Cutting the coffee habit could be one way to reduce CO2 emissions (Image: Diana Koenigsberg/Stone/Getty)

WHEN the UN Climate Change Conference opens in Copenhagen next month, all eyes will be on the delegates’ efforts to broker a deal that will prevent catastrophic global warming. Yet amid all the talk of caps, targets and trading, it is easy to forget who is ultimately responsible for the mess we find ourselves in. I have long argued that climate change begins at home. Each of us in the developed world has played our part in creating this problem and, while there is no doubt that coordinated global action is needed to tackle it, we can each be part of the solution.

So, ask yourself this: how green am I really? You might think you are doing your bit for the environment, but even if you shun bottled water, buy local produce and reuse your plastic bags, chances are that you have some habits that are far more environmentally damaging than you realise. What’s more, if everyone else is doing these things too, their detrimental effects really add up.

1 Coffee

Take coffee. Its vendors are in the vanguard of those promoting more “sustainable” products, with organic and fair trade options now widely available. Starbucks even boasts a programme it calls Shared PlanetTM programme – the irony of that trademark appears to be lost on them – which has the declared aim of minimising the company’s environmental impact and increasing involvement with local communities.

That’s no bad thing, as far as it goes: fair trade can help to stop the exploitation of farmers, and buying organic may ensure more sustainable production …