Published: 28 December 2007
Make a New Year’s Green Resolution
Forget the usual New Year’s resolutions to lose weight or stop smoking - make one which will really make a difference by pledging to help save the planet in 2008.
That’s the message from WWF, which has enlisted the help of eco experts to rate the top ten green New Year’s resolutions.
Topping the list is setting yourself an annual target to reduce your carbon emissions and monitoring your progress.
Also high up came installing loft installation and reducing your car use.
Morgan Parry, Head of WWF Cymru, said:
“No-one can go green overnight but by taking on a couple of our New Year’s resolutions you know that you will be part of a global movement to tackle climate change.
If everyone generated carbon emissions and used natural resources as we do in Wales we would need three planets to support us. If we all pledged to take just one green action in 2008 we could move towards a one planet future.”
The top ten actions individuals can take to help reduce their impact on the environment are:
1. Set yourself an annual target to reduce your carbon emissions and monitor your progress
Footprint calculators such as www.wwf.org.uk/calculator can help you do this. Small actions can make a difference - for instance if everyone in the UK installed 1 ‘energy saving’ light bulb, we would save enough CO2 to fill the Albert Hall nearly 1,200 times!
2. Install loft insulation
This is one of the most significant actions we can take in our homes - if your loft isn’t insulated, up to a third of your household heat will escape. If everyone that could fitted loft insulation to their home we'd save over 3 million tonnes of CO2 - that’s enough to fill nearly 17 million double decker buses.
3. Reduce your car use
Over a quarter of all car journeys made in the UK are less than two miles. It’s estimated that road transport makes up around 21% of total man-made CO2 emissions in the UK.
4. Buy more seasonal food
Air freighting fresh produce has more than trebled in the past 20 years and although we could meet over 70% of our eating needs from food grown in the UK, we import more than half of the food we consume. Food grown in season uses less energy, water and pesticides.
5. Give help to others through groups or clubs
All over the country, groups and clubs are forming to help us share skills, resources, and help motivate one another. These groups can range from Freecycle to car share clubs.
6. Fly less
Think about the other options to flying within Europe - trains, ferries and Eurostar. By taking one return flight to New York you'll release as much CO2 as you would driving an average car for a year, and one person’s return flight to Australia will emit the equivalent amount of CO2 as it takes to run an average UK home for two years or a fridge for 128 years!
7. Use your kerbside recycling collection
Recent research shows up to 40% of a regular household shopping basket can be recycled. You can reduce your waste by avoiding excess packaging and buying products that will last.
8. Campaign against climate change
WWF Cymru is calling for the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) to commit to 3% year on year reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide. This will require a ‘carbon budget’ to track & manage greenhouse gases emitted by Wales as a whole.
You can help support organisations like WWF Cymru by contacting your local AM calling for stronger, effective climate change legislation.
9. Purchase energy efficient appliances
Instead of looking at the price tag, look for its energy efficiency label. An energy efficient washing machine uses a third less energy than an old, inefficient model, saving us money and water.
10. Home compost
On average every person in England and Wales now produces seven times their own weight in waste a year. Kitchen scraps, such as vegetable peelings, apple cores, egg shells and most garden waste biodegrades in a compost bin into a rich fertiliser which can be used in gardens or allotments.
WWF Cymru in collaboration with the Green Guide has produced the bilingual Pocket Green Guide for Wales, which provides bite-sized information that will also help people and their families start making a difference.
A key element of the Pocket Green Guide is a ‘14-day plan’ that will help people lead a more sustainable lifestyle in a fortnight.
In addition to this there are over 300 listings of shops and sellers who supply all sorts of organic and sustainable products from toiletries, clothes, books and cosmetics to food and drink, which means you can make this Christmas a truly green one.
Morgan Parry said:
“Consumers in Wales increasingly recognise that what they buy has an impact on the environment and as a result they want to do more to tackle global problems such as climate change, species loss and destruction of the world’s forests.
This guide identifies ways that consumers can reduce their footprint and help make Wales a One Planet Wales”.
Switching to a Green Electricity Tariff was also listed as a good behaviour by the sustainability experts.
However, at moment there is no accreditation scheme to guide consumers as to which green tariff schemes are creating new green electricity capacity and which are not.
The message to consumers from WWF is ‘buyer beware’ as we cannot give a blanket endorsement of the schemes. Currently there is a UK consultation underway to develop an accreditation scheme but WWF is not confident that the latest draft will do the job.
There are some green energy suppliers that are doing a good job, but the majority are simply fulfilling their legal requirements rather than making a positive contribution to renewable energy supply.
Further information
WWF Cymru
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Go Green in a Fortnight with the Pocket Green Guide for Wales
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