# What are the worst things you do to the environment? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 8, 2021, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-things-you-do-to-the-environment/939581 "2021-04-08T00:30:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2021, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-things-you-do-to-the-environment/939581/41 "2021-04-09T14:58:24Z")
> [@DeathPool](#): > > It sounds cheesy but I really felt bad when my kids saw me do it and got upset and told me to stop. They get them young nowadays. My father used to sink his empty beer cans in the lake while fishing. Granted, they were steel in those days and would rust away, but I was offended and eventually convinced him to stop. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2021, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-things-you-do-to-the-environment/939581/42 "2021-04-09T15:08:01Z")
We eat soft fruit out of season. Some of it has been flown half way around the world. ---
**Author:** ![shh1313](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shh1313/32/8020_2.png) [@shh1313](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shh1313)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2021, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-things-you-do-to-the-environment/939581/43 "2021-04-09T20:59:59Z")
I feel good now! My worst habit is bottled water because drinking here is horrible. Food waste next. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2021, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-things-you-do-to-the-environment/939581/44 "2021-04-09T21:21:48Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > My father used to sink his empty beer cans in the lake while fishing. I used to do a men only kayak/canoe event every spring a week before trout season opened. Some years it was 70 degrees, some years it snowed. Most boaters arrived drunk, most had beer in their boats. Many under dressed. I never bothered lugging beer because every damn year young guys would load canoes with beer and flip in the first _small_ set of rapids. I’d sprint out and wait for beer to come floating to me (full beer cans float). I considered it doing my bit for ecology. I’d also barter found beers, like I’d give some dude who found a decent IPA the six pack (still connected) of Busch I’d caught. ETA: I “used to do it” because the organizers eventually dropped it (take out was on property they owned). It had grown from a few guys to IIRC 160 guys at the end. Two wives raised a stink about it being male only (it was a joke) so they ended it. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-things-you-do-to-the-environment/939581/45 "2021-04-10T00:16:08Z")
> [@DeathPool](#): > > I’m trying to not to do it anymore. _Trying_? Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-things-you-do-to-the-environment/939581/46 "2021-04-10T04:01:36Z")
The worst thing: I spray 10,000-40,000 lbs of jet fuel into the stratosphere each day at work. The best thing: I failed to have kids. By far the worst thing any of us do environmentally is have kids. The subsequent impact of your descendants overwhelms everything and anything you do, be that good or bad. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-things-you-do-to-the-environment/939581/47 "2021-04-10T04:06:17Z")
I have my lawn treated. Just the front yard of a 1/2 acre lot, but it was really gross and my neighbors all have nice lawns and I was terrified that my weeds were spreading to their lawns. I probably could switch to an organic fertilizer program now - the company that I hire offers it - but I’m too cheap. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-things-you-do-to-the-environment/939581/48 "2021-04-12T20:12:43Z")
> [@solost](#): > > But I wonder, is having a wood-burning fire much less green than running my furnace? A fire is putting out pollution in the form of smoke. But the CO2 it outputs is from a tree, so I _ **think** _ it’s more carbon-neutral than running a furnace with natural gas which is putting out CO2 into the environment that had been sequestered for millions of years…? LCAs for biomass are tricky. But in general, yes, lifecycle carbon emissions are going to be lower for the wood. But then there’s a question of your specific fire efficiency vs your furnace. The biggest issue with smoke is small particulate matter, which is more of a shorter term health hazzard. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-things-you-do-to-the-environment/939581/49 "2021-04-12T22:21:05Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > By far the worst thing any of us do environmentally is have kids. The subsequent impact of your descendants overwhelms everything and anything you do, be that good or bad. Maybe, maybe not. If a couple has just one child, then they are increasing the population and thus increasing the amount of damage to the environment. But this is a temporary increase and a long term decrease in population. So it may be a wash. And…this also assumes that future populations will continue to affect the environment at the same rates the current population does, which is most certainly false. And… it also assumes that there is no way to offset the (possibly temporary) increase in damage to the environment. All this is the long way of saying, that while having children is probably not the most beneficial thing one can do for the environment (at least in the short term) it’s also probably not the worst thing either. > **[Having fewer kids will not save the climate](https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/2/13/21132013/climate-change-children-kids-anti-natalism)** > > Some say you shouldn’t have children in the era of climate change. Don’t buy it. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-things-you-do-to-the-environment/939581/50 "2021-04-12T22:53:21Z")
I’m sure a precise answer to the OP exists, if fact somewhere in this thread there’s probably a link that does the math on the various activities we commonly do, but what FEELS to me like the most damaging is probably plastic waste. I live in a big city and drive pretty low miles. An EV is in the not-to-distant future which should eliminate that CO2 emission source. I have LED lights throughout the house. We opt for “green” energy supply through our power company. We don’t have a yard to maintain. We splurge a little on our water usage with long showers and sometimes running the tap too much, but I don’t live in a water starved place. I am pretty diligent about minimizing unnecessary waste. Almost never using paper plates and only occasionally using paper towels. We try to buy in bulk and opt for non-plastic packaging whenever possible but the reality is, this is next to impossible. Between the bathroom products, dairy and meats, cleaning products and take out…there’s still an unreasonable amount of plastic in the trash every day. Other candidates would probably be meat consumption and buying cheap shit on Amazon. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2021, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-things-you-do-to-the-environment/939581/51 "2021-04-13T16:19:46Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > By far the worst thing any of us do environmentally is have kids. The subsequent impact of your descendants overwhelms everything and anything you do, be that good or bad. As someone without children I used to believe this but not any more. The human brain is the most important resource we have and I think the more we utilize them the better the environment will be. Thousands of years ago humans wiped out species and turned land into desert so it doesn’t require a large population. The environment in the US has gotten better over the last 50 years (we still have a long way to go!) despite a growing population. It’s not as clear cut (heh) as I used to think. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2021, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-things-you-do-to-the-environment/939581/53 "2021-04-13T18:32:11Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > it’s a 90 minutes ordeal, dropping it off, even when it isn’t crowded-- we just take it and throw it out. If you are driving 90 minutes to drop off plastics for recycling, you are probably harming the environment worse. Most plastics will just end back up in the landfill. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2021, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-things-you-do-to-the-environment/939581/54 "2021-04-13T18:56:41Z")
I facilitate modern food production on 65 acres of farmland [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-things-you-do-to-the-environment/939581.md?page=2)