From the low-cost to the high-value, participants give us their top tips on how to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle. Disagree or have more ideas? Join the discussion and add to the debate below
Labs Method statement
YouGovLabs research is anecdotal, with polls being open to anyone who wishes to take part. In contrast to YouGov’s Public Opinion polling, YouGovLab s seeks to understand the attitudes of specific subsets of people: sports fans tell us how they feel about sports and music fans tell us how they feel about music, for example. YouGovLabs results are unweighted, and figures reported do not reflect the attitudes of the population as a whole
Have your say on eco-issues! Cheap and cheerful or expensive investment: what actions do you take, or would you take if you could, to protect or help the environment?
Why not make use of the comments box below pitch your vision? Let us know your ideas!
World leaders have gathered together once again to discuss the environmental policy and the Kyoto Protocol at the UN’s Climate Change summit: this time in Durban, South Africa.
For some, the drive to unify a vision for tackling concerns over the natural climate is increasingly pressured by the dubious state of the economic one – can we really afford to focus on saving the environment when our collective budgets are so tightly stretched?
And yet, it is often said that a few small tweaks in individual habits can add up to a wider change – and indeed, when we asked about green issues in PoliticsLab, almost all participants who responded said they were ‘fairly’ or ‘very concerned’ about the state of the environment, whether or not they have a little or a lot to spend.
We kicked-off our open-panel experiment by inviting participants with an interest in green issues to expand on the ways in which they are ‘environmentally aware’ in day-to-day life. Many participants were emphatic that trying to ‘greenify’ one’s life needn’t cost the earth – a good proportion said it doesn’t cost them anything at all – and that they really do believe that a little effort goes a long way.
Participants give us their top tips for going green
1. Reduce Reuse, Recycle… and spend next to nothing
Feeling financially ‘squeezed’ is a common feeling for many of us these days. Despite these pressures, many participants were keen to share their low-cost ideas for saving resources.
You can have an environmental conscience on a budget, they said. We’ve picked out some of their more alternative initiatives for in the home and the wider community:
2. Improve your home’s energy-efficiency
Recent energy company price-hikes have made the business of heating one’s home a hot topic. For those looking to get the most out of their heating, our eco-friendly participants had several ideas, ranging from the simple and cheap to the more complex and costly:
- Keep thermostats turned down
- Wear two jumpers before putting the heating on
- Use low-energy or LED bulbs
- Buy a smaller kettle (with a smaller wattage)
- Never leave electrical appliances on standby, or lights on when you’re not in the room
- If you have the option, run a laptop rather than a computer
- Wash your clothes on your washing machine’s ‘eco’ or cool setting
- Buy an energy monitor to assess how much you’re using
- Fit a dimmer switch
- Fit draft-proofers to your doors and letter-box
- Fill gaps around windows with expanding foam
- Fit heavier floor-length curtains across the front and back doors
- Sew a thermal lining into your curtains
- Put reflectors behind your radiators
- Double or triple-glaze your windows
- Insulation: in wall spaces, around the boiler, and a double-layer in the loft
- Have solar-panels installed or buy solar-powered items, such as radios
- Invest in a low-flow aerated shower
- Replace your old boiler with a ‘green’ one
One participant even suggested an ‘eco-build’ – a home entirely built around the concept of retaining energy and fuel.
3. Try solar panels
Solar panels have been a defining feature of the turn-of-millennium green revolution, and those PoliticsLab respondents who have them spoke highly of their yield in ‘clean’ energy-generation terms, and the sheer satisfaction gained from making such an ethical purchase.
But the Certification Scheme – run by the Department of Energy and Climate Change to encourage people to buy in to such green ideas, has been threatened by cuts, which prompted concern from some.
4.Try a low-emission car
Considering buying a low-emissions or ‘green’ vehicle?
Several participants would recommend their Toyota Prius hybrid.
The praise for the Prius - the most famous car of its kind - just kept coming.
Then, there is always the Honda Insight, said one.
Others advocated their vehicle when driven in ‘eco mode’, which some cars, such as the Fiat 500, and the VW Golf Bluemotion, provide to help drivers go green.
- A note on green cars
5. Get involved in tree-planting schemes
Many participants of our survey spoke about how they plant saplings and seeds to help the environment.
But what is the worth they perceive in doing so, or of joining a scheme along similar lines? One argued in favour of regeneration:
Another participant pointed out how some stores can help you regenerate the environment:
Yet one voice did query the efficacy of UK tree-planting drives in isolation:
6. Buy biodegradable goods
Bin-liners were the most common form of biodegradable product recommended by eco-conscious participants. Great for the cause (and for composting) on the one hand, although judging by the range of comments, these products do vary in resilience and expense.
One participant took the idea further and offered up this eco suggestion for parents of small children:
Labs Method statement
YouGovLabs research is anecdotal, with polls being open to anyone who wishes to take part. In contrast to YouGov’s Public Opinion polling, YouGovLab s seeks to understand the attitudes of specific subsets of people: sports fans tell us how they feel about sports and music fans tell us how they feel about music, for example. YouGovLabs results are unweighted, and figures reported do not reflect the attitudes of the population as a whole
