Our Environmental Impact......

[Full Member]

......and can we reduce it?

Tonybvi recently started a great thread titled 'Food Miles', where he reflects on the number of miles the ingredients for his evening meal had travelled in order to arrive on his plate. I have to say - well, not far!
Which is likely to be good news for the planet.
It occurs to me that a thread that shares ideas on how we might generally reduce our personal environmental impact might be useful to those of us interested in passing on to future generations a planet that's in the best condition that we can manage.
So here is that thread.
I'm not a through and through, hard-line environmentalist but I've been trying really hard to cut down on my impact on the planet.

So I'll kick off with ....... using my bike for all shopping trips.

Colin

 

[mistericeman]

I don't fly
I don't have children
The bulk of my driving is work related
I eat very little meat
Any shopping I do is usually on my way home from work so en route

 

[Val54]

We stopped flying a couple of years ago, mainly because of all the security measures. We try and do combined trips in the car where possible. We support our local shops, mainly bakery and greengrocers and meat is sourced from local farm shops. I grow veg and tomatoes. A lot of other shopping is done online. Not sure the latter is particularly “green” but it is convenient and saves us a car journey although there is obviously a carbon delivery cost. Nothing major in any of this but I suppose every little individual action helps overall.

 

[tonybvi]

Like full member I’m not a hard line environmentalist but I like to do what I can mainly because it makes me feel good. We installed solar pv on our roof 5 years back and they are one of the best things we did. We run an electric car (NOT hybrid). We are fortunate in living somewhere where we can get hold of top quality food from local producers and try to avoid supermarkets as much as we can, especially in these current times when I just don’t like going into them. Having flown so much on business when I was working we now try to avoid flying whenever possible, although our son lives on the Channel Islands so we tend to fly there as otherwise the journey from Aberdeen would be unbearable. We also grow a lot of our own veg in a big polytunnel.
As Val54 says not a lot but every little helps.

 

[Full Member]

Like full member I’m not a hard line environmentalist but I like to do what I can mainly because it makes me feel good. We installed solar pv on our roof 5 years back and they are one of the best things we did. We run an electric car (NOT hybrid). We are fortunate in living somewhere where we can get hold of top quality food from local producers and try to avoid supermarkets as much as we can, especially in these current times when I just don’t like going into them. Having flown so much on business when I was working we now try to avoid flying whenever possible, although our son lives on the Channel Islands so we tend to fly there as otherwise the journey from Aberdeen would be unbearable. We also grow a lot of our own veg in a big polytunnel.
As Val54 says not a lot but every little helps.

That's all pretty impressive, Tony.
I no longer grow fruit and veg but did before the children went off to make their own way in the world. And kept chickens for meat and eggs.
I do shop in supermarkets and am appalled at how much of the outer packaging film is not recyclable. When I can I choose the loose produce and, at least in Sainsbury's, use their 30p multi-use net bags - a great idea from Sainsbury's.
One of the key things I try to do is keep an eye on food miles. Generally that means UK produce - so most produce I buy is in season here in the UK. Having said that I do buy produce from further afield, but limit myself to food from Europe. Apples from New Zealand, beans from Zambia and grapes from South America, for example, seem an absolute nonsense to me.
I haven't eaten meat for a couple of years, haven't bought milk products for 6 months but do occasionally eat fish - perhaps two or three times a month.
I'm not trying to be self-righteous and certainly don't consider other people's choices wrong in any way. But I do want to make a difference . It's a small difference from just one person but collectively it could be................well, good for my grandsprogs for a start.

What are others doing in this regard?
What do you think of folk that are changing their behaviour in an attempt to leave the planet in better shape?

