You’ve been meaning to do something about the environment, but…

You might have heard a little bit about a survey on Australian attitudes towards environmental issues last week, before the Japanese earthquake captured our undivided attention (I’ll have a post on that later in the week). It showed that although Aussies are the most concerned about climate change out of the OECD nations, we’re the ones doing the least to fix it, and the least likely to believe that anything can be done.

Other countries have better leadership on environmental issues, so I can see how it’s easier for people in Norway or the Netherlands to feel like their household actions are part of a larger fight. But, like Joan Baez says, action is the antidote to despair. Doing something, no matter how small, makes you feel better when other people aren’t seeing things your way.

I know changing your habits for the greener can take a back seat when you’ve got to worry about paying the bills, taking the kids to school and stopping the dog from chewing the cushions. So I’ve gathered up some examples of things you can do that a) will definitely help the environment, and b) can be planned and organised in just a week.

Every single link below is about something I’ve done myself and blogged about, so I know they’re easy to fit into a busy life! The bonus is that almost all of them are more satisfying or cheaper than doing the usual thing. Why not pick three and do them this week?

Saving energy and water

• Switch to compact fluorescent bulbs. Yes I know this is the one all the greenies start with, but that’s because it’s a great idea!
• Make sure your home is properly insulated – it only takes 10 minutes to check, and maybe an hour or two to ring around and organise installation if what you’ve got isn’t right for your home.
• Start using a shower timer – most hardware stores carry basic timers these days.

Reducing waste

• Switch to a reuseable coffee cup for your takeaways
• Switch to reusable wraps for lunches
• Switch to green cleaning methods
• Put your green bags somewhere handy so you don’t forget them
• Stop your phone book subscription (my old post about this is out of date now, this link goes directly to where you can cancel Yellow and White pages deliveries).
• Switch to recycled toilet paper
• Put a No Junk Mail sticker on your letterbox
• Switch to paperless billing, or…
• Find other ways to reduce paper use at home.

In the garden

• Start a compost bin – and check out how mine worked out here.
• Start a vegie patch the easy way, or…
• Make a no-dig garden bed instead, as demonstrated by Dave.

And just for kicks, here’s a few more you can try for free: 5 totally free ways to save money while saving the planet.

My kitchen renovation

This weekend was pretty busy for me and Dave – we started renovating our kitchen, something we’ve never done before. Luckily we had Dave’s handyman father to lead the way.

Our old kitchen was not only dated, it was a little bit dangerous. The cooktop was in the corner and our microwave had to sit on top of the fridge, making it difficult to use them safely. Since we want to stay in our little unit in a reasonably walkable area as long as possible, we felt it was worth it to improve what we had rather than look for a shiny McMansion with a better kitchen on the outskirts of town !

Here’s how we’re trying to keep the eco-impact down…

Reduce

• Induction cooktop to reduce electricity use
• 4-star rated mixer tap to reduce water use
• Locally-made cabinets to reduce transport emissions. Our suppliers were also pretty minimalist with their packaging, which was a pleasant surprise. I must remember to praise them for it when we give them feedback!
• We’re going to downsize our fridge too. When I bought it, it was 4-star rated, but that was over 10 years ago and efficiency standards have been tightened since then. Plus we don’t need such a large one, so hopefully we’ll be making a sizeable reduction in energy use there.

Reuse

• Our old click-install floors are going to be reused by my father-in-law in his shed.
• Our old fridge will be going to a place that refurbishes and resells them.

We can’t afford to buy any of the beautiful benchtops or cabinetry made from recycled materials, unfortunately. But we’ll be using low VOC paints when the time comes.

There are a couple of things we’re not sure how to manage though. Any suggestions?

• What’s the best way to dispose of an old oven and cooktop, and cheap cabinets?
• Are any of the common splashback options (glass, tiles, etc) more eco-friendly than the others?
• Why aren’t ovens and cooktops given an energy rating like other appliances? Even clothes dryers (which are pretty damn inefficient) have them.

When we’re done I’ll show some photos of the finished room, and I’ll keep you updated if we come across any other environmental issues.

The disaster that didn’t happen, and one that did

You might have heard on the news that sleepy little Perth was going to get a visit from Tropical Cyclone Bianca last weekend, but that she fizzled out. It seems that a storm that split off from Bianca caused more death and destruction than the main event.

No-one was really prepared for the side-storm to cause so much damage. I feel so badly for the families who lost someone. We were in the middle of preparing for the cyclone when the side-storm hit. Dave was cleaning the gutters and got drenched while still on the roof, it just started so quickly.

