I think I walk the walk on this one. Pun intented.

I definitely do whatever I can, although I could do more with some sacrifices such as transportation.

I wish I could afford an alternative energy vehicle, or solar heating etc...

I'm truly hoping that these options will become more affordable.

I know some people who run their 4x4's on used chip fat from the local chip shops and take aways in the area. Maybe you could look into that.

I am glad to see most people on VB at this level in blue currently at=56 77.78% (or at least the recycling -etc- one below it in yellow midway up) So blue resonates well in the charts and in our conscience. If true and accurate, this is good... Good that we where we are actively thinking AND doing stuff for the environment, what shapes us all... That is by hopefully incorporating into the very structure of our lives the Whole Earth within us as that is the thing that made us.. We come from soil, we come from the stars.

People can deny the idea of global warming all they want, but as the climate changes so do the weather patterns...and I have witnessed a MASSIVE change in that where I live in just the last 28 years or so. When I was a little girl we would get snow pretty much from November till mid March, sometimes light, but for the most part it was the big, gorgeous, drifting, snowbank making storms. Now we're lucky if we have 3 or 4 major snowfalls in a season...and usually they don't even start until mid January. Just take a look at the weather, compare the differences between now and 30 years ago...then come back and tell me that the climate isn't changing.



Sorry, but if people really paid attention to the world around them they would see the changes...but such is the self-centered nature of the majority of human beings.

I'm not challenging the veracity of your statistic, but am curious where you got it. DO you remember?

I used to just do my recycling bit....but I think I've moved up the scale somewhat. Recently I've become kind of freaky about plastic bags....and unnecessary plastics in general. When a local farmers market forced me to take plastic bags i didn't want or need...I had my own bag, I wrote a letter to their management and attached info about environmental impact. I also stopped going to that market and took my business to a market that allows me to use my own bags.



I suppose in my own way I've become an activist...and frankly I'm quite concerned. Read an article about the ill effects that are coming to the Cloud Forrest in Chille just yesterday in The Smithsonian magazine. I don't think people really understand how important it is for us to change habits.



B

lol jamer....I'm sure you can afford a bicycle (alternative energy vehicle). Just kidding, don't know how far you are from your job or if that is feasible for you.

"veracity" is good word Savannah, heh.

oh, man, I thought the people with the most skin moles would BE the overlords. Better go get the scary-looking ones removed after all...

I GET SO ANGRY at some of the things I see people doing on an everyday basis like dropping litter (my pet hate!), not bothering to recycle their rubbish, not re-using plastic bags etc. There are some days when I feel quite depressed cause I feel like I'm the only person in my area who cares at all and I'm trying desperately to make up for everyone else's ignorance. I don't understand why people can't do the simple things to make a difference. How hard is it to take your own shopping bags to the supermarket? AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!!

That is sad isn't it supersonic....I mean, there's so much information out there now that it really is inexcusable for people not to recycle...for people to keep driving gas guzzlers without any sort of understanding of what they're doing. I was talking to a friend about this subject...about national appathy on issues such as the war or global warming. People have enough information to make a difference, but then they don't. IT's really incredible isn't it? I sometimes wonder who we are waiting for to fix it. It doesn't make sense that folks could be SO VERY aware of the problems we face and still choose to do nothing. It's like you know your going to drive off the cliff and you have some time to save yourself but say....eahhhhh....I'll just keep driving towards the cliff.....perhaps when I fall I'll land on something soft.



Really, I do not get it.



B

I don't get it either. When I go to the very limited recycling place in my area, I see only a handful of senior citizens - nobody under 60 other than me. I suppose they're hoping to leave the planet in decent shape for their grandchildren.



The driving toward the cliff analogy is interesting but I think the drivers are assuming the cliff is a long way off and they'll be dead before they reach it.

It's amazing how many people assume that the real problems are way off and they'll be dead by then. Even if this is true that doesn't make it right...

No it doesn't make it right at all!



There are so many problems in the world and it's like 90% of the people on this planet just don't care. They live in their own little bubbles and don't see the bigger picture. They don't care that people are starving in the world or that animals are facing extinction or that climate change is actually killing people right now (droughts and floods) because it's not happening to them - YET! They continue to commute to work every day in their big jeeps without a care in the world!



I am so depressed about the fact that people don't care. Someone cheer me up please!

It does get kinda depressing when you think about sometimes...

I know...I have a neighbor with whom I've been having this very arguement via email. I finally had to stop talking to her because I realized neither one of us were going to chang our opinions of the other. She just keeps buying stuff. Shopping. They each drive an suv every day...not the economical kind either. They have a third car parked in front of the house. Every morning I go out and the lawn is being watered. Their daughter has every plastic toy that comes out that she wants. Quite literally....a toyroom full of nothing but plastic. TVs....two downstairs.



