WWF-UK: Make your 2008 pledge to the planet
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How you can help
Make your 2008 pledge to the planet
Wednesday 19 December 2007
Vowing to stop smoking or ditch the doughnuts in the New Year may be good for your health, but you could also make a resolution that will help save the planet in 2008.
That's the message from WWF, which has enlisted the help of eco experts to rate the top ten green New Year's resolutions.
Top of the list is setting yourself an annual target to reduce your carbon emissions. Also high up the list were installing loft insulation and reducing your car use.
Elizabeth Leighton, WWF Scotland's Footprint Policy Officer said: "No-one can go green overnight but by taking on a couple of our New Year's resolutions you can help tackle climate change. In particular, pledging to use WWF's footprint calculator will help put into perspective how your lifestyle affects the planet..
"If everyone generated carbon emissions and used natural resources as we do in Scotland we would need three planets to support us. If we all pledged to take just one green action in 2008 we could move towards a one planet future."
The top ten actions individuals can take to help reduce their impact on the environment in 2008 are:
1. Set yourself an annual target to reduce your carbon emissions and monitor your progress
WWF's footprint calculator can help you do this – visit our footprint calculator website. Small actions can make a difference - for instance if everyone in the UK installed one energy - saving light bulb we would save enough CO2 to fill the Albert Hall nearly 1,200 times!
2. Install loft insulation
This is one of the most significant actions we can take in our homes; if your loft isn't insulated, up to a third of your household heat will escape. If everyone that could do so fitted 27 cm-thick loft insulation to their home, we'd save over 3 million tonnes of CO2 - that's enough to fill nearly 17 million double decker buses.
3. Reduce your car use
Over a quarter of all car journeys made in the UK are less than two miles. Its estimated that road transport makes up around 21% of total man-made CO2 emissions in the UK.
4. Buy more seasonal food
Air freighting fresh produce has more than trebled in the past 20 years and although we could meet over 70 per cent of our eating needs from food grown in the UK, we import more than half of the food we consume. Seasonal produce also requires less oil and gas to heat greenhouses, water and pesticides.
5. Give help to others
All over the country, groups and clubs are forming to help us share skills, resources, and help motivate one another. These groups can range from Freecycle to car share clubs, or looking for colleagues or friends to car share with.
6. Fly less
Think about the other options to flying within Europe - trains, ferries and Eurostar. Think seriously about the impact of long-haul flights. By taking one return flight to New York you'll release as much CO2 as you would driving an average car for a year, and one person's return flight to Australia will emit the equivalent amount of CO2 as it takes to run an average UK home for two years, or a fridge for 128 years!
7. Use your kerbside recycling collection
Recent research shows up to 40 per cent of a regular household shopping basket can be recycled. You can reduce your waste by avoiding excess packaging and buying products that will last.
8. Campaign against climate change
In Scotland, the Climate Change Bill will go out to consultation next year. The Government has already committed to 80% emissions cuts by 2050, but organisations like WWF need your help to ensure statutory annual cuts are included, along with emissions from aviation and shipping.
9. Purchase energy efficient appliances
Instead of looking at the price tag, look for its energy efficiency label. An energy efficient washing machine uses a third less energy than an old, inefficient model, saving us money and water.
10. Home compost
On average every household in Scotland produces over 1.1 tonnes of waste a year – the weight of a small car! Kitchen scraps, such as vegetable peelings, apple cores, egg shells and most garden waste biodegrades in a compost bin into a rich fertiliser which can be used in gardens or allotments.
Further Information
The sustainability experts who helped compile the ranking are: Andrew Darnton, AD Research & Analysis; Niamh Carey, WWF-UK; Stuart Bond, WWF-UK; Tracey Bedford, Visiting Researcher, Centre for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey; Chris Church, CEA Associates; Jayne Cox, Brook Lyndhurst; Veronica Sharp, The Social Marketing Practice.
Switching to a Green Electricity Tariff was listed as a good behaviour by the sustainability experts. However, at the moment there is no accreditation scheme to guide consumers as to which green tariff schemes are creating new green electricity capacity and which are not. The message to consumers from WWF is 'buyer beware' as we cannot give a blanket endorsement of the schemes. Currently there is a UK consultation underway to develop an accreditation scheme but WWF is not confident that the latest draft will do the job
Top of the list is setting yourself an annual target to reduce your carbon emissions. Also high up the list were installing loft insulation and reducing your car use.