Colin

 

[Full Member]

I don't fly
I don't have children
The bulk of my driving is work related
I eat very little meat
Any shopping I do is usually on my way home from work so en route

The choices you've made around travel will have a very positive effect and not making special journeys for shopping I would have thought could be adopted by a significant proportion of the population. I know that many people would find cutting back on meat a challenge at first, but I made the transition by having quite a few vegetarian meals in mind for the first week or two. Even vegetarian meals 50% of the time would make a difference to both the environment and one's health. I never think about a meal including meat anymore but strangely enough whenever I smell meat being scorched on a BBQ, it brings back positive memories. I guess that's Pavlovian conditioning?

Colin

 

[mistericeman]

The choices you've made around travel will have a very positive effect and not making special journeys for shopping I would have thought could be adopted by a significant proportion of the population. I know that many people would find cutting back on meat a challenge at first, but I made the transition by having quite a few vegetarian meals in mind for the first week or two. Even vegetarian meals 50% of the time would make a difference to both the environment and one's health. I never think about a meal including meat anymore but strangely enough whenever I smell meat being scorched on a BBQ, it brings back positive memories. I guess that's Pavlovian conditioning?

Colin

Choices I've made over having children will also hopefully have a large positive contribution too....

Human overpopulation and its associated demands is probably one of the largest issues the world as a whole has to face.

To be honest IF all folks made some small changes the overall impact would be I suspect massive.

 

[Full Member]

We stopped flying a couple of years ago, mainly because of all the security measures. We try and do combined trips in the car where possible. We support our local shops, mainly bakery and greengrocers and meat is sourced from local farm shops. I grow veg and tomatoes. A lot of other shopping is done online. Not sure the latter is particularly “green” but it is convenient and saves us a car journey although there is obviously a carbon delivery cost. Nothing major in any of this but I suppose every little individual action helps overall.

I do wonder about online deliveries, Dave.
The delivery van would obviously use more fuel than the average family car if it were delivering to one household but the delivery vans are filled with shopping for many households and follow a pre-planned route that minimises time and/or distance. I'd be interested to know how environmentally friendly the online deliveries are compared to using a family car. It seems to me that the situation is similar to buses being more environmentally friendly (assuming they have a significant number of passengers on board!) than cars carrying the same number of people.
I guess someone out there has the data?

Colin

 

[Campervanannie]

I think I have been environmentally friendly for a lot of years I haven’t flown for over 20 years I have never been a follower of fashion so I don’t have wardrobes full of clothes I have Aran jumpers I knitted over 20 years ago and still wear them we went from 3 cars and a van to One car one van we recycle all our rubbish and useful items go to charity we use our own shopping bags I try to keep an eye on food miles but my downfall is fruit I love oranges grapes and bananas all of which have to travel quite a way to get to my supermarket and my other failure is diesel I average 13,000 miles a year oo and I like a good campfire so that’s not really good for the environment but I figure that’s offset by not flying and not buying the latest must have in clothes shoes and handbags and I don’t buy makeup and all my shower gels shampoos and handwash are refillable so cut down on plastic.

 

[Val54]

I do wonder about online deliveries, Dave.
The delivery van would obviously use more fuel than the average family car if it were delivering to one household but the delivery vans are filled with shopping for many households and follow a pre-planned route that minimises time and/or distance. I'd be interested to know how environmentally friendly the online deliveries are compared to using a family car. It seems to me that the situation is similar to buses being more environmentally friendly (assuming they have a significant number of passengers on board!) than cars carrying the same number of people.
I guess someone out there has the data?

Colin

I think any benefits generated by increases in online shopping in the short term are minimal. I haven’t any hard data to back up my gut feeling but take a few obvious negatives. More delivery vehicles creating more emissions and congestion in towns and cities. More packaging waste because a lot of online purchases are single items which are then often repackaged (extravagantly) to survive the delivery process. Possible duplication of shopping and delivery trips, people wishing to view items in store and then purchasing online. As we move forward, the situation may improve with “greener” vehicle technology, more night time deliveries to reduce congestion, a wider selection of goods from a single outlet allowing one delivery with less packaging. Interestingly our weekly Asda food delivery doesn’t involve any extra packaging, all items are loose packed in the crates. However I’m not sure that is anything more than convenience and speed for the packers! In short Colin, online shopping produces all sorts of complicated scenarios where the benefits to the planet are questionable, for certain any improvements will require all elements of the supply chain to modify their processes.

