I'm trying to save our planet

We came back from the Rutland Bird Fair this year with lots of contact details for wildlife holidays abroad. I left email details with a Brazilian chap as the Pantanal looked wonderful and he later contacted me to see if we were seriously interested and I replied no, all the fires etc and the attitude of his president had rather put us off and we felt perhaps it was time to stop long haul flights. His answer was that if we want to save the rainforest we need to flood it with tourists wanting to see the wildlife. Support it. Make it necessary. Otherwise there’ll be no reason for big greedy companies not to chop it all down for palm oil, soya farms and intensive beef and chickens.

Food for thought?

Me too. I meant the human race in general.

We are a plague upon the face of the earth?

Synthetic microfibres still shed when washed so old fashioned linen cloths (durable), bamboo (sustainable) or old clothes (recycling) are preferable. I now make a point of buying clothes made with linen, cotton, wool etc. They are more expensive so choosing well, looking after and buying fewer items helps

Our eldest daughter (eco worrier!) won’t have children for that very reason - she’s 41y now and isn’t going to change her mind. I’m so grateful her younger sister has had 2 children - they add so much joy to our lives. Selfish but true.
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Hellsbelles - what is a hot composter and how does it work? Our council has been promising compost buckets for years, but they’ve failed to materialise and I know the bin men hate them as they often stink. We compost veg stuff but fish and meat waste has to go to the incinerator / landfill bin.

Well, I stopped all that malarkey years ago.

Of course the best thing we could do is stop breeding.

Fewer people, less pollution, less consumption, moe space for other species, a better environmental balance.

It really is the only long term solution.

I bought some good reusable mesh bags for supermarket fruit and veg from Amazon.
Carrinet Veggio Reusable Fruit... www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0788RYND7?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share&tag=gransnetforum-21
I really like them. Though if you are really green you buy from farm shops not supermarkets to reduce the air miles/road miles involved. (I know one person who does.)

Also, compostable biodegradable bin bags for wastepaper bins and small kitchen bins.
Greener Walker 100% Compostable Biodegradable 10L-150Bags Caddy Bin Liners Food Kitchen Waste Bags www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07QS51KQJ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_xDYNDbF3ZPS1T?tag=gransnetforum-21

I am planning to use a plastic liner for my wheelie bin because sometimes the bags develop holes while in there. But that seems better than lots of small plastic bags. I don’t think it will need changing every week.

Apologies if these have already been mentioned - I haven’t read the whole thread.

A flannel is reusable too.

Since I learned that wipes have plastic in them I looked around for alternatives. Cheeky wipes have re-usable hand wipes, which are soaked in solution for fresh and a ‘mucky’ box for those waiting to be washed. They’re little square flannels, with a choice of fabric.
Aimed at babies but just as good for adults. You can also get re-usable make-up remover pads and treat in the same way. Loads of pretty ones on Etsy. Amazon do them too. I’m not ready to do re-usable botty wipes tho!

I have no idea why people use face cloths? What’s wrong with soap on your hands, a rub and a rinse in the shower?
Bamboo loo roll, kitchen roll and wipes are 100% biodegradable, and sustainable.

I think countries such as China and India need to be made to clean up their acts. The sea pollution is mainly from these countries dumping instead of recycling and being responsible for their own waste.
Ban all cheap plastic toys and imports from these countries.

I do all of the things mentioned but I do drive my fifteen year old car as our bus service us abysmal.
Haven't flown anywhere since 2011 though, and don't intend to.
Been vegetarian for 72 years.
Always looking for other ways to live more sustainably.

I bought two dozen terry nappies for our first baby, and another half dozen when we had the second. I then re-sold the best six when I had finished with them. (This was in the 1970’s)

DS, one of those babies, goes on about the water, soap powder, electricity etc. that was needed to wash them, to make a case for how much better disposables are. I don’t agree. It’s down to convenience, and goodness knows how much money could be saved if we went back to terries. But of course back then I was a full time mum and housewife, not dashing off to work . Horses for courses I suppose.

I use vinegar for cleaning surfaces (and also the toilet pan) instead of chemicals. Works a treat - even for cleaning mirrors. Dilute if necessary.

If you are trying to get rid of calcified deposits on your tap - it does wonders: use a ball of cotton wool soaked in vinegar and position it around the faucets. Or use a small cloth soaked in vinegar and place around faucets. Leave overnight. The crust will come off easily the next day.

Have bought a few bars of hair shampoo and will start making my own soap bars again and even try shampoo bars...

Nice to hear about how people are doing things in order to help the planet. Keep it up!

Have been using shampoo bars for a few months, very pleased with results

Nanasam
I am sure we are all doing our bit in preventing destruction of the planet. How ever In view of the millions of years it took, not overnight, which resulted in the elimination of many forms of life should we not put more of our efforts into prevention of that which can destroy our planet, and in terms of minutes not centuries , all life as we know it.?

We compost, sort rubbish into recyclable and kitchen rubbish, use old newspapers instead of kitchen towels of paper, never use disposable cloths of any kind and hand anything we don't want that is still useful into a charity shop.

Clothes that are too worn to be given to charity have the buttons cut off for re-use before being made into polishing cloths or dolls' clothes.

I sometimes wonder though whether disposable cloths are as bad as all that. After all, we use water, soap and electricity to wash items of cloth.

My lifestyle is very economic purely because I like to save where I can to pay for things I want to buy - the pot is only small.

My indulgence is flights to our little place in Spain which obviously are big in terms of carbon footprint so I went on a website which analysed every spend from car size, house size, public transport, flights, heating, ready-made meals, new clothes, gadgets, paperbacks, newspapers, diet etc.

Mine came back with a score equal to uk average in spite of the flights which shows I’m mostly on the right track. In view of this, I’ve decided I will stop flying when planes stop flying to wherever I want to visit.

I absolutely stopped buying pig products, cow milk, and hand wash. I buy Oatly, and soap. I had to give up the car anyway so that was not a problem. I got a nice mob scooter instead.

Good luck, Grammaretto! EBay is fun, isn't it. That's where I get most of my clothes.

Cut flying to one trip per year or similar. Every little makes a difference.

Just because you can't be a planetsavingangel you can still do something.

I am currently bidding for a winter coat on ebay.
The one I have is falling to bits and it's at least 25 yrs old.
Wish me luck!

I despair when I see all the plastic bottles in the supermarket. I used to buy handwash in a plastic bottle but now I buy the refills, made by Carex. They are 85% less plastic. I do everything else I can think of.

Riggie yup, won't buy any more - promise!

Funnygran I've never flushed them, they always go in the black bin!

Nansam please try to ditch the wipes completely!!

Biodegradeable things need the right conditions to actually degrade and stuck in landfill generally isnt the right conditions.

So think reusable dishcloths and cleani g rags. Old fashioned cotton discloths and dusters can still be bought or use squares of old towel or t shirt, like we used to before wioes were a thing.

For your botty then flannels can be bought cheaply enough. If thats a step too far then regular toilet paper for the worst and a wash if extra is needed.