I have also recently switched to the bar shampoo and conditioners. Nothing extreme but every little bit counts.

I've heard of those but haven't tried them yet. Do you have a favorite brand? And do local stores tend carry them or do you have to order them through the mail?

 

[jo-jo]

Reusable stuff is great.....if you use them enough times.

I fully admit I do not use reuseable grocery bags, etc. because my understanding is you have to use each one 150 times or so to equal the carbon footprint of the disposable bags. I know I won't use them that much so I use the disposable plastic bags and use them for other things or recycle them.

I REALLY want to know how many times I need to use my YETI water bottle before it actually provides a reduction in cargon footprint.

I have some bags that are decades old, so I guess on those 5 bags, I'm ahead of the game on that.

 

[notatallmagic]

I guess I'm a little "old school"?

My grandma had an embroidered wall hanging that said "Make it do; wear it out; use it up; do without".

I live in the 120 year old brick house I grew up in. We keep the temp at 62 in the winter (and I've never been cold; I do dress in layers and always have). We don't have A/C (and honestly don't need it), so that's a contribution.

We have rechargeable battery operated yard stuff; mower, edger, blower. We have a lovely garden and lots of beautiful trees and plants (lots of bees ). We belong to a local farm share and eat 80% local in the growing months; fruits and vegies with lots for the freezer. We buy a local kid's 4H animals which are processed locally and wrapped in freezer paper - this year will be half a hog and 1/4 beef. We have a local chicken processor as well. We don't drink soda or bottled beverages and like many here use a water filter. The only bottled water we have is for emergencies.

We live in a pretty rural area but have a vehicle with great gas mileage - one car for 3 drivers. Kids walk or ride bikes when I can't take them and that works for us. We live in a small town where we can walk or bike almost anywhere.

And we live...frugally? We buy lots of clothes at Clothes Mentor/Plato's closet. We don't overbuy or over-consume based on today's culture (still nowhere compared to the Greatest/WW2 generation). We only get new cell phones when our die (average life 3-5 years) and do the same with electronics in general. Our TV is 8 or 10 years old; one kid just has his school issued laptop and my daughter's is 4 years old. We don't have any gaming systems, and my son just got his first pair of fancy headphones and he's almost 18. Most of the sweaters/many clothes in my closet at 20 years old - good quality stuff that was made to last. Same with boots and coats. Not sure what you call that strategy, but it makes me happy and leaves our budget available for travel and making memories!

 

[notatallmagic]

More so grandparents, used things forever. None of this, I'm tired of this style of whatever, lets get a new one. Saved jars and such for storage. How many of us have laughed at the collection of coolwhip and butter containers in their houses.

Cool Whip containers in my house growing up were never Cool Whip. And both my mom and grandma washed and reused the same five zip lock bags FOREVER.

I just thought of another thing - we don't ever seem to use our dishwasher. And we're mindful of laundry - in my house, you don't wear something for an hour and need to wash it (unless you spill or are working out). Fastest way to solve that one with teenagers - have them do their own laundry and buy detergent. One week, my youngest had TEN pairs of pants in the laundry. And he sure doesn't work in a coal mine or drive a tractor. We've made some progress...lol

 

[notatallmagic]

I have some bags that are decades old, so I guess on those 5 bags, I'm ahead of the game on that.

I love our Farm Share. They have good quality cardboard boxes that you have to return the next week when you pick up your next share. They don't break, and get re-used. And they have a sticker with your name on them so you can't cheat...lol

 

[dvcgirl67]

Probably not enough to be honest. I mean, we drive an EV and actually went down to one vehicle during the pandemic and have done fine with that. We recycle. I have a nice veggie garden every spring/summer. We have a good water filtration system so we don't buy bottled water. I carry bags with me now to grocery shop...etc. But, we use our A/C in the summer to keep us comfortable. We plan on continuing to travel internationally by plane...and....as it fits in our budget we fly up front. I admit to finding difficulty at times in trying to balance out the things we *should* be doing....vs.....the things we *want* to do or make sense financially. We could put solar panels on our roof, but it's 20+ years old and we may sell this house in 4-5 years and so the investment wouldn't pay off.

