Climate change personal action!

[palo1]

Some changes I’ve made (or am trying to make!)

• Eating seasonal and local produce
• Taking cold showers only on week days (hot shower inevitably get too long)
• Using shampoo bars (so far haven’t found one that works for my hair)
• If I buy something, which is rare, I buy it almost always secondhand
• Reusable period products - I use washable cloth pads. A massive waste of plastic that hasn’t been mentioned on here yet but definitely is something more people should think about. Saves you money too.

Yes, there are some really difficult conversations about the convenience of certain things but there are absolutely viable alternatives such as you have found and mooncup type products. Not sure I could cope with cold showers in the winter. Disposable nappies are just dire but many, many people just wouldn't want to change to washable sadly. Not using a tumble drier is also possible and that helps clothes last longer. Not eating ready-meals would also cut down on plastics but again difficult for people to accept.

 

[paddy555]

all the plastic and wrappings on 8 equi sals and 8 worm counts. Between the plastic and cardboard enough to start a bonfire.

 

[Winters100]

Cor!! Full on personal actions Winters100. I find it astonishingly hard to make those sorts of changes so I am full of admiration. So far this summer I have spent ages repairing an old wooden box (which I love) which was really on it's last legs but is now storing unused tack and keeping that in better condition, we have reduced our meat consumption (we have our own lamb and raise a couple of beef cows for market) so we eat less meat overall and usually have 3 days a week with no meat at all. I have 1 and often 2 days with no vehicle use at all which is lovely actually and I am hoping to keep to my challenge of not buying anything new for horses or myself. So far so good!!

I know these are small things, really small in the scheme of things but it is useful to get more comfortable with less of some things.

I am hoping to find a farm plastic recycling scheme we can access and I am hoping this week to write to a couple of feed suppliers about plastic packaging. I know how small and futile these things might seem but...

Well we will see how we do, but in the scale of things it is rather small. I don't anticipate any problems with vegan food, as we already eat a lot of that and everyone likes it. The one that will be tough is the cars. As long as it is above 0 cycling is fine, but much below that, and once the roads are icy and it is dark at 3pm, I can't see us keeping up with it. Apart from abeing uncomfortable I don't like the children being out ion bikes in poor road conditions, so we may have to think of another way to cut km.

 

[The Irish Draft 2022]

am I the only one who has to buy stuff.

I do most equestrian do need to buy stuff. It completely unrealistic not to buy anything. it’s a carbon footprint and meat consumption that worse for the environments than anything to do with fashion.

 

[Peglo]

It’s annoyed me for years the fact that nothing lasts like it used to. But of course people want you to keep buying new poor quality things that aren’t worth repairing and spending your money replacing and keeping up with the “fashion” than getting good quality stuff that lasts a life time. The whole fast fashion thing is crazy but not just clothes but holidays, furniture, cars, houses etc. people are building a big house, selling it and building a bigger one. There’s much more big cars on the road now and they’re not being used for towing stuff as they don’t have tow bars. The further away you go on your holidays the better. The trend to make yourself rich or look rich is much more important to the entitled than climate change unfortunately.
I’m far from perfect but I wear my clothes and shoes until they’re unusable. (my mucking out clothes are about 15 years old and full of holes but I refuse to dump them ?) I’ve used as much of my old tack on my new girl as I can (although that might be a fair bit of being sentimental) and I’ve not been abroad for 6 years. There’s plenty of good ideas people have posted here to do. It’s easy to change for the better. How many people here now take their bags to the shops instead of buying ones when there?

 

[cauda equina]

Whatever small changes we are able to make seem futile in the face of the government's refusal or inability to do anything meaningful

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...overnment-for-botched-15bn-green-homes-scheme

 

[sbloom]

I think population is a tricky one, the developing world is westernising/getting wealthier, at least in part, and individual carbon footprints will be going up accordingly, that the west are by far the biggest consumers and that we should be reducing our population (and on the whole we are, with low birth rates), but it's a bit rich preaching to the rest of the world that they can't have what we've had for the last 100 odd years or whatever.

Not an idea that will I can implement but I have thought for a long time, why don’t we build actually affordable homes? I mean tiny homes built with sustainable materials that are suitable for one person, roughly the size of a horse lorry. Small bedroom, small living area/kitchen, small utility/bathroom and some outside space. You could put a load of them in a small area and sell them for under £100k or rent them at an affordable rate. It would help out those who are struggling with rent/can’t afford to buy and would be a lot more sustainable than these monstrous estates of tarmac and red brick that are popping up everywhere. As far as I know, no one is doing it.

Tiny homes don't as such save the planet, they are simply a way, in countries with hideously expensive land and housing, to allow people to have something of their own. I think they're rabbit hutched, cute for a holiday but lots of people would go mental in one, and although it's good to not allow for a lot of stuff, I think it would lead to people having to live, in some cases, smaller lives too.

These are actually affordable, not rabbit hutches AND brilliant for the planet https://www.architecture.com/knowle...-new-building-2019-riba-stirling-prize-winner and would go a lot further towards solving the housing crisis in a coherent way. Plus lets tax wealth, might just bring land prices down. Oh and sort out everything that has made building products get more and more expensive daily. Except that might mean undoing Brexit.

All new homes built in the UK should have been zero carbon from 2016. The Conservative government scrapped the policy.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th...2015/jul/10/uk-scraps-zero-carbon-home-target

THIS helps the environment, and even moderately large homes can avoid large carbon footprints, or indeed any, to be built and run. We are building a home of hempcrete which actually sequesters carbon! If the system for sustainability was better we'd be talking about this stuff, as houses built from it are a bit different (can't easily hang pictures on the wall or install modern infrared heating for example), and we'd also have very straightforward access to information and subsidies for renewables with well trained people to install them. Currrently the heat pumps industry is a s**t show, with funding coming and going, provides unable to keep up with demand, and very few people who seem to truly know what they're doing.

I'n just not sure how you are going to do the not buying new thing.

You already live pretty frugally, considering that anyone with horses has a fairly large carbon footprint compared to someone who doesn't, all things being equal. For others it's probably best as a mental reset, learning to do without, learning new skills of adaptation. As well as meaning overall it will almost certainly mean less consumption for that person in that year, however long their not buying period lasts. It's not designed for you.

 

[palo1]

I see exactly where you are coming from but perhaps I am either buying the wrong hi vis jackets or alternatively I should just stay wet all day. I don't get more than a year out of a new high vis jacket for riding before it is no longer waterproof. On a wet day I would probably go through about 4or 5 hi vis jackets a day. 2 for riding and another 2 or even 3 for yard work and other work around the place.. Perhaps I just don't have enough clothes. I ride daily so for the 6 months the new hi vis is used that is around 180 uses which I don't think is bad.
I don't think it is a futile action by any means I just don't see how I could get myself and the horses through life without buying things and that is before I even consider things like building materials or workshop items even to keep the place going.

am I the only one who has to buy stuff.

I think you have a pretty low impact tbh paddy555! I am strangely fascinated though by how you can wear so many hi vis jackets a day!! Is it possible (not an eco suggestion - just a practical one ) that you could do with a decent waterproof or even 2 that you could put hi-vis over? I can't imagine how you can dry that many wet coats either. I guess even though it feels like it, not every day needs a waterproof but you may well need hi-vis every day. I have 1 really waterproof riding coat and 1 really waterproof yard coat. I have other coats too and just put hi vis over whichever is the most appropriate for the weather.

It sounds like your jackets work really hard but are maybe not either suitable or qualified for their role lol ...I guess the system works ok for you though.

 

[Labaire]

We have a local seamstress who is great, I've had stuff like jackets, chaps and boots repaired by her. Last year I managed to shift 2 stone and Ive had some of clothes taken in her her also.

I am also a wool sock fan but not everyone can wear wool (like my OH for example). My wool socks last years. OH now works from home permanently, I cannot but do wfh as much as possible. My commute is not something I can do much about other than that. I've no plans to travel much again -much of the air traffic is business as I understand it, you would think the last 18 months has taught us we dont need as much business travel.

