So to innaugurate our 'Sustainable Nexus' section and the 'Sustainable Living' subforum, I thought it would be a good idea to have a discussion about our own iniciatives to make our houses and lives more sustainable.

What do you guys do to make your living more sustainable? Do you have any energy or resource saving strategies? Do you recycle ? Maybe someone here has made or plans to make some kind of sustainably-designed housing project? Any experiences, ideas or thoughts on this area are welcome

We grow a lot of our own food, permaculture style... the entire yard is going to be torn up this summer for food production.
We also use lots of bees wax candles.... drive a hybrid car. and recycle a whole hell of a lot. We are both natural builders, and we have learned to build with cob and straw bale, we are looking to build a cob home some day. All of SWIMS lab ware is recycled... we also are very big into wild crafting medicines and food. local foods all the way... slow food and slow medicine!

This is really great..I remember thinking about this a while back wishing we had something like this here..so I was happy to come here today and see it a reality!

You can drink your urine up to 4 times till it becomes fatally toxic.

I can already see though it will create a great many of debates...lol...

Canning veggies is a perfect way to have long-term food.

Solar Panels. buy the expensive ones or you can take a black plastic barrel, or two. Fill with water and run pipes through them...it will heat water pretty good on a sunny day.

Greenhouses are also perfect for heating the house. put one on the sunniest side and run ventilation into your house.

And of course the greenhouse allows for longer growing seasons.

I don't have kids.

I don't eat/buy meat. Probably the biggest single thing you can do to lessen your damage on the environment.

Here's a few guideliness I try to follow in my daily life to make my house and living more sustainable. Maybe it helps others:

Food

Buying:

-Give preference to locally-produced and season food.
While for some people it may be interesting to taste an exotic fruit, like drinking mango juice in northern winter, realize this has a big ecological impact in terms of transport and/or the impact of creating artificial conditions for growing something that is not from the season or place. Nature usually provides all places with enough tasty local and seasonal food, research which ones are from your area.

- Organic is nice, but not always better
It feels good eating food that is produced organically and I certainly like to do so as much as possible and coherent, but it may be counter-productive and more damaging to the earth in some cases. An organic fruit that is transported half-way across the globe may have a greater impact to earth than a locally produced non-organic fruit. In terms of being exposed to chemicals, research which fruits/vegetables tend to be more sprayed. For example, banana plantations may naturally need less spraying and in any case they have a thick outer protection, while things like tomato or 'porous' fruits like strawberries can be more sprayed and since one doesnt remove the skin, its more chances to be consuming chemical traces. Choose intelligently, be critical, dont fall blindly for labels and marketing schemes.

-Read the labels of everything you buy
always check whether the food you have has earth-damaging and/or unhealthy ingredients

-Package matters! Avoid individually packed food/over packaging
Question the package of the food your are buying. Is it excessive? Can it all be recycled? Can you maybe buy in bulk and diminish the packaging amount? All of this makes a difference!

-Take your own shopping bag
Avoid having to get those endless small plastic bags every time you go shopping. Bring your own bags to the supermarket.

At home:

-Cook intelligently
Cooking larger meals is more energy-efficient than cooking multiple small meals. Are you gonna eat the same in the next meals ? Then maybe better cooking a larger portion. Same is true for ayahuasca brewing or A/Bs, for example

-Avoid throwing away food
For the food to get to your plate, it had a lot of ecological impact, so avoid wasting! Calculate meal sizes well, dont put more in your plate than necessary. Left over vegetables from one meal can turn into a delicious soup for the next one, for example. I am lucky to now live in a city with organic waste recycling, and before I lived in a house with chickens and animals that would be happy with food rests and also composted. Research what options you have. Make your own compost if you can. Remember, every food rest thrown in the normal garbage is not only not helping but its greatly increasing the ecological impact (instead of going sustainably back to the earth, it will feed methane-releasing bacteria that increase global warming)!


Energy

-Turn off unused appliances
Stand by mode of electrical appliances is wasted energy. Remove them from electricity. Have different appliances connected to one extension that has an easily reachable off-button and make it a habbit to always turn that off when leaving the house, for example.

