How Green Are CPers?

[Ironhorse]

Let see....

• Moved into a much better / newer house recently, 40% increase in sq ft and 25% decrease in gas bill.
• High efficieny furnace, decent windows.
• Replacing light bulbs with fluorescents when they go.
• Unheated garage (when I'm not working on stuff in there).
• Low flow shower heads (the low flow does kind of suck though)
• Recyle paper & cardboard, sometimes milkjugs when we can
• I have a big full size Ford SUV for the family, but also drive a MINI to work everyday, so that kind of balances out.
• Recycle all bottles, pop cans & tetra packs.
• I also like to think that my 42" LCD TV draws less power than my 36" CRT did...

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by Snakeeye

Not very green, to be honest, especially since I think Kyoto is a waste of paper. - ironically, that would make it the waste of a resource.

I don't think being anti-Kyoto prevents anyone from being green. I conisder myself moderately green at least, and i've been anti-Kyoto since the beginning. IMO, Kyoto is unworkable and more of a political merit badge than a piece of the solution. Anyone doing a few small things in their own lives is accomplishing more than Kyoto has/will.

[socalwingfan]

"Know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna get myself a 1967 Cadillac El Dorado
Convertible, hot pink, with whaleskin hubcaps and all-leather cow
interior and big brown baby seal eyes for headlights... yeah! And I'm
gonna drive around in that baby at 115 miles per hour, getting 1 mile
per gallon, suckin' down quarter pound cheeseburgers from McDonald's
in the old-fashioned non-biodegradable styrofoam containers and when
I'm done suckin' down those greaseball burgers I'm gonna wipe my mouth
on the American Flag and then I'm gonna toss the styrofoam containers
right out the side, and there ain't a #$#$# thing anybody can
do about it."

[burn_baby_burn]

After reading through this thread, I'm greener than I ever realized. Front load washing machine, allways use cold water. Programable thermostat. Only turn the dishwasher on when it is full. Little things like that.

[Winsor_Pilates]

-Recycle almost anything I can
-CFL Lights, low flow toilets, energy efficient appliances, programmable thermostat, etc (all the usual home upgrades)
-small car and transit

would like to do more, and when I move in a couple of months I will add to the list:
-living in a small condo
-transit to school and work
-Walking to almost eveything else. shopping, restaurants, etc. (Can't do that where I live now)
-Get a new bike and use it or rollerblades
-Anti Olympic protests in Vancouver (JK)

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by socalwingfan

"Know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna get myself a 1967 Cadillac El Dorado
Convertible, hot pink, with whaleskin hubcaps and all-leather cow
interior and big brown baby seal eyes for headlights... yeah! And I'm
gonna drive around in that baby at 115 miles per hour, getting 1 mile
per gallon, suckin' down quarter pound cheeseburgers from McDonald's
in the old-fashioned non-biodegradable styrofoam containers and when
I'm done suckin' down those greaseball burgers I'm gonna wipe my mouth
on the American Flag and then I'm gonna toss the styrofoam containers
right out the side, and there ain't a #$#$# thing anybody can
do about it."

Too funny ... this is the devolution of the American Dream I take it? By the way, if that Caddy will only do 115 MPH, better get a tune-up for performance's sake.

Speaking of baby seals ... Two baby seals walk into a bar in Labrador. They go up to the bartender and order a couple drinks. What did they order? A couple Canadian Clubs on the rocks.

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by FireFly

I walk and take transit so I'm good there, and one thing I've tried to do to help keep my trash down is flushing tissue. maybe it helps, maybe it doesn't, but IMO, it'll degrate faster if it's wet...

By flushing your tissue you put more strain on the wastewater treatment system because of the increased load of solids in the water as facial tissue is designed to stand up to some degree of moisture while toilet paper is not. To boot, since human post consumer waste (poop) is not safe for compost the tissues end up in the landfill at the end of the day. So, all you are doing is creating more demand and strain on water resources.

[FireFly]

Originally Posted by Reaper

By flushing your tissue you put more strain on the wastewater treatment system because of the increased load of solids in the water as facial tissue is designed to stand up to some degree of moisture while toilet paper is not. To boot, since human post consumer waste (poop) is not safe for compost the tissues end up in the landfill at the end of the day. So, all you are doing is creating more demand and strain on water resources.

