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  • By Cliff Mail

Climate change: Here is what YOU can do!

There is no shortage of news related to climate. Unfortunately most of the commentary is a rather repetitive stream of bad tidings. We have moved on from the stranded polar bears phase (the Arctic sea ice is rapidly heading into history) and onto the myriad of apocalyptic scenarios that are lining up to make life, anytime between now and 2100, a somewhat less than optimal experience. What we rarely read in the news is content on and, a collective will, to take more urgent action to prevent these potential catastrophic outcomes.

In the absence of any, or much, political will, each of us as individuals can at least alleviate some of our feeling of helplessness by doing taking matters into our own hands. I know that a recurring argument against this is; that what each of us does is but a drop in the ocean. I heard a very good retort to this argument while watching a movie recently. It was, "but what is the ocean but a collection of drops".

Here at Carbon Neutral Trust we encourage everyone to take personal responsibility for their emissions. We do believe that collectively we will make a difference. In changing our consumption habits we will also be sending signals to producers of high emissions products and services. The best way to initiate change is for suppliers to experience falling revenues.

The first step in the personal emissions reduction journey to understand how your current consumption habits are contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and, what you can do about that.

We provide a carbon calculator which calculates your current emissions breaking them out into broad categories such as; energy, transport, travel, diet and waste. It also calculates your household 'offset' capacity through; land, compositing and flora that is attributable to your household.

In short, our Great Kiwi Carbon Challenge is:

  • Make your household Carbon Neutral

  • Help make your town Carbon Neutral

  • Engage with others to join the challenge

  • Help avoid a catastrophic future. It may come sooner than we think.

The Action Plan:

1. Determine your household emissions

  • Once you know your emission & sequestration you can start to do something about changing them.

  • Use our Carbon Calculator to determine your carbon footprint.

2. Create a plan to reduce them

What can you achieve each year?

  • More sequestration

  • More sustainable consumption choices

  • Less waste with energy, food & transport

Get started today by going to our calculator.

We do get your to register using your email address so that you can keep track of your emissions over time. This process is not a one-off action but a 'journey' that your household will embark on.

Also, we don't want you to be alone on your journey. Encourage others to join, it can be a discussion topic when you meet for those summer barbeques - even the selection of what is on the barbie will be a talking point. We have created some printable flyers that you can hand to friends and family - download here.

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