We’d bought batteries and candles and some tinned food in case the power went out (as seems to happen at least once a season to us, cyclone or not), and stashed some water in jugs in case the water was cut off too. It wasn’t a huge hassle, but I found myself wishing I’d had the time to do Gavin and Bec’s Be Prepared challenge this month! As it turns out, it wasn’t necessary… this time. But we’re sorted now in case it happens again, so I don’t feel like it was a waste of time.

Our house is not in an area prone to flooding, according to the maps, but it doesn’t cope well with too much rain because the drainage is very poor. As we watched the rain pour in during the storm, Dave had to dig a trench in our shade garden to direct the runoff away from our house. I started thinking that our house should probably get some upgrades specifically to deal with severe storms.

I’d like our downpipes to be better set-up, to go to either a water tank or sink wells. Our guttering in one spot pushes the water back over the roof  even when it isn’t full of leaves – it’ll have to be fixed at some point. Our concrete driveway doesn’t give the water anywhere to go. I’ve been wondering if it’d be possible to convert some of it to something more like Franke James’ Paradise Unpaved, with permeable paving and more plant areas to soak up water instead of sending it running over the concrete and paving.

Franke James' permeable driveway: you can still park a car there, but it allows water to get to the soil instead of running off.

The lack of excitement just made me think more about how well we would have been prepared if things were worse for us, and how well our cities are designed to cope with increasingly tropical weather as our climate bands shift around the globe.

And yet as I write this, we’re watching and hoping that none of our friends are affected by any of the three bushfires around Perth. The hot dry winds have picked up sparks and let them loose over the already dry bushland.

We need to start looking seriously at solutions to climate change, both for our cities and for our homes. The sooner, the better.

Reader question: Where can I get solar-powered air-con?

Over the Christmas break I got an email from reader Cheryl, asking if there is any commercially available solar-powered air-conditioning. I’d written a post about research into this a few years ago, and so I decided to follow up and see how it was going.

Heating and cooling are one of our major uses of household energy in Australia. It makes good sense to try to get that energy from clean sources instead of our usual coal-fired power plants.

Unfortunately, Cheryl, it seems like we’re not much further forward on this idea. I found one place, Australian Sun Energy, which offers a system for large buildings like offices, shops or hospitals.  And many large electrical goods companies are looking into making systems for households. But there aren’t any residential solar-powered air-conditioners available for sale in Australia yet.

As an alternative, you could attach solar panels to your current system. Panels can be bought from several green energy shops around Australia. However, the amount of energy required is probably more than you can generate from a few small panels.

So what else can you do? You’ve got a few options:

• Get all your home energy use from clean energy sources by installing a full photovoltaic solar system for your house like Gavin did, or switching to Green Power like I did.
• Reduce the amount of electricity you’re using to cool your house. This might mean adding insulation, venting your roof space, shading your windows with trees, using blockout curtains during the day, and switching to the most energy-efficient air-con system you can find that suits your needs. There’s some good information on how to do this at Days of Change.
• Learn how to get the most out of your current air-conditioner by reading the “Efficient Use” section at the Synergy website.
• Try to do without air-conditioning when possible – I’ve got a few tips for beating the heat.

If anyone has further information on solar air-con, please leave a comment so we can all benefit. And if you’ve got a question you’d like me to answer, leave a comment or email me at info @ gogreeneraustralia.com and I’d be happy to look into it for you.

Got any tips for buying secondhand?

I know some of you are experienced at shopping secondhand, and I’m hoping you’ll answer a few questions I have. I’d like to get some garden furniture or maybe a kitchen table and chairs, and have been unable to find anything that’s both eco-friendly and in my price range.

I figured I’d try to get something secondhand instead. I do ok with op-shopping for clothes, and we got our Prius secondhand too. I’ve often given stuff away to charities or people through Freecycle, and donate my old books to libraries. But I’ve never really bought furniture secondhand.

So before I start looking, I’d love to know how you manage it.

• How do you find good sources for secondhand furniture?
• Am I expected to bargain for a deal? Because I’m not very good at that! I’d rather just pay what they ask.
• How can I check the quality of what I’m buying without taking too long or being rude about it? I don’t want to imply that people are selling junk, but I do want something that will last a while.
• Am I even likely to find what I’m looking for, or do secondhand places do other things better?

Please help out this newbie to the world of secondhand shopping, and give your best advice and stories!