Many people think that reducing your carbon footprint requires a huge reduction in the quality of their lifestyle. The truth is you do not need to make huge sacrifices to cut your carbon footprint significantly. The UK has cut its carbon footprint by 50% since 1990, the first major economy to do so, and living standards have increased substantially since then. In fact, our grandparents had a higher carbon footprint per person than we because we used to produce very inefficiently. This shows that it is still possible for living standards to rise as our carbon footprint falls if it works within our ecological limits.

The average British person produces 13 tonnes of carbon a year. Ideally, we would halve our footprint by 2030 and a big part of that is to simply stop buying things we do not use. We waste resources in many areas of our life, mainly in housing, diet and shopping for clothes.  Being aware of how you are wasting resources and minimising wasteful shopping can saves tonnes of carbon emissions and money without compromising your lifestyle.

Wasting energy and water in the home

We waste energy by keeping lights on when we do not need to. We also waste water and energy when we are heating our homes, when we are in the shower, washing clothes and dishes and cooking. Investing in inexpensive energy saving devices such as airfryers, LED lightbulbs, aerated showerheads, low flow taps and spending on draught-proofing your home can make a very big difference to your bills and cut emissions. The biggest carbon-saving move you can do in your home is to switch to a renewable energy provider. They are not more expensive providers and can save over one ton of emissions before you have even made any other changes in your home.

Wasting food you do not eat

It is estimate that 22% of food that you buy ends up being thrown in the bin! Just buying food you do not eat can reduce emissions from your diet by a quarter and this before you make any changes towards a lower carbon emitting plant-based diet. If we only bought what we ate, we could cut our carbon emissions by half a ton every year.

Wasting money on clothes you don’t wear

We only wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time. Our shopping habits show that we waste a huge amount of money of clothes we hardly wear. Fast fashion encourages us to do this with their offer of affordable, stylish clothes. Having a huge wardrobe full of fast fashion clothes is terrible for the earth. Fast fashion causes a lot of waste and account for 8-10% of carbon emissions. So, it is worth rethinking your shopping habits and thinking how much you really are going to wear something before you buy it. For those who do a lot of clothes shopping, a much better way to shop for clothes is to buy less quantity of clothes from good quality brands that are durable. Also renting and buying good quality second hand clothes is becoming much more accessible with apps such as Vinted, Vestiare and Hurr.