The Earth is heating up (EyeEm)

It can’t have escaped your notice that it was pretty hot over the weekend.

In fact, the last five years are the hottest ones ever recorded over the last 139 by the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). As the planet heats up due to climate change, there’s plenty of discussion over what can be done.

Now, a few climate researchers have revealed exactly what changes they themselves have made in order to limit their impact on the environment.

In an extensive piece in the Guardian, these climate experts liken climate change to humankind being inside a car hurtling towards the edge of a cliff. Rather than stop the car, they say we’re just sitting inside it arguing.




It’s well worth reading the piece in its entirety to get an insight into what these people are doing but it boils down to a few key changes: eat less, fly less and generally stop consuming as much as you do.

It’s not all bad news though – they also say we could probably work less.

Rule 1: Stop flying (AFP)

Prof Dave Reay from the University of Edinburgh wrote: ‘I gave up flying in 2004. I’d just published a paper looking at the carbon emissions that come from climate scientists like me attending conferences, which academics do a lot.’

‘It would have been hypocritical for me to flag up flying as the major part of my carbon footprint, and then carry on doing it.’

Meanwhile, Tom Bailey, the head of sustainable consumption at C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, wrote that we should adopt a plant-based diet.

‘It’s important that everybody goes close to vegetarian, and ideally vegan,’ he wrote.

‘Not just that: it’s also important that we stop eating so much. The average European eats 3,500 calories a day, which is too much. The planet has had to provide all those unnecessary calories.’

He also suggests that with less consumption needed, we may all be able to take more time off work.

‘One of the best things you can do to address climate change is go down to a four-day working week,’ he wrote. ‘This would take some of the heat out of our ever-expanding economies, reduce our capacity and urge to consume, and create space to live a more balanced life.’

Finally, try to go as plastic-free in your life as possible.

Plastic waste is now a common feature of the world’s rivers and oceans (Photo by Zikri Maulana/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

‘Your average soap bottle has about five different types of plastic, and unless each bit is dismantled, it’s not completely recyclable,’ wrote Siobhán Pereira, a carbon specialist at construction and engineering firm Costain Group.

‘The little pump is made from one type of plastic, the pipe is made from another, and then you’ve got the spring. We’ve got so used to going into the supermarket, putting something into our baskets and coming home, but we haven’t considered what happens at the end of its life.’

The UK is forging ahead to try and become as sustainable as possible. We have committed to having net zero greenhouse emissions by 2050.



‘No one should underestimate the impact of this decision. It makes the UK the first major economy to set such a legally binding target,’ Ed Matthew, coordinator of the net zero campaign at The Climate Coalition, told Metro.co.uk.

The UK is committed to reducing emissions (PA)

‘It is an act of international leadership and it will encourage other governments to follow. It follows a two year campaign involving nature, faith, health and development organisations working together with an impressive cross-party group of MPs and leading business groups.’

‘The message is that all countries, including the UK, must act like this is the emergency it is and reduce their emissions to zero as fast as it is humanly possible to do it. It requires a war-like effort by government. There is no greater threat to UK and global peace and security than climate change.’