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This proposal is now in the Beta phase — example questions are locked!

47 Example Questions (2 closed)

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up vote 12 down vote

added by HedgeMage Jul 10 '11 at 5:42

up vote 10 down vote

added by DForck42, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jan 12 '12 at 17:24

This has some pretty substantial overlap with Gardening and Landscaping. How should we deal with overlapping questions? – Daniel Bingham Jul 13 '11 at 0:29

This is a fairly large overlap as sustainable living effectively requires home gardening. – Wulfhart Jul 13 '11 at 16:18

While I agree with that, you are more likely to find the experts on the gardening site, so this kind of question would be better answered there. – Riaan Cornelius Jul 14 '11 at 21:58

Unless Gardening and Landscaping folks are unwilling or unable to answer sustainable/organic gardening questions, I think all gardening questions should be moved there. Both organic and sustainable tags exist there, although neither has much traffic. But it does seem they're willing and able to answer them. And I'm sure all of us who do organic and sustainable gardening could strengthen those tags on that site. – Flimzy Nov 25 '11 at 2:28

up vote 10 down vote

added by DForck42, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jan 12 '12 at 17:24

	After some thinking, this actually sounds like a gardening question, too. There is a rain-barrel tag over on G&L, and I'm sure they would consider this question on-topic. (Unless you want a rain barrel for some purpose other than gardening.) – Flimzy Nov 25 '11 at 2:34
	Rain barrels can be used to collect additional water for aquaponics systems. Because of the mechanical nature of the system, and the fact that it's geared towards sustainable living, I think this is a valid question. But maybe this should be expanded on to include larger water collection systems as well? – Seiaeka Nov 25 '11 at 20:48
	@Seiaeka: Can you ask a sample question that would apply to large aquaponics systems? That's the way to expand the scope of the site now. :) – Flimzy Nov 26 '11 at 18:54

up vote 10 down vote

added by HedgeMage Jul 10 '11 at 5:33

up vote 10 down vote

added by HedgeMage Jul 10 '11 at 5:38

up vote 10 down vote

added by Mongus Pong Jul 12 '11 at 15:37

	If the animal husbandry site ever gets off the ground, that would probably be a better place for this question. – Flimzy Nov 26 '11 at 18:55
	I'm new here, but surely dividing our interests into separate proposals weakens them all? Combining similar proposals with major overlaps would benefit the community by providing members with slightly differing backgrounds/interests. For example, stack overflow is not split into different SE's for each programming language. – Aaron J Lang Jan 3 '12 at 1:34
	One key for a successful site is getting experts together. I think "animal husbandry" experts are far more likely to have the answer to this question than "sustainable living" experts. Although there is a small intersection, there aren't nearly as many "Sustainable Animal Husbandry" experts and therefore such a site is not likely to be very active. My guess is most questions that would be asked on such a site would probably find better answers on an animal husbandry site, than on a sustainable living site, considering most SL users won't own any animals other than pets. – Flimzy Jan 10 '12 at 23:29
	I would disagree. Personally I feel one of the crucial aspects of living sustainably is reducing ones dependence on factory farming and becoming more self sufficient. Perhaps its a definition issue, which is why I added this question to clarify where the boundaries are. – Mongus Pong Jan 11 '12 at 9:50
	I agree with your philosophy; and in fact I hope to begin raising chickens and other animals for that very reason. But that doesn't change the fact that I think more experts will exist on an animal husbandry site. – Flimzy Jan 11 '12 at 20:37

up vote 10 down vote

added by Mongus Pong Jul 12 '11 at 15:37

This is another gardening question - so whatever is decided on the composting debate, applies here as well. – winwaed Jul 27 '11 at 13:03

up vote 10 down vote

added by Mongus Pong Jul 12 '11 at 15:38

Could be extended to bathroom surfaces, etc. I agree cleaning products are the most obviously environmentally damaging consumables, after fossil fuels – Aaron J Lang Jan 3 '12 at 1:31

up vote 10 down vote

added by paulhhowells Jul 16 '11 at 21:41

Great on-topic question, clearly states a sustainability-related project and the need for information that is not easily accessible. Not an "is it worth it?" question, either. – Caedar Jul 17 '11 at 1:03

up vote 10 down vote

added by maryruth Nov 21 '11 at 13:55

up vote 6 down vote

added by xiaohouzi79 Aug 3 '11 at 22:36

I think this question can be improved by including information about the intended use. Lights that are cycled off/on quickly or are not left on for very long at a time, might be benefit more from other lighting technologies such as halogen, LED, or cold-cathode fluorescent. – Dover Williams Jan 10 '12 at 22:39

up vote 5 down vote

added by blueberryfields Jul 8 '11 at 20:21

(With the goal of not using a fridge at all) – blueberryfields Jul 8 '11 at 20:22

