If you’re anything like me, your climate-related anxiety might be at an all-time high. Greta and David are incredible advocates for this hugely important cause. We are constantly encouraged to change our own behaviour for the sake of the environment. From lessened waste and water usage to less meat and less travel. I am all for climate action, after all, I am a human that would quite like to live on planet Earth for the rest of my life, and hope that my niece won’t grow up in a toxic, post-apocalyptic environment like some scene out of Wall-E.
Unfortunately, some of these things aren’t always doable on a student budget.
Here are a few examples of the purchases university students have made from September to December 2019:
– Reusable cutlery (£7.99)
– Chilly’s water bottles (£25.00)
– Reusable coffee cups (£18.00)
– Washable cotton pads (£12.49)
– Ecover household goods (£14.00)
(Prices are given by those purchased, some are estimated).
Photo by Comfreak
Whilst the reduced waste and individual action is obviously great in terms of reducing your carbon footprint, these costs add up pretty quickly to create a lifestyle that just isn’t affordable for some people. Some students, when asked, said that they feel pressured into making these purchases, even if their budgets will suffer, to ensure that others don’t think that they don’t care about the environment, or in one case, to prevent being thought of as a ‘climate change denier.’
Image by Nattanan Kanchanaprat
Your individual actions are helpful: you may choose to pay for a product which creates less waste, opt for public transport or even choose to walk instead of drive. However, it is important to try and remember that all of these proposed climate-friendly actions are not accessible to everyone. For instance, it is hard for someone who relies on medication (blister packets) regularly to go ‘plastic-free’ or for someone with mobility issues to use public transport as not all routes are accessible, especially for those who use wheelchairs.
In reality, we can all do our small part, but huge changes are likely to be required by companies, institutions and governments in order to tackle climate change. This could be related to how they get rid of their waste, or where they get their products from and how they bring them to the UK.
By putting pressure on institutions and corporations, everyone can do a little bit more, with no added costs incurred to them personally. This can be done by contacting local businesses for more information (or big businesses if you are feeling particularly brave), contacting local MPs and organisations to see what is happening in your area, or expressing the desire for more environmentally friendly items and services. It is possible that if we change and increase our demand for a more environmentally conscious world, even more companies will start to innovate in order to keep up.
P.S. Even Greta Thunberg thinks that ‘no one is too small to make a difference,’ so I think that together, we could do even more.
Words by Amy Randles.
Edited by Kirti Shah.