Renting is not the end of the world

Despite being a renter all of my adult life, I have not let this hold me back from making changes around the home to reduce my environmental impact.
Most landlords are pretty accepting of minor changes, so long as you're paying. It pays off for the renter as it can reduce your service bills.
In most of the places I've rented I've used temporary measures to make my living quaters more comfortable.  For a north-facing living space without eaves I bought an umbrella to put up on hot days to block out the sun. Combined with a flyscreen "blind" over the double doors allowed the breeze into the house but not the insects.  The blind also allowed the cat to come and go as he pleased.
In our current abode I have put curtains up over all the north facing windows, with the landlords permission. This is additional to venetian blinds.  We've let the bush in front of the living room grow to cut out the sun and visibility from the street. 
In addition to the venetians & curtains in the spare room, which has north facing glass slidng door with no eave, I've added a bamboo blind externally for the hot days.  
Here the umbrella has come in handy to give additional shade on hot days to my worms and herbs (and the bbq chef!)
In every house I have taken with me removable filters that reduce the flow on your taps.  These are easy to install if you have a wrench to remove the existing tap head. Be careful not to scratch it though, use a cloth if necessary.  Often you can also find free new showerheads from your local council. Either way, not such a big outlay even if you leave them behind.
Having a bucket handy next to the shower, and next to the sink for washing vegetables/rising means I can either top up the toilet cistern or use on my herbs.  I also keep my watering tank under the overflow from the hot water heater.
We have a south facing courtyard with 2 storeys on 3 sides, so I don't have a lot of sun here to work with, but this suits most herbs, lettuce and my chillis have taken off. 
On the balcony I get sun, but sometimes too much, so I move the pots around on hot days.  I also forget to water out here during the week, so I set reminders on my computer diary.
There are more ways than one to adapt your temporary home.  Some may cost a little, but they can also be removable so you can take them with you when you go.  Each building is unique, so if you're stuck for ideas ou can yseek some advice from the Glass INUiT.

Carpet, is it worth it?

I was reading a blog by someone who is building their house as sustainable as they can afford, and the issues they had with choosing a carpet.  There aren't a lot of environmentally friendly options in Australia, from my experience as a commercial and residential architect.  Sure a lot of companies use sustainable materials where possible, reduce their production impact, and have started take-back schemes. The latter is great, but only works if the company is still around in 20 years, and previous owners pass on to new ones the company details for when they eventually rip it up.
Carpet is also driven by trends, so old styles can look dated and may never get purchased.
Carpet cleaners use nasty chemicals, natural materials in carpets can stain, glues may be used for installation. It goes on.

I believe the best option these days may be to have a hard floor surface, such as concrete or bamboo floorboards so you get the benefit of thermal mass, and add rugs! Rugs are great, moveable, washable, add warmth and colour.  They can be made in small communities, purchased from fair trade organisations and keep quality handmade skills alive!

Unhealthy Foods

Often we forget about what we're putting into our mouths, because we get hungry, have cravings and often need to grab something to eat fast. 
If you can spend a little time to learn new habits it will be rewarding. By spending time, I mean do a little research on alternative foods and ways to cook.  The first time you go to the shop to buy something new, look at what is made from and where it was made. The next time you go back you will already know to just grab the better item from the shelf.
Not sure about switching from cheap vegetable oil for your cooking? Well bigger supermarkets now have alternatives that will make you feel so much better - look for rice bran oil, coconut oil or ghee.
Realised your margarine or spread contains a lot of things you don't like - think about returning to plain butter - and watch out for those that say they're spreadable butter but add more than just cream to make it soft.
Here is an interesting blog on the subject.

Fair@Square - Fair Trade

Looking forward to this festival, to learn more about how to buy fair traded products.
Fair@Square

There are many items people really don't think about much, that mean the people growing, making or supplying the products get a really bad deal and unfair pay.  If they bought a product with the fair-trade logo would mean the producers and makers would get a much better deal:
I now refuse to buy chocolate, coffee, tea or cotton without this logo.

‘just THINK ABOUT IT’

2 or 3 small items (like a magazine, a bag of chips, a t-shirt, a new dvd, etc.) can be carried in the hand easily to your car/home/office.  

