is anyone else considering their carbon footprint?

www.cheekywipes.com/reusable-make-up-removal-wipes/reusable-make-up-removal-wipes-kit.html

Unnecessary extra "eco" stuff!
And £20 to do what a flannel or muslin square would do!

Just stop buying stuff!

We drink from reusable coffee cups at home. Some of them are over 30 years old. We call them coffee mugs.

YES!

you can now get re-usable make up removal pads. Little hemmed teeny circles of cotton to replace disposable cotton make up removal pads. Of course you then have to buy the little mesh laundry bag they come with or they'll stick in your washing machine door.... and a little holder for them too...

.... how about just not buying any silly little round make up removal pads and just using bog standard old face flannels which last a life time!

Many restraunts didnt even advertise a veggie option on the menu, you had to make a special request if you were dining with a vegitarian! And it would usually be awful!

We drink from reusable coffee cups at home. Some of them are over 30 years old. We call them coffee mugs. I don't really get this fad for needing to carry a water bottle around, either. The UK is hardly the Sahara desert and most of us have access to potable water most of the time.

As for straws. Aren't our lips good enough for drinking?

Fairview probably more simply because there are more people and people are eating bigger quantities

however

30 years ago all the households I knew considered dinner to be Meat/fish, veg & some kind of potato. Even if it was a more adventurous dish it would always contain meat or fish! E.g. a curry would always be beef lamb or chicken.

Sandwiches were meat or cheese

So IMO 30yrs ago people ate meat more frequently although now more meat is eaten because more of everything is eaten.

Oh and its not just the water bottles.
For every water bottle theres also an eco re-usable coffee cup.

FFS our office cups are "re-usable"
You can use them for water OR coffee!! Then wash them up and re use them! Just plain old cups! Which have always been there and are still there!

There is no need for each desk to have a different "re-usable eco" receptical for each individual drink one can think of!!!

..a bigger issue than straws of any kind....is methane from animals... becoming more&more of a problem with outlets like McDonald's... burger king etc...would love to know...for instance....how much beef was consumed say thirty years ago compared to now!! This throw away,fast food world is horrendous....not having a go at any of you ...just my opinion..and it saddens me..

Everyone in my office has their eco reusable bottles on their desks. Until they break/leak then they get binned & replaced

Great! EXCEPT before all the reusable bottles we used the office cups which are still there to pour ourselves some water from the tap...

.... so none of the reusable bottles all over the office are necessary! They are all just extra stuff.

Exactly Sue!

I know I'm harping on a bit here about the straws, but adults didnt used to go around drinking from straws at all it looked childish

Then having a non plastic straw became the eco thing to do and now its perfectly acceptable for a grown professional adult to make slurpy straw noises in the office???? Because its metal so its eco

Do they not know how we get metal??

And using what you've got, Notanan2. Dh read about a youngster who had thrown out his plastic water bottle and bought himself a metal one instead, to save the planet! How is that going to help?! Did no one tell him that using his (multiple-use) plastic bottle until it leaked/broke would be the most environmentally sound option? Did he think manufacturing metal bottles leaves no footprint on this earth?

As for the number of humans on this earth - it's not Western countries who are having all the babies, it's poorer countries, where people need to have children, to work their land and to look after them in their old age. These aren't people with massive carbon footprints. That's us.

sunnysusie, what is the alternative to a long haul flight? As I said in my post you can any where in the world by train and boat but how long would it take you and what about the cost? The other is don't travel abroad so far but a great many far flung countries rely upon tourism. Also I want to see the wider the world. Yet I don't buy single use plastic bottles, I take my glass bottle along to my local green shop and have it filled with soap, shower gel, washing up liquid etc. As I said its all about balance.

Plastic packaging on food actually has a lower environmental impact than food waste. And plastic packaging reduces food waste.

So everyone boycotting packaging but still binning lots of food are perhaps making a worse dent in the environment than they did before by following the trend!

Just buying LESS and just what you need and will definitely use is more important than going "plastic free", but less trendy!

