Hints for a greener life?

Archeron

Looking through the forum here, it seems like a lot of people are making as much difference as they can in what they use, reuse, waste and recycle, which is great to see. For myself, over the past number of years, I have been trying to make my own life more world friendly in any way I can, but I think sometimes that there are probably a lot more things I could do.

At the moment, I recycle pretty much everything possible through a green bin, home composting, bring centres etc. I use high power devices like the washing machine outside peak hours and knock off all appliances. I've even taken to not driving the mile and a half to town anymore, I just go for a walk instead saving me not only petrol money, but also making my clothes fit better (yeay!). I'd still like to hear any tips others may have on how to improve this though, so if you have any suggestions, please post them here.

I have started reusing sandwhich bags with my lunch at work. Why bin it when you can bring it home again and use it quite safely and cleanly, 3or 4 times instead? Maybe thats a little TOO small of a thing, but sure its a start. :rolleyes: Also, when i am finished using tin foil to wrap food, I then use it a grease catcher in the oven/grill, thus reducing the amount of chemicals I need to use to clean the oven, and the amount of times I need to clean it at all.

prospect

I sticky would be cool, which people can list things under categories:

1. Green things that will save you money (i.e no initial investment)
2. Green things that won't cost you anything
3. Green things that cost very little money
4. Green things that cost a few quid
5. Green things that cost a lot

For me:

1. Green things that will save you money
- I Walk/cycle to the shops/school/office/chursh/etc instead of driving.
- I Use washing machine/dryer/dishwasher off peak.
- I Turn off all lights and electrical appliances when not in use.
- I Turn the temp in the house down a notch and wear an extra layer of clothing

2. Green things that won't cost you anything
- I Carpool if possible

3. Green things that cost very little money (small initial cost)
- I bought a composter and compost my uncooked greens
- I Seperate and reuse and recycle my waste as much as possible
- I buy all my meat from the butchers counter where it is packed in paper instead of the prepacked plastic containers

4. Green things that cost a few quid (moderate initial cost)
- I have replaced as many bulbs in the house with CFLs as possible
- I have switched my outdoor lighting to sensors so they only come on when necessary
- We use biodegradable nappies

5. Green things that cost a lot (large initial cost)
- I bought a Big Pig and compost all my food and biodegradable waste (incl. meat, cooked and raw food)
- I am having a large percentage of my site planted with a mix of native trees and shrubs

I'll add more as I think of them.

GG66

Good List!

6. Green Things that cost a lot of money but payback over time (allegedly)

I installed a Pellet Boiler for space heating

I installed solar tubes for hot water heating

• I'm installing a wind turbine for electricity

• I've insulated my house far in excess of building regs with recycled newspaper

• Lots more house stuff...

7. At work

• I work from Home, zero commute related carbon emissions
• Reuse printed paper on both sides
• Choose PCs which use greener materials
• use recycled printing paper
• try to use public transport whenever possible for meetings
• probably lots more too.....tired now

SeanW

My list is a little smaller:
1: USE CFL LIGHBULBS: You won't regret it - not only will each bulb pay for itself after a few weeks/months depending on use, but the light it emits is whiter and has a 'cleaner,' more pleasant look than the slightly more yellow light emitted from incandescents.
Also get rid of unnecessary lightshades - I find that unnecessary lampshades end up requiring a higher wattage of lightbulb. They waste light and don't usually provide much benefit.

One very good example is my bedroom: I had an expensive, artsy-smartsy light fitting on the ceiling with a highly opaque shade on it - if you'd been using incandescent which I was, it needed a 100W lightbulb to give any decent light. So I got an electrician in to replace it with a basic €5 fitting with no shade. I then replaced the 100W incandescent with an 11W CFL, and the room is brighter and the light is more pleasant.
The only benefit the old arrangment had was that over the course of a night, the 100W bulb doubled up as a room heater :rolleyes:
2: Use public transport when you can.
3: Use non-disposable bags and crates for shopping instead of getting a plastic bag - once you start doing this it becomes habitual.
4: Wear a light coat inside the house and only turn on the heat when you actually feel the need for it.
5: Recycle what you can - Repak Bring Banks are free nationwide AFAIK and you can get rid of glass and drink cans there.
6: Watch the packaging on what you buy: I tend towards minimally packaged products and where packaging is necessary, I prefer paper/cardboard. I specifically changed the brand of bread I because the new preferred brand comes in glossy paper rather than plastic. It also tastes a lot nicer . Generally speaking though, it's difficult because almost everything is (over)packaged in some level of plastic >_< why why oh why

loismustdie

what's a bigpig that you can use for meat and cooked veg?

