I’ve been buying refillable dish and hand soap through grove.co - I can’t usually find large refills at the grocery store for the eco-friendly brands that I like.
I just tried the wax wrap from Bee’s on my first item, and it worked great. It molded to the item immediately and has stayed tightly wrapped in the fridge overnight. Haven’t tried washing yet, but so far I’m pleased. 
https://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/life-after-oil/how-far-can-we-get-without-flying-20160211
What one earth scientist did to lower his carbon footprint. This is the same guy who wrote in the Washington Post this morning that the 20,000 earth scientists who are flying to DC this week for a convention are basically not backing up their convictions on climate change with action.
So whatever we do with straws or wax paper, it’s the flying that is really having an effect. And this is something that I for one am not going to give up.
I flew this year to my dying mother’s bedside, to my daughter’s graduation, to visit my aged father and I will fly again to visit my daughter in a few weeks. I will not give up these trips. I also plan on flying more during my well-earned retirement years to visit places far and wide that I have never visited. Some things are more impactful than the negligible effects one person’s sacrifices can make. (I’d note that the author only visits his family once a year driving in his vegetable oil fueled car. That’s not enough in my mind).
I suppose there could be huge tax increases on airline tickets to reduce air travel, but like the increases on fuel taxes in France, that wouldn’t go over so well.
I also do not want to give up flying and my wife and I look forward to taking some nice trips when my son goes away to school. That being said, if some of the predictions being made are true, I realize we might have to give up flying at some stage. I also agree that there needs to come a time when governments have a bit more backbone and make tough decisions and do not bend even when there are protests. As individuals we are inherently greedy and think of ourselves not future generations, governments need to make the tough decisions and enforce them.
It looks like it is about 60% of his carbon emissions. That does not make the other 40% not worth working on. I doubt many on this thread will stop flying. But maybe think about whether it is necessary as often? Or look into carbon offsets, which I haven’t had time do do, but it is on my list to consider. Here is an article on it, but I’d want to do more research.
The higher fuel taxes in France disproportionately affect the working class and are extremely regressive. No wonder they are unpopular. Especially when the Paris Accords allowed China and India to continue to increase their carbon emissions which completely negates any lowering the West might produce. Ironically, the US has reduced its carbon emissions even though we are out of the Paris Accords.
I d like to keep this thread focused on what we can do personally. Maybe another thread can be started on the rest of the world and political solutions, if you think you can keep it open. I’d rather not jeopardize what has been a productive discussion so far.
Fair enough.
What I will not give up.
Air travel.
Meat
The Paris ‘yellow vests’ protests are in the news and relate to this issue. Los Angeles is thinking of having commuters pay fees to use the freeways at rush hour. No one who can avoid it wants to use the freeways at rush hour as it is. It’s not as though people drive the freeways at rush hour for the fun of it. And again this would primarily hurt those who can barely afford it.
Public transportation here is inadequate. For example, it doesn’t go to LAX. And then there is the problem of people being accosted and assaulted on public transportation and the sanitary problems of the street people using the seats as toilets.
There is a lot of news that “relates this issue”. Is there something there you’d like people to do in their daily lives without discussing building new transit, politics of other countries, or or taxes?
I do suspect telecommuting will continue to grow in popularity as a result of climate impact concerns, along with the other reasons people already like it. But so far I don’t hear that as a big reason companies or workers are talking about it. My client had an unexpected building wide power outage for 2 days last week, and the “everyone who can works remotely” disaster plan kicked in. I thought it worked really well; having EVERYONE on the phone for calls was better than conference rooms with speaker phones, much clearer to hear and speak than when I am occasionally home but others are in a room together.
I hope we can build a better mousetrap where it concerns air travel.
So far, we do have promising electric cars, and we need to do more in that area. Burning fuel for any reason needs to be reduced. How we tackle transportation and heating and cooling are the biggest overall areas we can improve.
H has a very short commute and I have none. We live in a very walkable community, which is great!
We are going to D3’s graduation very soon and purchased a carbon offset for our rental car. It didn’t come up as an option for our airfare. I’m going to ask about that when we check in at the airport. I’d like to know exactly what they do with that money and it’s hard to imagine that $1.25 does much for a 5 day car rental. Of course, we’d be driving a bit at home if we weren’t there.