What you can do to tackle climate change
13 insights for effective climate action
According to IPCC, we have to decrease our greenhouse gas emissions by almost half by 2030 if we want to keep warming to 1.5°C and avoid potential serious consequences. In 2023, greenhouse gas emissions increased again. This means that urgent climate action is needed. In this article, I address common misconceptions that hinder climate action and provide, at the same time, a comprehensive set of practical steps that readers can take to reduce their contribution to climate change and even actively contribute to its solution.
Owning a lot of material things is not necessary to live a truly good life.
Owning multiple cars or driving a car daily is not as cool or necessary as it is often believed.
Riding a bike or using public transport can be nice and convenient. If good bike lanes or good-quality public transport do not exist at the moment, it is possible to build them.
A very big house is not necessary to live well.
Being a vegetarian can be tasty and nutritious.
Sorting our waste for recycling is not as hard or time-consuming as it might seem. If a good recycling system does not exist at the moment, it is possible to create a better one—other countries have done it.
Travelling is not as cool as it is often believed—at least relative to other things in life. In fact, the desire to travel frequently is sometimes a symptom of underlying problems in one’s life.
Becoming rich is pointless. Life itself is much richer to be wasted in the pursuit of money.
Being politically active—or at least voting—is not as hard, pointless, or even boring as it might seem.
Finding some time throughout the week to get informed about the relevant climate science—or even learning to understand the science—is not as hard or boring as it might seem.
Digital and technological life is not as cool as it might seem. We do not actually need too much technology to live well, let alone the latest technology of everything.
Buying new clothes too often is not necessary. Having some nice clothes that fit us well can do the job.
Last but definitely not least, we have to remember: even if we might not be the biggest contributors to climate change ourselves, it is still our responsibility to strive for the necessary policies to tackle climate change and avoid its consequences. This is because climate change will not be solved on its own and many of those who do contribute the most to climate change will not stop doing it all of a sudden by themselves.
If you have any questions or thoughts you would like to share, I would love to read them in the comments. Thank you for reading.
Read also:
All good points. It’s scary to me how few people have figured them all out - or worse, blatantly disagree, spouting Ayn Rand or similar utter drivel.
Great points!