I’m just one person.  What I do is a drop in the bucket.

I hear that a lot when it comes to taking action to reduce climate disruption. Why bother? Who’s going to notice if I choose not to fly? If I ride my bike or walk instead of driving, or drive an electric car? If I cut back on burgers?

For years I was one of the people saying the most important thing you can do is vote for climate conscious governments. They wield the most power, make the biggest decisions affecting our emissions. And they do need to take serious action. On our current trajectory we’re set to blow way past that aspirational goal of limiting global heating to 1.5 C since pre-industrial times. And given the mess we’re in at the current 1.2 C increase, we don’t want to go there.

While it’s true that governments and big business have the most influence, we are not powerless. Far from it. A study that looked at the top, proven methods to curb climate disruption found that individual actions alone could reduce global emissions by 20-37 per cent.

And individual actions have a snowball effect. Motivational speaker Jim Rohn famously said we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. Other research shows we are influenced by people we haven’t even met. By the time I picked up my electric car, I knew at least six others who drove EVs.  Less than two years after I drove my car home, two friends had purchased newer versions of the same vehicle.

Every new EV on the road, or new electric heat pump installed in a home, means fewer greenhouse gas emissions. According to the World Resources Institute, the average Canadian emits 19.6 tonnes of GHGs a year. The global average is 6.3. To get to a balanced climate, we’re told we should be aiming for 2 to 2.5 tonnes each. 

That’s not going to happen overnight. But we know it’s critical that we reduce our emissions globally by about half in the next seven years, so we need all hands on deck.

What can little old me do?

Half of us think recycling is the best way a person can reduce emissions, according to an IPSOS poll of almost 24,000 people in 30 countries last year.  As it turns out, that is #60 on the list. The top actions are to:

  1. Go car free. (Okay, not so practical if you live in a rural area.)
  2. Drive an EV. Not there yet? Drive less and carpool, walk or bike more.
  3. Vacation closer to home. Taking one less flight to Europe can shrink your emissions by as much as two metric tons. Sure, the plane may still fly, but your money isn’t funding the growth of air travel.
  4. Reduce fossil fuel heating. Turn down the thermostat. Make the house more air tight. Eventually, switch from natural gas to a heat pump.
  5. Eat more delicious fruits and veggies and less meat.

And talk to your friends about what you’re doing and why.

We may think our actions are a drop in the bucket, but as David Suzuki has said, “with enough drops, we can fill any bucket.”