Thoughts on carbon neutrality

[Sutcliffe]

I find as of late I've been pretty conflicted about understanding how my choices could impact the environment. I definitely don't consider myself an activist, but given recent events like the Australian bush fires etc, kinda makes me think more about how our world is changing. Sure we can't immediately go carbon neutral, I've found myself evaluating my purchases/behaviours and what kind of impact that could have on the environment.

I've made a more concerted effort in terms of recycling (though seems questionable as to what happens after collection!) and even looking into a home compost heap .. but looking to learn other practices. I'm even thinking of starting community initiatives (feel free to contribute to a survey)

Does anyone else find themselves doing this? I'd be keen to hear if you've had any success with offsetting – in a personal way through your own initiatives or just supporting other causes (e.g. purchasing offsets).

Ps. I really don't want to politicise this!

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Honestly, it’s great that you and I do tiny things like recycling, reducing use of the car etc, but there are huge amounts of energy being wasted all over the place that completely dwarf anything that we do on a personal level.

As an example, I’m the product manager for a heat recovery ventilation system. Schools across the UK are being fitted with “natural ventilation” units. They sound great, but they require essentially a whole additional heating system in every classroom. With heat recovery, you can get back nearly 90% of the heat energy in a room cutting your heating load by nearly 80% when comparing the two. If we did that all over, we could bring school energy consumption down by about 40%.

But, the regulations permit you to do the **** version, so people do it. That decision that an engineer makes would completely outweigh what you and I do at a local level.

We need major shifts in infrastructure across the country and the world. These tiny things will never achieve much until we address the rest!!

 

[Domi]

There are things you can do that will make a big difference.

Small things make a difference if you do a lot of them and the more people that do any of this the better.

I chose one of the bigger ones.

I do not have children and I would encourage those who do not want children to not have or not have more because of society pressures and for those who want children to consider having less.

Eat less meat a small enough change that if enough of us do this will make a huge impact.

Use green energy if and when you can.

When travelling consider the impact of your travel methods.

The big one is ignore the nay-sayers there are multiple reasons why for example the above might benefit us all.

 

[Sutcliffe]

Yeah I completely with you both. I think there is some potential behind starting small, simply from the shift in mindset (i.e. being fundamentally conscious of ones impact) ... in the longer term that could grow into decisions made in all aspects of life.

I like your thoughts Domi, fair point re: population growth!

 

[Efour]

I find as of late I've been pretty conflicted about understanding how my choices could impact the environment. I definitely don't consider myself an activist, but given recent events like the Australian bush fires etc, kinda makes me think more about how our world is changing. Sure we can't immediately go carbon neutral, I've found myself evaluating my purchases/behaviours and what kind of impact that could have on the environment.

I've made a more concerted effort in terms of recycling (though seems questionable as to what happens after collection!) and even looking into a home compost heap .. but looking to learn other practices. I'm even thinking of starting community initiatives (feel free to contribute to a survey)

Does anyone else find themselves doing this? I'd be keen to hear if you've had any success with offsetting – in a personal way through your own initiatives or just supporting other causes (e.g. purchasing offsets).

Ps. I really don't want to politicise this!

You should do all you can. I do all i can Recycle probably 95% of my rubbish, only use Hydro electric power (dont have much choice lol)
Never buy plastic bags now, dont use plastic bags for packing fruit/veg. I even consider Air miles on fresh food and Try to buy local if its there.

I have no kids, probably the biggest green thing ill do lol. I Lift share or use public transport to work.

Everything in my house is power efficient expcet my RGB 1500W PSU.

I even took a 18h train ride once rather than a 65min flight.... Never again though !

 

[Nitefly]

I gather that going with a green / carbon neutral / environmentally friendly ‘electricity / gas provider’ is one of the best ways of helping the environment, which is super easy and requires no effort.

 

[The_Abyss]

I've made a more concerted effort in terms of recycling (though seems questionable as to what happens after collection!) and even looking into a home compost heap .. but looking to learn other practices. I'm even thinking of starting community initiatives (feel free to contribute to a survey)

Does anyone else find themselves doing this?

100% yes. There'll always be a queue of people saying don't bother, the difference that an individual makes is insignificant. It is, until 7 billion people make a difference, and in reality it only takes a fraction of consumers to change before industry is forced to make a positive change.

 

[fobose]

I've tried to reduce my meat intake. My wife started making vegetarian once a week, sometimes twice. It was very nice and enjoyable but after a few months of it I kept thinking 'if only it had some meat in it'.

I recycle as much as I can, also built a huge compost bin in my garden a few months ago. I should cycle the 4 miles cross country to work but I drive 6 miles each way instead. I like to make my excuses, what if I have to work late, what if it rains, what if I get a puncture etc