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Climate change is the biggest challenge of the century. There are mixed feelings about it and even if nobody dares to say they don't care, sometimes people haven't given it a thought. Other times people are simply discouraged by the enormity of the topic and they feel powerless to help in the situation.
You might be like that. You might not know what to do and how to help and this is totally normal. As teenagers, it's often complicated to take action because of various reasons, and you might even feel like you don't have a say in what is going on. But that's wrong. You have a voice and even you feel like it isn't heard and you are still figuring out how to make other people hear it, you can start taking action about climate change. If you start right away, you might inspire your friends, your family or even strangers to do the same.
Climate change concerns everyone. Nobody is exempt of the problem because, in the end we will all have to face it if we don't manage to stop it.
Here is a list of 20 things you can start doing today to help fight climate change:
1. Turn off the lights when you leave a room
It might seem silly and you probably have heard it a thousands times but do you really do it ? If not, you should probably start now. It takes literally less than a second to do it and mama earth will thank you for it.
2. Eat seasonal food:
You're probably not the one who buys the food at home, but try to talk your parents into it. Look what is the current seasonal food on the internet and join your parents when going grocery shopping to remind them of choosing the right food !
3. Buy local food:
Staying on the theme of food, buy local ! Look where your oranges come from and instead of choosing the ones from Spain, take the one that come from Italy. Little one you'll be supporting the local producers and little two, when you'll decide to buy some exotic food once every two months like avocados or mangos that don't grow in Italy, you'll feel less guilty.
4. Try to reduce your consumption of meat:
Okay, okay, hear me out here meat lovers, I am not saying that you should go full vegetarian forever or something. Not at all. I personally love meat, however I make sure that at lunch I eat vegetarian. That's just my personal way of doing things. Sometimes, yes I do take meat at lunch but I usually try not to. You can do the same. You can either decide to have one day of the week full vegetarian or like me, you can decide to have one meal a day where you favour vegetables instead of meat.
5. Don't waste the food:
This is so important ! Do NOT waste the food ! If you've had eyes bigger than your stomach, ask if a friend is still hungry (we all have that one friend who will finish your plate no matter what) and consider taking less next time and keeping a snack in your backpack just in case you didn't feel full at lunch. Another solution would be to keep the food for later. When at school, bring an extra empty box where you can possibly store the food for home.
Don't let that food be thrown away !
6. Buy things (food, gadgets, clothes etc.) that are less packed:
I know, I know, sometimes it's easier said than done because you don't really get to choose how the producers pack their products, however, there is usually a wide range of options to choose from when we're talking about food for example. So instead of taking those carrots wrapped in plastic, take the one that aren't. They might sometimes look uglier but trust me, that's what's so charming about them (apart from the fact that plastic isn't embracing them)
7. Use bar soap instead of liquid soap:
You might have never thought about this one but it's time you consider the option. Liquid soap is in a plastic bottle. The bar soap isn't. Moreover, the methods to produce the first product is less environmental friendly than the second one. So, Make. The. Change !
8. Take a shower instead of a bath:
Everybody loves a bath once in a while. It's relaxing and it's a moment for ourselves. But, i'm sorry to say so, a bath takes so much more water than a shower. First, you have the water of the bath itself. Then it becomes cold so you have to add more water. And then you have to rince your skin to get off the soap and the oils, and that's such a waste of water. So, please prefer the shower to the bath.
9. Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth:
It's a just a waste of water. You don't need the water running to wash your teeth. So turn off that tap and open it only when you have to wash your mouth, earth will thank you !
10. Don't pre-rince the dishes if you have a dishwasher:
Sometimes, food can dry on the plates and the cutlery and the dishwasher has trouble washing it off. We've all been through this struggle. That's probably why you're tempted to rince your dishes before putting them in the dish washer.
Don't. You can simply scrape off the food with a brush. Maybe you can even humidify the brush but there is no need to completely rince the dishes. Here again, it would be a terrible waste of water.
11. Go paperless:
Teachers are probably asking you to give back homework and assignments by hand. You can't really do anything about it and you use paper over paper to continue to give in these homework. However, here is a positive point of coronavirus. We discovered online schooling and giving assignments online without an ounce of paper used ! Print less. If your teachers have papers to give out, ask them to, instead printing, give them out on teams or by e-mail. You will save so much paper !
12. At the mensa, avoid using the paper sheets:
You know these paper sheets that they give out at the mensa to put over your tray ? Yeah ? do you actually need them ? I don't think so.
