What are *you*doing to save the planet?

I realized that almost every little thing my family does to protect the environment and native species was inspired through conversation with friends. Little anecdotes have a big impact. So I'd love some inspiration from the rowdy renegades on ATS. How are you saving the planet?

My family...
-plants milkweed for the monarch butterflies.
-carpools or walks when possible.
-line dries our clothes
-collects and scatters native seeds
-uses reusable grocery bags.

Give me some ideas on how we can do more!

a reply to: Look2theSacredHeart

Nothing.
I've removed myself from the gene pool, that's how I'm helping to save the planet.

a reply to: Look2theSacredHeart

I boycott mainstream consumerist culture as much as possible. I keep my collecting of "things" for consumption in the 0s and 1s as much as possible. I recycle cardboard, plastics and paper as much as possible. But my main contribution has been to sacrifice the "nuclear family lifestyle" by being a hermit homosexual, hence not bringing in more consuming demands on the planet with more people etc and so on. That's something, to my mind... Humble, but something! LOL

I fill up my gas tank only when it is over 99 degrees. I let my lawn mower idle for 20 minutes before I start to mow the lawn. I always get plastic grocery bags at the store and I double bag everything including my toilet paper. I drive to the end of the driveway to get my news paper. I have a washer and dryer on both floors and I run the dryer for fun some times..

My favorite hobby is to hunt monarch Butterflies whenever I can.. I also love randomly planting GMO seeds in and around farm land..

a reply to: corsair00 You bring up an excellent point! People often shun materialism because of social or political reasons. Thank you for mentioning the physical impact Anti consumerism can have for the good of the environment!

Save the planet from what?!

Its us humans that need saving, the planet is doing just fine!

a reply to: Look2theSacredHeart

A better question I could imagine, would be,
what am I doing to save my ass? Sorta of
thing.

a reply to: truckdriver42 bahahaha! Literally laughed out loud. Maybe you could start dumping used motor oil into local rivers, or compulsively turn on any faucet you pass.

I hate be the one to burst your bubble, but nothing mentioned so far will do anything to "save" the planet, even when doing the "little things" globally en masse.

It's environmental masturbation.

The things we should be doing are highly illegal, so I won't mention them here. But you can take a few wild guesses, I'm sure?

i think i will plant milkweed this year as well.
other than that im afraid i dont do as much as i could.

Nothing. Earth will outlast humans, unless we find a way to leave this rock and colonize other planets.

I'm not doing much to save the planet. I don't go to town unless I need to. I am not doing stuff I do not need to do. I am not spending money to buy things I do not need. So another words I am not doing much to save the planet.

I always leave all my widows open and then set my thermostat to either keep the temp 5 degrees above in winter or 5 degrees below in summer.

Honestly ... just use common sense and you won't be an overly wasteful burden.

a reply to: NthOther

Sorry, I never joined the Planeteer club, nor will I ever. I'm too busy trying to feed my family, and keep a roof over our heads, to spend any time cultivating the level of arrogance that I think is required to believe that we can save the planet from anything.

The Earth will save itself from us, if it comes to that.

a reply to: NthOther I once had a boss, one of my favorites, actually, who would rant and rave about the dignity of saving your nickles and dimes. He thought any way of getting rich quick didn't have the same gravitas.

I guess I'm a nickle and dime environmentalist. I'm not going to save the rainforest overnight, but maybe I'll see some butterflies.

a reply to: rickymouse That would make a great Adbusters campaign.

From the movie K2:

I didn't make the world the way it is, Harold. I'm just trying to get through it, as fast and as clean as possible.

That's what I'm doing, getting through life as fast and clean as possible.

a reply to: Look2theSacredHeart

Well now... lets see.

We reuse all plastic carrier bags that we get hold of, we keep cardboard boxes that we get our supplies in at work, so that people can use them as moving boxes when we have unpacked them. Further to that, I personally choose to walk more often than I take the bus or get a cab, and I light my cigarettes with a magnifying glass rather than a lighter, when ever the weather allows for it.

I also refuse to litter, and instead dispose of any trash I accumulate during a day out, in the rubbish bins provided by the local council. Furthermore, we refuse to use the toxin stuffed energy saving bulbs that the government insist on shoving down our throats, because we know that they contain mercury among other nasties, that is bound to be improperly disposed of by the private companies employed to deal with it. We know this is likely, because even the normal recycling that our council is supposed to do on our behalf (after we, the people have sorted our trash into the various different types, plastics, paper, and so on) is often simply discarded along with the rest of the waste we create, despite the people having paid to have it recycled.

There is much that I would like to do, that I simply cannot afford to. For example, because I am not a man of much means, I cannot buy the apartment in which I live, and nor can I afford to purchase a solar panel or three to mount on the roof. Even if I had the money to purchase a solar panel, I would not be allowed to fit it to the building, because I do not own it. There are limits therefore, to what one can achieve when money is an object.

At the moment though, we can only do what we can do, and we have to be satisfied with that. Besides which, the planet itself will be fine. It will remain long after our species manages to wipe itself off the map with nuclear weapons, or by way of polluting our own environment. We have to remember that its our future we are hurting, NOT the future of the planet, which is being threatened.

i do everything i can to trash our environment .

the only way people have ever changed is when they have no choice

we will either change or the earth will right itself after we pass from its face

either way the earth wins