Earth Day – April 22nd 2022

A partnership where everyone is accountable and everyone is accounted for is what will help to change the future of our planet. Businesses, governments and citizens, and it needs to happen now. Earth Day 2022 is all about ‘Investing in our planet’, whatever it takes, collectively, we can make a huge difference.

Here are some easy changes that you could make to your daily life that will collectively make a huge difference.

Step 1, Do You Have Dirty Feet?
How much does your carbon footprint impact the planet? Visit footprint.wwf.org.uk and answer the simple questionnaire to see how you impact the earth daily. You will get a full breakdown so you can see which areas you can change and improve to help you cut down on nasty emissions. The site has tips to help you become greener and there’s even a free app so you can really challenge yourself.

Step 2, Green Up Your Home
Around 26% of our carbon emissions come from our home energy so what can you do to help.

Check your boiler, windows, and insulation and see if it’s up to date with the new green standards, if it’s not you may qualify for a government scheme to help you green your home. Check your energy supplier, many of the major energy suppliers now offer 100% renewable energy, which may even be at a cheaper rate than your current fossil fuel! Turn off those lights, phone chargers, TVs, and games consoles, even on standby these naughty appliances are still eating up energy. Get a smart meter installed so you can keep track of your energy spending habits, this one is not just great for the planet but your wallet as well.

Step 3, Food, Glorious Food
To avoid your food having its own plane ticket try and shop for locally grown produce, here in the Southwest we are extremely lucky to have so many local meat and veg providers. Reduce your food waste by planning your meals ahead of time and always freezing your leftovers to reheat later.

Step 4, Wardrobe Dilemmas
Fast fashion is a leading cause of climate change with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calculating that the fashion industry is responsible for 10% of global carbon dioxide emissions each year and using 1.5 trillion litres of water annually. Avoiding fast fashion brands that promote cheap, trendy clothes that go out of style quickly and instead by vintage or recycled clothes, websites such as Depop are a great way to help avoid clothes ending up in the tip. Buy quality clothes from brands that have sourced their materials ethically, good brands will have a climate statement on their websites so you can read exactly where the company
ethos lies.

The climate change reports that we hear about on the news are very scary and it’s easy to get wrapped up in the bleak future that our planet is headed for and give up hope entirely. However, it’s still not too late to make a huge difference. We hope that by making these small yet conscious changes, we will be able to enjoy our beautiful planet and the wildlife on it for much longer.