Many people today know that the climate changing so drastically is a bad thing but many still do not know why. As scientific research has shown, global warming is causing sea levels to rise, as a result increasing the chances of flooding. Another result of climate change is the unpredictable weather patterns which causes storms to occur more frequent or long droughts which result in a loss of crops for communities that solely rely on those crops. These problems may seem beyond capable to solve for one individual but there are little changes people can make which collective make a big difference.
1. Eat less meat: Reports have found that the facilitation of livestock accounts for around 18% of greenhouse gas emissions, this is mainly due to the amount of transportation required. Furthermore, the amount of space it requires to keep livestock has reached an immense scale and continues to rise. For example, many ranchers in Southern America often turn to violence when in competition with indigenous communities for the use of land their livestock require. Therefore, by reducing the consumption of meat, this can help by reducing emissions and alternatively prohibit these animals from living quite depressing lives for the most part.
2. Cycle or use public transport: In 2017 transport was responsible for 21% of all greenhouse gases in Europe alone. Today with everyone deciding to own a personal vehicle it is difficult to want to change your lifestyle and be seen as abnormal. However, deciding to use public transport or cycle is more cost effective and can actually help keep you more active. On top of this, by choosing to share transport or cycle you are actively preventing more environmental harm.
3. Buy less plastic items: Trying to purchase less plastic is understandably quite difficult due to the modern everyday use of plastic everywhere, however there are some alternative s which one can practice such as: buying products made from more biodegradable material, buying products which can be compostable or buying items like fruit and veg from a local market to avoid plastic packaging.
4. Volunteer at a local forestry or nature reserve: Maintaining the few naturally bio-diverse environments in your country can help to repair the damage to the environment. This is done by preserving a natural habitat for various species of life and various species of trees which may be critically endangered. Upon helping to combat the levels of Co2 in the atmosphere, it can also help maintain a natural balance against the constant growth of modern life.
5. Donate to a charity or volunteer to help spread awareness: Donating to a charity which is involved in a big project, perhaps overseas, is a great way to help in ways that you may not be able to. Also, volunteering the raise awareness will help gather more of a support network to tackle the problems which some may not realise are an issue.
6. Use renewable energy: Using renewable energy such as solar panels is a great way to save money on electricity in the long run and also help minimise your carbon footprint. Another way you can do this is buying a hybrid or electric car. Understandably due to the recent production of electric cars they are still quite expensive. However, hybrid cars can be a cheaper alternative and tend not to rely on its petrol alternative as much as one might believe.
7. Using the internet in an environmentally friendly way: Most people today are connected to the internet in some way, for example Google get a round 3.5 billion searches per day on average. Using search engines like Ecosia, which plants a tree every time you search something and it only takes two clicks to install it as a chrome extension.
8. Grow your own vegetables: Growing your own food is something relatively anyone can start to do and helps by relying less on global supermarkets which are transporting goods constantly. It also helps reduce the amount of plastic waste resulting from packaging.
9. Recycle more: Not only can you recycle more by opting to apply for different bins to separate your recycling but you can also recycle in creative ways as well. For instants, the internet is full of interesting ideas people have created out of plastic or tin cans, whether that be for artistic reasons or practical reasons which can be beneficially utilised.
10. Being conscious about population growth: Today there are more people on the planet than ever before, each of us contributing in some way whether big or small to the climate change problem. By ensuring women are properly provided with birth control and reproductive health options as well as providing education can help minimise any unfortunate situations. Whereas, limiting the amount of children allowed would be a somewhat crude and misguided solution to the growing population.
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Care for the climate 