What can we do?

It’s all very depressing sometimes. What can we do about the environment and the challenge that it faces? Well, I’m sure we don’t have all the answers, but maybe we can make a start :-). By the way, we welcome suggestions for this page.

Tell the Kids!

Here’s our best chance. Inform the kids, make them aware. Their abilities to police wayward adults is second to none once they’ve figured out the rights and wrongs of an issue. For example, in Ireland we have quite a high recycling rate and I believe that it can be directly traced to the Green Schools initiative run by An Taisce for the last 10 years or so.

Subscribe to nature based charities

There are many worthy charities dedicated to conserving our natural heritage. You can support them by joining up and there is much to be gained in return for all the family:

Birdwatch Ireland
Irish Whale and Dolphin Group
Irish Seedsavers
Crann – Releafing Ireland

Leave No Trace

Well, we all try to enjoy outdoor pursuits in a responsible manner. Don’t we? We carry away litter, take care with fires, and so on. Kevin and Trea took time out in 2012 to take a Leave No Trace Awareness course. It was really interesting with participants encouraged to discuss and debate the various aspects of the Leave No Trace policies. All participants came to the course because they were already interested in the concept and felt that they already were well down the road to treading lightly on the Earth. As it turned out, there were many different viewpoints and some issues were hotly debated. A worthwhile course, highly recommended… ? At Purecamping we have adopted the following Leave No Trace principles:  7 Principles of Leave No Trace

The Carbon Calculator

So, humans have an effect on the environment! So what can we do? Well, we could start by quantifying some of our impact, for example, use the carbon calculator to evaluate your current lifestyle and energy usage. Some simple changes may have a big effect. Try entering target values in the calculator to see what difference you make.

Here’s our carbon footprint for January 2012 to November 2012, determined using the business carbon calculator available through http://www.coastproject.co.uk/businesssupport/carboncalculator:

• Pure Space carbon footprint calculation for Jan 2012 to Nov 2012

There is also a domestic calculator available via the Coast Project, but it involves registration and so on. So if you’re not so inclined, here’s one that you can use instead…

As you can see we are a little behind with out carbon footprint monitoring but we do intend to get back on track in 2021 and find an easy method to calculate and reduce our footprint. Watch this space!