It’s so expensive to be eco-conscious!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think about this all the time. We'd like to compost but getting all the bins can be expensive and I don't know if we have the time to take it to a compost center ourselves, but the services that come to your house can be pricy. A lot of more eco-friendly products are more expensive. I'd like to reduce the amount of red meat we eat, but making filling meals without meat takes more time and the ingredients can be more expensive. I'd like to switch more of our short car trips to walking/biking, but this would work best with an electric-assist cargo bike and they are pricy, too. And on and on.

Some eco-friendly things are more cost-effective though. I try to go hard on those as much as I can. We've really reduced how much we buy in general in the last few years, almost entirely eliminating new clothes (we buy used and try to do so locally whenever possible), new kids gear (buy nothing groups and soliciting hand me downs from friends), books (library and used book stores), and other consumer items. We choose to live in a small home (condo) that is walking distance to a lot of stuff (school, store, public transportation) which reduces our carbon footprint. All that stuff costs less than the less "green" alternatives, for the most part. The main thing it costs is time and effort.

But everyone has their limits. There is only so much we can do. What we really need is the political will to make policy change. Individual choices are nice but I'm not even sure how much they move the needle unless you get many others to make the same choices.

I've recently been eating much more plant-based, and I don't think this is true at all. I substituted cannellini beans for chicken in a coq au vin recipe, and it was like 1/6th the cost. Beans are cheap! Certain types of fish are fairly inexpensive as well (tilapia, haddock, sometimes flounder) and I look for sales on costlier seafood (salmon, swordfish, etc.). Almost anything is cheaper than beef.

I agree. We are primarily vegetarian and even organic tofu, beans and vegetables are pennys to the dollar on the price of meats. We still eat meat occasionally, but only as a treat. As it ought to be.

And before you ask, yes, my kids play sports and are outstanding in their leauges. My husband power lifts competitively. I do yoga (handstands and forearm balances), pilates and barre. DH and I are in our mid forties and still the same weight as we were in college.

[Anonymous]

I think we just need less stuff generally: I buy a huge bag of detergent powder that lasts me 6 mos, and don't use dryer sheets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think about this all the time. We'd like to compost but getting all the bins can be expensive and I don't know if we have the time to take it to a compost center ourselves, but the services that come to your house can be pricy. A lot of more eco-friendly products are more expensive. I'd like to reduce the amount of red meat we eat, but making filling meals without meat takes more time and the ingredients can be more expensive. I'd like to switch more of our short car trips to walking/biking, but this would work best with an electric-assist cargo bike and they are pricy, too. And on and on.

Some eco-friendly things are more cost-effective though. I try to go hard on those as much as I can. We've really reduced how much we buy in general in the last few years, almost entirely eliminating new clothes (we buy used and try to do so locally whenever possible), new kids gear (buy nothing groups and soliciting hand me downs from friends), books (library and used book stores), and other consumer items. We choose to live in a small home (condo) that is walking distance to a lot of stuff (school, store, public transportation) which reduces our carbon footprint. All that stuff costs less than the less "green" alternatives, for the most part. The main thing it costs is time and effort.

But everyone has their limits. There is only so much we can do. What we really need is the political will to make policy change. Individual choices are nice but I'm not even sure how much they move the needle unless you get many others to make the same choices.

I totally agree! Smaller home, less driving, using the library and second-hand stores really does help! Don't be tricked into thinking that you need more "things" to be environmentally conscious!

[Anonymous]

The electric car situation bothers me. It's very nice to tell people it's better for the environment, but the cost is incredibly high. We rented a Tesla on vacation to test it out and spent so much on charging it alone gas would only have been a bit more expensive. And it's more inconvenient to have to sit there and charge it. Then the battery dies after a few years and it's $$$$$ to replace it. The subsidy doesn't help enough to compensate for costs, and this isn't a valid option for most.

[Anonymous]

Which powder laundry detergent that people are using is relatively cheap and eco-friendly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think about this all the time. We'd like to compost but getting all the bins can be expensive and I don't know if we have the time to take it to a compost center ourselves, but the services that come to your house can be pricy. A lot of more eco-friendly products are more expensive. I'd like to reduce the amount of red meat we eat, but making filling meals without meat takes more time and the ingredients can be more expensive. I'd like to switch more of our short car trips to walking/biking, but this would work best with an electric-assist cargo bike and they are pricy, too. And on and on.

Some eco-friendly things are more cost-effective though. I try to go hard on those as much as I can. We've really reduced how much we buy in general in the last few years, almost entirely eliminating new clothes (we buy used and try to do so locally whenever possible), new kids gear (buy nothing groups and soliciting hand me downs from friends), books (library and used book stores), and other consumer items. We choose to live in a small home (condo) that is walking distance to a lot of stuff (school, store, public transportation) which reduces our carbon footprint. All that stuff costs less than the less "green" alternatives, for the most part. The main thing it costs is time and effort.

But everyone has their limits. There is only so much we can do. What we really need is the political will to make policy change. Individual choices are nice but I'm not even sure how much they move the needle unless you get many others to make the same choices.

And who, pray tell, is going to pay for these “policy changes?”

The same people who pay for wars, defense contractors, and lots of individual things that not everyone supports . . . the taxpayers. And I'm ok with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The electric car situation bothers me. It's very nice to tell people it's better for the environment, but the cost is incredibly high. We rented a Tesla on vacation to test it out and spent so much on charging it alone gas would only have been a bit more expensive. And it's more inconvenient to have to sit there and charge it. Then the battery dies after a few years and it's $$$$$ to replace it. The subsidy doesn't help enough to compensate for costs, and this isn't a valid option for most.

This can't be right on the charging.

We have an EV and the upfront cost was definitely higher but it costs us about $13 to get a 270 mile charge at a public charging station.

The same charge on our home charging station is about $8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The electric car situation bothers me. It's very nice to tell people it's better for the environment, but the cost is incredibly high. We rented a Tesla on vacation to test it out and spent so much on charging it alone gas would only have been a bit more expensive. And it's more inconvenient to have to sit there and charge it. Then the battery dies after a few years and it's $$$$$ to replace it. The subsidy doesn't help enough to compensate for costs, and this isn't a valid option for most.

This can't be right on the charging.

We have an EV and the upfront cost was definitely higher but it costs us about $13 to get a 270 mile charge at a public charging station.

The same charge on our home charging station is about $8.

We have teslas and it’s true that it costs more to supercharge than to charge at home. Rental companies also charge an admin fee of 2-3% for supercharging and most renters also don’t realize there is a fee for occupying a charger after charging to 80 or 90%. This is to make sure chargers don’t get clogged up. Leaving your car at a supercharger for an hour after 80% could cost you $60.

The costs of renting an EV are not the same as owning one. The bulk of charging your own EV will be home charging costs as opposed to a rental. With solar panels, we pay $40 a month in electricity bills for 2 teslas and our whole house.