Tier 4

This requires next level thinking and a lot of collaboration, so I'm adding to this as I find stuff. If it works, I toss it in here.

New 5/27/24 Some ways to reduce bills and help the environment with small changes

Water Related
After gardening, instead of washing your hands indoors, leave a bar of soap out there and wash your hands at the spigot or the end of the hose. Hang it over a tree branch or fence railing or something then scrub. In fact, if you follow the usual skincare recommendation of washing your face with just water twice a day morning and evening, you could in theory do that outside, and then not have the usual annoying problem of having to clean up the mess around the sink. However that could be inconvenient unless you have a sink out there that drains directly to a rain garden or something.
If you have the chance to install an outdoor shower or bathing area that can be drained directly onto your yard as you use it or afterwards when the water is cool, do that. You could do all kinds of beauty related stuff there. I do however recommend that you critter and bugproof it and attach it directly to your house. Cause experience. Think snakes, wasps... shudder.
Turn off the water after you've lathered up your hands a little when washing them indoors. Lather fully, then rinse them off. Use your wrists to turn the taps on and off.
Turn off the water after you've just gotten watered in the shower. Apply the soap, shampoo or whatever, rinse. Turn the water off again, condition hair, wait for however long you can stand it, then rinse off.
Pre-soak dishes in water when you put them in the sink, before putting them in a dishwasher later on if you have one or before washing them. I know it's not considered "the most eco friendly" but neither is spending half an hour scrubbing at dried-on food. I suspect that by and large it saves water. Mind you how I do this is soaking each individual dish and cramming smaller dishes in larger water filled ones not filling the sink. On that note, get a dish wand.
Start sorting clothes before you launder them, but don't worry, not in a super complicated or even aesthetic way. Just sort out the delicate stuff from the more rugged. For even better results use a nylon mesh laundry bag for the really delicate stuff but that's not strictly required. Anyway wash the delicate stuff in warm or cool water on delicate wash, and if possible air dry it on a laundry rack or line. It will last longer and thus cause less waste.
Water less often, water for a longer period of time, and water in the morning. Speaking of which, if you have to water your lawn you've planted the wrong kind of grass. Get a kind that will survive there or look into xeriscaping. Also, set your lawn mower to mow higher. This helps grass recover from stress such as drought.
Stop tossing out all your non-dyed cardboard, cardstock, and paper grocery bags or takeout food bags. You know, all that tan stuff. Use it as an underlayer for mulch so you don't have to buy as much mulch. Or, use it AS mulch and lay a few rocks over it to hold it down. This will conserve so much water through the summer it could save your garden, your trees, and whatever else, plus reduce watering time significantly. If you still have some left, chuck it in a compost pile to provide the necessary browns to help aerate the pile so kitchen waste, coffee grounds etc. decompose faster and better.
Electricity Related
Designate one room to be the main room you spend your time in and primarily heat or cool and light that one only
Read owner's manuals of your stuff. Tinker with the settings of things to reduce unnecessary energy use.
Put up sheer curtains that are light colored so sunlight can get through but not visuals. Put heavy light blocking curtains over those. These are low tech but will work to help with temperature changes and natural light, reducing need for as much light, heating, cooling
Gasoline Related
Support sidewalks, even if they have to cut into your front lawn. Walkable neighborhoods are super important. Same deal with bike paths
You may not be into vehicle repair as a hobby, but it always pays to be able to do basic maintenance on your vehicle. Learning it is a great idea
Miscellaneous
Set up a workshop in one room or area, and a shed/garden tool area in your living space. Collaborate with family members, friends, by having everyone chip in a few pieces of equipment or other resources that they rarely use but sometimes need. Kind of like a library but for stuff, although the first step in setting these up could actually be to fill them with relevant books. Is this Socialist? Why yes it is, and is therefore subject to the tragedy of the commons, however since it's your living space you have the final say in how this is run and managed.
You know those annoying reusable grocery bags that are basically uncleanable even if you launder them? They can be an alternative to cardboard boxes for "keep, toss, donate, sell" piles in your house. Or, you can use extra laundry baskets.
These are dangerous, but here are ways to get free stuff: dumpster diving, picking up stuff from the curb on big trash day, asking the local or regional recycling plant if you can riffle through the donations, Craigslist's free section, and freecycle.org
Spend more time at thrift stores, pawn shops, reuse stores if you need things; you never know what you'll find at what price. I'd say same deal for garage sales but they're super overpriced these days for some reason
Look into the tax situation, then look around and see if you can buy some land. Even a square meter of it. Even if all you do with it is nothing at all! That's better than paving it over to "develop" it, and who knows, if it's like 1/16 of an acre you can even beekeep on it or something. The "or something" can be a Miyawaki forest. I can't find the link I saved, drat, but there is a team in India that explained the basic gist of it. First you find irrigation and mulch to cover the area with so your saplings etc. can survive. Then you plant three native-to-the-region trees per square meter, a variety of species, randomly. Irrigate and fertilize for a few years. Add more seeds if you want, more plants or whatever, as long as they're native to the region. You're done. Here's a simpler version: bury a bunch of native tree seeds there in the same way, maybe some other native seeds too, and don't irrigate at all but do use mulch, like a 2-inch thick layer of it. Watch and wait. Add more seeds each year if you're impatient.
Carry around native-to-the-region tree seeds and seeds of other native plants with you. Plant wherever makes sense. Obviously, a bird did it.
You can do the same thing with cuttings. Learn how to propagate cuttings for whatever species you're trying this with and then stick the cutting in damp soil where you want it to grow. For instance willow cuttings help a great deal with erosion of riverbanks and they're thirsty plants so can help dry up places that tend to puddle in extended rainy periods. Same deal with elderberries. Just about any species with deep roots and drought resistance will help stabilize a hillside.

