As 2021 draws to a close, many people will be considering resolutions for 2022. Following a landmark year in the global effort against climate change, you might be thinking of resolving to reduce your personal carbon footprint, but is that the best approach if you want to go green? To find out, 51¶ŻÂţ spoke to , chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy, a US non-profit organisation.
“It all starts with just being aware of where our emissions come from,” says Hayhoe. Depending on your lifestyle, there will be different actions that you can take that will make the biggest change. A can help, she says.
Once you have figured out where the bulk of your emissions come from, you can start making changes. “I personally always adopt two new habits every new year,” says Hayhoe. The important thing is to make sure you don’t overwhelm yourself with too much, and don’t be afraid to start small, she says.
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“[In 2021], one of the things I did was take plastic out of the bathroom – shampoo and facewash for example. And so, I had my family trying new products all year, and switched in their favourite ones,” she says. “Taking the plastic out of the bathroom was so successful, this year I’m taking the plastic out of the other types of soaps we use, such as for our dishwasher and our laundry detergent.”
Food waste and losses make up around 9 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, so Hayhoe also took a look at her diet.Ěý“I wanted to eat more vegetables and more fish and more seafood because that’s much better for our health and lowers carbon emissions,” she says. “Again, it’s not a choice between me or the environment, it’s choosing both.”
But shrinking your own carbon footprint is just one element of tackling climate change. “Our footprint is actually the smallest part of what we can do,” she says. She suggests that people who are concerned about the environment focus on their “climate shadow” – the influence we have on those around us to take climate action. This includes talking to others about it and engaging with the wider community.
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“We have a much bigger impact when we use our voice to share that information with others at our school or university, our place of work, our neighbourhoods, our place of worship,” says Hayhoe. “Whatever circles we are part of that are greater than ourselves – that’s where you make the biggest difference.”
Despite widespread worry about climate change, very few of us actually talk about it, says Hayhoe. “Bond, connect, inspire is the model I use,” she says. “So, begin with something we share and connect the dots to why climate change matters to both of us, and then offer positive, constructive solutions that are beneficial.”
There are many ways you could connect and positively influence others. Even just posting about an organisation’s work on social media or starting a climate-themed book club can be a great first step, says Hayhoe.
It is also important to manage feelings of frustration, stress or hopelessness around climate change, says Hayhoe. Ěý“We are doomed if we’re all paralysed,” she says. “If we allow that to cause us to become angry at individual people – that’s not going to change anything, either.”
To combat these feelings, she practises “active hope” – the recognition that hope isn’t going to come to you, but must be sought out.
“When I went to COP26 [the 2021 UN climate summit], one of the most hopeful things for me there was to see that it wasn’t only young people outside COP calling for change. It was people at every level. It was heads of corporations, major churches and charities,” says Hayhoe. “In a nutshell, when we act, hope is all around us. When we connect with other people, and when we take action together, that’s where we find hope.”
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Katharine Hayhoe is chief scientist at The Nature Conversancy, a US environmental non-profit organisation, and a climate scientist and professor of political science at Texas Tech University.
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