At Flora & Fauna we proudly offset our carbon emissions. We also seek to reduce our emissions too which really is better all round. There are many things we can all do to reduce our carbon footprint so here are some ideas to help you get started.
At Home
- Insulate Your House - this not only helps reduce your emissions but also helps reduce spend!
- Use curtains and blinds - this helps reduce any heat loss or heat gain
- Only heat or cool the areas you are using; open doors or windows instead to cool a room
- Work with nature - plant trees to help provide shade
- Switch off lights when not in the room
- Use LED lights instead of standard bulbs - they really help to reduce carbon emissions
- Defrost your fridge or freezer and check the seals to help with efficiency
- Choose appliances with the best efficiency rating
- Turn appliances off rather than leave on standby
- Use only what water you need - don't overfill your kettle and take short showers
- Repair, refill and reuse where possible - less is most definitely more!
- Compost fruit and vegetable waste and re-use in your garden
- Cut down on your food intake so you're buying and eating what you need
- Recycle as much as you can
- If shopping online choosing standard shipping, not express, helps to reduce emissions
At Work
- Switch off lights when not in a room and at night
- Turn your computer, and other appliances, off
- Defrost the communal fridge
- Recycle paper, pens, snack wrappers, printer cartridges etc. You can use TerraCycle boxes to help do this.
- Bring your own reusable coffee cups, water bottles and takeaway containers
- Bring your own lunch resisting disposable plastic takeaway wrapping
- Set up a Green Committee at work to see what else you can do
Travelling
- If travelling local can you walk or ride a bike
- Do several 'jobs' at once eg shopping, going to the doctors, bank etc.
- Car sharing or car pooling
- Can you take public transport?
- Drive instead of flying if you can
Food
- Eat less processed food in single use plastic wrapping
- Eat less meat - livestock accounted for 69.3% of all agriculture emissions in 2007
- Eat what you need and let's reduce wastage
- Buy local and reduce the miles food takes to reach you
- Buy in season and organic
- Compost - as organic waste breaks down in landfill it does so without oxygen and produces methane (CH4), which has a global warming impact 21 times that of carbon dioxide.
You can also offset your carbon emissions and plant some trees. Greenfleet can help you do this.
