7:00am Wednesday 19th November 2008
GOOGLE the words “carbon” and “footprint” and a whole host of sites will be suggested to you, many of them ready to help you calculate your impact on the environment.
You could be forgiven for thinking that many of them are somewhat vague and a bit on the crude side. However, among them are a few sites which offer relatively accurate ways of assessing your impact on the environment.
One such site is footprint.wwf.org.uk, which asks you questions about your lifestyle and, from your answers, rates your score against the national average.
This was one of the better sites I used to find out my carbon presence on the planet – and it was not cheery reading.
I have always thought of myself as a bit of an eco-warrior, but it appears I am about as environmentally friendly as an oil slick. According to the site, if everyone in the world lived like me we’d need three planets to sustain us. I was shocked, to say the least.
I mean, I recycle, I never use plastic bags, I make sure my house is not wasting energy and often cycle instead of getting behind the wheel. However, even for the eco-conscious among us, there are often plenty more steps we can take to reduce our carbon footprint.
“The easiest and most attractive ones are those that actually save you money, like being more energy efficient,” explains Angela Pooley, from East Dorset’s Friends Of The Earth. “Things like not leaving your mobile phone chargers on, or leaving your television and computer on standby. However, the problem is that most of these things are already being done.”
So what other eco friendly steps can we take?
“Switching to a green energy supplier is another way of reducing carbon,” says Angela. “Try getting your energy from a company that uses renewable – there are lots of those around.”
Addressing the amount of miles your food has travelled and cutting this down is another way of reducing carbon footprints.
“Do you really need to eat strawberries that have been flown from the other side of the world, when ours are out of season?” asks Angela.
If the answer is no, then eating local produce within the seasons will help eliminate unnecessary food miles.
“You might have to change your menus a little bit but we managed to do it years ago,” says Angela. “You get a much better appreciation of food if you do it like that as well.”
And Dorset is particularly fruitful when it comes to local produce.
“We’ve got local fish, some great vegetable producers and plenty of local farms producing organic meats,” says Angela.
Farm shops, butchers, fishmongers and green grocers are the best places to find such produce, although supermarkets like Waitrose have begun to sell regional produce – albeit in small proportions.
Aside from being energy efficient and shopping locally, the way we travel has a major impact on our carbon emissions. In fact it was air travel that made my estimated footprint so large, thanks to the amount of flights I have recently taken.
“Look at alternatives to flying when you are planning a holiday,” says Angela.
Daily, motorised travel such as commuting, popping to the shops and taking the kids to school also has a large impact on the environment. However, Angela fears that people are not committed enough to change such habits.
“People need now to be making real lifestyle decisions, which sometimes they are reluctant to do,” she says. “Things like walking the kids to school instead of driving them, people always find excuses why they can’t do it.
“Yet these have added benefits – if you do use your car less and walk or cycle places it is better for your health and saves you money. It’s about making sensible decisions like that.”
Factfile
WITH Christmas approaching, now is the time of the year when carbon footprints get significantly larger, so here are some top tips to help us reduce our impact on the environment over the festive period.
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