An Domhain

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of the missing drop." - Mother Teresa.

Why take action?

It is vitally important to take immediate action in hope that society can prevent the consequences and causes of climate change.
We are living in the Anthropocene Age now. This means that scientists have proven that climate change is human caused. That means that every human living on this earth has a responsibility to reverse the destructive and unacceptable actions of society that are causing climate change.
If you want to have a future and want to avoid the extinction of humanity then you must take action.
There are also many benefits to doing climate action. You can douse the anxiety and fear of our disappearing future by replacing that anxiety with accomplishment of trying to save the world. You can also learn many new skills as there are endless possibilities of what actions you can take. You can make a load of new friends in many different groups that you can join. You can become part of a community that has one goal; to save our world and the future.
Once you take your first action there is no going back. Suddenly you find that you want to do another action and then another and eventually you are unstoppable.
Overall, if you want a future and for humanity to exist then you will take action to live a more sustainable life so that we can all survive and enjoy a future together.
But remember it is the government and the large companies who are most at fault in their causing of climate change. They are the groups that cause the most damage, not individuals or you and I. These are the ones who must take responsibility for their most devastating impacts and must make the most changes. They know what they must do, now they must do it!
And remember, there are no sides in climate change. People can't buy their way out of a lifeless future. No one will escape the catastrophic consequences that climate change will bring so let's stop pretending like it's something that will just go away and lets start acting to stop it!

Tips and Actions to take with Advice:

Here are some doable tips and actions that may inspire you to take the necessary action to change our world and try to reduce the speed at which climate change is occurring. This Actions will make your life more sustainable and will hopefully help you to begin your journey with climate activism and then you can keep going.
Here you can find actions that are split into many sections and advice below each section:
1. Individual - what you can do yourself.
2. Family/At home- what you and your family can do.

3. Groups/Community - what climate action groups/ a group of friends can do/ what a community can do/ what a school can do/ what a workplace can do.

4. Holidays - special actions and tips for holidays.
5. Extra - important and interesting actions.
To learn all about sustainability and why it is so important make sure to go to the bottom of this page.

*And of course these tips and actions are just what I have found useful in my activism journey, you may find some or all of them useful too.

Individual

Educate Yourself

Education is really important to make informed decisions and actions. To feel more confident about taking action it is important to know what climate change and what is happening.

You can educate yourself through videos, movies, podcasts, books and websites on climate action.

You can find recommendations to these on the Resources page.
Join Climate Action Groups

There are many climate action groups already set up with amazing communities filled with friendly people who want to change the world.

These groups include Fridays For Future (FFF), Students Climate Action Network (SCAN), the Creative Artivists and Extinction Rebellion. There are many more too.

You can find how to join these groups on their websites and social media.
Protest or Strike

You can take part in climate action protests in your spare time or purposefully strike during school time.

Both strike and protests are great ways to communicate concern with other people and the government and to make a clear point that we are not happy.

You can set up you own strike and protest in your school or community or join local strikes and protests.
Clean up rubbish

Pollution is a huge problem in our lives now. Leaving rubbish everywhere is revolting but also damages the earth. It is important to be able to clean up the rubbish.

Cleaning up rubbish from beaches and land gives the earth some time before the rubbish is back in it again. It also sends a message to people that this is unacceptable.

Reduce your meat consumption:

Agriculture and meat production are huge emitters of greenhouse gases. By reducing your meat consumption you can reduce your own carbon footprint and discourage the target market of meat producers.

This doesn't mean you have to go completely vegetarain or vegan, even though that would be amazing too. All you have to do is reduce your meat consumption. Maybe start with having no meat 2 days a week, then 3 days a week and then grow from there.
Avoid fast fashion:

As read in my causes page fast fashion is a huge contributor to climate change as it has a huge carbon footprint and emits large amounts of greenhouse gases.

To avoid fast fashion you would only buy clothes that you need. You would try to wear all of your clothes and stop buying clothes for the sake of it. You would also avoid shops like Penney's and most clothes shops who promote fast fashion.

