Today is Global Climate Strike Day. Thousands of people will be demonstrating, all over the UK, that they support the students who have been striking for a year now, to get the Government to listen. Many thousands more will be demonstrating, worldwide.
a goal of the Global Climate Strikes is to encourage activism and disrupt business as usual, everywhere, and force politicians to act with urgency to address the climate crisis.
Take Climate Strike Action locally
You may well have a gathering in your town or city. I don’t know how worldwide this event has become, but the Global Clmate Strike website has a tweet from Australia. The Maritime Union of Australia has sent a message of support. There’s certainly action in Germany.
In the UK, UCU, the UK education workers union has a motion to TUC (Trades Union Council) conference calling for entire trade union movement to support a national 30 min work stoppage.
What am I doing today?
I’m on the road, literally.It’s the first day of my holiday and I’m driving with the guinea pigs down to a cottage in Hampshire.
Not very climate conscious, then.
Well…. consider these actions you can do too, to be more climate conscious without ruining your lifestyle – although we do need to adapt our lifestyles:
Travel
- Walk, cycle, take public transport (other than flying) as your preferred mode of mobility
- If you must drive, see if a small eco-friendly car, or a hybrid, will work for you.
- Make your driving style efficient: accelerate slowly, anticipate stopping, so you slow down over a longer period. Think even pace, and lift your foot off the accelerator a little. Drop your cruising speed by 5 mph, it can make a big difference to your petrol consumption and not much to your journey time.
- Holiday in your own country, or go by rail internationally.
At home
- reduce use, re-use items where possible, or recycle them.
- buy less stuff, and make it last longer
- buy second-hand stuff, and send your stuff to second-hand shops
- turn off anything that isn’t actually being used. I seem to have got into a habit of letting my computer stay on sleep mode instead of turning it off.
- anything that uses a charger probably still uses electricity even when fully charged – turn off chargers at the mains if you must leave them plugged in.
- grow some of your own food, even on a windowsill if you don’t have a balcony or garden (but take care where you source any pots and compost!)
- compost leftover organic and natural fibre waste. If you don’t have enough bulk to make your compost heap work, find a guinea pig or rabbit owner, who will have compostable used bedding waiting for a composter to fill! Do not compost cat or dog poo unless you have a special compost bin (hot bin)
I’m probably speaking to the converted anyway, but if you’d like any guidance, either check with your local recycling or environmental facilities, search online, or pop a message below and I’ll do my best to make a helpful suggestion.
And check the Global Climate Strike website, and twitter feed, for other ideas and resources.
Hi Jemima – travel safe and have a lovely time away – sunny Hampshire sounds good. We need to do something … and we can all help even a little – as you say. Cheers Hilary
Have a nice holiday!
When hubby and I went to London earlier this year, there were protests going on about this.
I wasn’t in tune to the event, but we didn’t use any fossil fuels that day, at least not directly. Spent the whole day and nights either side in a hut in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. But I did use my cell phone (has some connection sometimes, and also as a camera) and e-reader, as well as a headlamp and—oops, fossil fuel!—the camp stove. Still, a pretty small footprint, if we ignore the flying and driving that brought us to the mountains!