Actions you can take to fight climate change

Tackling climate change may sound daunting and seem like an impossible task. Individual actions may seem to have little or no impact but collectively if everyone were to take simple steps to reduce one’s impact it can have a profound change on the environment both in the short term and long term. Keep reading to find out what you can do to save our planet! Alternatively, you can also visit justoneearth.co.uk.

Use Your Voice

Firstly, one can start off by speaking up about climate change. Individuals can use different platforms to raise concerns that they have to others who might be in a better position to make larger-scale changes. For example, citizens can vocalise their environmental concerns to their parliamentary representative.

This can be done from a commercial standpoint as well. Consuming only environmentally-conscious brands is a form of exercising one’s consumer rights. Social media can also be a powerful way of sending consumer signals to companies which can then lead to industry-wide changes and practices.

Speaking up can spread quickly and garner collective support to combat climate change. Aside from voicing out to political leaders or companies, you can also spread the word in your community and social circles.

Stay Informed

Secondly, another simple way you can fight climate change is to educate yourself. Having conversations with friends and family about climate change can be difficult hence having information about it can improve your credibility and convince them to get behind the cause. Being factually accurate and current is important so you can debunk or clarify any doubts others might have.

Consume information from reliable sources such as environmental leaders and research organisations that regularly produce content regarding the environment and you will be on track to educating yourself.

Be Political

Thirdly, stay politically engaged especially if you are of legal voting age. As a citizen, you can exercise your voting rights with the environment in mind by voting for someone who represents your views on the environment and is willing to put the environment on the agenda. So, go and find out your local representative’s contact details and contact their office or write in to voice your concerns.

Travel Responsibly

A fourth way you can reduce your carbon footprint is by travelling less, or travelling only when absolutely necessary. Travelling is a huge source of carbon output and hence if possible always choose a more sustainable form of transportation. This is also applicable for short-distance travel such as choosing to cycle or walk overtaking the car.

Aeroplane flights, even domestic, can account for a large carbon output. One way around this would be to opt for land-based travel such as trains or buses if you have the time. Finding alternative ways of travel can allow you to experience more of a country than if you were to fly as well.

Vacationing responsibly is also another way you can enjoy yourself while respecting the environment. If you enjoy looking at local wildlife when overseas, a simple rule you can adhere to is to stay away from wildlife attractions that have unnatural interactions with animals. Support conservation projects that place animals in their natural habitats and avoid petting or holding animals for money. Generally, travelling closer to home and reducing the distance you travel by air can help mitigate your impact on the environment especially when you do not have the luxury of time and travelling is a necessity.

Eat Sustainably

Having a sustainable diet is not easy but can have positive ripple effects on the environment if adhered to well. The food we consume may not always be sustainably produced. This is especially so for meat and dairy as they take up a lot of land and animals such as cows require a lot of water and food which adds to the environmental cost. To make space for herds and farming, forests are cleared. The loss of forest cover reduces carbon sinks that absorb carbon dioxide. Additionally, when large swathes of land are cleared for agricultural production, wildlife that used to habituate there are now left homeless. This leads to wildlife extinction which can disrupt large ecosystems and food chains which has ripple effects on nature.

A plant-based diet is considerably more sustainable as producing vegetables does not generate as much carbon dioxide as compared to meat. It might seem that a plant-based diet might be difficult to upkeep but this is becoming less and less true as restaurants and eateries are starting to offer more and more vegetarian options. Meat and dairy are also typically more expensive, hence by consuming less you are able to save money on top of saving the environment. Furthermore, as more people switch to plant-based diets, more restaurants will start serving vegetarian options. We can already see this with more and more restaurants who specialise in vegetarian food.

Reduce Your Waste

Reduce, reduce and reduce. This is a common anthem we hear when talking about the environment. Reducing the material items we buy is important as a lot of what we buy will end up in a landfill at some point in time. Aside from contaminating soil and water, improper disposal of plastic can end up in oceans and end up destroying marine life.

Finding creative uses for old items can extend the lifespan of objects and slow down the rate at which these things find their way to landfills. One example would be to use old jam jars as a candle holder or a plant pot.

Reducing our food waste is also important in minimising our impact on the environment. The resources that are put into producing food are already so resource-intensive and if we were to simply waste food, it would have been for nothing. A few ways to tackle this is to keep leftovers and compost organic waste that you cannot eat.

Overall, consuming less benefits you as well as you end up saving money. Using your money to change the way brands and companies manufacture their products can also have a positive effect on the environment. Support companies that are more eco-friendly and have sustainable farming practices. By exercising your purchasing power as a customer you are able to bring about industry-level change yet at the same time maintain a lifestyle that you desire.