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Environmental Footprint calculator
Why not visit https://footprint.wwf.org.uk and find out what your environmental footprint is?
It takes a broad look at energy, food, your home, stuff you buy, travel, etc. It's an easy one to fill in, as it doesn't ask for exact numbers for anything.
I found that I'm at 78% of the UK target carbon target for 2020, which is good in one way, and a bit scary in another.
It means that I'm well below the UK average, but that I probably still need to find further savings to get to the level we need to be at by 2030.
I experimentally added a return flight to the east coast of the USA, and, as I expected, it pushed me over budget, bringing me to 108%.
It is virtually impossible to fly overseas and stay within your carbon budget.
According to the calculator, even the relatively small amount of driving I do, is still a major factor in my overall footprint (more than I'd expected), but we do have a fairly large car, so that is probably a factor.
I tried a retake eliminating all car use and that came out as 64% (which is getting close to the world average)
I need to think of ways of reducing my car usage. I'm definitely getting an electric bike (though it will have to wait until I recover from a badly sprained ankle). The only drawback is that any new product carries a big carbon footprint all of its own.
It takes a broad look at energy, food, your home, stuff you buy, travel, etc. It's an easy one to fill in, as it doesn't ask for exact numbers for anything.
I found that I'm at 78% of the UK target carbon target for 2020, which is good in one way, and a bit scary in another.
It means that I'm well below the UK average, but that I probably still need to find further savings to get to the level we need to be at by 2030.
I experimentally added a return flight to the east coast of the USA, and, as I expected, it pushed me over budget, bringing me to 108%.
It is virtually impossible to fly overseas and stay within your carbon budget.
According to the calculator, even the relatively small amount of driving I do, is still a major factor in my overall footprint (more than I'd expected), but we do have a fairly large car, so that is probably a factor.
I tried a retake eliminating all car use and that came out as 64% (which is getting close to the world average)
I need to think of ways of reducing my car usage. I'm definitely getting an electric bike (though it will have to wait until I recover from a badly sprained ankle). The only drawback is that any new product carries a big carbon footprint all of its own.
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I guess they have some sort of algorithm for number of rooms and heating costs. I don't bother heating the house in the mornings. Even in winter. I have the heating on for 3 hours in the evening, but set really low and with the radiators off in a couple of the rooms.
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My commute is 9 miles, and I am a terrible cyclist (nervous) so I am not going to be comfortable switching to a bike in London. We don't drive, we rarely fly (next week being an exception - we have to fly home to get back from a wedding in time for school), so it's basically the commute that causes most of the issue.
We're pretty careful about food waste, but we do eat out and we eat meat (less than we used to, since we've had various iterations of vegetarians and vegans in our house for the last couple of years). We could switch that down quite a bit, now that my husband is mostly veggie (fish gets a pass).
Seasonal is tricky - son is very picky about food, so we buy some things out of season simply to have things in that we know he will eat. The crap vegan in our house also would not cook the stuff from the organic veg box delivery (to the extent of buying supermarket carrots when we had organic veg box carrots at home).
So in pursuit of not wasting food, I stopped buying the box. It'll come back next month when he has left and that bounces our seasonal food back up again. It's not all local, being Riverford, but they do work to reduce packaging and the carbon cost of shipping etc. and the fact that it lasts for a couple of weeks in the fridge reduces food waste a LOT. We do better on the bigger more varied boxes bought less often than on weekly deliveries of small boxes.
I found the tips on the site a bit useless. Several of them were things we'd already done (light bulbs, green energy provider, etc). We could drop the temperature down a bit in winter - it's generally at 18C-19C because of the amount of hard flooring we have downstairs. Lovely for my allergies. Terrible for the bad circulation in my feet.
Stuff is a problem. I do tend to buy good clothes that last a while, but we also buy more than we should, especially of gadgets. Still, while I have got a new phone this year, it was the first in about 6 years. The laptop got a new motherboard 2 days before the warranty ran out, so it's on 2.5 years and likely to last nearly as long again, unless someone throws lemonade on it again (the reason I bought my last laptop was that I lent its predecessor to the then au pair, who spilled her drink on it).
Like you, I would have to make a sea change to cut down further. I can, but it takes some planning, and time to get things to the point where they would be routine.
Something to think about.
H
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If my niece in Toronto gets married there, I will probably give her the cost of a flight, or else donate it to a cause of her choice. It helps to convey that I really do care, I just care about her future more than her wedding.
If you're a nervous cyclist then recommending an electric bike is not an option - if you're nervous in heavy traffic, then no amount of goodwill can remove those nerves. (and if you're using public transport, then you're ahead of those who drive)
Food is probably the way to go, as you say. Beef is the most important meat to cut out. If you can eat mostly chicken and try more of things like nuts/beans/tofu/etc (which you probably know all about already)
Maybe you need a discussion with your crap vegan about why s/he rejects stuff in veg boxes? I suspect a discussion on food waste, wonky veg and organic farming might help (or might not...) People are so driven by appearance - advertising has a lot to answer for!
Other ways of reducing food waste are to get very cynical about best before dates. I find most things are absolutely fine as long as they've been kept in the fridge. I go by smell now.
I'm getting better on clothing. I think the last new item (as opposed to second-hand) that I bought was last August.
You're very right about planning. No one can do everything at once. It's about building habits into your life, and that doesn't happen overnight.
Stuff is a weakness for me too. I manage to get things like phones and tablets second-hand, but I may find it hard to resist a new bike (partly because the technology is so good...) I must test some older models before I jump for the shiny one. I must...
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But the questions are obviously not universal -- I ticked the "I eat meat with some meals" box, for example, but I've just made soup for two days using one slice of bacon and the left-over juices from a single beefburger (plus various other bits of leftovers; hence the 'I throw no waste food away' rating!)
And although I have double glazing, I've had a window open in most rooms for months (and the heating hasn't been on since the beginning of April, that I've noticed -- it just hasn't been that cold, and I don't run it overnight).
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A lot of people may eat little/no meat, but still throw away cheese that is past the date, veg that are wilted, etc. That's where a lot of the waste comes from.
I never heat my bedrooms, even in winter, so my actual footprint will probably be a bit lower than the calculation. I find that curtains with a thermal lining make a big difference.
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But after all, one does eat blue cheese.
It tasted fine -- it remains to be seen whether I go down with horrible sickness! (I think my insides are pretty tough -- I've only had food poisoning once, and that was from cooked cold meat on a summer picnic, a classic scenario.)
The leftovers soup was extremely good; I had that at lunch time. I think it was the half-beetroot that made all the difference, although you could definitely taste the bacon. Beetroot and pork fat go well together.
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I'm currently looking for a second-hand DVD player.
Re-using goods is far more effective than any other option. I've also got much better at patching and repairing clothes.