How "Green" are you?

[625]

Just curious how extreme some of you are. I don't consider my self really that green, but compared to some I guess I am. It's not really a choice I consciously make, but I view it as common sense, courtesy to future generations, and cost cutting.

I drive a Honda Civic, but that's merely because I'd like to spend money on other things and it's a practical car to drive since my commute involves a lot of heavy traffic and stop-and-go movement. I have a Mustang that I'm selling because I really don't want to spend the money on it to get it where I'd be happy with it. Also, it's not really fun to drive it around where I live. Too much congestion. Also, I don't race anymore. Now that Thunderbolt Raceway over in Jersey has opened, I will probably do so in the next year or two. Carts at the very least.

I have many CFL bulbs in my house simply because they are cheaper to run.

We replaced our washer and dryer with high efficiency front loaders because they will be cheaper to run over their lifetimes, they are easier to load and unload, and they seem to wash clothes better than the top load style. That, and the old ones were really old, noisy, and sucked at washing and drying.

We keep our house pretty cool in the winter, but that's mainly because oil is expensive and we like it cool. Keeping it cool gets expensive in the summer though, but I recently installed a couple ceiling fans, so that helps. By cool, I mean 74-75 when we are home in the summer. Winter, it's in the mid 60's.

We recycle since our township provides bins and they take everything (single stream) in one bin. I don't know if I would bother if I lived somewhere that didn't provide that service. I would at least keep aluminum cans to turn in for $. From a practical standpoint, it seems like a waste not to recycle at least a little.

I can't say I do anything that I would call extreme like reclaiming rainwater, not flushing the toilet unless I take a crap, using reusable bags for shopping, etc. We throw a lot of those stupid bags away, so that's actually something I might consider. We do reuse many of them as trash bags, though.

My wife and I take our lunches to work. This saves money and creates a lot less trash.

So what do you do, and are you doing anything that some might think is extreme?

[Dredly]

The usual... cfl light bulbs, turn off stuff when not in use...

I work from home so limited gas bills...

I'd love to get off the grid but its nowhere near affordable at this point

[edstephan]

That's an interesting question.
First off my wife and I grow most of our food, Corn, Green Beans, Peas, Cabbage, Onions, Potatoes, Garlic, Carrots, Cucumbers, etc... We also have a small orchard started with Plums, Pears, Peaches, Nectarines, Sweet and Pie Cherries, and 7 varieties of Apples. We also raise our own Pork and Beef. We put up at least a years supply of food and always have at least 3yrs on hand to support 6 people.
We have our own Gas Well so there is no cost for heat and cooking and a bit of revenue.
If we run the generator which is attached to the gas well no cost for electricity but it doesn’t run unless we lose power. We try to use as little disposable products as possible because we limit ourselves to minimize the amount the trash we generate.
We have our well water and our own septic so we are reliant on the Government for as little as possible. To find the place we wanted it took 10yrs of planning, 2years to find the right property and have spent the last 9yrs to implement.
We even found a township that has no building codes and we build what we want without asking Government permission.
We don’t throw away the plastic bags we get from the stores but either give them to several small markets or us them when we donate surplus food to the food bank.

I don’t look at what is “Green” I look at what is most cost effective and efficient.

My question is what constitutes “Green”
Your CFL light bulbs are not “Green” they are energy efficient. When they burn out how do you dispose of them?? They have Mercury in them and IS highly toxic. In the late 70’s to early 90’s there was a big stink about Lead and Mercury in landfills.
If you really want to be “Green” then get the new LED light bulbs that are not cost effective (about $17.00 each) but very energy efficient. And non-toxic as all they have is a bit of metals and silicone. It will only take 5 years for a return on investment. Oh, by the way they are not as bright as incandescent or CFL light bulbs.
If you want see alot of “Green” http://www.estephan.net/home/
Ed

[625]

First off my wife and I grow most of our food, Corn, Green Beans, Peas, Cabbage, Onions, Potatoes, Garlic, Carrots, Cucumbers, etc... We also have a small orchard started with Plums, Pears, Peaches, Nectarines, Sweet and Pie Cherries, and 7 varieties of Apples. We also raise our own Pork and Beef. We put up at least a years supply of food and always have at least 3yrs on hand to support 6 people.
We have our own Gas Well so there is no cost for heat and cooking and a bit of revenue.
If we run the generator which is attached to the gas well no cost for electricity but it doesn’t run unless we lose power.

