As we move towards a lifestyle with a lower carbon footprint, our activities will need to be more aligned to scenarios of Net Zero world. Is there a way of choosing hobbies that have a low carbon footprint or even improve the environment? There are some popular hobbies that can improve our environment and create negative emissions.  Exercising and gardening creates very little carbon emissions and can improve your health. There are also many community-run activities we mention below, such as tree planting, volunteering in repair shops, that help you engage with people in the local area. This voluntary work help you develop new skills and can open doors to new careers.

Exercising locally

Exercise such as walking, running and cycling in your local area barely creates any emissions. Your carbon footprint from exercise increases only if you choose not to exercise locally, so where you exercise matters. Travelling to a gym by car far away is not particularly low carbon emission activity.

Gardening

If you have a garden and enjoy gardening, you can use your time to create a low carbon garden and boost biodiversity. The biodiversity, which is the variety of life on Earth, has decreased significantly in the last fifty years. We can play a role in turning around this decline in the population of many species, many of whom are vital for our food production.

The best way to boost biodiversity in your garden is to build a pond. This is easier than you think and will attract all sorts of creatures into your garden, such as frogs, birds and insects. There are ways to help pollinators thrive is to create a garden that attracts them by growing the right flowers and herbs, so they have more access to food. Also providing the right shelter, such as bird houses and bug hotels protects animals in your garden. Gardens can also be designed to prevent flooding and to collect rainwater that can be used to water the garden in the summer. All of these actions can reduce your carbon footprint and support our threatened ecosystem.

Volunteering at Repair Cafes

There recently has been an increase in Repair Cafes across many countries. A Repair Café is a place where volunteers get together and fix items for free. These items range from clothes, electrical appliances and furniture, to bicycles and toys. The Repair Café movement started in the Netherlands and has spread across the world. There are now 2,500 cafes globally and there could be one near you. There are also similar types of voluntary repair shops run by local churches and local councils that you can join. Learning how to repair at Repair Cafes will prevent others throwing things away and extend the life of the products they have. It helps to create a culture of not throwing things away when there is a bit of damage to a product. Repairing and extending the life of products is what we need to move away from a take-make-throw away economy towards a more circular economy, where materials circulate for longer.

Tree-planting

There are many charities which you can get involved in with which promote tree planting in the local area. Organisations such as Trees for Street, Trees for Cities and The Conservation Volunteers connect people and communities to plant trees and create better nature in their area.

Become an activist

Pushing for change puts pressure on governments to take more action on climate change. Change is happening too slowly across the world and the more politicians see that we are aware of their actions and care about what they are doing about climate change, the more likely they will respond. Organisations such as Avaaz, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Extinction Rebellion organise petitions, protests, legal cases and other actions for you to take part in. Friends of the Earth and Extinction Rebellion operate locally, so it worth investigating what they do in your area. Writing to your local representative in Parliament and attending protests demonstrates the level of interest and engagement from the public to politicians and this push them to act faster. Becoming an activist is a great way to meet like-minded people and make a positive contribution.