Interesting. Perhaps I should stop then. However, the tissues would still end up at the landfill at the end of the day since I don't drive and live in an apartment so don't have curbside recycling. It's quite the conundrum.

Do we really recylce used tissue anyways?

[Eastern Girl]

-I walk just about everywhere and take the bus, though it has more to do with not having a car
-I use my plastic tupperware instead of baggies
-I make sure that I turn the tap off when I am brushing my teeth and not using the water.
-I reuse the plastic water bottles, just fill them up with tap water and keep them in the fridge, recycle them when I am done with them
-I don't litter
-I am fortunate enough to live in an apartment building where they have recycling bins all set up in the basement, so I do recycle bottles, papers etc.

That's about it I think.

[Julio]

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

Too funny ... this is the devolution of the American Dream I take it? By the way, if that Caddy will only do 115 MPH, better get a tune-up for performance's sake.

Speaking of baby seals ... Two baby seals walk into a bar in Labrador. They go up to the bartender and order a couple drinks. What did they order? A couple Canadian Clubs on the rocks.

It's actually song lyrics...from "I'm an A$$hole by Dennis Leary

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by Julio

It's actually song lyrics...from "I'm an A$$hole by Dennis Leary

That would explain the quote marks alright. Thanks for explaining that to me.

[DuffMan]

I pee in my back yard quite a bit, so i'm not flushing toilet water.

Otherwise...

- recycle damn near everything.
- bicycle to work in the summer.
- replacing bulbs with cfl's.
- probably replacing the wifes big gas guzzling ute with a cute - ute, escape or patriot.
- living in a 4 level split, I find a lot of lights on that don't need to be, so am slowing getting it through the kids head to turn them off.

- Haven't paid much attention to the showering thing, but I think I will from now on.

Anyone who has gotten a new efficient furnace lately, how much do they go for roughly?

[Canuck-Hater]

I dont litter, and I recycle.

[Tron_fdc]

I'm going to greenie hell.

I drive a 3/4 ton diesel with a sled deck on the back, and every weekend I go into the mountains with a bunch of buddies on 2-strokes and fill a valley with enough exhaust to choke a small town. Definately looking into the 4 stroke sleds for next year because of that.

I give all my beer cans to some homeless guy in my alley after the weekend though....does that mean I recycle and give to the poor?

We have an office NAZI who has recycling bins all over the place where I work right now. We recycle everything from paper to plastic to tissue boxes to batteries. She's so militant she'll go through your garbage and give you if chuck something recyclable. A pain in the ass but I guess we're building playgrounds in Somalia or something....

[icarus]

Originally Posted by fotze

Why isn't there a business that picks up your bottles (the ones you get money back for) and takes a big cut of it. Or would one of the recycling companies take them then reduce your amount owing by the bottles while taking a cut?

Who wants to start a business? All we need is a cube van.

If you are just interested in getting rid of them and not getting any refund, you should see if there is a local Scout group that does bottle drives. When I was in Scouts we did about 3 bottle drives a year (strategically after New Years, after the NHL playoffs, and after the summer), and made $2000-3000 each time.

Any Scout group that doesn't do bottle drives is missing out on big time revenue.

[icarus]

Originally Posted by fotze

I have not seen a bottle drive in 10 years. Too lazy to take advantage of my laziness?

Too bad. The 144 Lake Bonavista Scouts had it down to an art. Send out the cute beavers and cubs to go door to door. Make the Scouts do the worker bee grunt work back at the hive (sorting, boxing). Get the Venturers to unload the cars and load the UHaul, and beat the misbehaving younger kids into submission. Went off like clockwork everytime.

By the time I was a Venturer though I hated them. Sorting empty bottles first thing on Saturday morning after a big Friday night of underage drinking was hell.

[Vulcan]

I have no garbage pickup so I have to take it to the dump and pay by weight. I take my bottles in at the same time and I probably come out about even. This gives me an incentive to use the recycle boxes. I've got an old place but I've put up second windows for the winter to keep down drafts and keep my electric bills in check [about $100/month in winter]. I also have wood stove but only use it when it's below zero [rarely]. I have a small 4 cylinder gutless truck [to take the garbage] and a fast motorcycle, so I try to keep my gas bills down. The long and short of it is, I mostly do what I do, for selfish reasons and that's fine.
Oh yeah, I also have my own well and septic system, so I'm pretty much self sufficient in that area.