Little Ways We Can Help Our Planet, Because Our Politicians Aren't Doing It

Yesterday hundreds of thousands of people including high school and primary school children flocked to our nations city centres as well as approximately 104 other locations, rallying for action to be taken against climate change. In two days on the 23^rd of September the United Nations Climate Change Summit will be held in New York.

These rallies were the brain child of sixteen year old activist Greta Thunberg from Sweden, she began a solo protest outside of the Swedish parliament last year.

Image credit: Instagram

Our Australian protesters had three demands and they voiced them loud for all to here.

1.     No new coal, oil and gas projects.

Including the new Adani Carmichael mine in central Queensland which will be the biggest coal mine in Australia’s history. The building of this mine will, among other dangerous impacts, add 4.6 billion tonnes of carbon pollution into our atmosphere, contribute to the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef and further the extreme weather conditions.

2.     100% renewable energy generation and exports by 2030.

3.     Funding for a just transition and job creation for all fossil fuels workers and communities

While our politicians are doing little to nothing in order to help our climate crisis there are little ways that each of us can contribute. A small impact is better than nothing, remember that.

·      Bring your keep cup.
Surely, by now we all have at least one keep cup in their collection, but are you using it? You should be. Using your keep cup will help reduce the number of disposable coffee cups going into landfill every day. Whether you’re out getting your latte or cappacino, maybe even your hot chocolate on a cool day- take your keep cup with you.
 

·      Use your car a little less.
Sometimes it is unavoidable and we understand that but the transport sector accounts for 16% of Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Alternate options could include walking and cycling (also a good tip so saving some $$$) and public transport.  

·      Plant a tree.
Sounds simple doesn’t it? Trees pull the carbon dioxide out of the air and store it in their trunk, and we could always use more trees considering the amount that are continually being destroyed to make way for new infrastructure.

·      Avoid the big four banks.
Smaller banks are setting themselves up everywhere and recently I have made the move to Up bank. The reason to make a change is that the big four Australian banks are still investing in the fossil fuel sector- in 2018 the figure reached a staggering $7 billion. That figure was more than three times the amount that they invested in renewable resources.

·      Reduce household greenhouse gas emissions.
Approximately 7 tonnes of green gas emissions come from the average Australian home per year. There are little ways you can help our climate while saving yourself some dollars at the same time. Ridding yourself of a clothes dryer and hanging the washing out the old-fashioned way, switching to energy efficient globes, making wiser energy efficient appliance choices and insulating the house are all ways you can help. A more expensive up-front cost (but better in the long run) option is the installation of solar panels.

·      As your mother used to say: “stop wasting your food!”
At least mine did anyway.
Food that is rotting away in landfill it is producing methane, a greenhouse gas that is more potent than carbon dioxide. Australia’s also spend a staggering amount of money on food, just for it to be thrown out- think around the $1000 per year mark. So, how can you stop wasting food? Shop with a list, this will limit the amount of groceries that you purchase without actually needing. Eat your leftovers! Create your own compost (it sounds dorky, but it works!)

Climate change is a problem that needs to be dealt with today, not left for our future generations to deal with. Our World Leaders need to step up to the plate and take action, they need to help us preserve the world we live in for our kids and their kids. We facing a climate crisis and for some reason our politicians are simply dancing around the topic. Now is the time for change. There is no option B for when we screw up this planet.