How Much Time Do We Have To Save The Planet?
Although we can’t say for sure, scientists predict that we have approximately 10 years to save the planet. By ‘save the planet’ we are referring to the amount of time we have until climate change is irreversible. The UN has stated that we are the last generation who have the power to prevent irreversible damage to earth. Effects of irreversible climate change include but are not limited to; frequent wildfires, longer periods of drought, increase in intensity and frequency of tropical storms. Ways to become more eco-friendly There are a number of ways you as an individual can make small differences in your daily life to become more environmentally friendly. These changes shouldn’t mean you have to miss out on anything, nor should they cause you to spend considerably more money. Instead, we wanted to share realistic ways in which you can switch to more eco-friendly alternatives. 1. Walk, cycle, or use public transportation where possible. Many people don’t realise the huge environmental impact caused by cars, so the less often you drive, the more you can help the environment by reducing your carbon footprint. Although public transportation such as buses still emit greenhouse gases, since they can carry more passengers, they are a much better alternative. What’s more, increasing numbers of buses are becoming electric to make them even more environmentally friendly. If you feel confident enough to commute via bicycle or other eco-friendly transportation medium, this is also an excellent option because it is eco friendly, affordable and still gets you from A to B quicker than walking. 2. Reduce meat consumption. You do not need to go to extremes to become more environmentally friendly, and this goes for meat consumption too. Although of course it is better to be vegan or vegetarian, even reducing your meat consumption slightly can have a significantly positive impact. Statistics show that if everyone reduced their meat consumption by 25%, it would reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by 1%. Now, this might not seem a lot, but Emissions must drop 7.6 per cent per year from 2020 to 2030 to keep temperatures from exceeding 1.5°C and 2.7 per cent per year to stay below 2°C. And every little counts, therefore this 1% is significant in the grand scheme of things making reducing meat consumption definitely something worth considering. 3. Recycle Another excellent way you can reduce your carbon footprint is by actively recycling. Everyone is sure to have heard of recycling, but you may not be aware of its significance. Recycling prevents the emissions of many greenhouse gases and pollutants which helps to tackle climate change. 4. Stop using plastic As we as a society become more and more aware of the impact of our plastic use, there are lots of businesses and products coming up with solutions to tackle this issue. You can now find biodegradable carrier bags as well as bags for life which are reusable. By limiting or ideally stopping using plastic altogether you can significantly reduce your individual impact on the environment. Plastic is specifically bad for the environment because the material takes a long time to deteriorate, release toxic chemicals and have a detrimental effect on wildlife. 5. Buy second hand products Finally, if you are a shopaholic and always like a new outfit for each event in the calendar, or simply like to regularly update your home decor, it might be hard to break buying habits. However, with a range of apps like depop, vinted, facebook marketplace and ebay, it has never been easier to purchase quality second hand goods. This way you can keep your wardrobe up to date and home decor feeling new without having to buy into fast fashion, another major culprit causing damage to the environment. 6. Shop eco-friendly brands and their products. Another way to become more eco friendly is to support eco-friendly businesses and switch to buying eco friendly products and alternatives. We have put together our top picks of eco-friendly brands and their products. Victory Colours– Sustainable & Vegan Paint Victory Colours is an independent family business that has been in the decorating industry for years. Once they began to have families of their own, they became more aware of the environmental damage being done to our planet. Although they knew they could not directly change this, they could use their product knowledge to reduce environmental damage by creating an eco-friendly product range. From here Victory Colours was born and have been creating and selling a technically advanced paint formula which is as safe as possible for humans and animals and produces minimal contributions to the ozone layer. But the benefits don’t stop there. Victory Colours paint is vegan, cruelty free, low VOC, ultra low odour, durable and comes with washable properties making it the perfect choice for families or households with pets. Also, the packing used by this brand is either recycled, recyclable or made from sustainable materials such as bamboo. More about VOC’s: you may be wondering, what are VOCs? This term stands for Volatile Organic Compounds, materials that are commonly found in exhaust fumes, cleaning products and paint. As paint dries, these chemicals are released into the atmosphere and can contribute to atmospheric pollution. What’s more is that once the paint dries, these VOCs continue to off-gas chemicals, particularly when they come into contact with direct sunlight or heat. It’s not hard to imagine the damage that inhaling VOCs does to our bodies as well as the environment. So, using a low VOC alternative paint like that sold by Victory Colours is a much safer option for both your health and environment. Pavegen- Electromagnetic Generators Pavegen is a company who have created award-winning technology that uniquely uses the renewable kinetic energy generated by a footstep to create power.It was all started with CEO Laurence Kemball-Cook who set out with a clear mission; to produce clean, off-grid electricity all through the power of a simple footstep. The Pavegen tiles are made from almost 100% recycled materials-
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