 

[Full Member]

I think I have been environmentally friendly for a lot of years I haven’t flown for over 20 years I have never been a follower of fashion so I don’t have wardrobes full of clothes I have Aran jumpers I knitted over 20 years ago and still wear them we went from 3 cars and a van to One car one van we recycle all our rubbish and useful items go to charity we use our own shopping bags I try to keep an eye on food miles but my downfall is fruit I love oranges grapes and bananas all of which have to travel quite a way to get to my supermarket and my other failure is diesel I average 13,000 miles a year oo and I like a good campfire so that’s not really good for the environment but I figure that’s offset by not flying and not buying the latest must have in clothes shoes and handbags and I don’t buy makeup and all my shower gels shampoos and handwash are refillable so cut down on plastic.

I'd forgotten about bananas! I have a similar weakness and the Hertfordshire pick your own field went out of business a couple of years ago, so I do buy shipped in bananas.
You make a good point about clothes, Annie. Those who have met me may have noticed that I tend not to follow fashion (!). Any clothes I do buy get mended where possible; watching me mend socks or re-sewing seams would be painful to an expert seamstress!. Anything I can't mend becomes the clothes I use for working in. I have very few shoes, trainers, sandals or flip-flops.
I'm actually quite lucky in many respects because I simply don't enjoy buying things. It really doesn't do anything for me. I guess that I'm one of those people who simply isn't acquisitive.
Some say ridiculously boring.

Colin

 

[Full Member]

I think any benefits generated by increases in online shopping in the short term are minimal. I haven’t any hard data to back up my gut feeling but take a few obvious negatives. More delivery vehicles creating more emissions and congestion in towns and cities. More packaging waste because a lot of online purchases are single items which are then often repackaged (extravagantly) to survive the delivery process. Possible duplication of shopping and delivery trips, people wishing to view items in store and then purchasing online. As we move forward, the situation may improve with “greener” vehicle technology, more night time deliveries to reduce congestion, a wider selection of goods from a single outlet allowing one delivery with less packaging. Interestingly our weekly Asda food delivery doesn’t involve any extra packaging, all items are loose packed in the crates. However I’m not sure that is anything more than convenience and speed for the packers! In short Colin, online shopping produces all sorts of complicated scenarios where the benefits to the planet are questionable, for certain any improvements will require all elements of the supply chain to modify their processes.

You make some good points about online shopping in general, Dave. I was thinking specifically about online food shopping, where we can compare a van delivering to lots of households compared with each of those households driving to a supermarket.
I didn't make that very clear - apologies.

Colin

 

[Val54]

You make some good points about online shopping in general, Dave. I was thinking specifically about online food shopping, where we can compare a van delivering to lots of households compared with each of those households driving to a supermarket.
I didn't make that very clear - apologies.

Colin

No problem Colin, if any good has come out of lockdown, it is the number of local businesses that have been forced into diversification and delivery services to survive. The test will be how many continue to do it after lockdown finishes as some have found it has been very successful in widening their customer base.
In our own case, we get fresh free range eggs delivered....... the local greengrocer does great quality fruit and veg boxes which we get on a weekly basis ..... the local pub does a takeaway menu and now does quality meat boxes supplied from their catering butcher ..... the list goes on. Maybe we have been lucky but the above combined with a weekly grocery delivery from Asda and/or Morrisons means that we haven’t turned a wheel to go shopping in 10 weeks or so. All of the deliveries are multiple drop offs, so realistically there must be an overall “green” benefit compared with individual shopping trips. There is also a personal benefit, improved mental health in not having to trawl around a supermarket, less bodily wear and tear in pushing trolleys and loading/unloading cars

 

[Full Member]

