I do fly, but I also do a LOT of conservation: We compost pretty much everything. I compost almost all non-meat items at home. Our city has mandatory composting for plant, animal and soiled paper products. In fact San Francisco recycles more than 70% of it's waste stream, and will fine people who do not participate. My household, which includes eight people uses part of a 20 gal trash can per week, but fills the 70 gal recycling bin reliably. I use grey water for garden use (this is important in California) recycling most of the dish water, all my cold "leader" water in the sink and shower. My washing machine is high efficiency. There is a clothes line in my back yard and we use it (almost no one I know actually uses a clothes line even though our climate is perfect for it). The only time Donald and I dry clothes in the dryer is when it has been raining for a week and is still raining. My garden is hospitable to a wide variety of flora and fauna, including a vibrant insect population that generally keeps pests to a minimum. I grow a very small amount of my own food since the garden is badly contaminated with lead. The food I do eat in great part comes from local sources, including the farmer's market.
At the Ranch I'm actively planting bushes and trees along about a mile and a half of badly degraded creek beds. I -know- there has been no vegetation along these streams for 50 years, and I'm trying to do enough riparian restoration to restore the fish runs on two streams. We installed fences to protect 1/2 a mile of creek from livestock 11 years ago. Regrowth on about 1/2 of that creek has been good, the other part not so good. I'll be installing drip irrigation to help little plants live through summer temps of 115 F + while they get their roots down through 5 feet of river rock to water. We fenced cattle out of 1/2 a mile of the other stream 4 years ago. A small portion of it is growing back well, near a seasonal spring. I'm in the process of getting grants to help revegitate the remaining portions (with irrigation), as well as stabilizing a couple of hillsides that are trying to fall into the stream. BTW five of my nine willows, planted on the stream banks last spring, lived. I'm terribly excited!!! I plan to do more this year - though so far we have had almost no rain and little plants might not be able to live through the summer without more water in the overall hydrology system.
Our house is insulated (mostly, I know because I did it), and it's south facing windows give us great solar gain meaning we almost never turn on the heat. We have debated installing solar panels, but they are marginal in San Francisco and would only save us a small amount per month. I think payback would be about 45 years. I'm seriously considering it for Ukiah tho. I want to re-do the solar hot water out there as well (we used to have a shower in the garden which was entirely solar. Fell apart after 35 years). It's on my "to do list" but not very high since I don't think the tenants would use it.
I frequently recycle things, such as the cables taken out of the Opera House which are now doing duty as stream crossing supports for the fenceline. Or the energy efficient fluorescent fixtures I just took out of the Opera House which will go into the barn... Yes they are a bit broken, but they are still very functional, just not a wise choice 35 feet in the air over people's heads.
Could I do more? Yes. I drive more than I should, but even with the trips to Ukiah my driving is on the low/average side for California, and that is with three adults sharing the car (yes, yes, I own two truck, average mileage per year about 50 to 150 miles a year). I bought the most energy efficient car I could find, which is not a hybrid, I included manufacture and disposal and hybrids aren't efficient if you include those perimeters.
no subject
We compost pretty much everything. I compost almost all non-meat items at home. Our city has mandatory composting for plant, animal and soiled paper products. In fact San Francisco recycles more than 70% of it's waste stream, and will fine people who do not participate. My household, which includes eight people uses part of a 20 gal trash can per week, but fills the 70 gal recycling bin reliably.
I use grey water for garden use (this is important in California) recycling most of the dish water, all my cold "leader" water in the sink and shower. My washing machine is high efficiency. There is a clothes line in my back yard and we use it (almost no one I know actually uses a clothes line even though our climate is perfect for it). The only time Donald and I dry clothes in the dryer is when it has been raining for a week and is still raining.
My garden is hospitable to a wide variety of flora and fauna, including a vibrant insect population that generally keeps pests to a minimum. I grow a very small amount of my own food since the garden is badly contaminated with lead. The food I do eat in great part comes from local sources, including the farmer's market.
At the Ranch I'm actively planting bushes and trees along about a mile and a half of badly degraded creek beds. I -know- there has been no vegetation along these streams for 50 years, and I'm trying to do enough riparian restoration to restore the fish runs on two streams. We installed fences to protect 1/2 a mile of creek from livestock 11 years ago. Regrowth on about 1/2 of that creek has been good, the other part not so good. I'll be installing drip irrigation to help little plants live through summer temps of 115 F + while they get their roots down through 5 feet of river rock to water. We fenced cattle out of 1/2 a mile of the other stream 4 years ago. A small portion of it is growing back well, near a seasonal spring. I'm in the process of getting grants to help revegitate the remaining portions (with irrigation), as well as stabilizing a couple of hillsides that are trying to fall into the stream. BTW five of my nine willows, planted on the stream banks last spring, lived. I'm terribly excited!!! I plan to do more this year - though so far we have had almost no rain and little plants might not be able to live through the summer without more water in the overall hydrology system.
Our house is insulated (mostly, I know because I did it), and it's south facing windows give us great solar gain meaning we almost never turn on the heat. We have debated installing solar panels, but they are marginal in San Francisco and would only save us a small amount per month. I think payback would be about 45 years. I'm seriously considering it for Ukiah tho. I want to re-do the solar hot water out there as well (we used to have a shower in the garden which was entirely solar. Fell apart after 35 years). It's on my "to do list" but not very high since I don't think the tenants would use it.
I frequently recycle things, such as the cables taken out of the Opera House which are now doing duty as stream crossing supports for the fenceline. Or the energy efficient fluorescent fixtures I just took out of the Opera House which will go into the barn... Yes they are a bit broken, but they are still very functional, just not a wise choice 35 feet in the air over people's heads.
Could I do more? Yes. I drive more than I should, but even with the trips to Ukiah my driving is on the low/average side for California, and that is with three adults sharing the car (yes, yes, I own two truck, average mileage per year about 50 to 150 miles a year). I bought the most energy efficient car I could find, which is not a hybrid, I included manufacture and disposal and hybrids aren't efficient if you include those perimeters.