I don’t understand the straw thing? Is it a dummy substitute?

If there's an "eco trend" in vogue, someone is making money from it!

Such as "ban all palm oil & buy palm oil free products" & "5 pack of eco friendly metal straws plus cleaning brush (with plastic bristles)"

The real green option is just much much more boring: stop buying so much stuff & reign in what you do!

The "green" industry is thriving! I have seen people bringing metal straws to work with their lunches who I swear I never saw using a plastic straw before hand!

They are not being eco friendly by buying metal straws when they never used to bring any straws to work!

A metal straw still has an environmental footprint!

NO straw is the green option!

I dont think it's that confusing

It just highlights that making "switches" but still consuming as much as doing what we want, but with "greenwash", is kidding ourselves.

We cant keep up modern lifestles with "green switches"

Instead of buying the "green" version, we need to think about whether we need to buy it at all IYKWIM.

people think they can keep consuming at the same rate so long as they consume differently and chose "green" options.

The only really green options are less convenient/fun

notanan2- Your last post just hi-lights the confusion around the whole subject.
We need people with a lot of knowledge and no ulterior motive so sort out all the misinformation out there.
Are there any?

ecci53, you are spot on. Unless people stop having so many children everything else is a waste of time. There are too many people on the planet.

notanan2- of course you are correct and certified sustainable palm oil is a different matter. Very few manufacturers use sustainable oil though.

True. But a lot of the "greenwashing" companies using "no palm oil" use unsustainable alternative oils which are even less sustainable than unsustainable palm oil.

There is nothing "bad" about palm oil. Its a good high yield crop.

It has been scapegoated for marketing purposes because its easier to zone in on than it is to make sure that all oils stocked are from ethical sources

Soya is also grown in deforested areas but doesnt get the "palm oil treatment"

How many kgs are generated by growing vegetables or cereals? Do you know crystaltips?
What about all the insecticides that are used on the crops that kill so many insects ect.?
It’s all so complicated that most people don’t know where to start.
Like many, I’ve started but am confused about all the information out there.

A kilo of meat generates more carbon emissions than a long haul flight. - “A kilogramme of beef protein reared on a British hill farm can generate the equivalent of 643kg of carbon dioxide. A kilogramme of lamb protein produced in the same place can generate 749kg. One kilo of protein from either source, in other words, causes more greenhouse gas emissions than a passenger flying from London to New York.” ( George Monbiot) so giving up meat is the most effective way of tackling carbon emissions.

notanan2- of course you are correct and certified sustainable palm oil is a different matter.
Very few manufacturers use sustainable oil though.
I do have some products with it in- a cream that I use for my psoriasis. I contacted them and they responded with proof of the sustainability. It would be so much easier if they would just put the information on the bottle.

Don't fly abroad for holidays. Do fly within UK. Have checked out train but the cost is about a 3rd more. Would use public transport for shopping but there is none in my area. To go to the nearest city 30 mikes away I have to drive 18 miles to a park and ride. Governments have to get their act together in order that we minions can sort ours.

I see your point, notanan2, but unless we want/are prepared to let all rural properties lie empty, someone has to live there amd be dependent on cars, even if they would prefer not to be.
Some have a choice, yes, but far from everyone - those in rural social housing, for instance, who can't pick and choose where they live, but have seen bus services scrapped.

I have family that live in rural places where they "have" to drive.

On paper.. what can they do?

In reality, when they have moved house they have refused to consider anywhere built up! They also object to any infastructure improvements in their areas because it'll change the character of the villages

But then climate change comes up and they claim they have to drive because the government doesnt provide them with a private door to door bus!

No! They chose to live somewhere "quaint". Now pretend they are not accountable for all their car use!

The last 2 houses we bought were deliberately chosen near good public transport links.

Yes, we could have sonewhere bigger and prettier in the middle of nowhere, but this way our children dont have to be driven to school as they can take the bus!

People need to start owning their choices a bit more