COVID green living wins/losses

[VillainV]

I have worked SO HARD to make some green substitutions this year and I feel like COVID has derailed me a little bit. I figured this might be a good opportunity to share our wins/losses and exchange tips and tricks for dealing with COVID in a greener way.

Wins:
- Packing lunch every day and not eating out, making good use of my bento boxes and silicone baggies
- Got a bidet attachment for our master bedroom toilet and we have reduced our TP consumption by about 50%
- Using less has because we mostly aren’t going anywhere (I still drive to work nearly every day)

Losses:
- Using LOTS of wipes and paper towels to clean stuff.
-Using LOTS of tissues (we wrap the dirty ones in a clean one to dispose of them)
- At home more means we are using more electricity on lights and AC (it’s been hot in FL)

[cattledogkisses]

I’ve been thinking about the myriad impacts this will have on the environment. Our grocery store isn’t allowing people to use reuseable bags right now. We were supposed enact a plastic bag ban next month, but I’m assuming that’s postponed.

[msmerymac]

I've gone back to using my cloth napkins to conserve paper.

I have less food waste, as most things I have are designed to keep for a long time, and I'm more careful about meal planning. I'm also far less likely (read: not at all likely) to run to the store to grab one item I need just for one recipe. 

Very, very little driving. 

[mrsukyankee]

Mar 31, 2020 15:38:17 GMT -5 cattledogkisses said:

I’ve been thinking about the myriad impacts this will have on the environment. Our grocery store isn’t allowing people to use reuseable bags right now. We were supposed enact a plastic bag ban next month, but I’m assuming that’s postponed.

Have they said why people can't use reuseable bags?

[centralsquare]

Mar 31, 2020 15:56:09 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

Mar 31, 2020 15:38:17 GMT -5 cattledogkisses said:

I’ve been thinking about the myriad impacts this will have on the environment. Our grocery store isn’t allowing people to use reuseable bags right now. We were supposed enact a plastic bag ban next month, but I’m assuming that’s postponed.

Have they said why people can't use reuseable bags?

It’s primarily bullshit from the plastic lobby. www.greenpeace.org/usa/how-the-plastic-industry-is-exploiting-anxiety-about-covid-19/

[wanderingback]

I've been thinking about this and I've been actually doing very well.
I mean maybe I'll die from covid due to my efforts, but so far I feel pretty good

Drawbacks:
Compost stopped collecting. I have a large bag of scraps in my freezer, but I've run out of room and don't just want to store scraps indefinitely, so I've just been throwing them away and it kills me every time!
More laundry - typically would wait to fill up a load and not do laundry for up to 2 weeks, but I'm striping down straight when I get home from work, putting them straight in washing machine and washing clothes a few days at a time

Continued wins:
No paper towel use in the house
Continue to use reusable shopping bags and actually haven't even used any paper bags at all since my trips are always planned now and I'm not just popping in the grocery store on the way home from being out with friends for example
Haven't drank bottle water since last summer
Not using plastic for my fruits and vegetables. I just wash them really well when I get home.
Not shopping online/getting any extra packaging

[VillainV]

Mar 31, 2020 15:56:09 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

Mar 31, 2020 15:38:17 GMT -5 cattledogkisses said:

I’ve been thinking about the myriad impacts this will have on the environment. Our grocery store isn’t allowing people to use reuseable bags right now. We were supposed enact a plastic bag ban next month, but I’m assuming that’s postponed.

Have they said why people can't use reuseable bags?

Target allowed me to use reusable bags a few days ago but I had to bag everything myself (the cashier wouldn’t handle my bags). Our target doesn’t have a self-checkout lane.

[juliachild]

Wins:
-less driving. I had already stopped driving to work because my commute is walkable. But now H doesn't drive either.
-less food waste. We are motivated to save as much food as possible with the shortages. Plus very limited take out options.
-less online ordering/ shopping in general
Losses:
-more energy consumption at home.
-no reusable bags. But we opt for paper bags that we do end up reusing.


I'm hopeful that long term, companies will see the fisability of more wfh and it will have an impact on car usage overall.

[TBM]

Wins-
We finally installed the bidet attachment that I bought over 6 months ago.

We are doing better about not letting produce go bad, which also means that we are eating better.

I bought a couple dozen handkerchiefs, so we have been trying to use those so that we can save tissues for if/when someone is sick. I think it will take some time for DH to remember, but just getting them into the house is a start.

I'm not sure about losses.
I guess the fact that we have used wipes at all is the only thing. We are pretty strong believers in reusable/washable cloth, and have a pretty good supply. We are probably using them are a faster rate than usual, but I don't think we are doing more loads of laundry... just larger loads.

