Monday, May 28, 2007
On this day:

What am I doing to save the planet?

What I'm doing that's helping the planet

  1. I don't own a car. If I were to buy a car tomorrow, it would be a hybrid.
  2. I ride my bike or walk almost every where I go. I use transit the rest of the time.
  3. I recycle as much as I can, although Melbourne's facilities for recycling aren't a patch on Vancouver's.
  4. I try to buy only free-range or organic animal products.
  5. I keep a bucket in the shower and then use the contents of the bucket to water the garden. This is the legal requirement for garden watering here in Victoria right now.
  6. I take my own shopping bags with me when I buy groceries.
  7. I air dry my laundry.
  8. Most of my appliances are considered energy efficient for their type.
  9. There's a lady at work who has a desk fan on most of the time, despite the fact that we have A/C. She leaves the fan on all day, even when she's not at her desk. I turn it off when I see it blowing air at an empty desk.
  10. My boss leaves her computer and monitor on 24/7. I turn it off whenever I get the chance.
  11. We don't have A/C at home.
  12. I turn the water off when lathering with soap while hand washing. I do this at least 20 times a day because I have to wash my hands a lot.
  13. If I'm running the tap waiting for the water to turn hot or cold, I use the water to fill the kettle or similar.


What I'm doing that's not helping the planet
  1. My showers are too long. I've tried to cut down, but simply cannot figure out how to get wet, shampoo, condition, wash with soap and rinse off in under 10 mins.
  2. I still use incandescent light globes, because they are cheaper and I have been reluctant to invest in expensive globes for a house that I don't own and will probably move out of soon. Although Australia is phasing out incandescent globes by the end of the year, so soon I will have no choice.
  3. We don't have solar water heating, but then we don't own the house. If I bought a house tomorrow I would more than likely install solar heating.

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4 Comments:

At 5:46 pm, May 28, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, arent you just tops.

I wish we could say the same for ourselves. It seems that living in Hong Kong is not conducive to planet-saving behaviour. We don't own a car but, juding by the plooms of black smoke that come out the back of the buses we ride on, I'm not sure if that helps out at all. We sleep with the AC on (no sleep to be had otherwise, especially when pregnant); we don't recycle because there is no facility for recycling in our apartment building; we don't own the good type of light bulbs (I get the feeling my light bulb usage is a drop in the ocean given that I have to get extra thick curtains to block out the city lights)... I could go on. Yesterday we got really excited because we could see the other side of HK harbour without the usual fog of pollution preventing us, but today it is back...Occasionally the government gets an initiative to plant the odd tree by a roadside, but that idea gets shot down by unhappy shopkeepers who don't want a tree blocking their customers. Its a sad state of affairs. I just hope the rest of the world (i.e., you Sarah) continues to take up our slack.

 
At 5:58 am, May 30, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Sarah,

Nice work on the environment, I plan to offset my carbon usage flying to your wedding by ... ummm ... ummm ... gee ...

...

...

You know the funny thing about puppies is that they are just so darn cute!

ok, well now that I avoided that awkward situation, I can't find your wedding website, but I found this one!

So could you email it to me again?

Cheers,

Blair

P.S. This was more fun than a normal email and less carbon intensive. I think. :)

 
At 7:35 am, May 30, 2007, Blogger Sarah said...

How many trees do you have to plant to offset the carbon emissions of a trans-Pacific flight?

I'm going to have to open my own National Park to offset the carbon emissions from flights getting guests to my wedding.

 
At 7:37 am, May 30, 2007, Blogger Sarah said...

Maybe everyone can just ride a bike or paddle a canoe to the wedding... leave now or you'll never make it in time

 

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