do you know anyone in this affluent area that has altered their lifestyle to reduce CO2 emissions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In North Arlington, my wife and I feel like we are completely alone in our efforts to reduce CO2 emissions. We have just one car that we use sparingly, and we use bicycles for our local errands. We keep our thermostat at 65F in the winter (and wear sweaters) and 79F in the summer, using ceiling fans to make the bedrooms more comfortable. We greatly limit our international and domestic travel. We eat mostly vegetarian meals, and we never eat beef.

All of our neighbors have multiple large SUVs, and many neighbors have knocked their 2000 square foot houses down and replaced them with 5000 square foot homes. Some neighbors with 5000 square foot homes have only 1 child, so they don't truly need a huge living space. Many neighbors drive to work in their SUV without any other passengers to accompany them. They go on multiple international vacations a year (lots of CO2 per flight). Huge amounts of garbage are generated each week and placed on the curb, presumably to make way for yet more stuff that they are buying for their homes -- stuff that will probably end up on the curbside, destined for the landfill, a year or two down the road.

I've posted my frustrations in the "car and transport" section of this forum, only to be told by other posters that I'm jealous of my neighbor's SUVs and large homes. Despite a high level of education among DCUM posters, most don't appear concerned about the consequences of their consumerism, and can't even conceive of a high-income family exercising some restraint.

We are, in fact, a high net worth family, but we are striving to reduce our carbon footprint. We feel completely alone, like strangers in a foreign country. I'm curious if anybody else here feels the same way.

We do, which is why we live in a rowhouse on Capitol Hill. We don’t own a car because public transport is easy to access, I work from home, we are vegetarian, compost, get much of our stuff on Buy Nothing, etc. There are lots of people near us that are like you. Come on over and join us!

Why do you live in a rowhouse rather than an apartment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our family has taken some steps.
- drive EVs
- installed solar
- compost as much as we can, leave clippings
- use buy nothing
- cut down on consumer purchases
- limit to one big trip per year
- train/drive EV whenever possible

We do what we can, but there are bigger fish to fry. China’s cement industry puts out inane levels of CO2. We should shift to the old Roman cement recipe.

Why would that reduce emissions? Wouldn’t the heating in the cement manufacturing process eat up any savings in terms of emissions?

[Anonymous]

We have but need to do more:

Live in rowhouse, 2 kids
Plug in electric car - spent a fortune though
Buy vintage clothes and live with old furniture
67 at night, 68 day in the winter
It’s harder in the summer. Our house gets so hot upstairs, but maybe we’ll try an attic fan
Want to get solar
Stopped using gas fireplace - we could smell it. Planning to change to electric at some point
Low flow/dual flush toilets
Seldom fly
Dont water the dirt lawn
Im a vegetarian- family is not (yet)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, passenger vehicles of all types make up only about 7% of total global greenhouse gas emissions. All residential energy use is something like 11%. So you can try all you want but the reality is that industry is responsible for almost all global emissions and you're just making your life harder to not even put a dent in this.

It's an all-round effort, PP. We have a highly energy-conscious home, for example. You can't really curtail energy use in your house while continuing to gaz-guzzle every time you use your vehicle - it makes no sense. We need to change hearts and minds by modeling energy conservation, alternative energy use and lower consumption of plastics, in all aspects of our lives. I'm not saying you need to suffer! But if you're informed and aware, you can make choices everywhere that are better for the environment and the long-term health of humans. And if your kids and your community sees your efforts, they'll be more likely to make them too. It needs to become a societal reflex. It's the only way people are going to prioritize voting for environmentally-conscious representatives at all levels of government, and the only way companies and businesses will understand they cannot risk the wrath of public opinion by continuing to pollute.

We've outsourced our pollution to east/south Asia. You can pretend all you want but our "local communities" can't do jack to meaningfully impact global emissions. Keep dreaming though

So negative!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You only have one kid and you live in a house and you are being sanctimonious about how others live in a way that it’s not good for the environment? You should start with moving into a two bedroom apartment.

