You can make a big difference to climate change in your own personal life. Not only can you make an actual impact on how much carbon is emitted, your actions are particularly influential on the people who know you first hand. Best of all, taking any action at all is a great way to turn your feelings of despair into hope. Here we list some of the best actions you can take on climate change.
Use green electricity. One way is to install solar panels on your own roof and consider battery storage. Gecko does not endorse any particular company however here is one website that provides quotes and information.
Another way is to nominate green power for your electricity that you buy from your normal electricity provider. Just contact your existing power provider and ask them to switch you over to 100% renewable energy. You will pay a little more, the company will arrange for its power generation to be accordingly changed to renewables, but you will not have any difference to the reliability of the electricity powering your home.
Make your money talk
There are many financial products like superannuation, home loans and investments where it is relatively easy to switch to a greener product. Many financial institutions now boycott the fossil fuel industry and recommend investment in renewables or sustainable industries. Let’s boycott the ones that don’t (and don’t forget to tell them why on your way out). You can find out more about individual companies here www.marketforces.org.au
Consider the impacts of your diet.
Meat and dairy have a higher carbon footprint than plants as dietary sources because the animals had to consume plants first. Animals such as sheep, pigs and cows emit a lot of methane which is 28 times worse than carbon dioxide as a GHG for climate change, plus the feeding, processing, cold storage and transport adds considerably to the emissions of your meal. There are many delicious vegetable based meals to try and less meat is recommended by many health professionals as beneficial for your health, and is much easier than you think. Here is an article for further reading.
Food miles.
The average Australian basket of food is calculated to have travelled many thousands of kilometres before arriving at your home. The decisions we make in our food purchases can have considerable effect on emissions. Shopping local not only reduces this effect it also helps keep wealth within local communities and helps build a strong and resilient local food network.
Drive and fly less
There are many ways to do this including walking, cycling, car pooling and using public transport. Walking and cycling will benefit your health and public transport with a book or podcast can turn your commute into a productive part of your day. Working from home will reduce the carbon emissions of your commute more than anything, as the Covid 19 pandemic has demonstrated.
Because aircraft emissions are released high in the atmosphere, they have a potent climate impact, triggering chemical reactions and atmospheric effects that heat the planet. If the aviation sector were a nation, it would be among the top 10 global emitters and is responsible for 12 per cent of transportation emissions. Can you reduce the amount of times you fly? Could you attend that business meeting via Zoom rather than face to face?
Get political
This is so important we have written a whole other post about this here
Footprint calculator.
How many planets does it take to support your lifestyle?
Try one of the many Footprint Calculator to find out your Ecological Footprint and personal Earth Overshoot Day and learn about solutions to help us all tread more lightly on the Earth. One of the calculators can be found here.
Influence your own friends, family and acquaintances
You have an ability to influence you friends, family and acquaintances in ways that no government, media organisation, non-governmental organisation or celebrity scientist ever can, because people already know and trust you. When you talk about climate change, you may not have the gravitas of the Prime Minister but you have the credibility of an old friend. People might get their information about climate change from the CSIRO or the TV but they will get their courage and motivation to do something about it by you doing it first.
Get connected
Joining an organisation that is doing something about climate change is one of the best ways to multiply your efforts, pick up where others have already got to and most of all, be motivated by other like minds. Visit our page on getting connected here.
Keep looking
There are so many more opportunities that you can be involved with to reduce the negative impacts of climate change. Search the internet and you will find countless opportunities to get involved.
