Will you take the pledge?

I can tick some of those:

I eat very little meat but unfortunately have to cook it for the rest of the household.

I buy 90% of my clothes from charity shops, but so far have had to buy a new pair of jeans as the lady pair (charity shop buy) had gone on holes in unmentionable places), couldn't find any more suitable charity shop replacement, and have also bought a new pair of thick wooly tights. 1 new item left for my quota then!
I haven't flown anywhere since the 1980's, and don't intend to.
Mt car is 18 years old, my motorcycle 24 years old, and I intend for both to see me out.
I keep electric items until they break down and can't be used (unfortunately I think washing machines and fridge freezers are deliberately built not to last) but my microwave is over 30 years old and ditto my cooker.
Too late for the pension I'm afraid but I'm also trying very hard with cutting down on energy use, turning off every light in the house, turning the heating down and huddling into my thick charity shop jumpers!
Also have been using reusable toiletry items such as bamboo fibre make up wipes, and thinking carefully about things I can reuse rather than throw away.

Don’t drive and don’t fly, well I haven’t since 2015 and never will again, I rarely buy new clothes, I buy clothes from charity shops, last buy was two jumpers from the air ambulance Charity shop, so I think I’m doing my bit…?

sorry - no. the only thing i will do is to keep electrical "stuff" for longer than 7 years ...... unless it breaks.

Knittyintrovert

Wow this makes for grim reading for most replies! An outright NO is selfish! Think of the children and their future! It is NOT a lost cause but it will be if we all take the stance of a lot of these replies! Wow just wow AND you can all come back at me but it won’t change my mind! There are a lot of selfish people on here!

Knittyintrovert

If you could list what you are doing, it would be helpful and positive as your post is rather negative and doesn't give us any helpful pointers of how to change our lifestyles in meaningful ways.

Looking at some of the children and how they live I think our carbon footprint is smaller.

However, any helpful tips would be good.

I’m still think about a new kitchen, Callistemon - ours is well over 30 years old!

Witzend some houses in our road are on their 4th kitchen! If someone moves in they don't like the one that the previous owners put in so it gets replaced.
Ours is older than yours!
And I have so much yarn in my stash I could keep myself in enough jumpers to 'see me out' but at the moment I am making blankets which will probably go to charity.

We recycle, grow some of our own fruit and veg and don't travel far but we will be going to visit our DC and DGC overseas.

Mostly plant based diet - please don't cut meat, fish, eggs and dairy from your diet without making sure you replace the protein and vitamins you will be losing.

I hardly ever buy more than 3 clothing items a year, haven’t been on a plane since 1984, all electrical kept until they are unfixable and my car is a 17 year old Corsa.

We never fly anywhere. Watching planes flying overhead towards Heathrow the other day we were appalled to see so many of them were dumping fuel prior to landing - both polluting and wasteful.

Impossible to keep older motor vehicles in Greater London. We moved back here 18 months ago and had to sell our two elderly cars as we would have been fined for driving them in the ULEZ. They were both over 25 years old but in good working order and regularly serviced so not very polluting. I feel its far more polluting to scrap working cars and replace them with new, the manufacturing process is very polluting.

I do keep electrical appliances until they are no longer cost effective to repair. 3 items of clothing, doubt it, I need new lightweight shoes already. Give up car! With no public transport other than walking on a busy A road with a footpath of about 30" wide for 2 miles to get to a shopping centre I'd never be out. Don't mention access to GP, dentist, hospital, airport for flights to visit family twice a year but no holiday flights.

Wow this makes for grim reading for most replies! An outright NO is selfish! Think of the children and their future! It is NOT a lost cause but it will be if we all take the stance of a lot of these replies! Wow just wow AND you can all come back at me but it won’t change my mind! There are a lot of selfish people on here!

An interesting thread, and I don't think we all have to do every one of the items listed, it just makes us think a bit.

We eat vegetarian, very little food waste as have a (rescued) dog, plus our LA collects food waste weekly for composting.

Electrical goods only replaced when necessary, not just to have the latest model.

One car, used as little as we can, shops locally so don't always need to drive.

Clothing? Bit more difficult, but I am cutting back on what I want/need.

Flights: none for past 2 years, but may be back on a plane this year, sorry

Heating; house very well insulated, zoned, thermostats, double glazed, fuel provider is 100% green.

I’m still think about a new kitchen, Callistemon - ours is well over 30 years old!

There is hardly ever any food waste in this house, and we eat a lot less meat than we used to. I don’t buy a lot of clothes but they’re usually good quality and I’ll wear them for years.

I dare say we’ll still be taking the odd flight - have recently been invited to a friend’s place in Majorca for April or May, and we’re already booked for Boston in September, to visit a sister in Cape Cod who I haven’t seen for over 2 years now.
So epic fail there.