i live in rented house and we have no grass, so no compost heap. does anyone know an alternative

prospect

http://www.growgreensolutions.com/Pages/BigPig.htm

P

Misty Moon

loismustdie wrote:

what's a bigpig that you can use for meat and cooked veg?

i live in rented house and we have no grass, so no compost heap. does anyone know an alternative

A can-o-worms wormery or bokashi composting system could be used. See http://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/ for more details (you can definitely buy can-o-worms in Ireland but this UK website is good for product info).

I've just recently started switching over to CFL bulbs after years of not bothering because of living in rented accomodation and not wanting to have to fork out every few years if I end up moving again. The light finally dawned and I have kept the old bulbs I took out and will take my CFLs with me if I have to move again and simply put the old bulbs back in. Does anyone know if you can get screw-in CFLs rather than bayonet? I use an uplighter in the sitting-room, thinking it's better to use that with one bulb than using the four recessed spotlights already there but I'd like to use a CFL instead of incandescent bulb.

I recycle as much as possible - paper, tins, cans etc. go in green bin. Plastic and glass brought to recycle depot as well as batteries. I rarely shop in supermarkets anymore so packaging is reduced anyway - buy all fruit and veg from markets and bring my own bags. Buy bread from local bakery and it just comes in a brown paper bag which I can then use to put fruit peelings in for the compost heap. I'm in a rented house but we have a garden and the landlord didn't mind me getting a cone and then building my own composter when the cone was full. I hope to get a wormery in the next few months so that I can also start composting cooked foods.

I love the forums on rivercottage.net, itsnoteasybeinggreen,org and selfsufficientish.com and have gotten lots of hints from them and from reading lots of blogs on sustainable and simple living.

Green things that cost very little money (small initial cost)

Stop using chemical cleaners or reduce their use. Buy some e-cloths and use hot water, tea tree oil, rosemary oil and similar for your cleaning needs. I use Lillis toilet cleaner as well as I've never gotten around to making any homemade toilet cleaners.

Switch to re-usable sanitary towels/tampons or use a mooncup.

Switch to organic shampoo/conditioner - ones that don't contain SLS. Or consider not using shampoo any more, hair will self clean after about six or eight weeks and just rinsing with water is sufficient (haven't tried this myself but will if I can ever get the time off work to get me over the "icky" phase).

Reduce the amount of meat you eat and only eat really good, ethically reared meat.

If you can, grow some of your own veg or fruit. I can't dig up much of our garden but we have a bit of concrete too and last year I grew courgettes and lettuce in containers. Have plans for more this year and am going to try tomatoes as well. And potatoes in old tyres.

I'm having too many random thoughts now, I did mean to write a coherent post, sorry!

I suppose the biggest tip of all is to start living consciously and not just continuing on doing the same things you've always done.

limklad

Misty Moon wrote:

Does anyone know if you can get screw-in CFLs rather than bayonet? I use an uplighter in the sitting-room, thinking it's better to use that with one bulb than using the four recessed spotlights already there but I'd like to use a CFL instead of incandescent bulb.

Yes you can get screw-in CFL bulb. I pick one up last weekend in the Dairy gold co-op store (I think they change their name, I didn't take any noticed)last week for my cousin. There were looking for replacement bulbs, they are 2cm bigger than the old bulbs but still fit the light cover casing.

The bulbs are also in homebase where I first saw them, about two weeks ago. Not many stores have them. Once people see that they are available, then the other shops will follow suit. I walk through B&Q and could not believe they are still displaying lamps with the old 40W/60W/100W bulbs. :eek: They had the Larger CFL bulbs available.

You can now replace your spots with ultra-bright LEDS (both 12V and 250V) which is great. They are not available in the shops but are online (quick google search and ebay).
I brought a flask light a year ago with the ultra bright LED to test it out. It much brighter than my old flash light and I have yet still to replace the batteries (smaller and less of them). I’m Impressed. With the old flash light, I usually had to replace/recharge them every few weeks during the winter with my current use.

still

Misty Moon wrote:

A can-o-worms wormery or bokashi composting system could be used. See http://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/ for more details (you can definitely buy can-o-worms in Ireland but this UK website is good for product info).

