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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

What is your average monthly electrical bill, and average monthly gas bill, computed across a 12-month period? I'm asking because that is the litmus test for determining if your approach to heating/cooling is indeed a low-CO2 approach.

[Anonymous]

We have converted our gas appliances (water heater, dryer, etc) to electric when they died. We downsized into a smaller more fuel efficient house in a close in suburb near a Metro stop. We drive less, we fly very infrequently, we take the trains more. We buy less stuff in general.

We would like to buy an EV or hybrid vehicle, but they are scarce and pricey. We are trying. We want to impact the environment less but it's not that easy.

[Anonymous]

I think it's hilarious to see a Tesla parked in the drive of a 4-5K sq. ft. house......as the lawn service cut's the huge lawn with a dirty gas mower and blows the leaves with a gas blower...then sprays the weed killer. So much for carbon offset.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have converted our gas appliances (water heater, dryer, etc) to electric when they died. We downsized into a smaller more fuel efficient house in a close in suburb near a Metro stop. We drive less, we fly very infrequently, we take the trains more. We buy less stuff in general.

We would like to buy an EV or hybrid vehicle, but they are scarce and pricey. We are trying. We want to impact the environment less but it's not that easy.

Gas stoves need to be banned too. This can easily done without Congress, just by a simple change to EPA regulations.

If you have a gas stove, you really need to switch to electric as soon as possible.

[Anonymous]

We rarely fly anymore, not only do I think it's wasteful unless we absolutely have to, but it's also too miserable at this point.

We keep our house at 68 in the winter, and try to combine errands to drive as little as we can. I try to use cloth towels rather than paper, and we already cook a lot of our food, so not very much take out waste or individually wrapped serving waste.

[Anonymous]

It is honestly mystifying to me how you can be bent on reducing CO2 emissions, which necessarily means buying less stuff and participating less in the economy, and be confused about why you feel like an outlier in DMV.

We live in capitalism Central HQ, OP.

[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

We do most of this, too, but (a) I don't feel like it involved altering or significantly changing our lifestyle, so if OP is looking for, like, sacrifices people have made, this doesn't count for us at least and (b) I also am under no illusions that any of it makes any difference in the grand scheme of things. Reducing my own household's carbon emissions by the marginal amount that solar panels/electric car/composting/not watering the lawn/etc. adds up to is not going to change the overall direction of climate change.

[Anonymous]

Bring vegetarian does not improve the world.
Mono rip agricultural practices are ruining the world and producing crops that are less nutritious each generation. If you really want to make a difference, support or start incorporating regenerative farming practices including meat, which is more nutritionally dense and healthier for humans.

Also, most affluent people are “do as I say, not as I do”… every person that I know with means has full gas Viking ranges, live in large homes, and take multiple flights and vacations every year.

Virtue signaling doesn’t actually do anything but feed your ego.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is honestly mystifying to me how you can be bent on reducing CO2 emissions, which necessarily means buying less stuff and participating less in the economy, and be confused about why you feel like an outlier in DMV.

We live in capitalism Central HQ, OP.

OP here. I didn't say I felt "confused".

I said I felt "alone" in my efforts to reduce CO2, given the high consumption that is everywhere around us.

However, the various responses on this thread show that there are some people in this area who are indeed making an effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bring vegetarian does not improve the world.
Mono rip agricultural practices are ruining the world and producing crops that are less nutritious each generation. If you really want to make a difference, support or start incorporating regenerative farming practices including meat, which is more nutritionally dense and healthier for humans.

Also, most affluent people are “do as I say, not as I do”… every person that I know with means has full gas Viking ranges, live in large homes, and take multiple flights and vacations every year.

Virtue signaling doesn’t actually do anything but feed your ego.

Wrong:
Grass-fed beef still fuels climate change:
https://www.carbonbrief.org/grass-fed-beef-will-not-help-tackle-climate-change/#:~:text=Despite%20the%20potential%20impacts%20of,are%20not%20a%20climate%20solution.

Eating less meat can help reduce your impact on the climate:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/eating-less-red-meat-is-something-individuals-can-do-to-help-the-climate-crisis/

[Anonymous]

We have. Reduced our driving, drive higher mileage cars instead of SUVs, and rarely fly any more.

[Anonymous]

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.

This. The "personal responsiblity" BS of environmentalism is a cynical move by industry to redirect the blame elsewhere. Use all the plastic straws you'd like. It doesn't move the needle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have. Reduced our driving, drive higher mileage cars instead of SUVs, and rarely fly any more.

This is possibly the only really important thing you can do.

[Anonymous]

If you want to see the best, most useful info about what "you" can do, see:

[Anonymous]

I know a couple like you. They are vegan, composting, etc. and criticizing everyone who doesn’t make those choices. Then they fly across the country a few times a year and I just want to laugh at them. I bet even you are less perfect than you think. If you want to affect change it’s not by lecturing your neighbors on social media. Accept that people may have good reasons for making different choices than you. Invest in solar energy. Invest in companies that are innovating sustainability. Please stop giving conservation a bad reputation by bragging to neighbors about how cold your house is.