How do you Protect the environment?

[admin]

Just though this would be a cool thread on ways to protect the environment. Besides obviously purchasing the Aptera Typ-1, there are other great ways to save the environment. Lets start a list.

[Aptera 1103]

Solar panels on the roof, Insight in the driveway, and native plants around the yard And an Aptera on the way.:o

[Matthijs]

Just think green and try to make your choices in a way it's best for the environment.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/05/04/garden/room.span.jpg

When possible make a green roof on your home. And make a green driveway.
Try out decentralized computing so when you use the internet you will only use 5w of power using a thin client for example. (screen excl.)
Try to get your heating (and cooling) from the earth (heat pump)
Drive electric (Aptera Typ-1e)
Try to get solar energy
Try to make your house as energy efficient as you can. (Search information about it on the net)

[KarenRei]

Can't believe nobody's mentioned the easiest one yet: CFLs.

[butter]

Can't believe nobody's mentioned the easiest one yet: CFLs.

That's because I haven't had a chance to respond yet, heh!

1. I do indeed have CFL bulbs EVERYWHERE in my home.
2. I keep the water heater temperature low, and if I'm not here for a while I set it to "vacation," the lowest temp possible.
3. I switched from a thick boxy 27" CRT tv to a 37" LCD tv. Sounds indulgent, but it uses less energy.
4. On freeways I try to drive 55 mph whenever possible in my Corolla (I stay in the rightmost lane to avoid annoying others), and never get over 65 mph.
5. My recycling to garbage ratio is around 6 to 1. Wish I had room for a composter but I live in a condo with no yard.
6. I always bring my cloth shopping bags wherever I go, so I don't collect plastic or paper bags.
7. This might be kinda gross, but I do a single, regular-sized load of laundry every 2-3 months, and use warm wash-cold rinse (never hot). (I'm female and not hairy, so I don't smell.)
8. Prequel to #7: I wear the same pants and shirts everyday and only switch underwear nightly, hence the low amount of laundry that piles up.
9. I don't buy any non-consumables (i.e. clothing, gadgets, books, mugs) unless I recycle/throw out/donate an equivalent first.
10. I donate instead of throw out perfectly good but no-longer-desired items.
11. I don't go out to eat unless it's the rare group social function.
12. I try to buy stuff that isn't packaged individually/heavily packaged.
13. I try to do all my errands in one outing instead of going somewhere, coming home, going out again in my car. With the Aptera, though, this *may* change...
14. I don't ever wash my car, I just wait for the SoCal rain.
15. I never leave the water running for more than a second.
16. When waiting for my shower to get hot (it takes over 3 minutes), I collect the cold running water in my 4-gallon bucket, then use it to flush my toilet and water my plants and wash my dishes. And wash my hands and my face and brush my teeth in the morning.
17. I use the microwave to make a single cup of steaming hot tea/chocolate for myself, instead of using a wasteful, inefficient tea kettle on the stovetop.

I can't remember the others, but there are more...

ooh, thought of more!
18. I turn off as many electronic appliances as I can (they are plugged into a strip, so it's easy to flick that on/off switch) when I go to bed, and I keep them off throughout the day when I'm at work.
19. I don't own a cell phone. Okay, that's not a particularly green thing, but I just wanted to be self-indulgent for a sec.
(I'm 32, in case people out there want to accuse me of being old.)
20. I use cloth napkins instead of paper ones.
21. Last time I hosted a party for 6 guests, I gave them each a cloth napkin and my regular silverware and dishes instead of dumb throwaway ones that people often buy for parties. I foresee hosting a party for up to 40, and will try to figure out how to do the same..

remembered more:
22. I am not officially a vegetarian (I'll eat anything, still, if placed in that situation by someone else), but when I'm shopping and cooking for myself, which is 99% of my life, it's 100% vegetarian and about 95% of the time vegan. Climate scientists have stated that forgoing beef is the most significant thing we can do to reduce global warming.

[Blur]

I spray paint my yard with this product called Soylent Green. Saves hundreds on my water and fertilizer bills!


"keepin it green yo", Bill

[KarenRei]

Wow, butter, you're hardcore :) Kudos to you!

I'm vegetarian for ethical reasons, but the more I learn about the staggering amount of resources that go into raising animals for meat, the more glad I am that I'm a vegetarian. There was an excellent NYTimes article on this a while back, "Rethinking the Meat Guzzler":

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Excerpt:

Growing meat (it's hard to use the word "raising" when applied to animals in factory farms) uses so many resources that it's a challenge to enumerate them all. But consider: an estimated 30 percent of the earth's ice-free land is directly or indirectly involved in livestock production, according to the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization, which also estimates that livestock production generates nearly a fifth of the world's greenhouse gases - more than transportation.

To put the energy-using demand of meat production into easy-to-understand terms, Gidon Eshel, a geophysicist at the Bard Center, and Pamela A. Martin, an assistant professor of geophysics at the University of Chicago, calculated that if Americans were to reduce meat consumption by just 20 percent it would be as if we all switched from a standard sedan - a Camry, say - to the ultra-efficient Prius. Similarly, a study last year by the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Japan estimated that 2.2 pounds of beef is responsible for the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the average European car every 155 miles, and burns enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for nearly 20 days.

I mean, just think about that... that's a crazy amount of waste. It makes me wonder, as I do eat dairy and eggs, how efficient those things are. I'm sure they're less efficient than just eating the grain or whatnot that the animals are eating, but I suspect they're more efficient than meat since you're not having the animal expend calories over their lifespan just to get a product at the end. For example, a couple pound chicken will lay two dozen pounds worth of eggs per year. But I'd like to see some hard stats.

[pottzio]

I drive the most energy efficient vehicles possible. I use the public transport when possible.
I use CFLs on most used locations ( I use incandescent lamps for locations that are lit often for a short period). I plan on trying some LED bulbs (http://http://www.earthled.com/cl3.html).
I try not to lit the staircase lamps (they are as many as 30?) in the building when coming back home in the evening.
I do not drink water from plastic bottles.
And some other small things.

[KarenRei]

Great work!

Do realize that those particular LED bulbs are only 240 lumens (equivalent to a 25-30 watt incandescent), so use accordingly.