This sort of ticks me off. We have to believe in AGW in order to be good stewards of the earth? I think conservatives are just as concerned about our environment as leftists are. We just don't see environmentalism as a replacement religion.
So, I looked at the list. I think I come out as more responsible than the environmentalists:
The #2minutesolution
Pick up litter. I do this when I see it on my road, because I don’t want to see litter. Makes sense and isn’t too SJWish.
Green home
I’m switching to LEDs because they last longer and don’t put off the heat that incandescents do. That’s important where I live.
Go veggie for a day
I do this sometimes, but it’s usually more accidental than not. I have an artichoke frittata recipe that is quick and good and I make that for supper sometimes. What’s not to love about cheese, eggs and peppers?
Reusable over disposable
I agree with this and have a water bottle that I fill with tap water and carry with me rather than buy bottled water. But, I’m of the age where the idea of buying water is still a bit odd.
All the stuff we buy nowadays is overpackaged. Often the product is only a small part of what we are buying. I try to buy stuff that isn’t so heavily packaged, but that is a challenge.
No paper trail
Paper is more “sustainable†than plastic, but again, overpackaging is wasteful.
All my bills come electronically now, and all of my records are likewise electronic. Those I need to take with me somewhere, I load onto my phone, like my car insurance info. And, I don't have file folders loaded with ancient, dusty records that I can never find what I actually need at the time. Records just go into a folder on my desktop and I can do a search if I'm having trouble finding them. I have redundant backup systems, so it should be pretty safe.
Save water
Living in a frequently very dry climate and being dependent on a well and not a city water system has made me very aware of my water consumption. I try to be conservative with its use. For instance, the dishwasher uses less water than handwashing, so that’s a win-win. I don’t have a yard (I have acres, not a yard) so I don’t water the grass and avoid that pain in the neck. Cuts down on the mowing in the hot months too.
The problem is environmentalism, itself. When (for a brief period in the 1970s, the Ecology was the focus, maintaining a balance that allows nature to do its thing, and not disrupting that balance, everything was clicking along tickety-boo, and the pollution that was disturbing that balance was cleaned up. Rivers stopped catching fire, fish came back, etc.
Unfortuntely, environ
mentalism seeks to preserve such dynamic systems in stasis, which won't allow for everything from natural variations in populations, to weather cycles, to well, you name it--anything more or less than last years numbers is seen as progress or catastrophe, depending on what the environmentalists want.
Different regions have different ecological balances, flora, fauna, climate, geology, all are factors. If you're getting along with where you are and getting by, you do just fine. One size fits all doesn't work.
That said, I don't like to waste anything, especially if it was alive at one point. I have been in a lot of places where I took nothing but pictures (and/or memories) and here and there a few rocks, and left nothing but footprints, if that.
I know those resources can be replaced, but why disrespect our Creator by wasting what he has given us? Especially high on the list of things not to waste is meat, because something died so I could have that. What doesn't go for soup goes to the dog.
I guess my viewpoint is affected, too, by having once considered what it would take to make a plastic jug (like water or milk come in) if our society suffered a major setback. That doesn't stop me from throwing most of 'em (or this place would look like a hoarders episode) that I have not repurposed for something.
That said, I like hard copy. I have a small library of my own, and keep paper copies of most every transaction in case I need them for taxes. (The ecologies of pulpwood areas have been sown with trees for that purpose, and the harvest will lead to areas which will grow browse for animals while the trees mature for the next round.) Eventually, these will start fires in the fireplace, where tree limbs and even trees from the neighborhood eventually end up providing heat. I use incandescent light bulbs, because the lights seldom are on except at night--and night is markedly a larger part of the day at this latitude in winter, when the heat given off is not wasted. I like the light better, too. In summer, when darkness might be down to 8 hours or less in midsummer, the lights are only needed in closets and such, and seldom on.
Water is not a problem here, The grass cools the yard in summer, and the fruit trees (mainly) feed the local wildlife. So that works.
Like I said, it depends on your local ecology whether or not you are a good steward of the land, and no one sitting in DC or elsewhere can determine that as well as someone who is well acquainted with that ecology (ideally, you).
