is anyone else considering their carbon footprint?

notanan2- of course you are correct and certified sustainable palm oil is a different matter. Very few manufacturers use sustainable oil though.

True. But a lot of the "greenwashing" companies using "no palm oil" use unsustainable alternative oils which are even less sustainable than unsustainable palm oil.

There is nothing "bad" about palm oil. Its a good high yield crop.

It has been scapegoated for marketing purposes because its easier to zone in on than it is to make sure that all oils stocked are from ethical sources

Soya is also grown in deforested areas but doesnt get the "palm oil treatment"

ecci53, you are spot on. Unless people stop having so many children everything else is a waste of time. There are too many people on the planet.

notanan2- Your last post just hi-lights the confusion around the whole subject.
We need people with a lot of knowledge and no ulterior motive so sort out all the misinformation out there.
Are there any?

I dont think it's that confusing

It just highlights that making "switches" but still consuming as much as doing what we want, but with "greenwash", is kidding ourselves.

We cant keep up modern lifestles with "green switches"

Instead of buying the "green" version, we need to think about whether we need to buy it at all IYKWIM.

people think they can keep consuming at the same rate so long as they consume differently and chose "green" options.

The only really green options are less convenient/fun

The "green" industry is thriving! I have seen people bringing metal straws to work with their lunches who I swear I never saw using a plastic straw before hand!

They are not being eco friendly by buying metal straws when they never used to bring any straws to work!

A metal straw still has an environmental footprint!

NO straw is the green option!

If there's an "eco trend" in vogue, someone is making money from it!

Such as "ban all palm oil & buy palm oil free products" & "5 pack of eco friendly metal straws plus cleaning brush (with plastic bristles)"

The real green option is just much much more boring: stop buying so much stuff & reign in what you do!

I don’t understand the straw thing? Is it a dummy substitute?

Plastic packaging on food actually has a lower environmental impact than food waste. And plastic packaging reduces food waste.

So everyone boycotting packaging but still binning lots of food are perhaps making a worse dent in the environment than they did before by following the trend!

Just buying LESS and just what you need and will definitely use is more important than going "plastic free", but less trendy!

sunnysusie, what is the alternative to a long haul flight? As I said in my post you can any where in the world by train and boat but how long would it take you and what about the cost? The other is don't travel abroad so far but a great many far flung countries rely upon tourism. Also I want to see the wider the world. Yet I don't buy single use plastic bottles, I take my glass bottle along to my local green shop and have it filled with soap, shower gel, washing up liquid etc. As I said its all about balance.

And using what you've got, Notanan2. Dh read about a youngster who had thrown out his plastic water bottle and bought himself a metal one instead, to save the planet! How is that going to help?! Did no one tell him that using his (multiple-use) plastic bottle until it leaked/broke would be the most environmentally sound option? Did he think manufacturing metal bottles leaves no footprint on this earth?

As for the number of humans on this earth - it's not Western countries who are having all the babies, it's poorer countries, where people need to have children, to work their land and to look after them in their old age. These aren't people with massive carbon footprints. That's us.

Exactly Sue!

I know I'm harping on a bit here about the straws, but adults didnt used to go around drinking from straws at all it looked childish

Then having a non plastic straw became the eco thing to do and now its perfectly acceptable for a grown professional adult to make slurpy straw noises in the office???? Because its metal so its eco

Do they not know how we get metal??

Everyone in my office has their eco reusable bottles on their desks. Until they break/leak then they get binned & replaced

Great! EXCEPT before all the reusable bottles we used the office cups which are still there to pour ourselves some water from the tap...

.... so none of the reusable bottles all over the office are necessary! They are all just extra stuff.

..a bigger issue than straws of any kind....is methane from animals... becoming more&more of a problem with outlets like McDonald's... burger king etc...would love to know...for instance....how much beef was consumed say thirty years ago compared to now!! This throw away,fast food world is horrendous....not having a go at any of you ...just my opinion..and it saddens me..

Oh and its not just the water bottles.
For every water bottle theres also an eco re-usable coffee cup.

FFS our office cups are "re-usable"
You can use them for water OR coffee!! Then wash them up and re use them! Just plain old cups! Which have always been there and are still there!

There is no need for each desk to have a different "re-usable eco" receptical for each individual drink one can think of!!!

Fairview probably more simply because there are more people and people are eating bigger quantities

however

30 years ago all the households I knew considered dinner to be Meat/fish, veg & some kind of potato. Even if it was a more adventurous dish it would always contain meat or fish! E.g. a curry would always be beef lamb or chicken.

