Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post

Ford Prefect · 03-12-2007, 03:23 PM

There seems to be a lot of debate about the environment right now, particularly issues related to our water supply and global warming. Most of the discussions seem to be based on what governments and big business should do to fix our environmental problems, if these problems even exist in the first place.

But what are we as individuals doing, if anything? I read an article in the Herald today about motorists on the autobahn being opposed to a speed limit being implemented to reduce green house gas emissions because it would impede on their right to drive like a bat out of hell. This strikes me as being a rather selfish attitude, but it got me wondering whether this is the prevailing attitude amongst the general public.

In our household, we've been recycling and composting for over 10 years, we've installed low-volume flush systems in our toilets, increased our insulation, stopped heating our garage, installed energy efficient windows, purchased energy efficient applicances, installed a programmable thermostat to better manage our heating gas consumption and we buy ogranic food when available and affordable. We haven't done anything special with regards to autos because I work at home and my wife has a 5 minute commute, so auto gas consumption isn't a big issue with us. Many of the things we've done have not only yielded environmental benefits, but also lowered our utility bills. I haven't done an analysis to determine whether the cost of implementing these measures is too great to ever be offset by consumption savings though.

I'm curious what others on CP are doing or think about this. What green measures have CPers implemented in their homes? Or do most people think environmental problems are either not real, or they should be solved by governments and big business?

03-12-2007, 03:23 PM	#1
Ford Prefect Has Towel, Will Travel Join Date: Jul 2006 Exp:	How Green Are CPers? There seems to be a lot of debate about the environment right now, particularly issues related to our water supply and global warming. Most of the discussions seem to be based on what governments and big business should do to fix our environmental problems, if these problems even exist in the first place. But what are we as individuals doing, if anything? I read an article in the Herald today about motorists on the autobahn being opposed to a speed limit being implemented to reduce green house gas emissions because it would impede on their right to drive like a bat out of hell. This strikes me as being a rather selfish attitude, but it got me wondering whether this is the prevailing attitude amongst the general public. In our household, we've been recycling and composting for over 10 years, we've installed low-volume flush systems in our toilets, increased our insulation, stopped heating our garage, installed energy efficient windows, purchased energy efficient applicances, installed a programmable thermostat to better manage our heating gas consumption and we buy ogranic food when available and affordable. We haven't done anything special with regards to autos because I work at home and my wife has a 5 minute commute, so auto gas consumption isn't a big issue with us. Many of the things we've done have not only yielded environmental benefits, but also lowered our utility bills. I haven't done an analysis to determine whether the cost of implementing these measures is too great to ever be offset by consumption savings though. I'm curious what others on CP are doing or think about this. What green measures have CPers implemented in their homes? Or do most people think environmental problems are either not real, or they should be solved by governments and big business?