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Stop talking about it and take action. You can do meaningful things today. They may seem like little things but doing these things will accomplish far more than protesting (especially if you drive to the protest) or posting memes. The solution is for everyone to move in tiny increments that are easy to do and not really all that inconvenient. If you start a trend, it will have a significant impact.
1. Take the stairs whenever you are travelling ten floors or less (I have be knees is not an excuse. I have bad knees too, go slow at first it will get better with practice). It takes too long is also not a valid excuse. You are talking about a minute or less difference from riding in an electric elevator. The exercise will also make you healthier and result in less demand on medical resources.
2. Unplug everything in your house except clocks and refrigerators when not in use.
3. Get rid of that extra fridge or freezer. You really do not need to store that much in cold storage unless you have five or seven children. Why is all that stuff in there?
4. Do not buy new houses. There are more than enough used homes right now. They work just fine. No need to waste resources and labor building unneeded new homes just to have new. Also don’t buy new cars unless there is a specific valid reason for doing so. Buying a new Prius is actually less "green' than buying a used impala. Yes some new cars need to be made and someone will buy them. It does not need to be you.
5. Walk or ride a bicycle for any trip that is less than five miles unless you need to haul things. Yes you can walk or ride in cold or rainy weather - bundle up. The exercise will also make you healthier and result in less demand on medical resources.
6. Don’t recycle – it is pointless (the recycled stuff goes into landfills or incinerators anyway). Instead, reduce the amount of trash you produce. Buy things with less or no packaging. Buy in bulk. Re-use/re-purpose whatever you can. Buy things at stores rather than ordering boxes from Amazon.
7. Turn your thermostat down or up. 66 is warm enough. 71 is cool enough. People survived without central heat and air for decades. You can do it too. Put on some socks.
8. Conserve water, even if you live in really wet places, it still has to be processed. Take military style showers, flush toilets once. When the time comes to replace your toilet innards, install a dual flush system (costs about $30 rather than about $14).
9. Plant a tree in your yard. Make sure it is s decent type of tree that will nto create problems and need to be cut down.
10. Carpool. Whatever happened to carpooling? My father (89 years old) still had friends from his work carpool.
11. Reload your ammo. Collect the cartridges and reload them Copper is a limited resource and requires all sorts of mining and processing. There is no need to throw them away. You can do this while or instead of watching TV.
12. Garden and hunt. The less food processing and packaging and shipping is needed the better.
13. Stop watering your lawn. If it was meant to live, it will live.
14. Keep your clothing longer and/or shop at Salvation Army. Tons of perfectly serviceable clothing is tossed into landfills daily. You really do not need a new pair of fancy sneakers every fall.
15. Exercise. Even if oyu make a tiny effort. Walk ten blocks twice a day, you improved health will conserve all sort of different resources and reduce pollution.
16. Exercise outside. Health clubs use power, eat up resources for equipment, etc. Join a hiking club, or a walking club, or a dance class, or. . .
17. Donate your body when you die. You do not need it but someone else does. Even if they do not use it for spare parts, they need corpses for study, experiments and teaching. Burial or cremation is a waste of resources. Those left behind do not really need a box of ashes that might or might not be what remains of you body. It is not you.
18. Stop buying every new smart phone that comes out. If your phone still works – it is fine. Even if the screen is cracked – you new phone will have a cracked screen in a few months and you will be back where you started. You do not need a new state of the art phone. They all do the same things.
19. Shower with a friend. Conserve water and have fun.
Your ideas?
No excuses. No talking about it. Pick ten things from the list and do it. Or add some more things and do those. Forget the "big' stuff and blaming companies etc. Do something you can actually influence.
Mr. Coldjensens, your post is full of suggestions to take us back into the past. You are trying to revert everyone to an era which is gone. The way things are is the way of the future. You have to let go of what was, and instead look to what will be, and what could be implemented accordingly. The actions you are suggesting are not viable, and are way out in left field in regards to actual performance of these little changes. You can't "unplug" everything in your house, my goodness. People just aren't that way anymore, and society is moving too fast for even one person to consider slowing down. You slow down now, you're out.
Nice try though.
Yes, you actually can unplug everything that is not necessary. I did it today.
