Climate Change Mitigation

Robyn Ramsden

Small things you can do to make a start on reducing your personal emissions profile.

Meatless meals

Try meatless meals, ya know ‘vegetarian’, and not just breakfast. I recommend finding a non-meat meal option. Don’t just drop meat out of the meal. You can find meals that just don’t use meat. Most medieval meals are vegetarian or vegan. Meat was for festival days (think King’s Birthday and religious holidays). If spicy is your thing, many dishes from India are vegetarian or vegan.

Ruminant animals produce methane when they digest food, a lot of methane. Methane is 80 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Do you need need to drive your car?

Really? Are you going somewhere in Featherston? Then walk or cycle. Heading into the city? Take the train. Off to Masterton? Try the bus. But if you need your car because of a disability or what you are carrying, then take the car. Just know that road transport vehicle emissions are contributing 16.5 % of carbon dioxide emissions every year. You can drop your vehicle emissions to almost zero by swapping to an EV. You will be able to check out different EVs at the Wai Wheels fundraiser later this year.

Compost or worm farm

Waste is 4.2% of our emissions profile. Think anything that goes out in the council rubbish bags, is picked up from the redlidded wheelie bins or that you drop off at the transfer station. Food waste in the rubbish is a huge problem and contributes to methane emissions. You could build a compost or set up a worm farm, or raise chickens.

What is your emissions profile? The SWDC Climate Change webpage lists a few emissions calculators, but the best one I’ve found is on the Toitu Envirocare website www.toitu.co.nz/home. You can calculate your household or just your travel.

To check out my sources and get more information go to https://conglomeratecontemplation.wordpress.com/