Climate action is an ongoing process to be accomplished under the consequences of global climate change. In our everyday life, climate change impacts go forward to design our further movement. We can take many actions day to day from the individual level. Over 20 years of UN dialogues, we have learned about different types of climate actions from various relevant conferences. Under this condition, most of the countries are going to work forcefully for the first time toward the accomplishment of a legally binding and universal agreement on climate actions. In the implementation of these agreements, climate activists think that the legal bindings always do not work on climate actions. Rather than this, we can shift our individual lifestyle to comply with the legally bound climate actions.
What is a climate-adapted lifestyle?
We can sustainably forward our daily movement in traditional climate actions. In this way, we will be able to reduce our daily consumption of resources. We can call such habit in our daily life climate-adapted lifestyle. Definitely, the new approach of lifestyle will be helping us to reach the SDG goals. On the other hand, the process helps us to get a reduction of global temperature.
The UN global climate actions
The world’s climate movement requires the proper execution of the discussion decision of the COP (climate conference). The name of the conference is also called the Paris conference. This is important that this conference explores the most important talks of world leaders immediately after the UN general assembly meeting. The significance of this Paris conference enormously highlights the strategic climate actions of our daily life. The international thinkers think that the Paris conference has a huge impact on our future survival after the agreement of the Kyoto protocol.
Incorporating sustainability into the climate change issue is very much interrelated and multidimensional, and that is why each of all citizens across different nations is equally responsible to contribute to reducing global temperature. Although the key agenda of the COP event is aiming to attain an international climate agreement among different stakeholders from government and non-governmental sectors, the process also performs to remind all levels of citizens of how everyone can move to reduce emissions of greenhouse gas in our day-to-day lives. Why the changing our daily lives is so important? We can just give an example in favor of its significance: each French citizen typically releases 7.5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent every year! Even, a developing nation Bangladeshi citizen still releases less than French citizen, but we should be aware of this from now.
Therefore, if we all start to revise our lives now, we can be significant contributory agents in reducing global emissions and also help our own governments to reach the SDGs.
Integrating sustainability in our daily climate actions
Sustainability is about creating a future where we don’t want to undermine the capacity of our forthcoming generations. So, to make a sustainable future, the choices of individuals can start at home. This process acts as a part of our larger community where the process may modify our news headlines every day like stories about climate change, pollution, water scarcity, food contamination, housing shortages, and so on.
Therefore, how can we start by changing our lifestyles gradually? Here we can introduce some of our daily habits that make a citizen reduces greenhouse gas emissions. How much that would be significant in the global scale, it depends on our individual awareness of climate change issues as well as our attitude to the human being irrespective of race, religions, and regions (3R)!
Recommended strategic climate actions in daily life
The story goes to the following elements that are still unfolding as a bigger picture for us:
Energy
- We have to use energy-saving bulbs as much as possible. An energy-saving bulb usually consumes five times less energy than the consumption of a normal bulb.
- Many of us don’t turn-off lights when we leave our room. We find that our useless 30 minutes lighting per day estimates to 5 days’ nonstop lighting following a year.
- Keeping standby of our appliances consumes huge electricity that accounts for 20 to 40% of our regular consumption of power.
- The use of fewer winter heaters is better for climate protection. In this case, we can avoid overheating or overcooling a room, or may use a common heater or cooler for more than one room. It estimates that reducing winter heating by only 1°C cuts electricity consumption by 7%.
- More internet use on mobile, computer, or tablet emits more CO2 due to servers’ use extensively. About 10 kg of CO2 is emitted per year by one’s searching for something with the internet.
Water
- Freshwater is becoming scarce. We must care about our water resources when we see that a soaked tap may waste up to 120 liters per day and a malfunctioned toilet flush 1,000 liters per day.
Transport
- To some extent, our transport, vehicles, and road system are becoming in horrible condition (!) due to poor infrastructure and governance. Use of public transport and cycling are less prioritized in our cities. In reality, private car-based life promotes increasing global carbon emissions. However, when we see- energy consumption of metro passengers is about 14 times less compared to car users.
Waste Management
- Recycling waste or lack of proper waste management should be our concern in daily life. This is especially at the time of product choice and its end usage. The use of disposable products is good for the climate. In each year, the amount of CO2 emissions from waste incineration is equal to CO2 emissions by 2.3 million cars.
- We should use less paper in our daily activities. The paperless job station is now becoming popular in many places globally including Bangladesh. Unplanned paper production promotes deforestation that accounts for 20% of global emissions. We know a huge amount of energy is necessary for making paper. The alternative sources of making paper can be sustainable forests, as suggested by environmentalists.
Food habit
- Our food habits can also reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this sense, arable (crop) farming is quite better than pastoral (animal) farming. A study is shown in the case of French farming that 20% of the country’s greenhouse gas is emitted by their extensive farming. To make climate neutral life, seasonal fruits and vegetables are suggested to keep in daily food charts rather than the food choices of animal protein.
Finally, I would say a climate-neutral lifestyle could be derived from the sustainable behavior of our everyday lives. All of our choices and actions depend on our own interest and awareness of climate change and its impacts globally. The changing of our lifestyle is indeed a part of our culture and society, but it is our responsibility to shape the lifestyles within our common interest. Since the choices are individual, therefore – it does not a matter we do practices whether at home or anywhere.
