What can I do about Climate Change?

1. Join the SACC Committee.

We need help! There are many projects we would like to get going, but we are 7 busy people. We do as much as we can, and we have achieved a huge amount since we formed in 2007, but we want to do more. Climate change is with us and we all need to address it urgently to avert its worst effects. Can you spare just a little time each month? You don’t need any special skills, just enthusiasm. Our meetings are lively and fun and we get things done. Come along to a meeting or contact us via our website. You will be very welcome!

2. Ask SACC for a free energy survey of your house.

Free impartial energy saving advice for Snitterfield residents.

3. Change electricity supplier to one that supplies 100% renewable energy.

It costs a little more but is by no means the most expensive. Power your home and business with clean, non-polluting electricity.

“Every time you spend money, you’re casting a vote for the kind of world you want”

5. Sustainable transport.

Cutting back on air travel might mean giving up flying altogether or it might mean taking fewer flights. Around 729 million people in the world’s poorest countries never fly and it will be these people who will be worst affected by climate change (an estimated 180 million will die in Sub-Saharan Africa this century if climate change goes unchecked). People from the UK fly more than almost any other nation (one in five of the world’s international flights leave or land here).

6. Recycle, re-use and avoid useless purchases.

We throw too much away and still re-cycle too little. Large amounts of energy and water go into producing endless amounts of ‘stuff’, much of which we don’t really need or end up using. Try to get appliances and tools fixed rather than replaced – the carbon footprint of fixing things is far lower than making them from scratch. Avoid the temptation to buy useless trinkets and knick-knacks. There are limits to everything, including the ability of the planet to supply people with an endless supply of raw materials. Think sustainability.

7. Eat less red meat and buy seasonal, local food.

Larger ruminant animals produce large amounts of methane, which is a greenhouse gas that packs 72 times the punch of CO2 over a 20 year period. Other types of meat, such as chicken or pork produce far less emissions.

8. Make climate conscious political decisions. If climate change is not perceived by both sides of politics as a ‘core issue’, it will inevitably be marginalised by apparently more immediate concerns.

‘My wife and I realized that the “substantial and sustained reductions” called for by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had to start with us. World governments will never agree in time to coordinate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

If anything is to change, it will have to come from individuals taking ownership of the problem themselves.’ Eric Holthaus