Recently I have chosen to buy peanut butter that is packaged in glass jars instead of plastic ones. With the plastic jar I usually recycled it. With the glass jar I can reuse it to drink out of.

Hello, I completely agree with you, we must now promote the use of glass or wood so that we can leave future generations a clean and safe planet. Indeed, plastics pollute the fauna and flora which has a direct impact on our lives but also on those of our animals. Thus, there are several alternatives including the use of glass as you said or other biodegradable materials which will allow us to do recycling. In my case, I prefer to take a gourd to go to school instead of every day buy a new bottle of water.

Hello, I also agree and I use metal straws when drinking coffee in the morning, and I also try my best to not use a plastic water bottle every day and reuse them for 2 days.

Hello! I love this idea! As someone that eats a lot of peanut butter and is passionate about the environment, this is a great idea. I also believe it is important to bring your own portable mug or bottle to coffee shops. Opposed to continually getting a plastic cup that will end up in a landfill.

This is a great idea! Coming from a family that is highly against using plastic containers (even if we do we try to reuse those too) i think the peanut butter from glass jars would be a great idea. It also help with purchasing like cups or containers because you could turn the jars into those things easily. Just takes a quick wash. I also feel like we could change many other things from plastic to glass, or even metal if you’re worried about glass breaking too often.

This is such a cool thread! Personally, at my house, we use those Mason jars to drink out of. Those things survive a long time and you can reuse them for virtually forever. But we also use them as storage containers. For example, instead of buying granola from the store, we bake it and then store it in one of the giant Mason jars.

Great idea I'm glad there are so many people in the world who care about the environment

Same, I use my glass jars as small birdhouses that the birds can make a nest in,

Swapping plastic containers with glass ones is a really good step into becoming more eco-friendly and it doesn't even require that much effort, so almost everyone should be able to do that. Moreover, glass containers are more hygienic, and easier to reuse or recycle into something better, something that you will get more use out of.

I agree that we should limit the amount of plastic items we buy, and try to buy glass ones instead, as they are much better for the environment! We can also stop buying plastic water bottles and use our glass or metal water bottles instead And, we can replace plastic straws with paper or metal straws.

My family often keeps the jars we get for jam, and use it for storing other things. The stuff that we usually end up putting in there is generally spices of some kind. Glass jars also make good containers for water when you paint, so that’s often a use. I saw someone here saying that they made birdhouses out of jars, which is a really cool idea! It sounds interesting to try.

I agree that glass containers are better for the environment than plastic ones, for many reasons. It is much easier to recycle them, they tend to be more durable and therefore better sorted to reuse, and they do not break down into micro plastics that harm sea animals. My family always tries to buy packaged food in glass whenever we can, but sometimes it just isn’t possible. Either there is no option in glass, or the sustainable option is much more expensive. It’s the system that needs changing in this case, for example the rules in place surrounding food packaging. Otherwise, the situation will not significantly improve.

There's an entire subforum on here about ocean acidification and the ramifactions that has, but equally important and significantly less talked about is the decline of insect populations. Maybe it's because we just don't like bugs as much as we like sea turtles, but the ecological impact is going to be severe.

Personally, the contrast between my childhood memories and what I see now is astonishing. A few years after I moved to the house I live in now, around 2007-2008, I can remember huge amounts of black swallowtail and cloudless sulphur butterflies, and keeping some of the caterpillars in a jar inside to watch them pupate and hatch. But this year I can only remember seeing maybe three or four swallowtails, and only a couple of the cloudless sulphurs. We would get swarms of lovebugs in October, literally thousands in the air and of every available surface, but I only saw a few handfuls last year. I have only seen one carpenter bee so far this spring. We don't have to clean the windsheilds or grills of our car anymore. There are even fewer roaches and palmetto bugs at night.

I know this is a global issue, but the personal impact is just so stark.

Here's an article without a paywall if anyone isn't acquainted with this already: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/201 … -look.html

I'm in a subtropical region of the US, what is it like elsewhere?

You make a really good point about the impact on the insects. They’re a really important part of ecosystems, so the effect that their decline will have spans even larger. I personally am not as interested in insects as I am in other organisms, but they play a huge role in food chains and things like pollination. The decrease in diversity you’ve mentioned also sounds really concerning too, with much less of the insects that you were used to seeing before.

When I was calculating my carbon footprint thru the advanced carbon footprint calculator, there was a question about how much data do you use in a month on your phone and that intrigued me because I never thought of data affecting my carbon footprint? Like does the amount of energy it takes to “make” a gb of data affects your carbon footprint? A source I found “Honey Mobile” said this about mobile data, “using 1GB of data uses 0.3kg of CO2”

That's really interesting, this is the first time I myself though about how our daily data usage could unknowingly contribute to our carbon footprint. I think this widens the conversation about how we could be even more sustainable in our day to day lives.

Since the beginning of the conflict currently afflicting Ukraine began I have been concerned about the ecological ramifications of another meltdown occurring at one of Ukraine's few remaining nuclear power plants. It should be apparent that this is not a good thing environmentally speaking.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.market … 1646352432

A delegation of the International Atomic Energy Agency led by Rafael Grossi, director general of the agency, left today for the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant. I hope it will change the situation for the better

That could pose a significant threat, however, it is a very unlikely scenario given today's circumstances, contact a team of experts among your local professionals to make sure you get fast help

Nuclear power plant meltdown is damaging, but there are many preparations in place in the scenario it does melt down. If one did go down, it would likely be due to an attack by Russia, which is unlikely since it would put them in international trouble.

Nature must be protected so that we can breathe fresh air, drink and swim in clean water, enjoy the beauty of filelds, meadows and forests. We must protect it not only for ourselves, but also for future generations, foe animals, birds, and fish living on our planet. Nature must not perish.

I agree that people should protect nature so that other living creatures can survive. Moreover, I think that a lot of people don’t realize just how much nature affects us, too. Nature is the beginning of all things we need to survive. Like you said, it allows us to breathe, but it also gives us the food we eat, the water we drink, and it provides us with numerous mental health benefits.

I agree that protecting nature is important because they play a big role in supporting our ecosystem. It provides the basic things we use to survive, like the air we breath, the food we eat, and the water we drink.

this is so well said! if it weren't for nature, life here on earth wouldn't exist to begin with. all these gifts nature has provided for us make the planet worth living, and not only us humans, but almost every living organism here relies entirely on nature. .

Yes! Very well said! Nature is very important, it brings life to this planet and it helps us live and thrive. Without nature, we wouldn't be here living and breathing. There's so much to learn on this planet, we must do everything we can to preserve it for future generations.

I agree with you! More often than not people overlook the effects that their actions have on the world around them. When it comes to innovation, we instead look at the ways that things could benefit and make things easier for us as opposed to how making our lives easier can make other lives harder. I also agree with you on the fact that we also need to protect nature for ourselves, in negatively impacting nature, we can negatively affect ourselves just the same.

I agree! We must protect nature! We depend on nature. Nature provides us with food and everything needed to live healthy lives. We protect wildlife and biodiversity by protecting nature also. I believe that we must also preserve the beauty of nature.

Nature is very important because it provides us with food, water and everything else needed to live healthy lives. Even the air we breathe is part of nature. We need to protect nature in order to protect wildlife and biodiversity. We need to reduce, reuse, and recycle. We can also take action by going to volunteer in cleanups such as beach cleanups. We can also plant trees to increase biodiversity. Furthermore, I believe that we need to educate more people to take similar actions to protect nature.

I agree with you completely, nature is important and we have to protect it otherwise we will all die,

I agree, it is very important to protect nature because it is the base for all living things, and without a healthy environment, nothing can be alive.

We all know that Biodiversity contributes a lot to the formation of our natural system, but how is this related to the emission of Carbon Dioxide and other Greenhouse gases? I remember that I used to read a report about chain effects in ecosystems. An Invasive species of algae occupied a major water body and emerged as a prevailing species here. It consumes most of the oxygen contained within the water. This led to the suffocation of many fish and waterborne animals. The water also became acid because too much CO2 emitted by the algae dissolved into it and reduced the capacity for it to absorb greenhouse gasses, which indirectly led to global warming. Are there other examples of this kind of event?

When you think of the people mainly responsible for climate change, who do you think of? I think of the big companies that extract fossil fuels from the ground, or cut down forests to make more space for cattle and other agriculture; But we can’t put all the blame on them. It is also on us, whether we want to accept it or not. Without us, these companies would have no power because no one would be buying their products and therefore they wouldn’t be making any money. All these companies care about is how much money they make, so if we stop supporting them they will stop. We have hit a point where small things like recycling aren't going to be enough to make a big enough change to stop the Impacts of climate change. We need to change the big things, we are in more control of them than we realize. As much as I wish they would, we all know that these companies aren’t going to take responsibility for their actions, which is why we need to take responsibility for ours. Before we fight against these companies and blame them for what they are doing wrong, we need to think about how our actions tie in. I’m not trying to defend them, because what they’re doing is wrong and they should admit that instead of denying it; but how can you protest against deforestation, and fossil fuel extraction, but still use gas to fuel your car, electricity in your home or continue to eat meat at every meal? I know that we won't be able to change right away, it will take time and it won't be easy, but we need to start looking for more sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives to our everyday lifestyle. When we have done that then we will hold all the power against these companies.

K-Gauthier, I totally share your frustration and agree that we need to simultaneously think about how our own actions contribute to climate change, how companies have an especially large impact here (much laerger than  any individual) and that we need to put all kinds of pressure on these companies to change their ways.  Yes, this starts with making sure that we vote with our wallets, as it were, by not buying things from companies we support.  And then expanding these actions to others (e.g., sharing our views like you are doing here on this website!), and actions that might influence policies of local governments on up to national and international decision making.  We are the only ones who can make a difference here, so we can't give up.  Best, Jason

This is a very in-depth and educated analysis! I definitely agree that the power of the consumer is much greater than that of the business as long as we can work together. A company’s main goal is to make money, so as long as they’re doing that, they won’t stop. The only way to stop these types of companies is to show that doing this won’t make them money. The only way to do that is to not give them our business.

That's a great analysis of the current situation, and I think that we are already on the path towards this future. We have several renewable resources, such as wind, solar, and hydro, and we aren't there yet, but we are getting there with solar increasing it's efficiency, and new technology to put wind in the ocean and coastal regions so that there is constant wind blowing, I think that we can all look forward to a better future. However, there should be something that we as the consumer, and that the government can do. The government should hand out subsides, and have tax cuts for the companies that have renewable energy sources. Along with that I think that there should be more choice for consumers, so that instead of how it is today, where each neighborhood has just one supplier of gas and electricity, we should have more than one company, so that the consumer can select the one that is using renewables, as renewable energy is often cheaper than traditional coal powerplants as well. I know that this cannot all happen at once, and that it is easier said than done, but it is possible, and with government and consumer backing it could very well happen in newer communities.

I agree, humans actions have a big affection to climate change and how companies have a large impact as well. Humans can stop certain habits and that can help putting an end to the non-eco-friendly companies. Reducing energy consumption, choosing sustainable supplies, reducing waste, are all sorts of actions that can help fight climate change. If everyone does these things, the world could make a difference and that is what we want.

One of the major contributors to global warming is excess methane from livestock. Besides eating less meat, what are some other ways we can reduce methane emissions from livestock?

Many businesses get away with decisions that are ultimately bad for the environment because they still get money from it. This is because there are consumers that are still buying their products. How can consumers make decisions about what they buy in order to minimize their effect on the environment?

Greenhouse gases and carbon emissions can come from both individual houses and company-owned factories. While companies generally have a greater impact, the individual can generally control their own carbon footprint better than they can that of large corporations. What is the level of responsibility of each? Should there be a balance between individual and corporate responsibility? Should an individual focus more on their own carbon footprint or work to bring down that of bigger contributors?

When I was calculating my carbon footprint thru the advanced carbon footprint calculator there was a question on how much often do you eat organic foods and this intrigued me because how does organic foods affect carbon footprint, does it affect less/more on your carbon footprint than non-organic foods? Like does organic foods need less/more resources to grow than non-organic foods? A source I found “ABC science news” said this about organic foods “Organic food crops mostly produce less CO2 emissions, but they also have smaller yields. Making up the difference in yield pushes organic emissions above non-organic.”

When I was calculating my carbon footprint thru the advanced carbon footprint calculator there was a question that said how many hours in a day do you use major home electronics like stereo, this made me wonder, does streaming music online make more/less carbon than playing music on a cd or something similar?                                                                                                   A source I found “phys.org” said this about streaming online music. The greenhouse gases produced by recorded music were 136m kg in 1988 and 200 to over 350m kg in 2016.