City centres, especially Birmingham’s, are notoriously busy and this uses up a lot of energy. When large amounts of energy are required for dense populations, this can make it difficult to be sustainable on a big scale.
In these cases, it is important that you do your bit to reduce your impact on the environment and make sure that you don’t contribute to the harmful pollution that comes from busy cities.
Here are some tips to help you do just that.
1. Don’t Commute in the Car
If you can avoid it, try not to commute to work in the car. Cars are one of the biggest contributors to pollution, particularly with air and noise. Busy city centres can get congested, which increases the amount of pollutant your car produces. The largest cities, like London, have even introduced congestion charges to avoid this.
Instead of taking the car every day, walk, cycle, or take the bus or train a few days a week. This will reduce your impact drastically!
2. Insulate Your Home
A poorly insulated home will waste energy from heating and therefore contribute more harmful pollutants to the environment. Ensure that all of your windows are draught-proof so that heat cannot escape through these gaps.
Draught-proofing your house doesn’t have to be expensive, either. Silicone solution is often enough to seal the draughts on most windows.
3. Buy Locally-Sourced Food
Food can often travel a long way to get to your local supermarkets and back to your home. The impact of this is defined in terms of food miles, and when it is a large number, it means the distance the food has travelled has impacted the environment negatively through air travel.
To reduce the food miles you consume, make sure to buy food that has been sourced locally, such as from nearby farms. If you have the space, you could even start growing your own vegetables.
4. Install Solar Panels
Solar panels on the roof of your home are now easier than ever to install with Solar Panel Funding, and are a great way to save energy and reduce your carbon footprint. By using energy directly generated at home by the sun, you will reduce the energy that is used to transport electricity to your home through the national grid.
5. Avoid Fast Fashion
Cheap clothes may seem like the better option when you are on a budget, but when you inevitably have to throw them away, they end up in a landfill. Clothes that are classified as ‘fast fashion’ often use a lot of fossil fuels during production. If you avoid these completely, your carbon footprint can be greatly reduced.
As an alternative, buy a few pieces of quality clothing that will last much longer or shop at charity or second-hand stores to find yourself a bargain that will last.
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Reducing your carbon footprint while living in a busy city centre may seem difficult at first, but it is achievable with changes to your lifestyle.