SaveThePlanetTrackWorld

Erm...

Sorry, polar bears.

😳

Giving up air travel after a few years of fairly regular flying. Also have and electric car on order.

I'll be doing a lot less driving. Not a deliberate attempt at being more eco but a good side effect.

In B4 the trolls...

Don't have a car any more and will delay replacing it as long as I can, keep cycling to work most days, don't eat meat so often as I used to, keep it to one return flight a year, and hope to return to working in the renewable energy industry after a couple of years in forestry. Also looking at longishish term plan of building a nice modern little home with high energy efficiency and solar, ground source heating etc. Oh and a wood burner fuelled by wood from the garden.

Sorry, polar bears.

Adopting? Sponsoring? Eating?

One in the eye for the bedwetters and libtards 😉

Always interested to hear what others are doing and some of you are really making an effort. 8)

Veganism? Watch Cowspiracy and Earthlings!

Refusing to buy shit which is overpackaged.

I’m cutting down on buying things in single-use plastic, and spreading the word on it.

Seeing just how worn a cassette and chainrings can get and still work. So far, the answer is "very" - still working well with a missing tooth on the cassette and one on big chainring.

Refusing to buy stuff if I can avoid it.

Planning on running both cars for as long as possible. Last one lasted 150,000 miles before starting to be too unreliable for weekly long distance commute.

Working from home as much as possible.

Not spawning
Cutting down on meat
Reducing the amount of plastic

Cutting right down on meat, and a posting back Home to a cycle commute

Not necessarily this year, but as soon as we can replace the one car, probably when it's 15 or so, it'll be a used Zoe or something.

I had planned to stop driving to Swindon and take the train instead - but I'm no longer working there 🙁

No chance of becoming vegetarian! Will continue to support farm shops who rear and sell decent quality meat.

Have quite a production line with my home-made cleaning products and essential oil concoctions. Buying in bulk means 20 litres of white vinegar, 5 kilos of Borax substitute etc etc. and finding somewhere to store it.

Will next be attempting to make liquid soap and shower gel which should really reduce plastic.

Noticeable reduction in my recycling, really am thinking more about what I buy.

Choosing products with less packaging or recyclable packing. Making my own hand wash to fill a reusable dispenser so I don't have to keep throwing away the plunger that comes in those bottles. My dad does this and has sent me the recipe.

Eat less meat and be more strict about only buying higher welfare meat or local game.

myti - any chance of the recipe please?

I walk to and from work every day
I've massively cut down on meat
I haven't spawned any replacement humans
I've got two sick bikes but don't do gadgets or other hobbies so I buy almost nothing

I plan to counteract all this nonsense buy buying an Impreza Wagon and assassinating B-roads blasting fire out of the exhaust at least once a week.

Still having a cat instead of a child.

Oh yeah, that too!

Already try and buy local food only but could go hunting and fishing a bit more

Only eat meat once a week as is

but everyone is right about the plastic horror

do as much "upcycling" as possible

We recently switched back to having milk delivered... big reduction in plastic waste.

Cinnamon girl. This is the link he sent me for the method: http://chickensintheroad.com/house/easy-homemade-liquid-soap-shampoo/

His recipe is 190g water
Lye-KOH 90% pure 108g
Castor oil 100g
Coconut oil 100g
Olive oil 200g
Sunflower oil 100g

It is a yellow liquid and it turns into a white foam as it comes out of the dispenser. I'm going to try adding lime oil as a fragrance but he had his plain.

His recipe is 190g water
Lye-KOH 90% pure 108g
Castor oil 100g
Coconut oil 100g
Olive oil 200g
Sunflower oil 100g

with all those raw ingredients you need to get hold of I wonder how eco that actually is. It's not like coconut oil is a locally grown product.

Will try and eat more grey squirrels and muntjac deer.

I’m so far away from being eco it’s absurd.

But I’m the meantime, any ideas for cling film alternatives would be appreciated.

Thank you myti, that's proper soap with the lye! Lime sounds a nice fragrance too.

I'm only making simple stuff so the recipes I'll be trying use liquid castile with either glycerine or almond oil.

Will try and eat more grey squirrels and muntjac deer.

Muntjac, aren’t they a bit rubbery? I’ve thought for a while we should be eating more wild Deer due to a lack or predators.

What do Badgers taste like?

