Are you "green" ?

[chris]

Or do you try to be?

I'd like to think that my family tries to be... We tend to support local / smaller businesses, buy from local farm shops (mostly organic) - if not, then from sumasomethingorothermarket.com (which by the by, give you a great free gift - a USB (1GB) memory stick, covered in wood.. I like it - it has a magnetic lid too, so kind of snaps shut)... er lost track now. Oh yes, and the other things such as turning stuff off, not leaving lights on, only using what water we need in the kettle..

However, I think that I may be a bit of a hypocrit! I do like cars, espeically mine. It's a bit of a polluter (large engine, and I think ~200g/km of emissions, ecnomony isn't that good). I don't take public transport to work (if I can help it) - I just can't stand taking the dirty, filthy bus, or train.. I often end up in a foul mood when I get into work, and home again in the evening if I've had to use it (such as recently being snowed in, yet the trains still running - d'oh!!). I just like to drive really.. Added to that, I'd really like a 4x4 (mainly, due to the safety - we've recently had a baby, the amount of silly beggers on the roads these days - I'd rather them go under me than into me)..

I don't think it's something that I'd settle with, by moving to an 'eco' car, or a nice family car.

It's a strange feeling, on one hand I love the fact that we do our part, but on the other hand whilst I love my car and sometimes like to have a more 'fun' trip home thorugh the country lanes where safe to do so I feel guilty !

My wife and I have spoke a couple times of how great it'd be to sell all our assests off, then buy some land and have a small-holding trying to be as self producing/effecient as possible... wow, erm there you have it, two random posts by me in the same evening.

Any thoughts?

[its hilly]

We recycle bottles cans plastic cardboard newspaper, make compost etc
But we have two cars..although to be fair work for either of us is 30 miles away and both in opposite directions, and the train is not reliable.
And until I wrote it off recently mine was a 3.2 v6 4x4 which only did about 26 to the gallon. Mind you you cant tow a horsebox with a puegot 306 at least not safely/legaly

[snuffer]

There are three of us live here. We try to do all we can on the being green front; recycle, keep water use to a minimum, reduce ammount of gas and electricity used and don't forget growing your own has several eco-advantages over shop bought produce.

However, living in a small rural village we each have to have our own car. If we tried to make all our trips on public transport it would take an eternity to get anywhere. I too don't enjoy using the bus. Have you ever been on a bus at night? Not an experience I would reccommend to anyone. No fun sharing your journey with swearing, spitting, drunken yobs.

We should all do what we can to be as 'green' as possible but the car is, so often, an essential part of everyday life.

[Flummery]

I don't drive. Never have. So I can feel all smug! Don't you hate smug beggars?

[Glutton4...]

I don't drive. Never have. So I can feel all smug! Don't you hate smug beggars?

What-ya begging for Aunty Flum? More Chooks lol

[Flummery]

What-ya begging for Aunty Flum? More Chooks lol

Well, I COULD be tempted!

[northepaul]

On the subject of being green this blog is truely inspirational:
Buy Nothing New

[Snadger]

I don't drive. Never have. So I can feel all smug! Don't you hate smug beggars?

Nope.............just wait until they are walking next to a puddle in the road then put me foot down!!!!!!

[Jeanied]

OMG that was you Snadge!! It took me 3 hours to dry out and 2 weeks to get over the chill I caught!
I have months of being 'dark green' - usually summer months when I do lots of very green things and I know I'm getting there.
Then I have months of being 'light green' when I am only moderately behaving myself.
Then I have orange times - like recently when the central heating has been on more than normal - when I know that I am not living sustainably- but I hate shivering and I feel very deprived so I am less bothered than usual!
As long as my green months greatly outweigh my orange ones then I feel I am doing my bit! Last year definitely was better than this.

[ladylottie]

I try to be as green as poss - recycle everything I can, compost as much as I can. I have a water meter (it's saved me loads of money) and try to remember to turn all the lights off and not leave the TV on standby. One thing I'm not good at is only boiling enough water in the kettle for what I want - no matter how I try, I still end up filling the kettle right to the top!

I'm on a trial thingy with Scottish & Southern Electricity and have "smart meters" fitted to my gas & electric boxes so I can monitor my usage daily. That was a big eye-opener and have managed to save quite a bit of money on the gas & elextric now I've got used to the system.

I buy a lot of clothes etc from the op shops (charity shops) and take stuff there that I no longer have any use for.

Now I've retired (how I love saying that I've started travelling everywhere I can on the bus (because I have a free bus pass) except when I need to do a heavy food shop and then I do use the car (a little economy R reg number - wouldn't suit you at all Chrismarks). But it is a bit of a pain waiting for the bus in the cold weather - ah well, can't have it all I suppose. Free comes at a price.......

Chrismarks - If you fancy a smallholding I would say go for it - but look into it carefully because it's very hard work (I know, I used to have one in the Forest of Dean). But I loved it, the whole lifestyle 24/7. It was only divorce that put an end to it. That's why I'm so pleased to have my lottie now so I can grow all (or most) of the veg I need.

[chris]

I do fancy it, but I don't know if I could live with the sacrifice in salary and live style. We're comfortable at the moment, and able to do things when we want without much bother... As much as I moan about my job and how I want to get out of computing .... I don't think I really have the b**ls to do it

Perhaps later on, when we've got a bit more of a nest egg - we'll see ! Could even do it half way, buy a place with a decent amount of land, and allocate some to growing, etc!

But, yeah my baby...er car would go if we had a small holding...

[Nicos]

I think most of us do many green things- certainly more so than we did say 20 years ago.
I find it very interesting to see what other peeps do- and don't do...we've all got our priorities so it seems.
I recycle most things, when I use the car I try to do as much en route as poss so it means less to and fro ing. I hate to see food go to waste so try and use any left overs the following day. We are almost self sufficient in fruit and veg and eggs. I use eco products, we have a well for the garden and 2 x 1,000 litre water butts and try and encourage 'orange/red' peeps (nice description there Jeanied!) to be more aware...etc etc
However, I can't stand a cold house, I have an aging sports car and we drive to the UK every 2 months or so...those are my 'luxuries' at the cost to the environment.

We have basically done the sell up and move o the country thing you are talking about chrismarks...and wish we'd done it years ago!...can't believe how my priorities have changed...I was most definitely a young adult influenced by the Thatcher government

[pdblake]

I'm not green, I'm frugle

I recycle what I can, mostly because I can't stand waste. I compost what I can so I don't have to buy so much compost. I turn lights and heating off where I can, because I don't like the bills.

I eat meat, and don't give a wotsit about the carbon footprint, but I make it spin out to more than one meal where I can.

Oh and we don't have a car

[stella]

Agree with all the above especially, 'is it green or is it frugle'? I just hate waste of any sort. Just tried out a tip I found here somewhere, use half the washing powder in the macjine and a bit of soda crystals. Seems to work, washing smell good and looks clean at half the price. That is the sort of green I like

[Flummery]

Nope.............just wait until they are walking next to a puddle in the road then put me foot down!!!!!!

It's you, is it?