-Chose energy-efficient appliances
When buying electricity-using products, remember to consider if they are efficient or if there are better options

- Turn off the lights!
Is there any light on that is unnecessary ? Turn it off! Dont be lazy, even if it takes you to get up and turn it off, do it! Also change lightbulbs to more efficient ones.


Water

-Avoid flushing the toilet with full water every time you pee
Endless liters of water go down the drain wasted, to take away a little bit of piss away. Better if possible to pee on nature/ground if you can, or shower and clean it, or have a flush with dual water flow options that can flush with less water for peeing.

-Have conscious showers
Use less water pressure, stop water flow while shampooing, take shorter showers, etc. Every liter of water saved is a victory!

-Effective dishwashing
If you wash your dishes with your hands, create an effective routine. A pre-scrubbing without running water will save you some liters. A practical water tap that you only have to push or pull makes it faster and easier to control water flow than one that you have to turn. If you have a turning one, consider changing your kitchen sink water tap type if its your permanent house. These are small investments that work for the future! Also use plates and glasses strategically to diminish amount of pieces you have to wash. If you are getting or replacing a dishwashing machine, check what is its water consumption efficiency.

-Effective clothes washing
Its important to be clean! But dont exagerate.... If you used a shirt for a little while without moving much, no need to wash it already, you can reuse it again! Preffer efficient machines than wasteful ones.

Garbage/Waste

-Recycle!
I am lucky to live in a city with a great recycling system. Research if there is any selective waste disposal in your own city, and please make the extra effort to recycle! Be specially mindful with disposal of more toxic waste such as batteries, old electronic equipment, etc, which usually should be disposed in special containers or drop-off points. Look on the internet and/or call your local civic center/public information center/city hall for asking about these things and demanding if they dont exist

-Consume consciously! Recycling is only part of the solution!
While recycling is a great attitude, it only makes sense when it comes together with an attitude of conscious consuming. As already mentioned, avoid individually packed food or products in general and over-packaging. Choose local products. Avoid buying many electronic gadgets as they have a big impact on earth (for every cellphone produced, there is around 70kg of waste material generated! Think about that when wanting to change to the latest phone. This is also true for many different products).


Other

- Use public transport!
I gladly live in a place where I can ride the bicycle to nearly everywhere I go in daily life, and when its raining or its too far, I use public transport. Public transport is much more energy-efficient than personal transport. If you have a car, think about giving a ride to people you know (maybe talk to others in your university or job), or get a ride with others.

- Be skeptic of 'natural' labels
While we all want to help what we can with nature impact, remember there are a lot of unscrupulous people selling actually unsustainable products and processes with 'natural' labels. Be critical: Doubt first, trust later! Question everything! Ask yourself, "What is the impact of not only the product itself but of the whole transport/packaging/indirect costs?". "What are the alternatives?". etc.

- Strategic thinking!
Being sustainable is not just about making a specific choice one thinks is better in a given moment, but its about thinking broadly and planning ahead a sequence of choices that will have overal better impact on the world. Plan ahead your decisions.

Create a system of working efficiently. For example. I have a lot of ideas but many times forget them, so I found out a good system for myself is to have a pen and paper next to bed and a little note board hanging on the door of the house and write things down. Or also the shopping bag is hanging next to the list so I remember to take it when shopping.


- C02 compensation is not enough
While its really great (and recommended!) if one thinks about compensating C02 emissions in his life, remember this is not enough. To generate a product one buys or a mode of transport, the ecological impact is not solely C02 emission but also a lot of other things such as energetic and water consumption, other waste products, damage through the extraction of raw materials, etc. So dont be satisfied with only C02 compensation as a way to help the earth!

- Sustainable relationships!
Try to extend the concept to interpersonal relationships too. Are the actions and your behavior healthy for the system formed in your interaction with other people? Or is the energy focused in unusustainable manners (for example too much anger or resentment might generate an unhealthy rupture or discharge of emotions). The concept of sustainability is related to 'fulfilling one's needs without diminishing the possibility of others to fulfill theirs'. Are you finding the right dynamic balance between your own needs and everybody else's needs, including of the future generations?

