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wild_turkey

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Posts posted by wild_turkey

  1. Travel

    I love to travel. It's an addiction that would be hard for me to give up, and I know that air travel in particular has a major carbon footprint.

    So what happens when I purchase carbon offsets from the airline? Is that truly a good thing to do? Are they donating my $10 to a reliable cause like planting mangrove trees, or are they simply wasting it? Is there a better way to purchase carbon offsets on my own from a 3rd party independent from the airline?

    I guess the ideal thing would be to travel less, or not at all, or at least not anywhere that I can't go by driving an EV that charges from solar, or perhaps in a sailboat. But given that it's unlikely to happen, what are some practical measures a travel addict can take to offset their carbon footprint? I'd rather not settle for faux solutions that merely assuage guilt, but actual tangible measures with proven results.

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  2. Electric vehicles

    They clearly seem to be the direction of the auto industry, which I personally support. My wife has a Tesla which is our primary vehicle. I have a 4Runner, admittedly not fuel efficient, but luckily it only gets used for ~30 miles a week.

    One thing I wonder about the EV industry is the life cycle impact of a vehicle. Sure, using electricity is better than gasoline, probably even if the electricity source is dirty energy like coal, and a much better difference for people who can use clean energy. But how much good data is available to consumers on the impact of producing EVs (especially the batteries) and disposing of old EVs at the end-of-life? That isn't nothing. I blindly trust that the EV is still the better decision, but can someone share reliable data for this?

    If we compare a Tesla 3 to a Honda Accord, over the life of the vehicles, including all production costs, energy, maintenance parts, etc...what is the expected environmental impact of each?

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  3. Recycling

    This could easily be its own thread, but we'll try it here. I think most cities do a terrible job at educating residents on recycling. See my comments above about plastic. I'm shocked at how few of my friends even attempt to recycle, and with those that do, it seems like there is significant confusion or even lack of effort to get it straight.

    Also recycling capabilities and procedures vary by city, so the resident has to make some effort to know what can be done. My city (Fort Worth) has a website to help, but even that website gives vague instructions. I tried to clarify if #5 plastic (yogurt and other food containers) can be recycled and they referred me to the website, which doesn't say specifically which plastics do. So, should I buy that yogurt or not? More importantly, why is almost every yogurt in a #5 plastic container when it seems recycling of #1 and #2 plastic is more ubiquitous?

    What about recycling other things like batteries, old electronics, running shoes that you no longer use, garden hoses, scrap metal, etc?

    I run quite a bit so I go through shoes fairly quickly. They're still in okay condition for wearing around but beyond their mileage limits for actual running. So they get converted to yard shoes, except that I have way too many retired running yard shoes, so they get ?thrown away? That doesn't feel right. I'm not sure they're actually good enough for Goodwill, but I did find several services that will take them, including this one:

    https://gotsneakers.com/

    I guess the point is, I'm trying to become more conscious about how I actually dispose of things. If it doesn't easily fit in the blue bin, and doesn't easily go to Goodwill, there may be other good options for stuff besides just throwing it away.

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  4.  Single use plastic

    I think most reasonable people who are not climate change deniers would agree that single use plastic is bad for the climate and the planet. Plastic obviously has its positives, but it may also be one of the worst things we've ever done to this planet. There's plastic in the clouds, plastic in the Mariana Trench, the ocean is full of plastic, our bodies have microplastics in them. It's disgusting. It's been discussed throughout this site and I started an older thread about plastic in the environment here:

    I still think it's a bit complicated when it comes to purchasing decisions, and I think much of this is intentional on the part of industry. For instance, I know that #1 plastic can be recycled in my city, and I trust that when I put it in the blue bin, it gets recycled. If this is actually true, then would I be better off buying orange juice in a plastic bottle or a paper carton? The #1 plastic bottle seems recyclable according to most sources, whereas the paper carton has a plastic liner that seems to complicate it's recycleability.

