Environment

[velo]

How far do you go to limit your impact on the environment ?

[KLB]

I work from home;

I live in town in a small apartment;

I bought the most fuel efficient car I could that suited my needs and am conscious of how much I drive;

I have swapped out all of the most used incandescent lights in my apartment for compact florescent lights;

I've reduced my electric usages as much as I can (including plugging electronic devices like DVD and VCR into switches so that they can be really turned off);

I am in the process of acquiring carbon offset credits for the webserver that runs my website;

I will also be getting carbon offset credits for my car in the near future;

In the next month or so I will be switching my electric supplier to one that generate 100% renewable energy locally (certified low impact hydroelectric);

I'm careful with how I use water/hot water;

I try to buy durable products that will last (for instance I buy cars on a ten year cycle);

I use reusable shopping bags;

I use cloth napkins (to save on paper napkins);

I try to be conscious of the packaging waste from the things I buy; and

I try to reduce the waste we throw away.

 

I know there is a lot more I could do, and I am always striving to do more to reduce my impact. My long term goal is to get my carbon footprint to as close to zero as I can.

[velo]

Wow KLB you are a good un, i have felt guilty for using plastic shopping bags when i go to the super market, so i have switched to home shopping, everything comes in reusable boxes, and it voids the use of my car, my car is one of the most fuel efficient i could find within my price range, it is a 1400cc

diesel 60+ mpg driven with care.

[KLB]

60 mpg diesel? I'm jealous You obviously don't live in the United States. Without buying a Toyota Prius, which I couldn't afford (and has a dubious "cradle to grave" environmental benefit) the best I could buy last spring in a small (not sub-compact) car was the Huyndi Elantra, which was rated for 34mpg highway. Based on all the research I did, it was the most fuel efficient car sold in the U.S. in its class other than the Prius. With careful non-interstate driving I can get 40mpg with my Elantra.

[bascule]

While I don't work from home, I ride my bike to work, and anywhere where I don't have to transport anything decently heavy