Other Ways to Reduce Carbon Footprint

While going Vegan is for most people the best thing that can be done on an individual level to reduce one's carbon footprint, that isn't the be all end all of helping the environment. Believing that Veganism is pretty much all you need to do to fight climate change is not only objectively incorrect, it also will make you look rather hypocritcal when you claim to care about helping the environment yet not do as much as you reasonably can towards fulfilling that goal.

Make no mistake, the environmental effects of Veganism are still incredibly significant, and going Vegan would easily reduce your carbon footprint more than just about everything else, but you need to go above and beyond if you want to set a good example for others to follow.

Of course we're not going to be reccomending anything overly drastic like only showering once a week, forgoing any and all climate control, not doing laundry, and subsisting only on beans (though we're not necessarily condemning it if you really are willing to do all that), this article is going to reccomend practicable, efficient, and effective ways of reducing your carbon footprint without hampering your overall quality of life significantly.

Within each item we will also quickly compare their cost-effectiveness compared to Veganism in terms of time, difficulty, and effectiveness. Veganism fundamentally speaking is a fairly easy thing to do (especially with so many vegan alternatives that are accessible) and has a huge return on investment, though this proportion will vary depending on the action and your circumstances.

Personal Reductions

Avoiding environmentally harmful foods

Aside from animal products, we also ought to be cautious about other environmentally damaging foods, including but not limited to palm oil, rice, and excessive amounts of fruit. Palm oil is notorious for being one of the most environmentally destructive crops on the planet, responsible for deforestation and habitat loss (and thus accelerating climate change), rice responsible for 30% of all the world's agricultural methane emissions, and many fruits (sweet fruits in particular) don't have the best yield compared to most other plant foods.

Coffee is also considered to be an environmentally unsustainable crop, but it's nowhere near as bad as palm oil is, and actually has some incredibly useful benefits in terms of productivity (unlike palm oil which is just saturated fats). It doesn't take too many beans to make a single cup of coffee, and there are verified ways of growing it sustainably, namely, shade grown. Buying shade grown coffee instead of traditionally grown would be pretty significant, if it'ss possible.

It also makes sense to eat more foods that are generally lower in carbon emissions, namely corn, beans, and even many nuts. Walnuts in particular may have a carbon absorption during their farming, which is something to consider.

On that note, while we're agnostic on the topic of oyster sentience, farming oysters is potentially environmentally beneficial since when the oysters grow on the ropes they filter water and even absorb greenhouse gases since the oyster shell needs to cultivate CO2 to develop. Whether or not it's a net negative impact is fairly speculative, so take it with a grain of salt. If you are considering buying oysters, avoid wild-caught oysters (which have the same enviornmental concerns that commercial fishing has) and go for the rope-grown ones, since those are the ones that may have the environmental benefits.

Comparing this to veganism, this is pretty much a slightly harder version of Veganism, although this is not a dogmatic and irrational thing to do in addition to a Vegan diet for one who cares about the environment. Ideally, rice, palm oil, and sweet fruits should play a limited role in your diet anyway considering their inadequete nutrient contents. Simply putting more emphasis on beans instead of rice and berries instead of too much sweet fruit is an easy way to compensate for their reduction in your diet, and generally plenty of foods with palm oil in them will have some alternative without it.

Reducing shower time and temperature

Everyone loves a nice warm shower, but how long do we really need in there? How much time does one really need to clean their hair, armpits, groin, and asshole, and do a quick scrub of their chest, face, arms, and legs? Five, maybe six minutes? A pretty big chunk of the time we're in there consists of just standing around like an idiot.

Simply shaving a minute or two out of your daily shower would be pretty significant, as would reducing the temperature on the water a little even. Every bit helps.

Alternatively, you can take what is known as a Scottish Shower, which is pretty much just an otherwise a typical warm shower that has the final minute with the water being set to the lowest temperature (so if you usually take ten minute showers, nine minutes will be warm, one will be ice cold). It's also believed to have a few health benefits, so why not give it a try?

Regardless of what you do, just never outright forgo showering, or at least not for more than a few days at a time. Believe it, people will smell you; You know that oily scent your hair gets when it hasn't been cleaned for a little while? Multiply that by ten and put it all over your body; That's what one week of no showering smells like. Although it's important to care about the environment, you shouldn't sacrifice health and hygiene for it if it's not necessary.

Compared to veganism and most of the things here, this is actually one of the easier things to do, it's just takes a little discipline. But changing habits can be difficult, so it'd be easier to just invest in a lower-flow shower head. A lower flow combined with cooler water (or a more efficient water heater) and reduced showering time is a recipe for a very efficient shower, and would save you quite a bit on your water bill. General rule of thumb: If something's cheaper to do, it tends to be better for the environment.

Better yet, if you're a REAL chad, you can take the whole shower ice cold. You gradually get used to them, but it takes a lot of moxie.

Gardening

OK you know all that stuff we said earlier about not buying environmentally harmful foods? Well you can go ahead and forget all that if you grow them all yourself!

Industrial production of these foods is what makes them so environmentally problematic.

Freeganism

Arguably even better than Veganism in terms of environmental impact. Whereas a normal Vegan diet significantly reduces a person's carbon footprint from food, a fully freegan diet does away with it completely.