You could also swap and share your clothes with others so they don't have to buy new clothes too.
Talk about it:

It is so important to share information and knowledge so that everyone can take part in the change to a more sustainable world. The more you talk about climate change and climate action the more people who are educated about it and the more people inspired to take action.

Talking about it with other people can also broaden your understanding of climate change and action and can help you to learn more too.
Only support sustainable companies:

There are many companies out there taking on the duty of becoming more sustainable. It is our duty to help those sustainable companies to survive and to support them by buying their products.

By supporting sustainable companies you are also boycotting unsustainable companies and so their market begins to drop and they will be forced to become more sustainable too.
Use leftovers

Using leftovers is so important to avoid large amounts of waste. You can use leftover foods the next day in soups or leftover papers as labels or as notes. Try to use everything that is in your house for another purpose so that they don't just end up being thrown into the bin where they will waste away their lives in huge piles of waste.

Using leftovers is also a good way to avoid large waste bills and to save money.
Spend time in nature:

How better to reward your saving of the world than being able to relish in the beauty that you are saving.

By spending time in nature we can feel connected to the world around us and then we may feel more grateful for everything that we have and feel more obliged to take action to protect everything we have.

Spending time in nature is also good for our health and is something that we as humans need to survive.

Email local TD's and the Taoiseach:

Emailing local TD's and the Taoiseach is also another way to show your disappointment in society and our government for the way our world has become unsustainable. It is our duty as civilians to tell the government how we feel and what we want done with our country.

Try to live as sustainably as you can:

Whenever doing anything, cooking, travelling, working, doing any action you should ask yourself, 'How does this impact the world?' Think about the consequences of what the actions will bring and think about how sustainably you can do these actions. By doing this you will live a climate action conscious life where each of your actions will be as sustainably done as possible and you will be making a conscious effort to change and save the world.

Advice

My advice when taking individual actions is to believe in yourself. No action is too small and everything has an impact on the earth so even  a small change is still making a difference. If some of the bigger actions aren't doable for you don't feel disappointed. Starting your climate activism journey can be scary because it's something totally new but once you take the first action you realize how rewarding and amazing changing the world feels and soon you'll find yourself doing loads.
Another thing is to ignore any hate. There are a lot of climate action haters out there but there are also a lot of climate action doers too. There will always be hate for anything that anyone does so you just have to ignore it and know that you are doing something amazing and making the world a better place.

Family/At Home

Reduce water use:

Water is such a vital resource that every living organism needs to survive. We need to stop wasting water in hope that we can always have water. There are also lots of people who don't have sufficient and clean water which is unacceptable.

There are many ways you can reduce water by taking shorter showers, collecting rainwater to water plants, only putting on a small amount of water in the kettle, turning off the taps when brushing your teeth, putting hippo bags in your toilet tank to reserve some water, using buckets in the sink when washing the dishes to collect water, using the eco modes on dishwashers and washing machines and so on.

Reduce electricity use:

Electricity and energy use are huge emitters of greenhouse gases due to the use of fossil fuels to create the energy. That means that electricity and energy use must be reduced.

To start with the best sustainable shift would be to renewable energy sources like solar panels and windmills. This is up to consumers and also up to the energy providers. There are many types of grants through the government and SEAI to make an affordable shift to renewable energy in your home.

In the home you can reduce your electricity use by turning off appliances, lights and technology when they are not in use. You can also reduce your energy by taking public transport, cycling or car-pooling.
Avoid fast fashion:

As a family ye can avoid fast fashion together and support sustainable shops instead.

To avoid fast fashion also ye can practice making home-made clothes or repair broken clothes instead of throwing them away when damaged.

Ye can also share clothes between ye, older siblings passing clothes onto younger siblings, cousins passing clothes onto other cousins.

Repurposing clothes is another option an example would be where ye can use old and tattered t-shirts as clothes to clean windows.

Support sustainable clothing options by buying clothes at swap shops, charity shops or second-hand shops to give a new life to clothes.
Home-made goods:

Home-made goods can be a great sustainable way to have goods. Instead of buying them in shops with lots of packaging and unsustainable production, you can spend time with your family making fun things like food or plastic. This gives you the chance to make the products more sustainably and to choose your own ingredients that will be included.

