Another COP, another New Year. It’s easy to feel helpless in the face of climate change. As the late, great comedian Sean Locke said, sometimes it feels like turning up at the scene of an earthquake with a dustpan and brush. But it is better to do something than nothing. These what we can do may seem like small beans, but a lot of beans make a hill of beans.
And what’s to lose? Here are the small actions of a slacktivist. You don’t have to do them all. Start today, start tomorrow, but start. And don’t give up!
Green your pension
This is the biggest action you can take. And I know it’s boring. But your pension scheme is most likely the biggest pot of money you are a part of.
I became a pension trustee for 3 years to try to get my employer to invest its pension scheme more ethically.
But there is an easier way. Ask your employer if there is an ethical fund you can choose. If not, why not? It is your investment risk, not theirs.
I’ve seen no evidence that investing more sustainably hurts performance. Ask an independent financial adviser.
Try to buy used, not new
Keep Britain Tidy’s Buy Nothing New is a brilliant campaign. There are lots of tips on how to do this.
Use a water bottle
Use the Refill app to connect you to over 330,000 water refill stations.
Take a reusable coffee cup
Some chains offer a discount.
Use a shopping bag
Avoid plastic bags.
Keep your devices for longer
The environmental costs of a mobile are in its manufacture. You save money if you move to sim-only, too! If you do need to upgrade, recycle your unwanted devices.
Switch video off
Do you need to have your video on for Zoom or Teams? 1 hour of audio consumes 36 MB of data per person (video 270 MB)!
Stop sending attachments
Send a link instead of emailing attachments. (The carbon footprint of an average (text) email: 4g CO2e. The carbon footprint of an email with attachments: 50g CO2e.)
Think before you print
Use double-sided mode.
Unwanted items?
Give them to your local charity shop. Use Gift Aid, if you can, to maximise the value of your donation.
Freegle
It always surprises me what people will take, saving trips to the tip. My favourite? A hula-hoop artiste who was able to use my mirrored doors for her studio. Freegle something.
Recycle (almost anything)
If you cannot reuse something yourself and no-one else can, try Recycle Now’s useful tool.
Save energy
Read these energy-saving tips.
Switch to a green energy supplier
Check cheap green energy deals.
Free up PC storage
Delete emails and files (particularly large video and image files). Storage isn’t free as it has a carbon cost.
Declutter your phone
Remove apps you no longer use from your smartphone.
Free the Ocean
Every day, answer a trivia question and remove one piece of plastic from the ocean and coastlines.
That’s over 61 million pieces of plastic and counting.
Ecosia
Rather than use Google, search with Ecosia.
Ecosia uses 100% of its profits for the planet and produces enough renewable energy to power all searches twice over.
Pick up a can a day
I try to pick up a piece of recyclable litter on my daily walk. In 2024, I picked up 500 cans. In 2025, I hope to double this.
Give as You Live
By shopping as I normally would, I have earned over £297 in donations to the Woodland Trust.
Sign up with this link and Woodland Trust gets £5.
I am a regular shopper with the following companies because I believe in their ethos. If you click on these affiliate links, I benefit. But I also believe you and the planet will too!
Riverford
I buy a weekly box of organic veg from Riverford. I love Riverford’s ethos.
Listen to Guy Singh-Watson on Desert Island Discs.
If you use this referral link, you get £10 off your first order.
I get £10 too!
Oddbox
I buy a fortnightly box of fruit that would otherwise go to waste.
Use this referral link and get a discount off your first box.
Smol
I use their dishwasher tablets and have saved nearly 50kg of carbon.
Join the Smol for £6.00 (including delivery). That’s a saving of £16.50!
I get £6.00 credit when you do.
Bower Collective
Use fewer plastic bottles with Bower Collective.
If you use this link, you pay £10 and get:
✅ limescale remover
✅ grapefruit and geranium hand wash
✅ 2 reusable bottles
This includes free delivery.
If you order. I get a £5 discount code.
Alex White writes 
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