Not all of us are in the position to be switching to electric cars and solar powered homes, however there are several small changes you can make today to lessen your carbon footprint.
Here are our top seven ways you can make a small change today that will make a big difference.
Of course lessening how much gas you’re putting into the atmosphere is always a great first step (pun intended), so ditching the car even once a week makes a huge difference. Not only does walking clear the mind before and after a big day, you don’t have to deal with idiot drivers during peak hour traffic.
In saying that, if you struggle to walk during the peak summer heat, carpooling is another awesome way to cut back on your emissions.
If walking / carpooling isn’t an option and if you tend to drive more often than not, make sure you are keeping your tires well inflated. Driving with deflated tires reduces your gas mileage by up to 3%. You will get to your destination faster, and you will have less of a carbon footprint. Every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
If we really want to reduce the human impact on the environment, the simplest and cheapest thing anyone can do is to eat less meat. Behind most of the joints of beef or chicken on our plates is a phenomenally wasteful, land- and energy-hungry system of farming that devastates forests, pollutes oceans, rivers, seas and air, depends on oil and coal, and is significantly responsible for climate change.
Even just changing one meal a week to a vegetarian one will make a serious difference.
Buying fruit and vegetables that are in season to help reduce enormous transport costs resulting from importing produce and, where possible, choose locally produced food. Farmers Markets and boutique fruit and vegetable shops are a great place to get low cost, high quality seasonal produce.
Switch off computer monitors, printers and other equipment at the end of each day. Though in standby mode they're still using power - and that adds to global warming. Always turn off your office light and computer monitor when you go out for lunch or to a meeting.
From coffee cups, plastic bottles, bags and food storage there are so many better versions available now that using single use plastics should not even be an issue of yours.
Try investing a good quality keep cup or reusable bottle and you’ll be single handedly keeping 100’s of single use plastics from clogging our landfills any further.
Well of course it wouldn’t be a list on how to lessen environmental strain without mentioning New Zealand’s favourite fully compostable cling film. Compostic’s cling film and resealable bags are the best alternative to plastic versions.
Our products keep the convenience and usability that plastic versions do, just with less of an environmental impact and less sent to landfill.
