What have you done for the Environment Today?

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Tengu

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
12,776
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Wiltshire
I once sent a tea set to Japan.

(Why the Japanese would desire a GB tea set is beyond me...)

Wrapping that was very involved.

Beck to your conundrum, I reuse all my packaging. Too expensive to buy or waste.
 
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Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
4,518
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Exmoor
I re use as much packaging as I can. I have a huge box of it.
I find crumpled up newspapers are pretty good for padding out boxes of breakables., or sometimes I shred old magazines to make paper hay/straw.
 
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Scottieoutdoors

Settler
Oct 22, 2020
852
608
Devon
Today I'm watching the following.

Apparently ( allegedly ) exposes Green Energy as a Fraud.

I think it is (to a degree) at the moment anyway.

I don't think there is anything wrong with trying to green up energy, but there have been a lot of questionable things I've seen. Take battery powered cars for instance, lithium batteries - mined from lithium mines across the globe - hardly green, then the recycling of lithium batteries is super sketchy at the moment.

I watched a wind turbine being built and the groundworks were incredible and destructive... The concrete pad on which it sits is huge... Certainly the land going forwards is effectively guaranteed to have a man made status... Etc etc etc...

Companies making big bucks off the stuff.
 
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Paul_B

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 14, 2008
6,151
1,544
Cumbria
Concrete production is extremely bad for the environment. It needs fossil fuels to create the conditions needed and not just for heat. Mind you the heat is amazing. One end of the rotary kiln I saw was probably 10m or even 15m above our head and it was unbearably hot. It felt hotter than the blast furnace with the "inspection window" open close up. That's despite being so far below it.

Put simply, anything that uses a lot of concrete cannot be considered that green. It must need a long lifetime to make up for concrete used I reckon.
 
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Scottieoutdoors

Settler
Oct 22, 2020
852
608
Devon
Concrete production is extremely bad for the environment. It needs fossil fuels to create the conditions needed and not just for heat. Mind you the heat is amazing. One end of the rotary kiln I saw was probably 10m or even 15m above our head and it was unbearably hot. It felt hotter than the blast furnace with the "inspection window" open close up. That's despite being so far below it.

Put simply, anything that uses a lot of concrete cannot be considered that green. It must need a long lifetime to make up for concrete used I reckon.
Exactly.

Again I don't mean to bash people who go down the green energy route, many are well informed on the matters, but I have a few friends that are really poorly informed on their "good for the environment" decisions particularly around the cars/energy etc line. (And for the record, I probably make tons of "good environment" decisions that are awful when calculated.)

Electric cars are the real bug bear for me at the moment.. I think I'd be more accepting if people said 'i know it's still bad, but it's less bad' but I've had friends trade in for scrap relatively new (imo) cars for new electric cars and are convinced it was better for the environment because "from now on I only use electricity...." there is very little consideration for energy required to build original car, energy to scrap original car, energy to build new car and the energy to actually fuel the new car/install the various plug ins around the country and at home... So whilst I appreciate it is possibly good "from now on", I'm not sure if it's as good as it's made out to be... But then I'm no expert ..
 

TeeDee

Full Member
Nov 6, 2008
10,447
3,652
50
Exeter
Exactly.

Again I don't mean to bash people who go down the green energy route, many are well informed on the matters, but I have a few friends that are really poorly informed on their "good for the environment" decisions particularly around the cars/energy etc line. (And for the record, I probably make tons of "good environment" decisions that are awful when calculated.)

Electric cars are the real bug bear for me at the moment.. I think I'd be more accepting if people said 'i know it's still bad, but it's less bad' but I've had friends trade in for scrap relatively new (imo) cars for new electric cars and are convinced it was better for the environment because "from now on I only use electricity...." there is very little consideration for energy required to build original car, energy to scrap original car, energy to build new car and the energy to actually fuel the new car/install the various plug ins around the country and at home... So whilst I appreciate it is possibly good "from now on", I'm not sure if it's as good as it's made out to be... But then I'm no expert ..

