Do you care about the environment?

[Newbie 0]

I'm curious to know, what sort of category people fall into (i would imagine we are going to have all types).

Do you recycle anything at all, and to what extent? Are you aware of stuff like turning off lights when not in that area of your house/the tap as you brush teeth at the sink etc? Do you drive something of an economical car, or do you drive a gas guzzling monster and take pride in that? Do you think global warming is something of a fallacy or do you scan aerosols before buying them to ensure they are CFC free?

Or are you something in between - you sort of know the environment needs to be treated well, and do a little, but can't be bothered to recycle stuff all the time and do a little here and there?

I'm just curious to see what peoples views are on this.

Thanks

"Skydiving is a door"
Happythoughts

[Vallerina 2]

I try to do protect the environment, but I know I don't do everything I can. Recently, I've been buying the biodegradable soaps/etc, tp from recycled paper, trash bags from recycled plastic, etc, but I know that there's more that I can do. I've thought about throwing a big recycle bin at the dz for people to throw their empty bottles/cans in. I can't imagine how much waste skydivers go through in beer cans/bottles.

There's a thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning

[skydyvr 0]

Quote

I'm curious to know, what sort of category people fall into (i would imagine we are going to have all types).

I may be a conservative overall, but I'd support much greater restrictions on gasoline and deisel consumption by private vehicles in the US. We are needlessly wasting fuel that could be spared for future generations and stinking up the environment, all so some guy drive a Hummer around town.

I don't understand why people think they have the "right" to drive whatever they want when it is everyone, now and in the future, that pays the price.

. . =(_8^(1)

[PhreeZone 20]

I drive a Honda and specifically picked it mainly based on its gas milage. I recycle paper, glass, cans, and plastics at home and paper, plastics, and other things at work if I can.

I have all energy saving light bulbs at home, usually I'm telling my GF to shut the lights off after her. I've looked into putting some solar panels into my apartment but the owners will not let me.

I've often wanted to have a law that says you need to prove you put more then 3 people in your car on a regular basis to buy something larger then a 4 door car. If you want an SUV then you have to show a need for one. Prove that you will be towing a large trailer, going off road or otherwise show an actual need to have that Expedition intead of a Hybrid Explorer. Can anyone actually show a need for a soccer mom to have a Navigator to take her 2 kids to school instead of a Corolla?

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[BikerBabe 0]

Card carrying member of the Sierra Club, here.

As far as SUVs go...the problem is that people are stupid. They think they are "safer" in those road tanks because they've bought into car company hype. Unfortunately, there's no good way to regulate stupidity.

Living in LA is nice because we have a curbside recycling program that takes a LOT of stuff. So much so that our recycling bin is more full than our trash bin in an average week. now THAT, to me, is cool.

Don't get me started on global issues and our current administration, though.

Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

[nacmacfeegle 0]

"Unfortunately, there's no good way to regulate stupidity. "

Regulate stupidity? Elect it to office!

--------------------

He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

[mr2mk1g 10]

I recycle because I have to.

Someone had a brilliant idea last year that they would only collect our normal bins once every other week (usually once a week). We would then be issued with a green bin and a green box. This would be collected on the weeks when our normal bin was not.

The green bin takes paper, card and garden waste. If you put other things in there they won't take it. The green box takes cans, glass, old clothes and the like (as yet no plastic but apparently comming).

This way I am litterally forced to recycle, (to be honest I would do much less recycling otherwise). Now if I don't seperate my main bin is completely overflows. The only way I can manage the household waste is to religiously seperate every scrap of card and every single tin or bottle I can.

I hate it... but I have to admit it's a great idea that does wonders for recycling.

[Newbie 0]

wow never heard of such extreme measures being used.
Were people not really antagonistic to this change in your borough when it was introduced? Where are you by the way, somewhere in Bristol right? I imagine i would feel exactly how you do (did) about this were it introduced here (currently we have a fortnightly paper pick up and thats it - and i always forget so i end up taking it to the recycling bin myself with the glass).

"Skydiving is a door"
Happythoughts

[Newbie 0]

Interesting.

PS this topic was inspired by this recent documentary that presented both sides of the fence and was pretty interesting...

What Would Jesus Drive?

"Skydiving is a door"
Happythoughts

[mr2mk1g 10]

Yup - council is South Glostershire so North area of Bristol. The district was up in arms about it apparently.... guess the fuss died down after a while once people learned to live with it.

At first I thought it was a terrible idea. I felt there was simply not enough waste for the green bin and far too much for the normal one. Now I've been using the system for a while and take the time to seperate as much as possible... it works... mostly.

There's always just a bit too much for the normal bin... but I guess that was the case before hand most of the time anyway. What space is left in the green bin every fortnight will easily be filled in the warmer months by grass clippings and other garden stuff.

Guess overall it works... but it's one hell of a shock to the system when it comes in. I bet we see it rolled out across the rest of the country when councils realise how much they can save on landfill charges - the cost of that realestate's going up faster than London.

[billvon 3,120]

I generate about three times as much power as I use from a solar power system; I feed the rest back into the grid. My hot water is solar heated. We have a vermiculture bin (fancy composter) for garden and food waste. We also have a graywater system for washing machine and bath water. (Kitchen and toilet waste still goes into the sewer.) We recycle as much as we can, which is easy around here since they have two cans for normal and recycled waste.

In terms of transportation, I usually bike to work. Amy has a honda civic hybrid - it gets around 45mph city, 50mpg highway. We use that for trips to the DZ on weekends.

Only gas guzzler I have left is a van conversion we use for boogies - it gets 16mpg. We're working on fixing that.

[GravityGirl 0]

I can't help but think that if I was really doing EVERYTHING I could to protect the environment, I would be a BASE Jumper and not a skydiver.

We burn a lot of fuel for our simple pleasure.

But! I do make an effort in other areas to compensate for that!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace and Blue Skies!
Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear!

[livendive 8]

Quote

We also have a graywater system for washing machine and bath water. (Kitchen and toilet waste still goes into the sewer.)

Interesting, care to explain more? Is it basically a two-pass system, e.g. spent washing machine water goes fills toilet bowl, spent bathwater goes to sprinklers?

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[billvon 3,120]

>Interesting, care to explain more?

We are in a pretty standard one-floor house, so it wasn't practical to do a lot of re-plumbing, which is what you would do for a true graywater system. Instead, I installed a 40 gallon tank next to the washing machine, and routed the drain hose to the tank. A 1" line goes from the bottom of the tank to a spigot on the outside of the house. Normally all the valves stay open and the tank fills quickly and gradually drains into whatever plants we have the hose in (roses and citrus.) We didn't do any filtering, just used biodegradable laundry soap. The plants seem to like it, lint and all.

Rather than rip up the slab to get to the shower drain we just put in a plate in the wall near the shower with a spigot and a low voltage DC outlet (so there's no shock hazard.) We got a $19 bilge pump to send the shower water to the tank.

The toilets and the sinks use regular water and drain to the sewer as usual.

[livendive 8]

Quote

Instead, I installed a 40 gallon tank next to the washing machine, and routed the drain hose to the tank. A 1" line goes from the bottom of the tank to a spigot on the outside of the house. Normally all the valves stay open and the tank fills quickly and gradually drains into whatever plants we have the hose in (roses and citrus.) We didn't do any filtering, just used biodegradable laundry soap. The plants seem to like it, lint and all.

Rather than rip up the slab to get to the shower drain we just put in a plate in the wall near the shower with a spigot and a low voltage DC outlet (so there's no shock hazard.) We got a $19 bilge pump to send the shower water to the tank.

The toilets and the sinks use regular water and drain to the sewer as usual.

That's cool. I can't think of any good reason to use potable water in the toilet (as opposed to grey water), but if you're already using all that grey water for irrigation, then there wouldn't be any point in adding another application.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[rehmwa 2]

I drive a great big truck and complain about how much gas costs.

Twice a week, I walk down to the river and break mercury thermometers into the water and giggle the entire time.

Over my lunch hour I purchase an aerosol of (anything) and stand outside spraying it into the air - again giggling. Then I hug myself in glee. Of course the empties are thrown into the wetland preserves on the drive home.

On the weekends, I hop into a gas guzzling airplane for non-travel based recreation. Again, this is a very happy time for me.

We have ducks and geese in our neighborhood so I try to focus on buying six packs to get those plastic ring things. I scatter them about the neighborhood and then sit at my window for hours on end watching the birds choke.

I use a chemical lawn service or apply them myself - whichever is most cost effective.

We used disposable diapers because a study showed that washing cloth diapers actually caused more environmental issues than the disposables.

we recycle aluminum cans

5 of these are true

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[Red_Skydiver 0]

Quote

I'm curious to know, what sort of category people fall into (i would imagine we are going to have all types).

Do you recycle anything at all, and to what extent? Are you aware of stuff like turning off lights when not in that area of your house/the tap as you brush teeth at the sink etc? Do you drive something of an economical car, or do you drive a gas guzzling monster and take pride in that? Do you think global warming is something of a fallacy or do you scan aerosols before buying them to ensure they are CFC free?

Or are you something in between - you sort of know the environment needs to be treated well, and do a little, but can't be bothered to recycle stuff all the time and do a little here and there?

I'm just curious to see what peoples views are on this.

Thanks

Aviation fuel is bad for the environment.... anyone thought of giving up skydiving?

[TheAnvil 0]

I'm a recycling JACKASS.

http://www.veggievan.org I love biodiesel. My next vehicle purchase will probably be a diesel.

I like the environment but don't have a lot of respect for many of the loud mouthed environmental groups around today.

Vinny the Anvil
Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL
JACKASS POWER!!!!!!

[skydiver30960 0]

Dude if I'm ever in SD I'm givin' you a call, between the solar panels and plumbing, I GOTTA check out your pad.
Elvisio "'This old house' got nothin' on BV" Rodriguez

[jumpinfarmer 0]

I like the environment but don't have a lot of respect for many of the loud mouthed environmental groups around today.