How far would I go? A long way, isn’t that the only option? We have reduced our use of resources in the garden but have further to go. This year we still bought in some (peat free) compost (just three bags) next year I’m aiming for zero. We bought a bag of chicken pellets but that’s the last, we don’t buy any other feeds. We had a good enough crop of tomatoes and flowers with minimal home-made feeds (nettles and alkanet).
Monty Don never talks about how much plastic his seaweed feed habit generates!
We will reuse our plastic seed trays and pots until they fall apart and then replace with terracotta or wood trays but only where really needed. I’ve already removed the need to pot on seedlings so they go straight from their initial tray/newspaper pots into the ground.
I dont feel I can justify heating a greenhouse unless it was off grid and solar powered.
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
I don't go very far, haven't had a holiday in 15 years, only the odd day out.
Only have 1 child, don't have a tumble drier. I'm veggie, I add layers before turning up the heat, use the car as little as possible. I re-use and recycle everything I can and get called a hoarder for keeping things that 'might come in useful'. I only buy clothes when essential, like socks that keep wearing out, but can't be darned. The garden and fields are wildlife friendly and run with a light touch.
But I do heat my greenhouse, but only frost free and it's a lean-to, so gets some benefit from the sun when it shows its face and it's bubble-wrapped. If I didn't, then many things other gardeners take for granted would be impossible. Too many plants on the not reliably hardy list, growing seasons too short for many flowers and veg and winters too long and difficult to bear without the anticipation of spring growth. Is it really asking too much, when I ask for so little in other respects?
We have a tumble drier, but also have solar panels (4kw system, but no batteries), so feel less guilty.
We walk kids to school, I cycle to work. Car mostly sits on the drive.
We use a bar of soap to wash, no plastic bottles of fancy stuff. We minimise plastic usage as much as possible. I'm sure we could go further, but feel we do quite well.
We wash clothes at reduced temp, albeit always wait for the solar panels to be making max electricity.
We buy only what we need to eat, so never waste any food.
House if fully insulated, newish build and heating around 18C and use a blanket in the evenings.
All areas we try to be careful, but when I see what other people do....we have no hope.
So the answer to saving the planet is not having kids or eating meat, closing freezer doors, leaving the car on the drive, not buying plastic, turning the heating down, not going on holiday or buying bananas, that sounds achievable. By the way China burns the most coal but has the vast majority of the world's electric vehicles mad isn't it.
I have no children; partly an environmental decision. No pets, no tumble drier, never had a car. Historically my flights probably add up to less than one return flight a year, though I used to live and work for years in south-east Asia, Spain and later western Canada; and I have family in France, America and the Caribbean, so those have played a part in the flights I have taken.
I loathe flying in pretty much every way, for every reason, so it's now not that hard to resist. Though I do have very elderly, ill family overseas. Which isn't easy. I'm not sure if I should fly to say goodbye or wait to go to the funeral(s); both or either might be important. This particular question has been giving me food for thought over the past few years.
I do eat (organic) meat. No fish. Have v low food waste (I don't eat pasta or bread, which helps reduce waste). I source nearly all fresh food from UK and Europe only (no green beans from Keyna, no pineapple, mango, coconut, avo). I don't grow my own food but do compost most kitchen scraps, plants and household paper.
I run local re-use networks for food and goods, and have been very involved with three others for the past ten years. Most of the stuff in my house is from swap groups - I do love them.
I flip-flop between smugly thinking that I do more than the majority and feeling guilty that I don't do more.
I've always wanted a greenhouse but never had one.
We could do with a permanent lockdown to put the brakes on global warming. I took my car for an MOT today and the mileages are printed on the certificate, which has allowed me to calculate my declining annual figures:-
I would say it's easy to get distracted by what other countries and people are doing. We have a sphere of influence of our own lives (including lobbying, campaigning, using our own consumer power and media etc) and that's what I try and focus on. I don't have energy to waste on what someone is doing in Guangdong.
Some countries have vastly higher emmissions partly because they produce a lot of the world's stuff. The UK might crow about falling emissions but then buy in ever more dishwashers, cars, plastic pots and cameras mined, whose materials have been extracted, designed and manufactured elsewhere. More dodgy eco-accounting.