I did not suggest you unplug everything. Refrigerators, clocks, maybe computers need to remain plugged in to function properly. However other things do not need to be plugged in and do not need to be continually drawing tiny bits of electricity for no purpose. Plug them back in when you need them. It is really not that much effort.
I am actually suggesting people move into the future instead of living in the past. We cannot sustain the wasteful consumption of the past as we move into the future. There are too many of us. Electricity is a perfect example. There are already shortages in many locations resulting in rolling brownouts or increased charges during peak times. As we move more and more to electric cars and other devices that demand loads of electricity and as we get more and more wimpy about being a tiny bit warm or cold the problem will grow exponentially.
The future is a place where there is not enough electricity for the demand. If everyone would acknowledge the future and take little steps that are a most a minor inconvenience.
Hopefully the future is not a place where people grow increasingly lazy and unhealthy. Already average life expectancy is expected to be in decline. We are on a path to drag us back into the past where people could expect to live only to age 70 or so. What I am suggesting - using our bodies to power short distance travel rather than machines, is key to continuing to move ahead rather than regressing into the past.
All of our current wasteful consumption of - everything, we are causing pollution trash etc. that is taking us back to the levels of the past. If we want to continue the path to a cleaner, safer and more healthy world, we need to control our wasteful consumption. The wasteful consumption is not necessary to move forward it serve no purpose other than to feed laziness. It is actually holding us back form moving ahead as much or as rapidly as we could if each person would just make a tiny effort. Continuing on the current path without variation is not moving into the future, it is promoting laziness and pointless waste.
Somewhere on our path to the future, we made a U turn and are on a path to regress into the past.
This morning I sent an email to a restaurant chain where I suggested they find an alternative to Styrofoam containers for people taking the uneaten portion of their meals home with them. Why would someone need to keep their leftovers warm when they`re going to refrigerate the food as soon as they get home?
Which ones aren't viable, other than unplugging everything? Slow down and you're out-what does that mean?
Other than the one above and showering with a friend I think it's a good list that's practical and feasible.
Don't agree about not recycling, though reducing/reusing is obviously preferable.
Which ones aren't viable?
1. Asking people to shop at Salvation Army
2. Do not buy new houses
3. Walk or ride a bike for trips less than five miles
4. Don't flush the toilet
5. Garden and hunt
6. Don't buy a new smartphone
7. Shower with a friend
8. Stop watering your lawn
9. Turn down your heat and be cold
If someone wants to play Grizzly Adams, that's their perogative, but don't ask everyone to do the same. You take care of you, and I'll take care of me, in the manner I see fit. Unwanted advice is better known as criticism..
Which ones aren't viable?
1. Asking people to shop at Salvation Army
2. Do not buy new houses
3. Walk or ride a bike for trips less than five miles
4. Don't flush the toilet
5. Garden and hunt
6. Don't buy a new smartphone
7. Shower with a friend
8. Stop watering your lawn
9. Turn down your heat and be cold
If someone wants to play Grizzly Adams, that's their perogative, but don't ask everyone to do the same. You take care of you, and I'll take care of me, in the manner I see fit. Unwanted advice is better known as criticism..
Reading with comprehension is beneficial to making statements.
Who said don't flush the toilet?
Who said don't buy a new smartphone?
Who said to be cold? 66 degrees is not cold. You do not need to be in tropical conditions.
On the other items:
There is no reason it is impractical to shop at salvation army, except snobbery. They sell new clothing, and even fancy name brand new clothing. Even if you have some odd problem with previously worn clothing (do you throw away your clothing instead of laundering it?), it is still practical to shop there. Most people have no problem with buying/wearing used clothing that is in good shape. A few do, but I find it strange. those same people will borrow a pair of pants from their sister, but buy a paid of used (or even brand new) jeans at Salvation Army? Ewwww. Have you ever been to a S.A. Boutique store? It is mostly name brands, only items in perfect or near perfect condition. Some people will need to overcome their fear of doing something different. Otherwise it is completely practical.
It is funny that someone would say not buying new houses is impractical. I do not know the statistics, but I will bet that more used houses than new houses are sold every year. Certainly it is practical for millions of people. If you want to be green - join those millions. That is the point of this thread. Not that no one should buy new houses or cars, but that people who want to call themselves "green" or "woke" or whatever should not be buying new houses. It is hypocritical.
