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What do you do to conserve? - spin off of sheryl crow thread


amymom wrote: I found it intereseting that someone posted about 'grey water'. I did not know it had a name. So what kinds of things can people suggest to conserve our resources?

lovemykiddies replied: I hadn't heard of grey water either...interesting. I really want to start doing more to conserve, but as of now I recycle, try to turn off lights when they're not being used, etc. But the biggest thing is that I'm a vegetarian.

I really would like to help out more, though.

Crystalina replied: Ugh! This is a good thread but dang! I have to say I don't do enough lately. We get in our moods where we try to do alot like recycle our cans, plastics and that kind of thing. We do these things mostly in the summer because in the winter we have so much to do around here. We heat with wood only so it seems like our winters are nonstop messing with wood. dry.gif I have replaced most of the lightbulbs in the house. I think I only have 3 more to do. Now that summer is coming and the weather is better we will start doing more.

PrairieMom replied: I was just going to post here about who is going green. laugh.gif

We are working a lot harder at it. I have this inner voice of Al Gore that keeps telling me to turn off the lights, and that kind of stuff. laugh.gif

So far we are replacing our regular light bulbs with compact florescent ones. we are doing it one by one as they blow out, and almost have them all replaced.

Dh put a clothes line up for me in the back yard, and as of yesterday, I have started hanging my clothes to dry.

I bought reusable fabric bags ($1.99 at Toys are us) and have been using them when I shop to replace the plastic ones at the store. I can get about 15 plastic bags worth of groceries into 3 re-useable bags, its great! plus, less trips out to the car to bring the groceries in! thumb.gif

I have also started a compost bin for my garden. I am going to grow organic this year!

luvbug00 replied: ditto as far as the light bulbs.
we take litterly 5 min showers, except mya who is still trying to make it that short.
recycle
( no garden for compost, but i doubt i could do that either)
i want to try and cloth diper my next child.
moderation is key i think. happy.gif

luvmykids replied: We use some gray water, I'd like to use more. It is a huge, huge trend here and people are making major bucks helping people install gray water systems, the biggest use is for laundry.

I have four giant rain barrels with spouts and I use that water on the flowers, birdbaths, etc. Recycle cans, paper, plastic. I use manure instead of fertilizers with chemicals. I'm a fiend about turning lights off and all the bulbs in the house are the compact flourescent. Also when I'm waiting for the water in the sink to get hot I use an old coffee can to catch the cold water while it's warming up and use it to water my plants. All our toilets and shower heads are low flow. We turn off the faucets while brushing our teeth.

eta: Rockys post reminded me...I don't use baggies and stuff for lunches, I use the plastic containers. Once in a while if I'm feeling really thrifty I'll even reuse foil laugh.gif

eta again: I don't do it necessarily for the environment, but just because I think it's wasteful. We're always in a state of drought so I hate to waste water especially.

Hillbilly Housewife replied: We use face cloths to wash up the kids rather than having them run the water for 5 minutes as they are trying to wash their hands and faces. Cleans em better too. wink.gif

We try to garden, grow our own veggies etc, we do get a lot of them. I grow potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, zucchini and cherry tomatoes. We also eat dandelions. laugh.gif I use dish water or bath water to water the plants, both indoors or out. I don't "make" the kids flush when they pee, but I make them flush when they poo. It doesn't matter if they do flush when they pee though. Good habits and all that... lol

I make my own yogurt and my own bread, among a few other things, in the summer I try to use a box oven. But it's a major PITA to do, with the constant checking etc... We don't accept food waste, really... we don't give the kids much to begin with so there's not much spoilage... if they want a second or thrid helping, we oblige.

We have replaced all the bulbs already, this past year. We've nailed out mailbox shut, so we don't get all the junk mail... our important mail gets delivered to a locked box. No junk allowed in there. wink.gif

We're not allowed to have a lcothes line in the yard, but I do hang up several things on a clothesline installed in my basement laundry area. We re-wear a lot of our clothes, if it didn't get dirty. The kids are actually pretty good about not getting their clothes dirty. And we have play clothes for outside.

