Do you care about your carbon footprint?

Ubbquittious

Now that things are tigering again the greenies and the lads that just bought a new electric car on the PCP are trying to make the carbon footprint fashionable again since it's demise in 2008.

As people poshen up with the rise of this new tiger expect to see an increase in people voluntarily enduring token hardships so they can pretend they care about the environment and signal their virtues. They'll be buying more short-lived Chinese consumer goods with plenty rare earth metals packed inside than ever before but we'll gloss over that. If they really wanted to do something about the environment they'd ban all this crap that comes in and only lasts a couple of years before it breaks or goes obsolete.

I don't think Ireland and UK have the capability to make or break the eventual extinction of mankind due to excessive CO2 emissions if such an event is on the cards. We could even stand to gain by going completely the opposite way of the rest of the world as they "go green". Build a massive coal fired powerplant just across the border in post-Brexit NI with a huge chimney and burn the coal that nobody wants to buy anymore. Import loads of petrol and daysul through NI on the QT without the boys over in d'EU knowing about it.

odyssey06

Don't worry, before greenhouse gas gets us, we'll all be dead from the fumes from all the diesel cars people were incentivised to buy to cut down on greenhouse gas. You couldn't make it up Joe.

Someone call in an airstrike on the next container ship bringing in diesel bangers from the UK.

kneemos

If it wasn't for the milk souring smugness of the greens I might be more on board with it.

If they just used the words might or may now and again even,but no,they can tell you with 150% certainty what's going to happen fifty years from now.

mariaalice

I am a massive recycler does that count, plus I use a composter it's mainly down to finding the sheer amount of packaging that comes with food annoying.

ednwireland

caring less and less with all the greenwash thats out there and that governments only seem to care when it involves raising taxes

Grayson

I care about my footprint. I recycle and try to do the right thing. I also try to avoid buying stuff with excessive packaging but that's not always possible.

It's something we should be aware of and make an effort with. I don't think it's possible for anyone to be perfect. It can also be ridiculously difficult sometimes. But the more who try the easier it will get as companies and governments adapt. At the very least we should all try to be better.

Grayson

mariaalice wrote: »

I am a massive recycler does that count, plus I use a composter it's mainly down to finding the sheer amount of packaging that comes with food annoying.

I'm amazed at the amount of recycling that I, a single guy, can generate. And it's all packaging. The rest of my waste goes into a small swing bin which I empty every week or two. The main rubbish bin gets put out for collection every 4-6 months. The recycling bin gets collected most of the time it's available for collection.

Shenshen

Why wouldn't I care? Especially since saving energy equals saving money.

odyssey06

Shenshen wrote: »

Why wouldn't I care? Especially since saving energy equals saving money.

But when push comes to shove, which do you care about more... the money saving or the carbon footprint reduction... they don't always overlap so maybe the green you care about is the colour of money

Permabear

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jimgoose

Yes, I do, and have done for a long time, since before it was cool, as the youngsters say. As an engineer inefficiency and waste offends me, and conserving precious, irreplaceable resources makes a lot of sense to me.

Eathrin

kneemos wrote: »

If it wasn't for the milk souring smugness of the greens I might be more on board with it.

If they just used the words might or may now and again even,but no,they can tell you with 150% certainty what's going to happen fifty years from now.

I don't understand this. The green party are not the gatekeepers of the environment. Why wouldn't you want to do your part for yourself?

jaxxx

We're overdue an ice age so that'll sort us out good and proper like

wakka12

Not surprised by the results at all. Was in the cafe with my friend yesterday waiting for our coffee, there was jugs of water with takeaway cups and glasses beside it. My friend took the takeaway cup filled it with a mouthful of water then threw it in the bin, I said why didn't you just use the glass?? He said somebody would have to clean it

Those aren't even recyclable and the glass would have just been put in with a massive stack of other plates and glasses not handwashed
Crazy, but thats how little most people care, won't even slightly inconvenience themselves in any way for the planets well being, we don't deserve such a nice planet