After a lot of thought, I'm going to mark this as "not a great example". It would be on-topic for the site, but as an example, it may confuse people living in jurisdictions where living without a refrigerator is not legal. – HedgeMage Jul 13 '11 at 5:18

@hedgeMage Out of curiosity, where is it illegal to live without a fridge? I have never heard of such a law before. – Wulfhart Jul 13 '11 at 16:13

@Wulfhart I'd have to check, but I think Chicago requires a fridge. Most localities in the US define minimum requirements for habitable dwellings that are not subject to "grandfathering in". Typically it is illegal to lack indoor plumbing, electricity and electric lights, temperature control (AC or heat, depending on local climate), and some gas- or electric- powered cooking appliance, however these rules vary wildly by state and county, and sometimes even by town. There are usually even more requirements for current construction, and/or if children reside in the home. – HedgeMage Jul 14 '11 at 7:38

@HedgeMage Even if it is illegal in some places to be with out a fridge, how does that make this question a bad one for the site? Food storage with out traditional refrigeration seems very on topic for sustainability. Just because it is illegal in some places doesn't make it invalid. Just means we need to make note of that in answering the question. – Daniel Bingham Aug 8 '11 at 20:11

show 3 more improvement suggestions

up vote 5 down vote

added by Flimzy Jul 14 '11 at 11:26

up vote 5 down vote

added by THelper Dec 14 '11 at 14:58

up vote 4 down vote

added by Daniel Bingham Jun 29 '11 at 3:19

This seems to be more related to health and fitness, then sustainable living. I interpret this as, "Will I die of malnutrition if I eat some meat?" – Wulfhart Jul 13 '11 at 16:00

Your misinterpreting it, it's aimed more at the question, "is it possible for there to be such a thing as environmentally sustainable meat production"? – Daniel Bingham Jul 13 '11 at 16:40

@Daniel If it were re-worded that way, I'd consider it on-topic. – HedgeMage Jul 13 '11 at 21:43

@HedgeMage is simply adding the environment specification to sustainable, as I have done above, enough? – Daniel Bingham Aug 8 '11 at 19:59

Eating meat is one of the biggest contributors for an individual's carbon footprint, though there are many other important environmental considerations: water consumption, water pollution, land area to protein ratio efficiency, deforestation, soil pollution, biodiversity, etc. I guess I'm saying that this is a very pertinent question. Perhaps re-worded as follows would make it clearer: "What labels, if any, identify the most sustainable meat options?" – maryruth Nov 21 '11 at 14:02

show 1 more improvement suggestion

up vote 3 down vote

added by Daniel Bingham Jun 29 '11 at 3:20

up vote 3 down vote

added by Usagi, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jan 12 '12 at 17:26

	How does this differ from the previous question, "What is the carbon footprint for the average indoor cat..."? – Wulfhart Aug 18 '11 at 19:46
	Though this question may be a sort of duplicate, I think this one is better worded to encompass a wider range of things. – Seiaeka Nov 25 '11 at 20:50

up vote 3 down vote

added by maryruth Nov 21 '11 at 14:06

up vote 2 down vote

added by H3lue Jul 14 '11 at 19:07

up vote 1 down vote

added by Daniel Bingham, edited by HedgeMage Jul 14 '11 at 7:30

All value judgement questions ("is X worth it?") are off-topic on all SE sites. In addition to this NOT being a suitable on-topic example, we already have one as an off-topic example. We'd do better to add something different in its place. – HedgeMage Jul 13 '11 at 21:44

If you could somehow quantify the value judgement, such as cost of cleaning up the mercury, or change it from a value judgement to a question purely about how the CFLs added mercury to the environment (if CFLs go to a landfill, how much mercury winds up in the ground water, etc), would that make it more on topic (in your judgement)? – Daniel Bingham Jul 13 '11 at 22:07

"Does X do Y to the environment?" is on-topic if X and Y are sufficiently concrete and specific. However, while your suggested revision is more concrete, it is insufficiently specific. Different CFLs have different amounts of mercury, they may be disposed of in different ways, we don't know where the landfill is in relation to groundwater, if and how it is sealed, what the CFLs were trashed with, or any of the other factors involved. – HedgeMage Jul 14 '11 at 7:28