We have to constantly try to imagine every action we do as 'immortalized', and question ourselves if they are worthy to be forever in the story of our universe. What mark are we leaving with every act?

nice post endlessness

There are many strong truths right there.

well, i try to take my bicicle whenever i can (instead of the car). It really annoys me that i have no other choice then to take the car to go to work (shitty train/bus connection, 40km away, nobody at work lives in the same area).
In Germany most people recycle, there's a green can for organic garbage, a grey one for restgarbage and a blue one for paper. I just hope that they don't throw it all on a big pile afterwards...
That's a great post endlessness! I must admit that i don't pay attention to all those thing all the time, but i'm trying to improve and not to fall in old habits...

I recycle all paper, plastics, glass, metal and everything organic goes in my compost. The amount of garbage that is thrown away is therefore minimal from my house. I also limit the number of things I buy to more or less only what I really need.

Great post, Endlessness. I'll add the following:

Buy products that will last you forever
My biggest gripe is with non-stick frying pans etc. Forget non-stick, learn to cook with stainless steel instead. It's easy. Non-stick pans need throwing away every year. Also, if they get too hot they release poisonous gas that I heard would actually kill a pet parrot if you kept it in the same room while your non-stick overheated! It's not too good for you either. Non-stick should not be used over 210 degrees in an oven. Use stainless steel on your hob, and pyrex dishes in your oven.

Avoid badly made plastic junk. It's an unsustainable false economy. Think of plastic as a finite resource (most plastic comes from oil) that should be reserved for more important stuff like medical equipment, and buy things made with as much alternative material as possible. Better to not buy in the first place than have to recycle. It's also full of chemicals. NEVER buy PVC, it's horribly polluting to manufacture.

Become an ethical consumer
And don't make nasty people rich by giving them your business. Here's a good site: http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/

Buy as little as possible!
I try to own as little as possible. 'Things' bog you down, as well as waste your money and clutter your home. Question the consumerist neo-tradition of giving presents. My family don't do presents anymore and I can tell you Xmas is so much nicer. What presents you do buy, make them as sustainable as possible, or even better something the person actually says they want!

Don't worry about how this'll slow our economy down or whatever. Consumerist capitalism is a lie that has to end sooner or later. We should move further into a service economy instead, so if you're worried about slowing the economy spend your money on massages etc instead!

Use ecologically friendly household chemicals
Ecover is a good brand, but even better is to make your own using vinegar etc. Old fashioned cleaning remedies from before the consumerist bombshell still work!

Travel more sustainably
I'm not saying you have to stop going on holiday, but be mindful of how polluting air travel is. It's better to go abroad less often and for longer. Try to limit long haul flights as much as possible, but you should probably still go see the world, because it broadens the mind and that is socially a very good thing. I guess the most efficient and therefore most sustainable way to do it would be all in one round the world trip, using non-air travel as much as possible! I missed the chance to do this when I was younger, so every few years I just go away for a month to one continent and travel fast through several neighbouring countries by land and sea while I'm there. The rest of the time, I holiday in my own country, sometimes the neighbouring ones.
Travel is really hard to give up, I wish there was a greener way to fly. Definitely pay extra for the carbon offsetting option when you do.

Use 100% renewable energy
If you're not settled enough to kit out your house with your own wind turbine, buy from a wind farm energy supplier such as Ecotricity (they use their profits to build more wind farms). Wind is better and cheaper than photovoltaic solar panels (if you have the wind that is). Solar panels are another option but higher tech so more harmful to manufacture- always go for the simplest possible option.

Superinsulate
IF you own your own home, insulate it as much as possible. Of course, a superinsulated passive solar house is best of all, if you're starting from scratch, then you won't need any heating whatsoever. 'Massive and tight' is the best strategy- the mass stores heat and regulates temperature, and the airtightness reduces heat loss. You can then look into getting a heat pump etc.

Collect rainwater
Usually from your roof, you can use this to water plants, flush toilets, or even for all your water needs if you filter it through a simple homemade filter (I forget exactly what but it involves sand and maybe some other natural inorganic things).

I made a booklist a while ago for this kind of thing but I have no idea where the thread is, I'm afraid.

Convert diesel vehicles to run on veg oil
It costs £500 to do so, or if you're handy you can do it yourself, you just need to remove all the rubber bits from the engine or something I'm told. Then, you can clean used cooking oil e.g. from chip shops after filtering it with something like a centrifuge. Top up your supply with cheap veg oil in bulk if you can't get enough recycled stuff.