And Im no saint, I don't really go out of my way, but I do simple things like turn off lights when not using them, try to dress in layers instead of using heating, recycling properly.The things everybody ought to be doing without even thinking about it. I lived with a girl who'd put on a full cycle tumble dryer for one top and I always asked her to just leave it out in the warms summer air for a few hours like jesus!! I find the excessive wastefulness and complete lack of any regard what so ever most people have for the planet disgusting




It really feels quite defeating to try and help the environment when you know theres billions of people doing things like the above out of pure ignorance and laziness that are doing way more harm than the effort you're putting in

jaxxx

wakka12 wrote: »

Not surprised by the results at all. Was in the cafe with my friend yesterday waiting for our coffee, there was jugs of water with takeaway cups and glasses beside it. My friend took the takeaway cup filled it with a mouthful of water then threw it in the bin, I said why didn't you just use the glass?? He said somebody would have to clean it

Those aren't even recyclable and the glass would have just been put in with a massive stack of other plates and glasses not handwashed
Crazy, but thats how little most people care, won't even slightly inconvenience themselves in any way for the planets well being, we don't deserve such a nice planet

Speaking of, I'm still kinda surprised, though not surprised, that fast food places haven't been forced to reduce their waste. Think of how much waste there is every day in your typical McDonalds, Supermacs, etc. Can't recycle it if there's food stains etc on it.

SEPT 23 1989

so many beautiful big engined cars scrapped over these lunatics

pickarooney

What is PCP? (Apart from angeldust and a Manic Street Preachers song)

wakka12

jaxxx wrote: »

Speaking of, I'm still kinda surprised, though not surprised, that fast food places haven't been forced to reduce their waste. Think of how much waste there is every day in your typical McDonalds, Supermacs, etc. Can't recycle it if there's food stains etc on it.

The individual plastic containers for 5ml of milk absolutely infuriate me leave out a jug like starbucks do ffs

mr chips

Yeah, I care about it. Like mariaalice and Grayson, I recycle or compost everything I can and find the vast majority of what goes in my bin is unnecessary packaging from food. I'm no hermit or hair-shirt evangelist, but I buy as little unnecessary junk as possible. Only replaced the fridge when it finally died last year after 19 years, still have the washing machine I bought in 1997, kept my last phone 7 years until it was about to give up the ghost completely and then replaced it with a refurbished one. I keep older cars on the road rather than indulge in the two or three year buy-replace cycle - last one I sold I'd bought brand-new and then ran it for 14 years. I like the idea of converting older cars to electric, although I don't think the cost or battery tech is quite there yet. I never burn coal or turf, and any timber I burn comes from a managed plantation three miles from where I live. It'd be great to be able to heat the house entirely with wood rather than with fossil fuel, but the cost of taking out the old boiler and replacing it with something like a pellet burner is way beyond me. Same goes for any thoughts of ground-source heat pumps etc. I have upped the insulation in the house though, and will be replacing the front door with a double-skinned one this year.
When it comes to food, I don't buy stuff that's unnecessarily imported, like what I regularly see on the shelves such as garlic from China, onions from New Zealand, seafood from Vietnam ... All that stuff can be sourced a lot closer to home without going all "simply marvellous, darling" about getting everything from the trendiest farmers' markets (which, by cutting out the middleman, are able to charge lower prices, yet for some mysterious reason ... don't). I do use a local butcher for meat alright, but that's because it's the best stuff available. I also grow a fair bit of my own fruit & veg in boxes etc, so at least there's no packaging or food miles involved there (nor pesticides etc).
It does pi55 me off that an awful lot of what we send for recycling either ends up in landfill anyway, or gets shipped off to somewhere in Africa or China - kind of makes a farce of the whole thing. But it just makes me a bit more conscious of trying not to generate the waste in the first place.
TL;DR - I do what I can afford to without going to "I'm a vegan" levels of zealotry.