The house had been recently remodeled before they moved in....particularly the kitchen. They moved in and not a month later had everything ripped out of the kitchen and were remodeling the just remodeled kitchen, with all the ripped out cabinets laying in the front yard. Finally they were carted off by the workers and hopefully reused...I hope because they were new. What is this? It's as if people must have everything they want....right now. And then what? I don't understand this grasping, desperate need to have so much. The planet is choking under the weight of our desperate greed. It's breathtaking really....the scope of the damage being done every day...every minute.



B

I remember at few months after I graduated college and friend of my parents' and his daughter kept asking me why hadn't I bought a new car "yet"... I kept saying "because I don't need one" (at the time my car was only 6 years old). It was weird they just kept asking me over and over again everytime I saw them.



Why can't people understand that just because you can afford something doesn't mean you need it?

I keep getting that as well. My car is 7 years old. I have owned it for 6 of those years and it has NEVER let me down. Yet people keep asking me when I'm going to "upgrade" to a newer bigger car. Admittedly my car is small but I don't need a big car. Actually I'm debating whether I need a car at all at the moment. I commute to work by bus and my car only gets taken out to do the food shopping once a week.



I find it insane how people keep buying new stuff too. I have friends who buy new clothes every single month even though they don't need any new clothes. All I can say is I hope they give the old ones to charity. Every week you see people out shopping buying more and more material things that they probably don't need. I prefer the old fashioned way of waiting until something wears out before replacing it. Most people don't think that way though.

My car is about 8 years old now. It does have some problems. In September I'm giving it to my brother who has the mechanical knowhow to fix whatevers wrong with it. That way he can get a "new" vehicle without having to buy it. I will be going without a car. I take the train and ride my bike or the bus to get to work. I live in a city now so I really don't need a car. For me it's really a waste of money & space. When I tell people my plan the usual reaction is "But you need a car".

Yup know exactly how you feel. People just seem too lazy or just choose to bury their heads in the sand and ignore the damage they are doing to the Earth and their own environment.



Its one of the things that really get to me too.

I'm trying to go green by changing things in my everyday life (i.e. I take short showers instead of long baths, I'm dropping dairy and eggs, I'm recycling more paper and plastic). Little steps really do make a diffference.

We are trying to do our part for the environment. We recycle; we are changing over to CFL light bulbs; we have installed more efficient windows in our house and got a new more efficient window AC unit (these 2 home improvements have helped our electric bill quite a lot). We take part in online activism for the planet. I hope to be able to do more if we can afford it; like a hybrid vehicle and solar panels. I also hope to have a veggie garden in the near future.

I don't exactly believe in global warming, but I do think we need to reduce pollution and waste and be more energy efficient.



I used to live in Indonesia on Java, and the pollution there is horrible. The only clean part I can remember was the rain forest (which, by the way, is absolutely gorgeous!). I also remember the ocean surrounding Java was a dirty brown color, but farther away from the island, the waters were the normal blue.



Once you live in a place like that, you realize how important it is to take care of your environment. It makes you understand that this is not just someone else's problem or something someone else should worry about; it's everyone's problem, and you should be worried about it.

It's funny, I haven't been here for ages. Before I started working for Greenpeace I always skipped over the entire environmental forum, but today this was the first place I went.

I had to put down option number two, but I'm a member of Greenpeace, does that count?

I spend so much time thinking about environmental issues now that it touches every area of my life. And I am extremely concerned about climate change.

Do any of you know what phantom power , also known as vampire power is? If not check it out. For example, if we all just unplugged our cell phone chargers when not in use we could probably save enough electricity to power a whole city block for one year or more!!! When you buy an electrical device like say a new T.V. don't just look at the size of the screen check out how much power it consumes instead and compare it with another brands power consumption. There are many LITTLE ways that we can save BIG on if we just take the time to read the amperage or wattage consumption of our appliances.

I am not so sure if this is still true with today's engines but at one point in recent history it was cheaper (ie used less gas) to leave your car running for 10-20 minutes than it was to turn off and restart your engine.



Also an engine running at operating tempatures and idling would cause less pollution than starting an engine and getting it back up to operating temps.



I will admit there have been a lot of advancements in emissions control and engine operating controls since I learned that little tidbit, but the general premise is still sound.

If the above was still true, why did Toyota design the Prius so the motor shuts down every time you stop; even briefly?

So every time you stop at a light or stop sign, the motor shuts down? Thanks for the tidbit. I'll remember not to get behind one when I'm running late.



But anyway, I have heard exactly what HJ just said about idling versus restarting.

The Prius is a hybrid. It also has electric power, which is instantly available.

I'm told that the motor cutting out takes a bit of getting used to!