A Climate Emergency – What you can do to help to save the planet

With the UN reporting that we have 12 years left to reduce carbon emissions and save our planet, it is great that governments and city councils around the world are declaring a climate emergency. Christchurch City Council and ECAN are deciding whether to do the same here.

Reducing carbon emissions requires action from all of us – government, businesses and individuals. So here’s a quick guide on what you can do…

Ride Your Bike Is it a coincidence that Denmark is consistently ranked in the top 3 happiest countries and also has one of the highest per capita rates of cycling? Maybe, but they’ve also found that children who cycle and walk to school are much better at concentrating. The more people who cycle the safer it will be, so download a copy of Christchurch’s cycling maps and get on your bike (Also, Denmark and Christchurch are both flat, so we have no excuse!) 

Support Local and Ethical Businesses If we want a world where businesses take responsibility for the environment, we have to support them. Shopping locally keeps money in the community and reduces carbon emissions and packaging.  When you shop from ethical businesses your dollars are working all the way down the supply chain improving lives and the environment. To help you out, we've put all our NZ-made products on sale until the end of May.

Eat Less Meat. But this doesn’t mean you have to be vegan or even vegetarian, if we all switched to eating a Mediterranean diet (chicken a couple of times a week, beef once a month, and plenty of plant based foods) we could solve 15% of global warming by 2050! It’s  equivalent of taking 1 billion cars off the road. 

Switch to Reusables New Zealanders use 808,000 disposable coffee cups every year, wasting resources and emitting carbon. Reusable coffee cups are bulky and can leak in your bag – try a Stojo collapsible coffee cup which conveniently fits in your pocket or bag.

Speak Up – Fill in the CCC survey to let the council know how you are reducing your carbon emissions and how you’d like them to improve.