We use natural light as much as possible, we don't turn on the lights if we don't need them, and we turn them off when we don't need them. We use our fireplace quite a bit in the colder months. Our thermostat is always a few degrees lower than most people we know though, everyone knows to bring a sweater... lol We wear more clothes during the winter, and sleep with more blankets, and we wear less in the summer. But you can only get so undressed...so we do run the AC on the really hot days.

We buy in bulk a lot, so less packaging. We use a lot of Tupperware and other containers to hold the food that comes in packages....like, for instance, sugar... we buy the biggest bags we can find, I think they're 20 pounds? Anyways, we have the sugar in a few containers. No bugs. wink.gif

I cook in big batches when I can, and we just nuke the food we want to eat or whatever. I can a lot too, so it cuts down on packaging for things like applesauce, jams, jellies etc... we re-use the little cups that Zach's lunchbox applesauces come in for things like pudding, or jello when I make it. Good size for little hands. wink.gif

We do compost as much as we can, and we recycle a lot too. Empty pop bottles make GREAT seed starters, especially when you cut them in half, invert them, and have the water in the bottom part and the dirt in the top part. Sucks the water up as needed. Extra tops I use as mini greenhouses on top of the plants... we re-use the big juice containers, since we mix our juice about half and half with water... one bottle makes two. tongue.gif

We also try to teach the kids about not littering. We make extra efforts to find garbages, and we take our garbage with us if we're at the park, in a bag or whatever. The kids pick up some garbage off the ground sometimes at the park, and tell me "mom, someone's not being very nice to the planet. Put this in our garbage bag" It's cute. happy.gif

boyohboyohboy replied: honestly, we do nothing, we didnt even recycle,
but it was caleb my 5 yr old who was watching bob the builder, about his
reuse, restore, recycle, phase, and he has asked us to start recycling, so that was easy, and I have always been one who was after the family not to take long showers, and run the water while brushing...but until recently not much.
honestly, I dont agree with the whole go green campaign...I honestly feel we are being egotistical to think we have that much control over our world. to me its God who takes care of all that.
and al gore, well he uses more of our planets resources then anyone..
that is JMO.

CantWait replied: Well we don't do much, but we do a bit.

We've replaced almost all our lightbulbs, and I try and open blinds instead of turning on lights. That includes when I have a shower.

I have more showers then baths, the kids don't shower every day, I don't see a need to unless they're dirty or stinky.

I've bought the reusable bags (10) which is enough for my grocery shopping.

I hang my clothes to dry in the spring / summer when it's warm enough.

I close doors that are not in use to conserve heat. We only turn on the heaters in the main rooms, 5 or 6 out of the 10. Unfortunetly our fireplace is not working.

And I missed it, WHAT IS GREY WATER?

Our Lil' Family replied: During the day we open blinds...I prefer natural light anyway. Even as I sit here in a dim room I prefer just the light from the computer monitor.

We recycle aluminum. We would recycle more if was available in our area. rolleyes.gif

We are in the process of replacing all of our light bulbs.

We unplug appliances and things when they are not being used. Just unplugging a cell phone charger when it's not being used, helps ALOT. And is supposed to help your electric bill too.

DH and I wear clothes more than once before washing. Thomas tends to get too dirty to do that.

DH finds something to do with all the containers things like sour cream or yogurt come in so that's not wasted.

For us it's more about reusing things and wasting less. But it does help the environment too!

