How green are you?

[Happybunny]

My new year's resolution was to become more 'green', not like Kermit, but by reducing my carbon-footprint.
I vowed to walk more often and not to fly anymore. We are going to holiday in England.
I also recycle as much as I can and I have written to my council to try and get them to increase their kerb-side recycling scheme.

Unfortunately we still have a big 2 litre petrol car, but we have to keep that because I am giving up work and we can't afford a new car. I will just have to use it less!

I just did this survey
http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/
and found out that at the moment I am living as if there was 3.5 planet Earth's (Higher than the UK average)
That is pretty bad! Unfortunately I had to count in all my long haul flights last year...they accounted for 47% of my footprint!!

It has shamed me and shocked me into trying harder, especially as I about to be a mummy and need to set a good example.

Try the survey, how many planets are you living from?

 

[Craig]

thought id do it just to pass a few minutes... but it was 4.9 lol

 

[ella]

I was 2.1 planets

 

[Slinky Sarah]

2.72
apparently thats below the average but still bad lol

 

[xrachx]

2.94 mine.
it makes you think though doesnt it, i actually was a bit ashamed pressing the buttons on some questions.

 

[Tangerinedream]

You're living as if we had 2.06 planets to support us. Although you are below the UK average, we obviously only have the one!

Its so hard to be green when money is tight. I would happily give up my car as me and OH have one each but his is a 2 seater and I need a car for work. Ive also pledged to cut my air travel by 50% by only taking a foreign holiday every other year. Oh.... and we are getting a compost bin

 

[Tadpole]

Hmm - I got 2.09 which is below the average.

However - I don't think this is necessarily correct. For instance I am sure it penalised me for not having loft insulation - when I don't have a loft or double glazing - when I rent and isn't up to me, and cavity wall insulation - when i live in a converted barn and have such thick walls it isn't necessary and again - I rent and it's not up to me.

After all - i have a 1.1 peugeot and as there are 2 buses a week then public transport isn't an option. I try and buy my meat, fish & veg from the market so it is all sourced locally. I recycle everything I can. I fly maybe once every 2-3 years. I don't think that there is much more I can do and these sorts of quizes unnecessarily stress me. They don't really address the global issues of business pollution and seem to put on the emphasis on people like us who are probably doing all we can anyway. I get a bit annoyed by MPs & rockstars telling me to downscale my life who then jet off round the world at a moments notice.

Sorry - this is quite an issue for me as you may have noticed!!!

 

[Quill]

2.2 planets for me - but some of the questions were too limited. I don't always spend 2 hours a week in the car, usually it's less, often only 15 minutes (grocery shopping).

I feel pretty strongly about stuff like air travel and refuse to take short-haul flights. I use www.seat61.com to travel around Europe when necessary. Actually my husband and I took the train through 9 countries last year all the way down into Greece. We had to fly back, but it was incredibly fun to see the countries from the ground and be treated like normal citizens instead of cavity searched when boarding

I think the normal person is penalized unfairly for not being "green." I compost, I walk, I use reusable bags and plan to go with reusable nappies, I am careful with what detergent I use, don't have a dryer (line-dry clothes)... yet still, nothing I can do about needing to get somewhere on the train. That's where the government needs to step in and make things greener.

I just think there's a line between what we can personally do and what we as a society need to do. Buying local is great when possible, but it's not always possible and definitely not always clearly labeled! Organic means a hit on the pocketbook and we can't afford it all the time.

Still, that's a neat site and good to see the general carbon footprint I make

 

[zebrastripes]

Mine was 1.80-oops.

We're very green, always have been. We compost everything, or the chickens get it, use public transport a lot, walk and cycle etc.

However our downfall is the car. Ity's 4 miles to the nearest shop, 27 miles to my school, (though I bus it) and 30 miles to my parents' work. Even when i get a bus I still have to travel 4 miles to the stop...in good weather I can walk it, but in winter we are so reliant on the cars

 

[MissSara]

Mine was 3.55

I am ashamed to say i do nothing about this either, the only thing i have done about this is swap my plastic carrier bags for one of those fashion bags instead.

I am really going to try and get my act together and start and be less ignorant to whats going on around me and the effects.

 

[Minxy]

1.84

But that is really down to the travel. I don't drive and very, very rarely fly. I recycle everything, often buy pre-loved and use cloth nappies.

I think I could do more at home. I'm quite wasteful with energy

 

[Sherlock]

Mine was 1.91 planets which I was shocked at, but then we live rural so our fuel choices are limited etc. Plus public transport doesn't really exisit for us to use.

Still I am sure I can cut it down some more. Just need to look at where we can reduce next

 

[Sherlock]

Hmm - I got 2.09 which is below the average.

However - I don't think this is necessarily correct. For instance I am sure it penalised me for not having loft insulation - when I don't have a loft or double glazing - when I rent and isn't up to me, and cavity wall insulation - when i live in a converted barn and have such thick walls it isn't necessary and again - I rent and it's not up to me.

I think my results were similar. I was below average also but am sure it penalised me for not having loft insulation or cavity wall etc. We don't actually have a loft to access And its an old house with thick walls.

I think I did well on food, recycling etc but like you am not reading too much in to it. I think for people who are much higher than the average it might be good if they can see where they are possibly wasting or not recycling etc.

 

[mum2A&L]

I think I did well on food, recycling etc but like you am not reading too much in to it. I think for people who are much higher than the average it might be good if they can see where they are possibly wasting or not recycling etc

i agree, i think its designed to shock people.

mine was 1.85.

but i rent a ground floor flat, so loft instuation has nothing to directly to do with me (if you know what i mean). ive changed gas and electric suplier to one that claims to be greener.

But, i use disposable nappies for alice - that would up the amount.



Quill - i would love to do something like your holiday!! it sounds fantastic! you must be able to see so much more than what you would do if you took a plane! although saying that, im much happier sitting in a tent at the bottom of a welsh hill

 

[Kimbo]

3.4

 

[tracyM]

3.2 - I thought I'd be a LOT higher.

 

[Krystal]

2.6 - ah well

 

[Suzie and Faith]

I got 2.21 which isn't tooo bad, I live with my mum so it's not upto me so much (for instance im always warm but my mums always cold so she turns the heating up!)
We have a monitor thing which tells us how much our electric is costing us so we're very conscious of that. I'm generally good lol

 

[mum2A&L]

We have a monitor thing which tells us how much our electric is costing us so we're very conscious of that. I'm generally good lol

i have one of them pluged into my laptop.


I think adam got it from our local council under his business name.....