You don’t need the bag to carry your lunch & chopsticks from the shop. Soft drinks are designed to be held in the hand not in a bag.

Some of us cart around handbags that could easily accommodate a small re-useable & washable bag.

Say no thanks or I don’t need a bag before, during or after they give it to you. It saves the retailer money too.

Do you know plastic is made from oil – more plastic can help push up the price of petrol!

‘Greenhouse emissions can be cut by reducing plastic bag use

A 2006 Australian Bureau of Statistics article revealed that the nation consumes approximately 6.9 billion plastic bags, or 36,850 tonnes of plastic, each year, which equates to just under one bag per person per day.  Although requiring less energy than a paper bag to manufacture, recycled plastic bags and fabric bags such as calico compare more favourably.  If one person using 520 plastic shopping bags per year switched to calico bags they would reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 3.6 kg in a year.’

- carbonneutral enews

Too many people

Interesting documentary on recently, by Sir David Attenborough, about the growth of human population and it's impact on the earth.
I couldn't agree more, there are too many people on this planet to live sustainably.  At the rate we're growing there won't be much left for the human race to use and enjoy - water, land, biodiversity.  This is my main reason for not having my own children, and it is a hard topic to bring up with all my friends and family who want the enjoyment of spawning and raising their own kids.

My question to them is, do you want to bring children into this dying world, especially when your having a family makes such an impact?  Harsh I know, which is why I've never asked one of them this question directly.
Their answer may be, why do I have to forfeit having kids to save the earth, when there are so many people in third world countries having large families?  Shouldn't they abstain?
Every person has the right to have their own child, it is the most natural thing on earth so why should someone be denied the right.

As Sir David pointed out, education is the key. The underprivileged should be given access to education and to basic medical facilities, to improve their knowledge and reduce birth rates.  Absolutely, every person should also have this right.

But I do not believe this will solve the issue. The rate of consumption in the rich countries is appalling, and could be better utilised. However the more people with access to consumerist society, the increase in use of our natural resources.  There are too many rich people in this world, this is the problem

Sometimes I get mad, although I am not maternal I have given up the pleasure of having kids to reduce the human population, and put my life's work into improving our environmental impact, but not for myself, for the greater good of people and all those that do get to enjoy raising children, and their children and so on.  Yet these people who will benefit from my actions, do they care?

What are our choices for eating out?

Faced with the dilema of enjoying food & eating out but an environmental consciousness leads to feelings of guilt if you suspect the food is not ethically sourced.

Some of the concerns - overfishing, meat & egg production, unseasonal produce, food miles!

How do you consider all these when you just want to eat a tasty meal at a good restaurant. It is difficult and many of us don't want to be rude and ask questions about the source of the food.

But maybe a couple of things you can consider:

• There are some restaurants that will give a description if the food is free-range, local, in-season, organic.  Try to support these guys who choose to give you information.

•  Choosing fish - many of us love fish but don't cook it so see it as a good option when eating out
• do they say what sort of fish it is?  if not, it may be a standard species that is overfished or farmed
• salmon & barramundi are very common these days but will come from a farm, so avoid unless they're listed as 'wild'
• standard fish & chips is made with Flake - which is shark and very unsustainable
• make yourself familiar with better fish & seafood choices such flathead or squid, so if they're on the menu you can choose them 
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• You may feel like a food that is more suited to the season, and some places are more likely to serve more seasonal dishes, such as heavier, root vegetable type  in winter, or fresh salad or fruit in summer.
• Just because your eating out doesn't mean you have to eat meat.  
• Do you eat meat at every meal? we don't need to eat meat more than a few times a week to get enough nutrients from it.
• The more people that choose vegetable dishes, the more restaurants will provide them.  As someone who doesn't eat red meat, and doesn't like eating chicken & fish out unless I know where they've come from, I despise going to restaurants where there is only 1 or 2 vegetarian choices. Meat is not the centre of our lives.
• consider food miles.
• is the main ingredient from a country far away?  is there something produced locally on offer?
• Drink choice.
• imported wine and beer is nice, but there is often a good local option instead.  save trying the imported stuff for when you visit that country.
• and lastly, are you going to leave food on the plate?
• food waste is not sustainable. order what you know you can eat. you can always get something else if you are still hungry afterwards.