It's been suggested that young people are more environmentally friendly and since we have lots of young members on EC, I thought it would be worth asking the question... how friendly are you to the environment? What do you do, or not do for the environment? How would you rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is not environmentally friendly at all and 10 is an eco warrior. I'd place myself at 6. I know I could do better. What about you?
I'm very cognitive of the environment and let very little to nothing go to waste. If things need to be recycled, I will literally go out of my way to make sure it get's recycled. I live by the 3 R's: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. The University I went to is very green and it might have affected my outlook towards the environment (in a positive light). The only thing I could do better is to unplug things when I'm not using them.
We try to be as friendly as we can, but we could definitely do a lot better. The only thing I can think of at the moment that I do is cut up those plastic 6 pack holders. We used to save up soda cans to recycle, but we switched to bottles and there's no place really to take them. The city does however give away a few recycle bags, as well as sell them at virtually every store in town. So we try to keep those in the house. But on a scale of 1-10 I would put us at about an embarrassing 3. We're way too lazy when it comes to things like this. Basically I need to take my head out of my ass and start doing my part.
We recycle anything that the city lets us, and take plastic bags to our local target, which has a bin specifically for recycling plastic bags. We also have a geothermal heating/AC system.
I don't think I'm that good at it. I'm environmentally conscious, but not friendly. I recycle and compost whenever possible, turn stuff when not using them and am too poor for AC or to fly places. But I do a shit ton of bad things - drive by myself everyday to school, have long showers (Canadians are appearently one of the most wasteful countries when it comes to water -yay!), eat meat and am a kinda wasteful food wise. Oh well :/
7/10. I recycle nowadays thanks to my dorm having recycle bins on every floor, I normally turn the lights off in my room unless I'm only going to be gone for a minute or two, I never leave my garbage outside anywhere and just carry it with me until I can at the very least find a trash can, and I don't drive a car (I don't have a license yet but even if I did, everything I need is within about a 10-minute walking distance so I would still hardly ever drive).
Pretty environmentally friendly, probably around a 7. In our household we barely ever have the heating on (jumpers and blankets forever), we're vegetarians and we buy British fruit and veg, and recycle whenever possible. We don't buy new smartphones and stuff. My parents cycle to work, I cycle to school and my brother walks to school. There's probably more I can do, but I think I'm doing quite well.
I used to beg my parents to recycle years before everyone had to. I go to a green university who are very environmentally friendly they have banned cardboard cups and disposable plastic bottles from many of the buildings on campus. The student accomadation I live in has a recycling bin in every apartment and people actually use them. I could be more environmentally friendly but every little helps.
Well, I take public transportation, I use reusable water bottles most of the time, but other then that, I'm not anywhere near where I should be. Being a practioner of an nature-based religion, that is especially embarrassing.
I guess on a scale of 1-10 I'd rate somewhere around a 6. It's hard to say, as I don't know how far people might be able to take things in either extreme. That said.... I refuse to litter under any circumstances. I recycle always (including electronics, etc... which have to be dropped off at a separate recycle location), reuse and re-purpose when able/safe to do so. I use a Brita filtered water pitcher and reusable water bottles rather than buying water bottles that have to go in the trash. I take public transportation when able, and I drive a Prius, which I keep in good running condition with regular maintenance. I'm careful about what waste goes down my drains. I prefer to use natural cleaning methods over chemicals, and try to choose economically friendly cleaning chemicals when possible. My one exception to this is bleach, which I deem sometimes necessary for disinfectant purposes (such as cleaning up chicken blood/juices, for example).
I can't really put a number on it, but I recycle anything I can, plus I take the bus a lot to avoid driving and adding to pollution.
