What are the actions that count (really) for the environment?

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Hélène Laurin

Tuesday, 18 July 2017 17:00

UPDATE
Tuesday, 18 July 2017 17:00

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We often hear that recycle, wash in cold water or turn off the useless lights are small gestures which count, to save the environment. But is this really the case? Small gestures can they save the planet?

Let’s say it straight away: no, not really. The small things do not weigh heavily in the balance. This is rather the big gestures that count.

So what are the actions that count the most?

According to a new study in Environmental Research, some gestures have a major impact for the reduction of the carbon footprint. Do you think that there is a “make her skirt in terracotta” or “wash the patchouli” in the list?

Oh no. According to researchers from Lund University in Sweden, four things are especially to reduce the carbon footprint.

• Eat vegetarian food (a savings of 0.8 metric ton of CO2 per year)
• Avoid making a flight transoceanic (which avoids the 1.6 metric ton of CO2)
• To live without a car (a saving of 2.4 tonnes of CO2)
• Having a child of less (a saving of – wait for it- – 60 metric tons of CO2 per year (!!))

Here’s an infographic that summarizes the economy of metric tons of CO2 per gesture.

Screenshot

Although these gestures are not for everyone, try it a few days per week (for example, take his bike when the weather is nice, eat a meatless meal one night a week) can be something very enjoyable and beneficial for health, and more!

As for recycling, its impact is rather moderate, a bit like drying their laundry in the open air. And reuse a cloth bag to the grocery store? It saves 5 kg of CO2 per year, equal to 0.005 metric tons of CO2. Peanuts.

A study from 2013 estimated that the footprints carbon average individual should be 2.1 tonnes of CO2 per year by 2050. At this time, the carbon footprint of an average American is 16.4 tonnes.

Good luck to all of us.

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