Moreover, let's talk about the cup. If you share your water bottle, it is understandable that you take a cup. If you don't... why do you take it ? It bothers you to drink from the mensa bottle ? Take your own bottle with you and transfer the water from one bottle to another one, or use an eco-cup that you can bring during the mensa. You find it inconvenient to bring your bottle or your cup to the mensa ? Yes, well i'm sure the polar bears find it inconvenient too to have to swim to another ice-berg because their own melted away. So, quit the cup !
13. Use a reusable water bottle:
Plastic bottles pollute so much ! Let's be extreme, imagine that you're buying a plastic bottle every week because you're very thirsty and you don't have a reusable water bottle but you do make the effort not to buy a new one every day. We have thirty six weeks of school during the year. That makes it 36 bottle of water only for school. And for the reusable bottle ? This makes only one bottle, not only for thirty six weeks but for ever. So maybe, the wise decision would be to go purchase that lovely reusable bottle.
14. Thrift shop:
Thrift shopping is so much fun. You get to look for vintage clothes and you are not encouraging fast fashion. Plus, whatever your finds may be, they will probably be unique and you'll be able to be totally original and embrace your own style, not following the mass ! It might seem not as accessible where you are as it is in the U.S.A (where the trend of thrift shopping started) but if you look into it, you'll definitely end up finding at least one thrift shop in your area.
15. Try reusable menstrual products:
This is for the people that have a menstrual cycle. Unfortunately, the monthly annoyance is usually inevitable when you're a teenager and this creates quite a lot of waste even if we never really asked for it. However you can reduce that waste by trying out all the range of reusable menstrual products. There are so much that they can't all be stated here but some of these options are reusable pads, period underwear, the menstrual cup, etc. just choose the one that appeals the most to you !
16. Turn your computer off overnight:
Seems like a very small thing but after this list, you may understand that every little thing matters. Not turning off your computer uses energy that costs both money and energy, so unplug that computer !
17. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle:
Live by these three R ! Reduce, Reuse and Recycle ! Reduce your waste, Reuse whatever you can and Recycle by sorting the waste ! Help the planet !
18. Walk or use your bike instead of the car:
Most of us use the bus to get to school and when you don't live close or in a big city, this action is hard to apply, however you can still go by foot to the local shops in your village. This makes you get some fresh air and avoid you to pollute with your parents driving you around !
19. Plant a tree:
If you have a garden, that's great ! Plant a tree. If you don't have a garden but your friend does, organize something ! It might seem weird said like that but it can be a lot of fun to plant trees and plants. First you help nature and second you have an afternoon of laughter and bonding time ! Moreover, if you have neither a garden and neither friends, you can also use https://www.ecosia.org/ as your search engine to plant trees while using the internet !
20. Share the knowledge:
Finally, share your knowledge. The more people are aware of ways to help the planet, the better the situation will get. We have to spread and share knowledge but also educate ourselves on the matter. So read articles, talk about the matter and debate it and share the knowledge !
And last but not least:
21. Become a future leader:
If you are interested in sustainability, you may wish to take further to embrace a profession which has sustainability as the main focus. It can be anything from policy making, sciences, international negotiations or creating green and ethical business companies !
There are several new university programmes that start offering new degrees with a focus on sustainability:
Just few years ago, the Dutch University of Groningen launched its Bachelor's degree Global Responsability and Leadership. It is taught at Campus Fryslân and it has received a Top Programme 2020 label. It also teaches CORE ECON, new economic thinking curriculum, by a group of leading professors which was revised economics curriculum following the 2007 financial crises. Tuition fees are at about 4000 Euros per year.
In September 2020, French University PSL launched a new interdisciplinary Bachelor's degree in Sustainability Science, with a main focus on science. It is taught half in English and half in French, and the tuition is 170 Euros per year.
In September 2021, the Swedish University of Gothenburg will launch a new interdisciplinary Bachelor's degree in International Relations, which will address global challenges, sustainability and equality through the international relations. The programme will be taught entirely in English. Education in Sweden is for free and you may apply to this new programme in spring 2021.
In September 2021, The Swedish Stockholm University will launch a new interdisciplinary Bachelor's programme in Business, Ethics and Sustainabilty. The programme is offerred by two leading departments: Stockholm Business School which is among top 20 business schools in Europe, and the Resilience Centre, a leading global research centre which assisted 96 UN negotiations has a strong focus on sustainability science. The programme will be taught entirely in English. Education in Sweden is for free and you may apply to this new programme in spring 2021.
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