Sorry Lizzie, but that last paragraph stands you as a hypocrite...
If you genuinely cared, you (or any one of us for that matter, tree hugging sandalists included), would ensure that our entire lives were devoted to negating our impact... by living off grid without processed products, ie only using materials that were locally available such as rock timber and mud and consuming only that which we could catch or grow.
The reality however is that there are far too many of us, and we've enough to concern ourselves with in regard to eeking the most out of food and energy to worry about the effects of the industrial revolution.
And I would wager that you put the heating on rather than a second jumper this last week
Not a hypocrite DG, no more than most people in the western world.
I did put on an extra layer of clothes last week, but also turned the heating on just enough to give my well insulated, latest economically gas fired central heated, flat a chance to be comfortable. I also made my roughly fortnightly trip to the recycling centre, then eat nothing but home cooked meals, with fresh veg and fruit snacks that produced little in the way of packaging. In addition I used my car on only two days. My electrical equipment is all rated "A"or better than that. But yes, I breathed air and breathed out carbon dioxide, and had to go to the toilet. But no plastics were flushed away, and I do not use beauty or washing products that contain that substance. My whole flat is equipped with Eco bulbs, with only lights on when necessary and in limited quantity. I never tip any fats down the sink or toilet, or fly tip in any form.
Now, I believe that there is little more that I can do to save the planet other than kill myself. That applies to many environmentally friendly people today who still have to live and work in the context of 2017, and not in 1017.
What nationally can and is being done, like wind powered turbines, hydro plants (up North), gas fired, along with nuclear, power stations, low emission zones, electric car development, decline of the internal combustion engine, etc., will help us all to go further, together, and hopefully by 2050 give our grandchildren a far better world to look forward to, barring wars or natural disasters.