How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

Making dinner, putting the heating on and even going on the school run.. Do you know the carbon footprint of these unavoidable day-to-day activities, and how you can start to make more climate-friendly choices?

People are increasingly becoming more aware of the effect of their carbon footprint, and many countries, institutions and companies have committed to reducing their emissions. As an individual and in your household, you can also estimate your carbon footprint and start to make efforts to reduce it. 

What is a Carbon Footprint?

When you drive your car, go on a shopping trip, or turn the BBQ on, you’re contributing to the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are in the atmosphere. That’s your carbon footprint.

Your carbon footprint is a concept that is used to count the impact of an activity, a person or a country has on climate change. Greenhouse gases are emitted through the production and intake of goods and/or services.

The amount of emissions you emit will depend on your production and consumption choices. If we take the example of transport, a plane would emit 285g of carbon in one kilometre of travel, compared to 14g for a train, and 104g for a car, as stated by the European Economic Area. The same would go for the kind of meat or food you eat and the sort of jeans you buy.

Why Should You Care?

The seven billion people in the world are all consuming different amounts of the resources on the planet, and the United Nations has predicted the global population may reach 9.7 billion people by 2050, and over 11 billion by 2100. Growing populations elevate emissions and exhaust the planet’s resources.

How Can I Reduce My Carbon Footprint?                

Small and daily changes can make a big difference in the long run in places such as transportation, food, clothing, and waste.

Here are some ideas for you to implement in your daily routine:

• Consume local and seasonal products 
• Limit your meat consumption, particularly beef
• Bring reusable shopping bags and avoid products with unwarranted plastic packaging
• Try to buy only the necessities, to avoid waste
• Take good care of your clothes
• Try to swap, borrow, rent or buy second-hand clothes
• Buy responsibly-made clothes, and avoid fast fashion
• Cycle or use public transport
• Turn down your heating simply by 1°, it will make a difference
• Take shorter showers
• Turn off the water while you brush your teeth or wash up
• Unplug your electronic equipment and don’t leave your phone on charge when the battery is full
• Limit and recycle your waste!

Try to start to understand your carbon footprint, as it can help limit the effect of your consumption on the environment. All of us can contribute to fighting global warming by making the choice to make conscious and climate-friendly choices in our day-to-day lives.

Simply making the switch to new windows can help to reduce your household’s annual carbon footprint a significant amount compared to non-energy efficient products, and single glazing can contribute to heat losses from your home as high as 70%. Installing new and energy-efficient windows will retain heat in the winter and help keep your home cooler in the summer months. You can considerably lower your carbon footprint by creating restrictions on how you use the energy inside your home.

Find a responsible and sustainable GGF Member to make your home improvements today.