Sandwiches were meat or cheese

So IMO 30yrs ago people ate meat more frequently although now more meat is eaten because more of everything is eaten.

We drink from reusable coffee cups at home. Some of them are over 30 years old. We call them coffee mugs. I don't really get this fad for needing to carry a water bottle around, either. The UK is hardly the Sahara desert and most of us have access to potable water most of the time.

As for straws. Aren't our lips good enough for drinking?

Many restraunts didnt even advertise a veggie option on the menu, you had to make a special request if you were dining with a vegitarian! And it would usually be awful!

We drink from reusable coffee cups at home. Some of them are over 30 years old. We call them coffee mugs.

YES!

you can now get re-usable make up removal pads. Little hemmed teeny circles of cotton to replace disposable cotton make up removal pads. Of course you then have to buy the little mesh laundry bag they come with or they'll stick in your washing machine door.... and a little holder for them too...

.... how about just not buying any silly little round make up removal pads and just using bog standard old face flannels which last a life time!

www.cheekywipes.com/reusable-make-up-removal-wipes/reusable-make-up-removal-wipes-kit.html

Unnecessary extra "eco" stuff!
And £20 to do what a flannel or muslin square would do!

Just stop buying stuff!

Used to take a bus and train to get to work then the bus timings changed and i had to start driving to work.
Bought a diesel car when we were told best, now feel so guilty but cannot afford to change it. Trying to save up the money so that we can though.
Took my first long haul flight two years ago after years of saving and the money having to go towards other things. Did i feel guilty, yes but managed it as it had been a lifetime dream.
I scrimp and save and will continue to as it was the way I was brought up, not to waste anything and to wait until you can afford to pay cash.
People used to laugh at my mobile - £10 from about 20 years ago. Everyone (NHS, Council, government offices) wants me to get a smartphone but that's one thing I'm coping without in this ultra fast demanding world of ours.
Do i feel guilty using uo electricity using this devise to chat online while it's using uo battery and electricity - yep!

Just worked out tonight (pretty much as I always knew) that my entire family live within a 5 mile radius of me . I look after the older and the younger generations and have very little time of my own, therefore I refuse to be guilt tripped by the idiot XR’s who often fly /drive/sail??? / the world preaching their crap !

Moocow don’t feel guilty . Why should you ? We were also told that diesel was the way forward . My car is 7 year old there no way I could afford to “right it off” and replace it. I live in a terrace anyway so no chance of a charging point. I have never taken a long haul flight ever but if I had the money I would LOVE to go to Nashville ( in my next life ???) we cannot let ourselves feel guilty for living .

I am flying off on holiday on Monday and can’t say I feel guilty about it. In
between holidays I try to do what I can to recycle whatever I can, don’t buy fruit and veg wrapped in plastic. However there is so much that can’t be recycled so what can we do about that ?

I do feel a bit torn about this. We don't fly very often - usually (short haul) only once a year - but I suppose we really shouldn't fly at all. My husband's family is a long haul flight away. We've been married for 47 years and have gone there four times, which I don't think is excessive. He needs to see his family and I want to see them too.

Some people fly a lot - my friend went on 14 holidays abroad last year. If those people could even halve the flights they made it would make a difference, though, of course, it would be preferable to limit them even more.

These huge cruise ships - like floating towns - are very polluting too.

Given that all these things are so bad for the environment, it makes me wonder how sensible and moral it is to encourage overseas travel and to air such tempting adverts for overseas destinations. But then I suppose to try to curb such adverts would lead to cries of "police state", etc, etc. But if our environment is in such danger, perhaps desperate - and undemocratic - measures should be considered.

I try to make some sacrifices - mostly take re-usable container with water when I travel, have stopped buying liquid soap in dispensers, I mostly use public transport, eat almost no meat, etc, etc. But I know there is so much more I should be doing and I need to try harder.

I think carbon offsetting is disgraceful. It means those with money can pollute the environment as much as they like. Rationing - as was done in the war - would be a fairer method but a bureaucratic nightmare. I think people's behaviour will gradually change but will that change be too slow to reverse the damage?

The number of plastic drink bottles produced is just staggering. Now they have big machines where you can bring them back and get a refund. Why not just have re-usable drink containers or flasks and stop making flippin' plastic drink bottles! And why do people need to keep drinking water and fizzy drinks all the time?