Reducing Your Carbon Footprint
The are lots of things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint. Below are some ideas. Remember that not all changes have to be big! Small changes still help and also give you time to adjust before making more life changing decisions. Influencing others to make small changes is a great way of reducing our collective carbon footprint. If you are interested in learning more about reducing your carbon footprint and encouraging others to do the same, why not become Certified Carbon Literate? We are now offering courses for people in the community, go to our dedicated page for more information.
Food can account for around a third of your carbon footprint, according to this 2020 paper. Food packaging, waste, and meat and dairy consumption all play a part.
Aim to eat a diet rich in plants, grown and sourced as locally as possible and reduce consumption of animal products, which release more carbon per kg and are often water intensive as well. Plan meals and keep your fridge below 5°C to keep food wastage to a minimum, as well as prioritising food with less packaging. There is more information about minimising food wastage on the Love Food Hate Waste website.
How you heat your home has a large impact on your carbon footprint. Electric heating such as infrared panels and air or ground source heat pumps, when combined with solar panels, can significantly reduce both your heating bill and your carbon footprint. However, the insulation in your home affects how easy it is to heat. Loft and cavity wall insulation are relatively easy and cheap to add to but changing doors and windows is much more expensive. There are schemes to help those who cannot afford to improve their home heating. Click here for more information.
Impact Hart also has some information about insulating and heating your home, click here for the website. The Energy Savings Trust also has lots of practical advice, see their website here. There is also a Solar Together project in Hart, a scheme that helps to reduce the cost of solar panels through bulk buying, click here for more information.
Reducing waste not only stops rubbish going to landfill but also reduces carbon emitted during manufacturing. The three Rs are:
Reduce: reduce the amount of things you buy and buy items with less packaging
Reuse: reuse items by “upcycling”, donating to a charity shop, giving to someone you know who needs the item, etc.
Recycle: Hart District Council recycles many items from the kerbside and household recycling centres (Hartley Wintney is the nearest, contact information here) take most household items. Click here for more information.
Transport contributed 26% of carbon emissions in 2021, 57% of which came from car journeys, see the full report here. Obviously walking and cycling are great, environmentally friendly ways of getting around but what if that is not possible? Sharing car journeys, driving to minimise fuel consumption or replacing your old petrol or diesel car with an electric car (where, for an annual mileage of 10,000 miles, the car becomes carbon neutral after 5 years), and taking public transport whenever possible will all help to reduce your carbon emissions from transport.
Slow Ways is a website with walks marked out and reviewed, some nearby still need reviewing so why not get your walking boots on and log onto the Slow Ways website?
Carbon offsetting, whilst a valuable way of planting tree and contributing to other ecological projects, should only be used in conjunction with reducing carbon emissions, not as a way of avoiding change. Always ensure that the company you are paying to offset your carbon are accredited. Examples of Carbon Certifications are Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), Gold Standard Voluntary Emission Reductions (VER), and United Nations Certified Emission Reductions (CER).
A couple of companies who have individual carbon offsetting subscriptions are: