Climate change is something that can negatively impact the changes in weather and temperature. Not only is it affecting us now, but unless there is change, this will have huge ramifications in the years to come. That being said, we can try and make the change needed in simple things that we do in our every day life. Hopefully this article can inspire you to try and help fight climate change, even if it just by changing a few daily habits.
Save your electricity
Saving your energy usage can have a massive impact. The best ways to do this include lowering the amount off heating used in the winter, and cooling used in the summer. You could hang your washed clothes on a washing line in the summer, or an airer in the winter in order to save electricity by not using the tumble dryer. You could even switch to use LED lightbulbs or use an air fryer instead of your oven. While all of these ideas will help the climate, they can also help you. Using less electricity will save you lots of money, now more than ever, as the price of energy has gone up significantly. These techniques will allow you to spend this money elsewhere, which is particularly useful in the 'cost of living crisis'.
Diet
Diet is something else that can be tweaked in order to help the climate. This doesn't mean you necessarily have to change things completely, but just make small changes. For example, eating less dairy and meat and instead fruit, nuts and seeds. While these might not be direct substitutes for every situation, trying to have more of a plant based diet is a step in the right direction. There are also direct changes that can be useful, such as switching from using whole milk to almond milk.
Save your hot water
Saving hot water does tie in to saving electricity as whole, but is big portion of it and can be reduced in many ways. The main way that we use hot water in our homes is for showering, as it is something that everyone will do daily. So, in order to reduce the hot water usage, you may need to spend less time in the shower each morning. Alternatively, you could only use the water when needed and turn it off when applying your body wash or shampoo, as you don't really need it until you are washing it off. Many people also like to take more than one shower every day, despite this not always being necessary. This includes people showering in both the morning and evening, or even having a shower before they go to the gym. Now, while this may be nice, maybe this is something you could look to change. Hot water is also used in other ways, even if they are more simple. Maybe you like to keep the hot tap running whilst washing up, or put on the dishwasher more frequently than you need to. When it comes to hot water, maybe sometimes it is best to ask yourself, is this absolutely necessary?
How do you travel to work every day?
Transport is one of the biggest factors impacting climate change. This means making changes to how you go about using it daily could be important. Firstly, do you take your own car in to work every day, and if so how can you be more pro-active. You could look at modes of public transport. This includes trains, buses and trams amongst other options. Now, while these also negatively impact the environment, there are so many more people using it that it is much better for the environment. This may not be an option for you, but if you live relatively close to the place you work you could cycle, or even walk. While this would not only help the environment massively, it's also great for your health. Again, if this isn't an option, maybe you could see if any of your colleagues live near you. If so, you could lift share and take turns in driving as it means one less car on the road, or even multiple if lots of you live nearby. One other option would be to try and work from home when you can. This was something that became more popular when we were going through the pandemic, and many people have continued doing it. All of these options would not only be beneficial for the environment, but also for you as it would help to save money with the fuel prices being higher than ever.
Encourage others
Now you have learnt about ways to help stop climate change, you can spread the word to others. The more people that put these methods into practice the better. You can encourage others in many different ways. You can share articles and important information on this subject matter using social media and speak to others about the techniques you are using, whether that be at social events or just to friends and family. Support businesses who are also making steps towards being climate friendly, and even start to attend or just get behind events that are in favour of this movement.
I hope that this article has at least given you some food for thought, or will even encourage you to take some of these actions in order to help the world that we live in. Now go out there and make some change!