Ways to save our Environment

[Clevercat]

Here are several ways we can all fight to save our Planet.... 

1, Switch off your Pc, Tv etc.. leaving electrical items on standby pump a million TONNES of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year.

2,Share transport.. look at the www.liftshare.com to see what I mean.

3, Recycle, the energy saved from recycling just one coke can is enough to power a tv for three hours.

4, Keep cool, turn your thermostat down by just one degree and reduce your heating bill by thirty pounds a year.

5, Insulate your loft, this can cut 20%off your energy bill..

6, fly less.. air travel is to blame for up to 5% of the worlds carbon emmisions and is the fastest growing cause of global warming

7, eat local.. visit www.farmersmarket.net to see how you can buy locally grown produce instead of foods that are shipped in from abroad

 

[kaz12]

good advise cc i will try to follow

[lawsielass]

Not being funny but all these savings (£30per year) add up to less than a quid a week so unless someone makes suggestions that would save me that PER MONTH then frankly its not worth doing.....  Especially coming from a family who get sod all help from the GOVt (sorry we get Child Benefit).....

I liftshare to work as part of a scheme run by my employer and recycle at home but apart from that I dont see any other useful contributions to help reduce pollution within the environment....

[memento mori]

Not sure about the recycling. There are only a few companies in the UK that recycle newspapers and I think these are in Kent. There is not mach to be gained from recyling your papers especially if you drive them to a paperbank (or take into account the energy required for roadside collection).

[pucouajio]

I am most sceptical about whether hardly any of the plastic bottles we dutifully put in the recycling skip actually get recycled in to anything, and even so, what then?  An aluminium drinks can really can be recycled in to another drinks can, but we can't recycle plastic drinks bottles in to another drinks bottle.  IMO we ought to ban production of plastic bottles asap.

Air travel is a colossal problem, and it's getting rapidly worse.  There are international agreements which mean it is nearly impossible to levy duty on aviation fuel (for international flights), but unless we do, air travel will continue to increase making any other savings we make in co2 emissions seem pitiful.

I confess I have just flown back from Portugal myself, but have agreed with my wife that we'll be taking the train to Inverness later in the year, rather than fly.

[memento mori]

Plastics can be recycled but I believe they first need to be sorted into the different types of plastic. There is normally a symbol at the bottom of a plastic bottle to show it can be recylced with the letters representing the type of plastic.

One way we can cut down use of plastic is by re-using plastic shopping bags. This is common practice in lots of countries and some places like Ireland and Japan put a tax on them. This has drastically cut down in their use. One problem is shops reluctance to use recyled plastics in their plastic bags. This is because these bags are an off-white colour!

Flights are so cheap because we do not pay taxes on the fuel. It would be interesting to know how much a train costs to Inverness, I have seen flights to Edinburgh for £20.00.

If you feel guilty about flying you can always offset your environmental damage by making a donation to an environmentally beneficial project.

See:

http://www.carbonneutral.com/

[pucouajio]

I just looked up prices for our trip to Inverness.  At the times we want to go (Sat to Sat), by air (EasyJet) from Bristol including taxes and insurance would be £187.96 for the two of us.  Add the cost of a taxi from Westbury and that's £267.96.

The return rail fare Westbury to Inverness for the two of us would be £310.60.  So not a lot more really, and a heck of a lot less damaging to the ozone layer.  Also, on the train we can make phone calls, send texts (I can even post to this forum using my new Nokia 770), walk up & down and get a good view of the scenery, even if it's cloudy!

[memento mori]

I am surprised I thought you would be able to get a cheaper flight. I used to fly to Edinburgh and the flights were around 20 pound each way. I agree with the benefits of the train. One of the UKs best train routes is from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalch (West coast of Scotland near the Isle of Skye)

[pucouajio]

I confess I haven't looked at prices mid-week; I expect that both air and rail would be lower then.  Last time we went (which was mid-week), EasyJet weren't doing Bristol-Inverness yet, so it would have been about £600 British Airways changing at Glasgow and was about £240 for the two of us by rail.

[Steve]

Just to go back to lawsielass's post about the £3 a month not being worth it.  Imagine the millions of homes up and down the country (and billions across the world).  The little things add up if everyone does their bit.  It's a bit like the power of voting.

Also if we consume less energy then this may help to keep the price down as demand is reduced, which benefits us all in the end.

I reckon the govenments should review the whole packaging thing.  Many of the goods we buy in plastic containers could be packaged differently, the trouble is it's convenient, hygenic and cheap and mostly everyone want cheap stuff.

[memento mori]

I agree, I think everbody should do their bit. Simple things such as maknig sure the TV is switched off completely will make a big difference.

[Clevercat]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4924656.stm

Latest proposals from the Government

[Clevercat]

Supermarket giant Tesco has said all its carrier bags will be degradable from September.

The bags break down in as little as 60 days into materials such as carbon dioxide and water with no harmful residue, unlike plastic bags.

The firm hopes a billion fewer plastic bags a year will be used in a bid for it to be more environmentally-friendly.

The Co-op first introduced degradable bags in 2002 and Sainsbury's have trialled compostable bags.

Bag tax

Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy announced the measure as part of a 10-point plan, which include halving Tesco stores' energy use by 2010 compared with the year 2000.

But Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Chris Huhne said he would rather see a tax on plastic bags introduced.

"Biodegradable plastic bags in themselves can have an adverse environmental impact by creating greenhouse gases within landfill sites.

"The government should look again at introducing some form of plastic bag tax which will make supermarkets and consumers think twice before they give away and use plastic bags in the first place."

The company has also pledged to reduce deliveries to its local Express convenience stores to cut congestion.

It aims to double the amount of material customers return to stores for recycling by 2008.

[pucouajio]

Forgive me if I have the wrong end of the stick, but rather than doubling the amount of packaging returned for recycling, would it not be better simply to halve the amount of packaging?

[Clevercat]

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/

great link to the Environment agency website