I as bad last year. Only cycled to work a few times. Started off on a low meat and low dairy diet but fell back into normal eating. One lingually flight not for work but to visit family.

Plan to cycle to work more, did it for the first t e in ages today but the next month or so will be difficult as I will be away mostly.

Going too try to reduce plastic use. Moving away from shower gel to soap, no take away coffee, try the Bamboo toothbrush. This still leaves shampoo and cleaning products. I can't see making my own as realistic for me.

Try and do some more reuse and "upcycing" rather than buying new. I used to do only this but the last two years of work travel have killed energy and enthusiasm and time.

Ideally reduce work travel but it's all necessary rather than just for meetings. 🙁

But I’m the meantime, any ideas for cling film alternatives would be appreciated.

YES! The Scottish eco blogger I follow has some good ideas such as covering with a plate or bowl or pyrex lid. Even a saucepan lid would do. Obviously for anything with a strong odour you'll have to resort to clingfilm. Or have a bowl of bicarb in the bottom of the fridge.

Muntjac, aren’t they a bit rubbery? I’ve thought for a while we should be eating more wild Deer due to a lack or predators.

I've cooked muntjac, it was so grim that even the dog wouldn't it! Try your farmers market for venison, pheasant used to be really cheap to buy and of course there's rabbit.

This still leaves shampoo and cleaning products. I can't see making my own as realistic for me.

Everything I make is really simple and doesn't involve heating on a hob. The same ingredients can be used across a number of recipes, ie washing powder and dishwasher powder.

with all those raw ingredients you need to get hold of I wonder how eco that actually is. It's not like coconut oil is a locally grown product.

I already buy coconut/olive/sunflower oil for cooking with (all which come in recyclable containers)and was more trying to reduce plastic waste than make locally grown soap! I will purchase the other ingredients bulk so making a years worth or more at a time. Normal hand-wash has a long list of non locally sourced ingredients anyway but I suppose I could use rape oil instead to keep it local.

For reducing plastic, we're trying a company called 'Splosh' that send you all of their products in little dissolvable sachets. A bit like the Guy Martin bike cleaner stuff.

Not buying McVities fig rolls that's for sure. They come in a plastic tray to make it look like you get more. The Sainsburys ones a) come in a cardboard tray and b) you get loads more

Just been reading the Splosh website and it's pretty impressive. Great that pouches can be re-used time and time again, very eco-friendly.

Being as the Pentagon and it's global operations are the number 1 consumer of fossil fuels on the planet, reckon I'll stick it to the military industrial complex good n proper.

Family on TV with 20 kids made me think of this topic.

While on the subject of packaging, everyone please email your supermarket CS and ask why they still use black plastic when a lot of councils can't recycle it. Was going round and round getting nowhere with Waitrose over it a couple of years ago so just gave up and stopped buying any fruit and veg they sold in black plastic trays. I wanted to dump it on their CS desk every week but the OH thought that would be making too much of a scene 🙁

although to be fair, and I applaud everyone's efforts, individual contributions like these have a very small impact. And if anyone flies abroad on vacation then that totally trashes any "saving" you may have made on anything else. Real impact must be forced by government on business and consumers

but I still try cause it makes me feel better about myself

We don't have kids and my family die young.
Does that help?

The massive problem for plastic recyclable waste is that we dont have the facilities to recycle it. For years we've just sold it back to china.. and now they dont want it anymore.

Its not like this government isnt short sighted or doesnt like doing any planning for the future 🙄
Its likely that huge amounts of plastic waste that we've gone to the trouble of separating and recycling will end up in landfill for the next few years..

The only sustainable solution is to drastically reduce plastic use.
Why this isnt done is anyone's guess.

The only sustainable solution is to drastically reduce plastic use.
Why this isnt done is anyone's guess.

I'm driving a 20 year old diesel, no matter what they tell you, keeping an old car is more environmentally friendly than building a new car.

Fidel Castro was a visionary

So glad you started this thread cinnamon girl.
I have been shopping with care for years now.
Buying fruit and veg loose and not putting in plastic bags.
Buying ecover products (they have refill options in some shops.)
Our area has some of the best tap water in the country so it absolutely amazes me when I see people coming out of a shop carrying bottled water. Buy a water bottle and fill it from the tap.

