Individual Actions that Can Help Mitigate Climate Change

Extreme weather events, including heat waves, wildfires, flooding, and tornadoes, continue to wreak havoc worldwide, and scientists blame climate change for this. Every degree of warming results in the atmosphere holding 7% more moisture, resulting in heavier and extreme rainfall.

The World Weather Attribution (WWA) group ascribes the intense rain in Dubai and the subsequent flooding in April to climate change.

Even a tiny increase in average temperature leads to significant changes in heat extremes, creating a new climate of more hot weather and severe heat waves, like the ones that hit countries in Asia and Africa in April and May this year. 

East Africa, also known as the Great Horn of Africa, had five failed consecutive rainy seasons between 2020 and 2022, according to the World Meteorological Organization, and the worst drought in 40 years (MacLeod et al., 2024).

The last few months of 2023 had brought short rains to the regions much wetter than normal and brought severe flooding to Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania, affecting millions of people, displacing 750,000, and destroying their livestock and farms. Climate modelling shows that global warming will increase the impacts of the Indian Ocean Dipole, bringing in heavier rainfall and more extreme flooding (MacLeod et al., 2024).

Meanwhile, the Amazon’s rainforests had their worst drought in 50 years in 2023. Scientists at the World Weather Attribution say climate change is the primary driver for this massive drought and will likely cause more extreme droughts in the future (Gustin, 2024).

As climate change’s impacts intensify, the most vulnerable and developing countries bear the brunt. This is a global crisis that requires immediate and drastic action. We must focus on reducing GHG emissions and implementing immediate and long-term solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Everyone has a role to play in fighting climate change

A study by academics at Leeds University, Arup, and the C40 group lists six steps individuals can take to reduce emissions. Researchers say committing these actions could slash global emissions by a quarter and keep warming within 1.5°C.

Alongside the study’s release was the launch of the new climate movement, persuading people to make “The Jump” and sign up for these six pledges below (Taylor, 2022).

• Eat a largely plant-based diet, with healthy portions and no waste.
• Buy no more than three new items of clothing per year.
• Keep electrical products for at least seven years.
• Take no more than one short-haul flight every three years and one long-haul flight every eight years.
• If you can, get rid of personal motor vehicles – and if not, keep hold of your existing vehicle for longer.
• Make at least one life shift to nudge the system, like moving to green energy, insulating your home or changing pension supplier.

Tom Bailey, the co-founder of the campaign, emphasises the urgency of climate action from individuals, saying, “We don’t have time to wait for one group to act; we need ‘all action from all actors now”.

He added that “this isn’t going back to the stone age, it’s just finding a balance. Less consumption in relatively rich western countries can mean more creativity, comedy, connection … Live for joy, not for stuff” (Taylor, 2022).

Fighting climate change through reducing waste and reusing resources

Reducing waste and reusing resources can also reduce GHG emissions, a root cause of climate change. Creating new products emits GHG from the energy used to make them and the extraction and transport of raw materials. But reducing waste and reusing what we already have can significantly slash emissions, conserve resources, and save us money.

An article by Robert C. Brears, “Climate Change Combat: The Power of Reducing and Reusing for a Sustainable Future,” explores the need to apply these two strategies and the benefits of doing so. The article provides practical suggestions on implementing reduce-and-reuse strategies through smart shopping, composting food waste, repurposing or fixing old items, donating goods, and maintaining products to extend their life.