Why Reduce Your Carbon Footprint?

Reducing our emissions and having a positive climate impact can be difficult and time-consuming. As a result, we often find people demotivated in making a positive change towards becoming carbon neutral. The following sections outline why you should improve your carbon impact and the easiest way to do it.

Why should I act against climate change?

The fact that the climate crisis is “inevitable and irreversible”, as emphasised by the recent IPCC Report, is undeniable, but that shouldn’t be our call to throw in the towel and continue living with our failure. Rather, there is a need for individuals and businesses to take bolder action; limiting the extent we contribute to climate change.

Our current levels of destruction will take hundreds, or even thousands, of years to return to normality, even if we immediately halted our destructive activity. This is a point emphasised by our oceans, with melting ice caps causing rising sea levels resulting in significant destruction to communities and livelihoods. It will likely take centuries, even if we immediately cut our emissions before we start to see a gradual move towards former sea levels.

This does not, however, mean there is no hope in preventing and reversing further extreme or even uninhabitable damage to our planet. By limiting rising temperatures below the globally held 1.5C target, we can work against climate change at all levels, meaning that our current destruction can be limited before it becomes unliveable.

But isn’t that the job of governments?

Yes, absolutely. To bring about the global change we need global solutions, and these must come from the mobilisation of world governments. It is integral as citizens that we first and foremost push our governments towards taking critical action; overcoming the core causes of our climate crisis.

Although individual sacrifices won’t solve the climate crisis alone, this doesn’t mean we can’t play our part in reducing our own impact and that of our businesses. Being engaged with the climate crisis, alongside seeing the devastating impact it has already caused, it is easy to want to reduce our own and our businesses contribution to it, and have a truly positive impact; especially when governments have failed to bring about change on our behalf.

Okay, so I want to reduce my impact, but how?

First, we can all make changes in our daily lives, and this can start by asking ourselves simple questions. Do I really need to drive to the shop? Perhaps I could start turning that light off when I leave the room? Are my light bulbs energy efficient? Or for those running a business, you can start looking at ways to reduce your organisation’s impact, such as reducing your energy use or turning to more sustainable supply chains. Before you know it, you can start to find ways to reduce your impact for little cost and effort.

But surely, I still have a big footprint? And how could I take it further in becoming carbon neutral and carbon positive?

You do, and that’s where Treepoints comes in. Making a significant reduction in personal and business emissions, or even becoming carbon positive, can be incredibly difficult and a long-term investment. For most of us, we don’t know where to start. Here at Treepoints, we make having a positive climate impact quick and easy through supporting offsetting projects, planting trees, and removing plastic from our oceans.

Through a Treepoints subscription and our business support, you can calculate your emissions and support projects which reduce global carbon emissions, such as providing energy-efficient stoves or preventing methane pollution from landfills, that would otherwise have happened. Through our subscription packages, you can also plant trees that will continue absorbing carbon for the coming decades, whilst also supporting the development of natural habitats in which biodiversity can thrive.

Hopefully, this has given you a better understanding of why and how to strive towards carbon neutrality. Although we are desperate for global government action, we all must start to play our part. Firstly, by looking at ways to reduce your emissions, before turning to Treepoints to help you and your business completely achieve your carbon neutral or carbon positive ambition.

Interested in reaching carbon neutral or even carbon positive today?

Head over to Treepoints for more information and to set up your account. Treepoints can help you and your business reach carbon neutral, or even carbon positive, today.