New 5/18/23 Upcycling section, now under construction

New 9/13/22 Finally, some solutions: Some technologic breakthroughs of note that require further study and observation

These have gone past the development and initial test phases and are now in the process of being scaled up and turned into industries. In other words, yes people have started to find possible solutions for global warming, not just stopgap measures like reforestation.
Bamboo mass plantings The website of Bambubatu says a lot about bamboo. However, one of the most interesting notions is to plant lots of it to sequester carbon and provide oxygen, and fast, especially within cities where it's difficult for other plants to grow. Some parks in India have been planted with just bamboo and have even been used as convalescent wards for people suffering from covid's effects, since they had serious shortages of supplemental oxygen. Other articles on the site explain how to use bamboo to filter greywater, and its myriad uses as a superior timber product that provides fabric, paper, construction materials instead of wood, charcoal filtration media for water and air purification, and even charcoal for heating and fuel purposes.
Potassium polyacrylate Seems to be the first generation of what I bet will be many generations of new and improved water beads. Essentially functions like a miniature sponge that biodegrades slowly over several years, helping soils to conserve moisture. Could be a total game changer for all agriculture; drip irrigation and Israeli rows and organic mulches are great and all but this is next level
Carbon sequestration plants. As I understand the tech, it seems to be similar to using a Sodastream to carbonate your fruit juice or whatever. CO2 is extracted from ambient air and injected deep underground into aquifers, possibly with other chemicals, to make the CO2 form a precipitate compound with some other chemicals (actual reactions are unknown). Possible problem: depending on the chemicals used, could poison said aquifers and thusly water table, then the land and drinking water supply.
Permaculture advances. It used to be accessible only to the rich. Now not only the price of the materials and labor required but the overall labor required is going down with each new discovery. In future, starting a permaculture installation once might be all you need to do. In future, farming itself might be permaculture only. Take for instance the idea behind a hedgerow in England, and the autumn harvest foragers glean from these. The Home-Scale Forest Garden by Dani Baker is the second permaculture book like this I have seen. The first was The Cottage Garden Month-By-Month by Jackie Bennett
Old-school Permaculture, such as in Sylva by John Evelyn Vol. 1 and 2 (both I think are on Project Gutenberg) and in The Cottage Garden Month-By-Month by Jackie Bennett. Apparently permaculture back in the day was not called that but (probably among other names) husbandry.
I have been telling people for years, and haven't been listened to, about manipulating solar light to produce energy. Take the general principle behind a solar cooker that tracks the sun, improve the collector's efficiency using basic physics behind reflection of light, run water or some other substance through the focus, and it can power a steam turbine that generates electricity. You can also use lenses to concentrate the sun's light much like how a magnifying glass under the sun starts a fire if you use one that's big enough. I don't know how to store the electricity once it's made, but I do know this is a perfectly viable way to get electricity, and that the technology for steam turbine-based electricity generation has been around for years. It's just usually run with heat from fossil fuels instead.
Home gardening advances. Two great examples include How To Create an Eco Garden by John Walker and Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre by Brett Markham, and gardening advances continue to show up in published books and online
Electric vehicles and improved batteries for them. Many issues... all which require work. Specifically the big two are price and availability of charging stations. E-bikes are the first widely affordable vehicles for this tech, and I look forward to seeing the rest of them follow suit.
Solar panels; the more efficient these get the more viable they become as a major power source. Every small boost in efficiency is a big deal.
Vertical axis wind turbines. Can use wind power at lower heights than conventional wind turbines, and be put in the same area as wind turbine farms to improve their overall efficiency
Joe Doucet Wind Turbine Wall Wind turbine walls, which essentially are a bunch of mini wind turbines all put onto a wall looking like a honeycomb, all going at once. His brand is Airiva, which to the best of my knowledge is the only company doing this.
The entire vegan animal product replacement bunch of industries - to reduce impact of animal husbandry which creates lots of methane and is both energy and food intensive. Oddly enough anyone in India who's got the cooking chops could write cookbooks for this kind of thing because they've got the vegan food game pretty much mastered. Why no one has done this already is puzzling.
Vegan supermarket chains, focusing mainly not on replacement products but on accidentally vegan delicacies from worldwide cuisines, such as Chinese, Indian, and Ethiopian.
Geothermal heating and cooling. Underutilized, especially in colder climates.
Coastal wave power facilities
Fiberoptic solar lighting. Only utilized in a couple of companies. Gathers light at a receptacle outdoors, which reflects it at such an angle it enters fiberoptic cable, which then emits the light indoors much like a skylight.
Coppice Products As explained in many books in the Helpful Books section, woodland products are an old-fashioned solution to a modern problem (environmental ruin). And coppices, hedgerows, permaculture installations, and woodlands produce such products sustainably. Creating stuff from woodlands and coppice and other forest type, backwoods type, Boy Scouts type stuff is part of the heritage of many places, but as far as I'm aware only the UK made a business out of it. This can be done worldwide, and thusly forests won't get chopped down to make industries. Because the forests will be the industries.
10/1/22 Here's a disgusting but viable idea. A lot of effluent from sewage plants, slaugherhouses, and animal farming operations is high in nitrogen. That's literally fertilizer. I say mix it in with a bunch of dirt somewhere and grow Miyawaki forests on top. At the very least, sewage from humans can't be used on farm crops. But it certainly can be used on trees and forestlands.
10/1/22 Another idea. We've screwed up the climate enough so that only invasive species really thrive in a lot of places. Ever think of deliberately planting gardens with species that have invaded the area? If nothing else will grow, hey. Might as well. At the very least you can sure forage the heck out of them. There will be more.
5/4/23 Need a new hobby? LOL