I have a HellyHanson overall set-for workmen, its superb, like a survival suit (and there's a hi viz version). I am in Scotland though, might be too warm for down south but its a godsend in high winds and rain-like being in a little warm/dry bubble. I have ridden in it, have also been out in stoating rain for hours and stayed dry. For non-rainy days I am again a wool fan, I have a couple of Swanndri jackets (one I bought SH) that are years old-warm and breathable.

My energy I through Octopus-the 100% renewable tariff, we also have solar panels although we got them with the house, I am not sure we'd have bothered otherwise.

 

[paddy555]

I think you have a pretty low impact tbh paddy555! I am strangely fascinated though by how you can wear so many hi vis jackets a day!! Is it possible (not an eco suggestion - just a practical one ) that you could do with a decent waterproof or even 2 that you could put hi-vis over? I can't imagine how you can dry that many wet coats either. I guess even though it feels like it, not every day needs a waterproof but you may well need hi-vis every day. I have 1 really waterproof riding coat and 1 really waterproof yard coat. I have other coats too and just put hi vis over whichever is the most appropriate for the weather.

It sounds like your jackets work really hard but are maybe not either suitable or qualified for their role lol ...I guess the system works ok for you though.

we live in an area of high rainfall and we ride in the rain. The horses wander in yards and stables (and obviously fields) so it is not like moving into an American barn and staying there all day plus I do a lot of other work outside around the place.

HI vis tabards only provide some protection I like a big yellow jacket that everyone can see.
They do have a hard life and I think they do quite well especially as I cycle in them as well. By the time I have fed up, moved them around, cleaned up yards etc and come in for breakfast there goes the first yard coat that needs to dry and yes they are a PITA to dry. Then 2 waterproof ones for each of the horses I take out then after lunch another one for the afternoon and after supper another for the evening stables.

I just find my yellow coats get easily wrecked with my lifestyle. I don't mind wrecking a £30 coat occasionally but not a more expensive one. Cheap waterproofs sweat but these don't.

I never knew one could write so much about a yellow hi vis coat! I shall look at them in a new light.

In my defence my purchase of a new hi vis coat is balanced by my lack of purchase of most other clothing.

 

[palo1]

we live in an area of high rainfall and we ride in the rain. The horses wander in yards and stables (and obviously fields) so it is not like moving into an American barn and staying there all day plus I do a lot of other work outside around the place.

HI vis tabards only provide some protection I like a big yellow jacket that everyone can see.
They do have a hard life and I think they do quite well especially as I cycle in them as well. By the time I have fed up, moved them around, cleaned up yards etc and come in for breakfast there goes the first yard coat that needs to dry and yes they are a PITA to dry. Then 2 waterproof ones for each of the horses I take out then after lunch another one for the afternoon and after supper another for the evening stables.

I just find my yellow coats get easily wrecked with my lifestyle. I don't mind wrecking a £30 coat occasionally but not a more expensive one. Cheap waterproofs sweat but these don't.

I never knew one could write so much about a yellow hi vis coat! I shall look at them in a new light.

In my defence my purchase of a new hi vis coat is balanced by my lack of purchase of most other clothing.

Just found this: no idea of how expensive any of these products are but they are doing their best to mitigate some impact from the basic materials!! Just for you paddy555!!! https://www.hazchemsafety.com/ecoviz-environmental-hi-visibility-clothing/

ProTech and Proviz are doing similar now I think.

 

[SantaVera]

I can't cut down on meat as I don't eat any. The mileage I do is around 25 miles once a fortnight so not much hope there. Only other mileage since covid started would be emergency trip to vet etc.
My OH takes all our plastic feed bags and re uses them so they get 2 and often 3 lives.