3_call_me_mama replied: We do a lot of green living actually.
We recycle, use reusable containers, cloth diaper, line dry, short showers, replaced all bulb with CF bulbs. Eat organic when possible, gorw our own in teh summer, reusable grocery bags, all natural cleaners (baking soa, vinegar, etc). Drive lower speeds to conserve gas. (We'd use public transport but there isn't any here. We bought a thing that measures teh wattage use for your house and appliances, so we have cut WAY back on using the high wattage things. bake our own bread and make most everything homemade. (Less packaging) Keep the thermostat OFF or on 66-68 in the winter. We reselll things we no longer need rather than trashing them. I'd love to switch to family cloth but Dh wouldn't so we won't do that. We are goign to try composting this year to put on our garden (usually we get compost form my brother~ he works at a compost plant).
Everyday we try to do a bit more. We'd actually liek to go totally off grid but i know that's a long way off.

jcc64 replied: We do all or most of the above. In addition, we don't use air conditioners, we keep our thermostats below 62 degrees in the dead of winter and we have zone heating. We have energy efficient appliances and heaters. And wherever and when ever possible, I buy local food from small farmers.

Twelve Volt Man replied: I have to admit, I'm terrible about this. I have been thinking about changing my ways, however, and this might just be the impetus I need.

Miranda1127 replied: i recycle. i reuse glass bottels (all shapes and sizes). i fill my tank 2x a mo, if i'm close to e before it is gas day i walk where i need to go. i collect rain wanter and use it for watering flowers, cleaning outside thinks including the car. i hang my cloths don't use a dryer. i have energy saving bulbs...and hummm a few more thinks but thats all i think of right off the top of my head. i'm not a tree hugger but i think i do my part and pass it along to my children. o yes i just converted to paperless w/ all my bills

Crystalina replied:

We are thinking about starting a compost pile this year. smile.gif

I do not have a clothesline becuase the guineas like to roost on it. dry.gif BTDT and learned my lesson. I love to hang clothes out (especially bedsheets!). We only have about 5 guineas left so if nature takes care of them this summer then maybe I'll hang clothes out next summer. Not that I'm hoping nature "takes care of them" but they are about 3 yrs old and the coyotes take care of about 5 or more a year. Their due.

punkeemunkee'smom replied: This is random but I heard on TV the other day that it takes 35 gallons of water to 'make' one serving of meat and you should cut out one serving of meat a week and eat veggies to conserve water...UHHHH what do the veggies grow on- huh.gif WATER...Just thought it was kinda funny that they ignored the fact that plants have to be watered just like cows do rolleyes.gif And before I get flamed by people saying cows use more water please remember what business we are in wink.gif

my2monkeyboys replied: I'm not a real green person. I do use those florescent bulbs, but I've found that they in no way last more than about 8 months, no where near the 5-7 years they claim. Even in the hall light, which rarely gets used, we replaced it within a year.
I don't recycle much of anything, I do use old water sometimes to water plants (esp when you boil eggs and from our fish tanks - the plants love it!). We use plastic bags at the grocery store and reuse for whatever else we need until they split, then they're trash. Plastic containers we re-use if I see a need for them at the time, but they usually go in the trash. My DH and I take a bath/shower everyday, Will every other day except in summer (can you say stinky boy syndrome!). We do wear our jeans and t-shirts until they are actually dirty. Socks and undies are always washed after the first time.
We don't litter, as I think it makes the place look messy.
I agree with Calebsmom a lot in that I think we don't really effect our world as much as we like to think we do.
I tried doing a compost pile, but just never could get into it. I wanted to do it for my plants though more-so than for conservation issues.
By the way, how would being a vegetarian "help the earth?" I'm not trying to be a smart-butt, just really asking.
I think it's great that y'all do what ever you do, but I do not respect those that want us to limit everything we use/do and then they "buy" credits to keep they're jets and mansions just how they want them.
dry.gif

PrairieMom replied:
Think of all the work that goes into keeping and processing animals. They need feed, (which is grown or bought, either way taking gas , those huge confines are so stinkey, and nasty dirty (think methane gas)
then they must be processed, taking up energy for the machinery, plus packaged, taking up resources, Styrofoam and plastic, then transported (more gas)
not that veggis don't require those things, but meat requires more.

