2020 has been quite a year so far. Reminding people that the climate crisis still needs urgent attention feels a bit like asking a mum with triplets to prioritise herself—‘snort… with what time?’
Fair enough, and that’s exactly why instead of focusing on the bad and the difficult, this blog looks at the ‘bite-sized good’.
Small, sustained lifestyle changes from everyone will make a massive difference to carbon emissions. Below we outline 5 ways you can do your bit, even during one of the weirdest periods of your life.
Drink local beer
Summer conjures images of long sunny afternoons in beer gardens with mates (read: socially distanced garden or park pints, for the time being... Sigh). And while we will never dissuade this behaviour (we love a Paw-pint—see what we did there?) we would like to offer some solutions to make it more eco friendly. By choosing to drink beer from a local brewery, you’ll be choosing not to attach unnecessary sea and road miles to your pint. Which means a lower carbon footprint.
Get this—swapping one imported beer for a local brew per week would save 1kg CO2e per year. Imagine if 10,000 people committed to that; that’s 10 tonnes CO2e every year… from 1 beer each! That’s equivalent to driving over 18,000 miles in terms of emissions.
Other tips include buying tinnies over glass bottles (as they’re lighter to transport) and being militant about recycling your can. Let’s bring a new meaning to the term ‘drink responsibly’.
Staycation
In a glass half full kind of way, Coronavirus is doing a solid for the planet by forcing us all to look closer to home for getaways this summer. (Please note: we’re not advocating getaways until the lockdown rules permit). While the thought of exploring the British Isles might seem a little less exciting, and it’s disappointing that ‘un cerveza por favor’ is useless this year, there are actually loads of amazing places right here in the UK that are worth exploring.
Visit Portmeirion Village and you could be in Italy. Langamull Beach and you could be in the Caribbean. Explore Sgwd Yr Eira and suddenly it’s not so bad that you aren’t backpacking around South America.
If 2 people chose to drive together to the Lake District from Edinburgh, instead of flying to Barcelona, they’d save around 560kg CO2e each. The same as driving over 1000 miles in terms of emissions.
Read ‘What is the carbon footprint of your holiday?’ for more on this topic.
Consume responsibly
What you choose to spend money on outside of food, home and travel accounts for a third of your carbon footprint—around 4.3 tonnes CO2e per year. As consumers, we often forget or don’t realise the power we have when it comes to creating widespread change. By choosing to spend your money on products or services that are doing their bit for the planet, you’re sending a strong message to organisations and governments that change is wanted.
So, use this power wherever possible.
Let’s make 2020 an exception, not a trend. It starts with all of us doing our bit!