    Or suppose someone wants a Coke, and their choice is the bottle that claims to be 100% recycled already vs. the aluminum can. We know the can is recycleable, but what about the energy and resources required to create it in the first place? How significant is that, and is it possible that the aluminum can could actually be the worse for the environment?

    These types of dilemmas arise with many purchasing decisions, so it's often difficult for the consumer to choose. I personally don't always know the answer, hence the reason I think a thread like this would be useful for discussion and education.

    I think it's easy to do simple things like taking reusable bags to the store. If I forget my bags at Target, they'll put my groceries in 15 different plastic bags. Sometimes individual bags for individual items, like the eggs and bread couldn't coexist. I'm surprised that's still commonplace in 2023, but here we are.

    I'm interested in ideas to reduce plastic in other areas. One of our friends uses a business called a "refillery" that will refill common household items like detergent, dish soap, shampoo, etc into reusable containers. It seems like a great idea, but there isn't one in our city. Maybe Whole Foods does something similar? Central Market does not.

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  5. I think we need a general thread on sustainability where we can discuss topics related to sustainable living. I'm mostly interested in lifestyle decisions and behaviors that we as individuals can make, rather than discussing bigger topics like public policy.

    Here are some specific topics that come to mind:

    • Single use plastic
    • Recycling
    • Electric vehicles
    • Internet shopping and food delivery services
    • Lawn, gardening, and composting
    • Home energy demand
    • General purchasing decisions
    • Travel
    • ???

    There is a wealth of information spread amongst surly posters, and some collaboration would be productive. Perhaps some positive encouragement or accountability would even be possible? I'm just spitballing a little bit, but anything we could do to help educate and guide each other towards a more sustainable lifestyle.
    I'll put some of my initial thoughts in separate posts to make it easier to quote without creating a huge wall of text up front. Thanks in advance for those of you who wish to join the discussion.

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  6. You think it’s tough now. I’ve soon be married 41 years. Wife is in poor health. We don’t do much. Fancy dinners bore us as we have eaten in lots of fancy places and find spending stupid amounts of money on dining disapointing, travel is hard for her, her jewelry stays in a box, we’re trying to downsize and thin out, and money is tight. Gift giving is a challenge. I’m watching here for good ideas.

    Maybe a new live plant for your house? Something nice that she could look at, like a redbud, Japanese maple, or crepe myrtle. Or maybe get some pansies or other winter flowers planted. Or a fiddle fig or something similar indoors.

    You live in the FW area I think, so you could do tickets to Bass Hall or Casa Manana. Or take her to the Botanic Garden Lightscape if she can get around that much.

    What does she do for personal enjoyment? Reading? TV or movies? Cooking?
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  7. I always lean in the direction of experiences and think a weekend getaway, concert tickets, or some other kind of performing arts tickets are good.

    Since you live in LA, there must be an overwhelming amount of things to do at all times. Are there any cool things that you’ve somehow managed to skip over in all these years? Maybe an annual event or holiday themed activity that you’ve never done?

    If nothing else, pick a nice hotel for a night, book her a session at the spa, and pick a new to you restaurant.

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  8. There’s probably like a less than 5% chance a 1 loss texas gets left in the cold, and if it happens you just shrug your shoulders and say that sort of sucked. 


    I remember that time in 2008 when a 1-loss Texas got left out while a team we beat played in the NC game, and how we all were super chill about it and just shrugged our shoulders and said “that sort of sucked.”
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  9. Terribly disappointing but fairly predictable from Netflix. I don’t know how they can do certain things like The Crown so damn well, but then fuck up almost everything else. This story has incredible source material. What a waste.

    Like I said above, I love the book and I’m about to start a reread, but I’m wondering if I’ll even watch the series. If reviews stay this shitty, I’ll probably pass and pretend they never did it.

  10. There should be a way for qualified individuals to volunteer for jury duty within a certain time slot during the year. It would give them a predictable time window vs getting a random summons at an inconvenient time on short notice.

    And maybe if people do that and then get selected and serve on a jury, reward them with a meaningful tax break, instead of the joke of $12/day or whatever.

