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Reduce Waste

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Anything is considered to be waste when the holder discards it. Examples of waste include: Plastic bags and other ‘soft’ plastic packaging Glass containers Paper e.g. newspapers, paper bags Organic waste e.g. vegetable and fruit peelings, food Plastic bottles Greenhouse gas emissions may be generated as part of the production process for the item (e.g. burning oil or gas to produce the plastic container) or in the disposal of the item (e.g. organics decomposing in landfills generating methane).  I use the following strategies to reduce the amount of waste I generate and therefore the amount of emissions associated with that waste. Compost organic material I have several compost bins and a worm farm at home. I ensure that all organic scraps are placed in the compost bin or worm farm, especially the vegetable and fruit peelings. I reduce the food waste I generate through planning meals and ensuring food and leftovers are used. I collect leaves during autumn and they are added to the comp
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Food

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Food accounts for over a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. To reduce my greenhouse gas emissions, I avoid eating meat and eat local organic food.  Avoiding meat The best way to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions when choosing food to eat is to avoid meat. According to Our World in Data , it is the meats and fish that emit the largest greenhouse gas emissions: Beef, Lamb, Mutton, Shrimps, Fish, Pig meat and poultry meat.  Along with climate change, one of the great challenges for the world is how to feed the increasing world’s population. Already half the habitable land on the earth is used for agriculture. Livestock accounts for 77% of global farming land but only produces 18% of the world’s calories. If the world can reduce its demand for meat, particularly beef, it will mean that more land can be available for growing vegetables and/or growing forests to draw down emissions. For more details of the environmental impacts of food production, see here . Knowing all
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Train Travel

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As noted in my previous post on flying , traveling by train produces less emissions than flying. I and my partner have just completed a train trip from Adelaide to Canberra. We wanted to catch up with my sisters in Adelaide for my birthday and an early Christmas. We decided to fly one way from Canberra to Adelaide and then return using trains, thereby reducing our carbon emissions on one half of the journey. On Thursday 22 December we traveled by train from Adelaide to Melbourne and stayed overnight in Melbourne. On Friday 23 December, we caught the XPT train from Melbourne to Yass, before transferring to a bus for the final journey to Canberra.  We had considered using trains for both directions. However, the Overland train only goes from Melbourne to Adelaide twice a week (Monday and Friday). This would have meant leaving Canberra on Thursday 15 December for Canberra to Melbourne, staying in Melbourne overnight and traveling from Melbourne to Adelaide on Friday 16 December. However,
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