Environmentally and morally sound way of life

Hey everyone, i'm trying to create a list of products that i shouldn't use for environmental or moral reasons, and i need some help. I am a seventeen year old living in London England, and i am willing to go quite far to preserve my environmental integrity, so don't leave anything out. I realise lots of products are different over here to those used in the US, but as much info on companies and corporations to avoid would be appreciated. Any positive recommendations either for companies or just green ways to do things would also be great. Thank you all, j

 

Come on guys this the environment forum, I'm presuming you're all pro-conserving the environment?!

 

I'd make a list of things that ARE environmentally friendly, it'll be a much shorter list.

 

Unfortunately most things created by humans aren't very sustainable. Some of the things an environmentalist should avoid might be anything that can't be recycled, biodegraded or reused, anything toxic or polluting, or anything made by a corporation that does not respect the environment. That would be a really really really long list.....

But here's a few easy things you can stop using or just use less of that will help the environment:
-MEAT (one of the most wasteful and resource-intensive products ever)
-Gas/oil (use a bike, electric car, or a greasecar!)
-Overly packaged products (in other words, buy in bulk when possible)
-Products with lots of petroleum-derived chemicals
-Plastics (they're made from petroleum most of the time, although some plastic is made from plant cellulose)

Best of luck living sustainably. I recommend the book "Cradle to Cradle" - it's a great way to start thinking about the entire life cycle of everything we do and everything we use, and how we affect the environment.

 

avoid furr and leather.
and wal mart.
lol

 

Luckily we don't have to worry about wal mart over here, although i think they own Asda. Thanks for the book suggestion, keep the alternative list going (i'm giving up on the bad things list).

 

Get yourself a special water-saving showerhead. They have a little switch/button that u push in and it turns the water off while you soap up, and when u switch it back on it will return to the same heat/pressure setting. Great water saver!
Also, get canvas bags for grocery shopping.
Thats my 2 cents.

 

AVOID MACDONALDS LIKE THE PLAUGE! They screw the enviroment, abuse animals, and abuse health!!!

 

Depending on where and how you get it fur and leather should not be disscounted being the natural fibres that they are. They are very warm, insulating, wind resistant and durable.

 

Cheers for all that everyone, actually it seems i do almost all of the stuff you say drumminmama. The co-op living site is great, thanks a lot.j

 

That is fine if you know exactly what you want. Sometimes I have bought items out of a catalogue that turned out to be not exactly what I had in mind. If you are talking about more expensive items then sometimes I like to go the next major town to choose and compare. The other thing is when you are physically in the shop you can haggle with a cash payment. Once I wanted to buy a Triton saw bench. I had been in Melbourne and no shop would go under $495. A week later I was in Griffith (The nearest major shopping town) I went to this engineering/tool supplier/ steel supplies/ farm machine support shop, which is larger than many supermarkets, did a bit of haggling and got it for $313 cash because they did not want to keep Triton Saw benches anymore.

Compost bins at least manures and preferably a bit of blood & bone to activate them. It is a subject of much discussion among many gardeners.

Wormeries. In The Organic Gardening Australia magazine some years ago there was article on building 2 metre circular vegetable garden beds with a 1 metre section of plastic storm water pipe set in the middle. Inside the pipe worms are placed. Then important point that the author made was that worms are like any other farm animal.

They need to be fed a bit each day, not just when you feel like it. Also worms don’t like too much orange peel in their diet.

Drip filter coffee machines are good for this.

This is an area of consumer pitfalls. There are so many kitchen items that are stylish but not all that functional. The prime example would be enamel pots and frying pans. These usually not that cheap, once chipped on the inside they can no longer be used as the chipped area cannot harbours bacteria and cannot be effectively clean. Furthermore is not a very good conductor of heat, especially in the oven. If you want to cook something wet in the oven, oven proof glassware (clear or smoked ) is good. I have picked some oven proof glass cookware are garage sales for a song. Cast iron pots are generally ok for the oven providing you are not cooking something strongly acidic. For baking or roasting black iron is good and not too expensive. When buying kitchen spoons and ladles look for ones mad from a single piece of metal rather than riveted ones. Catering equipment suppliers are best for these. For saucepans try to get ones with handles that are riveted rather than spot welded. Ceramic flan and pie dishes again look stylish in the shop but are not all that function. It will take far longer to cook in these than in oven proof glass or metal.

 

Why bother ? If its morality youre concerned with perhaps its time to stop protesting and time to start ousting government in a class action riot

 

quote from my bf "save the environment, shower in two's!!!!"

haha we always take turns under the shower head when we're soaping. We got a whole system going

 

there is no easy answer. the fact is, any unnecessary consumption hurts the environment unnecessarily (including such things as being on the internet).

 

OK seems that he got what he was looking for. Time for me to hijack this thread.

I am unconcerned with the animal abuse and health abuse as I am already debating those topics in different threads. The question that I would like you kind souls to addreess is this:

What is McDonald's currently doing that harms the environment? Again, please don't mention the animals or the health of humans. And don't assume that I have an agenda here (for those who have read my comments in the other threads). I actually am seeking information here. I know that they used to use a lot of styrofoam (sp?), but what changes do they still need to make?

 

There is the personal issue of your own health, quite apart from anything else people want to say.

 

Avoid all conglomerates!! Grow your own food. Never buy takeaways...

I agreed with Gaston, would be simpler to list those things that ARE environmentally friendly...

Shedtroll I like that quote, you should put the whole one in for best effect....

 

Enivronmentally unfriendly factory farms, excessive use of packaging.