    The system is clearly broken when a large percentage of intelligent working professionals make every attempt to get out of it. It seems like a fixable or at least improvable problem, if the system could update the terms to make it more favorable. Economists should be able to figure it out.

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  11. I searched and only saw one post buried in the Apple TV thread. Those mega threads suck for TV shows because good stuff gets buried in them, then most of us don't notice the suggestion, and for the people that do keep up, it's hard to simultaneously have focused discussions of individual series.

    Anyways, this is a single season of 8 episodes. Interesting premise and I thought the story was great. Should be pretty enjoyable for anyone who likes wine, and I definitely felt the need to have a glass poured while watching. Chateauneuf-du-Pape would be a fantastic choice.

    The cast was entirely unknown to me but I thought it was well-acted. The dialogue is part English, part French, part Japanese, with subtitles throughout.

     

     

  12. I always see people talk about booking business class to Europe on points, but for the life of me, I’m ignorant about how to pull that off. Whenever I search the various airlines, it’s 300k+ points for flights I would be interested in.

    I’m DFW based. There’s a nice nonstop flight from DFW-CDG on AA that takes about 9 hours overnight. This past summer I booked it with Chase points at the equivalent cash rate for main cabin, hoping to then upgrade to at least premium economy. AA made a reasonable offer for business class so I then paid cash for that, but they don’t always offer that, or sometimes the price is still outrageous. If I search that same flight for random dates next May, it’s 498k points.

    I’m not married to that particular flight or to AA, but I am usually picky about schedule. I prefer a nonstop that leaves DFW on a Thurs/Fri afternoon/evening and returns the following Sat/Sun. I’m okay flying into most major cities in Europe, but I’m partial to France and Italy.

    What’s the angle here? Are there certain cards or loyalty programs I should be loading up on? Or does it require me to be flexible enough to fly in off-peak months and make a connection in the eastern U.S. before flying to Europe?

  13. lol at all the empty seats now. Bandwagon motherfuckers.

    As much as I hate agreeing with you, half the posters in the Astros thread were saying things like “fuck this team” when they were 3-4 days shy of winning the division in the regular season. Terrible fans.

    Tomorrow gonna be fun.
  14. I booked train tickets for a day in Tours visiting the Loire Valley castles.


    Is there a tour guide service you are planning to use, or just doing it on your own? Do you know which chateaux you will visit?

    I have been to Chateau de Chambord, Chateau de Chenonceau, and Chateaux d’Amboise. They were all great, but they aren’t extremely close to Tours, so just wondering your transportation plan.
  15. There's one minor problem with this notion: We were too talented and deep to lose to OU last weekend.


    No one with half a brain thought that to be true. It’s very rare in the history of this rivalry that either team is too talented to lose to the other team.
  16. QE didn’t lose this game, no way it’s on him. Blame Sark clock management, blame 1st and goal from the 1 idiocy, blame the D, blame the refs, all more important to the loss than QE. 


    It’s a team sport. I don’t understand the need to absolve certain members of the team from their share of the loss. Quinn is part of this team and his play was far from perfect, so he shares the blame for this loss just like everyone else.

    Maybe if he went 31-37 with one turnover that didn’t directly result in points, that would be fair. But, he threw a stupid pass for a pick deep in our own territory on the 2nd offensive play of the game that gave OU an easy 7-0 lead. Just a dumb decision that cost us big time, and meant we were playing from behind from the very beginning.

    The second pick I don’t really blame him for. The fumble is mostly on him, and even though it was 3rd down, we gave them the ball on our end of the field, then forced a punt, then drove and settled for a FG, so perhaps that loss of field position was significant?

    I’m not blaming Quinn any more or less than anyone else. I think a lot of the blame is directed at the coaches and that’s fair, but none of the good or bad plays happened in a vacuum. It’s a 4 quarter game that we lost by less than a touchdown. We can point to completion percentages or any individual stats, but at the end of the day, we took home a loss, and that’s the only statistic that matters.
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