Are we all doing 'our bit'?

I think I am doing both saving money and my part to save the world.

I’m 31 and don’t drive (never have/and never plan on starting). I figure that allows me to sleep with the TV on at night. And most of our electricity is hydro or wind.

@johnpowell that sounds like an even trade off (not driving? wow! that seems interesting). Hydro is the best.

@johnpowell I’m almost 19 and I don;t drive and I don’t have any desire on learning to either :)

I don’t switch the TV off at the wall (because the plug is very hidden under crap), but I am trying to be good at turing lights off, not leaving my computer on standby for hours, boiling less water, taking more showers than baths, etc.

We’re also contributing to the environment by letting our garden grow uninhibited. It’s like a jungle now, and will only get worse with spring approaching. ;) That must be taking all the carbon I create, surely?

@tennesseejac :: We have nine months of rain but that allows for cheap and clean electricity.

I feel bad now because I drive 45 minutes each way to work 5 days a week, but I do car pool when I can.

@cage : driving a car really fast is a thrill that I would miss if I gave up, so I will look for other ways to conserve. Maybe I could look into that hydro?

The sad thing about the new “efficient” lightbulbs that will become mandatory in the U.S. is that it’s best to either turn them on for 15 minutes (minimum) or not at all. You can turn them on for just a flick of light if you need it, yes, but it shortens the life of the bulb. So if I need to go into a room for just a second, I’ve been trying to not turn on the light at all if it’s a room that has a compact florescent.

Other than that, I never turn the TV off (because I haven’t turned it on in four years now), I car pool to work, and if it’s water for one cup of tea, I usually just heat it up in the microwave, but it’s not often I drink one cup of tea.

Am I saving the world? No. Are we all saving the world together? No. Things have to get past recycling and efficiency to get us out of the handbasket we’re travelling in. But the lightbulbs are expensive, and shorter lives can’t be less wasteful than just using an incandescent, since they don’t just grow on trees. Hopefully I won’t have to buy too many of those.

I rarely drive. It’s a part of what I love about living in the city. I walk most places and only drive when I have to get more in the car than I can carry on foot or if I’m going further than usual -like taking someone to the airport. I think these sorts of things may not make things a lot better, but at least they aren’t adding to the problem. And it helps keep me healthier.

I’ve been using those fluorescents for several years and have yet to replace one. In the one room where it would make sense to turn on the light briefly, I don’t bother because it’s the ‘ceiling fan’ variety of fluorescent which takes a few minutes to warm up to give enough light to see much by.

Whatever your bit is, the important thing is that you are thinking about the problem, want to do your part in solving it, are willing to take personal action toward the common good.

My father used to refer to my wife and I as the “bat family”. My house is always dark. We only turn on lights when absolutely needed. We like it that way.

We have all energy saving appliances. All my (older) windows are sealed with weather stripping and that shrink-wrap plastic in the Winter. My thermostat is programmed to be 60ºF except from 7PM to 10PM it goes up to 66ºF. We don’t buy Keelnex (you can blow your nose with TP just the same), I don’t wash my car at home and rarely run the hose.

I’d like to say we do this for the greater good, but I’m really just trying to save money. If it contributes to the health of the planet as well, that’s gravy.

I don’t drive, I keep only the lights I need on (this generally includes none at all during the summer), and I generally pay more in taxes and fees to the power company than I actually do for power.

My landlady pays for the heat, so I can’t really talk about it other than to say I wish she’d turn it down a bit.

We do everything we can w/in reason. In addition to some of the things already mentioned, we have, over the last few years, replaced all our windows, doors and our roof.
We have purchased more efficient appliances and we compost.
We combine trips/errands.
We shop in consignment stores for all sorts of items and “recyle” things from constructions sites (e.g. brick pavers for our sidewalk, huge beautiful teak cabinets meant for a wrecking ball from a school demolition)

We also recyle. A bunch. A minimum of two huge plastic bins each week…...but I am now conflicted about this…..

Recyling is Bullshit

From this link

I drive everywhere, but I do my bit by peeing outdoors, on the neighbor’s landscaping. It saves flush water.

@tennesseejac Unless you own a water mill or plan to build a dam, hydro electricity is something you’ll have to petition your local government to consider as an alternative energy source. ;)

I don’t buy new clothes or books or durables like that, I try to buy foods as fresh as possible to cut down on unnecessary packaging and I use my own bags for shopping. I try not to buy much in general. I recycle. If I’m not using them, the (Energy Star) electric things are off. I don’t drive. The building I live in doesn’t run the heat until 9:30p or so, and shuts it off at about 7a.

National and international travel is a conflict for me. Flying is quicker, cheaper and… more environmentally destructive. I’m torn about it, and at the moment, I don’t do much travelling by air if I can help it. Otherwise, I believe I’m doing what I can as one person in living an urban area.

I am certainly trying: combining errands to reduce gas use, turning off lights, switching to CF bulbs, buying clothes at Goodwill, recycling what they will let me recycle, bringing my own bags to the grocery store, riding a bicycle to the library, using the central heating only when I absolutely have to, and so on.

I never keep lights on, I won’t leave my hairdryer or anything else plugged in after I’m done using them, and I try to make sure to turn the TV off using the button on the actual set. Most people don’t know it, but when you turn electronics off using a controller, that keeps everything on “standby” which drains energy. So hitting the actual button on the TV, radio, etc. actually saves a ton of energy. I also don’t leave the water running when I’m brushing my teeth. I recycle everything and always have, but Oregon has a new, extremely convenient system that makes it so you don’t even have to separate anymore and you can recycle practically everything now.

It’s amazing how easy these things become once they’re a habit.

@Snoopy, re: recycling is bullshit video

Have you ever checked into that anti-recycling guy’s stats? I haven’t, but I believe my sweetie when he argues about it online and can’t confirm the numbers with any reputable source. Perhaps “recycling is bullshit” is bullshit if he has to make up his “facts.”

@laureth I certainly hope you are correct.

We recycle anything we can….I tear apart packaging to be able to pull out the bits that can be recycled. I hauled stuff back from vacation this fall as we couldn’t recycle there….

I wouldn’t know where to begin to check the facts. Hopefully someone more saavy than I will disprove them…..

I’m continuing to drive my car with the performance robbing catalytic converter still in place.