This is a stopgap really (until they give us our electric cars!) because some say we need to grow food on land rather than fuel, but anything's better than using petrol or diesel in my opinion. The biofuel argument is a toughie... I mean we already have more than enough food to go round, it's just that some people don't like sharing. And if you're one of those ones who says we should stop eating meat to free up land, well fish don't grow on land, do they? And chickens and pigs can be reared in forests. In the old days some utopian communities such as the Owenites absteined from alcohol because it took up too much land to produce it, now there's an idea I'm open to, but I doubt many others would be!

Finally, if you're hardcore...

Use a composting toilet
If you're building a new home, then you won't have to flush at all. The modern ones don't smell at all.

Treat your own sewage
Wastewater can go into a soakaway in your garden (and this has the added benefit of encouraging you to use green househod products). There are cool eco-sewage options, using nature and sunlight to clean your sewage.


Where I live, the organic fruits come from no further away than the inorganic ones, so personally I see this particular point as irrelevent. I don't like how inorganic farming pollutes the environment with runoff into rivers etc, and how it kills so many bugs and often indiscriminately. People who like inorganic farming always argue that it's more efficient so can feed more people in future... well, maybe it's time we started talking about limiting how many babies we have instead? We're going to have to do that at some point anyway, it may as well be sooner rather than later. I feel like it's a human right for me to not have to eat food with up to 1/17th of the trace vitamins and minerals in it, things that we still have no idea what role they may play in our health. I agree it's ridiculous how supermarkets like to torture hippies by wrapping up organic food in packaging... but you can get it from one of those box schemes instead if you have this problem, or even better...

Grow your own food
Turn your garden, even your windowsills, into a farm.

Scatter seeds
Turn your entire country into a permaculture farm by scattering seeds for edible plants in hedgerows, patches of land etc as you walk along!


Can you explain this bit please? I don't disagree with your doing so at all, I just never understand how it makes a difference. Why wouldn't it go back to the earth? It's dumped in a big hole in the ground to rot, won't it become earth there too? Many dumps have methane extractors that produce energy from the rotting waste, although this may not happen in all countries.

My friend moved in with me and never flushed the loo. Now we have to clean the toilet a lot more, because piss coloured minerals form in it. And it smells. I forbade her doing it in the end, this one is just too much for me, sorry! Definitely change your flush handle for a 'cable dual flush' (they're really cheap), which you can press for small or large discharge and they use less water but in a more powerful sudden deluge that actually flushes better.
Dishwashers can actually use less water than handwashing. They do use energy but that's ok if it's from renewables, and you can use Ecover tablets and rinseaid. I love my dishwasher, it's one of my most important possessions!

There is a spectrum between spaceman and caveman, and ultimately however you choose to spend your carbon, it's fine as long as you're not using more than your fair share. Find a carbon footprint calculator online if you want to see how you're doing (sorry I forgot where it is). Being Green is a joy, and it's cheaper living too, so don't let the guilt-tripping preachers bring you down or put you off (with their throwaway marketing merchandise and their endless junk mail for their cause). Guilt is not Green. Be happy, because there's no point in sustainability otherwise, what would there then be to sustain?

Awesome guys, thanks for the input! Good list too ohayoco

Just a few comments:



yeah man each one has to adapt to their own circumstances, knowing that nobody is perfect but that we can always do a little bit more




yeah people still have the idea that more natural products dont clean as well, which is not true at all.




Its in general more efficient (in terms of kms/footprint) to travel farther than to travel closer. I think people should specially limit local flights and short distance flights and flights with many connections (i.e. a lot of taking-off and landing). All the people flying these short hour-long flights should really reconsider..... But yeah in any case flying in general is very polluting and its important to try to cover as much distance as possible in greener public transport.



I wish this was possible here. Here we cannot chose our electric company, and renting an appartment in a big city prevents the possibility of renewable energy sources (as well as collecting rain water) Definitely if the option is there, people should go for it! I know that at least in terms of products, whenever there is an option of something produced with renewable resources I give prefference for it



While I agree in short term its much better to have a veg oil car than diesel, its still not really a permanent solution. Also ultimatively it will lead to problems such as you mention, using food-growing areas for fueling unnecessarily wasteful metal-box-transport-means. (I agree though with your point about over population and bad food distribution)

I think that cars are a very inneficient mode of transport. Its hundreds and hundreds of kilos of metals that take (usualy only one) 80kg person..... If one has the choice, public transport is a much greener solution. If one doesnt, then yeah veg oil should be considered, giving/getting a ride should definitely also b considered, and using the car the least as possible.



