With the onset of the pandemic, critical issues like climate change have been put on the backburner. We are also told that individual efforts won’t solve the problem unless governments and big business do their parts in slowing the pace of climate change.
The vast scale of the issue can make it hard to see how we, as individuals, can do anything to tackle it. The main contributors to climate change and pollution are the burning of fossil fuels and the extraction industries — mining, farming, forestry and fishing. Only government regulations and big business co-operation can control them. Still, our own personal efforts are also required. The mantra “Reduce, reuse recycle” is still a proven guideline. Except for periodical outbursts of protest, we tend to be in denial or complacent or ignorant about climate change and pollution. Perhaps we need to re-evaluate our carbon footprint and make a new commitment to making a difference.
Here are five high-carbon areas to think about:
• Flying — it is probably, hour for hour, the most carbon-intense activity.
• Driving — the car is the most frequent means of travel for journeys of more than a kilometre. Each kilometre driven alone in a car releases an average of 171 grams of carbon dioxide, compared with 104 grams in a bus, and 41 grams on a train.
• Food waste — about one-sixth of the food bought by households is thrown away, contributing to millions of tonnes of edible waste produced.
Except for periodical outbursts of protest, we tend to be in denial or complacent or ignorant about climate change and pollution.
• Meat and dairy — studies show that reducing your intake of meats and dairy is one of the most effective way to cut your carbon footprint. In the EU, about 83 per cent of greenhouse-gas emissions from the average diet comes from eggs, meat and dairy, and just 17 per cent from plant-based food.
• Fast fashion — since the 1980s, the pace of fashion design has accelerated. The fashion industry is now responsible for about 10 per cent of global greenhouse-gas emissions, according to the Unite Nations. Buy fewer clothing items and use them longer.
Progress on the 2015 Paris Agreement does not look hopeful, though at the recent virtual Climate Ambition Summit, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged “strong action against climate change” and said Canada will raise its “emission reduction ambitions.”
If we could only apply to climate change and pollution the same resolve, commitment, energy and money as we have to the pandemic.
Everett Hobbs
Conception Bay South