BS: Make Earth Great Again

Subject: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Apr 17 - 09:35 AM

Its Earth day, got any eco tips?

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Raggytash
Date: 22 Apr 17 - 09:41 AM

Share the shower ................. it's good fun too!

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Senoufou
Date: 22 Apr 17 - 09:52 AM

Garden organically as much as possible

Use as few 'products' around the house as you can. That includes limiting toiletries and sprays etc on yourself.

Recycle (our local council gives us a recycling wheelie bin and a garden refuse one too)

Encourage wildlife by providing small 'shelters' for bees, growing butterfly/bee annuals for their pollen.

If you can afford it, buy organic.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Thompson
Date: 22 Apr 17 - 12:33 PM

Bring plastic packaging back to the supermarket when you've unpacked your vegetables and fruit
Cycle rather than driving for all journeys under 5 kilometres
Grow at least some of your vegetables - for instance the super-easy Daubenton's Kale, a cottage kale that propogates by your taking off and planting side shoots and rarely comes to flower
Use your dishwashing water for watering your flowers and veggies
Put your coffee grounds around the hosta to keep away slugs
Instal a water butt to harvest rainwater (haven't done this yet)
Insulate your home as well as you can afford
Eat more vegetarianishly - for instance have one meal a week a veggie pasta and one meal a week a lentil soup
Hassle the hell out of politicians to cut your country's carbon footprint

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Apr 17 - 01:17 PM

Vote tactically to keep the Tories out.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Thompson
Date: 22 Apr 17 - 01:31 PM

Managed to buy washing soda today - it seems to have suddenly disappeared from the supermarkets. For me, this is an essential thing to have in the house. It's the only thing that actually kills viruses if you wash surfaces, etc in case of any viral illnesses going around. You can clean silver by putting it in an aluminium pot with washing soda and hot water and leaving it for a while as the tarnish lifts off. When the bath is truly filthy, washing soda in the bathwater (after you get out) will lift off that greasy muck.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Senoufou
Date: 22 Apr 17 - 01:39 PM

I do think vegetables and fruit could be sold 'loose', not swathed in blooming plastic. They always were when I was young. One could have paper carrier bags at the ready to put them in.

Also things like milk, juice etc could be in recyclable containers, not plastic.

We installed a water barrel. It reduces the water bill if no surface water goes down the drain from the roof. And it's handy if there's a hosepipe ban. (Norfolk is quite a dry county)

We grow lots of veggies/salad stuff. Much more tasty!

I also find that one can get by with hardly any detergent in the washing machine. Our clothes come out perfectly clean at 30 degrees short wash, with a tiny teaspoonful of powder. Even my husband's cleaning uniform.

Haha Steve! :)

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Apr 17 - 02:25 PM

It's fifty yards of very gentle sloping drain from our house to the septic tank. A gallon or two of boiling water laced with a whole bag of washing soda once a month degreases the pipe and doesn't hurt the good bugs in the tank. Incidentally, we haven't had to get the tank emptied in thirty years. No wet wipes, no biological detergent, no bleach. Easy!

Vote anti-Tory, get the bad bugs out of Downing Street and make the Earth great again.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Senoufou
Date: 22 Apr 17 - 02:37 PM

Washing soda is absolutely excellent. I use it a lot. Tesco sell it, £1 for 1Kg (in a blasted plastic bag of course!) Great for dissolving grease and sluicing down drains etc as described above, and for cleaning the oven and cooker.

Despite the adverts on TV for Flash, Cillit Bang and so on, I can get our kitchen and bathroom floors quite nice and clean with just hot water and my trusty mop. I do think all these 'products' are fairly unnecessary. Even the bath comes up clean with a scourer and nothing else. As long as one does these little jobs regularly and often, dirt doesn't build up.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: bobad
Date: 22 Apr 17 - 03:04 PM

Managed to buy washing soda today.................... It's the only thing that actually kills viruses.

