The Climate Crisis is deepening – but together we can still make a difference.
All around the world, temperatures are soaring, and extreme weather events are becoming more common. El Nino is a neutral climate phenomenon, but its effect is now being supercharged. The driving force of the extreme heat is climate change caused by human activity and as climate change continues to intensify, the impacts on natural climate events, including El Nino, become increasingly significant, leading to more frequent and intense weather events.
Breaking bad records in global temperatures
From January to September 2023, we experienced the warmest global temperatures in recorded history*, surpassing the previous record set in 2016.
*Research Study in Nature Reviews Earth and Environment Journal
This isn’t an anomaly. September was the hottest month ever on record, ocean temperatures surged. September was a scorching record breaker, but October and November are hot on its heels.
Like this fact or not – we humans set this change in motion, so it’s down to us to stop the global temperature rising. But what can we, as individuals do?
Be part of the solution, not part of the problem
When facing such an existential global problem, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and powerless. But we must not give in to despair. There’s plenty each of us can do to make a difference. Even the smallest changes, when multiplied millions of times, can make a significant difference.
It’s about making choices that reduce your carbon footprint. Do you really need to make that car journey or take that flight? Do you need to buy those new clothes? Do you have to that out of season/imported food or keep all those lights on? All these choices – even those daily ones that might seem insignificant – have a cost in terms of energy consumption and affect the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere.
Here are five quite simple steps you can take to help reduce your carbon footprint and combat climate change:
- Buy local in season food and shift to a plant-based diet.
- Use public transport, cycle, and walk.
- Cut down your electricity consumption at home and work.
- Embrace a slow fashion approach.
- Support nature restoration activities.
From the food we eat to the clothes we wear and how we get around, there’s so many ways to reduce energy consumption and lower our environmental impact. These are lifestyle choices you can make every day. Please don’t give in to apathy and think your actions won’t make a difference. Together, there is still time to apply the brakes to the accelerating global warming – but that window of opportunity is closing.
Planting seeds of positive change with Trees4Trees
Point 5 on the list above could apply to Tree Planting schemes. Kingsley Smythe support tree planting in Indonesia which is where the teak trees grow that we use for making our garden furniture.
Planting trees is one of the solutions to combat the impact of increasing greenhouse gas emissions which are driving climate change. Everyone knows that trees can absorb harmful greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere, while also storing carbon and producing healthy oxygen. But did you know that trees in the tropics can capture four times more carbon than their counterparts in cooler regions. The tropical climate, along with extended daylight, create the environment that enables trees to grow faster.
Trees4Trees plant trees in tropical Indonesia where the world’s third-largest rainforest exists.
There are other benefits too for the local environment – trees have been proven to help prevent floods, erosion, and drought as well natural beauty in the background of our lives.
Trees That Absorb the Most Carbon Dioxide
The tropical green belt around the belly of our planet plays a crucial role in combating climate change. Recent research has found the following benefits to planting trees in the tropics, compared to other areas:
- Tropical trees grow faster and absorb more carbon emissions
- They also sequester up to four times more carbon
- Rainforests are biodiversity hotspots, sheltering endangered species
- Tropical plants and trees can provide us with food and medicine
- The tropics are home to the world’s largest mangrove forests, which absorb a huge amount of carbon
For so many reasons, planting trees in the tropics is a good idea and this is why Kingsley Smythe supports the work of the Trees4Trees organisation.
We’re playing our own small part in this fight back against global warming. We plant a new tree for every piece of furniture we sell. Join us in planting trees to mitigate the catastrophic effects of climate change. You can buy trees that will be planted by Trees4Trees on our website here.
To learn more about Trees4Trees and the work they do please look here and know that when you plant a tree with Trees4Trees, it does more than just putting a tree in the ground. It also helps a farming family in a developing country and by doing so, assures that the farmer will continue to plant trees in the future.
Thanks for reading this. There’s only one world – it’s our world and we’re all on it together.
