What, if any steps have you taken towards a better environment?

azezil · 21-01-2002 7:15pm #1

When i was in secondary school i joined the Agricultural Science class solely to learn about the ill effects of farming on the environment, and for my project i did just that

Teacher wasn't too impressed but cause my info was well researched n factual she had no choice but to give me an A emmm sweet

If you're lookin for info your self you can get in contact with ENFO, there great n they won't hesitate to give plenty of agri bashing material!

On a local level i protested against the removing of hedgegroves, Not only do they serve the pratical purpose of sheltering the field, but they're a vital habitat for many local flora and fauna. I was successful for the most part, some were taken down and other trimmed back but much remains.

b20uvkft6m5xwg · 21-01-2002 7:57pm

Well I like to think I've taken at least one more alluminium box off the road by cycling practically everywhere I go.
I Recently wrote a letter to Dun Laoighre Rathdown Co. Co. about the shocking rate of progress on the building of cycle lanes. Most major european capitals not only have cycle lanes but intricate co-ordination so that once you get onto a cylce lane you need never get off, due to specifically designated routes around the city.

I always recycle glass and cans, and would recycle alot more paper if only it was more convienient:(

Not as much as I'd like but it all helps!

SantaHoe · 22-01-2002 2:42am

I hugged a tree once.

mike65 · 22-01-2002 8:54pm

I recyle cans, bottles, newsprint, alumimium cans, oil, batteries got rid of my old car and bought a newer cleaner one (well thats my excuse).

I switch off lights and turn down heaters, this annoys some,
and I've not mowed the lawn since August,
its a jungle out there!

Mike.

azezil · 22-01-2002 9:01pm

Originally posted by mike65
I've not mowed the lawn since August,
its a jungle out there!

Capital thinking! must use that excuse

DeVore · 23-01-2002 11:07pm

There are *hand* lawn mowers guys

Me, I dont drive. At all. Quite a feat for a Managing Director of 32 years of age who visits the US a fair bit.
Living in town and walking to work rocks too. A car is such a luxury and SOOO expensive too. People say " Oh I couldnt live without my little jam jar". They could, they're just lazy and stupid.

DeV.

azezil · 23-01-2002 11:11pm

Don't have a car myself, usually cycle or walk where ever i want to go and public transport isn't that bad

.

Along with that, I'd do the bit oh recycling, pickup the occasional piece of trash off the streets. Stuff like that, it all helps

Puck · 24-01-2002 8:03pm

I don't drive at all (never learned

). I use public transport a lot or get lifts but I walk most places. Sometimes I can get a lift on trucks to places when I need to travel long distances. I think that would help a bit, I mean the truck is going anyway and I doubt an extra 11 stone will burn much more fuel.

I'd like to do more so this board should be handy.

Oh yeah, when I was younger I also collected tokens from toilet paper packs and sent them off to have a tree planted for me. I got a certificate!:D

scuzzy · 24-01-2002 10:44pm

Well I like to think of myself of being fairly green...

I try and recycle just about everything I can, I cycle or use public transport to get to where I'm going, almost every electrical appliance I have is 'energy efficient', I have a G-shock watch

, I gove out to people who smoke:p and just now I sent an email to Bertie and Kofi Annan amongst others, "demanding international action through the Convention for the Protection of Biodiversity to protect the remaining ancient forests." (so there)

Become a cyberactivist...
www.greenpeace.org

Campaign to bring renewable energy to 2bn people in the next ten years. Check it out...
www.choose-positive-energy.org

GreenHell · 24-01-2002 11:28pm

I threw my old boots into a bin. Since then I can't think of one thing.

RopeDrink · 25-01-2002 2:38pm

I've restrained myself from Smoking outdoors... I mainly smoke in the Car or at home, but then again, after smoking for 12hours infront of my computer with closed windows and doors, it doesn't do much good for the environment letting it all out at once when you open the window after realising your walls have gone brown and the keyboard is half melted...

I have an assorted collection of dead insects and creatures on my window ledge...

Saruman · 29-01-2002 4:04pm

Green... well **** i do drive... though if i need to go into town (agh..) i will get the bus.. more so because it means i dont have to find somewhere to park... umm unfotunatly there is nothing but a bottle bank anywhere near me and since there are no glass bottles in my house ever used thats no good.. umm i DO turn off the lights and i actually never have the heat on in my room unless i NEED it.. Oh i dont take plastic bags in the supermarket unless i have too much to carry to my car in my arms (rare).

