Reading headlines about climate change can feel pretty overwhelming. On the one hand, we need to take responsibility for our contribution to global pollution, but on the other it’s hard to know where to start.

There’s a lot you can do to personally reduce your carbon emissions, and one place to start is to  “reduce, reuse, recycle”. At Climate Action we believe that everybody must start with these three actions. Reduce (or prevention) is probably most important. If you can lower what you consume then less stress will be placed on our remaining resources. We’d like to “unfriend” consumption all around the world and we are pulling people together on social media to share this message.

If you absolutely have to get rid of something then it would be great if you could reuse it or give it away – check Freecycle, Craigslist and Give Your Stuff Away for more information on how you can do this. We are also big supporters of upcycling but if you can’t figure out how to add value to what you are disposing of then those who recycle these items will.

Once you feel that you have mastered your 3Rs, you can then attempt to calculate your carbon footprint. By doing this you will gain great insight into the emissions related to your lifestyle. From here you will be able to identify areas where you could make an impact to further reduce your carbon footprint, or get involved with lobbying efforts towards more sustainable energy.

Another option to consider is offsetting the carbon emissions you are unable to cut down on – like taking an airplane or using a refrigerator –  with carbon credits. Purchasing credits will go towards funding projects that are not only helping to reduce carbon emissions, but are making clean energy affordable and competitive against traditional, carbon intensive fuel supply.

Climate Action selects projects that have been developed to recognized international standards, such as Gold Standard, Plan Vivo, Social Carbon, and the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS).

We make sure the emission reductions are really achieved using a professional verification company. After ensuring that the carbon credits you purchased reduced emissions by an equal amount, we retire the credits on an international registry ensuring they are not re-sold.