Are you sure about that? Where do fruits come from in the UK? This point might be irrelevant to you in case what you say its true for all organic products, but its definitely relevant for me and I guess for some other people so thats why I added it.

As an example, where I was living before, in the organic supermarket I could get organic dates (that 'fruit' from the palmtree) that came all the way from Iran. Alternatively, I could get in the local market dates that was from the next town, wasnt sprayed anyways, just wasnt organically certified (Because it was picked by locals in small scale). Now, even if it was sprayed, still I would be doubtful that its worth buying from Iran... what about all the damage that the transport (through C02 emission, necesity of petrol extraction for plane transport, animals and bugs killed on the transport, etc etc). Same about kiwi that comes from the country I live in, compared to organic kiwi that comes all the way from new zealand, etc...




lol yeah man please adapt to your own situation, we dont want your house stinking of piss and then having to use more products to clean it anyways I just piss on earth most times or on the shower and clean, the non toilet flushing was just an idea but I agree with your points (also the dual flush is a good idea, Ill edit my post)



Where did you get the information that dishwashers use less water than handwashing? Not that I dont believe you, in fact you are probably right, but I just wonder what kind of technique for handwashing they compared to come to that conclusion. I dont have a dishwasher and wouldnt have space for one in my small appartment (and I rent it and will move out soon), so Im stuck with handwashing, so I have to do the best I can with this way....

Btw, also you cant just calculate the water and energy using when measuring pros and cons for dishwashing, you have to also consider the whole costs of making the machine itself. How long does a dishwashing machine last? Would be interesting to have more data on the amount of waste product generated in its production, the electrical cost for making one, the raw material usage, etc etc. (Again, im not saying its bad to have a dishwashing machine, Im just, as always, trying to think critically about things and trying to consider as much of the 'hidden variables' as possible)




This reminds me.. I added another point about carbon offsetting in my post above. Ill probably be editing that post occasionally




First of all, are you sure that the dump where your specific garbage goes to has efficient enough methane extractor to extract methane from ALL the dump? Or maybe from a small part of it only? Or maybe the methane extractor is there in some dump in your country but possibly not in the one your garbage goes to? Just a few questions to consider..

And no it wont really 'become earth' in the same way. Just think about it. When one composts organic food rests and puts on an appropriate place, the earth, plants and organisms living around it will effectively break it down and turn it into nutrients for life. When its dumped into a big garbage landfill, there wont be no trees growing around, for example, to take in and transform it back into the food chain positively, the nutrients of the foodrests will be solely used up by the likes of methane-producing bacteria (which is, weight-by-weight, way more damaging in terms of greenhouse effect, than C02.. its just that overal in the world there is less of it so C02 gets all the attention), flies, rats and whatnot. Its just not sustainable or balanced or effective in terms of 'giving back to the earth'.




yep

The other day i was talking to this guy that owns a small company. He was telling me about the costs of his (BIG) house. The energy costs of his house, car etc are bigger than what i earn in a month. He was very proud to be able to pay for all that energy, live like that.

This was just one guy in that neighbourhood. Over there they all have big houses and cars, heated swimming pools, jacuzzi etc.
I dindt ask him about the environment.

When i look at companies i am even more disgusted. Believe me, i have seen it happen up close.
You dont want to know.

It is good you make an effort, to set an example.
But dont be fooled. Your efforts are not going to make any difference.
Im sorry.

Im not saving the world by myself, I never thought of that, and I do know of all the problems out there. But I do feel like I make plenty of difference in different levels: many people around me have also change their habits, my electricity and water bills are smaller, my street is less dirty than if I just threw the garbage on the street, my health is better for eating organic and seasonal local food and very importantly, my conscience is light

Yeah I'm sure, I always look at labels to see where stuff comes from. But you live in another country, so maybe it's different where you live. I don't buy much fruit anyway, because generally I don't buy stuff that's been grown abroad, and I live in a cold country so for half the year I mainly eat veg or preserved fruit. What I meant was that this reasoning is defunct- what you are telling people is to buy locally, because that's your issue. Whether the product is organic or not is immaterial.


