Are you suffering from flygskam?

I am right there with you. I know enough to know it isn’t good, but that is where I am currently, and have plenty of company with my neighbors all being very similar. I don’t even see much of a movement or effort here to try to improve. No real campaigns or ads.
Maybe in an area of the world that is fascinated with Big Foot, a large carbon footprint is not a deterrent? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

See - I do think there is a piece of this in it… There is a regional component IMO. I live in a somewhat rural environment with lots of available water and a not-for-profit energy supplier…

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Ask away. I narrowly avoided surgery and over 6 months I think I used every type of splinting known to the entire medical team.

Yes, I was being silly. But in seriousness you are correct. The need is not evident in our every day life.

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Woops. I meant heed, not need. But if I need it I shall ask. Thanks.

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No. The US carbon footprint has dropped since its peak in 2007, as the natural gas from fracking has replaced dirty coal power and the renewables sector has ramped up. It’s now down to approximately mid-1980’s level, even with all the flying we all do.

On a per-capita basis, it’s around what it was in the 1950s. Even though we consume about 3 times the energy we did per capita at that time. Pretty incredible success story, if you ask me.

So, since I live in the US I am completely guilt-free regarding carbon. Also, I live in a state that has the highest percentage of renewable energy production in the country, even though we don’t have any nuclear.

Here’s the official report if anyone is bored enough to read it

All the meat I eat is pretty much free-range, grass-fed beef which live on habitat mostly unusable for anything else; or game, which is the most sustainably-harvested protein there is, as it is important that herd sizes are optimized for their own welfare. In addition, the license & grazing fees generated are used to further help conserve and manage habitat and wildlife populations. Land does not just lie there doing nothing, it has to be managed, and that isn’t cheap.

So actually, I feel pretty good about what we do. Clearly, this varies depending on what part of the world one lives in. I’m blessed to live in a state & country whose natural resources have been, all in all, pretty wisely managed for quite some time at all levels of both corporate and government management. With judicious application of pressure from responsible environmental interests, of course.

Extinction Rebellion will gain no toehold here.

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OT - I always love when I see you popping in! Don’t be a stranger!!!

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How nice! I have to admit things change so fast at WDW I’m not sure I have much to add, but I do lurk.


Environmentally, the one thing I am concerned about is the sheer quantity of physical and food waste our household produces. I’m obsessed with using up, reusing & reducing. Recycling can be of dubious environmental impact- best to not ever put it in the bin to begin with, and at any rate is limited where I live just because of transportation issues. Also, this impetus of mine may also come from having parents who were raised during the Great Depression. It didn’t matter if they had a little money when I came along, they were not into throw-away stuff- half my furniture is inherited antiques.

I even sewed up a bunch of “reusable paper towels” from thin, worn-out, kiddy towels, DH thought it was pretty funny but he’s not buying them from Costco anymore.:wink: There’s also shop in town who will refill my shampoo, lotion & liquid soap bottles. And of course, the reusable grocery bags (which one must be careful to wash regularly, BTW) although DH occasionally brings home Wal-mart bags for the kitty litter.

Admittedly, I have the time to do things this way, ten years ago with a houseful of kids I other things to worry about. And sorry, but not using disposable diapers is sheer insanity. Been there, tried that- let’s just thank God we live in the 21st century is all I have to say about that.

This does affect our WDW vacations because I just won’t buy stuff. There is literally nothing at WDW that we really need. We bought one Christmas ornament and some HH clothing there that we’d have had to buy somewhere else, and that’s it.

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I assume you mean from a time and energy perspective?

Yes. Although, if you live where land is plentiful and water isn’t, it’s arguably preferable from an environmental perspective.

I go back and forth on that. Obviously there is the issue of the water usage to wash diapers, but what about the time it takes for a diaper to break down in a landfill? Isn’t it something like hundreds of years?

I believe. :wink:

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Yes, but I’d break down a lot sooner than that!

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Nah, you get used to it! Until you start solids (assuming exclusive breastfeeding), they are super easy. No rinsing or anything, just throw them in the bucket, then into the wash when you have enough. Once the kiddos start eating solids (around 9 - 12 months for my kids), then it starts to be a pain when you have to rinse them. But then you’re motivated to have all your kids in undies by 2!!!

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Sorry, no, I tried it and it did not work out that way for me.
Among other things, my eldest son (as a baby) could not tolerate it. He was, and remains, quite hypersensitive to almost all stimuli. Colicky does not even begin to describe that kid!

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Hopefully, the attached is viewable, but Pod is exactly right. In the West we continue to be shamed by our purported large carbon footprint, when in reality China is the largest coal consumer by far, more than all the other countries combined! If Extinction Rebellion and the Greta Thunberg’s of the world truly cared about CO2 emissions then they should be bringing their protests to China and not at “In and Out Burger” restaurants in California or interrupting the tube in London.

I am perfectly comfortable with my lifestyle and vacation plans to WDW and so should everyone else.

And by the way, China signed the Paris accords - :thinking:

2018 Coal Consumption.pdf (290.9 KB)

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How dare you! :wink:

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… they’d be pro-nuclear.

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Ease up folks - I think we’re getting close to the political boundary here. :slight_smile:

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What specifically, is too close to the political boundary? I think we’ve been quite cordial and factual.