Climate change is a global problem but we can all make a difference by making simple changes to our life styles, now. Here are a few suggestions to get you started.
If you want to get more actively engaged in fighting to prevent the climate crisis then why not support Extinction Rebellion or other local campaigning group, and please write to/email your MP and local papers. You can check out the voting history of your MP here - look for the section on how they voted on environmental issues. Also please support Greenpeace in their '2020: a decade of change' campaign.
There's also a really useful list of solutions to climate change, ranked by order of effectiveness here. The top 10 are shown here:
Rank | Solution | Total Atmospheric CO2-EQ Reduction (GT) |
---|---|---|
1 | Refrigerant Management | 89.74 |
2 | Wind Turbines (Onshore) | 84.6 |
3 | Reduced Food Waste | 70.53 |
4 | Plant-Rich Diet | 66.11 |
5 | Tropical Forests | 61.23 |
6 | Educating Girls | 51.48 |
7 | Family Planning | 51.48 |
8 | Solar Farms | 36.9 |
9 | Silvopasture | 31.19 |
10 | Rooftop Solar | 24.6 |
Notice that the number one solution is 'Refrigeration Management'.
Every refrigerator, freezer and air conditioner contains chemical refrigerants that absorb and release heat to enable chilling. Refrigerants, specifically CFCs and HCFCs, were once culprits in depleting the ozone layer. Thanks to the 1987 Montreal Protocol, they have been phased out. HFCs, the primary replacement, spare the ozone layer, but have 1,000 to 9,000 times greater capacity to warm the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. These are really dangerous greenhouse gases so disposing of old fridges, freezers and aircon units responsibly is critically important. Don't just throw your old fridge on a rubbish tip - it will cause serious harm.
Silvopasture, number 9 in the list, is an ancient practice that integrates trees and pasture into a single system for raising livestock. Research suggests silvopasture far outpaces any grassland technique for counteracting the methane emissions of livestock and sequestering carbon under-hoof. Pastures strewn or crisscrossed with trees sequester five to ten times as much carbon as those of the same size that are treeless, storing it in both biomass and soil.
So there's load of things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint and help avoid disaster. The one thing you must NOT do is nothing!
Cliff Mitchell