Cece00 replied: Well, I'm not a huge environmentalist, but I do a few things and I want to do more.

My parents raise cattle & we buy from them (organic meat & all that, grown naturally, etc) and so we get our meat from them.

I try & turn off lights when we arent in the room & keep them on as little as possible. During the day I try not to have more than 1 light on in the house & I open all the blinds. Its taking some getting used to (I cant stand a dark room) but I'm doing it anyway.

I try to wash & dry clothes at night, too. I try not to waste water so I always wash a full load.

I dont let the water run when I brush teeth & I stay on top of the kids leaving it on while they are brushing teeth, after washing hands.

We plan to grow our own veggies & some fruits this year.

We have recycling in my area so I think I am going to call & have them deliver the bins.

We use towels 2 times before putting them in the laundry, and if I wear clothes for just a couple of hours & dont get dirty, I save them to wear later...

Anyway, so there are more things I want to do, but we try not to be wasteful & help a little.

kimberley replied: we conserve flushes and use grey water for the garden also.
i do not water the lawn ever.
we recycle paper, plastic, aluminum, yard waste, food waste.
we reuse containers, buy items with little to no packaging. freecycle and buy used.
buy recycled items (tp, paper towels, writing paper.. even at work since i order lol)
use energy efficient bulbs. keep lights off most of the time.

Miranda1127 replied:
what is the difference between doing this at night instead of during the day??

jcc64 replied:

I'm sorry, I just couldn't disagree more. We all affect the planet every day, and even tiny little decisions that seem insignificant add up over time. Landfills are full of garbage that we make as individuals, but collectively, well, you see how they pile up. If every person that brought his/her garbage to a single landfill cut his garbage in half by recycling/reusing, consuming less, whatever, the landfill would be, well, half as big. How else would change happen, exactly, if not one step at a time? If we all turned down our air conditioners or thermostats just a few degrees, believe me, it would be noticeable on a large scale.
Tbh, I think being cynical and defeatist is just an excuse to exonerate ourselves from being responsible to our children and future generations. We can all do a little bit and collectively, it will go a long way.

My3LilMonkeys replied:
What is family cloth?

kimberley replied:
limiting energy use in "peak hours" conserves energy. doing laundry late at night or early morning is one less person sucking off the power supply between 5-9pm when everyone cooks, does laudry and has lights on.

and i couldn't agree more with Jeanne. change starts with one person.

Miranda1127 replied:
t.y. i guess i do that do. i love late night laundry happy.gif

HuskerMom replied: It probably doesn't but does giving clothes and stuff to good will count? It may not count as conserving but I hope it helps someone at least.

luvmykids replied:
We're set up with the electric company to pay less for our use during these hours as well, and not only that but our system draws/stores energy during off peak hours and then draws from that supply instead of the main system during on peak hours.

Cece00 replied:
It heats up your house, or at least it does to mine. So then I have to turn on the AC b/c I'm hot. If I do it at night when its cooler, I dont have to turn the AC on. Sort of the same thing with the oven during the summer.

ETA: It also saves energy during peak use like the other ppl said. wink.gif

3_call_me_mama replied:
Using cloth toilet paper, cloth napkins, and towle rather than paper towels for cleaning. We do the napkins and towels but DH won't go for the toilet paper. Also several women I know use mama cloth. (Basically washable pads ) or Diva cups/moon cups, so their is no waste from our monthy friend (Still waiting for Post partum AF to return so haven't made a decision on that one yet)

Kaitlin'smom replied: well I try to turn off lights when we dont need them, and use more natural light. Trying tto keep the AC/Heat at one temp a little highter in the summer and a bit cooler in winter. I do tend to do more laundry in the early morning or in the evening. I also try to fill up my gas tank early am or after the sun goes down. Oh and we also dont waste water, I have finally gotten DH to turn off the water while brushing his teeth.

