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Reduce your eco-footprint
Tips on how to show some R-E-S-P-E-C-T for the planet.
There’s plenty of talk these days about carbon footprints and reducing our use of fossil fuels; but of course fossil fuels aren’t the only resources we over-use.
Your ecological footprint is a measure of the amount of space you take up on the planet – i.e. the amount of resources (energy, water, trees, metals…) you use and the area of land needed to keep you supplied with all the stuff you eat and use.
It’s one way of thinking about the fact that we in rich countries are using so many resources that there’s not enough left for poorer people, or for future generations.
Might sound complicated, but basically if you can find ways to use less stuff, especially stuff that takes lots of energy to produce or causes pollution or damage to the planet, then you reduce your eco-footprint and leave more for everyone else.
Here are my top ten tips for reducing your footprint:
• Pool resources. This is easiest if you live with other people. A shared house is a much nicer place to live if everyone shares meals and takes turns cooking. Think about what other things you could share instead of having one each – battery rechargers, computers, books, bicycle pumps…
• De-clutter your life. How much of the stuff you buy do you actually need?
• Don’t let businesses saddle you with unnecessary stuff like leaflets and packaging. Avoid over-packaged products or leave some of the packaging behind in the shop; and cut down on junk mail by simply writing ‘no junk mail’ on your post-box.
• Be resourceful. Find ways to avoid relying on big companies to supply everything you need. You can get lots of things second-hand through charity shops, web lists like Freecycle, Buy and Sell Magazine, or just by asking friends. Learn to cook your own food; you could even grow some food if you have a bit of space.
• Get as much use as possible out of things rather than dumping and replacing them. This could mean learning how to mend your clothes; buying high-quality things that you look after (instead of cheap stuff that needs replacing often); or finding new uses for things you’re finished with (e.g. candle wax makes a great firelighter).
• Think about where the things you buy come from. We import plenty of things from abroad that can just as easily be produced here at home.
• This may sound obvious, but pay attention to your use of electricity, water and heating fuel at home. Simple things like unplugging computers and using less washing-up water can save quite a bit over time; and thinking of ways to cut down soon becomes second nature. Check out energyaction.ie or 1stopecoshop.com for tips.
• Try to substitute energy or resource-intensive activities with lower-impact ones. Replace retail therapy with a cup of coffee with friends; or go for a cycle instead of using a gym. Learn to cook vegetarian food – growing vegetables takes up much less land than raising animals for meat. And consider going on holidays in Ireland (or somewhere near enough to travel overland) rather than flying across the world every year.
• Find ways to motivate and remind yourself to reduce your footprint, like making space for storing re-usable things like scrap paper, and avoiding doing food shopping when you’re hungry (and thus buying more food than you’ll actually manage to eat).
• Spend a day or a week taking note of which of your activities are high on energy or other resources, and then think about ways you could change them.
By: Mairéad Lineen
Want to calculate your carbon footprint? Check out: www.change.ie
