10 ways to reduce your carbon footprint everyday!

1: Switch to renewable energy! If you own your home - install solar panels (check out any government grants that might help). Although this can be costly, it is a great economic investment for both your wallet and the future of the planer. Don't own your own home? (or own an apartment? - solar on apartment buildings can be tricky...) then switch to a renewable provider. Be careful though - some renewable providers are owned by oil and gas companies.

Australia is the perfect place for solar farms. The more we choose renewables, the more money there is for more!

2: Bank ethically. Switch to a bank that does not invest in fossil fuels (or similarly environmentally harmful practices). marketforces.org.au is a great place to start your research. When you make the decision to leave your fossil fuel loving bank, make sure you tell them why you are leaving! The more people that leave because of the same reason, the more chance there is of them ditching their love for fossil fuels!

3: Switch to ethical super. Just like some banks, some super companies invest in fossil fuels and other environmentally harmful practices. Make the switch to one that doesn't. Again, marketforces.org.au is a great place to start your research.

4: Take public transport or cycle everywhere. Yes, EVERYWHERE. So SSBG understands some parts of the world are not blessed with a great public transport system. However, there are probably some instances where you could just as easily ride a bike somewhere -and believe me your lungs and the planet will thank you! So we all know driving cars is bad for the environment. Cars alone cause about half of the emissions from transport. But there are a few reasons why driving our car for short trips is bad not only for our air/climate change but also for our oceans....

Let's start with air.

Twice as many emissions are emitted from modern vehicles in the first 5 minutes of the engine running. This is often due to many modern cars' pollution control systems not being warmed up properly to work, thus not only allowing noxious nitrogen oxides (NOx) to be emitted into the air but also the cabin - where you are.....

So if a 5 minute trip doubles air pollution and the car is only running for 5 minutes.... take public transport instead, or walk. Obviously, ssbg understands it isn't always possible to avoid this - but reducing it helps fight - you guessed it - CLIMATE CHANGE!

So now for the ocean part - ssbg sees you questioning this.

It is estimated around 26% of micro plastics in the ocean are from transport/car tyres (that is 6.1 million tonnes of micro plastics a year globally). Yes tyres have plastic in them, and when they are used by cars/trucks etc tiny particles break off and go into the air, and then eventually reach the ocean (or our lungs). This is a problem for two reasons.

1: Micro plastics are quickly becoming a health issue for anything that lives on land or in the sea.

2: These tyre wear particles are concerning on many levels. They are incredibly light and easily dispersed and have been found in extremely remote areas such as The Arctic circle. Tyres are black. This means the particles are black. Black absorbs heat. This reduces the albedo in snow and ice environments (like the arctic circle) when the particles land there. And these black particles are also contributing to the warming of the ocean (as the ocean gets hotter, marine life is affected, ice melts, sea levels rise..... etc )

So - think twice next time you get in your car - do you really need to drive, or can you walk/get the bus/train etc.

5: Stop buying new stuff Sometimes new stuff is unavoidable. But usually, you can get the thing you want second hand. Why is this important? New stuff takes resources to make, especially if it is technology, precious elements are mined daily to provide us with new tech - but with environmental damage and often damage to the people mining it. But it isn't only technology, anything new takes resources, to make and to transport. So - do you really need a new thing, if you do - can you get it secondhand? SSBG bets you can :)

Before and after (general) mining

6: Stop wasting food - compost if you can! It has been estimated that 'If food waste was a country it would be the third largest greenhouse gas emitter, behind the USA and China'. That is scary stuff.

Food waste is not only bad in terms of the methane it produces (a gas more potent than C02...) but also because it wastes the resources used to make and transport the food.

So - be mindful of your food waste, send the least amount to landfill you can. If you have access to a composting scheme, use it or if you have space for a compost - start one!

7: Stop buying new clothes/limit yourself to three new pieces of clothing a year. So, you've probably heard fast fashion is bad, and it is - especially if workers aren't paid a living wage - but it is also bad for the environment. The production, and what the clothes are made of all pollute. Remember micro plastics? 35% of the micro plastics in the ocean are - you guessed it - from our clothes. So start trawling those second hand shops, support charities AND the environment. Double win!

Rivers turning blue - not the natural kind.

8: Delete your emails. Yes. You read that right. Data centres - the places that store your emails - account for about 1% of the world's energy consumption. That little percent is still billions in kilowatts per hour. Digital technology is only going to grow this number yearly from now on ... so....

If everyone in the world with an email address deleted 10 emails right now it would save the equivalent of powering 749 average Australian homes FOR A YEAR! Yes. You read that right.

SO - start deleting, unsubscribing and stop sending unnecessary emails.

9: Stop eating/eat less (red) meat. You've probably heard of this one, so let's keep it short. Meat = land use, the more land needed the more deforestation occurs. Meat = methane from those animals with four stomachs - methane = bad. Meat = destruction of wildlife habitats. Meat is also usually packaged in plastic. Plastic = bad.

The Amazon keeps losing out to the cattle industry.

10: Don't buy food/stuff in plastic. Plastic! Yeah, yeah, yeah you have definitely been told about plastic and that it is bad. But it isn't ONLY because it kills wildlife/ocean life, or looks ugly floating down the river. Plastic is made from fossil fuels - and we all know fossil fuels are a huge contributor to climate change. Plastic also doesn't break down quickly - and when it does - here comes that micro plastic lecture again.... Micro plastics have been found in human placentas - and the research on how that will impact our health is only just beginning! The chemicals from plastic also leach out into the soil, our water and yes, we even breathe micro plastics. So the less plastic in the world, the better for everything and everyone on this beautiful planet.