I do want to do more, just have to start with one thing and keep going.

coasterqueen replied: I will admit I do a lot of the things I do (we do) for making our family healthy rather than the environment as a whole. Kylie is reminding me (teaching me) more and more every day that we need to do it for the environment as well. I love how kids can make you see things that you've once turned away from and ignored. smile.gif

*We buy mostly organic.
*We grow organic at home.
*We use recycled mulch and we also compost.
*Every time light bulbs blow we replace with CF bulbs.
*We shut lights off when not in room and we use natural light as much as possible to conserve electricity.
*We recycle aluminum and some day when we build another garage we'll start recycling everything. We just don't have the room for it in our garage now and we can't leave garbage cans outside the garage because the critters love to see what's inside them and it turns into a mess. happy.gif
*I try to dry big stuff (blankets, rugs, etc) outside on the deck to dry. We live in the country so technically we could have a clothesline. My parents do. I've begged DH for years to put one up for me and he refuses. He thinks only white trash people do this and he refuses to put us in that category. rolleyes.gif blush.gif Sorry for his ignorance. Although out here where we are at the only people who do have clotheslines are those who are really white trash. EXCEPT my parents who have one. blush.gif laugh.gif I'm still working on him to put me one up.
*We keep the thermostat set at 66/68 in winter and we plan to use the AC less this year. This is mainly due to the fact of deregulation of electricity in our area and so our bills have gone from less than $100 a month to $500/$600. We can't afford that. Due to my allergies, though, we can't leave the windows open, so we do have to use the AC more than we'd like to.
*Dh and I wear certain things more than once to save on laundry.
*I do not use fabric softners or dryer sheets - they aren't good and our laundry is just fine w/out it.
*We do not use chemicals on our land to make the grass greener or grow better.
*We do not use chemicals to kill insects, bugs, and other critters - even though they are terrible out here in the country. We use natural mixtures when possible. We use those same natural mixtures on our skin to keep mosquitoes and such away rather than pouring chemicals on our skin. I want to find a more natural approach to sunblock - something I can mix - not wear lots of clothing, etc.

There is probably more that I'm not thinking of off the top of my head, but those are some of the things we are doing. Like I said, Kylie teaches us / reminds us more and more every day what we can do to make things better. smile.gif

ETA: I'm not sure what grey water is per se, but if it's what I'm thinking how do you deal with mosquitos and the West Nile Virus issue? If I'm correct on my assumption of what grey water is we could do that and should, but the mosquito issue around my children is a concern. We do use natural solutions to try to lesson the mosquito issue, but not sure having grey water around would help the cause.

TANNER'S MOM replied: For those people who don't flush after every pee.. how can you stand the smell? I know I go crazy when I smell pee..or see the stain it lives around the ring. I hate it..lol

I use well water only, and it's spring feed. I feel like I can use the water I need. I do use grey water for watering plants and mopping.

As far as the cows..for me it's a strange trade off. We need to think of all the processing that goes into cattle for the enviroment etc. But we also need to think of all the families we are feeding. All the jobs we provide for the American people. We need to think of all the working people who would be without jobs and medical insurance etc.

PrairieMom replied:
I agree, but for me, in my reigon, it is more beneficial to not buy processed meat from those big employers. They hurt our local farmers who can barely make it. I am currently looking for a farmer to buy a cow from this year. We can pay a local butcher chop to cut it the way we want, and support our local farmers. thumb.gif

jcc64 replied: I'm with you, Tara.

PrairieMom replied:
the problem is comming up with the $ upfront! dry.gif

luvmykids replied:
Gray waterHere's a link ....

The most basic definition of gray water is simply water that can be reused. It can get more complicated, houses can be built now with minimal waste water where the only water truly sent on it's way comes from toilets. Otherwise bath water, laundry water, etc are reused for other purposes. It doesn't usually mean a standing puddle of water which is where you get the mosquitos. Catching water in the kitchen sink while you wait for it to heat up and using it for something else is considered a gray water practice. Rain barrels as well.

kimberley replied: omg Karen, we married the same retarded guy rolleyes.gif dry.gif i had a line at my old house that the kids broke and he REFUSED to put it back up for me. he'd rather laundry be drying on every surface of the inside so no one can see. grrrrrrr. i LOVE the smell of laundry dried outside and the sun is the best natural bleach in the world.

