4 ms·

Its all still greenwashing. "You can save the world without even getting up from your chouch!" is the sales pitch of the day. I'm far from what you'd consider a

Its all still greenwashing. "You can save the world without even getting up from your chouch!" is the sales pitch of the day. I'm far from what you'd consider an environmentalist in the sense of the current vernacular and I have a ridiculously low carbon footprint (my electric bill 9 months out of the year is $2 a month to give you an idea) and very low rate of disposal of plastics. All it takes is a handful of lifestyle changes. It's not even hard.

mangodrunk 3y ago
> All it takes is a handful of lifestyle changes. Please share these handful of lifestyle changes.
- friend_and_foe 3y ago
  Don't buy bottled water, don't use disposable grocery bags, buy things in glass over plastic containers, and cook your own food. Those small changes alone will reduce your plastic disposal by like 90%.
okeuro49 3y ago
> All it takes is a handful of lifestyle changes I don't think this for a second. I think the only way it will stop if equivalent biodegradable materials can be made to replace single use plastic.
- simiones 3y ago
  One important note here is that one of the reasons we use plastic so much is because it is not biodegradable. Any material that would replace plastic packaging, for example, has to at least be less biodegradable than the contents itself. For food that's probably relatively easy, but less so for many other items.
- friend_and_foe 3y ago
  This is an apathetic mindset and is part of the problem. "I can't do anything! The whole world has to change or it can't be done!" It's not healthy to disempower yourself with respect to your own life. I do it, so it can be done. Everyone will be different everyone has tolerances, but it can be done. People make the problem larger than life so that they have am excuse not to do anything. The only thing you can change is your own behavior.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
mailund 3y ago
I'd be super interested to hear what steps you are taking to have such an electricity bill!
- nnf 3y ago
  I have similarly low electric bills for much of the year by way of solar panels and Powerwalls. The solar power is enough to power the whole house (with all electric HVAC & appliances, and no natural gas), charge the batteries, charge the car, and export the excess to the grid. Most nights the batteries supply enough power to make it through the night, even with the A/C or heat running intermittently. Only when the batteries are drained to their reserve limit do we have to import electricity from the grid, which we sometimes go for days without having to do.
  - bzzzt 3y ago
    So your 'easy step' is to live in a place where this is possible? Is the entire world welcome to live next to you?
    - nnf 3y ago
      I’m not the GP, I was just pitching in to answer the question about how electric bills can be that low.
    - friend_and_foe 3y ago
      Not who youre responding to (but probably who you thought you were responding to) but where I live is not Hawaii or the pacific northwest, it's not all roses. It gets hot and it gets cold, not Montana cold and not Arizona hot but still a bit extreme. And very, very humid. There's always a reason to say you can't do it, but I do what I can and if it's important to you you can too. It's a change in habit and lifestyle, that's all. Live lighter and don't rely on comfort like you'll die without it.
      - bzzzt 3y ago
        > Live lighter and don't rely on comfort like you'll die without it. While for some people it's a comfort issue there are lots of people that will literally die without cooling during heatwaves. Besides that, you can't expect people to be productive (especially in jobs where you're supposed to make use of your brain) when they are slowly cooked in a hot office.
guerrilla 3y ago
> my electric bill 9 months out of the year is $2 a month to give you an idea How do you do that? I can't get mine under 20EUR/month. Do you never cook at home?
- friend_and_foe 3y ago
  I answered it above, but I almost always cook at home. I use gas though, so maybe not fair comparison since heating elements draw a lot of power. Through 9 months out of the year I probably use $50 worth of gas strictly for cooking, so still lower in cost in the end than you're doing, but I'd say if you're cooking on an induction stove and living in a larger space than me you're doing pretty good at €20 a month. You could probably do a little better, I don't know if you have a TV or a desktop PC or a lot of little electronics plugged in taking phantom draw (I have none of those things), or what your electric rates are, how big of a refrigerator you have, etc. €20 is really good for almost anyone.

mangodrunk 3y ago

> All it takes is a handful of lifestyle changes. Please share these handful of lifestyle changes.

friend_and_foe 3y ago
Don't buy bottled water, don't use disposable grocery bags, buy things in glass over plastic containers, and cook your own food. Those small changes alone will reduce your plastic disposal by like 90%.

okeuro49 3y ago

> All it takes is a handful of lifestyle changes I don't think this for a second. I think the only way it will stop if equivalent biodegradable materials can be made to replace single use plastic.

simiones 3y ago
One important note here is that one of the reasons we use plastic so much is because it is not biodegradable. Any material that would replace plastic packaging, for example, has to at least be less biodegradable than the contents itself. For food that's probably relatively easy, but less so for many other items.
friend_and_foe 3y ago
This is an apathetic mindset and is part of the problem. "I can't do anything! The whole world has to change or it can't be done!" It's not healthy to disempower yourself with respect to your own life. I do it, so it can be done. Everyone will be different everyone has tolerances, but it can be done. People make the problem larger than life so that they have am excuse not to do anything. The only thing you can change is your own behavior.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

mailund 3y ago

I'd be super interested to hear what steps you are taking to have such an electricity bill!

nnf 3y ago
I have similarly low electric bills for much of the year by way of solar panels and Powerwalls. The solar power is enough to power the whole house (with all electric HVAC & appliances, and no natural gas), charge the batteries, charge the car, and export the excess to the grid. Most nights the batteries supply enough power to make it through the night, even with the A/C or heat running intermittently. Only when the batteries are drained to their reserve limit do we have to import electricity from the grid, which we sometimes go for days without having to do.
- bzzzt 3y ago
  So your 'easy step' is to live in a place where this is possible? Is the entire world welcome to live next to you?
  - nnf 3y ago
    I’m not the GP, I was just pitching in to answer the question about how electric bills can be that low.
  - friend_and_foe 3y ago
    Not who youre responding to (but probably who you thought you were responding to) but where I live is not Hawaii or the pacific northwest, it's not all roses. It gets hot and it gets cold, not Montana cold and not Arizona hot but still a bit extreme. And very, very humid. There's always a reason to say you can't do it, but I do what I can and if it's important to you you can too. It's a change in habit and lifestyle, that's all. Live lighter and don't rely on comfort like you'll die without it.
    - bzzzt 3y ago
      > Live lighter and don't rely on comfort like you'll die without it. While for some people it's a comfort issue there are lots of people that will literally die without cooling during heatwaves. Besides that, you can't expect people to be productive (especially in jobs where you're supposed to make use of your brain) when they are slowly cooked in a hot office.

guerrilla 3y ago

> my electric bill 9 months out of the year is $2 a month to give you an idea How do you do that? I can't get mine under 20EUR/month. Do you never cook at home?

friend_and_foe 3y ago
I answered it above, but I almost always cook at home. I use gas though, so maybe not fair comparison since heating elements draw a lot of power. Through 9 months out of the year I probably use $50 worth of gas strictly for cooking, so still lower in cost in the end than you're doing, but I'd say if you're cooking on an induction stove and living in a larger space than me you're doing pretty good at €20 a month. You could probably do a little better, I don't know if you have a TV or a desktop PC or a lot of little electronics plugged in taking phantom draw (I have none of those things), or what your electric rates are, how big of a refrigerator you have, etc. €20 is really good for almost anyone.