No problem Colin, if any good has come out of lockdown, it is the number of local businesses that have been forced into diversification and delivery services to survive. The test will be how many continue to do it after lockdown finishes as some have found it has been very successful in widening their customer base.
In our own case, we get fresh free range eggs delivered....... the local greengrocer does great quality fruit and veg boxes which we get on a weekly basis ..... the local pub does a takeaway menu and now does quality meat boxes supplied from their catering butcher ..... the list goes on. Maybe we have been lucky but the above combined with a weekly grocery delivery from Asda and/or Morrisons means that we haven’t turned a wheel to go shopping in 10 weeks or so. All of the deliveries are multiple drop offs, so realistically there must be an overall “green” benefit compared with individual shopping trips. There is also a personal benefit, improved mental health in not having to trawl around a supermarket, less bodily wear and tear in pushing trolleys and loading/unloading cars

I agree, Dave. At least some positive changes to the way we do things may result from the pandemic.
Like you, I've hardly turned the car and Moho wheels for weeks, though both have had a run of perhaps 30 minutes in the hope that it does some measure of good to the batteries, tyres and upper engine parts.

Colin

 

[Molly 3]

The lock down has certainly cut my carbon footprint ,haven't bought any fuel for 11 weeks .my neighbor's have done all my shopping using asda click n collect , no impulse buying .heating mostly turned off ,yes I'm bloody fed up.

 

[2cv]

I think that misreiceman has made the most significant contribution by not having children. Each child will have a massive impact compared to what savings an individual can make.
Personally in my career I saved thousands of tonnes of fuel by putting in the effort to operate as efficiently as possible.
In the longer term the Earth will inevitably become uninhabitable due to the effects of the sun, and later by intergalactic collision, we really only have a very short term effect.

 

[snapster]

To be honest IF all folks made some small changes the overall impact would be I suspect massive.

I think that sentence is the most important. As soon as people start to change the way they live and reduce their use of resources then they are making a positive impact.
It’s not enough to think you won’t bother because your actions won’t make a difference, they will. Even one missed car journey, multiplied by millions of people, will make a huge difference in reducing pollution.

 

[Full Member]

I've been buying all my fuel from Bulb for a year or so now simply because they only trade in renewable energy and their prices are very reasonable compared to other suppliers.
Justin Rowlatt, the BBC Chief Environment Correspondent, has written an interesting article on Britain's transition to renewable energy:

BBC News - Britain goes coal free as renewables edge out fossil fuels

Britain goes coal free as renewables edge out fossil fuels

On Wednesday, Britain will mark two months without burning any coal to generate power.

www.bbc.co.uk

Colin

 

[2cv]

I've been buying all my fuel from Bulb for a year or so now simply because they only trade in renewable energy and their prices are very reasonable compared to other suppliers.
Justin Rowlatt, the BBC Chief Environment Correspondent, has written an interesting article on Britain's transition to renewable energy:

BBC News - Britain goes coal free as renewables edge out fossil fuels

Britain goes coal free as renewables edge out fossil fuels

On Wednesday, Britain will mark two months without burning any coal to generate power.

www.bbc.co.uk

Colin

That’s an interesting article. Renewable energy production does throw up further problems however. For example I wonder how much fossil fuel is used transporting 7 million tonnes of wood pellets from USA to Drax each year, as well as producing those pellets.

 

[Full Member]

That’s an interesting article Renewable energy production does throw up further problems however. For example I wonder how much fossil fuel is used transporting 7 million tonnes of wood pellets from USA to Drax each year, as well as producing those pellets.

I agree, Bill. Wind turbines and solar panels also have an environmental cost of installation and maintenance - as does pretty much all activity on the planet. But my feeling is that Britain is moving in the right direction with respect to energy production.
One of the most difficult to manage problems right now is probably how to bring Britain's ancient housing stock up to modern environmental standards so that all this lovely environmentally friendly energy isn't squandered.

Colin