Are you trying to reduce your carbon footprint and your impact on the environment? Many people are worried about climate change and want to live a more Eco-friendly lifestyle. Even if you have already made some changes, there will be other things you can do to reduce your carbon emissions.
Simple ways to reduce your carbon footprint
How do you know where you are at in your efforts to reduce your carbon footprint?
These days there are some great tools available to estimate either your individual carbon emissions or your household emissions. They give you insight into where you are at the moment and what further changes you can make to move towards lower, and hopefully in time, zero emissions.
If we all strive to do this, it will make an impact in our emission targets as a country and internationally. When Covid struck the world went into lock-down and carbon emissions decreased quite considerably. No one was travelling or driving and there were no emissions from industry. Atmospheric pollution reduced quickly and noticeably.
In some countries with severe air pollution, people could see blue sky for the first time in years! The planet is resilient and if we do our part, will recover slowly.
So how do you calculate your own carbon emissions?
Many calculation tools are available on the internet to figure out how much carbon either you as a person or your household are emitting. I looked at several and many were quite complicated to use. A couple of them wanted so much detailed information, it made my head spin!
As I am only looking for an estimate, I found Climate Hero was my preferred option. Its very easy to use and gives you feedback as to how much of a climate hero you are! After taking the quiz, I found my own carbon emissions are still fairly high, which was disappointing. Clearly these tools are valuable to ensure you are making the progress you think you are making! You get a report of what you are doing well, which is encouraging. Information is then given on what to do to improve your rating.
What can you do to reduce your carbon footprint if you cant take some of the measures at the moment?
I currently live in a shared house and so due to other peoples practices, cant reduce our household’s carbon footprint as much as I would like.
Its not always possible to upgrade to an electric car, or to reduce the consumption of electricity or water. To counteract this, it is possible to offset your excess carbon.
An Australian based offset scheme Go Neutral provides the benefits in Australia. Some of their programs assist farmers to make some income and money paid to the scheme stays in the country. If you live in another country, find offset schemes which are based where you live.
Planting and protecting trees, regenerating the land and working with farmers are ways Go Neutral are offsetting emissions from Australian cars.
This seems a good option if, like me you cant afford to buy an electric car just yet.
To offset your emissions, look for a scheme you like and go for it!
Check out a previous blog on Climate Change and Australia
