So I recently was watching 30 days and the episode was about these two wasteful city slickers who went to live in an eco-village for 30 days. At that Eco-Village pretty much nothing was wasted. They used bio-diesel and vegetable oil for their cars, solar panels for their electricity, energy saving light bulbs, they grew their own food, used their own waste as fertilizer, and built their own houses out of clay and straw. Things like that.

Now, I know many of use wouldn't want to go to those extremes to protect the environment, but most people do something, even if it is simply recycling. I want to know what you do.

I'll start with what I do. At my house, we use the energy saving light bulbs, we recycle, we re-use plastic bottles, and we have a mini fertilizer area (where you put bio-degradable products to be turned into fertilizer) as well as a little mini-herb garden.

When I get a house of my own, I plan on setting up the energy supply so that we run off of solar energy. It's about... 5-10 grand to set it up, but not only do you then not have to pay your power bill, but you also end up getting paid by the government to do it because you are not putting a strain on them. Neat, huh? I also want to grow my own fruits, vegetables and herbs. Possibly even keep my own chickens because I love eggs so much.

Also, feel free to take your global footprint quiz (to see how many earths it would take if everyone lived like you).

My score was 3.4.

Spoon:
What do you do for the environment?
What would you/plan to do?
Do you feel that these things are necessary?
Other such feelings?

Originally Posted by serafim_azriel

Spoon:
What do you do for the environment?

Well, we have a mini vegetable garden behind our house, energy saving bulbs and the habit of turning out the light when we leave the room (or be fined a month's allowance), reusing the water that was used to wash food to water the plants (apparently that water is good for plants, especially water that washed rice), er, we dont have a biodegradable can, but we try to use whatever natural garbage as fertilizer in the garden...

My score was 2.5 on a global footprint quiz ;3
I turn off the light every time when I leave a room. It's become an obsession xD But a good obsession at that.
I have an energy saving lightbulb in my room, and I recycle all my paper (and I have a lot of it; I learn best by writing stuff down over and over again, so all my used paper gets recycled :3)
Not sure what I want to do in the future... I want to keep doing what Im doing, even though it's only a little bit, even the small things count :)

I would love to have a solar panel when and if I get my own place. I don't know if I'll be able to afford it since I've never had so much money in my life ( I consider myself lower middle class)
After buying a home, if that ever happens, I'll probably be flat broke with debts/ huge mortgage.

I ride my bike everywhere. And I don't eat a lot of meat. I also recycle everything I can.

I don't have the money for that kind of shit.

I do, however, hate leaving on unused devices.
Not necessarily because of the environment, but because it's a pet peeve.
But that helps, I guess.

I reuse the cloth bags, so I don't need to use as many plastic bags, I walk places, I car pool where ever I can and put on a sweater when the house is 63 degrees like it is now.

By the way it is May, why is it so cold in here?

I walk just about everywhere I can :D
and I use/sell my horses manure for compost :D

I try really hard to avoid the use of a car, though I live in a city where I'm unable to always just walk ten miles to get to the stores. Groceries in this weather would be GONE.

When I have more money, I want to build a house that runs off solar energy as well, and I've already considered growing my own herbs and vegetables. I want a pumpkin patch (I'm guessing this is likely going to be the most ridiculous feat I ever decided to undertake, but I love pumpkin and it's not too high in calories). I really don't want to live in a city anymore, and I want to stop a lot of the stupid habits I have. I would like to grow more plants and have a more open house. Right now, I'm sitting in front of an air conditioner. I want a house where one fan and a decent amount of windows can at least bring some air flow, but I can deal with the heat.

I'm still a long ways off, but I have the plans in motion. I hate to say it, but I don't recycle (at least, not plastic and aluminum) because I've heard the chemicals they use to recycle some of that stuff can hurt the environment worse than the trash itself. As I don't really use anything with aluminum, I don't bother. I try to get paper sacks at the store since they're biodegradable. I wish less stuff was made with plastic, personally. It saves trees, but you can plant more of those. Plastic never seems to go away. I'm really at a loss. If I knew my facts and knew what was going to be the absolute best route to help the environment, I'd try to change how I do things. At the moment though, I just feel confused, since there are pros and cons to just about anything I choose.

Originally Posted by serafim_azriel

What do you do for the environment?

I recycle and use the energy saving light bulbs. I do my best to be as green as I can, but sometimes you can't do everything. Cars need gas and that's just the way it is... although I'd like to get a hybrid since those are more environmental friendly.... but maybe a hydrogen car will become available in the future...

I'm actually pretty bad when it comes to water-conservation. I waste water like.... well, I'd make the Onceler proud.

There's a pretty good blog-webcomic about this kind of thing. It basically talks about the worst case scenario, and provides helpful links to informational sites. It's a great place to start if you're clueless.

It's called Luz, Girl of Knowing.

http://www.transmission-x.com/luz/20...6/hello-world/

Well, for the enviorment I'm driven around in an electric car [Thaanks, mom. x'D] and currently all my shirts are organic. I also use those hemp bags that are oh-so-popular in the current grocery stores. You also get a 5% discount if you use them.

I plan on trying to conserve energy and try to find that wonky looking light bubls.

Personally I think this "save the enviorment" is starting to go a little over board with it. I can understand the light bulbs and the grocery bags but when it starts using things that go on my body or are used in a direct way in my body that' when I think there's a time to ease up on it.

My family is really environment crazy, we;
try to buy farm-free etc foods, grow many
of our own veggies, use a composter for
our food waste, reuse wherever we can,
use minimal heat/air conditioning in our
house, and use only environment-friendly
cleaners.

My dad really wants to go completely off
the grid with wind or solar power, but
my mom's always spooked by change.

It can get very obsessive if you don't get
a breather every once in a while.

we do little things at my house, but at school, we have an environmental club. (i'm the treasurer. XD)
and we cleaned up the local environmental center with one of the environmental science classes.
two of us also helped to clean another little place nearby. (there was a car. we had a bulldozer.)
also, the club is doing an energy survey of the entire school (you try counting every light bulb in the three story school building) because we need numbers and hard facts to present to the board so we can try to get solar paneling on the roof. the ENTIRE roof. @_@

so how awesome is our little club? =DDD


ps. i feel kind of geeky now.