I've just recently started switching over to CFL bulbs after years of not bothering because of living in rented accomodation and not wanting to have to fork out every few years if I end up moving again. The light finally dawned and I have kept the old bulbs I took out and will take my CFLs with me if I have to move again and simply put the old bulbs back in. Does anyone know if you can get screw-in CFLs rather than bayonet? I use an uplighter in the sitting-room, thinking it's better to use that with one bulb than using the four recessed spotlights already there but I'd like to use a CFL instead of incandescent bulb.

I recycle as much as possible - paper, tins, cans etc. go in green bin. Plastic and glass brought to recycle depot as well as batteries. I rarely shop in supermarkets anymore so packaging is reduced anyway - buy all fruit and veg from markets and bring my own bags. Buy bread from local bakery and it just comes in a brown paper bag which I can then use to put fruit peelings in for the compost heap. I'm in a rented house but we have a garden and the landlord didn't mind me getting a cone and then building my own composter when the cone was full. I hope to get a wormery in the next few months so that I can also start composting cooked foods.

I love the forums on rivercottage.net, itsnoteasybeinggreen,org and selfsufficientish.com and have gotten lots of hints from them and from reading lots of blogs on sustainable and simple living.

Green things that cost very little money (small initial cost)

Stop using chemical cleaners or reduce their use. Buy some e-cloths and use hot water, tea tree oil, rosemary oil and similar for your cleaning needs. I use Lillis toilet cleaner as well as I've never gotten around to making any homemade toilet cleaners.

Switch to re-usable sanitary towels/tampons or use a mooncup.

Switch to organic shampoo/conditioner - ones that don't contain SLS. Or consider not using shampoo any more, hair will self clean after about six or eight weeks and just rinsing with water is sufficient (haven't tried this myself but will if I can ever get the time off work to get me over the "icky" phase).

Reduce the amount of meat you eat and only eat really good, ethically reared meat.

If you can, grow some of your own veg or fruit. I can't dig up much of our garden but we have a bit of concrete too and last year I grew courgettes and lettuce in containers. Have plans for more this year and am going to try tomatoes as well. And potatoes in old tyres.

I'm having too many random thoughts now, I did mean to write a coherent post, sorry!

I suppose the biggest tip of all is to start living consciously and not just continuing on doing the same things you've always done.

I do this, I started not washing my hair with any thing other than water about 5 years ago. I never really had any problems initially with the "icky" stage. I think that it is actually healthier for your hair. I dont like shiny hair but do have long hair and this method is perfect for that.

Also I find that my hair is a good indicatot of my overall health. If its a bit off colour then im probably not eating right and need a top up of the veg and fruit etc.

Shampoo is well overrated.

Misty Moon

I'm very tempted by the reports of less frizz and more defined curls (if that's the kind of hair you have, as I do - and lots of it) and well as less itching of the scalp which does also happen sometimes. I think it's something I'll probably end up doing but for the moment I'm using a Faith in Nature shampoo and conditioner about once a week or so.

My toothpaste was finished last week so I toddled off to ecologic to buy a better for everything brand. Got a Tom's of Maine one, brought it home, looked at the list of ingredients and discovered it has SLS (sodium laurel sulphate) which is one of the things I knew to try and not have in shampoo. Have to go and look up what it is again to try and figure out why it's in my toothpaste.

enjoireland

I lived in oz for three years and was introduced to ENJO there...i now import it into Ireland. It enables you to clean ur whole house without chemicals..just cold water. I suppose initial outlay may be expensive..44 euro for a set to clean ur bathroom say but this is gauranteed for 2 years and in general lasts 4-5.

I meet loads of green people with green solutions while selling this product and another one which i love is the eco balls for ur washing machine..actually you can buy dryer balls nows aswell :-) Again initial outlay can be high but with a long lifetime the savings are huge.

Misty Moon

There was a thread on itsnoteasybeinggreen a while back about ecoballs for washing with and I think the consensus in the end is that there's not a huge amount of difference between using them and just washing with water (and also that just washing in water was enough to clean most things anyway). I've used soapods for the last couple of years and have been very happy with them. The suppliers are working with the plantations where they are grown to achieve an official fairtrade status as well which would be good too.


Do you have a link to more information on ENJO, please?