There has been a lot in the papers about emissions trading, climate pollution, debate about what NZ can afford and what it might cost to agree to the Kyoto protocols.
What about if every individual, or even just 100, were to sign on to cut our own climate pollution by 20 % ( four times what the Aussie government wants people to do by 2020).
Aussie, Bathhurst Burr in a blog in the Fifth Estate has some great ideas to consider. Whether you believe in climate change or not, many of his suggestions will still benefit the local economy and improve our environment.
He starts with food and says the bulk of our climate and resource pollution comes from how we grow, buy, eat and waste good food. Instead of meat every day, try to eat red meat and chicken just 2-3 days a week. Fish is also good as long as its local. Try only to buy food grown locally and within 100 kms of your place and buy what is in season.
Travel is another large comtributor to climate pollution. He recommends you join a car share company. Cityhop is one example. Car share users drive less, use public transport more and tend to walk more.
Houses are another culprit. Replace your hot water cylinder, ( if you can with a gas or solar system) or if you are building, get gas or solar hot water system.
IF all this sounds to hard you could spend $100 a month investing in growing soil on carbon farms to take all your pollution out of the air or planting trees. Of course there will still be other people’s pollution – the jet setting politicians, gi-normous fridges, ‘sustainability’ consultants jetting around the place to climate change conferences where they can argue whether the climate is in fact changing!
Anyway cityhop thought the best part of his blog is this food for thought:
“Spending time on yourself, what you buy, how you eat and travel so you cut your own pollution by 20 per cent in the next month.
Worth a try, don’t you think?
What if more of us made our own greenhouse cuts should we have to contribute to emissions trading?
How to cut 20 per cent greenhouse gases from your total:
Buy most, preferably all, fruit and vegies from local markets, local farmers = ~ 2- 5 per cent
Plant a lime or lemon tree at your house or unit = ~ 0.5 per cent
Plant a lime or lemon tree in the street near your house or unit or office = ~ 0.5 per cent
Ask your councillors to have your local council buy only local fruit and vegies = ~ 2-5 per cent
Only eat red meat from local farmers two days a week= ~ 10-15 per cent
- fairly easy in New Zealand!
Travel by car share car and no car = ~ 2 per cent
Walk and no car = ~ 3 per cent
Solar hot water = ~ 5 per cent
NOTE: look at the size of the savings, not so much the specific numbers as the variations in diets, where you live and how you buy food make it too hard to be precise with the numbers
We like it and will be thinking about how we can do more of these savings.
Regardless of the impact on the climate if more of us bought locally it would encourage more people to grow their own veges. We’d get more food stalls. With so many farmer’s markets cropping up it’s not hard to buy local produce. And that is a tangible start 2 to 5 %. Add a change to your transportation and you really do make a difference to your wallet and your environment.
Worth thinking about!
