What do you do for the environment?

[Atheist]

As the thread title says.
Personally I recycle everything as much as I can. The town I moved to last year doesnt provide "regular trash-handling", only if you recycle, so everyone has too.
Batteries, food, plastic, cardboard, metal...all in different containers.
I also do not own a car, so I take the train to most of the places I need to go, altough sometimes I have to borrow a car to get to certain places.
So...what do YOU do for the environment in your daily life? I'd like to see how big of a difference there is in the environmental-thinking across the globe.

[dee-u]

I always have the inclination to plant trees wherever I can.

[dclamp]

My family recycles cans/plastic/paper/bottles/etc. We have the 'Greens' bin where we put our plant trimmings, and then regular garbage.

[dee-u]

I'm just curious, does burning garbage puts harm to our environment? We are in a place where there is no garbage trucks that would collect our garbages so at most they are just burned.

[Atheist]

Well yeah I would think its not that great for the environment. What are you burning? All garbage?

[dclamp]

Correct me if i am wrong, but i think burning the garbage could result in the release of CFC (Chlorofluorocarbon), nitrogen, and Methane. All of those being released into the atmosphere would be bad. Especially CFC's because they deplete the o-zone. AKA: Global Warming.

[Pradeep1210]

I usually try to reuse whatever I can. e.g. After having soft-drinks, instead of throwing the bottle away, just use it for storing regular drinking water at home etc. Same thing for polybags. I don't usually throw them right away after I have used it, but just keep them to carry things hre and there, so that at that time I need not buy new polybags.

Pradeep

[dee-u]

Most of the time its just biodegrabable materials like leaves, etc.

[mendhak]

The usual - recycle stuff.
I keep most of my lights at home off.
I cannot and do not drive.
My garbage bin liners are made of recycled materials and are, ironically, recyclable.
I don't buy a lot of things either (food and other items); while that sounds weird, it's to reduce waste/trash generation. Just about everything here comes in 4 layers of cardboard and plastic.
When planning routes, I avoid any public transport if the place is within a 1 hour walking distance.
I avoid beans to prevent flatulence.
I avoid onions.
I discourage Mactardness to prevent others from falling into a culture of wastage and excess.

Oh, and I provide sunlight to trees and other organic life on this planet.

[wossname]

What do you do for the environment?

I contribute to its expedient destruction.

Actually, that's probably not true. I do hate the "green movement" but I personally (simply by chance) do less to destroy the world than most of the self-righteous tree-hugging lahdi-dah hoity-toity lovey-dovey friends of Mother Nature.

I don't own a car. I get the bus half-way to work (and walk the rest). I recycle (only because the recycling place is closer than the regular dumping place). I turn lights off because the saving in cash allows me to afford more beer. I don't turn the heating on... ever, I like the cold.

[dclamp]

i am some what with woss here. I could care less about what the planet wants, because quite frankly the planet doesnt care. Its the people who live on it that care about what happens. If the ozone depeted and the whole earth caught on fire, the Earth would not care one bit.

So i am with the earth on this one. I know for a fact that i will live the rest of my life out, and the earth will not explode. I could care less about my great great great great grand children.

[wossname]

"Could care less" doesn't make sense in that context. "Could not care less" would, I assume, be your intended implication.

But, yeah, right-on man.

[Atheist]

Thats a rather egoistic way of thinking is it not?
I dont think we should "give up" things in our life to save the environment...I just think we can do things a little more different that actually would make a difference, if just everyone did it. Such as recycling, turning of lights when they're not needed, take the bus and/or train to places instead of car...etc.

[TheBigB]

You are right in a way...
But we're gonna die in 2012 anyway... so...

[wossname]

That's a rather egotistical way of thinking, is it not?

Yes, it is. Altruism doesn't exist.

All this frenzy over environmentalism reeks of selective reporting. The last 30 years of it has been highly biased toward sensationalist bunk.

In my aggressively cynical opinion, all this talk is parochial rhubarb. It's God's way of telling us that we need to spend more money on the space programme.

[Atheist]

I agree that it is sometimes blown out of proportions, thats why I also think that we shouldnt "go wild" and leave all our modern comfort behind and begin living in caves again...but a little thought on the environment now and then is just good

[wossname]

Not everyone would be leaving on the shiny space rockets. All the plebs, criminals and grumpy, alcoholic software engineers would remain on earth to ponder their failures, in the knowledge that their gene pool will evaporate along with Sol in 4 billion years.

The Great Journey is about to begin. But, when it does, the weight of your heresy will stay your feet... and you shall be left behind.

[Atheist]

..alright you lost me there.

[DeanMc]

Halo comment ...... Nice

[MartinLiss]

San Jose CA has a pretty good recycling program for household wastes. In addition to that we have a large garden and we grow 90% of all our vegetables. Of the vegetables we buy, 50% are organic and/or locally grown. We compost the garden trimmings, leaves and etc and add almost all our wet kitchen garbage to the compost pile. We also do worm composting. One of our two cars is a Honda Civic Hybrid (about 45 mpg) and the other is an older Civic that gets about 28 mpg. We're only keeping the older car until electric cars are less costly and then we will buy one to replace it.

[dclamp]

San Jose CA has a pretty good recycling program for household wastes. In addition to that we have a large garden and we grow 90% of all our vegetables. Of the vegetables we buy, 50% are organic and/or locally grown. We compost the garden trimmings, leaves and etc and add almost all our wet kitchen garbage to the compost pile. We also do worm composting. One of our two cars is a Honda Civic Hybrid (about 45 mpg) and the other is an older Civic that gets about 28 mpg. We're only keeping the older car until electric cars are less costly and then we will buy one to replace it.

We should all follow Martin and get an old people hobby like this.

[crptcblade]

Absolutely nothing. In fact, I try to make things worse.

[Kasracer]

I live in a town with no free garbage pick-up (I'm accustomed to the local government doing it) and no recyclable pick-ups. We have no room to grow any kind of food (I like the idea and would do so if I could). My car's catalytic converter is going up so my emissions have gone up and I have to drive an hour to work each day. I don't have enough money to buy a new or used car to replace mine yet.

So overall I'm probably hurting the environment. I wish I didn't have to though and hope to change my situation in the future. I don't have time to run recyclables out to a recycling plant (the only one I know of near me is about 20 miles away).

Especially CFC's because they deplete the o-zone. AKA: Global Warming.

O-Zone Depletion != Global Warming. Global Warming is the theory that we're causing the Earth's climate to change through things like vehicle emissions. While I'm sure holes in the O-Zone layer doesn't help it should be considered unrelated as I don't believe any Global Warming theories include O-Zone layer issues (though I could be wrong about that).

[dclamp]

I dont think that global warming exists. Al Gore just made it up so he can sell his movie.

[penagate]

Multiple players: Unless you're referring to the Moldovan pop band, I think you want 'ozone', not 'O-Zone'.

[FunkyDexter]

I recycle just about anything I can. Our council picks up most of it and anything they don't (glass mostly) can be recycled at the local supermarket so this is reasonably easy for me. I spent lots of extra money on insulation ni a variety of forms for my house and bought a particularly expensive boiler on the basis that it was more efficient than the others that were available. I'm thinking about getting a solar panel installed to heat the water and I drive a diesel that I'll probably change to a hybrid when it finally dies.

On the downside, I do tend to keep the central heating on and turned up (I like the warm), I probably have more electric gadgets than I need and I tend to put them in standby at night instead of unplugging them and I do have a bad habit of leaving lights on in rooms when I leave them.

[homer13j]

I'm only burning 110 octane leaded race fuel instead of 112 or 116.

Back in the late '90s our city council passed a law requiring everyone to separate the bottles and cans from their garbage. No problem, except people quickly noticed all their work being wasted when the collectors threw everything into the same truck. When questioned why, our esteemed (and quite arrogant) councilman informed us that we we needed to be properly "trained" and the special garbage trucks have not been delivered yet.

So pretty much everyone quit bothering to separate our bottles and cans and those special trucks? Never purchased. Too expensive for a city forced to lay off cops. The bottle/can law stayed on the books until being quietly repealed a couple of years ago and the only thing that gets people to recycle these days is when scrap aluminum goes for more than $0.50/lb. Of course, then it starts to dissappear off the sides of houses...

[penagate]

Back in the late '90s our city council passed a law requiring everyone to separate the bottles and cans from their garbage. No problem, except people quickly noticed all their work being wasted when the collectors threw everything into the same truck.

Ha! That happened here too. I'm now told the newer trucks actually manage to separate the two, though you wouldn't think it to watch them.


In 1975 South Australia passed a law mandating a 5 cent deposit on recyclable containers, which is refunded at recycling depots. (According to Wikipedia, the deposit was actually as high as 20 cents for some items prior to the passage of this law.)

Of course, five Aussie cents won't buy you much in 2008, so in order to keep in step with the economy it was recently raised to 10 cents. Hurrah!

[Arrow_Raider]

Ok, you people aren't doing anything for the environment; you are simply minimizing your negative effect on the environment. There is a difference between positive influence and slightly less negative influence.

[penagate]

Ok, you people aren't doing anything for the environment;

But I do my best to ruin a small part of it every day!

[Atheist]

Ok, you people aren't doing anything for the environment; you are simply minimizing your negative effect on the environment. There is a difference between positive influence and slightly less negative influence.

There is a differente between positive influence and slightly less negative influence yes, but who's to say there is a difference between "doing something for the environment" and minimizing ones negative effect on the environment? I dont think anyone has said that they're making a great positive influence on the environment.

If I where hyperallergic to peanuts, and i requested people not to bring peanuts to the university because that would make my conditions worse...and people listen and accept my request. Did they not do it for me?
Its similar logic..even though I still have my allergy and am suffering from it, i feel alot better if people dont carry around peanuts in my presence.

[penagate]

How can anyone have a positive influence on the environment? We're being detrimental to it simply by existing. Most effective would be the immediate extinction of the human species, and even that would simply be a minimisation of negative effects.

[Shaggy Hiker]

With the exception of recycling, nearly everything we do for the environment makes some kind of personal financial sense, as well. It's not always GOOD financial sense, like the compact flourescents I have installed in the bathroom that burn out at a fantastic rate, for some reason, but the energy saving changes I have made to my house may have already paid for themselves (aside from that one blasted light).

For example, I telecommute several days a week. Our governor has begun advocating things like that, and it's good to know I have his support, but when I look at the economics....of COURSE I'll telecommute. Let's see, now that gas has dropped....I'm saving about $4/day, plus the wear and tear on the car, risk of accidents or high blood pressure from driving in high traffic, wasting 80min a day sitting in a car, and I stay fit. That sounds like a good deal. Ya, it helps the environment, but it helps ME, too.

Recycling is different, since it requires a certain amount of effort for no net financial gain. We have curbside, but I kind of feel that it's more awkward than not, so I ignore it and take the recyclables in on my own. I don't generate much, so that's not a real burden.

[mendhak]

The only positive influence I can think of is planting trees. I think minimizing our footprint is considered positive for that reason - to encourage everyone to take part. The only other way we can become have a positive influence is if we

a) Underwent sublimation to ozone or oxygen
b) ???
d) Win!

[Shaggy Hiker]

A squirrel planted a tree in my yard. I pulled it up, but once I realized what it was, I planted it again, and tried to encourage it. If it puts on leaves this coming spring, I have succeeded. It seemed to do pretty well for most of the year, after struggling a bit (I pulled off half the roots when I pulled it up the first time). Now it's winter, and I can't even find the stem. Perhaps it died towards the end of the year. That would be too bad, but I might just get another of the same type that is a bit further along. The tree was an English walnut.

[kebo]

I help out by not burning my old motor oil in my wood stove.. even though it still has lots of energy in it and by not having a truck come out to pick up my old card board, cans and plastics... after all most waste treatment plants hire ppl to pick the reusable stuff out anyway

[oceanebelle]

I use a pail of water for shower, no more power shower.

saves water too.

[homer13j]

I help out by not burning my old motor oil in my wood stove.

I would think just the smell alone would be enough of a disincentive to burning old motor oil in a wood stove...

[nubie]

I recycle just about anything I can.

I have a big bucket with me while brushing my teeth to collect every drop of water, after a month or so I have enough water for a good bath. After bath I drain the tub into a vegetable garden planted with tomatoes, eggplants, etc. The excess water from the garden flow to a pond with goldfish and koi.

Do I need to tell you where I get water when im brushing my teeth?

I won't tell you..but if you insist...from the pond.

[abhijit]

I collect trash left by other hikers on trails. I never leave trash behind.