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Hey Young Climate Warriors!
The shops are overflowing, maybe your relatives are asking what you’d like for Christmas, television adverts are trying to persuade you to buy lots of new things, retailers are trying to entice you to spend more with Black Friday deals, shopping bags fill up and click click goes the mouse on the internet shopping page.
Gift giving is part of Christmas but sometimes ‘less is more’. Your challenge this week is to really think how you can help combat climate change at this time of year by ‘consuming (buying and having) less’… giving our planet more of a chance. Can you dig out some toys from the back of your cupboard, rather than asking for new ones for Christmas? Could you ask for a ‘green’ version or something similar – made of wood, or bamboo, rather than plastic? Or maybe you would you like to ‘adopt’ an endangered animal (check out www.wwf.org.uk ) or go on an outing with your relatives instead of receiving a new toy? Could you think about some homemade presents that you could give to your family or friends? Could you go to a second-hand shop and find the gifts you’re looking for? Whilst you’re heading to the second-hand shop, can you donate anything that you no longer need, or toys you no longer play with?
When you hear the word ‘amazon’ do you think … toys, books, presents, internet shopping – or do you think of the South American rainforest that is one of our carbon-storing, climate change-fighting powerhouses? Can you this week, stop and think about our rainforests, our animals, our planet. Everything we buy has a ‘carbon footprint’ – electricity is used in factories to manufacture goods; petrol or diesel are used to transport them; and carbon/methane is often emitted when we dispose of them. If we consume less, we lower our carbon emissions, and it all adds up.
Don’t forget to HIT THE RED BUTTON when you have ‘stopped to think, less is more, what can I do differently?’
Research shows that internet shopping can often result in lower carbon emissions than making that same purchase in the shops. If you’re going to the shops then try to use public transport and get as much done as you can in one trip. If you’re going online again try to combine items for fewer deliveries – and do you really need it tomorrow – could you opt to wait? Super fast, or specific day delivery is ramping up the carbon emissions related to internet shopping.
‘Less might mean more’. Less carbon emissions might require a little more imagination, a little more inventiveness, and a little more time, but we’re sure our Young Climate Warriors are up for the challenge!
Can you try and remember to HIT THE RED BUTTON when you have completed this challenge!