It is also very practical to walk or ride a bike on trips of less than 5 miles if you are not carrying anything. Of Course you could drive to your destination and then drive to a health club and walk on a treadmill for a few miles, but that would not be very "green" Or you could just drive to your destination and then spend the rest of the day sitting on a couch getting fact and losing muscle and becoming unhealthy. that is also very un-green. If you are going to exercise anyway, it makes no sense to drive short distances. If you are not going to exercise,then yes, you are going to be doomed to a lot more pain and problems as you age and you will be an added burned on medical resources - which is also very un-green.
Gardening and hunting is also not impractical. Millions upon million of people do both. Absolutely anyone can garden. You do not even need an average IQ to be able to garden. You can also grow food anywhere. Yes, even in apartments. Not only does it reduce pollution and reduce waste, it will make you more healthy and reduce your use of medical resources (which generate a lot of trash and pollution and bio hazard materials. Being unhealthy is very un-green.
Why is showing with a friend impractical? Again millions of people shower with their spouse/domestic partner. Hopefully your spouse is your friend. this is only impractical for people who have no friends. (it was also included as a facetious comment, but that is high end stuff to understand - so I will give you that one. Showering with a friend is impractical, especially for people with no friends. You can still be green and shower alone - at least as long as you do military style showers.)
Actually stopping water or at least reducing water your lawn is not only a practical thing to do if you want to be "green" for most people it is necessary. Read the manual that came with your house. It tells you not to over-water. Why? Because you will eventually cause damage to your foundation. If you have a lush green lawn year round, you are over-watering. Another green option for lawns is to not water your lawn with potable water. for example, if you live on a lake, stream or river, you could draw water out for your lawn and as long as you do not use chemicals or fertilizers on your lawn it is fine. Naturally you do not use chemicals or fertilizer on your lawn if you claim to be "green" That goes without saying so it does not need to be included in the list.
no none of these things are impractical. they are actually very easy and practical things to do if you want to claim to be green. What is impractical is to joust at windmills, berate others online for saying things you consider to be anti-green, or to try to force other people to do what you are not even doing yourself. If all the people claiming to be green or even silently wanting to be green would do these simple little things that take very little effort and cause only a tiny bit of inconvenience, the green movement would accomplish more in a year than they have in 30 years of protesting, demanding, belittling, suing, etc.
If you did not want advice, then why did you click on this thread and read it?
Coldjensens:
Your #6 is a direct conflict to #3 and #12. Exactly how does one "buy in bulk," if one has no place to store it? It's well known that frozen vegetables have more nutrients than canned ones, so to eat healthier, one should buy frozen veggies in bulk. Then one needs a freezer to store them. Gardening and hunting require either canning or freezing, too -- therefore, that extra freezer is a must, unless one invests in an expensive freeze dryer (which also uses electricity) or food dehydrator.
Your #9 is a direct conflict to #8 in semi-arid and arid parts of the country. Newly planted trees require a lot of water for at least a year or more, even when it's a regional native.
Recycle doesn't have to mean separating stuff into special bins, etc. It also means use something for another purpose. It's one reason why so many Depression era folks keep their margarine and Cool Whip tubs. They use them for other storage.
You left out:
Learn to sew, then recycle old clothes into new clothes with your own unique style. Turn them into blankets, quilts, curtains, etc. If you really, really want to save on electricity, there are treadle sewing machines still in production.
Learn how to crochet and/or knit. Now turn plastic bags into durable rugs, mats for under your good area rugs, carry bags, or curtains. Keep them away from very hot things, though, so they don't melt or create a fire hazard. Turn strips cut from old clothes, linens, etc. into crocheted or braided rugs, tablecloths, placemats, etc.
Save money on cleaning products by using baking soda, vinegar, and hydrogen peroxide for your main household cleaners. Amazing how well they work and are safe around humans and pets.
There are all kinds of ways to save resources and monies without taking us back to pre-electric days.
Some of these are pretty reasonable... some are patently absurd.
And some would do virtually nothing to "go green"
Taking the stairs instead of the elevator? Really? Did you account for the extra calories burned by taking the stairs? And then account for the extra food I will have to consume to take the stairs?
Garden and hunt. The less food processing and packaging and shipping is needed the better.
you must know my husband.
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