That is fantastic! I'm very jealous.

Your CFL light bulbs are not “Green” they are energy efficient. When they burn out how do you dispose of them??

Good point, but some places do recycle them. Obviously, more of them need to be recycled. Also, they still contribute less mercury polution than standard incandescent bulbs because they use far less power. We get the majority of our electricity from coal burning power plants, and they are the biggest source of mercury polution in the air.

[Scallywag]

We started going down the CFL route BUT a big problem with them is that they don't work with dimmer switches. And that's a problem because our house is full of dimmers. One day we'll make the switch to LEDs but I share concerns that they're not as bright.

We've also toyed with the idea of going solar for electricity, heat, hot water or both. There's a decent return on investment for them if you take the long-term view and if you've got the cash. I know some places buy back your unused power and you get a few $$$ back that way plus tax breaks. But I think we'll hold off for a few years just because my reading of the scientific literature points to some much more efficient technologies emerging, and I'd rather wait and get it right. Tempting to be off the grid, though.

We also recycle as much as possible, compost vegetable waste (and use it to grow our own veggies), but it's still scary how much goes into the trash.

Short answer: "Not as green as I would like to be"

[Montell C. Williams]

I'm as green as the law demands, almost anyway. I don't litter or dump out in the woods though.

[knighthawk06699]

Yeah I don't litter or anything like that but that is as far as it goes. I find the entire green movement to be total shit. It is a money making scheme, most of the leaders of this movement are such hypocrites. They buy their carbon credits form companies that they own like Al Gore (you know they guy who created the internet) Al Gore captain green movement himself used an astronomical amount of electricity last year, just himself alone. Some one wins an Oscar and all the sudden they are the next Messiah and are saving the planet single handedly. When they are in fact more wastefull than most folks. Penn and Teller did a Bullshit episode on the green movement, check it out, it was very enlightening!!! BTW global woraming is a theory folks, there is no fact behind it just a theory.

[dc dalton]

We are probably the "greenest" people we know for one simple fact, we BOTH work out of our house, no commute at all. We also avoid those "one hit trips" to the store whenever possible to save gas. We always try and hit everywhere we can in one trip.

We also do the high efficiency bulbs, grow our own veggies and since I'm so damn tight with a dollar I'm more prone than not to run around shutting off lights and things that aren't needed.

We also recycle everything we can (except paper because we have to drive 15 miles to get rid of that) and supposedly she is going to start composting here soon.

[PocketProtector]

Yeah I don't litter or anything like that but that is as far as it goes. I find the entire green movement to be total shit. It is a money making scheme, most of the leaders of this movement are such hypocrites. They buy their carbon credits form companies that they own like Al Gore (you know they guy who created the internet) Al Gore captain green movement himself used an astronomical amount of electricity last year, just himself alone. Some one wins an Oscar and all the sudden they are the next Messiah and are saving the planet single handedly. When they are in fact more wastefull than most folks. Penn and Teller did a Bullshit episode on the green movement, check it out, it was very enlightening!!! BTW global woraming is a theory folks, there is no fact behind it just a theory.

+1 to that and +1 to Ed re:cfl bulbs
oh....and I love driving my Chevy Avalanche too!!

[625]

Yeah I don't litter or anything like that but that is as far as it goes. I find the entire green movement to be total shit. It is a money making scheme, most of the leaders of this movement are such hypocrites. They buy their carbon credits form companies that they own like Al Gore (you know they guy who created the internet) Al Gore captain green movement himself used an astronomical amount of electricity last year, just himself alone. Some one wins an Oscar and all the sudden they are the next Messiah and are saving the planet single handedly. When they are in fact more wastefull than most folks. Penn and Teller did a Bullshit episode on the green movement, check it out, it was very enlightening!!! BTW global woraming is a theory folks, there is no fact behind it just a theory.

The Green Movement

Total shit? No. Mostly? Yes. I really didn't want to get too side-tracked on the lefty "movement" aspect of being green and forcing others to be green. This thread was created to see what you guys do to conserve and recycle. If you want to set a gallon of gas on fire in your driveway, go for it. There is reasonable conservation, and there is extremist conservation.

And please, let's try not to discuss the obvious hypocrites like Gore and global warming. Please?