It’s not all or nothing, but then, you know that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In North Arlington, my wife and I feel like we are completely alone in our efforts to reduce CO2 emissions. We have just one car that we use sparingly, and we use bicycles for our local errands. We keep our thermostat at 65F in the winter (and wear sweaters) and 79F in the summer, using ceiling fans to make the bedrooms more comfortable. We greatly limit our international and domestic travel. We eat mostly vegetarian meals, and we never eat beef.

All of our neighbors have multiple large SUVs, and many neighbors have knocked their 2000 square foot houses down and replaced them with 5000 square foot homes. Some neighbors with 5000 square foot homes have only 1 child, so they don't truly need a huge living space. Many neighbors drive to work in their SUV without any other passengers to accompany them. They go on multiple international vacations a year (lots of CO2 per flight). Huge amounts of garbage are generated each week and placed on the curb, presumably to make way for yet more stuff that they are buying for their homes -- stuff that will probably end up on the curbside, destined for the landfill, a year or two down the road.

I've posted my frustrations in the "car and transport" section of this forum, only to be told by other posters that I'm jealous of my neighbor's SUVs and large homes. Despite a high level of education among DCUM posters, most don't appear concerned about the consequences of their consumerism, and can't even conceive of a high-income family exercising some restraint.

We are, in fact, a high net worth family, but we are striving to reduce our carbon footprint. We feel completely alone, like strangers in a foreign country. I'm curious if anybody else here feels the same way.

I don’t think altered is a correct statement for us, but DH and I have always made choices to keep our footprint lower- we are far from perfect. Energy conservation has been in my life since I can remember and I am 58. Most of our friends do similar things. Like finds like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In North Arlington, my wife and I feel like we are completely alone in our efforts to reduce CO2 emissions. We have just one car that we use sparingly, and we use bicycles for our local errands. We keep our thermostat at 65F in the winter (and wear sweaters) and 79F in the summer, using ceiling fans to make the bedrooms more comfortable. We greatly limit our international and domestic travel. We eat mostly vegetarian meals, and we never eat beef.

All of our neighbors have multiple large SUVs, and many neighbors have knocked their 2000 square foot houses down and replaced them with 5000 square foot homes. Some neighbors with 5000 square foot homes have only 1 child, so they don't truly need a huge living space. Many neighbors drive to work in their SUV without any other passengers to accompany them. They go on multiple international vacations a year (lots of CO2 per flight). Huge amounts of garbage are generated each week and placed on the curb, presumably to make way for yet more stuff that they are buying for their homes -- stuff that will probably end up on the curbside, destined for the landfill, a year or two down the road.

I've posted my frustrations in the "car and transport" section of this forum, only to be told by other posters that I'm jealous of my neighbor's SUVs and large homes. Despite a high level of education among DCUM posters, most don't appear concerned about the consequences of their consumerism, and can't even conceive of a high-income family exercising some restraint.

We are, in fact, a high net worth family, but we are striving to reduce our carbon footprint. We feel completely alone, like strangers in a foreign country. I'm curious if anybody else here feels the same way.

Bro, you just described the working class life. You want a cookie? Cold house, NO travel, rice & beans, limited car use. You just described how most people have to live. You just don't see them bc you're blinded by your rich neighbors.

[Anonymous]

We compost, went no lawn, drive an elective and but solar and wind credits

[Anonymous]

I just had one child. It is the biggest effect. If you made another decision, that is more than fine. But you lost your sanctimommy privileges on this one.

[Anonymous]

We have one kid. We have one car, which is fully electric. We live in a townhouse in a walkable suburban neighborhood, so we can walk to the grocery store and restaurants. I don’t eat meat and DD/DH’s meat consumption is chicken a couple times a week. No beef or other red meat.

But we do go on planes, so I guess OP would consider us part of the problem. Oh well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our family has taken some steps.
- drive EVs
- installed solar
- compost as much as we can, leave clippings
- use buy nothing
- cut down on consumer purchases
- limit to one big trip per year
- train/drive EV whenever possible

We do what we can, but there are bigger fish to fry. China’s cement industry puts out inane levels of CO2. We should shift to the old Roman cement recipe.