Simon Barnes (not Simon F. Or Simon D.)the award winning environmental writer has some great tips for making the world a better place:
Join or donate to a wildlife charity.
Do a spot of volunteering,
Recycle, take public transport where possible, cycle and walk. Don't use the car for short journeys.
Take up causes, eg writing to your MP. Sign petitions, do stuff on social media.
If you have a garden make it wildlife friendly, eg plant some nettles, don't use chemicals or slug pellets. let some of the garden grow wild.
Join a conservation group eg. RSPB.

In my view we need to get our children and young adults out into the great countryside. Hopefully they will learn to love it and the looking after it will follow on.

Edit: Forgot to mention, that in our household we've stopped buying stuff with palm oil as an ingredient.

What do Badgers taste like?

they are protected, except for the ones defra are shooting

We don't have kids and my family die young.
Does that help?

Maybe, but then maybe if you did have a kid they would have grown up to be a visionary physicist who would have solved the problem of nuclear fusion, ending our reliance on fossil fuels for energy and enabling global warming to be halted.

I think it's important to look beyond emissions and focus on the local ecosystem (not saying that reducing emissions isn't important - it is - but there are other similarly massive threats to the environment which you can personally have more of an affect on) . The way things are going currently it won't matter if the ice caps melt, because the natural diversity of our countryside will already have been destroyed my modern farming and land use practices. There will soon be very little left to conserve.

I have engaged with the village conservation society in order to try and help wildlife around the village - including planting trees along the hedgerows and trying to set up a wildflower area next to the village green. My own garden is also managed for wildlife - I had encouraged the lawn to become more of a meadow and I have planted a fairly sizeable herb garden too.

I am a member of my local Wildlife Trust and volunteer several times a week. Well recommended - you meet some very interesting people, not to mention some real characters, and it's great to be able to help the local enviroment directly and on a larger scale.

I also try to buy organic food as far as possible - an organic farm should be many times more species rich than your uk average farm. Don't forget that many invertebrates are dependant on livestock - especially the dung and cow dung in particular - so I think trying to cut out meat completely is not a good idea. Grass fed organic meat is the way to go. Also of UK origin with as little packaging as possible.

The massive problem for plastic recyclable waste is that we dont have the facilities to recycle it. For years we've just sold it back to china.. and now they dont want it anymore.

[b]cloudnine[/b] yes, I'd read that. Any idea of what the UK will do, if anything?

[b]myti[/b], apologies but another q for you. If you make enough liquid soap to last for a year what do you store it in? Do you need to do anything when it comes to using it, ie does it need warming up to liquidise? Thanks. 🙂

Hello [b]Bunnyhop[/b] 🙂 When you're buying fruit and veg how do you avoid using plastic bags or do you take your own paper/fabric one with you? Very much agree with what you say, it's breaking bad habits and thinking differently.

I follow a Scottish eco blogger who's inspired me to make changes. Her website unfortunately seems to have an issue (moralfibres.co.uk) and she has a book coming out next month which I've pre-ordered:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fresh-Clean-Home-Wendy-Graham/dp/1911595105/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1515154214&sr=1-1&keywords=wendy+graham

[b]Jamz[/b] well done for getting involved locally and it must be hugely satisfying. Love the idea of a lawn being a meadow, so nice for wildlife. Grass fed organic meat is so expensive but does taste superior, not easy to find either.

Started using my own cup rather than ones out of the office vending machine.

cinnamon girl - Yes I take my own bags. Everything goes into the basket, gets weighed at the counter (I'm lucky enough to have a proper greengrocer locally) then straight into my bag. Several of our local independent food shops have biodegradable shopping bags anyway.
In the next week I'm going to start making fabric shopping bags. Will see if I can make enough to give some away on this forum.

Obviously buying sprouts is not ideal as they roll about the basket. 🙂

We also have a milkman which helps keep plastic out of landfill.
If I put anything in the microwave it goes in a tupperware, with the lid laid loosely on top (with a gap), thus not using clingfilm.

If ironing I do the whole lot in one go. Putting it on for 1 shirt is not good 🙂

Could you let me know about your cleaning products please. Is it mainly lemons, bicarb and vinegar?

I just use ecover with hot water (bleach is a no no)

Jamz - I too am a member of all sorts of groups.
One of the best things you can do to encourage and help wildlife is have a pond (size doesn't matter). We also planted another hedge in our garden over a year ago, which will eventually replace the fencing.