And that IS the rub isn't it?

When does one stop the adding of the sum components into an equation to work out if it actually IS Green positive or if one is just gently/accidently fooling oneself and unconsciously enhancing some virtue signalling belief to others that the option chosen actually IS green.

I don't know if anyone has taken the time to watch the film I linked , I will admit I'm no fan of Michael Moore who was an executive producer on it but it maybe opens up a few questions on when Green energy actually IS green or just mimicking itself to be Green so that the general population is fooled into buying into under the belief that they are doing good.

Ultimately it just seems there are two many of Us on the planet consuming too much of most things and expecting what resources are left to be the solution for that energy imbalance.
 
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TeeDee

Full Member
Nov 6, 2008
10,447
3,652
50
Exeter
Don't give up though :) Can't remember what film it is from but it goes something like "we all have to make the choice between what is right and what is easy"

True.
But most people wanting to make a Greener choice for their energy needs will be lead by what is advertised / sold to them. Unless one takes a personal deep dive research into everything these days we tend to have no real idea as there is so much misinformation or spin-doctoring going on to make us believe.

Its a bit like the MSC Blue Fish tick fiasco that was shown to be a bit of a Con in the documentary Seaspiracy.
 

Scottieoutdoors

Settler
Oct 22, 2020
852
608
Devon
But I think as a lot of people have shown on this thread alone, there are a lot of good personal things that we can which are beneficial even on a small personal level. Some more meaningful than switching to an electric car etc.

I love that so many of you can home grow stuff. We only have a small space but we grow a few small bits... Actually, that's a bit of a lie, all I do is build the odd flower planter and move things about. My wife does the rest. She's grown some tomatoes and some flowers and lots of herbs. Best thing about it is a lot of our neighbours have now also done a few small pots of flowers and things. Makes a very built area look a little more pretty!
 

TeeDee

Full Member
Nov 6, 2008
10,447
3,652
50
Exeter
But I think as a lot of people have shown on this thread alone, there are a lot of good personal things that we can which are beneficial even on a small personal level. Some more meaningful than switching to an electric car etc.
Absolutely agree - Its all the small things we can do as individuals that are the empowering thing.
 

Paul_B

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 14, 2008
6,151
1,544
Cumbria
I drove our van for the first time in 6 weeks a couple of weeks ago. I found out it was overdue a service with the spanner light. We've had it about two plus years and it's only just done the mileage interval between services. We are not really going anywhere. Supermarket deliveries, local convenience store, walking to visit family instead of driving 2 miles each way, etc.

Since moving here and using the train and bike to get to work, my partner works from home and our son goes to the village school 5 minutes walk away. We've got very little reason to drive anywhere. Not least because where we live we can do all our usual activities like walking, cycling, etc. Phys we're sailing and paddle boarding from the local sailing club that's in walking distance.

This new lifestyle can really only be bettered by growing our own veg. We're planning on working that out. Not easy with a steep slope for a garden with a lot of trees too.

I think more people will need to live more simply like us if we're going to change the trajectory. We're not exactly doing enough though. There's always more to be done.
 
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Tony

White bear (Admin)
Admin
Apr 16, 2003
24,128
1
1,875
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Wales
www.bushcraftuk.com
Buddleja?

I tried a packet of seeds them and managed to get a couple of dozen plants ready to go out for less than £3. (But a fair bit of work growing them on).

I'll be planting a few groups of them out soon and hopefully they're provide the butterflies, moths, bees etc with some late season food.

Yes, I suspect that you're right in Buddleja, we'll see how effective it is at attracting the pollinators to the garden :D
 

Forest fella

Full Member
Jul 2, 2008
2,890
211
Gloucestershire
Brought a Bamboo sink plate rack, Tidied up 4 camp site's in the wood behind my estate as the muppets that made them left them still visible i.e covered with crap, and afew snare's left set. And I smashed down a make shift tree shooting hide / platform.
Kids will be kids but lockdown has made them explore other area's rather than just the alleys.
 

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