What is environmental guilt? Everything you need to know!

Have you ever felt like you should be doing more to help the environment and save the planet?

Well, you’re not alone!

Environmental guilt or eco-guilt is very real – we can see what is happening to the planet and it is easy to feel powerless or too small to do anything to help.

There are lots of things online telling us to do significant things like ‘cut-plastic waste’. Often these big things aren’t sustainable for everyone, especially not all students due to the lack of financial stability or availability of time.

Therefore, it is important to consider the ‘individual’ aspect of helping save the planet – what is that you can do on a personal level to help?

Remember, it is big companies and the government that can make the changes that are needed to save the planet. A study from 2013 found that two-thirds of all industrial carbon dioxide emissions come from just 90 companies, such as BP and Shell. These 90 companies have individually emitted more carbon into the atmosphere than most countries have…. and they knew what effects it would have on the planet before any of us did…

Here are a few simple things you can do to cause environmental change, without the need to feel guilty.

• Put pressure on politicians and find ways to campaign for environmental change
• Choosing to cycle or walk where possible
• Choosing renewable energy providers
• Reducing the amount of plastic we use – but keep it realistic, you can’t always avoid it!
• Reducing the amount of meat we eat
• Using reusable things like shopping bags, drink bottles and coffee cups
• Reducing food waste – try not to buy more food than you need, and look into ways you can store food so it will last longer
• Take shorter showers
• Wash clothes at a cooler temperature where you can – and dry them outside when it’s sunny!
• Utilise recycling bins on campus and elsewhere