Ahead of our release of I Am Greta on October 16, we've put together a quick list of small green actions you can take to help the environment. Try to adopt as many as you can and start doing them daily. You can also pick one and do it as part of our #GoGreenWithGreta initiative. Here’s how it works:
On 16 October, make your small green action for the day.
Share it on Twitter & Instagram with #GoGreenWithGreta and @Dogwoof.
Tag a friend and invite them to come up with their own green action
Win an I Am Greta prize bundle
Find our green actions suggestions below, or come up with your own!
1) Create a compost pile
You don’t need to live on a farm, or even have a big backyard to try this eco-friendly disposal method. Composting means recycling nutrients back into the ecosystem, which keeps food out of landfills and waterways while making the garden greener. Some communities have local composting programs. Or, start your own compost indoors. (Source: Greatist).
2) Buy a travel cup
As just one example, coffee behemoth Starbucks blows through 8,000 paper cups a minute, which adds up to more than 4 billion cups a year (and one major buzz!). Here’s where buying a travel cup can make a big difference. Starbucks and some other coffee retailers will give you a discount if you BYO mug. (Source: Greatist).
3) Plant some herbs
Growing our own food is heralded as being better for our health and can also help cut down the grocery bill, but there’s a much greater potential benefit – it can help take the pressure off the overworked global food system so that challenges like an increasing population (and a wobbly climate) can be addressed. And people who grow their food without pesticides and herbicides spare the planet from at least some air and water pollution. While cultivating a backyard garden might be ideal, even apartment dwellers can grow herbs on a windowsill or tomatoes in an indoor planter. (Source: Sustainable.org)
4) Shop with your own bag
Grabbing a plastic bag at the register is convenient, sure. But bringing reusable bags from home has a much smaller environmental impact. By the year 2050, greenhouse gas emissions from all those plastic products could exceed 56 gigatons. For a little perspective, that equals the emissions from 615 coal plants. (Source: Greatist).
5) Wash your clothes with cold water
Most Americans still wash their laundry in warm water, which costs more money and takes a toll on the environment. Approximately 75 percent of the total energy use and greenhouse-gas emissions produced by a single load of laundry come from warming the water itself. That’s unnecessary, especially because studies have shown that washing in cold water is just as effective as using warm. (Source: Curbed.com)
6) Pick a clothes item and recycle it
Not only is fast fashion wasteful, but the environmental cost of manufacturing and distributing new clothes is devastating. A handful of retailers offer recycling programs, and you can of course also donate them to a charity shop. (Source: Curbed.com).
7) Buy a reusable water bottle
Landfills already contain more than 2 million tons of plastic bottles. And 1.5 million barrels of oil are used to manufacture water bottle every year. And those bottles take more than 1,000 years to biodegrade. Buying a reusable water bottle is definitely a good idea. (Source: Curbed.com)
8) Visit a second-hand shop
Selling and buying second-hand clothes is an ecofriendly habit, especially if we think that the fashion industry is the least eco-sustainable in the world and wastes resources at every stage of production. Used clothes, on the other hand, reduce the environmental impact by limiting CO2 emissions and the use of pesticides and fertilizers and reducing the waste of billions of liters of water that would have been needed to generate new clothes. The numbers are impressive: it is estimated that with about 600 kilos of used clothes there will be a reduction of 2250 kilos of CO2 emissions, 3.6 billion liters of water saved and 144 trees planted. (Source: Smart Green Post)
9) Order a book on climate change + read it
Some great books for learning more about climate change and how to get involve include Merchants of Doubt, which looks at scientists who dispute evidence of climate change; Climate Change, What Everyone Needs to Know, a great Q&A-style overview; The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert, the award-winning New Yorker writer; and Heat: How to Stop the Planet From Burning by George Monbiot. (Source: Curbed.com)
10) Follow a female environmental journalist
Need daily news and inspiration from trusted sources? David Roberts of our sister site Vox has compiled this list of over 125women writing about climate change and clean energy. (Source: Curbed.com)
11) Join Fridays For Future
#FridaysForFuture is a movement that began in August 2018, after 15-year-old Greta Thunberg and other young activists sat in front of the Swedish parliament every schoolday for three weeks, to protest against the lack of action on the climate crisis. She posted what she was doing on Instagram and Twitter and it soon went viral. Head to their website to find out how you can join the movement and get involved.
12) Unplug any electrical appliances not in use
Just because a device or appliance appears to be off doesn’t mean it’s not drawing power. About a quarter of all residential energy consumption is used on devices in idle power mode, which means “sleep mode” is costing upward of $19 billion in electricity bills. Things like your cable box, laptop, and even your speakers may be using almost as much power when they are off but plugged in as when they are on. Group appliances on power strips so you can turn them off at the same time, especially if you’re going on holiday. (Source: Curbed.com)
13) Calculate your carbon footprint online
Use an online tool to calculate and track your carbon footprint. Prepare to be astounded by how much transportation contributes to your total and find ways on how to reduce it.
14) Swap your meat-based meal for a veggie/vegan one
Raising cattle and sheep creates vast amounts of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Cutting out meat, or even reducing consumption and favoring fish and chicken, can seriously save carbon. Studies at Carnegie Mellon suggest merely swapping red meat and dairy for a more balanced diet with fish, eggs, and fowl makes a big difference. (Source: Curbed.com)
15) Find a holiday destination you can reach by train
A normal transatlantic round-trip flight can release around 1.6 tonnes of CO2 – almost as much as the average yearly emissions of one person in India. This also highlights the inequality of climate change: while everyone will be affected, only a minority of humans fly and even fewer people take planes often. Many people including Greta have decided to give up on flying or have started flying less. Next time you’re planning a holiday, pick a destination you can reach by train to cut your carbon emissions.
As climate change affects us all, help us spread I Am Greta’s important message. Head to our Ambassadors page to download our social videos and pics and share them on social media & with friends.