Climate change due to greenhouse gases is now widely accepted in the scientific community, with admittedly some still remaining skeptical. For the sake of this thread, let us assume the majority of the scientific communiy has got it right.
I would like to understand what are the steps each of us has taken to mitigate this? With that intent, here are some questions?
By law or by accepted norm, what are the steps the community you live in takes - recycling, carpool lane, etc. (For example, glass, paper and even old clothes recycling used to be a thriving small scale business in desiland - and most of these hopefully still get recycled).
As an individual, what steps do you take above and beyond what is generally expected in your community
What steps do you take that worsens the problem - that is what are your avoidable contributions to emissions.
Hope to keep this thread non-judgmental and just be a fact gathering exercise that may better guide us in terms of future actions.
Well...we have recycling bins in our apartment building..
I do recyling, and I do only full loads for laundry (saves, water, heat, electricty and $$ for me), i dnt use the dish washer..I dnt see the point in it. Also the lights in my apartment are only switched on where I am sitting.
i dnt use the dish washer..I dnt see the point in it. Also the lights in my apartment are only switched on where I am sitting.
except that using dishwasher instead of washing by hand, actually saves water. depending on hand washing approach.
and use phosphate free dishwasher detergent.
although phosphate free is not to do with energy consumption but since we are talking environmental responsibility, phosphates in detergents can royally screw up the ecosystem.
dad and one bro are environmental engineer, the other bro is an sustainable energy engineer. While I am the corporate blacksheep of the family, i do pick up a thing here and there. My only contribution to environment was the development and launch of a global program to help manufacturers supply chains with RoHS and WEEE regulations
^ I have come across RoHS - but dont know what that is
WEEE - no clue.
You are certainly not the blacksheep in Gupshup land though!
Anyway, here is my 2 cents worth of contribution
where we live, recycling is not compulsory, not a lot of environmental awareness.
We recycle everything - hardly have one garbage bag filled per week.
We use cloth bags only. And for vegetables, we keep reusing the transparent plastic for lettuce, chillies etc. For bananans etc we use no plastic - just lay them on the rolling thingy
For bottles and milk cartons, we have a special holder in our car - so we dont use cloth bags - just buy them as is, and place them inthe holder in the car
We never use drive throughs - too much idling
I hardly apply the brakes - and almsot never come to full stop while driving. And if I do have to stop, I turn off engine if expected wait time > 1 min. I try to drive arounf 45-55 mph, (and at max of 60 mph on the highway) since efficiency greatest at45-55 mph
Summer - we dry clothes outside
We use cold water in the washer
we fill the dish washer and air dry
we have cut out sunday newspaper - since lot of junk ads
Also, we run the tap quite low while doing pre-wash for dishwasher - some run it almost full speed - with 99% of water being wasted.
Wife saves all the egg shells and puts it in the veggie garden
She does other things with vegetablel skins etc that I dont know
set thermostat slightly cols for winter and warm for summer
Turn off lights etc when we get out of a room
We have a bath that has been used only twice in several years - too much water
We use only one towel (per person) per 2 days duriing Hotel stays
We use Hotel electricity and water as if they were our own house bills
Turn off light in my office (and in meeting rooms that are empty)
And now to the point of actions that I do that oncrease emissions - that I should avoid
I do drive home for lunch when the wife is not on travel - cant give that up. 10 miles each way.
I would like to cut out the local newspaper since same news available on their site - but wife likes the fell of paper
Limiting shower time - I try to curtail it - but I do run water at low speed - not full force
WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive) and RoHS go hand in hand.
RoHS limits certain hazardous substances in products at the start of their lifecycle
WEEE sets recycling responsibilities so a product is handled appropriately at the end of its life.
Baout 2 years ago, I read that somewhere in the ocean, there is a 1 square mile area filled with plastic bags. The area subsequnetly has grown further. During this month, the only new plastic bag added to our use was the one provided at the chinese restaurant today for our take out. We plan to use that now for a while.
If the 30000 guppies/guppans here can cut down plastic bag usage by 100 per year, that is 3 million plastic bags less just from this forum!
Running diswhasers, washing machines and other loads during off-peak hours can also help - less use of fossil fuel peaking generators needing to come on line.
Used to mow the lawn using the old style hand pushed powers (no gasoline, no battery power, no electric). But severe allergy to grass - had to stop after 3 years
Was driving past a Starbucks yesterday. There were 11-12 vehicles idling at the drive through, while a quick peek inside the store showed it was virtually empty. So the folks at tha back of the line preferred to wait ~ 15 min wasting fuel to just getting off their "seat" and gooing inside the store to place an order. If we multiply this scenario across all drive throughs, the amount of unnecessary wastage is mind boggling.
Pepole washing their spoon or fork at a typical office lunch room cause me to shake my head. Typical scenaio - a conversation is being carried out - faucetrunning at full speed. Barely 0.01% of the water hitting the spoon/fork. Why not run the tap at low speed- turn it off while applyiing detergent, then wash off the detergent - using 1% or less of water used.
We are WASTING resources like there is no tomorrow. No problems if we use what we need, but why WASTE?
^ I respectfully disagree. In fact, the outsized pollution per capita generated by 1st world countries is directly afecting developing nations. First world conutries are consuming way too much per capita, and need to cut consumption down so rest of the world does not suffer.
Water shortages will affect developing nations first. Already water tensions are aplenty both intrastate within nations and between neighboring countries.
Focusing more on conservation should be the priority for all, especially first world countries.
Being dismissive of this real threat may give you some street cred though :)