I don't get how the not buying anything new however works. In the last couple of weeks for example I have bought 8 equisal kits and 8 worm counts. Later this week I shall buy 8 equest for the end of Dec plus whatever is needed for the ones who fail the tapeworm test. They all passed the worm count so that is one less. No way all that lot is anything other than new. Tomorrow I shall have to order a box of rasps. The feet are so hard the new save edges barely touch them so no way s/h is going to work. Next week will be epic gaiters. Again no chance of S/h.

Next week also will be a new waterproof coat, only a cheap workman's high vis one but I buy one each September. Again no way it couldn't be new as it has to be waterproof, similarly 2 pairs of new yard boots which I live in and will last the winter. I have no choice for a new saddle pad as s/h is just not available in the UK.
I need some more socks. I really don't fancy s/h so it will have to be Tesco.

I'n just not sure how you are going to do the not buying new thing.

To what most buythats not much,its the constant buying of clothes and not wearing them much before chucking that's the problem most end up as landfill in Africa

 

[SantaVera]

Some of the vegan things bother me,flown around the world and are they destroying local environment with increased demand? Jackfruit and avocados and palm oil for example. Surely it's better to eat local produce apples instead of bananas etc

 

[paddy555]

Just found this: no idea of how expensive any of these products are but they are doing their best to mitigate some impact from the basic materials!! Just for you paddy555!!! https://www.hazchemsafety.com/ecoviz-environmental-hi-visibility-clothing/

ProTech and Proviz are doing similar now I think.

that for that. I'll have a look.

 

[palo1]

that for that. I'll have a look.

I am truly pondering the idea of needing 6 jackets! And I can understand why having had that explained. Could you wear a decent waterproof jacket/coat that lasts and put a v lightweight hi-vis jacket (eg for running or cycling) over that?

 

[paddy555]

I am truly pondering the idea of needing 6 jackets! And I can understand why having had that explained. Could you wear a decent waterproof jacket/coat that lasts and put a v lightweight hi-vis jacket (eg for running or cycling) over that?

I don't really do decent coats. They just don't work for me. If I get off the horse to do something mucky I don't want to be worrying about a nice coat. If I have to climb on a bank for example to get a sheep out of brambles or wire it would just get damaged. Same with other things that crop up on a ride.
None of my jackets are wasted. They all go on to do sterling service as yard coats and then onto their next lives. One for example goes over the handle bars of my bike to stop them scratching the car inside roof, others go onto different careers. They can't go to landfill, they are far too disgusting for that by the end of their lives. One has gone onto be a stationary engine cover, another with a furry inside is a cat bed on the tractor seat.
no wastage although I do agree with you that the materials used in manufacture are not of the best for the environment.

 

[Winters100]

I think that I am ok on the coat front, I ride in the same wax jacket that I have had since the 1980s. Apart from that I have 1 rather old filled jacket for the cold weather, and for smart use I have a cashmere coat, which was made to measure in the 1990s, so it was expensive, but given that it has been all that I have needed for c. 25 years I have probably spent a lot less than if I would have purchased a multitude of cheaper coats.

With clothes for adults I really believe that buying a few quality items and making them last is not only the most environmentally friendly, but also the most cost effective way to shop.

 

[palo1]

I think that I am ok on the coat front, I ride in the same wax jacket that I have had since the 1980s. Apart from that I have 1 rather old filled jacket for the cold weather, and for smart use I have a cashmere coat, which was made to measure in the 1990s, so it was expensive, but given that it has been all that I have needed for c. 25 years I have probably spent a lot less than if I would have purchased a multitude of cheaper coats.

With clothes for adults I really believe that buying a few quality items and making them last is not only the most environmentally friendly, but also the most cost effective way to shop.

Yes, similar here. I have had a longer length tweed riding coat (it covers my legs to the knees and covers the saddle too) made - it is a one off and definitely tough enough and also smart enough to cover lots of different situations. It can be endlessly repaired. I discovered that even disgusting waxed jackets can be actually washed and reproofed easily which means that they can go on relentlessly. I agree that buy well buy once is a good strategy and cost effective.

