3 simple ways to be climate positive

How you can make a difference everyday

Climate positive

If I had a penny for every time I heard someone taking about sustainability, I’d be driving a midnight blue Rapid E already. It’s a word that’s wearing thin. But that’s not a bad thing. Having sustainability in the public sphere is in everyone’s best interest. But the mere size of the challenge facing humanity can make us feel helpless. What can I do to help keep catastrophic climate collapse at bay? It’s hard not feel like we are standing on a beach facing an oncoming tsunami holding nothing but a surf board.

But being climate positive is not something that is just for governments and industry to solve. Every one of us must do our part. Let me tell you why and then show you how.

The average CO2 emission of a person living in the Netherlands is 9.6 tonnes per year. To limit global warming to 2°C, the average level of CO2 emission per person per year, must not exceed 2,1 tonnes by 2050.

Worldometer

Skip the bath, take a shower

If you skipped taking a bath for an entire year and only took showers instead, you would save a whopping 766 kilograms of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent). That’s the same as driving from Amsterdam to Paris and back – 3 times!

That brings your CO2 emissions down from 9.6 tonnes to 8.85 tonnes per year. Well done!

Drink only Tap Water

It’s really that simple. Stop buying that Spa Rood. Why? Because in a year you’ll save a massive 234 kilograms of CO2e. And trust me, every little bit counts.

Leave the car at home

Now here comes the big one. I know some of you are now rolling your eyes and thinking “Yeah yeah I know, I know. Easy for you to say!” But just hear me out.

I actually love driving. And when you live in the Netherlands, the weather can often drive you, to well – drive. But I’m lucky enough to afford an electric car. And since I moved here 7 years ago, I have openly adopted the Dutch cycling culture. Rain, hail or shine you’ll usually see me carting my 2 little boys on my bicycle everywhere.

But what if you live too far to cycle? Here’s a BIG reason to not get in a machine that operates on 6000 explosions a minute!

6.72 tonnes of CO2e. Yup. That’s what you’ll save in a year if you take the train or bus rather than driving. Let me say that again – 6.72 tonnes. That’s more the weight of an African bush elephant!

Just these 3 steps will bring your yearly CO2 emissions down to 1.9 tonnes.
YES, YOU DID IT!

Now I know some of you are doing the math and thinking – “Hang on a minute! You said the goal was 2.1 tonnes per person per year. Why am I doing all this to get down to 1.9 tonnes??” Because believe it or not, the 2 degree pathway is not enough. The 2 degree pathway will still be devastating for many island communities and millions of lives. So yes, we aim to go above and beyond. We aim to do a little more than needed in order to right a very big wrong. We must exceed our own expectations. Because as the viral saying goes – there is no Planet B.

All CO2e stats in this article are taken from goldstandard.org.