Ideas for how individuals can help to mitigate the climate emergency |02 October 2019

On our planet Earth everything is linked – everything affects everything else – so whatever you do in your life has an impact – good or bad! Your choices affect the future of the Earth and ALL its inhabitants

Energy use

• Use a washing line and pegs not a machine to dry your clothes.
• Ensure light bulbs are energy efficient (and/or LED).
• Buy energy-efficient appliances.
• Switch off any electrical equipment when not in use and switch off at the mains overnight – ‘standby’ uses as much power as having the equipment on!
• Reduce use of air conditioning and also turn the temperature up a bit (do you really need to put on a jacket or shawl to keep warm in a tropical country?).
• Building a new house? Include natural architectural heat-reducing systems, install solar panels, or at least a solar water heating system.
• When preparing the land, don’t cut all the trees on the property! They provide shade and help to cool the air. And make sure you plant some native species when you create a garden.
• Demand a better deal for householders who put solar panels on their roof – to ensure that excess power can be taken up by the national grid and at a worthwhile price.

Cleaning

• White vinegar, or vinegar + baking soda are good for many household cleaning tasks, used in moderation – reduce the use of imported chemical-laden specialist cleaning products (they are not good for the environment or for our health!).
• Use only a reasonable amount of water – it is a limited resource.
• Harvesting rainwater from your roof and use it for cleaning and for watering plants. This also helps to save energy and resources that are used to purify tap water.

Food

• Eat less meat! Even better, become a pescatarian (fish, no meat), a vegetarian (plant based food + dairy) or a vegan (plant based food only).
• Vegetarians with a mixed diet can get all the necessary nutrients – it helps to reduce weight and lowers chances of cancer and diabetes.
• If you have to eat meat, choose local poultry (not cheap Brazilian chicken!) or pork rather than imported beef and lamb (e.g. raising cattle intensively requires about 20 times the land and fossil fuel energy compared with food crops).
• Avoid palm oil if possible – too much native forest is being cleared for oil palm plantations.
• Eat locally produced food as much as possible (anything imported requires a lot of power – mostly from fossil fuels for transport, especially by air).
• Restaurants – ensure your favourite ones have a good choice of vegetables and salads and vegetarian dishes – if you demand often enough, they will have to respond!
• Don’t waste food!
• Buy at local markets rather than going to town, unless you have many errands to do in town at the same time (think: transport=fuel=CO2 output! Your own feet or a bicycle are better!)

Transport

• OK, we have few options in Seychelles if we need to travel outside the country – we live in the middle of a vast ocean. BUT air travel is one of the worst for CO2 production, so at least for the inner islands choose boat rather than air (buy travel sickness tablets if you get seasick).
• Take no more than 1 overseas holiday a year (even that probably will use up all your CO2 production allowance for one year!!). Choose local holidays rather than overseas holidays.
• Try to avoid too many business trips – use video links and internet if possible instead.
• Travelling by bus is still a better choice than car (in terms of efficiency, especially if we get electric buses instead of diesel!)
• Too many times a car has only one person in it – try car-sharing with friends and neighbours.
• Buy an electric car in preference to a petrol car (diesel is already being phased out because of the pollution).
• Walking is good for you! Park on the edge of town and walk from there.
• If you live in a flat area, get a bicycle. But also DEMAND bicycle lanes, to make cycling a safer and faster way to get from one place to another in flat areas – especially on reclaimed land which is still being developed!

New ‘Things’

• Remember, importing ANYTHING new into Seychelles requires fuel for transport, AS WELL AS all the resources (often non-renewable) and energy that go into the making of new objects!
• Re-use stuff in preference to throwing away – if something still works, there will be someone somewhere who can make use of it – advertise if necessary.
• We need more second-hand outlets – set one up! Clothes, household items, books, anything that can be used again can be given away or sold (for example to raise money for a charity or NGO).
• Fix and repair broken or damaged items if at all possible (find people who know how to do this – or set up a small repair business yourself!)
• Create a cooperative of people who know how to fix different things – exchange skills to broaden the number of people who CAN fix things.

Collective action

• Oppose infrastructure projects that will increase our CO2 output (e.g. energy guzzling buildings), or destroy our natural environment.
• Support and/or join a group that is already acting for our environment.
• Plant trees (native ones or fruit trees)! E.g. in your garden, in your village, as a community or with an NGO.
• Talk to your kids and other people about the climate emergency and how it will affect them – but also talk about the positive actions we can take!
• Use art and creativity to raise awareness about the climate. There is hope if we ACT rather than just sit back at wait for someone else to do something.
• Create media attention, write an email to a politician, sign a petition, join a demonstration….
• Vote for a party that has good environmental policies, that is aware of the impact of the climate emergency and is willing to take on the challenge to adapt the way we live.

SURELY THERE ARE MANY MORE SOLUTIONS! ADD SOME OF YOUR OWN

Contributed