Vocal Voices

on BBC1

I do quite enjoy watching shouty TV anyway, but thought this combination programme is actually really good. Admittedly some changes are way out of budget range for the average household (ie changing your regular car to electric / hybrid) but so many of the changes were quite obvious. It did make me think about how much greener I can be. As it is I try avoid plastic as much as I can and by eco detergents etc.... but making one's own cleaning products and storing in glass bottles vs all the plastic bottles - so much better and definitely something to look at.

One area I could be greener in but am not is the dishwasher and my washing machine; because of pet bowls / and pets sleeping on my bed, the dishwasher always runs on the hottest cycle and my bedding (and towels) are always washed at 60degrees and once a month the bedding goes in at 90.

So how green are you / could you be greener?

Not very green I'm afraid.
The BBC may strike a cheery "let's all do our bit to save the planet" routine but what lies ahead may be beyond their ability to nice-ify.

We do recycle, we are sparing with the heating, we don't eat much red meat, we don't own a diesel 4x4. Much like a lot of others really.

I do actually watch it it last night I didn't
I'm like crommers really I do recycle but I'm not very enthusiastic about it
I do tho object about to much plastic wrapping g stuff but then I read about Russia chin and places that don't give a dam about stuff and never will

I missed it Ria, might iPlayer it later We recycle, and I have those reusable cotton bags for fruit and veg, so try to avoid single-use plastic.

Both our cars run on petrol, but we've agreed that the next car will definitely be either hybrid or electric. The family on the corner have a charging doo-dad on their garage wall, so I'm sure we could do the same

I do "get" what you're both saying, Crommers and Saundra, but to me it's a bit like exercising your vote - if you don't, you have no right to complain about how bad things get.

We missed it too Ria. I can't say we think about it too much, but we are careful with our recycling, everything goes it the correct bins.

Exactly the same as Crommers, really.

We do our bit with recycling - but let's face it, all we are doing really is obeying the various diktats from the local authority ......
Mrs O has restarted recycling bread wrappers which we never did before; there is a local Eco-Cafe run by the church wot takes them.
We're also sparing with the heating, but we have to keep a modicum of winter warmth because of various health issues, so it's a trade-off with the cost factor.
We certainly don't eat as much red meat as we used to, but we do have a small amount - goulash in the oven for tonight - basically, we've found our tastes have changed over the years to a more vegetarian diet.
I've never craved a flash motor and we do limit our driving these days due to cost of fuel, now up to 139.9 locally for E10 petrol.
We don't have foreign holidays, admittedly because we can't be tiddled, but how many people out there would preach that we are not doing enough to save the planet, and then happily jet off to Turkey or Marbella? The Harry and Megan Factor, but it applies to everyone, cast the first stone and all that .....

The only thing I might contemplate is putting more solar panels on the roof (we have room for 8 or so, I guess) - not solar thermal which we have, but the ones that generate electricity to feed into the grid. However, I'd require a stonking big grant before contemplating it, and that's down to the Government .

A green meanie here, and one who watched the programme. Shouty indeed!

I religiously recycle. I get giant sized bottles of things like wash-up liquid and household cleaners / disinfectants and then decant them to smaller reusable bottles or sprays. I have been making my own window and glass / shower cleaner for ages. I mostly use dish cloths rather than paper towels. I get bleach tablets and make my own liquid - been using the same glass bottle (Lambrini !.5ltr) for years.

I buy loose fruit and vegetables and put them in some tie-handle plastic bags for weighing. They have been in my heavy duty cotton shopping bags for about three years - the shopping bags are ancient. Before the pandemic I started using the local butcher. He is a bit more expensive than the supermarket, not much though, but the quality is out of this world by comparison. I also use the twice monthly local farmer's market. Spices I get from the Asian supermarket then transfer them to small Mason jars.

My bedding is 100% cotton and most of my clothes are cotton or wool. I did have an eco-ball thing but getting the pellets became a chore so I buy eco-friendly detergents and conditioners. I had never heard of shampoo bars so will look into them.

My heating is only on when I need it. It is on manual and I have a TV type remote to turn it on / off. Once it is up to heat it gets turned off. As the living room and bedroom have large south facing windows I hardly need the heating on in the brighter days of winter. Today it is 24 °C in the living room - 11 °C outside.

If I do get things in plastic containers and think that I can use them for something else I will keep them for a while, if not they get recycled.

I'll get me Halo>>>

I'm not complaining,at all
I'm just doing my bit as to putting the right stuff in right bin
I certainly won't be making own eco friendly stuff in glass bottles and stuff
I do use a local veg shop at times every thing is in paper bags and local butcher but to be honest don't buy a lot of meat only in the winter
Don't think it really bothers many people to be honest there are to many rules sign of the times

That's a point Os.
We haven't had a foreign holiday since 2014, and have only had three in the last fifteen years.

I never watch this stuff, but I can guess what's in them.

My footprint has dropped massively over the last year because I no longer fly every fortnight. We are, however, a family spread to the 4 winds. #2 son, after being rescued from Argentina, is now heading for China to do TESL teaching. His footprint, though, is tiny apart from that flight.

We buy larger containers of detergents and decant them. We recycle everything but that's more about the rules here. We re-use where we can and we have hens who eat a lot of waste that would go to landfill and produce methane.

I replaced my car this year, curtesy of not having to lash out up to £30k in travel and accommodation and only get part back. I looked long and hard but second hand electric is simply not possible. Only the Leaf is in range of my price and that is completely useless for me, as much for the heat when charging/discharging as for the pitiful range, lack of size and mediocre ability for the distances I drive. My car is diesel (euro6 and NOx is negligible as are sooty deposits) and rated at over 60mpg.

Our second car is a 14 year old C3 which is also diesel and does over 60mpg. It went for Control Technique today as we're moving it to French reg. It only had minor issues and will probably keep going for the next 3-5 years so it's footprint becomes lower and lower.

We took a significant decision not to go gas for the CH. That went to a wood burning boiler (30kw, it's huge and weighs close to a ton), which provides as much heat as we could need and we only buy local sustainable wood to burn cut from a local managed cutting by a local Frenchman.

Our electric is fully Nuclear with a power station only 30km away and another half a dozen within 150 miles. Whilst I will probably put in solar panels for my own consumption (pool and other things), it does nothing to save the planet as the carbon footprint is probably equal to anything I could save on such a low CO2 grid.

With Children and grandchildren in England, Scotland and Canada, our travel footprint is hardly likely to be small compared to a family which is all located within 20 miles.

Our local supermarket does a lot of loose veg and paper bags for weighing. We use the paper bags mostly. Our shopping bags are old and extremely well used but they do die in the end. Our house is insulated almost everywhere now. We're on the final 3 rooms which were not completely insulated. When we're finished the house will be fully insulated and double glazed (even the workshop).

My life is not really conducive to an extremely low footprint but it could be a hell of a lot higher without some simple choices.

The one thing I really gripe about is recycling glass bottles. Here wherever we're building up and concreting in we fill with as many bottles as we can get in covered by enough earth to stop them rising. If you are a manic bottle recycler you might as well just get that 4x4 monster fuel guzzler. Because in the UK alone we generate 100 Million Tonnes of CO2 more than just dumping them in the ground and making new glass because of the way we recycle them. Every Single Year. We'd be better just sticking them in the ground but everyone feels so halo like for all the glass they recycle. It fits the message, don't worry if it is the wrong thing to do.