Some of these goods could be home-made meals and food. You can also make home-made plastic and home-made beauty products as well as home-made clothes. Anything you can put your mind to, is anything that you can home make. Find links to youtube videos on the resources page to find out how to make these products.
Low waste:

Waste is a major problem for our earth in many ways, it pollutes the earth and it emits large quantities of greenhouse gases and is wasting up natural resources that are in low supply.

To lower your amount of waste try to avoid fast fashion. You should also only buy what is needed. With food in the fridge make sure to be conscious of what to use and what is about to go out of date. Use meals like soups to use up nearly out of date leftovers. When shopping avoid products with large amounts of wrapping. Also try to buy products with no packaging or recyclable packaging as recycling can continue the lifespan of packaging
Try to plant your own fruit and vegetables:

Planting your own fruit and vegetables can make a huge difference on the earth. You can grow your fruit and vegetables in an organic way without any toxic pesticides or chemicals. You are also reducing the amount of air miles that the fruits and vegetables would have and their carbon footprint as they would be right in your back-garden. You also know how your fruit and vegetables are grown so you can be certain that they are sustainably grown. This would take a lot of dedication as you would have to learn about growing fruit and vegetables and how to properly care for them.
Reduce meat and dairy
consumption:

Reducing your meat and dairy consumption is a more doable way of reducing your carbon footprint a more doable way of living more sustainably. Reducing your meat and dairy consumption can also have many health factors and can reduce the cost of shopping on the house as meats and dairy are dearer than vegetables and alternatives. As a family ye can be adventurous and try out new vegetarian and vegan meals and ye can try new foods that ye never have before.
Choose sustainable
shopping:

When shopping it is important to be as sustainable as possible. Try to buy products that have very little packaging or no packaging at all. Try to choose biodegradable packaging like paper and avoid plastic.

Try to find sustainable logos on products like fair trade products, vegan, no animal cruelty, organic and Irish.

Also avoid foods with palm oil. Palm oil would be listed on the back in ingredients and is contained in many goods and is hard to avoid but it is crucial that palm oil is abolished from products.

Advice

A great guide to always keep in mind is the five R's; reduce, reuse, recycle, repurpose, rethink.
Reduce the amount that you buy and the amount of packaging that is on the products you buy. Reduce the amount of water and electricity used too.
Reuse products over and over, reuse clothes and paper leftovers as wrapping for presents.
Recycle the packaging that you can.
Repurpose damaged goods as something else like repurposes damaged t-shirts as clothes to clean windows.
Rethink your decisions. Ask yourself if you really need what you are buying and how this product impacts the earth and how sustainable it is.

Groups/Community

Climate Action Groups:
Highlight anniversaries of successful campaigns:

Celebrating the progress of past successful climate action and justice campaigns is important to show the progress being made. By highlight anniversaries and progress made by other climate action groups we can celebrate the change made by the work of these groups.
Boycott products or events:

Definition for boycotting by Oxford languages: "1. to withdraw from commercial or social relations with (a country, organization, or person) as a punishment or protest. 2. To refuse to buy or handle (goods) as a punishment or protest. 3. Refuse to cooperate with or participate in (a policy or event).

Arts events:

Running events like poetry readings, an educational teach in, public talks, a human library - (where people share their different narratives and experiences of the climate crisis), sport events, climate action awards days and concerts can all raise awareness and share education.
Hold government accountable:

Creating report cards for politicians at the end of their term to show their progress. Marking anniversaries of broken political promises ensures that leaders are held accountable. Setting exams for politicians about the climate crisis and posting their results

Creative:

Create videos, memes, poems, drawings, speeches, stories, plays. Sharing education and different narratives of experiences of the climate crisis in an artistic form can be a memorable and life changing experience.

Guerilla gardening:

Randomly planting native flowers and plants around different places through flower bombs or seeds to ensure plants grow for bees and bugs and biodiversity can thrive.

