Planet Earth survival

What do you do everyday to prepare our fragile planet to survive (or rather the life that's living on it)? Last time I went to Mountain Equippment Coop I bought a flashlight and accessories with a merino wool watchcap. At the counter she put the flashlight and accessories into the wool watchcap and told me this is your bag. I'm starting to see petrochemical products everywhere. I may buy a foldable bag for when I go shopping for small items to avoid wasting plastic bags. I try to travel in public transportations whenever possible. I'm even starting to feel guilty of having bought a Primaloft and nylon jacket. So do you think about those things in your everyday life?

Frankie

Recycling paper, cardboard, plastics, glass, and metals is pretty standard stuff where I live - and I would guess many places. Unfortunately our recycler doesn't take styrofoam-type products. My guess is they are too "fluffy" to get haul cost-effectively.

I don't worry about using petro-based products in my gear. A typical tent will last 20+ years (until the coating degrades). A sleeping bag will last my lifetime if taken care of.

I like plastic-cased flashlights (warmer in winter). The plastic cases of flashlights, GPS's, etc are all recyclable - if anybody cares to do so. Unfortunately the PC boards and guts of most electronics aren't really recyclable - yet.

I'm looking for somewhere to buy those cloth grocery bags, would like something short and wide. I hate how they bag one or two items per bag and when we buy a lot of baby food it gets too heavy for the plastic. We've started bagging our own to at least get more than a couple items in one bag.
We've started combining our trips, each pay day (bi monthly) we will go eat out then hit sams club then kroger and any other store we need so we don't have to make multiple grocery trips.
Public transportation is unfortunately useless here as they have very few bus routes and very few schedules so I bought the most fuel efficient truck I could find.
I've added more insulation to my house and switched out as many light bulbs as I could to CF as well as getting rid of all my old "servers" and do any testing on my laptop using vmware. So my electricity and gas usage has gone down enough that my bills have remained the same even though the price has went up as much as 150%.

I've heard only something like 6% of the plastic bags are actually recyclable. Many of these bags end up wandering in the environment and they found plenty in the stomach of whales, turtles and birds that choke eating them. They are also ugly and get stuck everywhere on trees etc. That's why I'm considering seriously a very compact when folded but large when unfolded bag so that I can be encouraged to carry it like next time I go to the convenience store and the like. As for the tents, I think they loose their waterproof/breathable qualities after a couple of years. For the computers, mine is 8 years old but I'll have to buy a new one sooner or later. When my monitor dies, I bring it to a store where they specialize in monitor recycling and I get a new one used for $40 and I'm happy with that. I don't put them on the side of the road because those things are full of lead inside. Maybe the new LCDs are more environment friendly, I don't know.

I've used cloth shopping bags for years. They've just kind of accumulated, so I can't tell you where I got them, other than a few of them I bought in the grocery store. Here's a web site that sells reusable bags:

Reusable Bags

Kevin B.

Yeah! this is what I'm talking about. It's like the PSK, if it's not ultra compact you will not be carrying it. Thanks

I've used a canvas shopping bag since high school, but I grew up with that. If we'd used store bags, my grandfather would have packratted them away someplace and we'd still be trying to think of things to do with them 20 years after he passed on. :P

I don't mind using plastics, but if I don't have to, I don't. A lot of my gear is nylon, and you can't have a computer without plastics, but it is like strong drink- moderation.

Ummm... Actually, pretty much everything in a PC is recyclable at this point. I have worked with a company that does it. The metals are obviously the first thing, but even the things that can't be melted down for new moldings, like the board part of a PCB, get cleaned, ground up and used in concrete and blacktop. I know of it being done in Georgia, and I believe a couple of other states are testing it with very favorable results. That might be more of a reuse than a recycle, but given the current state of the art, a computer is like a deer- when it dies, there is a use for every part.

And even before that stage, most computers that are dead only need a new power supply and some TLC to make them into something usable. I was the head of a team in college that worked with the above company to send about 30 computers, with healthy monitors, an old HP laser printer, plus an older server and a CD jukebox overseas as a package the summer of '05. The best one of the lot was the server with a pair of Pentium IIs in it, but they worked, we had enough licenses of Win95 and Office97 to equip them, and the manuals for Novell on the server, so some small town school some place in Central America has a computer lab now, with a pretty decent reference library available through their main server. It isn't the information super highway, but it is a lot better than the nothing that they had.

I know that locally at Stop & Shop, you can buy a cloth type grocery bag. For a while they were offering a discount off of groceries if you used a cloth bag, or one brought from home. I have no idea if they still do that or not. I think, after reading all of this, I may pick up 2 bags this week.

Birdbath:filled with fresh water everyday-ice removed during winter
five bird feeders:filled two-three times a week depending upon traffic
squirrel feeder:always filled with peanuts or this corn log thing i found
pool in back yard:each day at least twice checked for anyone smimming in it-I'm always pulling out all kinds of insects and spiders that are swimming and leave the net on the ground until they dry off and fly/walk away.This year I managed to save three mice,a frog,a few rabbits and a skunk(trapped in skimmer)
During baby season-any birds pushed out of nest by older sibblings (and are two young to be on their own)are brought to local(20 miles away)animal rehabilitation center.
for the record-if you start feeding birds at the start of winter-they do stay and then need you to feed them throughout the season-I feed all year long.
PS-I do break for squirrels and other animals and I will hold up trafic to do so.Along with any creature(insect or otherwise) found roaming the house is,as gently as possible,returned to the outside

Good to know. I work in the world of automotive electronics and cars are getting greener every year.

I don't have to worry about carrying bags all the time, we make our bi monthly grocery shopping an all day trip now so we load up the lists and organizer and bags (have one of those sams club thermal bags). The main thing I'm looking for is something wider than tall so I can load it up with jars/cans without stacking them.

Get some sturdy canvas and make your own? They're just a simple box, open on one end, with webbing straps sewn on.

Sue

Any personal conservation effort is hopelessly lost amid what the third world and nature itself spews out every year. If you get all tingly using a cloth grocery bag, knock yourself out.

and by the way, bah humbug. <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

I know and I bet my ultra compact bag is made in China.

Frankie

No one person or group is going to cure all the ills of the world. America is the biggest waster of resources in it. All we can do is hope to affect our little corner of it.

Sue

Not trying to feel all tingly, I just want something that can carry baby food jars

America has used more resources to improve more lives in more places in the world than any other country in history. No one has the tract record of aid the US does. And it certainly isnt that other countries have some sort of moral upper hand. They would gladly trade for the right to be the "biggest waster" in the world. Wanna see waste and abuse of the environment? Take a trip to China one day. I did and it is an eye opener. And they are just getting started.

Anyway, nuff said by me on this topic. (probably too much)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.

That's like running the red light because other people do it.

I make my own choices based on my values and do my best to educate / encourage others to act in a responsible manner.

Someone's got to stand up and start the ball rolling.

As Gandhi said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

“Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.”

Amen Duckear!!!!

And No, it is not like running the red light because others do. The comment was not to say it's ok for us to waste resources "because others do it", it was clear what Duckear was pointing out was that ALL countries waste resources or, better put, "use them". Because we "use" resources in a less than efficient manner, does not mean we strive to waste.