Environmentalism Works

The idea of offsetting is one of the most important concepts to emerge over the last few years. In the complex and interdependent world that we live in it is unrealistic for everyone to return to an agrarian style of existence in order to cut carbon emissions. We have to find new ways to maintain the technological benefits of modern consumer society while at the same time reigning in emissions that are threatening to cause environmental catastrophe. We can start to do this by taking a comprehensive audit of the carbon count of various economic, social and other activities and find ways to balance the damage done with actions that reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.

The main consumer event in the Western World is Christmas. It is the time when the shops do most of their business and when people are apt to consume more natural resources than at any other time. It therefore makes very good sense from an environmental point of view to find ways of offsetting the extra carbon emissions that Christmas entails.

One way to do this is to travel less. Since people are on holiday they don’t have to commute to work. They should seek to keep their mileage lower during the Christmas period. This can be done by doing the Christmas shopping in as few trips as possible. Buying gifts from online retailers that ship in bulk can also help offset carbon expenditure at Christmas.

People like to go to the pub during the Christmas time. Not only is it against the law to drink and drive but it is also bad for carbon emissions. Try to walk to the pub or share a ride with other people.

Perhaps one of the best ways to offset Christmas is to give something back to nature. By planting several trees a person is increasing the amount of carbon that can be recycled into oxygen. Planting trees and plants also helps to reduce pollution.

Another option is to adopt a tree in the neighborhood. It is a sad fact that the average lifespan for urban trees in America is just 8 years. Find out how to take action to change this.

If a home has a flat roof a great idea is to set up a green roof. There is plenty of literature on this topic. Green roofs lower both heating and cooling costs of a building and increase bio diversity in a town or city.

Finally, if a household does not recycle bottles, paper and aluminum cans then Christmas is a great time to start. By taking material to recycling points a person is reducing the emissions involved in mining and also helping to stop deforestation.

Taking positive action to try and balance the extra consumption that Christmas entails is the right thing to do. As the situation of the environment becomes more critical the ethics involved in how we treat nature will become nearly as important as the ethics concerned with how we treat each other.