Rename a street or building for a day:

Renaming a street or a building after a significant protest that took place there, for example, can raise awareness about the protest and draw attention to the changes that need to be made.

Organising assemblies

Brining people and politicians together at an assembly can lead to important conversations taking place and plans being made for everyone to work together on changes and progress and ensure the public are listened to.

School:
Climate Education

Education on climate change and climate action is extremely important for people to know what the future will hold and so that we can prepare and take action to prevent the catastrophic consequences that face us. It is important for climate education to be part of the education curriculum.
Strike/Protests

If you wanted to spread climate awareness in your school you could set up a protest outside your school every Friday, or whenever you can. You and a group of people could strike to raise awareness between your peers, teachers and to raise awareness to the government too.
Zero plastic school

You can work with your principle, teachers and schoolmates to abolish single-use plastics from your school. This would mean that single-use plastic bottles and containers and wrappings wouldn't be allowed to be brought into the school and if you have a canteen, the canteen couldn't sell single-use plastic.

Green schools.

Every school in Ireland is encouraged to have a green-schools and to work to achieve all of the flags. If you have a green-schools in your school you could join it and help the green-schools to implement sustainable practices in the school. Ye would work on different aspects like water, electricity, and so on.

Friends:
Do the actions together

With the support of friends you can do anything. If ye have a group of people doing the actions together and changing together it may make it easier and more enjoyable. Striking together and trying to implement actions in school could be easier with back up.
Spread the message

If a group of five friends spread the message to one person each that would be ten people who are educated about climate change and who are inspired to take action. If ye spread the message in a group ye would reach a lot more people together.
Get creative and have fun

Climate activism can be enjoyable and fun too. It should be because it will become a part of your everyday life. A group of friends can do art together and make posters about climate change or make songs together about climate change to make it more fun etc.
Do the actions and feedback on them

There are many actions out there that people can do to become more sustainable. Each friend could try out different actions like becoming vegetarian, making plastic, making soap etc and they could tell each other about it and see which was their favourites.

Local Community:
Join the Tidy Towns

The Tidy Towns is a great community in a community which takes care of the town and makes sure it is clean and meets the tidy towns competition standards. By joining the tidy towns you could help to keep the village tidy and keep it as sustainable as possible.
Do rubbish clean-ups

By doing community rubbish clean-ups people are being educated about how it's important to care for our planet and the village is being cleaned. It can make the cleaning up easier and send a message to people to stop polluting.
Have a local vegetable patch

As a community ye could choose a space in the village or town or city where ye would all share a vegetable patch and grow vegetables together. This can make the place more sustainable and encourage sustainable skills.
Have a community climate change awareness day

As a community ye could have an awareness day where everyone met up and was educated on climate change and learnt on actions to take to make their lives and their community more sustainable.

Workplace:
Try to have a low-carbon footprint

To have a low-carbon footprint in a workplace actions would be to install renewable energy sources like solar panels or windmills that the company could use for energy. The cycle to work scheme could be encouraged for workers to cycle to work and to be given bikes through the work scheme. Electric car charging points can also be installed on the premises of the workplace so electric car drivers are supported. Workers could also use public transport like buses to get to work.

Promote sustainable practices

Workers should be encouraged to use sustainable practices in the workplace. Workers could use reusable lunch boxes and reusable bottles. There should be multi-flush options on toilets to reduce the use of water. Workers must turn off all appliances, machinery, technology, lights when they are not in use. Sustainable advertising products should be used. Bamboo personalised coffee travel cups can be bought or wheat, personalised pens can be given away. In resources companies producing these will be listed.
Try to have conversations with workmates and bosses

Talking about climate change and climate action is extremely important to make sure people are aware of what the future holds and the responsibility that they have to care for the planet. By talking to co-workers and bosses they can be encouraged and inspired to live their lives more sustainably. It can also lead to more sustainable practices being implemented in the workplace and in the production of goods or sustainable services.
No greenwashing

Greenwashing is when companies deceive consumers that they are environmentally friendly by many practices. This can be through false advertising, colouring their products green so it would be associated with being environmentally friendly and many more ways. No company should be allowed do this and regulations surrounding greenwashing should be much stricter. It is the employees and business owners responsibility to make sure that no greenwashing is involved in their business.

