A Lighter Footprint
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Scribe Publications A Lighter Footprint Angela Crocombe is the Melbourne-based author of A Lighter Footprint: A Practical Guide to Minimising Your Impact on the Planet (Scribe, 2007) and Ethical Eating (Penguin, 2008). She is passionate about living sustainably and helping others to make more sustainable choices in their own lives. Angela has also written thirteen educational books for primary school students. Her books Climate Change and Water Supply were shortlisted for The Wilderness Society’s Environmental Awards for Children’s Literature in 2009. Her website is www.lighterfootprint.com.au. a practical guide to minimising your impact on the plant e AngelA CroCombe Scribe Publications Pty Ltd PO Box 523 Carlton North, Victoria, Australia, 3054 Email: [email protected] First published by Scribe 2007 This revised edition published 2011 Copyright © 2007, 2011 by Angela Crocombe All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher of this book. This book is carbon neutral The publisher gratefully acknowledges the support of the federal Department of the Environment and Water Resources, and Sustainability Victoria for permission to reproduce information available on their websites. For more information see: www.environment.gov.au www.climatechange.gov.au www.sustainability.vic.gov.au Book design by Design by Committee Printed and bound in Australia by Griffin Press National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data Crocombe, Angela, 1971- . A lighter footprint. 9781921753558 (e-book) Rev. ed. 1. Climatic changes - Australia. 2. Australia - Environmental conditions. I. Title. 551.60994 www.scribepublications.com.au Preface 5 Water 105 The Slow Food 68 Average movement 1 Introduction water usage 106 Become a 13 Why me? 68 Embodied water vegetarian 14 Why you? 69 Water footprint 107 Better yet, go vegan 16 What are 69 Be water wise greenhouse gases? 71 In the bathroom 7 recycling 16 Kyoto and other 74 In the kitchen hot air 112 Refuse, reduce, 76 In the laundry 18 The future re-use, recycle 77 Outdoors 18 This book 112 Kerbside recycling 81 Re-using greywater 19 A lighter footprint 113 What can be 82 Installing recycled kerbside? 20 An Ecological water-saving systems Footprint Quiz 116 Where does my recycling go? 6 Food 116 Compost 2 Carbon offset 88 Food miles 119 Litter Schemes 88 Ghost acres 120 Plastic bags 24 Common offsetting 89 Buy locally and 121 Mobile phones methods seasonally 121 Cork 26 Different 90 Farmers’ markets calculations 122 Polystyrene 90 Water filters 26 Companies offering 123 Computers carbon offsets 92 Organic and biodynamic produce 123 Printer cartridges 27 Offsetting is only 94 Grow your own 124 Home part of the picture entertainment 94 Free-range eggs 124 White goods 3 Transport 96 Cruelty-free meat and poultry 125 Cars 31 Cars 98 Finding organic 126 Chemicals, gases, 37 Public transport meats paint tins and car batteries 39 Walk or bicycle 98 Kangaroo meat 126 Cooking oil 40 Air travel 99 Dairy products 126 Other household 99 Seafood items 4 energy 101 Processed food 45 Electricity 101 Artificial 8 Appliances 48 Gas colourings and 49 Renewable energy preservatives and Household 53 What about nuclear? 102 Fairtrade products goods 54 Lighting 103 Genetically 130 The energy rating label 57 Heating modified food 131 Choice magazine 63 Cooling 104 Eating out 131 Refrigerators 10 ethical 203 Know your paper and freezers Investment 204 Communal 132 Dishwashers facilities 173 Triple bottom line 134 Clothes washers 204 Purchase Energy 173 Ethical investment Star office equipment 136 Clothes dryers versus SRI 206 Green Power 137 Energy Stars 173 Fund performance and standby power the office 174 Screening 207 Recycling 138 Home methods entertainment at the office 174 Investment 207 Keep staff 139 Home office options equipment involved 175 Superannuation 141 Wooden furniture 208 Encourage 175 Uranium mining – sustainable transport 143 Rugs yes or no? to the office 144 Household 176 Ethical fund 211 Is that business cleaning managers trip necessary? 