15 November 2019

Easy Ways To Reduce your Personal Carbon Footprint

Submitted by: Yasmine
Easy Ways To Reduce your Personal Carbon Footprint

There is a lot of conversation taking place now about companies needing to reduce their carbon emissions or pay Carbon Tax, while not very much is being said about the need for individuals to reduce their personal greenhouse gas emissions. Human activity produces over 40 billion tonnes  of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year, and a significant percentage of that is from individual activity. Luckily, each one of us can start to make easy changes which, cumulatively, can have a big impact on those numbers.

  • Eat less meat. Livestock farming contributes 14.5% to global manmade greenhouse gas emissions,
  • Drive less – the average car produces 5 tonnes of CO2 per year,
  • Fly less - worldwide CO2emissions from commercial flights are rising up to 70% faster than predicted by the UN, according to an analysis,
  • Switch off and unplug devices when not in use,
  • Eliminate or at least, reduce single-use plastic,
  • Buy less fast fashion – it is estimated that the clothing industry is responsible for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions,
  • Reduce and reuse – around 80% of a product’s carbon footprint is wrapped up in the production process,
  • Take shorter showers -we could save million of tonnes of CO2 a year if we all took one minute off our shower time,
  • Switch to energy-saving lightbulbs – these use up to 80% less energy than standard bulbs,
  • Plant a Spekboom – this environmental miracle worker can absorb carbon emissions like no other plant.