Small and simple ways to reduce climate change right from your home

Tackling climate change is a hefty task that the world needs to start doing a lot more of. As students and being part of the younger generation, seeing the government and people doing very little to help can be frustrating. However, there are small things that we can change in our day to day lives which we can all do to help reduce climate change right from our homes. The smallest changes may seem pointless, but if you and as many people as possible get into the habit of them, then that’s already a step forward in helping the environment.

@jaye_haych - Unsplash

Use energy wisely

Something as easy as changing your lightbulbs can help you save energy. LED and CFL bulbs use much less energy than regular bulbs and are easy to get hold of. There’re several other ways to save energy such as turning lights off or unplugging technology when it’s not being used. If it’s bright outside, you could open the curtains and keep your lights off. This may not seem like much but think about how much energy you could save if you did this daily.

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Think about where you’re getting your food from

Decisions about food can have a greater impact on the environment than you think. When doing our shopping, we often don’t consider the journey in which the food had to take to get into our trollies. Buying food locally means it will have a much shorter distance to travel. The average meal gets exported around 1,2000 kilometres from its source to your stomach according to David Suzuci Society. Support local farms by shopping in farm shops for fresher food.

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Travel wisely

The Environmental Protection Agency say that a car driving an average of 12,500 miles per year will use 11,450 pounds of carbon dioxide. Cycling and walking, when possible, can help reduce how much carbon dioxide is put into the air and is also good in general for exercise. Taking public transport or doing a car share can also help a massive amount with this. If you do travel in your car, try not to carry more weight than needed, carrying more weight means that you will use extra fuel.

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You’ve heard it before… Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

If people recycle more, then there’s less of a demand to take raw materials from the earth through methods such as deforestation. Recycling also reduces the chemicals and greenhouse gasses that are put into the air by waste in landfills. Millions of tons of single use plastics are thrown away each year and this can’t carry on, people need to start recycling more. Being crafty and turning your plastic bottles into something like a desk tidy can be a fun and easy way to reuse plastic.

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Don’t leave your water running

As the population increases, the demand for water is becoming higher. This means that we have to supplement for water in ways that can be unsustainable, so saving water is vital. Turning the water off as you brush your teeth, taking shorter showers and making sure that your pipes aren’t leaking can all save an awful lot of water over time. Next time you’re using running water in the house, consider if you could use any less?

 

Keep spreading the word

Start conversations about climate change. Tell you friends, family, work colleagues, anyone possible, that things need to change. Simply talking to people will educate them and change little things that they do which could potentially affect the environment in the long run. There’re climate protests around the UK every day that are easy to take part in. Look out for local climate change events and get involved!