Holidays:

If buying a tree, buy plantable ones:

If buying a tree, maybe for Christmas, try to avoid artificial trees as these are made from plastics and avoid real trees because this leads to deforestation. Instead you can buy trees that have been grown as babies from a pot and you can keep it for as long as you want and then if you no longer want it in the pot you can plant it in your garden or somewhere approved in the community.

Buy gifts from sustainable stores:

There are many sustainable stores out there and by supporting them you are encouraging sustainable practices that are less damaging on the earth. By supporting these stores you are boycotting the unsustainable stores and they are going to have to become more sustainable to be able to get people to buy from them again. You can find sustainable store names on the resources page.
Replace gifts with their sustainable alternative

As an example at St.Valentine's Day a person could buy seeds of flowers and plant them instead of buying a bunch of flowers that have been cut. This creates life and pollen for bees instead of being left with dead flowers that have large amounts of air miles.  There are always alternatives to the unsustainable gift.

Always try to spread the message of climate change:

A holiday can be the perfect time to spread the message of climate change and climate action to raise the awareness of the devastating crisis that we face. At Halloween you could make scary climate change related decorations; like a pumpkin covered in blue and green like the earth and on fire with blood spilling out of it and a knife stabbed in it's back.
Avoid foods with palm oil:

Palm oil is a huge cause of deforestation and so climate change. Palm oil is contained in many different types of foods. It is extremely important to avoid palm oil. Try to go to health food stores where they sell chocolates and foods without palm oil or home-make your own food and chocolate without using palm oil.

Try to make home-made decorations:

Home-made decorations can be an answer to many problems to do with sustainability. You can use leftovers like waste paper or packaging or newspapers to make decorations. This solves the problem of waste and of buying unsustainable decorations. By doing this you can also save money and have fun.
Avoid food waste:

During the holidays food waste increases in many households. People are eating more food and cooking more for groups of people. This can result in large amounts of food not being eaten and being thrown away. This is a difficult thing also but with preparation it can be achieved. Try to use the leftovers the next day and avoid over-making meals.
Avoid wrapping gifts with plastic wrapper, use newspapers or leftovers:

Plastic wrapping causes a huge amount of waste during the holidays and is a highly unsustainable practice. You can use leftover papers or newspapers or magazines to wrap presents as the wrapping will be torn off and thrown away anyway.

Extra:

Support Ecosia:

Ecosia is a free browser extension that you can download on your browser, like google and with each search you make online, the money goes to ecosia for them to plant trees. It costs you nothing and you contribute to planting trees across the world.
Avoid using chemicals in your garden

Try to have your gardens as sustainable as possible for biodiversity and other animals. Avoid spraying pesticides and chemicals on weeds and in your garden as this can kill other plants and animals and are horrible ways of killing plants. It also benefits the bees if gardens are allowed to grow during the Summer and flowers aren't mowed away.
Buy Fairphone

Fairphone is the world's most sustainable smartphones. You can sustainable change just by buying a different phone instead of the unsustainable iphone etc. The need to constantly produce and purchase the newest phones is an extremely unsustainable practice and needs to be stopped. 

Buy Totm Organic

You can even make your periods more sustainable. Totm Organic are a company that try to make your period as sustainable as possible by making organic cotton period products and zero waste period products. Their products are cruelty free and carbon neutral.

Sustainability

"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." - UN World Commission on Environment and Development.
To live sustainably we must consider many aspects of life. We must think about how our everyday actions will affect future generations, nature and biodiversity, the earth and everyone who is on the planet now.
Our society is definitely not sustainable but the 17 Sustainable Development Goals have been adopted by all the United Nation States with the aim of making the world a more sustainable and better place once all of the Sustainable Development Goals are met.
Sustainability and Climate Action go hand in hand as the aims of both are the same; to have a fairer future that has a low negative environmental impact and society's negative influence on climate change has been abolished.

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