Hi, welcome back to my blog! I was having a bit of trouble coming up with what to write about World Rainforest Day. In other ‘world days’ I’ve done facts about whatever we’re celebrating, facts about the actual day…but then I thought about how I want to make a difference and to do that I don’t want to just spout facts at you, I want to encourage you to help and show you how. So here are 5 ways to help reduce deforestation.
Buy food that is fairtrade
Buying Fairtrade food is super important because it means that the farmers get a fair amount of money for what they are producing. Through the support that Fairtrade shows, they give support to changing to a more environmental practice, e.g. developing nutrient-rich soil. Environmental protection is a huge element of their view on sustainability and (I think) they don’t work with people who don’t have the following:
- Energy and greenhouse gas emission reduction
- Soil and water quality
- Pest management
- Biodiversity protection
- Prohibition of genetically modified organisms and harmful chemicals
- Waste management
They prohibit the use of agrochemicals that harm the environment and health along with reducing their use of pesticides. Some coffee and tea co-operatives have chosen to help in afforestation projects which improve micro-climates, protect soils and provide a habitat for native wildlife.
Eat more plant-based meals
Even if you aren’t a vegetarian, you can still cut down on the amount of meat you eat.
- Did you know that 80% of the Amazon rainforest that is cut down, turns into cattle ranches?
- 83% of Costa Rica’s forests have been cut down for beef production.
- Cattle ranching is the number one cause of deforestation and has led to 340 million tonnes of carbon being released into the atmosphere every year.
- Cattle pastures increase the risk of bushfires, soil erosion and river siltation.
There are so many foods that can replace meat and taste just as good (better, in my opinion!) In one of my recent Instagram posts, I asked if you had any veggie recommendations and there were lots of different responses!
Buy cards with the FSC logo
The Forest Stewardship Council take care of forests, wildlife and indigenous people who live there. They track the entire production of cards that have their logo printed and make sure that the material used is responsibly sourced.
They only support forest owners who:
- Employ locals to run the forest
- Provide training and safety equipment
- Pay the workers a decent salary
Related post: Eco-friendly gift guide
Sign petitions
This literally takes 10 seconds! The more people that sign, the more likely something will happen. Here is a couple you could sign:
Stop the burning of the Amazon Rainforest
Use Ecosia as your search engine
This is a simple thing you can do so easily! You can change your search engine to Ecosia which means that every 45-ish searches, they will plant a tree.
Do you do any of these?
Best wishes, Cx
Some information I used:
https://kids.mongabay.com/lesson_plans/lisa_algee/cattle_ranching.html
Great tips! I have heard about the Ecosia web browser, I need to get that set as my default so I start using it. I’m also a vegetarian as I decided to go veggie when I researched into just how bad the meat industry is on the environment, over a year later, I’m loving it! Great post 😀
Chloe xx
thank you so much! xx
Interesting post! I can never get over the numbers with beef and deforestation. Such a huge climate impact!
Fab tips – it just goes to show that it’s so easy to do your bit for the planet! I’ve been making more of an effort to buy eco-friendly beauty and cleaning products especially and I’m hoping I can do more over the next few months! Thanks for sharing! x
Agreed! That’s awesome that you are making a bigger effort, I wish everyone would do that x