New 6/9/22 SOME EASY NO-BRAINER UPGRADES

Might be repeating myself here, but it's nice to have a grab bag of easy-to-implement stuff in one subsection. Some of this is new tips and tricks I picked up recently also.
6/17/23 Do you own a business or work in one? Do you have spare cash? Buy condoms and put them in a bowl at the front with a sign saying "free." Also if possible another bowl for dental dams; this isn't just for LGBTQ+ folks (the more you know, right?). This is an investment in quality of life in your very neighborhood, I'm not kidding. And worldwide. Make this a trend, because the government sure won't. This is particularly applicable if you work in any kind of health care. Thailand already does this in some areas, likely because they're grappling with AIDS. Do you want the US to get to that point before this kind of thing happens here? Because that might be where we have to wind up before people take this shit seriously
Vote. Inform yourself about the full issues so you don't make stupid decisions. Get your friends and family to vote and vote informed. Discuss this intelligently with them - I know it's not considered polite but frankly if you can't discuss politics with someone, you might not be compatible as friends.
If you feel like going out to have fun, use your chevrolegs. Or perhaps consider getting an electic bicycle from Best Buy or something, they're like $800 and go up to 20 mph or more
Scotland LoveFoodHateWaste has fantastic ideas for reducing food waste. It's a good website to lurk on. Dave's Garden also has some good tips Dave's Garden article and there are plenty of other resources for preserving and extending food out there.
Switch to the best bank you can. To the best of my knowledge, Santander is the least worst, closely followed by local credit unions. Helpfully, the latter also usually have a far higher savings rate. However I will point out that the entire finance industry is corrupt af and there's lots of money to be made making a non-corrupt socially responsible eco-friendly one of any of these: bank, money transfer service, credit union, brokerage, tax service.
Most attics in the US have two vents on either side that are designed to open and close. In summer, they generally should be open to let superheated air out. Check them and open them, and prop 'em open if need be. In a lot of these, the size of these vents is also too small, which makes it so the attic is even hotter than the outside air. You may be either able to DIY bigger vents yourself after thoroughly researching how to do this, submitting blueprints, getting an inspection and a local building permit, and so on, or by hiring a local contractor for this (frankly, pretty small easy job aside from the bureaucratic hassle; hiring a contractor means they deal with that, and not you)
Unplug all electronics when you are not using them. If they're plugged into a powerstrip, unplug that.
If you invest, invest only in what's eco friendly and nothing else. If you want to.
Install low-flow faucet aerators
Replace the filter on home air intake filters whenever it says it's needed on the package, or whenever it's visibly starting to clog up with dust
Clean the filter on window AC units regularly. Those things get dirty and that can mess up the machine. Check the owner's manual or google it. Wipe the crud off with a paper towel and you're good.
Make an attempt to find recycled paper products and use those instead of whatever paper stuff you're using
When you're buying stuff that'll eventually get dissolved in water and go down the drain, like shampoo, soap, laundry soap, cleaning products and so on, try to stick to only those that you really need (such as disinfectants) and those that are labeled "biodegradable" and "septic safe." Unscented, hypoallergenic products are even better. Bonus: these are usually better for human health
Attempt to buy high-quality stuff you'll only need to buy once. Planned obsolescence is evil, and it costs more money for the consumer (you) in the long run. Find the specific make and model of the stuff you want ahead of time, and save up for it.
For holiday gifts, do furoshiki instead of wrapping stuff up in wrapping paper. It's got its own learning curve, like wrapping paper, but it is cool.
When switching out lightbulbs, get LED lightbulbs. They're way more efficient, and last longer also
Note: depending on the make and model, and the home you're in, this could potentially kill you - you might need a licensed electrician to come by and do this for you: Buy the same make and model of thermostat that you have, and turn off the power for the entire house. This is usually at the breaker box, and should be labeled as "main power supply." If it is not, you might have to do some trial and error, which is a pain; make a point of labeling these things with say, a label maker. Anyway, flip the switch. Next, using a flashlight to see, swap out the old thermostat for the new one. You pull out the old thermostat, right off the wall (unless it's actually wired into the wall, in which case a licensed electrician is needed so you don't fuck up the electrical connections) and push the new one on there. Often the damn things will not work right because they're planned obsolescence and do not work properly after a year. Also see if you can switch the stupid thing from being battery powered to being directly wired in to your house's power, by... well, getting an electrician. But this is a quick fix. If you do not have the option to replace the whole thermostat and it is battery powered, at least keep the batteries topped up.
As much as you can, don't burn things; it pollutes the air. Apparently places in India and Africa have no infrastructure for heating homes besides wood-burning and the air quality there is awful; learn from them. Charcoal briquettes, natural wood, charcoal, whatever; skip all that, have incense and candles instead, and as for heating and cooling seek eco-friendly options. If you're going to BBQ or grill something and have the dough anyway, consider getting a solar grill or cooker. And if you really must burn something, burn herb bundles. In the case of Yule or Litha fires, burn twigs in a cauldron or something, not an entire roaring fire.
Along those lines, don't set off fireworks or firecrackers (I know... I know!!!). Instead, play recordings of these things as video or audio. I have also heard there is a movement to have drum circles instead of fireworks or firecrackers
See if you can switch your electric power company's source to solar or wind. Some electric companies offer that, check the website of yours and if any competitors are locally available.
The number one expenditure to focus on improving the quality of, besides bank, is whatever recurring bills you've got. Scrutinize these, shop around, and see if you can find better options for all of them from both an ethical and an environmental standpoint. Bonus: less "bleeding chips" of stupid hidden fees and so on making/keeping you poor. Online monthly bank statements are helpful for looking into where your money goes each month.
Unsubscribe from spam, as directed in EcoFriendly1
Either install heavy curtains, or stick a bunch of cardboard boxes or insulation panels in unused windows behind venetian blinds, or both. Tacking up sheets or fleece blankets over windows also helps with energy efficiency but certainly not your decor
Keep one room of your place more comfortable than the rest of it, as heating and cooling is some of the most energy intensive stuff
If you have a clothesline, use it as often as you can instead of the dryer
Use the heck out of the library. Movies, books, CDs, manga, comic books, magazines, it's all there. It's also overall a better source of information than the internet, which is important in preventing yourself from getting snookered by the latest b.s. social media fad, far-left or far-right or whatever. Use the online catalog and schedule a pickup, and you're contactless - hooray
Plant as many trees as you can each year. Plan this out and get as many friends and family involved as you can. If you can also plant a hedgerow so much the better; essentially it's whatever local trees and shrubs grow well together in a line that functions as a wildlife highway and habitat.