If by washing soda you are referring to sodium borate that is not true, it does not "kill" viruses.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Apr 17 - 03:56 PM

Washing soda as sold here is sodium carbonate.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: michaelr
Date: 22 Apr 17 - 03:56 PM

Washing soda

How to make your own

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Apr 17 - 04:14 PM

Well I think I use one bottle of Dettox spray every six months. Just a touch of that on work surfaces and on the kitchen bin keeps the germs at bay. I'll not be giving that up in a hurry. We do live in the modern world! John Seymour used to go on about stuff like this. His remedy was gallons of piping hot water for cleaning everything. I do wonder whether the environmental cost of heating gallons of water isn't worse than a few drops of Fairy liquid or Dettox on a dishcloth.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Apr 17 - 05:20 PM

'Washing soda' Sodium bicarbonate can be found in 25 bags at a pool supply store. The ph is not good for all aquatic life.

Epoxy paint pools black for solar heating.

UV water purifying units are good for hot tubs and pools.

When fueling your SUV....never mind :)

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Apr 17 - 06:17 PM

Washing soda is sodium carbonate, not sodium bicarbonate, a substance with very different properties, the latter also known as sodium hydrogen carbonate. Not too difficult, this stuff.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Apr 17 - 06:55 PM

I use a scoop of baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate) in my laundry with every load. It's still very good for the cleaning process.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Apr 17 - 07:22 PM

Which is not the same as baking powder. Isn't life complicated! 😂

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Senoufou
Date: 23 Apr 17 - 04:22 AM

I seem to remember from my dim and distant past that baking powder contains baking soda (alkaline) and cream of tartar (weak acid). The resultant chemical reaction when water is added is bubbles, which is the raising agent. (Thank you Miss Hooper, our Domestic Science teacher!)

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 23 Apr 17 - 04:35 AM

Senoufou

I think sodium bicarb for bee stings which are acid and vinegar for wapsies which are alkaline... And bee stings are not the same as beestings... having simplified life....

Yep I think that is a formula for a baking powder and the "bubbles" are CO2.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Senoufou
Date: 23 Apr 17 - 04:59 AM

Interesting, Jon. I didn't know they differ like that.

I've only been stung once, under the arm, by a wasp some years ago. My way of coping was to run around dementedly shouting, "Aaaaaaargh!", because it blooming hurt like hell. But I'm quite a tough bird, and the pain went away after a while, with no ill effects. I think some people recommend anti-histamines, but I generally let my own body deal with problems, unless it's something like a scorpion sting or a snake bite!

I believe beestings refers to the first milk after birth (colostrum) and it can be made into a pudding. (Cow's milk, not human of course!)

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 23 Apr 17 - 05:17 AM

Well I think that's how it's supposed to work. I swell a bit with either sting and the swelling doesn't seem to go down so I would take Piriton (an anti-histamine)if I got stung.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Apr 17 - 05:30 AM

The most unfair thing that ever happened to me was perpetrated by a bumble bee. It had got itself stranded on our path outside the back door so out of the goodness of my heart I gently rescued it on to the grass. Unbeknown to me, the little bugger had other ideas and crawled back, right into my shoe that was parked outside the back door. You can guess the rest. I limped for the rest of the day. I didn't even squash it!

Speaking of cream of tartar, a piece of useless information I've retained for fifty years or more from school is that the longest palindrome in the English language is "detartrated."

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 23 Apr 17 - 07:33 AM

Think the creature that annoyed me most was a particular mouse I rescued from a cat. It bit me hard enough that I dropped it as I was trying to find a safe spot for it.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Senoufou
Date: 23 Apr 17 - 07:41 AM

Wildlife can be singularly ungrateful for assistance can't it?

I once came to the rescue of Hissing Sid, an enormously long and handsome grass snake that lived in the ditch at the bottom of our huge garden in the last village. Our cats had surrounded it and were poking it tentatively. It had curled into a ring and was hissing like mad. I picked it up gingerly behind its head (as one sees on nature programmes) but after I'd transported it back to its ditch, it bit my hand on release. (To be fair, it was probably terrified, poor thing!) They aren't venomous, but it did hurt a bit. The cats were thoroughly disgusted at the confiscation of their new toy!

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Senoufou
Date: 23 Apr 17 - 07:45 AM

By the way, Hissing Sid could really move. He slithered along at the speed of knots. My neighbour was once sitting by her pond when he whizzed by, plopped into the water with a splash and got one of her ornamental koi! I've seen snakes in Africa that could zoom along faster than one could walk. (Away fortunately, not towards!)

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Apr 17 - 07:59 AM

They're very fast and can be quite big. They nest in my compost heaps every year. Cats do seem to be attracted to them unfortunately.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 23 Apr 17 - 08:05 AM

We are lucky with snakes over here. Brother in QLD has lost a loved cat to a python (or other constrictor) and I think oz is generally dodgy...

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Senoufou
Date: 23 Apr 17 - 08:18 AM

I really like snakes; I think it's their scales, they sort of shimmer.
I saw quite a few in Senegal, but they seemed timid, and when they sensed one's footfall they shoved off. They really controlled the rats and other vermin. Some of them were deadly though, and I was far from medical assistance or anti-venom!

Someone we know who moved to South Africa kept five dogs on their farm there. (Scared of thieves and attackers I think) They came home one afternoon and three of the dogs were dead. A huge snake was lurking around, and it had bitten and killed all three dogs.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Bill D
Date: 23 Apr 17 - 03:12 PM

Follow all the tips above, and if it is relevant (this crowd averages 'older'), don't have children. All the conservation and gardening tips possible will not mean diddly when the population is 45 Trillion.....

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Apr 17 - 06:54 PM

Cutting the funding to abate plagues and increasing the military budget is a good way to cut the population by a billion or more.

I am for population control but I am depressed putting it in Trump's tiny hands.

Let's put Earth first. It gets the final say anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Senoufou
Date: 24 Apr 17 - 05:34 AM

Population is indeed a factor. My husband had 15 siblings (father had three wives) But in 'the third world' one's children are one's only security in old age. There's no Pension or Welfare. And sadly, many of one's offspring die young. (Out of the 16 of them, only 9 lived to their twenties)
I often wonder about those poor starving famine victims' babies. If they're brought back from the brink of death by Oxfam et al, how can we ensure they won't be in the same state a few years hence? And have numerous babies of their own to feed in the future?
I suppose if the West shared resources more fairly, and poverty was stamped out, (ha ha, a pipe dream if ever there was one!) people would feel secure enough to limit their families, as their old age would be catered for.
I have to say though, the younger generation of women in Ivory Coast are mostly on the Pill and limit their offspring to two or three, which is very encouraging. Things really have moved forwards there!

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 24 Apr 17 - 03:39 PM

Abolish all nationalities and get on with being people.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 24 Apr 17 - 03:40 PM

oops John Lennon beat me to that one

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Apr 17 - 09:50 PM

I heard that fabric softener puts an enormous strain on water purifying plants. Drugs and birth control disposed of in the sewer can not be filtered out, only diluted.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Iains
Date: 25 Apr 17 - 04:15 AM

stop breeding.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Apr 17 - 08:38 AM

Salt does not make you thirsty, it makes you hungry for reasons that are not intuitive. Avoid the salty snack and you will not get the false hunger.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Apr 17 - 12:25 PM

Stopping breeding won't make the world great. It'll eventually make the world full of nothing but old people. Whilst I'm in contradicting mood, salt does make you thirsty. Excessive salt upsets the ion balance in your blood and your body then demands more water in in order to restore concentrations.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Raggytash
Date: 25 Apr 17 - 12:37 PM

Years ago two elderly ladies ran a pub outside Huddersfield, a very busy pub. It transpired they added a little salt (diluted in a tad of water) to each barrel of beer.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Iains
Date: 25 Apr 17 - 03:40 PM

I do not think the earth gives a fig about people. As humans are slowly destroying the planet the loss of humans would be the planet's gain. How can it be otherwise?

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Apr 17 - 04:03 PM

Not a vision I share even in the remotest sense. It reminds me of that way in which Catholicism seemed to set out to prove that we humans are useless wretches who had to be saved. I'm not having it.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Iains
Date: 26 Apr 17 - 03:30 AM

Ah but thr topic of the thread was making the earth great again, nowt to do with humanity.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 26 Apr 17 - 03:39 AM

Christ on a bike.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Raggytash
Date: 26 Apr 17 - 03:42 AM

Wrong thread Steve, surely your last post should be on the "On your bike" thread !!

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 26 Apr 17 - 03:45 AM

"topic of the thread was making the earth great again, nowt to do with humanity."
Everything to do with humanity Iains
Humans are gradually destroying the earth in their quest for self elevation and profit
Ignore that fact and we will continue to do so
Even on the level of how we treat fellow human beings, one of the great risks to the planet over the last 90 decades is that we would try to "bomb our enemies back to the Stone-age"
So it really is everything to do with us and our humanity
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Senoufou
Date: 26 Apr 17 - 05:02 AM

There's a programme on TV at the moment, called 'Man-made Planet' which shows remarkable films taken from an orbiting spaceship some years apart. It shows just how much human beings have changed the features of Earth, and not in a good way. It shows exactly how ice has melted, lakes dried up, human settlement has encroached etc. I felt very sad and despondent watching it.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 26 Apr 17 - 05:18 AM

David Attenborough has had a lot to say on the subject Sen
Sad is right
Jim Carrol

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Senoufou
Date: 26 Apr 17 - 05:29 AM

He's my hero Jim. I've actually met him at a book signing in Norwich some years ago. He was absolutely charming, polite and kind to everyone in the queue and never flagged.

It seems to me we've just rampaged all over Earth in every corner we could discover and grabbed greedily everything it has to offer, mostly for financial gain. We've ruined such a lot of it, with no care or regret. It's like letting loose a large troop of chimpanzees in Tesco's for a week.

And now we have no excuse for continuing to do so, as it's been made convincingly clear by scientists and ecologists that we're wrecking the place. But only small changes have been made so far, and it's too little too late in my view.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Apr 17 - 07:16 AM

back to eco tips

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 26 Apr 17 - 07:26 AM

"I've actually met him at a book signing in Norwich"
Lucky you
Never met him Sen, but while I was rewiring a beautiful Queen Anne house in Richmond, I used to wave to him working in his studio in his home on Richmond Hill, which backed onto where I was working – he invariably waved back
Seems like a nice man
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Apr 17 - 08:29 AM

Most people forget the CO2 foot print of manufacturing a new hybrid car compared to getting a car that is already built. A new gas saving car will break even with a already built car by year 5 or more compared to a already built used car.

The demand for electric cars in China is great. China gives a 15,000 dollar incentive via a waiving of a huge license plate fee.
Too bad America does not give a 15,000 dollar rebate for new electric cars

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Bill D
Date: 26 Apr 17 - 03:12 PM

Steve is correct...
"Stopping breeding won't make the world great. It'll eventually make the world full of nothing but old people."

...but controlled breeding 'might' head off the mass starvation and riots as the have-nots decide not to tolerate the 'haves'.

Best estimates I have heard is that Earth might manage indefinitely with a population of 2-2½ billion... (as it was about 1951)...

No one took my bait above about 45 trillion... when I use it in a discussion, someone usually says.."Oh, don't be silly... we wont have 45 trillion."

And I say.."Oh.. maybe 600 Billion?" And they say, "Nonsense... not that much."... and I say, "Oh? Then when will it stop? We have over 7 billion now... do you want your kids to deal with 10-15-20 billion?"

It's like putting a frog in cool water and raising the temp s-l-o-w-l-y... by the time he sees the problem, it's too late.

Some sort of **controlled** breeding is necessary, but probably close to impossible to implement due to suspicion of the motives of the controllers and just plain ignorance.

I see the implications of my pessimism...I just don't know how to get out of it. (well... I do, but no government would dare to consider my suggestions.)

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 26 Apr 17 - 03:18 PM

" but probably close to impossible to implement "
It has worked for centuries - in reverse, with the church insisting that, whether you want to or not, you must continue to breed
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Bill D
Date: 26 Apr 17 - 05:03 PM

It's MUCH easier to give people reasons TO breed than to not.... and when the process involves pleasure and avoidance requires work & planning... and luck, it's no contest.

Subject: RE: BS: Make Earth Great Again
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Apr 17 - 09:23 PM

Joe you are so strict with me whenever I add a on topic link, is it personal?