 

[Lyle]

I feed 15 paddocked horses by hoofing it with a wheel barrow- twice a day. Evening feeds is hay- I load that sucker up with a mountain of hay! takes multiple trips to feed each paddock, but hey. I know a lot of people would use a quad bike and a trailer (I was one of them) but they burn through the fuel.
I made a big effort years ago to cut down on plastic- I use shampoo bars (for horses and human specific ones) deodarant is in a nice little tin that can be recycled, and as all natural one (works better than ANYTHING I've ever used) Food is stored in glass jars, or large containers that will last. I take all my own bags when shopping, including produce bags, so I don't take those awful use once plastic bags. I had an eye opening conversation with a work collegue once- to make her nearly adult teenage sons 'lunches' she would buy packets of crisps, biscuits etc, open the bags, divide the food into zip lock plastic bags. Everyday, her sons would each take about 5 zip lock bags worth of snacks, and chuck the bags in the bin during the day. She was mortified when I suggested to divide their food up into containers... that would mean too many containers! So I suggested to get a few and have her nearly adult children make their own every night, instead of prepping an entire weeks worth. I was not popular.
I like to buy quality, so if I can't afford new I will buy second hand- e.g. leather products such as bridles. Rugs, I use a lot of wool and canvas. Unlined canvas is the 'waterproof' element of my rugging. Warmth is woolens and doonas. Canvas is easy to repair, and easy to re-waterproof. It also acts as a rainsheet during the hot wet weather (and breaths better than synthetic) I've found with cheaper synthetics, they wear out on the inside, and are no longer waterproof after a few years.

Food wastage- we keep chooks, so nothing goes to waste! They give us eggs and the roosters give us meat (the only meat we eat)
Ladies have many options these days for that time of the month

 

[cauda equina]

Lyle - I am envious of those options for ladies of which you speak!
I'm past all that now, but things seem very much better than they were in my day

 

[palo1]

I feed 15 paddocked horses by hoofing it with a wheel barrow- twice a day. Evening feeds is hay- I load that sucker up with a mountain of hay! takes multiple trips to feed each paddock, but hey. I know a lot of people would use a quad bike and a trailer (I was one of them) but they burn through the fuel.
I made a big effort years ago to cut down on plastic- I use shampoo bars (for horses and human specific ones) deodarant is in a nice little tin that can be recycled, and as all natural one (works better than ANYTHING I've ever used) Food is stored in glass jars, or large containers that will last. I take all my own bags when shopping, including produce bags, so I don't take those awful use once plastic bags. I had an eye opening conversation with a work collegue once- to make her nearly adult teenage sons 'lunches' she would buy packets of crisps, biscuits etc, open the bags, divide the food into zip lock plastic bags. Everyday, her sons would each take about 5 zip lock bags worth of snacks, and chuck the bags in the bin during the day. She was mortified when I suggested to divide their food up into containers... that would mean too many containers! So I suggested to get a few and have her nearly adult children make their own every night, instead of prepping an entire weeks worth. I was not popular.
I like to buy quality, so if I can't afford new I will buy second hand- e.g. leather products such as bridles. Rugs, I use a lot of wool and canvas. Unlined canvas is the 'waterproof' element of my rugging. Warmth is woolens and doonas. Canvas is easy to repair, and easy to re-waterproof. It also acts as a rainsheet during the hot wet weather (and breaths better than synthetic) I've found with cheaper synthetics, they wear out on the inside, and are no longer waterproof after a few years.

Food wastage- we keep chooks, so nothing goes to waste! They give us eggs and the roosters give us meat (the only meat we eat)
Ladies have many options these days for that time of the month

Where do you find canvas rugs @Lyle? Do you find them sufficiently breathable once waterproofed? I just remember them being horribly heavy and not remotely waterproof!!

 

[Dasher66]

I stopped buying magazines and Saturday papers a few years ago when I realised reading them and seeing pictures of "nice stuff" made me buy things I didn't need.

 

[palo1]

I stopped buying magazines and Saturday papers a few years ago when I realised reading them and seeing pictures of "nice stuff" made me buy things I didn't need.

Me too! My quality of life has improved as a result lol!