Are you eco-friendly?

[johns0]

I try turning off most of the lights in the house and recycle bottles.

[SallyDog]

No.

[lordsmurf]

Yes.

I turn off anything not in use, and I've learned to use less (electricity, water).
I re-use anything I can -- but I'm not a packrat, and I know when something is ready for trash.
Shopping bags or plastic/paper goods are never wasted.
Mother nature waters the lawn and the plants.
Rain washes my car.
And I recycle when the service is available. (And I complain when it's not, because it should be!!)

People who "can't be bothered" are a cancer to society and the planet. Shame on you.

[pirej]

The greenest thing i did lastly ... yesterday i got my self a "Sony Ericsson Elm GreenHeart" phone... it was for free
p.s. actually i like it.

[edDV]

I am power efficient and mostly drive my '98 Honda Civic. I don't like California's ham fisted policies that just add cost and red tape.

When the shopping bag ban hits, I'm taking my monthly major shopping to Nevada. Only 15 miles more distant. They have most all the same stores plus Cabela's. Can recoup gas cost with a casino buffet.

[redwudz]

My area isn't very ecologically minded, compared to California. There is some recycling, but no 'bounty' on bottles or cans. Surprisingly, you can throw about anything you want into a trash can, used CRT monitors, or electronic equipment, no problem. Not in Cal. Don't really know where they dispose of all this, but there's a lot of desert around here. I do try to recycle.

[edDV]

My area isn't very ecologically minded, compared to California. There is some recycling, but no 'bounty' on bottles or cans. Surprisingly, you can throw about anything you want into a trash can, used CRT monitors, or electronic equipment, no problem. Not in Cal. Don't really know where they dispose of all this, but there's a lot of desert around here. I do try to recycle.

I have Waste Management here and prices are 3x Waste Management in Houston, TX. Waste must fit into a 32 Gal can. We get one pickup a week with recycle tubs every other week.

In Houston they get two pickups a week and will take anything you haul to the curb including furniture and old TV sets.

In California, a recycle fee is added to any new TV or other major appliance. This is in addition to 8% (soon to be 10%) sales tax.

[oldfart13]

Population where I am doesn't warrant it (100K people within many thousands of square miles). If anything it would be an inefficient system to deliver power from a larger center than trying to shut down our coal fired generator which is only used when hydro power isn't available. The rate is set by the central government 1,000 KM away so we pay their nuclear derived power cost(expensive)! We don't use any of their power though. Personally, I do recycle paper, bottles, plastic, etc. I have no car so that really reduces my carbon footprint but I'm not really worried about it. I have a new house with all new furnace, electrical system, new insulation, etc. so it's quite nice and comfortable and a lot more energy efficient than my last home...

[dbanimal]

I have about 50% of my standard light bulbs switched to eco bulbs (60W equivalent now only uses 13W). I have a few dimmer switches to eliminate then I can replace those bulbs with eco bulbs. I'm a big time recycler as well.

[edDV]

There are dimmable CFL bulbs but the point is they never stop with their eco power plays.
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:eek:ffic...d=0CEUQ8wIwAA#

[16mmJunkie]

I try to do my part...but I follow it loosely! We make sure the lights are off, watch and maintain our vehicles, purchase eco-friendly trashbags....but when it comes to power consumption via electronic devices I seem to care less

[PuzZLeR]

I recycle because I just hate seeing things wasted - probably something in my psychology.

But the thing that irks me the utmost is when people talk environmental-awareness when most do nothing about it. They just talk about it because it's fashionable, politically correct or makes them look cool/intelligent at parties.

And this also includes many celebrities too... (Yeah... he/she really, really, cares!)

[hech54]

I live in Germany so we have everything we need to recycle on a daily basis. Bins for bio garbage(kitchen scraps), bins for paper, bins for plastic and "Tetra Pack"(waxed cardboard) containers, bins for batteries(in every store that sells batteries) and collection points for electronics goods....and of course just plain garbage bins which people DO unfortunately abuse and just throw everything into. But hey....come Friday the paper bin and plastics bins are usually packed to the top.

[MJA]

we fill up 2 recycle bins every week. paper,bottles,,,

[neomaine]

Food waste = garbage disposal

Glass, cans, paper, cardboard = Recycle bins picked up weekly. We don't have to seperate anymore which is nice.

Electric = All CCFL bulbs now. I was slightly ahead of the curve, but it paid off greatly. Lost about $20-$30 month in electric costs, and, instead of replacing bulbs once a month in the kitchen and driveway - yes monthly, don't know why - we now don't know how often. Some of been going for 3-4 years.

I also picked up an LCD TV to save on electricily, no really! Our previous 35" CRT gobbled up 400+ watts, our new TV is a paultry 80watts.

Turn off our PCs every night.

Cars = Wife has a 4wd SUV she uses for a short 4mile commute to work and we use for traveling. It's our comfort car. I have a 2002 VW Jetta for my 90mile commute that's rated at 33mpg that I got 36mpg regularly. With a few hypermiling techniques and keeping the speed just a little over posted limits, I'm at 38-39mpg in the summer. (Winters I'm back down to 30mpg).


Why waste? We have been given dominion over our planet. For some, that means to dominate. For me, it means responsibility.

[cal_tony]

ECO friendly?...
How about things like human population control.... The human population has more that doubled in my lifetime alone.
Is it ECO friendly for humans to be everywhere? Antarctica was a stretch. Now there are plans for commercial flights to outer space just so people can get a look see at what goes on down below.

