5 Companies - 10 Items - 1 Climate Report

Posted on October 19, 2018

Green Calgary is all about climate and environmental literacy; we aim to educate people in how to understand the environment and climate they live in. It's been a wild couple of weeks in the world of environmental and climate literacy! First of all, Greenpeace put out a brand audit coming off of World Clean Up Day (September 15th). The audit reported that 5 companies and 10 items made up the majority of the litter that was collected. You can read the CBC's coverage of the audit here.

Secondly, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) released a huge study about the current status of climate change. The big takeaways of the report are that we still need to limit the climate to 1.5 degrees C warming, but that we can do that! You can read the BBC's summary of the major points of the report here.

What do we take away from this as Calgarians? Green Calgary has a few points to make:

  • Things are changing. Both because of major pressure on companies & governments, but also because citizens are learning more about how climate change works and making intentional choices to limit their impact and to influence the impact of others.
  • Both reports suggest that individual actions can make a difference. Don't get us wrong, it won't make the whole difference, but what you do every single day affects not only you, but the people you buy things from and those you inspire. Small changes can come together to make big impacts over time!


So, what should you do? How do you use this information? Here are a couple of ideas:

1. Share this info with others. The more folks understand what's going on, the better off we'll be!
2. Take actions to limit your impact on the environment... and share them! Trying to eat less meat, cut down on plastics, ride your bike, and so on are great actions to take, but every person you inspire to follow your example doubles your (reduced) impact!
3. Get involved. Choose some element of environment and climate where you really want to see a change, and get involved. Volunteer your time, become a member of a group, or make a group of your own! If it's environmental literacy you care about, consider volunteering with Green Calgary or becoming a member!
4. Give a gift. Spread the change you want to see beyond your own circle by giving a gift to a charity or NGO that is doing work that's important to you. We all need this support to get the message out! If you would like to help us get our environment and climate literacy programs to more people, you can donate to us here.


All of these ideas are exactly why Green Calgary is running the Every Action Counts campaign. Find out more about the campaign at EveryActionCounts.ca or by listening to Conor below!

Thank you and be sure to tell us what you're doing by connecting with us on social media! You can find us on FacebookTwitter, or Instagram.