[RD] What are YOU doing to fight climate change?

[Zkribbler]

I was watching a talking head on TV, who noted that while we point our fingers at corporations, demanding that they fix climate change, corporations claim they are just responding to popular demand and therefore the tastes of individuals must change. This guy opined that both corporations and individuals must work on fixing the problem.

This got me thinking what steps I have taken.

Housing: I designed my own house. The houses of most Westerns here, consist of two stories and an attic with a metal roof. The sun shines on the metal roof, which heats up the attic. Heat from the attic radiates down, heating up the house, thus air conditioners run almost constantly. Clever me. I have placed the attic up on posts, giving me a third-floor patio and keeping my house in shade. I have large window of reflective glass and minimal interior walls, allowing for cross ventilation of sea breezes. Thus, I have no air conditioning. All my lights and my TV are LED.

Transportation. I have an SUV . At least twice a month we need to drive into Tagbilaran and bring back food & other supplies, thus we need the room. My spine has deteriorated to the point where I can't bear the road vibrations from riding on the bus, so I need the comfort. I do have a small electric car made by a now defunct company and that requires batteries which are no longer available. If it still ran, it would be the slowest car on the road. Once I get some extra money, I'll talk to my electrician of the practicably of installing bigger motors to increase speed.

Food: Cows digesting grass results in a lot of methane cow belches. Poultry has only half the effect on climate change. I have therefore resolved to eat beef no more than one a week and meat no more than once a day. For these purposes, eggs and pizza are considered to be vegetables.
So...not perfect, but better than I was.

 

[Perfection]

lowering my intake of onions has significantly reduced my methane emssions

honestly, not as much as i'd like to, due to external stressors i've had to manage my life for efficient time usage not material usage. I still recycle though and vote for the people who actually believe in climate change, so that's something?

 

[Syno]

I'll be dying well before the average lifespan, cutting my total emissions in kind.

Also, I don't buy yachts, Lamborghini cars, or mansions. I even make sure I dump my toxic waste in an appropriate venue as opposed to the local rivers.

 

[Zkribbler]

... so that's something?

I'll be dying well before the average lifespan, cutting my total emissions in kind.

But what it there's reincarnation?

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I'll be dying well before the average lifespan, cutting my total emissions in kind.

While I may very well manage something like the average lifespan, I don't have terribly far to go. Making even a large change in rate at this point will have very little effect on my cumulative totals.

 

[Syno]

But what it there's reincarnation?

Being a tardigrade sounds relaxing.

 

[Arwon]

In Australia, electricity and other stationary energy is the main game. Half the emissions come from energy, mostly from electricity. We've got 100% renewable electricity here in my local jurisdiction, so that's a big head start. I vote for the Australian parliamentary party with the strongest policies on decarbonisation, and locally that's worked because we probably wouldn't have had the 100% renewables target without them holding the balance of power.

As far as diet goes, I don't cook with much beef but I'm also genuinely not sure whether the agricultural emissions from methane (and nitrous oxide from other farming) are as big a factor in the diet's life cycle as as the energy in processing and transport. Land clearing for food production isn't an issue here, LULUCF is net negative recently.

But honestly, to repeat, my vote in the ACT Legislative Assembly has been the most powerful decarbonisation impact I've had so far. Energy decarbonisation seems to be the main game

 

[Zkribbler]

Making even a large change in rate at this point will have very little effect on my cumulative totals.

Stated another way: "Making a change at this point will have an effect on my cumulative totals."

 

[Zkribbler]

... my vote in the ACT Legislative Assembly has been the most powerful decarbonisation impact I've had so far. Energy decarbonisation seems to be the main game

This is very good, but keep looking for ways to reduce.

For example, the plant-based impossible burger has not yet arrived here. All our McDonald;s are owned by the same guy. I plan to ask the various managers to bring it in. If a giant like McD's starts using it, that's a big step.

 

[Zkribbler]

I do eat a lot of meat and cheese. Hard to keep a reasonably healthy low carb diet without.

Remember, chicken and fish are more better than beef.

 

[Zkribbler]

There is no perfect answer, and even if there were, no one here is perfect. I'm just advocating we all try and do a little bit more.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

You need to find one of those "what's your carbon footprint" quiz things. Then it can be one of those threads.

 

[Zkribbler]

Here's one.
https://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx

I don't like it though. I don't know some of the entries. E.g. We use some firewood but I have no idea of how many metric tons. I'd guess far less than 1 metric ton. And "Paper based products (e.g. books, magazines, newspapers)?" WTH??

