One easy thing to do or to abstain from for a better environment

[peter grimes]

@Thedrin:
Not eating meat isn't difficult (for me and Narz, at least ), so I think it properly belongs in this thread.

Most people in the world don't eat meat with every meal, and when they do it's not at the 'center of the plate' as Michael Pollan advises.

It's also a myth that you'll quickly become malnourished if you strike meat from your diet.

 

[Murky]

There is sustainable meat production. I'm glad to see Bison coming back.

You could help a lot of things by opposing factory farms that use lots of antibiotics on cattle and pigs. They are often kept in crowded feedlots. There's no grass, only manure. They are just fed grains and drugs to make sure they max out in weight and stay alive long enough to make it to the slaughterhouse. At the slaughterhouse they are often mistreated, suffering intense pain in the process.

 

[El_Machinae]

When you say "cream" what do you mean? Don't you just put milk in?

In Canada, we have a type of dairy product called 'coffee cream', which is 10-18% milk fat. It's delicious in coffee, and is a staple of our mascot coffee house (Tim Hortons).

That one sounds interesting, I might try it!

The advantage of some of my suggestions (letting the backyard grow wild, cereal boxes in the fridge and freezer) is that they actually save you work and money. My ice-jugs also save money, which is a net benefit for everyone.

Another suggestion is to know if your municipality's water system gets swamped during heavy rain. My city needs to over-treat water and release it during hard rains. So, it's a good idea to not do laundry during (or around) a heavy rain, because you're shunting some pretty soupy water into the system. Obviously, you sometimes need to do laundry. But often it can be planned around.

As well, a rain barrel for your gutter drain means that during a heavy rain you're sequestering some of the rainwater, reducing the burden of treating water overflow. When the barrel fills, you can wait a couple days and then just tip it onto your lawn so that it flows into the water system (or just into the dirt) when the stress on the system is lower.

 

[luiz]

Isn't using your own shopping bag instead of throw-away bags even better?

Sure, when you are doing shopping which was planned ahead. But that's not always the case.

 

[Mise]

I put big bottles of water in my fridge instead of cereal boxes, because water keeps its heat longer than air. That's my theory anyway.

Also it's more useful to have random cold water in your fridge than random cereal boxes. Then again, it might be fun when your friends come over and they see a whole load of empty cereal boxes in your fridge...

 

[dutchfire]

Well, I guess filling the thing with random beer is even better....

 

[Mise]

But then you have commit to not drinking it

 

[TheLastOne36]

In Canada, we have a type of dairy product called 'coffee cream', which is 10-18% milk fat. It's delicious in coffee, and is a staple of our mascot coffee house (Tim Hortons).

Never knew you were Canadian!

 

[Cutlass]

2 liter soda bottles filled with water and stuck in the empty spaces of fridge and freezer both take up space and give a good chunk of thermal mass.

 

[Murky]

2 liter soda bottles filled with water and stuck in the empty spaces of fridge and freezer both take up space and give a good chunk of thermal mass.

Has this ever been test like on Mythbusters or something? It doesn't seem like it would make a whole lot of difference to have jugs of water in there. Ice I could see lowering the temps, but liquid water?

 

[El_Machinae]

In fact, you have to cool the water to fridge temperature. The goal is to just cut down on the amount of air-exchange. Plus, when you buy groceries, you can easily take out the cereal boxes without worrying about it.

 

[warpus]

There is sustainable meat production. I'm glad to see Bison coming back.

Bison live in Europe, buffalo live in North America. Right?

 

[Murky]

Bison live in Europe, buffalo live in North America. Right?

Essentially the same thing but there are Bison in North America
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_bison

 

[Mise]

I guess it doesn't make a difference whether it's water or air because the amount of work that the fridge has to do is only dependent on the rate at which heat is lost (assuming no air exchange) due to the fridge not being completely isolated.

Either way though a sealed empty bottle is surely going to be better at preventing air exchange than an empty cereal box.

 

[Narz]

From the thread title: One easy thing to do or abstain from for a better environment.

I honestly have an easy time abstaining from meat & I imagine a large percentage of civfanatics manage to abstain from sex without even trying.

 

[carmen510]

Don't buy agricultural products made in Brazil, which are probably grown in recently cleared rainforests.

 

[Shaihulud]

Not eating beef, that is easy for me.

 

[Masada]

Video needs a caveat; wild caught tiger prawns from the Northern Prawn Fishery are a textbook example of how to run a sustainable fishing operation. Greenpeace should also heap hate on vannamei prawns (aka leader prawns or white legged prawns) which are just a little behind tiger prawns in terms of farming.

Also, Greenpeace hates poor people since a substantial portion of the farmed prawn game is farmed out to small operators who are rather, well, poor. Prawn farming for export isn't all that lucrative for the little guys.

 

[azzaman333]

Done and done, I don't like getting diarrhea anyway.

If McD's gave everyone diarrhoea, they'd be sued out of business.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

If its cold, put on an extra sweater instead of turning up the heat. Or if you have a significant other have some 'alone time'

Buy a battery charger and a set of chargeable batteries. This means you don't need to throw out as many, and if you have clean power in your area it'll be better (I'm not sure, if you have dirty power in an area, if the benefits will weigh). Anyways you'll save money.