Are You Aware Of Your Own Carbon Footprint?

[chionomaniac]

I compost, grow some veg and salad, own a new house that is energy efficient, walk or catch the train (one car family) recycle everything that I can.

Areas for improvement are turning off appliances, and water conservation ( I haven't got a water butt yet and the kids need a lot of baths!).

When walking in Brighton last night I noticed some new electric car plug in points (these were permanently lit up!) and I couldn't help wondering that if the electricity was made from gas/ oil /coal fired power station, how much of a difference does this make. If the electricity is made from a non renewable energy source is this really making a difference because I believe these cars run out charge quickly when compared to a tank of diesel?

[The PIT]

We try here and there but I think my family and I could do a lot more. I'm fairly mean with electricity but that's more from a point of view of saving on bills rather than saving the planet. BoyCatch's school seem to be teaching them a lot about the environment which is good in a way, but I sometimes wonder who will break it to them that windmills alone cannot power the UK.

Others have mentioned recycling; does anyone know how environmentally friendly this actually is? It would be interesting to find out.

Most of it goes into landfill anyway. Just too show stupid Sheffield recycling is all the green waste goes down the motorway to Portsmouth I think.

Edited July 4, 2010 by The PIT

[Roo]

Don't drive and only use car rarely at weekends, have insulated house and double glazed windows, live in a terrace which uses less anyway, collect rainwater for watering, have eco-garden (i.e. not paved or decked and full of natives and areas for wildlife), vegetarian (so not growing food twice to produce meat), use eco bulbs, don't use carrier bags, have box veg delivery so don't have much food packaging, recycle (where it's not being crated to china!), try not to fly, reuse, mend broken things, not buy too much that I don't need, etc, etc.....

My mum was a member of the green party way back when it was the Ecology Party so I've been brought up with all this and by now some...cough...30 years on it's just what I do....it's become second nature and not at all a chore.

Edited July 4, 2010 by Roo

[Thundery wintry showers]

I'd considered raising the point about recycling myself but decided against it in my original post- those who question the "green-ness" of recycling are quite right to do so. I continue recycling things mainly because I see the problems with it as being significantly reducible in extent (and if they aren't, it's someone else's fault), whereas if I just chuck recyclables in the bin, it's impossible for anyone to do anything about it, and it's my own fault that they get wasted.

I should have mentioned another one, which offsets the fact that I eat out a lot. I very rarely waste food, and always feel guilty if I do, mainly for reasons along the lines "that could have fed some starving people in impoverished areas of the world". There are various stats out there suggesting that the average UK household wastes about £400 to £500 of food every year, and these days I probably waste well under one-tenth of that.

Edited July 4, 2010 by Thundery wintry showers

[jethro]

I'd like to ask how many people heed the "use by" dates on food stuffs? Personally speaking, I ignore them, if it isn't mouldy and doesn't smell, it's edible.

[mikecpsking]

4 years ago, I started cycling the 4 miles to work and back. Saves £300 on petrol plus my fitness is a lot better due to the 100m climb!

Last year, we installed a new boiler plus a solar evacuated tubes and reduced our gas consuption by a third, eeven with the winter we just had.

This year, we installed a 4kW solar PV array and so far, since teh 19th of May has produced 760 kWh of electricity..

[pottyprof]

I'd like to ask how many people heed the "use by" dates on food stuffs? Personally speaking, I ignore them, if it isn't mouldy and doesn't smell, it's edible.

That's a good point... It's the same as sell by dates. The law says if it's past it's sell by date, the item must be trashed. How long does a cabbage keep? Onions? The law is changing soon to allow longer dates to be used, which I'm sure will be great for those who don't know how to apply common sense. I'm with Jethro on this one. We always use stuff past its use by if its ok. If not, fruit and veg get composted, bread/cake goes to feed the birds coz they can't read. Meat very rarely gets wasted as its cut into portions and lobbed in the freezer. Smaller portions means it cooks quicker and saves on the electricity/gas. Yep, it tastes as good as a traditional roast too..

[Thundery wintry showers]

I'd like to ask how many people heed the "use by" dates on food stuffs? Personally speaking, I ignore them, if it isn't mouldy and doesn't smell, it's edible.

It depends on the item- I think certain items (such as milk) often have reasonable use/sell by dates but the vast majority err somewhat on the conservative side. I've known packets of crisps be as good as new a full six months after their sell by dates. I have little doubt that this issue contributes to the problem.

I used to be afraid of eating things past the sell/use by dates when I was younger but these days I think much less of it.

[vortex_liam]

Well if you go to a tree to pick a apple and wash it you have the same risk as getting it in a shop.

[Guest]

It depends on the item- I think certain items (such as milk) often have reasonable use/sell by dates but the vast majority err somewhat on the conservative side. I've known packets of crisps be as good as new a full six months after their sell by dates. I have little doubt that this issue contributes to the problem.

I used to be afraid of eating things past the sell/use by dates when I was younger but these days I think much less of it.

Am I right in thinking that food waste is one of the major contributors to the amount of rubbish we throw out and therefore carbon we produce. This surely then has to be one of the main target areas to help reduce everyone's carbon footprints?

Edited July 7, 2010 by CatchMyDrift

[Thundery wintry showers]

Yes, I think so. I remember it came up on the news a couple of years ago but didn't think much of the government's ideas re. tackling it at the time, e.g. taxes on fatty foods, finding ways to reduce portion sizes while keeping prices the same (effectively amounting to a similar thing) and discouraging people from eating out. But I think there are certainly things that can be done about it, e.g. working to reduce the tendency for large-scale bulk buying, and inappropriately conservative sell/use by dates.

