My Most Important Post Yet

This may be my most important post yet.

I don’t mean to alarm you, but in wake of the Intergovernmental Panel Climate Change (IPCC) report, this is a CODE RED for humanity. Well, actually maybe I do want to alarm you. But I also want to arm you, arm you with the tools to be able to go out there and make a difference. The window to avoid catastrophic impacts from climate change is closing, we only have a few years.

What the report has told us is that we can’t escape some of the impacts from climate change such as polar ice melts and sea level rise, but we can avoid the worst damage if we act now, starting today (to see some of the worst predicted damage watch this. WARNING: this is what hell on earth might look like).

We need our government to step it up. We currently have weak greenhouse reduction targets and an even weaker net-zero emissions timeframe. Here’s what we need our government to do:

• We need to cut our greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2030 (8.5 years), but really should aim for 75%
• We need to completely divest from fossil fuels with no new coal or gas projects to be commissioned
• We need net-zero emissions by 2050
• We need to sequester the carbon that is already in the atmosphere

If you’ve read this far you might be thinking, what can I do? How do I avoid nihilism and apocalyptic thinking? Or, you may just feel like switching off because it’s all too much, sliding deep into apathy. The best antidote to despair is action. So here is a list of things (in no particular order) we can do on an individual and community level to make a difference. I challenge you, nay, I implore you (please don’t make me beg), to choose just five actions to implement (then five more, and five more after those ten) until sustainability is no longer a ‘what if’ scenario, it’s just the what is:

• Go plastic free (especially single use)
• Go all electric (get off gas)
• Write to your MP
• Write to the PM
• Use less water
• Buy nothing new (with the money you save, give it to a charity)
• Volunteer your time to an environmental organisation
• Plant trees
• Pay someone to plant trees
• Change your energy provider to a clean one
• Change your telecommunications provider to one that offsets emissions
• Change your superannuation to one that doesn’t invest in the fossil fuel industry
• Change your bank to one that doesn’t invest in the fossil fuel industry
• Change your insurance to one that doesn’t invest in the fossil fuel industry
• Avoid factory farmed meat, eggs, and dairy
• Go meat free
• Go dairy free
• Shop secondhand at op shops/Facebook marketplace
• Buy recycled paper products
• Get solar
• Get your workplace to get solar
• Get your kid’s school to get solar
• Stop dying your hair – you are beautiful (give the money you save to a charity)
• Drive less
• Cycle more
• Walk more
• Eat less
• Use a menstrual cup
• Learn granny skills (DIY everything! Mending and making)
• Every time you buy a gift buy a tree too
• Every time you buy a gift buy only trees
• Compost everything that can be composted
• Recycle
• Buy from bulk stores and co-ops
• Buy local, organic produce
• Grow your own food
• Spend time in nature before it’s gone
• Support regenerative farming
• Vote for leaders that prioritise survival and the environment
• Join and environmental group
• Join a toy library
• Join a book library
• Join a tool library
• Repair your things
• Sign petitions
• Protest and rally
• Use less energy
• Insulate your home
• Get a battery for your solar
• Grow a garden for wildlife
• Get an electric car
• Fly less
• Take public transport
• Show your kids how beautiful nature is
• Breathe

Do it for your kids. If you don’t have kids, do it for your nieces and nephews. If you don’t have those either, do it for sea turtles or tigers or whatever your spirit animal is. Do it for yourself. This will affect you.

I’m definitely not on top of this list. I have ticked off some that can be ‘ticked’ like changing banks and super. Many are a constant work in progress, like anything to do with food.

Here are 12 I’m going to work on over the next few months. This list is taped to my fridge so I can see it all the time.   

“Losing hope is the lazy man’s option” – Tim Flannery.