Come to think of it... your reworded version would make an excellent off-topic example to illustrate that very point. – HedgeMage Jul 14 '11 at 7:29

Excellent example of an off-topic question concerning an on-topic subject. The question leaves too many variables unspecified to be at all answerable. – HedgeMage Jul 14 '11 at 7:31

up vote 1 down vote

added by blueberryfields Jul 8 '11 at 20:26

closed as off topic by HedgeMage, Mongus Pong, Wulfhart, Eri, Flimzy Jul 14 '11 at 11:16

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

Great offtopic Q.: This demonstrates the edge case of someone who thinks they are asking a sustainability question, but are instead using something vague and not measurable as a proxy for for their "real" question. – HedgeMage Jul 10 '11 at 5:10

Apparently scientists have measured the sustainability of pets: newscientist.com/article/… – THelper Dec 14 '11 at 14:29

up vote 1 down vote

added by Usagi, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jan 12 '12 at 17:26

up vote 1 down vote

added by maryruth Nov 21 '11 at 14:23

up vote 1 down vote

added by Seiaeka Nov 28 '11 at 14:40

up vote 1 down vote

added by THelper, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jan 12 '12 at 17:27

up vote 1 down vote

added by Dover Williams Jan 10 '12 at 23:40

up vote 0 down vote

added by xiaohouzi79, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jan 12 '12 at 17:26

up vote 0 down vote

added by Richard Oct 19 '11 at 20:52

up vote 0 down vote

added by Flimzy Nov 11 '11 at 8:06

	Would this belong in the Recycling section rather than here? – maryruth Nov 21 '11 at 13:53
	disposal is much broader than recycling. Maybe a toilet can be recycled in some placed, but I doubt it can everywhere. – Flimzy Nov 25 '11 at 2:26

up vote 0 down vote

added by maryruth Nov 21 '11 at 14:33

up vote 0 down vote

added by Flimzy Dec 12 '11 at 19:45

I am asking the top-voted question on the Recycling proposal as a test to see if Recycling is considered on-topic here, too. – Flimzy Dec 12 '11 at 19:46

up vote 0 down vote

added by Flimzy Dec 12 '11 at 19:47

I am asking the top-voted question from the Green Energy proposal as a test to see if Green Energy topics are considered on-topic here as well. – Flimzy Dec 12 '11 at 19:47

up vote 0 down vote

added by Kristoffer Nolgren, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jan 12 '12 at 17:27

up vote 0 down vote

added by Kristoffer Nolgren Dec 13 '11 at 13:31

up vote 0 down vote

added by Carmi, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jan 12 '12 at 17:27

up vote -1 down vote

added by xiaohouzi79 Aug 3 '11 at 22:31

	This should be asked on Cooking.SE. There are already a large number of pickling questions there. – Flimzy Nov 26 '11 at 18:59
	@Flimzy - I think this is an overlap question which can be on topic for either site. I think being able to preserve excess food should definitely be on topic for a sustainable living site. If my garden produces a bumper crop what can I do with it? – xiaohouzi79 Nov 27 '11 at 21:52
	I think you're more likely to get expert answers on the Cooking site. Now, if there's some specific aspect of pickling that is so specific to sustainable living that we can't expect a reasonable answer from a cooking site, that would be a separate issue. But just "How do I pickle something?" isn't specific enough to fit in that category, IMO. Maybe "What is the most sustainable fermentation method for making pickles?" would be more appropriate here. – Flimzy Nov 27 '11 at 23:10
	+85376542365 - This is so on topic its going to be my first question when the site opens – xiaohouzi79 Dec 6 '11 at 22:04

up vote -1 down vote

added by xiaohouzi79 Aug 3 '11 at 22:37

This is a gardening question, and should be asked on the gardening & landscaping site. – Flimzy Nov 25 '11 at 2:25

up vote -1 down vote

added by maryruth Nov 21 '11 at 14:12

up vote -1 down vote

added by Fredy31 Nov 30 '11 at 4:06

I think this question needs to be made much more specific, to be specifically about sustainable living, or moved to the gardening site (where it also undoubtedly needs to be made much more specific) – Flimzy Nov 30 '11 at 18:46

up vote -1 down vote

added by Kristoffer Nolgren Dec 13 '11 at 13:30

	This is a gardening question, and I believe it ought to be asked on the gardening & landscaping site instead. – Flimzy Jan 2 '12 at 7:39
	Hydroponcis is baley ever used for gardening, but rather for foodproduction. But whatever... – Kristoffer Nolgren Jan 3 '12 at 14:02