I'm trying to save our planet

Actually none of these measures will have any real effect until we reduce the human population.

It’s unpalatable and most people will protect their right to a family even while they say they are concerned or worried .

Non of the ecomeasures posted will, in the long term, cancel out the carbon footprint of bringing another person into the world.

We all have the one thing that we’re not prepared to give up. Car, flight, meat, children - if that’s what you want what’s the difference?

Caught a bit on the news the other night and what we should be doing is:
stop flying, using the car, reduce meat consumption, get rid of gas boilers. Which is a bit late for us as we have just replaced our boiler.

Grass fed organic meat accounts for a teeny % of meat sold. Most is from huge industrialised factory farms.

You've taught me something there, Hetty - I had no idea that it was possible to grow loofas in the garden. I will be searching the garden centres for seed next year

I've never bought wipes, kitchen roll, foil or clingfilm. I've always thought that they're a waste of money. I don't like plastic anything, either, so food goes back in the fridge in saucepans or bowls with a plate on top.

One daughter uses facecloths and washable nappies, is strictly vegan and travels by train. She grows luffas so never needs washing up sponges. The rest of us are relative 'failures', really, as vegetarians who make occasional use of cars!

quiz Queen Fri 11-Oct-19 19:11:17
Save the planet, only have one child
Bit late in the day for that advice- should I perhaps try to rehome my other 2 or have them adopted at 42 and 38 ?

I might add, reducing portion size means being able to affod top quality meat, which means that a small portion in a stew results in a stew that is as tasty and meaty as a dish with twice the quantity of poorer quality meat.

Nfk Is the average meat portion now larger than 4oz? I mean in the home rather than when eating out.

I now bulk out all casseroles and stews, which is what we mainly eat, with lots of vegetables so that our meat portion size is almost down to 2 ozs. The only exception is things like an occasional pork chop. My standard size for a chicken portion is a boned thigh rather than buying breasts or other big pieces (unless for sharing).

Eating a large portion of meat now gives me indigestion as my system just isn't used to it.

www.pastureforlife.org/profile/B168

I can vouch for their meat!!

If we go back to eating meat in the portion sizes we had 50 years ago we wouldn't need intensively reared. We worked on 4 ounces (114 grams?) per person when I was at school. We still work to that measure and frequently have less. Good quality, locally raised, outdoor beef does not harm the environment. Over intensively reared, indoor and fed on soya etc beef in Brazilian cattle lots does.

Depends where your meat comes from - and a radio programme is bound to use the most wasteful form of meat production. for a programme.

If you buy meat from British Farmers who are members of Pasture for Life www.pastureforlife.org/certification/the-pasture-for-life-standards/ you are buying meat from cattle that have been reared on pasure only and hay from the farms rearing them. No soya, no grains, no equivalent of a transatlantic flight or one to Tenerife. In fact the grass land helps to capture and lock in carbon.

Save the planet, only have one child.

That’s still quite a lot

Anyone given up meat and fish in order to save the planet? Listening to BBC R4 More or Less they investigated the 'Sunday joint is the same as a Transatlantic flight' quote and decided it was closer to an air round-trip to Tenerife.

Calendargirl I have seen similar programmes about the extremely rich, their weddings and the obscene spending involved. It makes our efforts detailed above look pointless. However, I try to put these ghastly people out of my mind, and think locally, try to put as little as possible out for rubbish collection which will go to landfill, try to recycle as much as I can, and only buy what I need. Hard though, when these vulgar exhibitions of spending are seen by some as something to be aimed for, I wonder how much recycling the Kardashians do?

Are biodegradable swing bin liners available (at reasonable cost)? I have only seen small caddy types.

I try to avoid all single use plastics, but the stuff is everywhere. I was horrified to discover even teabags have the wretched stuff.

Unfortunately, living in a village with no transport or gas, I do get through a fair bit of petrol and heating oil, but there isn’t really any alternative.

Watched a programme last night about people who spend about a million dollars on their wedding day! One couple went from Hong Kong I think to Bali, plus hundreds of guests, the wine glasses, cutlery, crockery, the whole caboodle, was shipped over too. The wedding planner woman said they were all brand new for each couple, so I imagine they were ditched afterwards. And goodness knows what the flowers cost as they were the most expensive item, so expect they came from all over the globe.
The couples were all mega rich Chinese families, and huge weddings were par for the course.

Beeswax wraps are available online and in some shops. We bought ours from Lakeland Ltd.

I have never seen beeswax wraps. What are they, where do you buy them?

Reduce the world population. Reduce the problem. Simples

In 500,000 years of human history nobody has needed wipes

I think there actually is enough to go round - if we were to share the existing resources. The obscenely rich truly don't need those bazillions. If we stopped with the meat and dairy and used more land to grow food for people that would make a staggering difference. Everyone will have to decide whether they'd like to try and prevent the impending disaster or whether they'll defend their 'right' to eat burgers and rely on carbon till the bitter end, the survival of future generations notwithstanding.

Mother Earth will have her work cut out recovering from the mess we've made. No other species has trashed her in the way we 'sophisticated, developed' ones have.

Let us be clear on this - our planet is NOT going to die, Mother Earth will just shrug us off, and recover, as has happened before countless times with countless other species. What we are really talking about is the end of human life on earth, dressed up as concern for the planet when we really mean concern for the future of humanity. Yes we should do all we can to reduce our carbon footprint - re-use, upcycle, recycle and donate as much as possible, as well as reducing our harmful behaviours such as excessive energy use, too much plastic and the ridiculous distances travelled by some of our food, not to mention people. Basically we have far too many people for the planet's resources to sustain indefinitely, not to mention our ridiculous habit of over-consumption of pretty much everything. I do what I can but am not optimistic as the massive change that is needed is highly unlikely to happen in time. Parts of our planet will, in time, become uninhabitable by humans - not so much by some other species. Nature will find a way, she always does.

muslin cloths are very useful and better than flannels as they dry very quickly after use.

A really useful thread! I will in future get white vinegar instead of bathroom cleaner. The glass bottles for vinegar are not a recycling problem I think. If you use vinegar for cleaning do you decant into trigger bottles?