Bonjour! So, | have been too busy traveling (carbon offsets of course... I'm a bit defensive about this, and yay for the eurostar!) and exploring the art galleries of Paris (heaven!) to update lately, and now I'm a week late! So here are two linked challenges in one.
Week#4 challenge- Get Educated 2- Eco tips!
Read, by clicking on the end of this sentence, about some of the easy changes we can make, some which are one time things, some which take some practice and altering of habits, to reduce our carbon footprint and other influences on the environment. I recommend picking one area to read about, from the many greening guides on treehugger.com. These guides are fun, well written and researched, and cover a wide variety of topics (from energy, water and travel to how to green your sex life!- intriguing).
This is the challenge | should have had for week 3 I think, to follow on from reading about climate change causes. I think this kind of reading is incredibly important, because as I stated in week #2, sometimes when our minds touch on scary things that are too big to deal with, we run away (mentally) and avoid the topic- sticking our heads in the sand. This is not good! We need to separate out the scary global warming thoughts from the the solution of lifestyle changes, because even if you avoid the scary stuff, we NEED to be engaging in solutions. If reading about the science of climate change was not so fun (and I realise I haven't done my homework and updated on that one yet either), this is the challenge for you. Go for it!
Week#5 Challenge- Social influence, baby!
And this is a really simple one- talk to someone else about a pro-environmental behaviour. Why? Because we (people who are concerned about the environment and who are doing something about it), are, frankly, in the minority. I don't know that many people who think about climate change daily, and for whom climate change is an element in many of their decisions. This is a global crisis, humanity needs to make some huge changes, so we need to be thinking about it all the time, really, or just thinking about acting responsibly all the time. Be part of the critical mass of environmentalists, part of the avalanche of change, by bringing these issues (subtly) to the fore of the mind of someone you know!
There are a number of options for how to do this, such as raising a concern you've been having, or mentioning a news article, but my favourite is to start this off with a question.
Like- 'Do you know much about carbon offsetting? because I'm a bit confused about how it works, and whether planting trees or investing in renewables is better. What do you think?'
or ' What do you think about single stream recycling as opposed to consumer sorted? Do you think it's worth the extra processing energy for the higher participation rates?'
or, something less involved, like asking opinions on worm farms vs. compost bins. The possibilities are endless, and there are many many topics on the treehugger site.
Really, the aim of this challenge is to empower people to change by bringing solutions to the problems to the fore instead of the facts and figures of the problem itself, which are just overwhelming.
so focus on the positives- action, not despair!
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