And yes, individuals ultimately are the only agents of change. The oil companies will not stop selling oil if you want it, governments will not ban the sale of oil if they think you'll object, but you can (at least try) not to buy it. And the less is sold, the easier it becomes for Governments to restrict the sales, the more incentive there is for the businesses to do something else to make their profit.
For aa specific example: Overseas governments and private companies own the majority of the most lucrative oil fields in the North Sea. If the UK Government limited or banned the extraction of oil in the North Sea, they would have to compensate those countries and companies who have bought the rigs. That's very difficult for them to contemplate. If the sales of oil fall and the market disappears, well that's the risk those companies took and the UK doesn't have to pay them anything. Much more palatable, for them and for the UK taxpayer.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I flip-flop between smugly thinking that I do more than the majority and feeling guilty that I don't do more.
Yeah, likewise.
We've never flown; never even had passports. But I can't really claim that decision was entirely environmentally based. I wish we could manage without a car but living in a village without a shop it's difficult and to be honest we get a lot of pleasure from going places, especially nature reserves, gardens & garden centres. Having said that, we only did 2700 miles between the last two MOT's. But we now have a hybrid car which regularly gives 60 mpg on hilly routes and over 80 mpg on a flat one.
Did the annual compost bay swap today and for the first time ever I reckon we'll have enough for all our needs in the coming year. But my wife is very fussy what she uses in her pots & baskets so we'll probably end up buying some wrapped in plastic.
We both eat meat, although not much red meat. I wish we didn't but it's so difficult to change the habits of a lifetime. We also drink quite a lot of red wine, which of course all comes from abroad. Again we probably shouldn't .......
But when you get to an age where this year could well be your last you sort of think - ''why the hell shouldn't I?''
Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
Posts
We have reduced our use of resources in the garden but have further to go. This year we still bought in some (peat free) compost (just three bags) next year I’m aiming for zero. We bought a bag of chicken pellets but that’s the last, we don’t buy any other feeds. We had a good enough crop of tomatoes and flowers with minimal home-made feeds (nettles and alkanet).
Monty Don never talks about how much plastic his seaweed feed habit generates!
We will reuse our plastic seed trays and pots until they fall apart and then replace with terracotta or wood trays but only where really needed. I’ve already removed the need to pot on seedlings so they go straight from their initial tray/newspaper pots into the ground.
East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
Is it really asking too much, when I ask for so little in other respects?
We walk kids to school, I cycle to work. Car mostly sits on the drive.
We use a bar of soap to wash, no plastic bottles of fancy stuff. We minimise plastic usage as much as possible. I'm sure we could go further, but feel we do quite well.
We wash clothes at reduced temp, albeit always wait for the solar panels to be making max electricity.
We buy only what we need to eat, so never waste any food.
House if fully insulated, newish build and heating around 18C and use a blanket in the evenings.
All areas we try to be careful, but when I see what other people do....we have no hope.
I've always wanted a greenhouse but never had one.
We could do with a permanent lockdown to put the brakes on global warming. I took my car for an MOT today and the mileages are printed on the certificate, which has allowed me to calculate my declining annual figures:-
18-19 17,534
19-20 7,282
20-21 5,928
Food for thought.
For aa specific example: Overseas governments and private companies own the majority of the most lucrative oil fields in the North Sea. If the UK Government limited or banned the extraction of oil in the North Sea, they would have to compensate those countries and companies who have bought the rigs. That's very difficult for them to contemplate. If the sales of oil fall and the market disappears, well that's the risk those companies took and the UK doesn't have to pay them anything. Much more palatable, for them and for the UK taxpayer.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
We've never flown; never even had passports. But I can't really claim that decision was entirely environmentally based. I wish we could manage without a car but living in a village without a shop it's difficult and to be honest we get a lot of pleasure from going places, especially nature reserves, gardens & garden centres. Having said that, we only did 2700 miles between the last two MOT's. But we now have a hybrid car which regularly gives 60 mpg on hilly routes and over 80 mpg on a flat one.
Did the annual compost bay swap today and for the first time ever I reckon we'll have enough for all our needs in the coming year. But my wife is very fussy what she uses in her pots & baskets so we'll probably end up buying some wrapped in plastic.
We both eat meat, although not much red meat. I wish we didn't but it's so difficult to change the habits of a lifetime. We also drink quite a lot of red wine, which of course all comes from abroad. Again we probably shouldn't .......
But when you get to an age where this year could well be your last you sort of think - ''why the hell shouldn't I?''
I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful