c/climate-action

My grandpa taught me to save leftover cooking grease for compost, not the drain

Growing up we always poured bacon fat down the sink, but last month I tried saving it in a jar in the fridge instead and mixed it into my backyard compost pile... the worms went absolutely nuts for it and my tomato plants doubled in size. Has anyone else found a weird kitchen trick that helped cut down on waste around the house?

Last Tuesday was the hottest day I've ever worked through - 107 degrees in Austin

I do landscaping and maintenance work outside, and last Tuesday hit 107 degrees by 2pm. The crew had to stop every 20 minutes to drink water and cool down in the truck. My boss finally called it quits at noon and sent us home. I'm wondering if we need to start shifting to early morning shifts during heat waves, or if that just pushes the problem around. Has anyone else dealt with losing work time to extreme heat like this?

My $200 solar phone charger was a total dud

I bought this portable solar panel setup off Amazon back in May, thinking it would be great for charging my phone during hikes. Hooked it up to my backpack on a sunny June afternoon in Santa Fe and after 4 hours of direct sun, my phone only gained 5% battery. The box said it could charge a tablet in 2 hours, total lie. Has anyone found a solar charger that actually works without spending like $500?

That neighbor's advice about rain barrels actually worked out

My neighbor Carol kept telling me to get a rain barrel for my garden, and I figured it was just her being a bit extra about stuff. But after she showed me her water bill last July was only $22 compared to my $78, I finally caved and put one in off my garage downspout. Been using it for 3 weeks now and my tomatoes are doing fine even with the drought we're having here in central Ohio. Anyone else had luck cutting down on city water use with one?

Rant: Town council just voted down my solar co-op proposal - here's what happened

Anyone else run into this kind of pushback from local government on community clean energy projects? How'd you get them to listen?

Realized I was overwatering my vegetable garden for 5 years straight

I was watering every day like clockwork until my neighbor who farms said I was drowning my tomatoes and peppers last July. Now I only water when the soil feels dry an inch down and everything grew twice as big. Anyone else find out they were doing basic garden care totally backwards?

Got chewed out by a local farmer for using plastic landscape fabric

I was putting in a rain garden near Lancaster, PA last spring and this older farmer named Dave walked over. He told me plastic fabric just breaks down into microplastics and kills the soil biology under it. Switched to using thick cardboard and wood chips instead for weed control and the plants are doing way better. Anyone else get pushback from folks on the ground about 'eco-friendly' materials that aren't actually that great?

I used to think plastic recycling was the answer, but a tour of our local facility changed my mind

For years I sorted every container and felt good about it, but when I visited the county recycling center in Portland last month, the manager told me only 9% of what comes in actually gets recycled. The rest goes to the landfill or gets incinerated because it's contaminated or not profitable to process. Has anyone else seen their local facility and ended up changing their whole approach to waste?

Switched from plastic wrap to beeswax wraps six months ago

Honestly I used to go through a roll of plastic wrap every two weeks for meal prep. Then I saw a video about how much plastic waste comes from just one household and decided to try beeswax wraps from a local shop in Portland. They cost me $28 for a pack of three but they still work great after half a year. Has anyone else made the switch and found a brand that actually lasts more than a year?

TIL my backyard compost pile was way too dry for the last 2 years

I finally bought a $15 moisture meter and found out my compost was sitting at 20% when it should be 40-60%, so now I'm spraying it down every few days and actually seeing food scraps break down in 3 weeks instead of 6 months - has anyone else been accidentally neglecting their pile like I was?

Overheard a guy at the farmers market say he stopped eating beef 2 years ago and it saved him $600 a year

That got me thinking about how much of my grocery budget goes to meat, and after adding it up last night I'm wondering if cutting meat back could help both my wallet and the planet, anyone else try eating less meat for climate reasons and see real savings?

Just realized I hit 500 miles on my bike this year without a car trip

I've been bike commuting in Portland since January and I finally added up the miles last night. 500 miles on just two wheels, no gas, no parking headaches. Is it just me or does that feel bigger than it sounds? Curious how many miles others have racked up this year doing the same.

Had to pick between a gas lawn mower and a manual reel mower for my tiny yard in Phoenix

My old gas mower died on me last month, so I had to choose between buying another one for $250 or trying a manual reel mower for $80. I went with the reel mower because I figured it would save gas and be quieter for my neighbors. Has anyone else switched to manual tools and noticed a real difference in their carbon footprint?

That one heatwave week in July 2022 where my AC died and I learned how hot it really gets inside

I sat in my apartment with a wet towel on my neck for five straight days during that 104 degree stretch in Portland, and it made me realize how much we rely on energy to keep cool - has anyone else had a weather event that really drove home how vulnerable we are?

Our community garden cut our emissions by 40% in 6 months

I helped start a small community garden in Denver last spring about 3 years ago. We focused on growing our own veggies and composting kitchen scraps. It's not huge, but we tracked our carbon savings and it came out to over 2 tons of CO2 avoided from transport and waste. Has anyone else tried a similar project with measurable results?

Had a chat with my neighbor about his solar panels, and it made me rethink everything about my carbon footprint

Last Saturday I was grilling and my neighbor Dave came over to complain about his HOA fighting his solar install. He showed me his electric bills from the past 6 months, he's saving $80 a month and his system paid for itself in under 4 years. I've been sitting here feeling guilty about climate change but not actually doing anything about it. It hit different because he's not some rich guy, he's just a normal dude who saved up and planned it out over 2 years. Made me realize I've been making excuses about cost and roof angle instead of just getting a quote. Anyone else had that moment where a regular person's actions made you face your own inaction?

My neighbor's rain barrel hack saved me $40 this summer

I was dumping money into my water bill every July watering my vegetable patch. Then my neighbor in Portland showed me how she hooks a simple soaker hose directly to her rain barrel using a $12 adapter from the hardware store, and now I barely touch the spigot. Has anyone else tried rigging up a gravity fed system like that?

That plastic wrap drawer drove me crazy for 6 months

I finally realized people treat individual recycling like a personal virtue instead of a system problem. Last week at my apartment complex I saw someone spend 10 minutes washing out a single yogurt cup while tossing a pizza box in the trash because it had grease. The recycling truck here in Portland picks up glass and metal that actually gets processed, but half the plastic ends up in the landfill anyway. Why do we put all this effort into sorting when the system itself is broken? Has anyone else looked up where their local recycling actually ends up?

That one neighbor who laughed at my solar panel idea still bugs me

Tbh I was telling my neighbor Dave about wanting to put solar panels on my garage roof last spring and he just snorted and said they don't work here in Portland because it's too cloudy. But I checked the city data and we get like 150 sunny days a year which is more than I thought. Has anyone else had someone shut down your climate action idea with bad math?

Was told my rain barrel setup was hurting the garden, not helping

A neighbor who runs a local composting group saw my rain barrel last spring and said I was collecting water wrong. She pointed out that roof runoff from my asphalt shingles was leaching chemicals into the soil around my tomatoes. I switched to a downspout diverter that sends the first 10 gallons of dirty water away before filling the barrel. Now my plants look way healthier and I'm not accidentally poisoning my own veggie beds. Has anyone else gotten serious pushback on something they thought was eco-friendly?

My neighbor's solar panels made me look at my own differently after 5 years

Shoutout to my compost bin for finally teaching me the right way

For months I was dumping all my kitchen scraps in there, every single thing from orange peels to onion skins, and wondering why it smelled so bad. Turns out I was adding way too many citrus peels and not enough browns, which my neighbor pointed out after she peeked at my bin last week. Has anyone else had to totally rethink their compost ratio after thinking they had it figured out?

Saw a solar panel installer fall through a roof in Austin last summer

I was working a job site in East Austin last August when a guy putting up panels stepped on a rotted skylight and dropped right through. He was fine, just bruised, but it made me rethink how I check roofs before starting any project. How do you guys handle unexpected hazards like that when you're already on the clock?

Bought a $60 smart thermostat last summer and my AC bill dropped fast

I finally swapped out my old dumb thermostat for a basic smart one from the hardware store. It was only $60 and took like 20 minutes to install. My electric bill went down about $25 a month just from setting a schedule and turning off the AC when I'm not home. Plus it tracks my usage so I can see exactly when I'm wasting energy. Has anyone else seen real savings from a small change like this? I'm thinking about doing more small upgrades around the house now.

Just saw that shipping one container from China makes more CO2 than 100 cars in a year

I was reading through some climate reports last night, trying to figure out where my personal impact actually matters most. Stumbled on this stat from the International Maritime Organization about container ships and it blew my mind. One big container vessel can burn through like 150 tons of bunker fuel a day, and that stuff is basically tar. The sulfur content alone is crazy compared to what cars burn. I get that ships move everything we buy, but I had no idea the emissions were that lopsided. Makes me wonder if focusing on cutting my driving is even worth it when the supply chain is doing this. Has anyone else looked into what shipping does to the overall carbon numbers?