Shenshen

odyssey06 wrote: »

But when push comes to shove, which do you care about more... the money saving or the carbon footprint reduction... they don't always overlap so maybe the green you care about is the colour of money

If my money turned green, I'd be seriously concerned.

I care for both, and I'm happy to invest money to save energy. We're currently looking at various option for installing solar-voltaic panels on our house, combined with an energy storage system. But on my income, it'll be another year or two before we can afford that.

Shenshen

jaxxx wrote: »

Speaking of, I'm still kinda surprised, though not surprised, that fast food places haven't been forced to reduce their waste. Think of how much waste there is every day in your typical McDonalds, Supermacs, etc. Can't recycle it if there's food stains etc on it.

I'm old enough to remember when they were all still using styrofoam for nearly every single item. It was quite an achievement making them move to paper-based packaging. You may not be able to recycle it, but at least it's bio-degradable.

Shenshen

pickarooney wrote: »

What is PCP? (Apart from angeldust and a Manic Street Preachers song)

A car purchase scheme. Very similar to leasing, only you can purchase the car at the end of a fixed term.
I do have an electric car, and I got it as PCP. Repayments are less than what I had previously been spending on petrol each month.

wakka12

Seeing people eating sliced watermelon , sliced apple,sliced orange, or pomegranate seeds from big ignorant plastic supermaket boxes is also a pet peeve, they come in natural containers

Permabear

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jimgoose

Permabear wrote: »

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Fair enough on white-goods electrical appliances, but I am of the view that the most environmentally friendly car is the one that is already built.

pleas advice

mr chips wrote: »

... an awful lot of what we send for recycling either ends up in landfill anyway, or gets shipped off to somewhere in Africa or China - kind of makes a farce of the whole thing....

This^

Ubbquittious

Permabear wrote: »

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I reckon the difference in power consumption aren't as much as the lad selling the fridge likee to let on. Few years ago I tested a fridge freezer from the early 90's that is still going with one of those power meters and there was feck all difference between that and the new one.

It always seemed strange to me that most of us choose to live in a brick box and spend quite a bit of energy heating up said box above the outdoors temperature and inside that box we place another smaller box that wastes some more energy trying to become a lower temperature than outdoors. Surely a more clever design would be to have it in an unheated part of the building like a porch and maybe with a supply of fresh air from outside

Shenshen

Permabear wrote: »

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It's a reasonable question, and I wish it would be easier to find details on how to make that calculation online.
Our dishwasher packed in a few weeks ago and we were looking for a new one. Now, they all have energy efficiency labels with a lovely, easy to understand ranking and colour-coding. Only there is next to no details as to what those ratings ACTUALLY mean, in real numbers.

How much energy and resources were used in producing the product?
How much energy was used bringing it from where it was made to where I'm buying it?
How much energy will the appliance use? How much per cycle, on individual programs?
How much energy will it take to recycle it at the end of its life?

I couldn't find any of those details - I'll be in the shop later today to ask one of the shop assistants, but I'm not exactly holding my breath.

bucketybuck

I say I don't care, but I must admit that when I see things like campaigns to stop people using straws and see them talking about millions of tons of plastics just getting dumped in the oceans, its hard not to be taken aback.

Like, millions upon millions of tons, the volumes are enormous and there really is no need for so much of the packaging being manufactured and then just dumped, you don't need to be a left leaning liberal to think that.

I suppose then that I don't care enough about the human race to do much about it, but its definitely true that there are big problems there.

jimgoose

pleas advice wrote: »

This^

This is certainly and unfortunately the case. Which is why I like to tread lightly upon the Earth, Grasshopper, by choosing products that use less or, ideally, no packaging.

jimgoose

bucketybuck wrote: »

...you don't need to be a left leaning liberal to think that...

Indeed not. I'm a Right-Wing Arsehole, and I am horrified by the amount of precious oil used to make all sorts of stupid packaging and assorted clap-trap, much of which is just dumped.