I'm pretty sure I read that in 'The New Autonomous Home' by Brenda and Robert Vale, where they calculated the yearly water requirements per person in the house the book covers. They are still the authority on autonomous architecture, since their award-winning interest in autonomous housing in the early 1970s. They're technically brilliant, so I trust them. But yeah, I don't trust my memory 100% so if it wasn't a minor point I'd check it.

Haha, sorry but that is nihilistic nonsense. By your reasoning, you should stop bothering to be polite to other people, and stop bothering to respect their human rights, because it 'won't make any difference'. The actions of every single person make a difference, the effect is cumulative. More green behaviour makes for a greener world, just as more criminal behaviour makes for a more criminal world. Most people are influenced by the culture surrounding them, and views will change as culture changes. For example, in my grandparent's generation racism was culturally ingrained and it was socially acceptable to make racist remarks openly, but this is no longer the case.

3% of people are ethical consumers, but 50% of people say that they want to be green, and just don't really know how to and in their ignorance find it too inconvenient due to poor choice given to them as consumers, and this information is for them. Neither figure is insignificant, actually. I can't remember if that statistic is for the UK or Europe or the West or the world.

The other 50% of people who don't care about green issues will be forced by legislation or economy eventually, and they have to earn more to fund their habit, and have to live horrible ignorant lives, which is more of a burden to carry than to be green. Would you want to be them?! Always squabbling about and preoccupied with meaningless things, such as the status anxiety of the person in your example. Are you American, Virola? Most of the rest of the world isn't nearly as anti-green as the USA, which is the greatest pollutor per person so nore reluctant to change their habits. Much of the problem there is to do with the underhand tactics of unscrupulous industry leaders, such as the motor and oil industry. They're resisting just like the tobacco companies did, instead of moving with the times.

I agree that a big problem is people being put off by thinking that they can't have what they want... well, you can actually waste as much energy as you want sustainably if you provide yourself it through your own remewable energy, but of course it's more cost effective to make your habits more efficient instead. The green revolution is also good for developing our technical knowledge, as well as ensuring that eventually we will be able to continue our consumer culture by producing wholly sustainable products.

Becoming Green is a form of enlightenment. You learn about where your products come from and ensure that they are not corrupted by human rights abuses or pollution. You learn to 'tread lightly upon the earth' so your existence adds as little as possible to suffering in the world, even better reduces the amount of suffering. I do not believe it is possible to be a good person without being green. One can be green without being a good person, but one cannot be a good person without being green.

It can be daunting at first, but if you embrace it, it comes easily and is very rewarding, both on a material and a mental level.

^you are right

We do have to learn. But im afraid it will be the hard way : /

I know i will not have any children. Seems to me a wise choice.
But i will do my share for yours.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is air-drying clothes vs machine-drying clothes. The clothes dryer is one of the greatest carbon-outputting appliances in the average household... and the alternative is free! Hang up your clothes outside. For those of you who say "where I live it's too cold", that's bollocks, I've been air-drying clothing in the Pacific Northwest all my life. If it's literally below freezing outside, hang 'em up inside.

Computers are also a monumental consumer of electricity! Instead of leaving your computer on all day and checking the Nexus every ten minutes, turn it on once a day or so and check everything then. You'll also gain back untold hours of your life which were previously spent being addicted to the interwebs.

A compilation of some of the best changes to make:

1. Don't eat meat, or eat meat rarely.

2. Walk, bike, or take public transport.

3. Eat locally grown foods.

4. Air-dry clothes.

5. Use all appliances less, including computers.

6. Heat proof your dwelling to save energy, use sustainable energy, use curlicue light bulbs

7. Repair, rather than buy anew, buy products that last, and avoid packaging.

Note that most of these are lifestyle changes which can be made by the average city apartment dweller, as well as the country homeowner. I realize that installing a composting toilet or solar panels is something we're not all in a position to do, but we can all eat less meat (specifically red meat, which has a massive ecological impact) and drive less.

check this out: soap nuts!
http://soberryclean.com/about-soapberries