Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

Week 3

YES week was not as busy as I had hoped but I managed to see some friends I had been meaning to see for a while and did my extra night shift at volunteering (even full of cold, which was a huge challenge). People should definitely have taken advantage of the fact that I was definitely going to say YES to anything they asked of me!

I have been doing some research this week about group acts of kindness. I have decided that I am going to try and recruit some willing volunteers to help me bring some sunshine to the people of Bath in the coming months. I found a fantastic group called The Kindness Offensive and I have sent away for their guide on how to run a group like this in my area - they are amazing and they do some unbelievable things! I am looking forward to working with others and this will be a challenge for me as I am not used to organising things on a bigger scale; a skill I would like to acquire though.

This week my challenging act of kindness is to try and reduce my carbon footprint. Climate scientists agree on the urgent need to reduce the overall carbon footprint of the planet to avoid global warming which could be catastrophic to the planet and our way of life. Scientists agree that it is important that changes are made on an individual level but that real change will only be possible if Governments and large corporations/businesses are on board too. I can at least try and do my little bit though...

Apparently, almost half of the food in the UK is wasted and it is well known that food production and transportation contributes to increased carbon emissions. Also, having a meat filled diet rather than a vegetarian diet also leads to increased carbon emissions. My mission this week is to think about reducing the amount of meat loaded meals I have and try swapping meat products for alternatives and potentially items that do not need a lot of cooking. I am also going to try and buy only the food I think I will need from local shops and go to the market for fresh local produce and not waste it. I will also be eating at home this week on the whole (except for Sat) as eating out increases the carbon footprint. The advice is also to drink less bottled water and cans of soft drink - this will be a challenge for me.

At home there are a number of things that I do already such as recycle, re use and buy second hand but I will also be attempting to have shorter showers, turn off lights (use candles), turn off appliances when they are not in use, use less internet and only put on a full dishwasher.

I usually walk to work and scoot to volunteering, both are a better form of travelling but we will be visiting Bristol this weekend so we could cycle or take the train.

An interesting article on this subject can be found in the Guardian.