What Can You Do To Slash Your Carbon Footprint?

** In Collaboration **

We’re living in a world that’s putting more and more emphasis on helping the environment. I’m sure you’ve seen all the protests and speeches from activists all over the globe. It’s pretty powerful stuff, and the facts show that we’re heading in a pretty awful direction. If things don’t change, then we’ll ruin our planet for future generations. 

Try as you might, it’s impossible to influence what other people do. You can protest all you like, but there’s no guarantee that all the big companies will listen. Instead, focus your efforts on what YOU can do to lower your carbon footprint. With a few alterations to your life, you can have a positive impact on the environment and live with a clear conscience. 

Here are a few ideas to make an impact right away: 

Switch to an electric car

This is probably the easiest change you can make. Sell your current car and switch to an electric one. You reduce your personal carbon emissions straight away. In this day and age, there’s not really a legitimate reason to own a petrol car. At the very least, you should have a hybrid. 

Stop driving

Alternatively, you can wave goodbye to your car for good. Think about whether or not you actually need to drive. Can you get around on foot, or on a bike? Switching to public transport can also be easier on the environment. If you don’t need to drive, then why bother?

Get solar panels on your roof

Start lowering your energy usage by adding solar panels to your home. Okay, technically you don’t use up less energy, but you do use less energy from non-renewable sources. Compare solar providers to find the most affordable deal for you. Then, get them installed on your roof to provide your house with solar energy. It’s free power, and you can use this instead of calling on other energy sources. Again, your carbon footprint diminishes almost instantly. 

Stop wasting hot water

So many of us are guilty of wasting hot water in the home. Typically, this either happens when washing your clothes or washing yourself. Turn the temperature down on your washing machine. There’s no need to use hot water unless your clothes are severely soiled. Using cold water will still clean everything and make your clothes smell fresh, it just uses up less energy. Then, when you’re in the bathroom having a shower, restrict your time in there. Set a timer for ten minutes, then get out of there when it goes off. Also, turn the temperature down a bit. It’s not good for your skin to wash using boiling hot water, no matter how nice it feels! It’ll be a shock at first, but your body will quickly adjust to the colder temperature. 

So, what can you do to slash your carbon footprint? It turns out you can do a lot! If everyone reading this tried at least one of these ideas, then we’d make a huge contribution to the fight for a better planet. You don’t have to make drastic changes to your way of life to make a difference!