ALSO,
How about the size of people now days...especially in some countries.. people have almost doubled in size. Some are just walking( well, not so much walking now days), talking, eating shitting machines.

I checked most of the ECO items on the list. But when I think ECO I keep thinking ...Too many people.

Tony

[TBoneit]

Eco friendly?

I drive less than 2.5 miles to work, I burn $20 a month +/- of gas. I'll replace my old car when it finally goes terminal dead.
I could probably pollute less and save a little fuel if I had a vehicle made in the 90's or the 21st century, doesn't pay. OTOH what damage by scrapping a working car and buying a new one, beyond the damage to my wallet.

I have switched many light bulbs to CFL due to the cost of electricity. However there is a terrible resistance to CFLs from a family member.

I'm not about to do what I've seen suggested which is to run around unplugging anything not in use. Save a little electricity and wear out the outlets instead.

[gadgetguy]

I refuse to participate in this political discussion.

[sum_guy]

I was all gung ho for recycling until I visited a Pennsylvania USA landfill -slash- recycling facility. What the reality turned out to be was, all the effort expended on recycling is wiped out instantly by one 22+ (1 ton = 2000 pounds) of recycling being dumped in the landfill, and this was not an isolated incident. Truck after truck rolled in, all with fancy "We Recycle" painted on the side, dumping there loads in the landfill. The one saving grace was seeing that all that muck buried in the ground was generating gas, and that was being used to power the little recycling plant which was completely crushed with too much material, the excess gas was being used to generate electric via steam boiler-generator. Really broke my heart to see all that.

[LOWTECH]

When the waste that we collect, is wasted by the those it is given too. It appears to be a waste of time.

The principle is good, but reducing the amount of packaging should be a strong priority, and produce electricity by burning what cannot be recycled.

[cal_tony]

I refuse to participate in this political discussion.

Am I mistaken or is your post on this subject Indeed, participation?



Oh, one last thing to say about ECO friendly... Soylent Green

Tony

[edDV]

I refuse to participate in this political discussion.

Am I mistaken or is your post on this subject Indeed, participation?



Oh, one last thing to say about ECO friendly... Soylent Green

Tony

Tony are you the first volunteer? Easy to say others should be ground into food.

[16mmJunkie]

I refuse to participate in this political discussion.

Am I mistaken or is your post on this subject Indeed, participation?



Oh, one last thing to say about ECO friendly... Soylent Green

Tony

Tony are you the first volunteer? Easy to say others should be ground into food.

[dbanimal]

There are dimmable CFL bulbs but the point is they never stop with their eco power plays.
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:eek:ffic...d=0CEUQ8wIwAA#

Yes I'm aware of the dimmable bulbs but I rarely use the dimmer switch to begin with, I want the lights either to be on or off - plus I've noticed plenty of dimmer switches that make a buzzing sound after a while and some get very hot - I would rather eliminate those altogether.

[cal_tony]

My Soylent Green comment wasn't a reference to live people and I definitely didn't mean live people should eat the remains of dead people.
At 70 years of age I was updating my will and thinking about my own eventual ECO friendly ending. Except for donating organs and sending the rest to a medical school for dissection there aren't many ECO choices where I live. I thought of burial at sea but it's not as simple to do as it used to be.

I didn't mean to seem antagonistic. It just seems there should be more ECO friendly (recyclable) ways to dispose of what once used to be people.

Tony

[PuzZLeR]

Expired humans are totally bio-degradable. Disregarding social customs for the sake of hypothetical discussion, the disposing of them would be as simple as, for example, just leaving them in a forest. Coffins, and other related deathware, are IMO counter-productive to the environment.

As for the disposing of live humans, I'm sure some here would have some "wonderful suggestions".

[dbanimal]

Embalming fluid is the real enemy here. Eliminate that and you will have quickly recycled corpses.

Wow, this conversation just took a turn for the very strange!

Did I mention I like eco friendly light bulbs?

[neomaine]

I was all gung ho for recycling until I visited a Pennsylvania USA landfill -slash- recycling facility. What the reality turned out to be was, all the effort expended on recycling is wiped out instantly by one 22+ (1 ton = 2000 pounds) of recycling being dumped in the landfill, and this was not an isolated incident. Truck after truck rolled in, all with fancy "We Recycle" painted on the side, dumping there loads in the landfill. The one saving grace was seeing that all that muck buried in the ground was generating gas, and that was being used to power the little recycling plant which was completely crushed with too much material, the excess gas was being used to generate electric via steam boiler-generator. Really broke my heart to see all that.

Well, it all depends on what was being dumped, doesn't it? Now if it's glass, aluminum or some other recyclable that could otherwise be reused, then yes, I’d have a problem with that too. However, if it’s biomass type material – wood, paper, cardboard, food waste… then that’s another story. Our recycling facility here does the same and adds soil to the mix as well. Eventually that usable methane stops being produced at usable levels and the land itself becomes quite usable.

Did you ever go to ask them why? Maybe they have a good answer...

[edDV]

Google using landfill methane to power data centers
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2009/02/19/powering-a-data-center-with-methane/

Cow poo powered data centers
"The manure that one dairy cow produces in a day can generate 3.0 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electrical energy"
http://www.internetblog.org.uk/post/1345/methane-powered-data-center-under-construction-in-uk/
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2010/100519xc.html

[dbanimal]

Speaking of cow poo - here's a farmer that makes poo pots out of cow poo and uses the methane produced to power his entire operation!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0vyfgo42AI

Talk about ultimate recycling!!