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What I do to reduce my environmental footprint...


SDS

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I use one of those Brita water pitchers with the replaceable filters and I fill up the same 20 ounce bottles of Aquafina with it and take it to work or leave it in my car. I don't do the reusable bag thing for shopping but I do save the plastic bags I get from shopping by stuffing them into an empty 12 pack of soda and I use them again for various things like picking up dog when I take the dog for a walk or for cleaning out my car or putting them into the little trash cans we have in the bathroom. I've also got solar panels on my roof that save me about 1/3 of my old heating bill. I do basic recycling (cardboard, aluminum cans, and the previously mentions plastic bags).

 

I think the best thing I did for the environment is never sneaking one past the goalie and adding to the overpopulation of the planet though.

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Awesome job SDS!

 

I replaced all my light bulbs with the new LED bulbs that are cheap and super efficient. These bulbs now only use 8 or 10 watts and are bright as heck! My electric bill went way down. These bulbs are replacing the already low energy curly bulbs I had in. I've also added new windows to let in sun for heat and light and on a sunny day it really makes house warmer.

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I moved close to where I work. I think that one thing has the greatest impact on my (or anyone's) footprint. I probably use ten or less tanks of gas in a year to get to work, and Robin Egg has inspired me to commute by bike even more this year.

 

As far as recycling goes, even though I'm a dirty hippy, I'm kinda on the fence about being militant about it. I'm convinced that some smart young fella in the future is going to figure out a way to mine landfills and make money off of it. When I throw away that dog food can in the garbage because I just don't feel like rinsing it out, I look at that as just making sure that that fine young fella will get more yield.

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What kind of public recycling programs do people have?

We have weekly curbside compost pick-up and unlimited recycling pick-up.

One can of garbage per two-week limit for us and we rarely need to fill it.

We have twice a month recycling pickup that I pay $8 a month for.

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So, here in Maryland, in particular Howard county, I can throw all of my recycling into one ginormous blue bin that's the size of a very large trash can. In fact it is bigger than my trash cans. I don't need to separate anything and from what I can tell they take most items that other recycling centers do not.

 

That makes it pretty mindless to recycle as much as we can. We even have weekly lawn and landscaping clippings pick up. They mulch that stuff up and make a really nice compost soil that residents can buy back.

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In Westchester NY Apt next to my wife's workwe recycle cans and paper, use fluorescent lite bulbs low energy, the leds are to much on the blue and to bright and not diffuse enough. Also I commute in a 35 mpg mini cooper, looking at the tesla 3 to replace in 2 years, dealer around the corner. Also in house in amherst installing 2 flex burn wood stoves, the house has passive solar skylight onto brick wall that heats house during the day, line dry in summer. Also saving coin for solar. Local landfill recycles batteries, appliances etc and has a massive take it or leave it program so we just use dump pass for our garbage. Grass cuttings go in a recycle compost pile, someday will make a nice garden area. All left overs go in there in a composter. Cuts way down on waste garbage. Used veg oil can burn in oil furnance after sitting to let sludge settle... results of wing making.

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The wife and myself are pretty strict with the household recycling. I've walked the 3 blocks to work for 10 years now and we actually bought our house in the old city quarter of town so we would be ' downtown ' and I could do exactly that. We can walk anywhere downtown from our house and public transit is literally a  block away. So we own one car which is small and economical for the times we need to drive. There are areas where we could make improvements. I'm workin on that.  

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I've been getting the small gas engine out of my life.  I bought a corded electric lawn mower, which is great, except, of course, for the cord.  The weed wacker has also gone electric, the neighbor yells 'Judas' from beyond his fence.

 

I put a pellet stove into this pile my girlfriend bought in Virginia. 

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The wife and myself are pretty strict with the household recycling. I've walked the 3 blocks to work for 10 years now and we actually bought our house in the old city quarter of town so we would be ' downtown ' and I could do exactly that. We can walk anywhere downtown from our house and public transit is literally a  block away. So we own one car which is small and economical for the times we need to drive. There are areas where we could make improvements. I'm workin on that.  

 

I miss being able to walk to work.  It was a nice way to start and end the day.

 

I tried a push mower. (Didn't Clint have one in Gran Torino.) I don't care if all of Florida goes under water — I just couldn't do it.

 

I had one of those and loved it, but it was a PITA to maintain.

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Love the thread.

I visited the California Academy of Sciences once upon at time and they had an exhibit to measure your carbon footprint. It was some sort of balance contraption -- so as you measure out your impact the scale would go from good-to-bad.

 

Recycling. Very little driving. The latest light bulbs. Barely turn on the heat or AC. Sustainable foods without too much packaging. I even unplug my TV and Xbox when I go away for a few days. Etc. etc. etc.

 

Then there was the lever for how much do you fly? It was something like: 1-2 times a year -- not good, but still weighted on the good side. 3-6 times per year -- balances all the good stuff. 7-9 immediately crashes the scale. So, I fly around the country for work -- probably 40 weeks/80+ flights a year.

 

Each year, I destroy all the good things I do by February. This makes for a sad Ebriate.

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Each year, I destroy all the good things I do by February. This makes for a sad Ebriate.

 

Ah, dude. That is a bummer.

 

OTOH, if you get all that other stuff in place, you can become a net positive once you stop all the traveling.

 

And, FWIW, it's a bit weird that the scale would weigh a commercial flight against an individual like that. I mean: Just about every one of those flights would be in the air with or without you. Seems like faulty analysis.

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My suggestion will undoubtedly be very unpopular in your household yet will save an believable amount of water in a years time. The old "if it's yellow let it mellow" technique.

What's the environmental harm in using as much water as you want? Where I live, it's abundant and cheap. Conserving is fine, but it's only a symbolic gesture. It all ends up in the Allegheny anyway. Water can't be destroyed. I imagine that the less water I use, the less energy will be needed to treat the water, both before and after it gets to me. That seems like pennies in savings. I suppose I would also be saving a little on gas for the hot water tank. What arguments for saving water am I missing?

Edited by PASabreFan
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What's the environmental harm in using as much water as you want? Where I live, it's abundant and cheap. Conserving is fine, but it's only a symbolic gesture. It all ends up in the Allegheny anyway. Water can't be destroyed. I imagine that the less water I use, the less energy will be needed to treat the water, both before and after it gets to me. That seems like pennies in savings. I suppose I would also be saving a little on gas for the hot water tank. What arguments for saving water am I missing?

Depends where you get your water from. Rivers and reservoirs are readily replaced unless there is drought. Pumping water from a deep well is much more problematic. That water could have been there for 1000s of years. If too many people hammer that source of water - it ain't coming back until the end humanity.

 

http://www.scienceworld.ca/blog/how-long-does-water-cycle-really-take

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