First off, what is climate change?
Climate change refers to the long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns which is mainly caused by human activities which also relates to global warming - this increases the risks of flooding, droughts and heat waves.
Climate action starts at home
Household consumption includes everything such as food, housing, transportation and other personal services are all contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. This means that everything that we eat and wear, or every time we drive, we are adding to global total emissions.
A lot of us do these things daily and tend to
Forget about the consequences to our earth - from melting ice caps, mass deforestation, loss of biodiversity, raging wildfires and extreme weather. If no action is taken, it could eventually lead us to mass extinction of life.
What is net zero and how does it help climate change?
The concept of net zero was first popularised by the Paris Agreement, a landmark deal that was agreed at the United Nations Climate Change Conference to limit the impact of greenhouse gas emissions. It has been scientifically proven to avert the worst impacts of climate change. According to the Climate Change Committee who came up with 'The Climate Change Act', the UK government is reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 100% by 2050.
What you can do to help
One of the first ways we can do to help is doing our research about replacing and limiting the use of fossil fuels such as oil, carbon and natural gas by replacing them with renewable and cleaner sources of energy. Daily decisions such as driving and flying less and switching to a 'green' energy provider and changing what food we eat and buy can already help more than we think.
Going car-free was the number one most effective action an individual could take according to a 2017 study. This is because cars are more polluting compared to other means of transportation such as walking, biking and using public transport.
The latest report from the International Renewable Energy Agency found that servers of the most commonly used renewables like solar, geothermal, bioenergy, hydropower and onshore wind could be cheaper than fossil fuels in a couple years - some being more cost effective.
After fossil fuels, the food industry (the meat and dairy section in particular), is the next biggest contributor to climate change. By reducing the consumption of animal protein by half, you can cut your diet's carbon footprint by more than 40%. This doesn't mean you have to go vegetarian or vegan but cutting down and gradually becoming a 'flexitarian' can help start somewhere.