In what ways aren't you green?

[MuddyWitch]

I have a huge tropical fish tank. Not only does it require heating & lighting but the last lot of fish I bought had been imported from Hong Kong! (Im my defence, we'd paid for them & were just leaving as we were told this.)

& yes, it (and the fish), will be going with us.

T'is my only vice...I think!

MW

[snapdragon]

my bike (motorcycle)
and my baccy which I generally buy in bulk whenever I can get to Belgium (cheaper and I like theirs better than UK brands)
and bottle gas water/central heating

shoot !! I'm not green at all

[Stonehead]

My skin isn't green. Yet. I'll be painting the windows green next week though...

More seriously, mains electricity is our bugbear. We have an electricity monitor, plot our use weekly, constantly try to use less, get as energy efficient devices as we can afford and so on, but we'd prefer to be off-grid with a combination of a wind turbine and biodigester providing methane for a generator. Cost is the major issue.

We replaced a car with a utility bike, but still need a 4x4 as our only motor vehicle due to living in the country, hauling pigs, boulders, water, pig feed and more, and getting heavy snow several months of the year. We've cut heating oil consumption by putting in solar hot water, but can't afford to move to wood-fired central heating. We don't have a tractor, so most big jobs are done with muscle power—ploughing, mowing, ditch digging, post digging, post knocking etc.

Trees are felled with axe, handsaw, wedge and hammer. Pork is minced by hand and stuffed into sausages by hand—sounds easy but wait until you've done 10kg or more. Clothes are darned, darned and darned again, using a 1920s foot-crank Singer sewing machine. We use handdrills, handsaws, hand planes and sanding blocks when doing joinery.

The list goes on. It's as much about cost and stubbornness as about being green.

So mains electricity is the big one for us, with oil heating after that.

[ajs88]

I don't recycle as there are no facilitys anywhere near where I live
I use tin foil too much
I buy food based on price not welfare or carbon footprint
I proberbly put the washing on too much but it is at 40
I do like buying things

[gregorach]

I'm an inveterate vinyl record collector...

Me too, but new pressings are a very rare purchase. However, I play them back through a rather inefficient (but bloody lovely) valve amplifier system. I tell myself that it's OK because it contains some recycled parts and I can maintain it myself.

Like a few others, I still eat too much supermarket convenience food.

Then there's the 100W mercury vapour lamp I use to raise my tomato and capsicum seedlings... And too much TV!

(Oh, and I work in IT building software systems for evil multinationals... Less said the better. )

[Susie]

I do like buying things

Me too. I always think it doesn't count if I buy things on ebay because that's actually recycling. (I know I am kidding myself).

[bonniethomas06]

Oh dear... slug pellets, diet coke, dishwasher, Primark when I am feeling skint.

[Sinmara]

My computer and all the electrical gadgets that I have - mind you, I always switch the main plugs off when they are not in use, and put my computer into sleeping mode when I'm not in front of it.

[Millymollymandy]

Probably too many to mention but I do try really hard, does that count

Yes! I wish the question had been the other way round, in what ways ARE you green. Then I wouldn't feel so bad!

[Archanejil]

Hm. I use the computer, a lot, and my energy consumption is pretty high in general (working 1-2 days a week means the heating's starting to be put on the other days, cups of coffee must be made, etc). However, I have improved on two years ago.

Two years ago, I was a senior lecturer, stressed as anything, working 50-70 hour weeks and barely having time to cook, much less make anything or think about what I was doing in the world. I had takeaway meals 4 nights of the week, ate out in restaurants the other 2; had a Starbucks 4 days out of 5, and when I could I was traveling from Cardiff to Lancaster to see the OH. It was pretty much as far away from an ish lifestyle as you could get (but tiny footsteps towards it were being made once I had a revelation as to how unhappy in that job I was).

So whenever I think about starting to feel guilty about my energy consumption now, I think back to two years ago. I'm not as good as I could be, but I'm much better than I was. I don't recycle as much as I could sometimes and I feel the cold. I occasionally leave the shower turned on (and appliances if I'm not paying attention). But overall, these days I buy local whenever I can, cook for myself and now live with the OH.

Although I do admit to enjoying the odd dirty double bacon cheeseburger from Burger King. And I still grab a coffee on my way in to work.

[fifi folle]

Driving is probably my worst vice, health probs have meant I can't walk too far. It was ok when we lived in the city as the supermarket was round the corner, post office, bakery etc but here the shopping is miles away. Plus I love driving Also another tropical fish keeper, should really check they have been bred in the UK but tend to forget. (We did breed angels, gouramis and kribensis which we sold to local shops and tried discus at one point)
Most other aspects I try to be as ish/frugal as I can.

[oldjerry]

I'm not really green at all,as I dont forage/ hunt for all our food and I dont live in a cave.I would(gladly) but Mrs OJ wouldn't put up with it(she'd pay me to do it if I went on my own),but I'd have nothing to keep me warm when the fire wouldn't light.

[Millymollymandy]

Hee hee just got a Lidl email of their specials and next week it's British week and they have cherry bakewells! Not green in the least but something I can't resist and always eat when I'm back in England.

[Green Aura]

Coal, I'm afraid. Although we have reduced our consumption by about half. When we moved in the ancient coal-fired boiler was using 3 bags a week, more often than not.

Since we put double glazing in we've had to reduce the size of the fire box and now we've found a regular supply of wood we've cut it down even further - we've had 2 bags since the beginning of October. but we haven't had the boiler lit every day.

When the new (old) stove goes in in its place I'm hoping that will go down even further but until we can afford an air source heat pump I think we'll continue to be reliant on coal to some degree

Oh and petrol - only for a once a month trip to Inverness but that uses about 2/3 of a tank!

our reliance on fossil fuels scares the cr4p out of me! but it seems to be quite acceptable round here. Does anywhere else still have a coalman who delivers every week?

[prison break fan]

We have a weekly coal delivery here in west sussex, but I try to buy in bulk at the cheaper summer prices. That is my main ungreen thing, as I have a solid fuel Rayburn which if I want to keep it in at night, needs a shovel of coalite. I mostly burn foraged wood and scrounged pallets. Television is my other "weakness"! pbf.