Adjust lawnmower blades as high as they can go, so pollinators get more flowers growing in your lawn. If possible, leave part of your lawn unmown also - check city ordinances first, and possibly contact the city to ask if this is alright.
Develop habits for upcycling things that work for you. For instance, my family and I have been reusing tea boxes as little catchalls for years, and glass jars for basically everything. You might also create a document on your computer where you note what you upcycle and how you upcycle it.
Mulch for potted plants: tea leaves, expired herbs. Put that in there and cover it up with more potting soil.
For those of you who have a backyard or similar, gradually improve whatever eco-friendly gardening methods and garden you have back there year after year. I've found that the best authors for this are John Walker, Sally Roth, Sharon Lovejoy, and Brett Markham, but I can't sugarcoat this: gardening is hard, learn all you can.
Cultivate seed bombing as a hobby - to get started on this see the numerous tutorials on Instructables
If you have the time, energy, and gear, cultivate #trashtag as a hobby or at least a recurring thing
Try to buy only what you need and no more
Insulate and weatherize the absolute heck out of everything you can in your living quarters. Generally the easiest solutions here include putting insulation panels or cardboard boxes in unused windows, putting a weather strip under the front door, and storing 6 5-gallon or 30 1-gallon water bottles in every room where it's structurally sound to do so (these are heat capacitors). But if you have a heck of a lot of money you can do a lot more.
To prevent yourself from getting bogged down in junk and also accidentally buying stuff you already have, do a short mini cleaning morning and evening when you toss out at least one thing. This is a little trick because once you toss out a thing, goblin brain is like "ooh I can organize now goody" and you wind up tidying a little.
If you can't have a compost pile, bury your food scraps in small amounts at least a foot deep in ahem, places. Various places in a backyard should work fine.
If you can have a compost pile, the simplest method is just to dig a pit 3' wide and 2' deep, and keep chucking stuff in it. Don't let all that good black gold material go to waste. Leaves? Grass clippings? Coffee grounds? Softwood trimmings from shrubs? In it goes. 1/3/23 I recently learned that the dirt you dig out of the pit makes wonderful layering material so you can layer it over each addition, preventing pests and smells and so on.
When it comes to using 'cides outside, don't. Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc. fugheddaboudit.
The more you can meal prep, the better. Whether you're buying it or cooking it yourself, it prevents food waste and wastage of money, not to mention packaging waste in a lot of cases. Generally I like to make a grocery list once a week and compare it to my 52-week seasonal grocery list ideas that I made for the year.
1/3/23 If you are guilty of not eating leftovers because you aren't in the mood for them (I'm trying to get better at this), learn to discipline yourself to eat the leftovers instead of making or buying new food
Initial D is awesome. Getting ticketed is not awesome. Try to be as chill as possible when you drive and stay under the speed limit, and to heck with the tailgaters you get that way (I'm looking at you, TEXAS). It'll save you a lot at the pump
Keep your tires inflated to the correct psi. Other things that can help with gas mileage include essentially keeping your car in good repair, and reducing the weight carried in the car.
If your city actually has a recycling option, use it
Try to buy or otherwise get much of your stuff secondhand, particularly clothing and furniture
Try to keep your stuff in good repair so you don't have to replace it. If you don't know how to repair or maintain it, google it
Check out the Shopping section, to see if you can find more eco-friendly versions of what you normally use
Ditto the Vegan section
Keep learning things and improving your overall level of education. Stay sharp
Keep yourself informed about developments in technology and good ideas as they relate to the environment, perhaps using Cutting Edge and EcoFriendly1 or whatever else you like
Don't know about you, but the instant I can afford an electric car, it's mine! I'm saving up for one.
Same deal goes for land. I plan on pooling resources with everyone I know who is also interested to get some, both to garden on and to preserve wilderness on it.
1/3/23 Squash trash. Before you toss anything in the trash, compact it first. This way you don't have to use as many trash bags, plus there will be less leakage and annoyance when you have to replace the bag. So this helps you save money on trash bags also.
1/13/23 Got a battery-powered Xbox controller? Tired of going through so many damn batteries? You can follow this easy Xbox support guide to turn off the light on the controller that bleeds battery life. I'll report back to ya with the best rechargeable batteries in my experience also. 12/30/23 Energizer Rechargeable NiMH batteries work great. Surprisingly, better than the rechargeable Duracell ones. Could not get a hold of the Panasonic Eneloop ones so didn't have a chance to try those.
3/30/23 Seek out the unbleached option for paper products. Especially things like coffee filters that will contact food, and single-use stuff like paper towels. Also flour. The only reason for bleaching is cosmetic, and it's not good for the environment as far as I know.
5/21/23 After a good 18+ years of research into being as eco friendly as possible I've come to the conclusion that simply buying less, and buying the cheapest version of, stuff by definition will have you reducing your environmental impact. By a whole lot. Buy less stuff, be frugal, and... both you and the planet profit. There are exceptions but they are few and far between. However this is hardly a conclusion drawn from well-structured research and analysis, and is just my personal observations. This relates to an old saying I heard somewhere that there aren't just 3 Rs, namely Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, there's at least one more which should come before the 3: Refuse. Refuse to buy the single-use, the un-eco-friendly, the unneeded and unnecessary. I think there may have been a fifth, sixth, even seventh R but I can't remember them right now.
5/29/23 Resist any temptation to succumb to seeing a vehicle as anything more than the most practical mode of transporation available to you and get one suitable for your real life. I say this because of things like jacked up Hummers and truck nuts. You wanna know what those make you look like? Like you're compensating for something. Get a good reliable vehicle and drive it well. That'll be quite enough status symbol, damn it. Don't get me wrong, DIYing vehicle stuff is fun, and if cars really do make your life worth living, that's fine. But ask yourself if you're really doing this because it makes you happy or because it's some kind of confidence booster and attention getter. Car stuff seems to be a lot like the musician world. You have folks that really love what they do because it's their thing, and you have folks that get into it because they want to get worshipped.
11/10/23 Here's the most accessible compost bin idea I've seen yet: Step 10 in this Instructable by sparkleponytx. It's the cheapest one I've seen too, though it requires a drill to make air holes. Unless you heat up a nail and hold it with tongs and oven mitts; that would work too. You could also skip cutting off the bottom and digging into the dirt by putting a bunch of dirt inside the trash can to start with, and/or potting soil, then layering stuff on that. As long as the lid fits relatively tightly or is on there with bungee cords animals can't get in. Easily anyway. However if you put this on like a concrete patio or something similar there will be compost ooze coming out of its bottom so put it on a large deep tray of some sort. I'd also like to point out that you do not have to turn the compost at all, just wait for several months to a couple years for it to break down and it will.