I've given up driving and instead of the coffee cup dilemma I simply drink in the pub, ya bunch o' pooftees.

Also no kids.
People who are selfish enough to choose to have more than two children should have the first ones recycled to keep the numbers down.

[b]Bunnyhop[/b] you're very lucky to have a local greengrocer and you're doing a good job by not using plastic bags. Interested in your fabric bags, will they be folding ones that can fit inside a handbag?

What is your bleach substitute, ie what particular Ecover product? I need to stop using bleach but haven't yet researched that.

I've been making quite a few things, for example dishwasher powder consists of Borax substitute, soda crystals, citric acid and essential oil. Then washing powder also includes Borax substitute and soda crystals so it means that I'm not buying a million and one items. Fabric conditioner consists of white vinegar with essential oil, this keeps the machine clean with whiffs at bay. So shower spray also consists of white vinegar with antibacterial essential oils added.

White vinegar has so many uses - it can be used on garden paths, as a weed killer, for cleaning windows, cleaning loo etc.

Bathroom cleaner had soda crystals, bicarb, non-iodised salt with essential oil but it needed plenty of rinsing after use, similar to Jif.

Happy to pass on recipes. 🙂

Ooh very interesting.
For loo cleaning I use ecover loo cleaner.
For all kitchen work surfaces, very hot water and ecover all surface cleaner.
All hand soaps are ecover (bought in a big bottle and fill up the hand wash small bottles.
Soap is in paper.
Washing powder us ecover non bio with no additives.

I use bicarb with hot water for plug holes.

Yes, hopefully the fabric shopping bags will fold up and can be washed.
All our peelings, fruit and veg bits and pieces go into the compost heap.(not potato).

they are protected

The forbidden Badger steak is the most tempting of all

Cinnamon girl I've not made it yet but the raw ingredients will be stored in the larger recyclable bottles they come in. Mostly it's glass bottles of oils. I think it requires heating. The instructions are in the link I sent you. It's a project for me next rainy day off.

Being as the Pentagon and it's global operations are the number 1 consumer of fossil fuels on the planet, reckon I'll stick it to the military industrial complex good n proper.

Edit: Lush are all about the eco, and their soaps come wrapped in paper!

Bottled drinks pee me right off and government should go at the supermarkets for pushing them in particular the lunchtime meal deals and fast food outlets with fruitshoots and fizzy pop bottle instead of a can. We need to stop drinking bottled beer too and embrace can beer

Why? Bottles can be reused, the legislation is on its way up here to make a German deposit type system for plastic, I imagine glass will quickly follow. Reuse > recycling.

Airtragic - I think he missed out the word 'single' from that stat. In which case it is most probably correct.

People with recipies - yes please, sick of refills being more expensive than pump tops.

Probably going to meadow my garden, its a tip at the moment anyway so nothing to lose. Also have a ton of crap to get rid of if anyone is looking for hideously out of date IT equipment.

Oh, and going to stop using disposable cups, never realised there was such an issue given the council make such a point of telling us we can recycle plastic backed paper. And yes, aware of my own crapness as I should know better.

Great thread.

I try to recycle as much as possible, and avoid excess packaging (I need to do more on this). Try to encourage everyone around me to recycle.

I have reduced my meat intake by about 90% (helped by living in India for a year), and am trying to be totally veggie for this month.

Have a reusable coffee cup.

I work for RypeOffice (www.RypeOffice.com) who design and install office spaces using reconditioned furniture - higher quality for lower cost - winner!

Was very excited to read about Splosh, but quite a few reviews suggest that the products don't clean as well as the likes of Ecover which is a shame. How can I find out where to get local refills for Ecover (their site isn't much help)?

Duane.

How can I find out where to get local refills for Ecover (their site isn't much help)?

[b]Bunnyhop[/b] always good to hear what others are doing. Have you thought about making fabric bags for storing bread and potatoes, I believe this was done years ago. Please keep me posted with your fabric bag-making.

[b]squirrelking[/b] I'll be starting a new thread with recipes that I've followed and have worked together with pics and supplies info, hopefully will get it done late this afternoon.

[b]Duane[/b] wow, you're doing really well. Had a look at the website you mentioned and very impressed especially as organisations are taking this seriously.