OTOH we are not much into gadgets, and don’t buy anything electrical unless the old one breaks. I have virtually no electrical kitchen gadgets except my Kenwood Chef, which was a wedding present in 1974!

Thanks, Skye17. I'll have a look

I do 4 of them. I should buy fewer clothes, but only 3 items a year is a tough call.

That said, I don’t do fast fashion. I buy ethically made garments (organic cotton, non-toxic dies, less water used etc) and sell on, or recycle, if I realise I’ll no longer wear something.

One I won’t do is avoid flying. There are places I want to visit and revisit with my husband before we pop our clogs. It actually p**ses me off that so much emphasis is put on damage caused by flying when it’s actually a tiny fraction of the environmental damage caused by farming animals. The later is never mentioned by the powers that be. The methane from cattle is the worst offender in climate change. We don’t eat meat and try to keep our dairy consumption low.

OP, this page might help with moving to a green energy supplier.
www.moneysupermarket.com/gas-and-electricity/green-energy/

hell no! "Taking the pledge" reeks of goody goodyism to me.

I haven't been on a plane since the 1990's, my car is 10 years old and my house has been double glazed and insulated since we have owned it (30 plus years) I don't change electrical goods until they break or no longer work but what am I supposed to do if it breaks before 7 years....also no allowance made here for energy and resource savings made by changing stuff, both my new washing machine and dishwasher use much less water and power than the old ones did (and yes the old ones broke before I replaced).
How am I supposed to make my knickers and socks last longer?
Personally such patronising pronouncements make me really want to go out and WASTE for the fun of it....I won't of course but I want to! Oh and PS I am buying expensive out of season veg for my tortoises because they can't go outside and forage for themselves as its too cold....oh and I heat their room too and I don't care who knows it.

Yes I’ve signed up. It will keep me on track with the good habits I’ve already started.

I certainly wouldn’t give up owning a dog to save the planet. That’s my red line.

I'm doing well with some of the six "pledges" but the travel one could be difficult. (Our only child and family are 5000 miles away. I have mobility issues so a car is really, really helpful for me.)
Since Covid began, I've cut down on clothing; I realised that didn't have that much, to start with!

Coastpath, you’re so right to draw attention to the millions of tons of plastic. Everything I buy from ordinary shops is over packaged. It’s hard to get into the item because you need to cut through thick plastic packaging. Supermarkets are the worst of course, even four apples covered in the stuff

I suspect I’m a dogaholic . Currently only two but in the past I’ve had three. I plan to remain downsized in future, for my own sake, but yes to save the planet

We can make all the individual changes we like, but it has to be done in tandem with big business. I and perhaps others find it hard that we have to consider giving up our car for essential trips whilst big business churns out new models of phone/shoe/make up each year and all wrapped in millions of tons of plastic.

I absolutely agree, and (I assume) this was the point of the study. A lot of people think that their own efforts pale into insignificance next to those of big business (and in many ways they are right), but the study is pointing out that there is still a role for the individual to make a difference, if everyone pulls together and makes the changes they suggest.

I bought a new car last summer and seriously considered an electric one but as I still drive fairly long journeys to visit my family, I was not convinced about the accessibility of charging points during the journey. However, my new Ford Puma does have eco boost and is supposed to use 20% less fuel. I’ve never bothered to work it out but this weekend I decided to take notice of the display showing how many miles to next petrol refill during a 40 mile round trip.

When I set off, it was 351 miles to next fill up, on getting to my destination, it had gone up to 382 miles and by the time I got home, it was 372 miles. I noticed that the gauge went up most when I was driving around 50 mph without braking or reducing speed so on a long journey on motorways or fast roads the eco boost must be very efficient. Driving short local journeys are not as impressive but it was satisfying to realise that my car was charging sufficiently to offset the petrol usage and to watch the interval to the next refill increasing while I drove along!

Coastpath ??

But, No. And of course the 'Pledges' are patronising and preachy. The very word shrieks it.

The responses show an urgent need for the govt to tackle the dearth of public transport. Major subsidies are needed to keep fares reasonable and support regular and reliable bus services. It can't all be left to cash-strapped local councils.
I hope the Leeds organisers take that message on board.

I guess the pledge about reducing flights depends on age or previous experiences. For people who have already enjoyed many holidays abroad, hopping over to Europe for beach holidays, city breaks, sightseeing etc then it might not be too difficult to cut back. Or maybe older people who have had time to explore further afield since retiring might also consider holidaying nearer home.

However, there are plenty of people like me who could not afford foreign holidays when they were younger and had children and now want to enjoy the next few years travelling. Like me, they might be in their sixties but still waiting for their pensions and some free time! It’s a bit annoying to suggest that just because someone else has enjoyed travelling, the rest of us can also cut back!

I am fully aware of the environmental issues of flying but for me that pledge would be hard to carry out. I wonder how flying 200 plus people to Greece compared to numerous cars driving long distances in the UK if all those people had staycations?