1/15/23 Some less easy upgrades still worth doing

12/27/23 No recycling plant in your town or area? Got a car? Expand your search radius for towns anywhere from 3 to 4 hours away from you by car. Research how trustworthy it is and/or how much of a hassle it is and then see if it's worth a visit. If so, go there to see how it is. If it's good, you just found a place to divert what would otherwise be trashed, and some of these places do buy back scrap glass and metal. You'll have to let the recycling pile up for like half a year before you schlep it out there but a. you'll not contribute to future generations hating us even more than they will and b. you'll see what kind of conditions prevail in the surrounding area and town. What kind of people live there. It could be worth getting to know that area.
1/14/23 Here is a really old fashioned idea that goes all the way back to the Depression, but oddly enough I haven't heard of it before now. It goes a little like this: regularly take breaks from using all the resources you buy: electricity, water, gasoline, natural gas, wood. Time them, or reserve one or more days for that. Even one hour a week can gradually stretch to more as you learn to cope better with being unplugged. Turn off all the AC or heat, lights, TVs, cell phones, unplug everything (within reason, like, don't unplug your fridge) from the wall sockets, don't use running water, don't buy stuff, don't cook. Exist a little, maybe read a book outside or play some sports or something. Perhaps meditate or take a really long walk with a dog. One afternoon a week is good. So is an entire day. In fact, if you do this for an entire day, more than once a week, the impact on your utility bills will be pretty amazing. But even a little bit adds up over time also and means more money in your pocket. Bear in mind this is not a great idea when it's super hot or cold outside, and tailor this to your individual circumstances, because it's not realistic for everyone.
1/15/23 Opt out of junk mail using the annoying process of going through these websites and doing what you can. DMA Choice (start with that one), then PaperKarma mailer directory, Catalog Choice, and whatever resources the FTC decides to update this how to opt out of junk mail page with
6/17/23 It might be worth it to use raised garden beds for starting tree seeds, for propagating cuttings, and for cover crops. Regarding the tree seeds, they take a while to germinate and can get eaten before they come up so it might be wise to cover each area with insect screen with metal borders, then chicken wire or something similar, and rocks holding it down, until the trees sprout. A cinderblock raised bed for that might be the best bet too so the insect screen can stay above the trees til they get their first set of true leaves.

5/7/22 Hey hey, finally some websites that can really help, hooray

1/2/23 Energy Saver Article At last the government has gotten involved. Finally. Here is a lot of information on home energy audits, to DIY or find someone to do that for you - for low cost or free
12/5/22 Attainable Home Link goes to the first realistic article I've seen, ever, about renovating a home to make it net zero environmentally speaking, without going broke in the process.
12/30/22 Pink foam board insulation This is R5. It's cheaper than R10. All foam board, and most foam insulation, is extremely flammable, so should be covered with drywall, as per this article from Attainable Sustainable
1/2/23 AttiCat Fiberglass Blown-In Insulation Study how to do this properly, then get it done... this seems to be the cheapest and most viable option long term in a great many homes. Look into it.
10/3/22 BuildItSolar Could potentially really help homeowners. Found it after searching for a question "can you whitewash a roof made of asphalt shingles" because elastomeric paint is like installing solar panels - ridiculously expensive. Apparently the answer is "yes," according to the author of this pdf on the subject, writing as Wolfgang, who beneficiently gives us directions for how to DIY this project ourselves also. You need an oar or stirring stick (tool handle perhaps), safety equipment, probably some restaurant buckets, water, and hydrated lime.
Restor Like Google Maps but for ecological restoration projects and areas
Pristine Seas Project Strives to make marine sanctuaries worldwide, kind of like our version of national parks and marine reserves but on an international scale
Zero Waste Scotland Not just for Scotland. Has some really good ideas on here and is worth a lengthy look.

8/9/22 Some Instructables authors to follow. Some have their own home pages, which also see. You do, however need to ask yourself three questions: 1. how much time, energy, and money do I have on hand?, 2. how brave am I?, and 3. am I likely to screw this up so badly that I wind up looking like one of those guys on Canada's Worst Handyman?

Bennelson Assistance with DIY e-vehicles, solar power grid-tie, and backup power
Mjtrinihobby Completely off-grid solar and wind electricity and powering your home that way
Owen Geiger Earthbag building
Greenpowerscience Solar technology that could potentially burn down your house. It's pretty awesome
Velacreations They take living off grid really seriously.
Tecwyn Twmffat Has a lot of farming and homesteading DIYs that are efficient, logical, and innovative

10/26/22 Some websites for more information, to read like blogs, which honestly are kinda wild

