Harleen Mclean Biophillic

Earth Day - 6 changes for a better planet for £1 or less

In honour of Earth Day on April 22nd, 2021, let’s Celebrate with the things we can change for a better, healthier planet. This year’s theme is all called ‘Restore Our Earth’ and is all about the focus on natural processes, emerging green technologies and innovative ways that can restore the world’s ecosystem.

1. Support Ecocide Law

I recently came across Ecocide Law which is all about the criminalisation of human activities which violate the principles of environmental justice, such as destroying ecosystems or substantially damaging or by harming the health and wellbeing of species. The aim of the ecocide law is to add the crime of ecocide to the Rome Statue, which is also known as Crime against peace. This is one of the most powerful documents in the world. Although currently there are only four crimes that are deemed punishable in the international criminal court.

  •  the crime of aggression
  •  crime against humanity
  •  war crimes
  • the crimes of genocide

To learn more and support the cause CLICK HERE

2. Save Water

Did you know that 71% of the earth’s surface is covered in water, however only 2.5% of that is fresh water – the rest is saline and ocean based. That vital 2.5% of fresh water can be found in the atmosphere, soil and ice. Which means there is only 0.007 % of the planet’s water is left to help feed and fuel the 6.8 billion people on this planet. As our population continues to grow and expand, this small percentage of water now has to stretch further.

Also water is becoming limited due to climate change and droughts thereby further reducing the water we share

The UK’s average daily in door water use is 142 litres of water each day. The average household uses 349 litres of water each day. The average annual metered water bill is £4272. Although the amount of water we use for the food we eat, the products we use every day and the clothes we wear are thousands of litres.

My 4 best tips for reducing your water footprint are:

• choose products made from recycled materials

• shop second hand if you can

• eat more plant based foods

• chose to use reusable clean products and cleaning clothes

3. Switch to a more sustainable energy company

You may be surprised to hear that on average 40% of global CO2 emissions are emitted from electricity generation. This is one of the simplest changes we can all make in our lives, it doesn’t matter whether you live in a flat or a house, switch energy providers. Here is a list of the best green energy suppliers on the UK

Or you can compare green energy suppliers at Uswitch

4. Compost

The average household in the UK produces more than a tonne of waste every year. Put together, this comes to a total of 31 million tonnes per year.

In fact, In the UK, 6.7 million tonnes of food is wasted per year which totals to costs of £10.2 billion each year. This represents costs of £250-£400 per household per year.

Landfills were created for storage not decomposition.

In landfill there is no oxygen, so the organic matter that is delivered can’t break down meaning it is left and starts releasing methane. Did you know that methane is 30 times more powerful than your average greenhouse gas like CO2.

Also, 16% of all methane emission comes from landfills.

One of the simplest ways to reduce this is by starting Composting. The amazing thing about composting is that you can reduce your food waste by at least 50% with this one simple swap.

There are a few ways you can start composting whether that’s building your own compost area in your garden or setting up a compost box on the balcony.

5. Eat More Plants

Plants are delicious, nutritious, and very, very good for us. It’s no surprise that opting for a plant-based diet is one of the most simplest of ways to have a positive impact on the environment.

We’ve all been making that banana bread over lockdown and creating our own sough dough starters. Why not try swapping a couple of your meals each week to plant based ones. Especially now as there are many meat alternatives, and you can create some real delicious vegetarian recipes.

6. Plant more Trees

Trees are one of the most affordable and potentially even the most effective tool we can use to combat climate change and absorb carbon from the atmosphere.

Why not celebrate earth day by planting a tree?

You’ll be shocked to discover that we could have the potential to reverse the last 10 years of carbon emissions by simply planting over 1 trillion trees. I recently came across this amazing company called – One Tree Planted, they are a non – profit organisation who plant trees in Africa, Asia, North America and South America.

Trees are a key part to our eco systems, as they help to clean the air we breathe, filter the water we drink, and provide a habitat to over 80% of the world’s biodiversity.

They also

  •  provide jobs to over 1.6 billion people
  •  a key ingredient to more than 25% of all medicines
  •  absorb harmful carbon from the atmosphere

The best thing about this whole company is it only costs £1 to plant a tree. That is correct £1 only, which means we can all start making changes to living a greener life and help combat climate change.

So, there are my 6 tips on ways we can make a change to our planet. Let me know what changes you are making to help combat climate change and improve the planet.

If you want to learn more about zero waste , climate change and biophilia. Come and Join me on May 12th at 7pm where I will be hosting a FREE workshop.