145 Fabrics and soft 177 UN principles for 211 Assess your furnishings responsible investment building’s greenhouse 177 The Equator performance 9 building and principles renovating 13 Travel 150 Use of the sun 11 Personal Care and events 151 Climate 181 Skin 213 Responsible travel 151 Choosing 183 Hair 217 Holding an event a good site 184 Cosmetics 152 Room zoning 184 The Big Baddie list 14 be an 153 Flooring and walls 188 Toothpaste Activist 153 Windows 189 Natural skin 226 Educate yourself 154 Skylights protectors 226 Use the media 155 Insulation 190 Cotton balls 227 Write to politicians 155 Lighting 190 Sanitary products 227 Volunteer 156 Water 191 Animal testing 227 Plant trees 158 Hot water 192 Choose 228 Go in peace 162 Energy cruelty-free 163 Building materials 193 Nappies 231 r esource list 165 Waste 195 Clothes and shoes 237 n otes minimisation 165 Indoor air quality 12 In the office 167 Timber 200 Individual 168 Garden design changes 170 Get expert advice 202 Overall changes to company policy Preface to the 2011 edition When I initially researched and wrote this book in late 2006-early 2007, I envisaged that material would become out of date fairly quickly as we rapidly moved to a lower emissions economy and focused our collective energy upon urgently reducing global greenhouse gas levels. Three years later as I update the book, I am saddened to realise that little has changed. Australia still doesn’t have a government-mandated price on carbon, an emissions trading scheme or other major initiatives to drive a new economy based on an improved set of environmentally responsible principles. I thought that the Global Financial Crisis might wake up our leaders to the ridiculousness of our reliance upon junk bonds, derivatives and other things that don’t really exist except in the minds of greedy bankers. But the GFC became just another excuse for our political leaders to delay real action on climate change. The climate talks at Copenhagen, intended to develop further global limits on greenhouse gas emissions, were essentially a debacle and no alternative has yet been given serious attention. Unfortunately, in the absence of true national or international leadership, the responsibility must continue to be borne on an individual level. I am heartened to note that so much is already being achieved by passionate and committed individuals and businesses all over the world. But there is more work to be done. We must continue to educate ourselves, and encourage business leaders and politicians to take serious action on climate change. We must continue to further reduce our reliance upon fossil fuels in our homes and our workplaces. We must teach our children the importance of responding to the challenges we are faced with and show them that we have not stood by and done nothing as their future world is compromised. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, ‘You must be the change you wish to see in the world’. Nothing is more important. 7 Faced with these challenges, e-books represent a wonderful development for the publishing industry, since they do not rely upon paper and trees for their production. I hope that this updated e-book can continue to be a useful tool for people committed to reducing their footprint upon the planet. I would like to dedicate this e-book to my daughter Verity, who represents the next generation who will inherit the earth that we leave behind—for better or for worse. Angela Crocombe January 2011 8 A LIGHTER FOOTPRINT Preface I believe that global warming is the biggest issue facing humanity today – it represents a far greater threat than terrorism, fundamentalism, or nuclear war. I am not alone in this belief. Scientists and many policymakers agree that the global population must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 60 per cent by 2050 with more drastic cuts needed by developed nations. It is imperative that the international community agrees to this target and legislates to reach it. Human-induced drastic climate change represents the tipping point in our relationship with the planet. It’s a problem that has been building for many hundreds, if not thousands, of years and it won’t disappear tomorrow. Even if we stopped producing greenhouse gas emissions today, the planet’s temperature would continue to warm for several decades. Unless extreme action is taken, increasing population and consumption levels will endanger the survival of every living organism on the planet. Those of us in the industrialised world have a greater obligation than most to achieve the goal of a drastic reduction in emissions. It is our countries that have generated the most greenhouse gas emissions since the Industrial Revolution, it is our ecological footprints that are the highest in the world, and it is our lifestyles that people in developing countries are trying to emulate. Humanity does have the capacity to create a more sustainable future. We already have much of the knowledge and technology required to halt global warming. We just need the will to fully implement it. Each and every one of us needs to play our part by reducing our ecological footprint. Everything we do and every item we own – the food we eat, the car we drive, the house we live in, and the consumer goods we acquire – has been made by drawing from nature’s limited resources. We urgently need to realise that our individual 9 actions have a significant, collective impact on the global environment.