The phrase carbon footprint is probably one which you had never heard of up until the last decade and that is because more and more people are finally beginning to realize the damage which humans are doing to this planet of ours. Sadly the effects of climate change are already being seen and there is a grander outcry and a stronger lobby than ever before, calling on everyone around the world to do whatever they are able to in order to reduce our carbon footprint.
To those of you who may not be aware, the carbon footprint is your individual impact on the environment, ultimately the amount of carbon which is burned based on your actions. Now one thing that is certainly for sure is that the usual culprits of the level of damage which is being done to our o-zone layer is being caused by big business and huge factories around the world. It is important of course that they are doing everything they can in order to reduce the impact they are having, and we must push on government and charities to hold those businesses to account. With this being said it is also important that we recognize that we are all in this together and here are some ways that you can reduce your own carbon footprint.
Travel
Being conscious when you travel is a very important aspect of what you can be doing. Planes and cars in particular are terrible in terms of the amount of toxic gases which are pumped out. It is also worth understanding here that to power those vehicles we need fuel, which needs to be extracted from the earth, thus creating more problems. If you are able to take electric transport such as a train then this will be a much better idea than flying. With regards to car use there are a number of options for you here, taking a bike on short distances will be huge help, so too will taking buses which pack more people into a single vehicle. If you do have to use a car, be sure to try and car pool with others so that you have a car of 4, instead of 4 cars with just a single person in each.
Second Hand
We mentioned in the intro that big businesses and factories are a major cause of the carbon emissions that the world produces and it is essential that we are able to lower those. Much of the reason however that China or India has these smoke pumping factories is because of our need for new and cheap goods. This could be clothing, plastics or any other item that we buy en masse. It is for this reason that we have to switch our focus to buying used and second hand items wherever we possibly can. If we are able to do this, let’s say with clothing, then we are going to be able to massively reduce the demand for new and cheap clothes. This will, little by little, decrease the amount of clothing and textiles which is being produced in cheap sweatshops, helping us to lower the emissions which it pumps out. the same thing can be said for many other industries too, if we stop the demand, the supply slows down.
Managing Waste
Another key benefit of buying second hand will be that we greatly minimize the amount of waste which we are producing. This is a huge reason why climate change is occurring, especially with regards to our wasting of plastics and of noxious chemicals such as metals found in cellphones and electronic devices. There are many parts of the world which recycle very well but ultimately as it stands, we either have too much waste to recycle or simply no plan on recycling at all, and overflowing landfill sites. These sites pump out harmful chemicals into the Earth’s atmosphere and that too has a horrendous impact on the O-zone layer. Away Today Rubbish Removal Strathfield state that this can be avoided, if recycling is taken seriously by local governments and waste management companies we can avoid the harmful leaking of chemicals into the environment. The less we use the more that we can minimize the amount of waste which we produce. The smarter we approach this, the better we can get at managing waste and finding effective solutions for making sure that landfill becomes a thing of the past. With each year that passes we are getting smarter and smarter at finding ways in which we can say goodbye to trash forever, and the more that we support and back those who are looking to help with this the better.
Animal Products
One area which causes the most harm to the environment than anywhere else is the animal industry, and it is time that we all woke up to this fact. If you don’t feel that you are able to go vegan or vegetarian then at the very least you should be looking to buy your meat from a sustainable farm which doesn’t harm the environment in its raising or slaughtering of animals. The damage which is done to the environment by the animal industry is threefold. Firstly there is the enormous amount of water which is being swallowed up in order to keep the millions of sheep, pigs and cattle alive during their short lives. Secondly there is the amount of methane which is produced by cows in particular, which is now at harmful levels given the volume of cattle which we have. Finally there is the fact that in order to feed the animals, we have been cutting down enormous sections of the rain forest in order to plant soy crops which will feed them. This is a very dangerous industry and it is one which has the support of many governments around the world. The best thing that we can all do once again is to reduce the supply.
And finally it is important to consider how far your food has come to be on your plate because food miles also have a very negative impact on the environment and wherever possible, you should be looking to buy local.
