Tackling Climate Change – One Person at a Time

Today I want to talk about personal change.

When someone mentions climate change – they immediately think global change. Sometimes it can be hard to see how something so big can relate to our everyday lives. It might even make us feel helpless.

There is a lot of work to be done but personal change is one of our greatest tools. Ordinary people can be the vanguard on climate change ­– it all starts with personal change.

In my own life I’ve instituted huge personal changes. How I get around has been a huge one. About 15 years ago I used to drive 40,000 miles a year. That’s a vast distance – which comes with vast levels of emissions. I decided I had to do something about that. 15 years later and now I drive maybe 10,000 miles a year in a hybrid car – giving me 60 miles a gallon instead of 30 miles a gallon.

But the change didn’t end with my car. I make use of public transport as much as possible. And if I’m not travelling too far I walk. I tend to walk between 5 and 7 miles a day. Not only do I avoid using emission producing vehicles – but I get to improve my health too!

Personal change - all it took was being a little more conscious of what I was doing. By changing the little things I contribute to changing the big ones; like climate change.

But transportation isn’t the only habit I improved. I now make sure I shop locally. It may sound strange but shopping locally can have a huge impact on climate change. I try and make sure that I get produce that’s been grown and raised in the North-east.

In the North-east, our fish are one of the most sustainable resources we have. That should be a huge selling point for fish lovers and people who want to fight against climate change.

Remember when you shop locally you are buying products that haven’t had to travel several thousand miles of ocean. When products travel those kinds of distances they come with huge levels of emissions.

These kind of personal changes allowed me to combat climate change and help local businesses. This is great for local producers because not only do they save on distribution costs but they get to see their products reinvested in their own communities.

Climate change isn’t something happening somewhere else. Nor is it something that’s happening in the future. It’s something that’s happening now and it’s happening to us.

The thing is – I can’t beat it alone. No one individual can. But if we all make an effort to improve our habits – we can do anything.

All of humanities great achievements started with a single thought, a single action and a single person. Our ability to change and improve ourselves is the most human thing about us. From making those personal changes, one small step at a time, everyone will be able to overcome climate change.