 

[Manfred Belheim]

I'd be interested to compare because I genuinely have no idea what my impact is. I'm not actively doing anything to combat climate change to be honest, but at the same time I suspect my impact is pretty low (for where I am in the world) anyway. But I don't know.

 

[Arwon]

This is very good, but keep looking for ways to reduce.

For example, the plant-based impossible burger has not yet arrived here. All our McDonald;s are owned by the same guy. I plan to ask the various managers to bring it in. If a giant like McD's starts using it, that's a big step.

Hungry Jacks (Burger King's rogue franchisee here due to a rights dispute) has "Kinda Meat" burger, a local chain called Grill'd has several fake meat burgers.

We also have a chain of vegetarian burger places called Lord of the Fries who have been somehow approximating meat somehow for years before the recent growth in the latest ones, and who among other things lets Sea Shepherd members eat for free and stocks their ships and gave free stuff to every climate marcher who wanted it last week. Unfortunately they haven't come to Canberra yet, because I love their stuff every time I go to Sydney or Melbourne.

 

[EnglishEdward]

I eat fish and chicken and turkey, in preference to beef.

I don't cook more than I can eat.

And I try to walk rather than use the car.

I opted out of a summer holiday with long distance air flights this year.

 

[Arwon]

Also inspired by this talk I decided to give the supermarket fake mince a go, and serendipitously it was $5 down from $8 so pretty close to the price of regular mince.

Went pretty well. Very similar texture, a bit redder. Seems to be made of soy, mushroom and coconut oil plus some processed stuff.

It fell apart a bit because I did it smashed style, but it crisped up beautifully and I think falling apart might have been due to patty formation being a bit loose (which is fine for beef mince but clearly this doesn't quite bind as well so needs to be balled tighter to begin with). Seasoned the patty with a bit of bbq sauce, garlic powder, beef stock powder and pepper, then the burger itself has the usual lettuce tomato beetroot onion and some melted cheese, and a sauce of mayo and ketchup.

 

[Snerk]

Doing:
I've cut back on meat a lot. Specially red meat, I pretty much never buy it. I don't own a car, though I borrow one now and again. Not buying a lot of things I don't really need like new clothing items, electronics and stuff. Generally trying to fix things instead of buying new. Very little air travelling.

Should improve:
Cut back on farmed fish (Mmmmh, salmon). Less driving, more biking (the non-combustion engine type). I should generally stop ebaying things from east asia.

Not willing to improve:
Less indoor heating. I hate feeling cold indoors, more clothing will only help to certain degree.

 

[Hans66]

YES! Good question
Nothing...
Nah that was one joke as usual from me.

What i do:
I recycle plastic, metal, paper.

I donate to the preservation of the rain forest each month and to the WWF as well.

I travel with public transportation but that´s more because that it comes naturally to me living in the metropolis Stockholm´s inner parts, ("Södermalm" to be precise).

I try to eat less meat, chicken meat have 10 times less environmental impact i saw, in the subway i think, tonight when i was off to the hospital since i thought there was some emergency health thingy going on with me.But i was OK after all.
But back to this topic and i have the environment, my faith, humor and a sick twisted little monster inside of me at the back of my head all the time that makes me stay sharp 24/7 and on my toes and awake and alert\alive and.somebody-having-a-problem-with-my-energy-then-and-who-thinks-i´m-insane\drunk\whatever just because i have energy and willpower here on the forum?
Because i see you all every day and i must say that i pity average Joe more than me and i say to all. (Anyone here don´t take it as some personal attack here, i view the world in one, it all).

But God bless everyone.
Jesus saves! But Zlatan Ibrahimovich puts one in on the rebound.
Nah, but seriously. All you need is love.
This comment was produced with love, care and a pinch of hostility for that x-tra spicy taste and gunpowder kick.
Alright.

 

[Moriarte]

Industry, transportaton and electricity production facilities will have to be upgraded through government policy and initiatives. The biggest source of it is “industrial” anyway. It’s the oil tankers, trucks, airplanes, huge manufacturing facilities, power stations, which produce the most CO2. Whether you personally eat less beans, meat or whatever is hardly the deciding factor. The effort has to be centralised, otherwise, what’s the point? Capitalists will burn more and more stuff with every year, while you cut on you meat diet?