12/28/22 Some new information on eco-friendly tech I found

Arundinaria 2/10/23 It's like bamboo. But it is not bamboo. It's native to the Southern US, as are Canebrakes. This is actually a bit like coppice plants in the UK, and as a natural resource, it's entirely renewable. Apparently it was once used and is likely still used by First Nations people.
Bamboo Floor Why does this bamboo stick together? Often urea-formaldehyde glue. Off-gassing could be a problem.
Intonaco A method of plastering and painting in tandem that you use if you really want your indoor paintings to last.
Lime Also explains quicklime. The secret ingredient in a lot of this kind of stuff. Specifically, made into slaked lime, Calcium hydroxide
Lime plaster
Gypsum This too. Here's an article about recycling it
Mudbrick Interesting and potentially really helpful because making raised beds for a garden gets really expensive, really fast if you buy the materials
Spackling Paste
Sticky Rice Mortar
Adobe Actually contains basic directions for making mud bricks. "Puddled" actually means you step on the mixture in a pit until it starts sticking to itself and to you.
Alker Kind of like adobe but usable anywhere, not just in arid places with very little rain. A mixture of soil, lime, and gypsum. Definitely worth further research and experimentation. Could potentially be a good replacement for cement and concrete, especially with simple non-load-bearing garden structures such as ponds, raised beds, and patios.
Rammed Earth Article doesn't mention the most ancient way of making this was likely: mix up dirt that holds together after it dries, with additional binder like egg whites, manure, cooked paste of glutinous rice, gelatin, sour milk, or lime (powdered seashells that went through a kiln at high temperature) or even glue, chuck it into a wooden mold, then compact it by stepping on a board on top of it, possibly along with some other people. When that layer dries, take the mold off and stack more on top of that.
Cob Wikipedia article on this
Harling A type of wall finish used on Scottish castles
Tadelakt
Pozzolan
Plasterwork
Whitewash A traditional covering for many kinds of earthen constructions.
Salsabil
Passive Cooling Of particular interest: fluorescent radiant cooling, which is under the radiative cooling subheading in this article
Qanats
Sustainable Architecture

5/16/22 Some good books for the next level of work on this, which are a good start

1/12/23 Herbs by Lesley Bremness has a comprehensive guide for starting trees from seed and I never noticed, despite owning a copy as a family heirloom. Oops!
Insulate & Weatherize by Bruce Harley, from Taunton's Build Like A Pro series
Cut Your Energy Bills Now by Bruce Harley
Rainwater Harvesting series by Brad Lancaster
Mushroom Farming by Tradd Cotter
Trowel and Error by Sharon Lovejoy
Basically anything by Sally Roth, as she puts a lot of tips and tricks into whatever she makes. The Successful Herb Gardener is a good place to start.
Mini Farming on 1/4 Acre by Brett Markham
Woodland Craft Handbook by Ben Law
The Complete Practical Book of Country Crafts by Jack Hill, but without making charcoal or doing any burning of wood, as that is seriously harmful for the environment and pollutes the air (on that note, Pagans and country-dwellers, please consider switching from burning wood to heat with and for celebrations like Litha and Yule to something renewable and non-polluting such as solar heaters, solar panels, wind energy, and pillar candles)
How To Create an Eco Garden by John Walker
DIY Solar Projects, Updated Edition by Eric Smith and Philip Schmidt with Troy Wanek
Added 1/10/23 Drip Irrigation for Every Landscape and All Climates by Robert Kourik - One of those intimidating college course-in-a-book type textbooks, but if taken slowly is an absolute pleasure to read. Not to mention really useful. Take it a chapter at a time with many breaks, and if you panic like I did because it makes your brain hurt too, take a break, come back later, persist.

Business Stuff

If you work for or own a business that throws out a lot of food at the end of the night, try to get it to sign up for the Too Good To Go app. It has you put leftovers in bags that get sold for a lower price.
Do you work for an eco-friendly sustainable business with ethical labor practices? See about getting it on the wait list for charitable giving to Ecosia here link out
If you can't quit your job, do what you can to improve its environmental footprint as best you can. For instance, writers might be able to find self-publishing presses that print with soy ink on recycled paper. Other than that for most workers in the country your best bet is to probably persuade your higher-ups to have round-table discussions so your voice can even be heard in the first place.
If able, switch your job to work at a business that helps the environment. Good careers in this field with excellent long term job prospects and probably great benefits can be found in the solar power industry, wind power industry, wave power industry, geothermal heating and cooling industry, the higher education industry, passive and active solar technologies industry (doesn't exist yet; it will), all engineering firms that are eco-friendly, environmental remediation firms, the e-vehicle industry, the insulation industry, wastewater remediation, all HVAC, eco-friendly civil engineering firms, urban design, green home construction and remodeling, green roof installation firms, green wall installation firms, anything that upgrades efficiency of factory and small business production via automation, starting your own small eco-friendly business, working for a nonprofit, most scientific research done for an eco-friendly business or eco-friendly corporation (such as Eco Wave Power), green architecture firms, green construction companies, organic gardening businesses such as greenhouses and landscaping firms, bagged compost production, recycling plant engineering for near-total automation, and organic farming.
Every business, microbusiness and small business, farm, government building, public building, and school can do the following if they have enough foresight and willpower: switch their electricity source to a renewable source such as hydropower, wind power, or solar; reduce waste as much as possible; recycle almost all of what they'd normally throw out; take a closer look at their supply chain to convert it to something as sustainable and ethical as possible; convert all brick-and-mortar locations into Platinum LEED certified buildings or at least improve their efficiency as much as possible; automate as many of their boring and repetitive processes as possible to improve efficiency; implement a policy of kaizen (or to put it less nicely a 'ask yourself and others questions often to reduce "the stupid"' policy) to improve not just the business but also its impact on the environment through intense scrutiny and monitoring of business performance; have a round table policy so that everyone from the janitor to the grunt workers to the higher-ups can speak equally at the same table about issues and concerns, again, to prevent "the stupid"; switch all of their disposable packaging to biodegradable or reusable; calculate their carbon footprint at Arborday.org and pay an "Earth Tax" to Arbor Day accordingly every year; innovate and plow as many resources as possible into research and development every year; incentivize continuing education for all employees; fire all bloat in higher management and also sometimes the CEO; buy out non-eco-friendly competitors and make them eco-friendly; improve their viability as an eco-friendly business by getting better at business and making their goods cost-competitive instead of thinking that just because it's eco-friendly the customers will be flocking; switching all company vehicles to electric ones; switching all fuels used to the most eco-friendly fuels possible or better yet using eco-friendly electricity and passive solar technology to power everything instead of fossil fuels; switching all employer-subsidized meals and snacks to vegan ones. This batch of changes can be applied to literally every business, and even to homes and individuals; it scales up and down; it can be used on the smallest off-grid homestead and in the largest corporate chains. Let me make this clear: THIS IS THE BARE MINIMUM. I predict every business will look very much like this in 20 years; whoever can be persuaded to change before then will be way ahead of the curve and profit accordingly. For a good example, take a good look at Google. A smaller business that operates like that is Dr. Bronner. There are many other examples. I invest in them (not Google though).
If you're a customer or a visitor at any of the aforementioned places, bug the upper management for all of these things until you give up and never return. Don't be a Karen but make it clear your desires will not change and you can't be persuaded otherwise. If they don't comply with your demands, then you don't give 'em business or patronage, plain and simple. That is how business works after all. The customers are the real bosses, not the bosses.