It's also difficult to just read the news every day lately with respect to weather/climate as it's just awful, and yet in the northeast we're having a pretty typical summer after an unseasonably warm winter (which I enjoyed). So...I just try and continue to do what we're doing and do a bit better, also acknowledging that there are some things I'm not willing to give up.

 

[evilmommie]

A portion of our land in TX is dedicated to native pollinators. Can’t buy most of what’s in the produce section without pollinators.

 

[VFL]

I've heard of those but haven't tried them yet. Do you have a favorite brand? And do local stores tend carry them or do you have to order them through the mail?

I don’t have a favorite. I have bought the. At Whole Foods and sprouts. I was really surprised at how much they lathered up. I really like them a lot.

 

[AustinTink]

I've heard of those but haven't tried them yet. Do you have a favorite brand? And do local stores tend carry them or do you have to order them through the mail?

Not the OP but I really like Hibar brand shampoo and conditioner bars. You can buy them on Amazon but I get mine at our local grocer.

 

[AustinTink]

We do a lot of things mentioned in this thread so I won’t repeat them all in this post.

One additional thing I did to cut back on paper towels and napkins is I purchased a couple of large packs of bar mop hand towels at Sam’s. I use them in place of paper towels. I only buy a 2-pack of paper towels about once a month or every 6 weeks now.

I throw the kitchen towels in my towel load once a week with bleach and they are nice and sanitary for next week’s use.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

I just thought of another thing - we don't ever seem to use our dishwasher.

If you have a full load of dishes to wash, it's usually more energy efficient to use the dishwasher than it is to do them by hand.

 

[notatallmagic]

If you have a full load of dishes to wash, it's usually more energy efficient to use the dishwasher than it is to do them by hand.

Yeah...its me and one teenager. It would take us a week to have a full load!! That gets stinky

 

[jo-jo]

One thing I wish disney would do is offer a cheaper price for reusing the mugs. Although with DVC, and old legs, we hardly get them anymore. With a fridge in the room, much easier to just buy some drinks than walk back and forth a 1/2 mile for soda.

Disney is willing to save the planet when it saves them money, but to save us money and save the planet, that's a different game.

 

[Uncle Coaster]

I admit that I don’t do anything with the specific intent of being good for the environment. Judging by some responses here I go further and admit that I probably am bad for the environment overall.

The only things I’d say I have going for me in this regard is that I never litter and never had children.

 

[Cadiewampus]

Recycling bins on every floor of the house.

I've ditched plastic bottles for laundry detergent and toilet bowl cleaner. (I use Earth Breeze laundry sheets and Blueland toilet tablets.)

I use refillable water bottles and re-purpose other plastic containers when I can.

We also have a compost bin, solar panels, and one of our cars (so far) is a hybrid.

I was debating on going to Earth Breeze Sheets. What are your thoughts on them? Do they work as well as liquid? Do you find you have to use more than one a load? Also on the toilet tabs it appears you drop them in the bowl and its like a cleaner that you then scrub. Not like say the tablets you drop in the tank?

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

I admit that I don’t do anything with the specific intent of being good for the environment. Judging by some responses here I go further and admit that I probably am bad for the environment overall.

The only things I’d say I have going for me in this regard is that I never litter and never had children.

We're all bad for the environment overall no matter how much effort. Not having kids is probably one of the biggest environmentally positive choices you can make. I can use my mesh produce bags, reusable grocery bags, carry a reusable water bottle that's filled from the tap, not spray fertilizer, week killer, or pesticides in my yard all I want, but then I take a cruise, or a long haul plane ride, and all the good pales in comparison to all the damage from those things. I'm absolutely going to continue doing the best I can in my everyday choices because I believe every little bit helps (plus in many cases it makes financial sense), but I'm not going to forgo travel, though if I can find more eco-friendly ways to do it I'm willing to try.

I was debating on going to Earth Breeze Sheets. What are your thoughts on them? Do they work as well as liquid? Do you find you have to use more than one a load?

I've been using TruEarth laundry sheets. They work very well, I usually only use one unless it's full to the brim I'll sometimes put in 2. They also travel much easier than taking liquid!