Typedef · 02-02-2002 2:43am

Saturday, I will be bringing 'by hand' paper, plastic, tin cans and glass to their respective recycle facilities. Argh, I should not have to do this on my own. All I should have to do is put my seperated out rubbish outside the door and have the stuff carted away for recycling.

Anyway that's another days rant.

smiles · 03-02-2002 1:27am

Originally posted by azezil
On a local level i protested against the removing of hedgegroves, Not only do they serve the pratical purpose of sheltering the field, but they're a vital habitat for many local flora and fauna. I was successful for the most part, some were taken down and other trimmed back but much remains.

Well afaik (this is remembering a conversation with my brother-in-law (farmer) ) there's some lasw that says they can only ute one side of the hedgerow a yet, and there are limits to what they can do too, as least there were.

<< Fio >>

Typedef · 03-02-2002 6:33am

As far as I am aware the idea behind contiguous hedgerows is that isolated 'islands' of a particular habitat are generally bad. Some species of flora and fauna may not be able to cross from one habitat island to the other, so if one takes the example of a hedgerow, if the hedge row is contiguous then species that move short distances will be able to proliferate with greater ease.

http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:yOOqbz6qKdsC:www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/berksbucksoxon/publications/oxonhaps/hedgerow.doc+hedgerow+isolated+habitat&hl=en
Many species of farmland bird tend to move for only short distances at a time rather than undertaking long flights from site to site; mammals especially need a large enough territory to maintain the size of their gene pool, which they can do only by being able to move, for example from woodland to woodland, rather than being isolated in ?island? reserves. To maintain the hedge network, it is important to maintain individual units within that network

In South Africa there are some prime examples of how isolated habitats can put flora especially under threat of extinction

http://www.uct.ac.za/depts/stats/adu/wwf/flufftail.htm

Now before you go calling me a tree hugger, the real reason humans need to protect isolated habitats is that biodiversity is one of the lynchpins of the ecological system on this planet. If humans through action or inaction allow mass extinctions to occur then the 'food chain' for want of a better word gets undermined, the methods of oxygen production become undermined, the millions of species of plants yet to be identified which could hold cures to diseases humans have now and will contract in the future could be lost.

Another example of how biodiversity is the friend of human civilisation is the shark.

http://www.mote.org/~rhueter/sharks/cancer.phtml
Initially, we designed experiments to see whether tumors could be induced in the sharks and skates by exposing them to potent carcinogenic (cancer-causing) chemicals. This was done by placing the chemicals in their food or surrounding tank water, or by direct injection into their muscle. Then, we monitored subsequent pathways of metabolism or detoxification of the carcinogens in the test animals. While there were similarities and differences in the responses when compared with mammals, no changes in the target tissues or their genetic material ever resulted in cancerous tumor formation in the sharks or skates.

Sharks do not contract cancer, so if humans make or had made the shark extinct before finding out about it's resistance to cancer the entire mechisma of the shark and it's carcinogenic resistance would have been (still might be) lost to science and consequently medicine permanently.

Nagilum · 03-02-2002 6:52am

Destroy all potatos in Ireland as it is an alien species and destroying the environment.

mike65 · 03-02-2002 5:45pm

Originally posted by Nagilum
Destroy all potatos in Ireland as it is an alien species and destroying the environment.

Not a bad idea as Irish spuds cost a fortune compared to those on the Continent. Just import them!

Mike.

Nagilum · 05-02-2002 5:29am

Originally posted by mike65

Not a bad idea as Irish spuds cost a fortune compared to those on the Continent. Just import them!

Mike.

The ones on "the continent" are invasive too...potatoes are from South America.

mike65 · 05-02-2002 7:53pm

I dont care where they're from, I just want them cheaper!

More seriously , I'd be more concerned about the grey squirel or
contaimination of organic crops with gm rather then worrying over foriegn spuds.

Mike.

Typedef · 05-02-2002 8:57pm

Apparently it's not "contimination" it's progress. That how you know eating gm food is safe........ Yeah right.

RopeDrink · 08-02-2002 1:50pm

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What, if any steps have you taken towards a better environment?

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