Mel, it really doesn't smell that much. i guess with 6 of us here, it doesn't sit that long. i've been in some public washrooms that reaked of urine and all the toilets were flushed puke.gif the only time it ever seems to have a noticable odor is in the morning if we didn't flush overnight.

another weird thing i do.. i never turn the light on to pee. i will either leave the door open a crack or just go in the dark. i know where everything is LOL. and i just open the door to wash hands.

Nina J replied: Well, since I live in a country that is currently going through one of the worst droughts in it's history, we do alot to conserve water. We take very short showers, and to save water I sometimes just take Emily in the shower with me. We use grey water for the gardens, we have buckets in the shower to catch the water, We only use grey water for the garden and washing the car, it is just not neccessary to use normal water for those kinds of things. We don't flush the toilet if it's only pee. We also don't shower every day, unless it's neccessary.

The drought is really starting to worry me lately sleep.gif Rainfalls are to far below average, we need rainfalls of biblical proportions to meet average rainfalls. And if we don't get significant rainfalls in the next 6 weeks, farmers won't be able to get water from the Murray because water levels are to low. Which means that crops will fail, food prices will skyrocket, and we'll all be in for it. If things keep going the way they have been, and it's been like this for over a year, then Melbourne only has about 450 days of water left, then it'll all be gone. And it doesn't help that the government is basically ignoring this. They've looked into desalination plants, but it is extremly expensive. And there are so many people who are against drinking recylced water. I want recycled water, because if we don't start getting into action and recycling our water, then we are going to regret it in a few years. If you want to see what global warming is doing, come to Australia. The land is so dry and dusty, farmers are selling stock because they can't afford to feed them, water is running out and the Great Barrier Reef is disappearing.

I heard on the news the other day that food prices will start to rise soon, maybe even as bad as the banana prices after Cyclone Larry. That was a year or so ago, the cyclone destroyed the banana crops in Queensland and banana prices went up to $17...and the government refused to import banana's from the US or somewhere because if we started, they wouldn't stop sending them. So it took a good year for the banana's to get back to $3.00...I didn't eat a banana for months. I don't want to think about what will happen if that happens to all the food in the supermarket...it scared me as much as when a woman on the news said that they'll have to evacuate the entire country if things don't change. DH said she's full of it but it was a frightening thought.

luvmykids replied:
Wow, I had no idea Australia was in such a dire situation. They've talked a few times here about water running out in years and years and that scared me enough, I can't imagine it being even worse. I'm sorry, I'd be worried too hug.gif

coasterqueen replied:
For us though, rain barrels would be standing water which would attract mosquitoes. There are lots of people around here that do do that but for me the mosquito issue is just too much.

coasterqueen replied:
Glad I'm not alone Kimberley. happy.gif

luvmykids replied:
I don't have the mosquito problem, I wonder why? I add a few drops of bleach here and there to keep the barrels from getting gross, I wonder if that has anything to do with it?

redplaydoh replied: We recycle EVERYTHING possible. Labels from cans, cans, glass, cardboard of any sort, junk mail, plastics etc. We really don't have much of a choice here, you have to recycle.

Laundry is done at night and it does matter here what time of day it's done. Night power usage is cheaper.

We use bio-friendly soaps and detergents.

All of our lighting is halogen or energy saving.

I take public transportation as much as possible.

All organic food waste is composted.

Regarding gray water, we only wash our car at a place that recycles its water. It is screened and filtered. Our sink water is routed through a seperate sewage system that filters the water (not to drinkable levels) but it is recycled for use for field irrigation, street cleaning, etc. But that is not something *I* personally do.




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