We’re taking part in Cut Your Carbon! Helen (Forest School Teacher) and the Eco Committee have been working on an initiative through Eco-Schools called Cut Your Carbon. November is Cut Your Carbon month! Eco-Schools is challenging all young people in England to take action on their carbon footprint. Completing these 9 simple actions with families and friends will raise awareness, change behaviours, and Cut Your Carbon – a greenhouse gas responsible for driving climate change. The Eco Committee is challenging everyone to complete 9 small carbon cutting activities at home which will reduce your emissions and benefit our planet!
1: Make at least one journey more sustainable. Transport is responsible for around 20% of global CO2 emissions. So how about turning a car-ride to school into a bus-ride to school?2: Go meat-free for a day. Farmed animals are responsible for around 14% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, so choose a day to go meat-free.3: Have a no food-waste weekend. Prepare only what is needed, eat everything edible on your plate, and ensure any leftovers are saved for another time or used to create a new meal. Growing, processing, and transporting food releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and even more gases are released if this food is binned and sent to landfill.4: Turn down the heating by 1° for a week Heating is the biggest source of CO2 emissions in many homes. Dropping your heating 1° below your usual temperature for a week can reduce your carbon footprint and save your family money.5: Design a flight free holiday. Appreciate exciting destinations closer to home – sit with your family and decide on a future trip you’d like to take that doesn’t involve flying.6: Say ‘no’ to a new item. Write a list of every non-essential item you bought, or that was bought for you last month and categorise each – e.g., clothing, toys. Choose a category and commit to not purchasing any items in this category for a month.7: Donate something you no longer need. Manufacturing new items releases carbon into the atmosphere. For example, producing a book releases about 1kg CO2, a t-shirt 7kg, and an iPhone, a whopping 60kg! Passing on things you no longer need is a great way to prevent emissions, so, swap a book with a friend, donate clothing that doesn’t fit to charity, or pass on an unused device to a relative.8: Substitute 4 baths for 4 showers and limit them to 4 minutes. Swapping a bath for a 4-minute shower can use up to 44 litres less water, saving the energy required to clean, transport, and heat this water. We recommend using a 4-minute song as a timer that you can sing-along to!9: Share carbon-cutting advice with someone. To conquer climate change, we all need to work together, so share three pieces of carbon-cutting advice with people you know.