8 Things You Can Do to Help Tackle Climate Change
The coronavirus pandemic has impacted our lives hugely and as a result, understandably climate change hasn’t been the priority it was this time last year. With restrictions beginning to ease now seems a good time to put climate change back on the agenda. On Climate Week here in Scotland let’s go through eight things you can do to help tackle climate change.
- Active travel & low emission vehicles
During lockdown, there was a huge boom in people getting out their bikes and with restrictions easing why not ditch the car when possible and keep going places on your bike? Also, if you weren’t one to pick up a bike try walking to your destination if it is in walking distance. Doing these activities more will help reduce the number of petrol and diesel cars on the road.
Another way to help reduce the number of petrol and diesel cars on the road is to invest in electric cars or bikes. Greener Scotland explains the reasons for buying an electric car here.
- Food waste
Try your best to keep an eye on the best by dates. If you can’t eat it before then look to see if you can use it for something else or recycle it. The best thing to do is to not waste food at all but some can’t be avoided like banana peels or skin of an orange. Make sure you are putting these items in your food waste bin. Doing this will be one of the most effective things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint. Also, if you do have some food waste another nice idea for it is to put it in a compost heap.
- Working habits
About the only positive of lockdown was the impact that had on the environment with most people not being on the road and working from home. Where possible a good idea might be to try and set up a more permanent home office and video call for meetings. Especially during the pandemic, it will lessen the demand on public transport and you will be travelling less which will mean fewer emissions.
- Eat local
Try to source food in your local area so you are not travelling long distances and you are helping local businesses at the same time. Find out what foods are in season and if you are still working from home more then take the extra time you might have to get inspired in the kitchen. Keep an eye on our website in the coming weeks for more recipes and videos from our community chef Iain!
- Reduce, Reuse and Repair
Try reducing the amount of food you buy. When shopping try to buy what food you need and when buying clothes as well try to buy what you need and try not to get sucked in by deals for items that you don’t really need.
If you have any items of clothes that have holes in them the temptation would be to throw them out but instead, you can try to repair them by sewing them or if you know someone who can.
If an item that you have has lost its original purpose, then do some research on how you can repurpose that item. If you can’t find anything else to do with it then don’t throw it in the normal bin which will end up in a landfill, try to see if anywhere local would take them and recycle them.
- Heating systems
Make sure your heating systems are providing the right amount of heat and that you don’t get too warm. Make sure they are working efficiently. Also, make sure that your home is draught proofed and well insulated. You can contact our Cosy Kingdom service for free and impartial energy advice.
- Install LED lights
There has been a lot of misconceptions surrounding LED’s over the years but LED’s now are a lot better and more affordable than they were years ago. They are still more expensive than your standard lightbulb but they will last a lot longer meaning your investment will be worth it over a longer period of time. Also, the amount of energy that LED’s save is huge compared with a standard bulb.
Here you can read 10 Benefits of LED’s.
- Having a climate conversation
Have a chat with family and friends about their views on climate change and help educate others or educate yourself more. Start to work together so that can help each other in becoming eco-friendlier. Also, you can have a lookout on our website for our Climate Café event where we watch a film based on climate change and we have a conversation about what actions we can take.
I hope you found these tips useful and let us know on Facebook or Twitter what actions you have already taken or plan on taking to help tackle climate change. Watch our video on tips on tackling climate change below –
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