Thread: Environmental Impact

I get made fun of a fair amount by some of my more right-wing brethren in the service because I am fairly liberal. I also read quite a bit. Recently, I read Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, which really made me think about a few things, including how my choices as a consumer and my living habits as a human being affect our environment.

After reading it, I vowed to find ways to make my life more environmentally friendly, which is sort of hard to do in the middle of a country that's been bombed into the third world where noone has the luxury of giving a flying fsck about the environment. It is, however, one of several factors that turned me on to straight shaving, as I did look at each aspect of my life and try to reduce the number of things I just throw away.

Of course, I'm trying to think of things I can change about my lifestyle at home, too. Some of them are pretty obvious -- I'll replace all the bulbs in my house with CF bulbs, and I already conserve on the lights because I had a father who was obsessed with uninhabited rooms which were lit (they did not make him happy) -- and my wife and I already drive an economy car. These are all changes that most "quick guides to becoming environmentally friendly" suggest. Things like switching to a form of personal grooming which doesn't produce tons of disposed-of razor cartridges, shaving cream cans and aerosol are exactly the kind of thing which is not often suggested. Does anyone have any other tips to add in?

One thing I read about which I liked was investing in some permanent grocery bags so I can stop throwing the plastic ones out. Easy change.

Change to CF bulbs because they save money and don't need to be changed as often. If you start to change your life "for the good of the world" without finding the reason it is good for you, you will spend your life feeling burdened by your decision to help out not heartened by your life improvements that give you benefits and also help our environment. Besides fluorescent bulbs contain Mercury.

As for shopping bags if you pick the right stores (try Whole Foods) they give you paper bags that count as ten cent coupons when you bring them back and reuse them. Good for you good for the environment.

Keep enjoying your shaves, best shave of your life and most comfortable too.

use wax candles instead of electric lights. You can make them yourself out of environmental friendly materials.

right a bike instead of a car. they have 4 wheel covered bikes that can be powered by a single individual if need be, with 2 seats set up to share the bulk of the pedaling. just carefully plan winter travel

eat raw foodist diet. Less wrappers that way and totally environmental friendly.

buy hemp clothing and paper for your needs. It's a quickly renewable resource that has gotten a bad wrap from right wing neurotics out to promote logging industries .

put a well within your house with a hand pump and put in hand pump toilets and use washable butt wipes.

Bathe no more than once a week and use hand made non-lye vegetable soaps.

well that's all of the suggestions I can think of for now. hope this helps. Let me know how you do on all of them

You definitely have my respect for this. Unfortunately I doubt that they have recycling facilities in Iraq but here in the Americas we should make sure we recycle EVERYTHING. Diesel cars/trucks, especially running on biodiesel are great for the air and reduction of energy resource depletion.

I didn't recycle until my wife came along. The city gets most of our shredded paper & plastic (1 & 2 grade only). The city sometimes gets my aluminum cans, but I sometimes give a garbage bag of them to a random homeless person near my workplace (cans are a big commodity for them at $.70/pound).

I believe Staples gives you a free 500ct recycled paper for each spent ink cartridge you turn in.

You can refill ink cartridges a couple of times. It's usually the electronics that die in them.

Walk when you can. A coworked and I walked about a mile round trip to lunch today. A little exercise, and no fuel emissions.

Some stores have bins where you can recycle your plastic grocery bags.

If you have a pool or hot tub, drain the water onto your yard. Try it in an inconspicuous spot first though. Sometimes the chemicals & the grass don't get along. You're also supposed to drain your hot water heater regularly, although I don't know a single person who does.

Hahah FUD, I think I may detect some tongue-in-cheek humor there. FYI, I do ride a bike when it is sunny. I stopped riding when it was not sunny after a wreck on the way to work in February that (fortunately) led to nothing more than a week of limping and some strong language directed at my bike. And on the clothing front, I actually gave almost all of my clothes away when I deployed because I was moving (didn't want to bother with packing, heh) and because they were pretty much all 4-5 years old at the minimum. I'm not a big clothes shopper...still have the same winter coat I bought when I was 16. I plan on picking up some hemp / recycled-material clothing when I get home.

As far as your other suggestions, I am with Wildtim, there is a limit to my idealism called "practicality." And while CF bulbs may contain mercury, I have to think that if they are so much longer-lasting, the overall envrionmental impact has to at least be positive over incandescence.

In any case, I won't be drilling a well or using candles anytime soon, at least not outside the bedroom The diet is a really good suggestion. I'll let you know what the wife says on the bathing front

For the past year almost I've been working with our local council to set up a community garden in our area. A lot of people think this is for old retired people who have nothing better to do with their time but for me nothing could be further than the truth.

The benefits of a community garden are huge and everyone should be involved.

Kids don't know where food comes from and are eating crap from Mc Donalds getting diabetes and becoming obese! Getting children involved in growing their own food teaches them so many good lessons.

A study done by our council showed that 50% of household rubbish is organic waste and should be composted instead of being trucked away in polluting rubbish trucks to rot in landfill creating green house gas emissions.

Food is being shipped from all over the world to end up on my plate!! Locally grown organic food is better for you and tastes better.

Commercial agriculture is absolutely wrecking our land with clearing removing topsoil, pesticides. Genetically engineering crops and depleting biodiversity.

Working with members of your own community creates a sense of place and raises awareness that we are all part of this planet and everything we do has an impact on others.

I'll shut up now, I've finished my rant, actually I haven't but I best get back to work anyway.

TomlinAS if everyone thought as you do on their affect on the environment the world would be a better place.

Buy unbleached paper products like toilet paper and diapers, and reduce chemicals in your life in general. It is being shown that the accumulation of such toxins is leading the increase in cancer rates so there's more than just the altruistic argument to back that up.

Eliminate sugar from your diet as much as you can manage. Use maple syrup or fruit (eg. raisins) to sweeten foods or get used to the taste of a little more bitterness. Not only does a high sugar diet wreck havock on your health, but 'big sugar' still employs indentured servants who live in abject poverty with no hope of bettering themselves.

Actually, the highly eminent and totally genius biologist Dr. David Suzuki has outlined the 10 most important steps in his Nature Challenge.

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Turn down the thermostat on your hot water system at home until the water is just as hot as you need, and not hotter. For example loads of people have their water super hot and then when washing dishes etc, they have to add cold water to make it cool enough to put their hands in. Even dropping a thermostat a degree or two makes a difference long term. Same with central heating if you use it.

Also with refridgerators or freezers. If you don't routinely use all of the space in yours, fill the voids with bags/boxes of polystyrene chips left over from packaging. It stops the cold air escaping each time you open it, meaning it costs less power to run in the long term.

Dont have children,or if you do only one allowed