[jethro]

Am I right in thinking that food waste is one of the major contributors to the amount of rubbish we throw out and therefore carbon we produce. This surely then has to be one of the main target areas to help reduce everyone's carbon footprints?

Apparently it is.

As a nation we throw away 8.3 million tons of food every year, costing £20 BILLION!!! On average a third of all food bought is thrown away.

"If we all stop wasting food that could have been eaten, the CO2 impact would be the equivalent of taking 1 in 4 cars off the road."

http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/about_food_waste

[johnholmes]

its an incredible amount of waste and one each and every one of us could do something about, looking at some trolleys in the local Asda is quite mind boggling even for a large family.

Okay there is only me but I do try not to waste food, sometimes veg does get thrown away but I try to make soup before it gets to that.

[Thundery wintry showers]

I also wonder if it's one of those areas where campaigns could genuinely work- just reminding us of the downsides of wasting a lot of food, I know I found the "that could've fed people in poor countries" sort of line quite persuasive when I was younger, and that can be used in addition to the environmental/sustainability side of the problem.

Trouble with campaigns is that often the people who most need to listen, don't, but they could be used as one of a multi-pronged approach.

I think the move towards people doing occasional large shops at big supermarkets rather than shopping relatively little and often has got to be a factor. It's so easy to think you need more than you actually do when buying in bulk. It ties in with the overall idea that it's often more sustainable to develop and produce things on a smaller scale.

Edited July 7, 2010 by Thundery wintry showers

[jethro]

I've always found being skint helps Seriously though, if folk stuck to a budget they might buy less.

[sunny starry skies]

I've always found being skint helps Seriously though, if folk stuck to a budget they might buy less.

Definitely! I feel the aim sometimes is to buy just the right amount of food so your fridge is empty of perishables (and you haven't binned any/much) by the time of your next shop. And being on a budget certainly concentrates the mind on that one...

[BLAST FROM THE PAST]

We all seem to agree that us humans are an untidy bunch when it comes to looking after out planet. We leave a trail of carbon on a daily basis (and other rubbish). Most of us agree that we should try to reduce the amount of carbon because it can only be a good thing, regardless of our view on climate change.

What are you doing to reduce your carbon footprint? :lol:

I don't think reduced carbon is a good thing. Cleanliness and less waste yes but CO2? Its not a climate thing for me its a cleanliness thing and CO2 is not dirty. One should look at the refrigerator....genious or hamper? I mean if you couldn't store things you would eat it or buy less...its a no brainer. My freezer is full but my fridge is frequently found wanting

BFTP

Edited July 10, 2010 by BLAST FROM THE PAST

[Guest]

Apparently it is.

As a nation we throw away 8.3 million tons of food every year, costing £20 BILLION!!! On average a third of all food bought is thrown away.

"If we all stop wasting food that could have been eaten, the CO2 impact would be the equivalent of taking 1 in 4 cars off the road."

http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/about_food_waste

There's one of our smoking guns then? Surely?

I've always found being skint helps Seriously though, if folk stuck to a budget they might buy less.

There's a lot of truth in that statement about being skint. The richer you are (ceteris parabis) the greater your carbon footprint.

[The PIT]

The biggest sinner in my family is my Mother. I have cut her food down but owing Dementia if she decides she's full it's in the bin. Despite a smaller diet by some considerable way she's gone from a 16 to a 20.

[jethro]

I don't think reduced carbon is a good thing. Cleanliness and less waste yes but CO2? Its not a climate thing for me its a cleanliness thing and CO2 is not dirty. One should look at the refrigerator....genious or hamper? I mean if you couldn't store things you would eat it or buy less...its a no brainer. My freezer is full but my fridge is frequently found wanting

BFTP

Costs considerably more to run a fridge or freezer half empty, probably save you quite a bit if you got a smaller fridge, I expect it would produce less CO2 too :wacko:

[BLAST FROM THE PAST]

Costs considerably more to run a fridge or freezer half empty, probably save you quite a bit if you got a smaller fridge, I expect it would produce less CO2 too

A few quid max in running costs, not even double figures...the other saving?

BFTP

[Cheese Rice]

At first glance I thought we did fairly well but after thinking about it we really are pretty bad when it comes to our carbon footprint.

What we do to reduce our carbon footprint

- Recycle paper

- Loft insulation

- Double glazing

- Energy saving light bulbs in lamps

- Insulation pumped into walls

-Use train when going to Leeds

What we do to add to our climate footprint

- 1/2 holidays a year via plane never in UK or Europe

- 3 Laptops

- Wifi always on

- Three 42 inch flat screen TV's

- All TV's are Samsung which don't have an option to turn OFF unless you pull the plug, always on Standby

- DVD player on Standby

- Surround sound speakers on Standby

- Laptops usually left on

- All four of us have 2 phones

- Curtains always open, only used as a feature

- Ipod speakers left on with music playing even though there is no-one in the room

- Spotlights

- Sanded floors, heat escapes

- Regularly buying new material items to replace perfectly fine current items (lamps etc)

- Two large Samsung Fridge freezers

- Always turn heating on instead of wearing an extra layer

- Two cars

- Leaf blower, could easily use hands

- Waste alot food, from Fridge, Fruit and Veg etc ...........

List goes on and on, I guess were just your typical average busy family with busy social lives which leads to us been pretty lazy with keeping on-top of our carbon footprint.

[Beazle]

I am not in the slightest concerned with my so called "carbon footprint". Classic left wing propaganda to prop up research grants and out bloated public sector.

[laserguy]

As it happens my "carbon footprint" is very small - a result of being terminally skint and an inbuilt desire to avoid unnecessary expense as well as having an,er,environmentally responsible attitude - but I wouldn't be troubled if it was so huge that I could squish 20,000,000 environmental campaigners/ AGW types with it with every step.