As promised:

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/cleaning-pr0n-recipes-for-a-clean-and-optionally-fragrant-home

We are unlikely to get a goverment that makes decent decisions so its important to drive this stuff from the demand side. Everyones lifestyle is different so just do what you can to to tread lightly. I think I’m pretty efficient already but I’m aiming for less than 15,000 units of energy in the home and a bit less meat and what I do have will be good quality.

I was put straight on the plastic issue by someone on here last year so have a bit of run at that one already and produce little waste.
The difficulty now is convincing the rest of my family, I don't think it needs to be a big deal just buy mushroom loose rather than in a tub, Have reusable water bottle etc.

Re coffee cups, I used one of those Lifeventure screwtop cup/flasks most of last year all the coffee shops are happy to fill them.

cg - pretty everyone who hears about RypeOffice is interested, its just tricky educating people about what we do!

I also forgot to add - I donate a bit each month to CoolEarth (www.coolearth.org) - who are widely regarded as the most effective climate change mitigation charity out there. Worth checking out!

Fed up with people thinking about themselves and convenience. Is it really too hard to buy a carrot, peel it and chop. Instead of stuff that's been pre-chopped in some outsized plastic carton.
Our bakery still puts the loaf into tissue, twisting the ends.

Grow your own is good.
See too many people buying food out of season.

Duane - the ecover refill products I buy are from our local independent health food shop.

I bought some bamboo toothbrushes recently, as they seemed like a good idea. Bought a pack of 12 to try and reduce postage and packaging. They arrived individually wrapped in plastic, and the plastic wrapping looks like about twice the amount the equivalent plastic toothbrushes would have used 🙄

I cycle everywhere I can and use trains (no car).
And I promise I won't throw my carbon bike in the sea.

You can probably thank GxP guidlines for that wrapping Mowgli.

Possibly.

Not sure about toothbrush regs.

What vickypea said on the previous page. Single-use plastic has really started to upset me.

We'll be trying desperately to cut down on its use in our house, and be more diligent in recycling as much as we possibly can.

Trying not to buy anymore single use plastic bottles eg water, shakes, squash etc.

, and be more diligent in recycling as much as we possibly can.

Not 100% sure but with the current problem of lack of facilities to recycle certain plastics.. the diligently recycled plastic will get landfilled anyway...

Landfilling isn't really the main issue, the total landmass it takes up is tiny. It ending up in the ocean is the big ****ing rampaging elephant in the room.

Landfilling isn't really the main issue, the total landmass it takes up is tiny. It ending up in the ocean is the big **** rampaging elephant in the room.

Agreed. What's the actual route from household to sea though? Other than bits getting carried off by the wind, presumably there must be some large scale dumping going on somewhere?

Microplastics getting washed out to sea and dumping/littering. A lot of the world is ignorant to it (poorly educated) and too poor to care, stunning beaches ruined by plastic waste in the Philippines was quite eye opening to me. However, senseible plastic disposal isn't as high up the list of importance as things like basic ****ing healthcare. Quite understandably, recycling and a clean environment is a pretty privileged western thing to have. When the world becomes more equitable things will change, but westerners would prefer to blame environmental issues on evil Chinese people etc because.... they eat dogs etc... and theres obvs too many of the ****in commies etc.

Saw on BBC breakfast that the microplastics are no longer going to be in bathroom products. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-42621388

Microplastics getting washed out to sea and dumping/littering.

I still don't really understand why so many people get worried about microplastics that may cause harm when there's tonnes of very visible far easier to deal with not-yet-microplastics on most beaches these days. 🙁

How are your endeavours going? Any top tips?

Pleased to report that my recycling is still reducing thanks to making my own cleaning products. Link here if anyone missed it:

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/cleaning-pr0n-recipes-for-a-clean-and-optionally-fragrant-home
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My favourite Scottish blogger has just written this which is quite an eye- opener and well worth a read.

http://moralfibres.co.uk/11-surprising-items-that-contain-plastic/

I've switched to loose leaf tea due to finding out tea bags have plastic in. Wondered why they never rotted in my compost properly. As my compost goes back on my veg patch and borders it seems worthwhile. I was surprised how little choice there is for loose tea in shops though. Asda had Yorkshire tea only and is prefer to buy something fair trade. My local health/ethical food shop only had one choice which came in a tiny pack half the size of the same brand of tea bags for the same money. Any suggestions on where to buy loose tea at a good price?