Turn Your Friday Green!

Nov 26, 2020by Justine - F&F

We Want to Make a Difference

There are many different names for this time of year, Black Friday being one of them, Cyber Weekend being another, but we're calling it Green Friday because we want to have a really positive impact from one of the biggest shopping days of the year.

It's a great time of year to get some awesome deals, especially on some eco-friendly and vegan products here at F&F, but all this shopping does cause a fair few carbon emissions.

We provide 100% vegan and cruelty-free items and offer products that are better for the planet, but we also want to do want we can for our environment and minimise our impact as a business. We're not perfect, but we're always striving for a greener solution to what we do.

We Carbon Offset All Of Our Orders

We already offset all our carbon emissions at F&F including all your orders being sent to your door and we do this with Greenfleet. This Green Friday we want to step it up a gear.

Turn Your Friday Green!

This Friday, 26th Nov, when you place an order at Flora & Fauna, we're going to offset your personal carbon emissions for the whole day and this means planting trees. This is based on the average person's emissions and is about $1 a day to offset.

The average Australian emits 23 tonnes of CO2 each year.

Whether you drive to work, hop on a flight, take the bus, have a shower or use your oven, almost everything we do consumes energy which creates carbon emissions. So we're offsetting it. The more people who order the more offsetting we can do and this is in addition to what we already do.

Today, we'll be making donations for every order placed on our website and in-store, to Greenfleet so they can plant trees and regenerate land here in Australia. The regeneration of those forests will help capture carbon in the atmosphere.

Why are we choosing a carbon offsetting company in Australia?

We believe that if we emit emissions in Australia, then we should be helping to offset them in Australia as well. A lot of carbon offsetting companies are based overseas in many different countries, but for us, it's really important that we see where our dollars are going and Greenfleet does just that. They can break it down for you and show you where new trees and plants are being planted and show you the progress of land regenerating over time.

Who is Greenfleet?

Greenfleet is a leading not-for-profit organisation committed to protecting our climate by restoring our forests. They plant native biodiverse forests in Australia and New Zealand to capture carbon emissions on behalf of their supporters, like us!

Their forests absorb carbon from the atmosphere, improve soil and water quality, and provide vital habitat for native wildlife.

If you're a business or individual, you can offset your carbon emissions by donating and become part of a passionate community taking practical action on climate change!

This might be off-topic, but planting 5 native trees, protected for 100 years sounds like a pretty great Christmas gift to us!

Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Australia

What Are Carbon Emissions?

Believe it or not, almost everything you do emits carbon into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide or CO2 is naturally released in the air from many things like the ocean, plants, animals and of course us humans! Us humans expend a lot of resources in our day to day activities that all use energy— which in Australia mostly comes from coal-fired power stations and burning fossil fuels.

Plants, especially trees are wonderful for keeping emissions in balance and did you know that plants absorb CO2 through a process called photosynthesis? When plants and trees grow and produce wood, they swallow the carbon dioxide and exhale or release oxygen into the air, which is good! Plants really do play a crucial role in our environment.

What Is A Carbon Footprint?

For some of you, this might be something you're already conscious of and calculating daily, but if you've just stepped on the green train, here's a short lesson for you on carbon footprints.

A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent. - Wikipedia

Want to calculate your daily carbon emissions? Check out this myclimate.org to calculate your emissions and see what you can do to help.

How Can I Reduce My Carbon Emissions?

There are a few simple things you can do to reduce your carbon emissions.

1. Walk instead of driving.

We know this isn't always possible, especially for our team here at F&F and that's why we offset every team members emissions from driving to work. It might even be worth speaking to your workplace about doing this.

There's some more low hanging fruit under this category like walking to the grocery store instead of driving. Biking to a friends house, or taking a bus, train or carpooling with others to get to your destination. Plus, you'll get in your daily exercise at the same time. Win for you, win for the planet.

2. Grow your own food and eat seasonally!

Starting a veggie patch means that you don't have to rely on supermarkets that ship food all over the country and sometimes import from overseas, which of course travels on a plane and then a truck to get to your local supermarket.

Eating seasonally means that you are one less person creating demand for products that aren't in season in Australia and have to be imported from overseas. We know mangoes are delicious, but hey— they're even more delicious when they're Aussie-grown locally and not frozen!

If you're not too sure when things are in season here are two great guides to help:

Australia General Seasonal Produce

Seasonal Produce Guide - Sustainable Table

We also just added seeds to our range!

Shop Seeds

3. Take fewer flights and travel locally.

Not by choice, our world has changed a bit over the past year after being dealt a tough card and stopped many people from travelling via aeroplane. We do love travelling, but we know we can do a lot less or take advantage of the beautiful country we already live in and it's an abundance of natural beauty. Australia has much to do and see, so consider renting a van and travelling locally in 2021. It might just be a trip of a lifetime!

How Can I Offset My Carbon Emissions?

You may have seen this before, but weren't quite sure what it meant and skipped past it... You know all the boxes you have to tick when you're booking a flight, you've probably seen one that says something like "Pay a few extra dollars to offset your carbon for this flight", we highly recommend you tick this box and pay a few extra dollars when you book your next flight.

We calculated the carbon emissions for a round trip from Sydney to Melbourne for one person and according to myclimate.org, the emissions for this trip would be 0.350 t (tonnes) of CO2. myclimate.org suggests In order to stop climate change, the maximum amount of CO₂ that can be generated by a single person in a year is 0.600 t CO₂, so by taking this one trip, you've already spent over half of your emissions for the year!

Of course, this is just one way to offset your emissions, so we encourage you to look for other ways you can or donate to Greenfleet.

If you're interested in hearing more about how we offset our carbon emissions here at Flora & Fauna you can read all about it here.

If you enjoyed this blog, make sure to check out our other Eco News blogs:

Recycle Your Tights with Us

Tasmanian Devils Return to Mainland Australia

Victory Gardens Are Making A Comeback

The Importance of Biodiversity Month!

Is The Future Of Flying Electric?