General Next-Level Stuff

Support all government and civilian programs for space exploration. When we figure out the technology to explore space with life support for human beings out there that lasts for longer than ten years, that same technology will allow us to live on this planet without destroying it. The basic idea is the same; life support for the human whether it's up there or down here.
Right along with that level of technology, support all policies, government and civilian, that give us the level of education we require in order to operate and sustain such technology. In your own life, get that level of education. We are not there yet. We don't have the education levels (at least most of us don't, I know I don't) required to keep us, individually, alive alone, to keep our families alive were we to be stuck alone with them, or keep us, as a species, alive for very long. Nor do we have the education required to keep the planet going either, let alone not destroy its biosphere, ecosystem, and other planetary systems. Exhibit A: 2020. The Earth is one big very well-regulated spaceship and we are doing the opposite of its maintenance; we're just fucking it up.
Check city ordinances to make sure you won't break any laws, then if able, leave a strip of your lawn unmowed. Any wildflowers that naturally grow there will provide for pollinators.
Try to get together with people to plant as many hedgerows as you can and as many Miyawaki forests as you can and legally call that ground "village commons;" in the US that translates to public parks, and mandate it all stay totally organic. This will help reduce the burden on food welfare, and also provide plenty of area for pollinators to well, not die off.
Community gardens are well and good, but subject to the tragedy of the commons. Best to promote cheap allotments as much as possible and a patch of noncontaminated ground attached to every place let out for rent. Have I mentioned that being the opposite of a slumlord, a fantastic landlord, is an excellent way to get paid? Plus the more excellent landlords there are, the fewer slumlords will be able to get away with being the scum of the earth
Once the pandemic is over, get involved with your local community. Show up to every community meeting you can. Show up to every city council meeting you can, or watch it online - again, if you can, these are long, nearly impossible to follow if you're not a lawyer, and really frustrating. Visit community centers often. Figure out where the main hangout spots are in the town that match up with your interests and enjoy yourself there; you'll learn about the area and its needs this way. Meet people and talk to them about what you want from the area. If you don't yet know who your neighbors are, knock on their door and introduce yourself, and if necessary explain your habits and ask if they want you to change them.
Volunteer with whatever regularity you can manage at an eco-friendly charity or doing something eco-friendly like #trashtag, #teamtrees, or seed bombing. Give yourself a day on which to do this, anytime from once a year (and if that's not really possible for you it's okay, just do what you can with other eco friendly stuff) to once a week, really depending on however much you actually want to do and can manage without overworking yourself or harming yourself. Some of these organizations are looking for volunteers: link. I repeat: do not do too much. It's far better to be consistent and make your efforts sustainable than to do too much and wind up burned out.
My family and I haven't been able to compost for a few years. Our solution? We bury our food scraps about a foot or so down in little amounts throughout our backyard. Shhhh.
Experiment with burying food scraps that can't be composted. I recently read that you can bury things like rotten fish at least a foot and a half deep in a garden to improve tilth. Well, in an organic garden, bone meal, blood meal, and even milk are used to provide nitrogen and other nutrients. Could it be that rotten or turned food scraps from animal and fishy sources can also be buried deep in a garden to break down, instead of being trashed? Hey, I'm willing to experiment.
Experiment with DIYing one or more of the following: car repair, appliance repair, home repair and efficiency upgrades, gardening more and better, cooking more and better.
5/24/23 Is it possible to make fuel for vehicles and machinery that's ethanol but not made of corn? Maybe I'm out of the loop here but seems humans make a whole lot of sugar out of sugar beets, sugarcane, etc. and all of it can be made into alcohol: fuel. Apparently regulators may have chosen corn because a. it's profitable and a corrupt industry and b. corn ethanol from feed or field corn is disgusting to drink so people won't try it. Do they know about this stuff called Bitrex which is legally mandated to add to all alcohol-based perfume to ensure people don't drink it cause it makes things bitter?

Legal and Political Crap To Demand Or Otherwise Bring About

I'm sorry. I really fucking hate politics and I'm sure a lot of my readers do too. It's necessary though.

