Recently I read an article in The Guardian about ocean heat waves. And I never really heard of the phenomenon before. It put me to think on what I can do to reduce these heat waves.
According to The Guardian, ocean heat waves warm up the water. This warmer water causes more storms to happen and storms that form will have a lot more energy and are therefore more devastating. A good reason therefore, to look if there is something we can do ourselves.
And luckily there is! Apparently, the main cause for these heat waves is the burning of fossil fuels. And that is something we can influence ourselves. So let me list a few things that I did to reduce my carbon footprint:
- Choose green energy. The electrical power that we use needs to be produced somewhere. And more often than not, this is produced by burning coal, gas or other fossil fuels. By choosing a green energy provider, you ensure that the electricity you use is produced via renewable energy sources like solar, wind and water power. And on top of that, I have placed solar panels on the roof to produce my own electrical power.
- Take public transport. Even though I do not live in the city centre, I still try to take public transport as much as possible. Nowadays, many buses, trams and trains run on renewable energy rather than fossil fuels. This immediately reduces my amount of fossil fuel burning. And even if a bus is still running on gas, it is less poluting to share a bus with many people than to step in a car individually.
- Take the bike. I would like to ask you to think about your previous week. How often did you take the car for a 5-10 minute drive? You will be surprised by how easy we all take the car, even if it’s only 10 minutes driving. For these short distances we might as well take the bike. And it is also healthier for your body! A win-win situation.
With all these actions we can take ourselves, you might ask yourselves: How effective is this really? Surely this is just a drop in the bucket, isn’t it? Let me tell you a true story then.
I once worked for a bank who had to deliver a report to their business customers every day by 9 am. Although they automated the process, the report was never ready before 11 am in the morning so the customers received it two hours late. The manager of the team responsible for this report asked the members what they could do to shorten the time to create the report. No one had a solution. According to the team it couldn’t be done any sooner.
But then the manager asked the team: I’m not looking for big improvements. Only a small improvement of a few minutes is enough. This set the team to think. And within a few days, many tiny improvements where suggested. The team set to work to implement these improvements and step by step, the time to generate the report became shorter. The end of the story is that the team found so many improvements that they were not only able to generate the report by 9 am every day. Instead, the report was now ready at 4 am in the morning, exceeding their performance by 5 hours!
So in case you wonder if your small actions will make a difference, think about this story. Yes, your actions do make a difference. One drop in a bucket won’t make a difference. But if we all add drops to the bucket, it will, at some point, overflow.