[lemoncupcake]

Wins - less driving, less unnecessary consumerism, more time to garden

Losses - extra packaging from groceries (no reusable produce bags for curbside orders, prepackaged veggies, no bulk bin items/more packaged items), ridiculous waste from big take out orders and harsher chemicals/cleaning stuff than usual. More energy/water use at home as well.

[AJL]

Wins -
- Less driving
- Less eating out
- Using less electric light (we have lots of windows so I don't turn lights on until dusk)
- Less shopping in general. Having to make do with what I have (so lots of sewing!)
- Lots of biking and walking

I order for curbside pick-up and my groceries come in paper bags. We've been reusing the bags for crafts.

Losses -
- Our energy usage will go up as it gets warmer. A/C is non-negotiable here.
- If we have to continue to physically distance that means no going to our neighborhood pool to stay cool.

[meltoine]

When I put the trash out last night I noticed we only had one bag, when we usually have 2-3. I've been thinking about what different and I guess it's that we're not shopping for anything discretionary at all (only food), focusing really hard on not wasting food/making what we have last, and no take out/delivery.

We're not driving anywhere. I haven't started my car since last Tuesday. H drove today for the first time since....2 weekends ago? to go get his COVID swab.

I'm finishing I bunch of half-done knitting, crocheting, and sewing projects in lieu of buying supplies for new projects. I'm also working on altering some clothes I really like that don't fit any more.

I've been cleaning like normal with reusable rags and then spraying Lysol over surfaces to disinfect, so not really using any extra paper towels.

[fuckyourcouch]

Wins:
Almost no food waste - although our compost is still collecting every other week so we are doing really well with that too.
No driving, at all. I’m gonna have to take my car for a drive sometime soon to make sure the battery doesn’t die, etc.
No take out waste - not getting coffees, fast food, etc that inevitably ends up with to go trash.

Losses:
A ton more wipes/cleaning trash. We typically don’t use hardly any, and compost paper towels.
A lot more packaging waste - we are having to order a ton because I’m immunocompromised.
A lot more electricity and water use, since we are both WFH. although I suppose that it’s still less than both of our office buildings, which are shut down. So maybe a win?

[sillygoosegirl]

The loss that is most bugging me the most right now is that we can't do as much to try to prevent the local freeway expansion. I fear that there is additional pressure on policy makers to move the project forward, because jobs, but seriously, it's a bad project in every way... it was before, and in light of so many employers having discovered overnight that they actually can let people telecommute, I think it's even more unnecessary now than before.

[StrawberryBlondie]

We're doing very well with food waste... Which on the flip side means I'm eating less healthy, since I usually eat a salad for lunch instead of, say, a Cuban sandwich.

We've been driving very little. Its been about 3 weeks since I got gas and still have a mostly full tank.

On the bad... We're utilizing delivery more. We're home all the time so we're using more electricity.

[raangoli]

We’re doing much better with food waste which is something I had been trying to cut down on even before this all started.

I’m also very impressed with our reduced use of paper towels. We used very little over the past 2.5 weeks and have been using cloth towels for cleanup etc instead. It has made us do more laundry though.

[aprilsails]

Wins:
Decreased gas usage
Increased bike usage
Eating all of our fresh fruits and veggies with no waste
We aren’t eating lunch out or doing takeout or restaurant meals at all so less packaging waste
@@@

SPOILER: Click to show

I cloth diaper while at home so my use of disposables is way down.
DD has magically and suddenly fully potty trained so no more overnights. This is the biggest win ever.

Losses:
We are running the dishwasher and the clothes washer more frequently, however they are very full loads so I’m not too concerned from an environmental standpoint.

[mrsukyankee]

Mar 31, 2020 16:04:34 GMT -5 VillainV said:

Mar 31, 2020 15:56:09 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

Have they said why people can't use reuseable bags?

Target allowed me to use reusable bags a few days ago but I had to bag everything myself (the cashier wouldn’t handle my bags). Our target doesn’t have a self-checkout lane.

Ah, that makes sense. We're entirely a self-bagging country (with a few small exceptions - and they allow you to self-bag if you bring your own).

[meltoine]

RE: reusable bags - The past couple times I've gone to the store I just put the loose items back in the cart and then bag them at my car, that way no one else has to handle them or be near them.

