How Can you Help?
Luckily, there are so many ways you can help decrease your footprint, and impact the footprints of others.
How to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
CO2
-Use your car less. Carpool, walk, and bike more.
-Use your dryer less. Instead hang up clothes to dry when the weather is warm enough.
-Eat and shop local.
-Watch less Netflix and other streaming services. Studies show that 30-minutes on OTT platforms like Netflix emits as much carbon dioxide as driving 6 km in a car (BT, 2021).
Methane
-Eat less meat, especially red meat. Livestock emit tons of methane through their digestion and waste. The beef and cattle industry is one of the main contributors to global greenhouse gasses.
- Support organic farming practices.
- Sort your recycling better and decrease your household waste. The food and organic waste in landfills produce methane gases. To prevent this, it is important to put food waste in compost bins. In addition, yard waste should be disposed of in yard waste programs
Visit this website to learn more in depth about why these strategies work:
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/institute/a20388/reduce-methane-greenhouse-gas/
Nitrous oxide
- Use less nitrogen fertilizer
- Support organic farming
Visit https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/climate-change/reducing-nitrous-oxide-emissions-agricultural-soils-western-australia to learn about what causes nitrous oxide and further solutions.
Visit https://www.footprintnetwork.org/resources/footprint-calculator/ to see which of your actions are leading to greenhouse gas emissions, how you can improve your daily life to become more sustainable, and see how many planets it would take to support your lifestyle!
Sign petitions to get laws changed.
Consider signing and/or sharing these petitions:
Coal related:
https://canadians.org/no-coal-letter
https://canadians.org/no-coal-call
https://canadians.org/action/alberta-no-coal
climate crisis:
https://www.leadnow.ca/jt-ol-mp/
https://www.leadnow.ca/emergency-green-recovery/
https://www.leadnow.ca/elxn44-ett/
In addition, check out the Ontario greenbelt foundation. https://www.greenbelt.ca
They also accept donations for those of you who are able.
There are climate strikes that you can attend as well!
On October 17 at 1pm, there will be a climate strike occurring in Barrie, Ontario at City Hall. Visit https://www.imaginebarrie.ca/ for more details! What does a climate strike do? It pressures politicians to change laws, spreads awareness, and is a way for our climate demands to be heard.
Visit https://globalclimatestrike.net/
The David Suzuki Foundation has some great solutions as well! See articles: "Top Ten Things you Can Do About Climate Change" at: https://davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/top-10-ways-can-stop-climate-change/ and "How To Make a Difference" at: https://davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/how-to-make-a-difference/
Don't forget to spread awareness on social media, in your daily life, and influence others to make lifestyle changes as well. Inspire you friends, family, and even total strangers that together, we can make a huge difference and change the state of crisis that our climate is in right now.
References:
“Main Greenhouse Gases.” Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, 14 Apr. 2021, www.c2es.org/content/main-greenhouse-gases/.
“Watching Netflix, Other OTT Platforms for 30 Mins Harms Planet as Much as Driving for 6 Kms: Study.” Business Today, www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/story/watching-netflix-other-ott-platforms-for-30-mins-harms-planet-as-much-as-driving-for-6-kms-291092-2021-03-18.
