Living greener

[tracilicious]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

Most of my environmental tips boil down to one underlying principal:

Don't confuse "discomfort" as a synonym for "anything less than complete, perfect comfort." Much of our energy inefficience comes from never wanting to experience any inconvenience or discomfort where anything less than perfect comfort is labelled as uncomfortable and anything less than perfect convenience is labelled as inconvenient. Thus we want every gadget to do everything that might concievably be wanted and we want it to do it immediately. Therefore we frequently end up making purchases based on the less than 1% outlying anomolies than for the 99% standard uses.

I think this is an extremely good principle.

The transportation thing is frustrating to me. I would love to have a newer hybrid or electric car. But being four people living on one income, it isn't going to happen anytime soon. I drive my gas guzzling Jeep Cherokee because that's what I have. It's what I could afford at the time and it isn't getting replaced anytime soon. Same with solar panels. As soon as I get a spare $10,000 I'll pop one right onto the roof.

Our public transportation system is ridiculous. It takes several hours to get 15 miles away. Totally not an option. Michael will be getting a motorcycle in the next few months though, which will be much more efficient for him.

I think the more effort thing definitely applies to the way people eat. Organic locally grown produce has huge environmental benefits (not to mention health benefits). It costs a bit more, but all you need to do is give up packaged food in most cases to even out your grocery bill. The busiest person can set aside a few hours a week and prepare meals and freeze them. It's all time management and priorities.

[tracilicious]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

My biggest environmental pet peeve are all the recent disposable cleaning cloths - Swiffer, Clorox wipes, etc. Not only are you throwing away tons of fabric but those things are loaded with chemicals. I use rags when I can and save paper towels for truly nasty jobs.

The wipes also enforce the idea that every surface in the house should be sanitized. The commercials I'm seeing for these products frighten me - wiping children's toys, wiping the baby's play area, wiping every piece of food... I do not want an absolutely sanitary life for my kids, I want their bodies to be able to fight disease by themselves. I think this ties in to what Alex was talking about: overkill. Not to mention OCD.

I totally agree. Especially when they show them wiping toys with the bleach cloths. We don't want our kids to get sick, so let's wipe pesticides on their toys! Good idea. Soap does a fine job of cleaning most things. If you compare disinfectant soap to regular soap there is only a miniscule amount of difference as far as germ elimination.

The paper towel thing I totally need to work on. They are hard to give up.

[tracilicious]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

We do recycle regularly but we don't compost (something I'd like to start doing). I always snip my 6-pack holders.

Our town is giving away free compost bins right now. I need to call and get one. We were doing earthworm composting for a while, but I now have a bin of 1000+ dead earthworms in my garage.

I'm going to do a big above ground garden this year, but that's more for hobby reasons than earth wise reasons.

[Stan4dSteph]

Originally Posted by tracilicious

I totally agree. Especially when they show them wiping toys with the bleach cloths. We don't want our kids to get sick, so let's wipe pesticides on their toys! Good idea.

Bleach is a great disinfectant, but I wouldn't call it a pesticide. I love the smell of bleach. To me it equals clean. I do agree about the disposable wipes though. I need to get some microfiber cloths at the store to use instead of disposables.

[Matterhorn Fan]

Originally Posted by tracilicious

I'm going to do a big above ground garden this year, but that's more for hobby reasons than earth wise reasons.

You can grow your own veggies and herbs!

[tracilicious]

Originally Posted by Stan4dSteph

Bleach is a great disinfectant, but I wouldn't call it a pesticide. I love the smell of bleach. To me it equals clean. I do agree about the disposable wipes though. I need to get some microfiber cloths at the store to use instead of disposables.

Bleach is a registered pesticide.

If I recall, bleach has been linked to asthma and other health problems. You don't need to completely eliminate bacteria to get things clean. Vinegar kills germs really really well. A naturalish company just came out with the first non-bleach cleaner that is approved for use in hospitals. It kills the HIV simplex virus. It's made with thyme oil. Looks promising. Bleach is murder on the environment.

ETA: Wikipedia on bleach:

A problem with chlorine is that it reacts with organic material to form trihalomethanes like chloroform, which is a well known carcinogen. The benefit of using chlorine to kill the germs in drinking water far outweighs any risk from the tiny trace of chloroform in treated drinking water. However, the use of bleach in industrial processes such as paper bleaching, with its attendant production of organochlorine-persistent organic pollutants (including dioxins), does not have any such clear benefit.
Chlorine is a respiratory irritant. It also attacks mucus membranes and burns the skin. As little as 3.5 ppm can be detected as an odor, and 1000 ppm is likely to be fatal after a few deep breaths. Exposure to chlorine should not exceed 0.5 ppm (8-hour time-weighted average - 40 hour week).
Another hazard is the formation of acrid chloramine fumes when hypochlorite bleach comes into contact with ammonia or urine, which, though not nearly as dangerous as chlorine, can cause severe respiratory distress.

[Stan4dSteph]

I try to buy things in larger packages, but I admit that I buy individually packaged foods for convenience.

[Matterhorn Fan]

I read (in this month's Vegetarian Times, I think) that Stonyfield Farms is recycling their yogurt cups to make toothbrushes and razor handles. Of course, you have to mail the cups to them.

[BarTopDancer]

The biggest thing I've done recently is get rid of my Explorer and bought a compact car. I didn't do it to be greener persay, but I was tired of how much it was costing me to fill up and it felt wasteful to drive. And even after 2 years of payments, the car is cheaper than the Explorer.

I re-use paper bags and recycle plastic bags. When possible boxes are re-used for moving or storage.

But I've read and heard (too tired looking for links) that recycling just causes more pollution. The recycling plants release fumes and waste that would not be there if they were not in operation.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by tracilicious

Bleach is a registered pesticide.

It is an antimicrobrial pesticide which is not what most people mean when they say pesticide. Vinegar also is an antimicrobial pesticide.