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Understand your carbon impact

If you feel overwhelmed in making the right choices, you’re not alone. It can be extremely confusing to figure out how we can lower the impact of our everyday actions while still enjoying life – but adopting certain behaviours seems to make you happier and healthier, according to a new study.

Lots of actions, such as reducing single use plastics, are great for the environment however, these actions don’t reduce much carbon. Recycling ranks in public opinion as the best way to tackle climate change. While it is important, it’s actually the 60th most impactful thing you could do to mitigate climate change.

Surrey is a wealthy county, which means our impact is typically high. For example, household impact in some of Surrey’s villages can be 50% higher than the UK national average of around 13 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) (Community Carbon Calculator – IMPACT). This also means that we are in a position to make a significant contribution to reducing the UKs emissions, with the right lifestyle choices.

Nobody is perfect, and there are lots of obstacles, however, there are also plenty of quick swaps that make you feel good and cost less. Moving your bank account to an ethical and sustainable bank immediately lowers your footprint and costs nothing. And building awareness of the personal and organisational impacts of climate change is the starting point for real change. Understanding the impact of your actions is an important first step to mitigating climate change. The benefits of awareness include:

  • Being able to effectively plan for reducing your environmental impact.
  • Saving money by opting out of carbon-heavy choices which usually entails more cost.
  • Feeling great about doing something for yourself, your local surrounds and community, and the planet.
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