Elizabeth Leighton, WWF Scotland's Footprint Policy Officer said: "No-one can go green overnight but by taking on a couple of our New Year's resolutions you can help tackle climate change. In particular, pledging to use WWF's footprint calculator will help put into perspective how your lifestyle affects the planet..
"If everyone generated carbon emissions and used natural resources as we do in Scotland we would need three planets to support us. If we all pledged to take just one green action in 2008 we could move towards a one planet future."
The top ten actions individuals can take to help reduce their impact on the environment in 2008 are:
1. Set yourself an annual target to reduce your carbon emissions and monitor your progress
WWF's footprint calculator can help you do this – visit our footprint calculator website. Small actions can make a difference - for instance if everyone in the UK installed one energy - saving light bulb we would save enough CO2 to fill the Albert Hall nearly 1,200 times!
2. Install loft insulation
This is one of the most significant actions we can take in our homes; if your loft isn't insulated, up to a third of your household heat will escape. If everyone that could do so fitted 27 cm-thick loft insulation to their home, we'd save over 3 million tonnes of CO2 - that's enough to fill nearly 17 million double decker buses.
3. Reduce your car use
Over a quarter of all car journeys made in the UK are less than two miles. Its estimated that road transport makes up around 21% of total man-made CO2 emissions in the UK.
4. Buy more seasonal food
Air freighting fresh produce has more than trebled in the past 20 years and although we could meet over 70 per cent of our eating needs from food grown in the UK, we import more than half of the food we consume. Seasonal produce also requires less oil and gas to heat greenhouses, water and pesticides.
5. Give help to others
All over the country, groups and clubs are forming to help us share skills, resources, and help motivate one another. These groups can range from Freecycle to car share clubs, or looking for colleagues or friends to car share with.
6. Fly less
Think about the other options to flying within Europe - trains, ferries and Eurostar. Think seriously about the impact of long-haul flights. By taking one return flight to New York you'll release as much CO2 as you would driving an average car for a year, and one person's return flight to Australia will emit the equivalent amount of CO2 as it takes to run an average UK home for two years, or a fridge for 128 years!
7. Use your kerbside recycling collection
Recent research shows up to 40 per cent of a regular household shopping basket can be recycled. You can reduce your waste by avoiding excess packaging and buying products that will last.
8. Campaign against climate change
In Scotland, the Climate Change Bill will go out to consultation next year. The Government has already committed to 80% emissions cuts by 2050, but organisations like WWF need your help to ensure statutory annual cuts are included, along with emissions from aviation and shipping.
9. Purchase energy efficient appliances
Instead of looking at the price tag, look for its energy efficiency label. An energy efficient washing machine uses a third less energy than an old, inefficient model, saving us money and water.
10. Home compost
On average every household in Scotland produces over 1.1 tonnes of waste a year – the weight of a small car! Kitchen scraps, such as vegetable peelings, apple cores, egg shells and most garden waste biodegrades in a compost bin into a rich fertiliser which can be used in gardens or allotments.
Further Information
The sustainability experts who helped compile the ranking are: Andrew Darnton, AD Research & Analysis; Niamh Carey, WWF-UK; Stuart Bond, WWF-UK; Tracey Bedford, Visiting Researcher, Centre for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey; Chris Church, CEA Associates; Jayne Cox, Brook Lyndhurst; Veronica Sharp, The Social Marketing Practice.
Switching to a Green Electricity Tariff was listed as a good behaviour by the sustainability experts. However, at the moment there is no accreditation scheme to guide consumers as to which green tariff schemes are creating new green electricity capacity and which are not. The message to consumers from WWF is 'buyer beware' as we cannot give a blanket endorsement of the schemes. Currently there is a UK consultation underway to develop an accreditation scheme but WWF is not confident that the latest draft will do the job
1.Fit energy saving light bulbs
2.Insulate your loft
3.Drive Less
4.Buy local and seasonal
5. Help others
6.Fly Less
7.Use kerbside recycling
8.Help stop climate change
9. Use energy saving appliances
10. Compost at home