[minzy]

I’ve been trying really hard to think more critically about consumption for the past year and a half or so already. I am concerned about coronavirus, of course, and aware, but not particularly stressed out at this point, and I can point some of the credit for that to trying to consume less in the time leading up to this. Examples include that I generally don’t buy newly manufactured clothes, so not buying new right now doesn’t feel like an additional hardship. I use rags for cleaning and a Diva cup for my period, so I’m not concerned about paper towels and tampons. When I do purchase things, I try to do it in larger amounts in the first place so I don’t get critically low on much that often (and I know that there is a huge amount of privilege in having the means and space to store extra things). I also have to credit this board for giving me the heads up on this weeks before others around me were paying attention. We have seeds going inside right now and I’m hopeful we’ll have some vegetables from them later, but I would have done that anyway. I am composting at home. I am still weighing our outgoing trash weekly, and a quarter in, we’re currently trending below last year’s total. I love not driving my car, it’s barely gone anywhere in the past three weeks - I’ve definitely put more miles on my legs running and biking than I have on my car, and I’m looking forward to that hopefully being true for April, too. I am swapping all kinds of things in friends’ mailboxes (books, checks, thank you notes, birthday presents, treats, even trash bags for a friend who is almost out) and that has made me move, feel connected, given purpose, and been fun. Laundry volume seems the same and I think we’re doing the dishwasher less since we’re not using ten little boxes a day for lunch components. My husband hasn’t flown for work this year, and however you join #flightfree2020, the effect is the same!

Things I’m not doing as well: We have purchased more fruit and vegetables in clamshells (some of which I’ve used as seed starters) than normal. My husband even asked, “hey I thought you weren’t doing that type of tomato anymore because of the packaging,” and I said, ”well if the world is going to end anyway, I want to eat a tomato I actually like.” I was joking, but a sliver of the thought is there. I’m not going to hit (and therefore support) four stores anymore to get the bin free stuff at one and the bar shampoo at another, the bulk yogurts at a third and the rest at a fourth - we’ll hit one store and make do. I’ve also been taking longer, hotter showers than I know I “should,” but it is a small slice of me time. I’ll try to get back to shorter ones soon.

[aspentosh]

So much

Not being able to use reusable bags (including for produce)
Lots of paper towel and Clorox wipe usage
More laundry
More electricity and water usage with everyone home
Not being able to pick and choose what products we buy (sustainable packaging, no packaging, etc) because they're all gone

Some wins:
At least one vacation canceled
We're barely driving
We're looking into composting since we have the time to research and build one

[breezy8407]

Wins:
-less driving, even though we live close to work, we made lots of trips to Target, etc and to @ activities
-my 2-3x a month work travel is cancelled, so no air travel
-less consumerism (i.e. unnecessary spending at Target and online shopping) for fear or losing my income mostly
-actually using less wipes and paper towels because I am OCD germaphobic, and since we aren't going out in public I don't feel as exposed.
-less food waste for sure. we've been very careful about meal planning and using up things before they go bad

Losses:
-We've only been grocery shopping once in the past 2.5 weeks, but I threw away all the bags for fear of germs whereas in the past I keep those for recycling/reuse. I guess they could sit somewhere in quarantine, but keeping track of dates of all the things that come into the house will drive me mad. I don't know if I can handle another spreadsheet.
-more packaging from shipments/deliveries. I have ordered things from Target and Costco, and a few things to get us by from Amazon. Not sure if its more than normal though...
-I am not sure about the electricity and water use at home since that would have been offset by us being at work during the day

ETA: travel was 2-3x a month not week  

[macmars45]

Wins:
Driving less
Completely stopped using paper towels and zip lock bags
H had to cancel his flight to Vegas for work
Using less cleaning wipes because we can't restock what we have easily

Losses:
More takeout containers to support local businesses
Ordering more things online that I would normally buy used/get from my FB Buy Nothing (pjs for DS, buckets & shovels)

[aurora]

Not driving and not flying are huge. I usually have 7-10 work trips a year, so not insane but still impactful. This year it's only 1 so far (January) and not looking like anything else would happen until August at the earliest.

I really hope one of the lessons we get out of this is how to telecon more effectively so that work travel is further curtailed long term. I'd love to have ~3 work trips to conferences a year and everything else be remote.

[mrssandro]

Wins:
Switched to using the reusable keurig pods and so far they are better than the non reusable. I should have done that about a year ago.
We have less leftovers now but any leftovers I have I save for other meals.

Loss:
I have to run the dishwasher daily now and it used to be every other day.
We are using more TP and no I have no interest in a bidet)

[Susie]

Wins:
- Just in the last 2 weeks I've done one client meeting and one pitch that normally I'd have had to fly out for.  Instead I did them from home.  No driving, no flying.
- Summer vacation to see my friends on the opposite coast is also cancelled, so no flights there either.  That makes me sad, but it's still a green win.
- No driving almost anywhere.  We actually have to remember to go start our cars in the driveway every so often for the sake of the battery.
- Less shopping.  My size has been in flux so each season change I've shopped for new work clothes.  Not a full wardrobe, but some new pieces.  With WFH all the time, I have no need for spring work clothes.
- No splurge takeaway food, so no single use containers.

Losses:
- More Clorox wipes, paper towels, etc.