The Top Five High Impact Things You Can Do For The Climate Right Now — Illustrated As Animals
“So what can an individual do?”. This is the question Seth Wynes, a PhD student at the University of British Colummbia, set out to answer back in 2015. He wanted to learn more about how we, by changing our behaviour, could help mitigate the climate crisis. The result was quite a revelation. What he realized was that the things we are thought in school, and by our governments, are actually low impact actions. High impact actions are rarely or never talked about in society.
In this article I will present the top five high impact actions that you can do to lower your carbon footprint. A high impact action is a change in your lifestyle that results in a major drop in your induced carbon dioxide emissions.
I’ve chosen to illustrate each action, like buying green energy, as an animal. I think it will make it easier for you to get a grasp of how the different actions compared to each other. It sure did for me. Please note though that the illustrations at not hundred per cent accurately scaled, but pretty close to it. Without further ado, let’s get on with the list.
5. Switch electric car to car-free
Let’s say you’ve switched to an electric car, but are thinking about how to lower your emissions further. Getting rid of the car altogether might actually be the answer. It’s actually the fifth biggest change you can do overall. Not bad. Not bad at all. This action is a Kiwi bird. (1.2 tCO2e saved per year)
4. Buy green energy
Depending on where you live, the energy you use might be produced using fossil fuels. Overall though, not much beats buying green energy when it comes to reducing your carbon footprint. This action is illustrated using a racoon. (1.5 tCO2e saved per year)
3. Avoid one roundtrip transatlantic flight
Flying without burning fossil fuel is hard. Flying over the Atlantic without burning fossil fuels is even harder. It might not come as a surprise, but taking long haul flights is one of the worst things you can do when it comes to climate emissions. This action is illustrated as a cod. (1.6 tCO2e saved per roundtrip transatlantic flight)
2. Live car-free
Let’s say your choice of transportation is a gas or diesel-powered car. You might want to consider replacing your car with a bicycle or even a new pair of hiking shoes. At least if you are on a mission to lower your carbon dioxide emissions. This action is illustrated using a chimpanzee. (2.4 tCO2e per year lower than the baseline of a gasoline automobile)
1. Have one fewer child
The single most powerful action you can take to reduce your carbon dioxide emission is actually not an action. The fact is that every single child that you don’t have a massive impact on your carbon footprint. So really, in this case, by doing nothing you will end up doing a lot. Illustraded by a right whale.(58,6 tCO2e saved per year)
Source: http://www.kimnicholas.com/responding-to-climate-change.html
