Meme: ai731's eco list

[ailbhe]

A. Copy the list below to your own journal and

Bold the actions you are already taking
Underline the actions you plan to start taking
Italicize the actions that don't apply to you

B. Add one (or more) suggested action(s) of your own

C. Leave a comment here, so that she can track the meme to your journal, and copy your suggested action(s) back to my master list.


1. Replace standard incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs
2. Choose energy efficient appliances
3. Wash clothes in cold(er) water - if I separate out the kids' stuff a lot can be done cold, rather than at 30C. Must do this.
4. Turn the thermostat of your hot water tank down to 50°C (125°F)
5. Install a programmable thermostat (or turn the heat down over night and when you're out of the house)
6. Register with the [Canadian Marketing Association's] Do Not Contact Service to reduce the amount of junk mail delivered to your house.
7. Eat less meat (particularly feedlot beef)
8. Walk, bike, carpool or take public transit as often as possible
9. Make sure you know what can be recycled in your area, and try to recycle as much household waste as possible
10. Compost using an outdoor compost bin or an indoor vermicomposter - we have one but keep killing the worms.
11. Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner
12. Buy local, organic or fair trade food where possible
13. Reduce air travel
14. Wrap your water heater in an insulation blanket
15. Use a clothesline instead of a dryer whenever possible
16. Plant a tree
17. Buy fresh foods instead of frozen (Frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce)
18. Keep your car tuned up and your tires inflated to their optimal pressure
19. Use biodegradable dishwashing liquid, laundry soap powder, etc.
20. Drink tap water (filtered if necessary) rather than buying bottled water
21. Turn the tap off while brushing your teeth
22. Unplug seldom-used appliances and chargers for phones, cameras, etc., when you're not using them
23. Plug air leeks and drafts around doors and windows with weatherstripping
24. Switch from disposable to reusable products: food and beverage containers, cups, plates, writing pens, razors, diapers, towels, shopping bags, etc.
25. Consider garage sales, Freecycle, eBay, or borrowing from friends/family before buying a new tool or appliance

26. Reuse bathwater, maybe to flush the loo, water the garden, etc. (We did this last summer and then stopped. We do almost always have two people use one lot of bathwater though - usually one adult and one child, but sometimes two adults.)

27. Make sure your roof is well-insulated. (We've been meaning to do this for ages.)

28. Always wear a jumper/sweater and socks indoors unless it's warm enough outdoors to go without both.

Comments

[ai731.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thank you :)

I'm stuck on the frozen foods one. We buy frozen berries throughout the winter because they're local, as opposed to the stuff flown in from abroad, and frozen New Zealand lamb because local lamb is very hard to find. Hopefully eventually I'll be producing enough of my own fruit to freeze some, and I'll find a source of local lamb.

[ailbhe]

We get frozen meat and sorbet; local organic meat is v hard to come by, though most of what we get is welsh so not that far.

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

Turning the hot water down as far as 50 C would worry me slightly - the stuff I've read suggests 60 C as the lowest temperature that you can be sure will kill off nasties like Legionella. But I'm paranoid that way.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

General advice in NZ is not to turn hot water cylinders down past 55C -- any cooler and they act as giant incubators for bacteria, some of which can be very harmful indeed (such as Legionella).

[ai731.livejournal.com]

Have there been any cases of Legionella in domestic water tanks? I was under the impression it had only been found in industrial-scale water systems, such as in hotels and hospitals.

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

To be honest I don't know, but I'm pretty sure there must have been. We probably wouldn't hear about them in the press, though. A domestic infection - where maybe one or two people might be affected - just won't hit the headlines the way that a large outbreak in a hotel or hospital does.

It is - to a certain extent - paranoia. I'm a pretty healthy adult, so it's unlikely that Legionnaire's Disease would see me off even in the unlikely event of me catching it. But I'm not quite so prepared to be laid back about such things on behalf of my infant son. OTOH profligate energy use is going to impact on him more than me too. It's a tricky balance.