6/24/22 Support a worldwide restriction on population growth such that all parents may not have more than one child without legal repercussions. That is enforced by taxes which cover the amount of damage each child does to the environment, and with more than two children produced by each parent, to jail the parents go. Religion has done the most damage on this front, claiming that it's "super important" for people to reproduce without restriction. Oh, is that ever wrong, and it's killing both us and the planet. Also it's causing an extreme amount of suffering and human rights violations. Fugheddaboudit. Get religion out of politics, and disallow unrestricted reproduction. Eventually I think most people will agree with me, but by then it might be way too late and we could be going through a WWIII due to the competition for resources thanks to too damn many of us. So fight for this legal restriction on population growth worldwide now, therefore hopefully we can avoid that.
6/22/22 Support women's rights worldwide. Guess why our population is booming? Women don't have the right to say "no, I don't want to get pregnant" in most countries and religions. And that's a. a human rights violation, and b. actually destroying both the environment and society. Long term, and also short term, it is resulting in the four horses of the apocalypse: plague, famine, war, and death. Beware the self-fulfilling prophecy. Therefore legal changes must happen in every country to ensure that women can avoid being pregnant; things like enforced and arranged marriages, legalized rape by any name, lack of access to women's education and contraceptives, and so on: we end that, and half the environmental problems will probably be gone. Just like that. G-O-N-E.
6/22/22 Get rid of Feminism, and replace it with a movement called "Women's Rights Movement." They are not the same thing, I've explained this in depth in Hindsight Is 2022, and Feminism is making the whole world disgusted by and laughing at women's rights. It's counterproductive. Kill Feminism, ensure women have legal rights backed up by the long arm of the law in every country, promote education of women worldwide and women's rights worldwide, promote female-owned microbusinesses worldwide, assist women with mental health so they are no longer conditioned to be pushovers by society or struggling mentally while holding together families/communities, and free women. In other words, fix the actual issues, not Quixotic bogeymen. It's that simple.
6/22/22 Support everyone's rights to contraceptives and education about how to use them worldwide. Also, support initiatives to make contraceptives easier to use, easier to get, and applicable to both genders. It's time to fast-track development of the "male pill," for instance. Anyway, just one easy solution is to make condoms subsidized worldwide and free for all to use, no questions asked, easily obtainable. Plus bonus, less AIDS, who doesn't want that?
6/22/22 Divorce religion from politics worldwide. It's destroying the environment. It's causing human rights violations and wars. It's making it so if you're unlucky enough to be born in the wrong place, you can't practice your religion without being tortured or killed. IT IS CAUSING LITERALLY NO POSITIVE RESULTS TO HAVE RELIGION MIXED WITH POLITICS. I am including my own religion here (Goddess worship/Green Witchcraft), and also including Judaism as it relates to Israel's government because these are what I know best from my background. The only positive results it has are emotional ones. Not a single damn practical benefit. Not a single one. Just drawbacks. "But God" - are you sure? You must be some kind of prophet, huh? Or maybe you are literally pretending to be God and know what God wants. Or maybe you are either schizophrenic, or a medium of some sort hearing heaven knows who from the other side. "But the scriptures" - which ones?! The original ones, that were probably lost thousands of years ago? One of thousands of translations and revisions, most of which completely contradict one another? "But the clergyperson says blah blah blah" - ah, now we're getting somewhere, so you admit to being led by a con man - how much money are they making and how much power and influence do they have and how much sex are they getting? And if they're not getting it now, how much were they getting when they were alive? What about the person or people who founded your religion, how big was their take from the religion/possible swindle? I swear, the only thing religions have in common is hubris. Why mix that with a government? Maybe it has more to do with bullying other people, animals, and the environment so you can exploit them than it does with anything "holy."
We actually have the technology to convert the entire world's electricity and transportation to 100% renewable sources and to re-wild large swaths of land, ocean, rivers, and skies. Problem: the uber rich do not want it that way. Solution: Play Robin Hood. Take their wealth by hook or by crook, by any ethical means necessary, and plow it into not only renewable energy but also environmental remediation and carbon negative efforts, particularly to fix the lands, waters, and skies they themselves despoiled.
End Citizens United
$30,000,000 personal net financial worth cap. End the monarchies.
End all multinational corporations. They can't be held accountable for anything; one hand doesn't know what the other is doing. It is functionally impossible to regulate them and police them adequately enough so that they don't ruin the environment and people's lives. They are the monopolies of the modern age and must be broken up just like Standard Oil. They also have a very long history of looting and plundering in various other countries, finding tax havens in other countries, fucking up the environment in new and ludicrous ways, creating sweatshops and indentured servitude in other countries - ENOUGH. End it worldwide, make this bullshit illegal.
Strengthen the Sherman Antitrust Law of 1890 to make it so we no longer have duopolies but at least five competing companies in every industry. The two most popular soda companies? They dominate the market and they SUCK. Captive consumerism is what we're trying to avoid here; it kills innovation and possibly also democracy at this point.
Make all the bare minimum stuff mentioned above written into law so that every business actually has to do all of that.
Sex education for preteens and teens. Of the sort that actually teaches them how to avoid teen pregnancy, STDs, and hurting their partners.
Tax all fossil fuel companies and the banks funding, and all other bad actors ruining the environment, exactly as much financial damage as they have cumulatively caused via global warming and pollution. Use it to improve all buildings and infrastructure to better withstand global warming, and to implement dustbowl-like policies to prevent such dumb shit from ever happening again, such as by buying 70% of the Earth's land and ocean mass to set aside as wilderness preserves. This will have to be a global initiative but done as best as possible in each individual country and state as well. You break it you buy it!
Subsidized free condoms in every doctor's clinic, pharmacy, and drugstore, plus via a government website to order them online. Or at least subsidies to reduce the cost.
Better education. Better education. Better education. You can see my take on this at Big Brain Time
At the local level, demand safe bike paths and sidewalks from city and state elected officials. Yeah, e-vehicles are well and good, but I can't afford one. Can you?
To avoid local and state-level disaster, please vote in non-idiots and demand that they protect instead of destroy natural habitats which - get this - are carbon sinks
Perhaps spread the word that a change of thinking about the outdoors world is required. Like so: human beings, for as long as our species has existed, have worked to make home comfortable. Cleaning and maintaining the indoors habitat of a human is a craft that has thousands of years of tradition behind it, this indoors homekeeping. We exert a great deal of effort to make our homes castles as opposed to hovels. Why, then, do we not do the same for the outdoors? Whatever can be done to clean up the air, the soil, the water, and to rehabilitate all degraded habitats, not to mention re-wild a large array of habitats that were destroyed in the relentless march to make this planet look like an atmosphere-free asteroid (hunk of space rock) as opposed to one capable of sustaining life, how about we spend the next couple thousand years learning how to do that?
6/7/23 Just so you know, I don't know if hemp (non-psychoactive cannabis) is legal at a federal level or not. Regardless, it should be, because if hemp was legalized, we could manufacture all the toilet paper, paper towels, disposable paper products, cardstock, cardboard, cloth, cord, string, and rope we wanted right here in the United States. And we wouldn't need to chop down forests to do it. The same basic idea applies to certain kinds of bamboo. Were you aware that planting this in a residential area can get you sued because of how fast it grows?

A Part Five 5/22/23 Consisting of new stuff that is interesting

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