What else can we do for the environment

Every little helps, I'm glad so many people here are doing their best.

I had no choice but to burn oil for our central heating at my previous address, but never used the coal fires.

We had a wood burner, and I always bought kiln dried wood. Some neighbours used anything they could find, sometimes their smoke was eye watering!

I also do not fly anywhere, grow my own veg and have planted a few trees. We have showers and I collect rainwater for the garden. No pesticides used on the garden. I keep on remembering more things!

One thing nobody has yet mentioned is the recycling of medicine blister packs; I take a lot of medication and used to hate throwing the packs away, so I’m delighted there are Terracycle containers in some Superdrug stores, where they can be disposed of for recycling.

Litter pick every month in the town and surrounding area
Walk almost everywhere on daily basis and usually take bag to pick up litter as I go
Vegetarian
Heating kept low or off when needed pile on extra clothes
Try to buy British but difficult when so much imported from China.
Have stopped buying new clothes apart from replacing basics.
Do not change clothes daily apart from socks/underwear
Recycle re council information and visit recycling centre for stuff that can’t go in bins.
My children have so far made a decision not to have children re overpopulation.
Grow wild flowers for bees/ butterflies.
Sadly this is not enough whilst the Amazon rainforest is being cut and burnt to provide food for the every growing human race. China, India and America still continue to burn fossil fuels without any concern to how it is affecting climate change. Although like all the other posters on here I try to do my best it is very depressing as some individuals and countries refuse to acknowledge that their actions have a devastating effect on the environment.

Good info on the Earthshot Prize programme on BBC1

I don't drive but I put all recycle in the blue bin and walk glass over to the community centre glass bins as blue bins don't accept glass. When I move as sharing at present, I'll get into an economical life style again.

alegriasl. That made me laugh

Switch from dairy milk to oat milk
Eat no meat or cut down to once or twice a week
Buy locally grown fruit and veg

I'm really alarmed when friends think that recycling is, somehow, 'the answer' - with maybe a little reduction in using the car. No thought given to maybe not buying so much - or not having a car!

Everything we do as individuals does, of course, make a difference and is worthwhile. But human nature means we're short-sighted, selfish and incredibly stupid. We do things to limit the guilt, that's all.

What am I doing? What I can, comfortably, manage, I suppose. I have no car, I'm vegan, I live with low temperatures, I consume as little as possible - to survive in our warped, twisted society.

I support and campaign for drastic change (we can't do much alone) but with little hope left of ever seeing it. I've apologised to the younger generations for all the damage we've done.

muse + aggie
We are thinking of fitting a heat recovery system into our bungalow. I have got as far as looking up local installers but it would be interesting if you could give me an idea of costs and upheaval before I start contacting them.

Urmstongran ?

Our eldest daughter of 43y too Alegrias ?

no longer use plastic water bottles or buy coffees on the go. I use my own flasks and chilli bottles

It’s tricky though & more nuanced Josieanne.

For instance glass bottles can theoretically be recycled forever, but making them is four times more resource-heavy than manufacturing plastic bottles.

This is because glass requires the extraction of silica sand, soda ash and dolomite (see what I mean about digging deeper? ) from mines, which is associated with land degradation and toxic runoff draining into water sources. Re-using is far superior to recycling yet still we are urged to fill our green bags and bottle banks..

And forget that glow as you carry your tote to the supermarket; you’d need to reuse it 393 times to equal the environmental impact of using a plastic carrier three times.

i try to recycle when i can but one thing i miss is a shop we had called the grain store, everything was in big drums and purchased by weight, i bought all my cereals, sugar, broth mix, peas and anything that came in dried form, even tea-bags and coffee, i hate all the boxes, packets and tins we need to throw away, i don't drive and always walk or take public transport, i try to only have food that has no waste.

Don't have children and stop eating meat.

I win.

Buy milk in bottles.

Here’s my list
I don’t have a car I cycle, walk, use public transport
I don’t have central heating two gas fires which are only on when I m in plus jumpers and hot water bottles
I use all my food waste peelings etc on my compost heap
I buy mostly from charity shops
I shower never bath
I collect rainwater
I recycle according to councils rules
I have a wild but tidy garden with lots of wild flowers I have an allotment for growing my own
I swim in the sea not a heated pool
Can’t think of much else I ll keep working on it I think it’s incredible important we get back to a simpler lifestyle

Stop flying.

'Together with other gases and the water vapour trails produced by aircraft, the industry is responsible for around 5% of global warming.' From the BBC Guide to Climate Change.

Bearing in mind that only a small number of people actually fly it's quite a lot to add to an individual carbon footprint.

Thank you everyone, some really good ideas on here.

Use refill shops, if you can. One has opened near us and you can buy so many things there, from pasta to floor cleaner. It’s all done by weight so you take your own container, weigh it, fill it and weigh it again. The machine does the calculations for you and prints out a little label with the cost on it. It’s fun!

DGS and I are just home from Church( COS Brussels). We had a talk by the head of WWF for Europe, the children presented a piece about trees, and then there is a large march though the city.
The children were filmed for a special piece on one of the main TV channels here speaking about the problems and what they were trying to do to help.
It was a lovely morning +++++
Great to see Children for the age of 2 getting involved.

I have started turning everything off at the wall , so now there is no red glow in the night , I have to remember not to record anything after I go to bed !
We have heat recovery and I have loads of crochet throws if it gets cool
Everything that can be recycled is in the council boxes , but I try to get stuff not in packaging

We’re lucky where we live. Room to have a small ground mounted PV. Small wind generator. Quite a few compost bins.

New house (almost finished) has heat recovery unit (very little power) and solar thermal water system. Panels are on the roof . Eco friendly treatment plant that that needs no power. Eco cleaning solutions. No bleach. Rain and waste water harvesting.
Cutting back on plastics. Nothing left on standby.
Just recycled a large amount of batteries from vehicles and our old self generating system. .

Apart from those listed already
Buy items made in UK to avoid transport costs
Use biodegradable dog poo bags.
I have a bamboo hedge so I cut some out in the autumn and dry off in the garage to use as garden canes.
Only eat organic.

Cutting back on eating animal products would be a big change you could make. It sounds as if you are doing a lot already, so this could be easier than you think!

www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/10/huge-reduction-in-meat-eating-essential-to-avoid-climate-breakdown