Why would that reduce emissions? Wouldn’t the heating in the cement manufacturing process eat up any savings in terms of emissions?

It requires a lower temp and lasts longer.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90831179/this-ancient-roman-building-technique-could-help-cut-carbon-emissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just had one child. It is the biggest effect. If you made another decision, that is more than fine. But you lost your sanctimommy privileges on this one.

A t ally there was recently a good article that points out that the initial study showing massive impacts of having children had some major flaws. It was a well written critique. Obviously there is impact but it’s not as massive as people have been saying for years based on the very flawed analysis in that one highly publicized study.

[Anonymous]

We live in Arlington, but more “central” between 50 and Langston. People with new build houses probably aren’t eco warriors and that’s your issue. In the neighborhoods full of original or slightly expanded 1940s houses there are lots of people like my family - but you wouldn’t notice because we aren’t so aggressively public about our actions.

We live in a 3000sqft house
We have a heat pump, electric stove, tankless water heater, and all LED lights. We are getting solar panels. We have 2 cars, but one is rarely used, both very fuel efficient. When one gets to the end of its life, we will replace it with a plug in electric. We walk our kids to school and in nice weather we walk to Westover for pizza, library, and other small errands. We use Consignment shops and Buy Nothing for a lot of clothes and sports gear. We grow our own herbs and share with neighbors. We compost. Our kids pack lunches in reusable containers. I bake a lot of snacks and treats from scratch because I hate food packaging. We rarely eat red meat. I’m sure there are more subtle things that you would never notice unless you spend a lot of time with us - and you are attuned to notice.

My husband works in an environmental field, so people expect us to be more overtly crunchy or evangelical than we are, but honestly most people can make more environmentally conscious choices without much effort or cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in Arlington, but more “central” between 50 and Langston. People with new build houses probably aren’t eco warriors and that’s your issue. In the neighborhoods full of original or slightly expanded 1940s houses there are lots of people like my family - but you wouldn’t notice because we aren’t so aggressively public about our actions.

We live in a 3000sqft house
We have a heat pump, electric stove, tankless water heater, and all LED lights. We are getting solar panels. We have 2 cars, but one is rarely used, both very fuel efficient. When one gets to the end of its life, we will replace it with a plug in electric. We walk our kids to school and in nice weather we walk to Westover for pizza, library, and other small errands. We use Consignment shops and Buy Nothing for a lot of clothes and sports gear. We grow our own herbs and share with neighbors. We compost. Our kids pack lunches in reusable containers. I bake a lot of snacks and treats from scratch because I hate food packaging. We rarely eat red meat. I’m sure there are more subtle things that you would never notice unless you spend a lot of time with us - and you are attuned to notice.

My husband works in an environmental field, so people expect us to be more overtly crunchy or evangelical than we are, but honestly most people can make more environmentally conscious choices without much effort or cost.

Also (cue horror music) keep our house at 72 all year long - 68 at night in the winter. We had an energy audit done and our house is well insulated. We both work from home and think that the idea you have to suffer to make a difference is ridiculous.

I forgot - we have a low/no-mow yard of all native species plants that we trim a few times a year with a push mower. We water the herbs with rainwater from our rain barrels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hmmm...
- We drive hybrid cars that we charge using solar energy.
- Obviously, we have solar panels
- We do not use bottled water.
- We do not use fertilizer on our lawn or water it. Mainly have been seeding it with clover
- We have a butterfly garden and only plant native plant
- Rainscape gardening. We slow down water in our yard.
- Compost all kitchen waste
- Recycle plastic, cans, bottles
- Use Trash Nothing and Green Drop to get rid of stuff
- Mainly vegetarian
- Mainly eat local
- Do a lot of environmental charity
- Create habitat for wildlife in our yard
- Don't use cedar mulch so that turtles can lay eggs in our flower beds.
- Plog

Same (though I don't know what plog means?), though our car is electric and in addition to the solar panels we switched our bill to Clean Energy even though it costs more.