How To Make Your Space Kinder To The Planet, According To An Environmental Planner

Most of us follow a simple, two-step process when it comes to dealing with pressing climate issues: one, bury our head in the sand, and, two, get up, dust ourselves off and frantically buy reusable beeswax wrap until our bank accounts bleed dry.

And while the stress-buying and “this is fine” meme sharing has kept us nice and occupied so far, the act is quickly getting old. Beyond the bare minimum, we need to look at how we can turn more aspects of our lives a deeper tinge of green, starting with our homes, offices and educational facilities.

We spoke to the delightful Dr Tony Matthews, Urban and Environmental Planner and Planet Ark ambassador, to get some honest-to-Earth advice on how we can do better in managing our consumption and spaces.

Keep Your Tech In Check

Did you know that using the internet generates carbon emissions? Google alone is responsible for 40 per cent of the web’s footprint. Music streaming services are a huge culprit, too.

“It depends on what studies you look at and what metrics they use, but as a general rule of thumb, globally, carbon emissions associated with internet use are on par with the aviation industry,” Dr Matthews tells Junkee.

The devices we use the internet on are also a huge climate headache. “If you’re replacing your smartphone every year and a half or two years, you’re replacing it way ahead of its end-of-life, and that’s creating an enormous environmental footprint,” he says.

Wild idea, we know, but when you’re at home, consider spending an hour or two without the internet per day. No Netflix or YouTube or mindless scrolling through Reddit to quieten the existential hum of despair. Just you and maybe a book? Or you and a long walk? (Two hours a week spent in nature is linked to better mental health.) Or you and – gasps – a conversation with a real person in real life?

And next time your provider calls to offer you a deal on a swanky new phone, tell ‘em you’ll pass for now and look at replacing the battery if life is becoming an issue.

Energy Efficient Furniture, Appliances, And Actions

If you’re looking to give your interiors a refresh, consider the type of furniture and appliances you’re choosing.

“Try and buy real timber furniture. Not fake timber furniture, not pressed wood furniture, not composite materials. Avoid plastics, avoid steel,” Dr Matthews says. “Quality timber furniture has a lower environmental profile, and causes less environmental damage across its whole life. Also, timber is technically a renewable product.”

Choosing wood-rich furniture with natural fibres, instead of plastic, aluminium or steel can massively reduce its carbon footprint, helping to tackle climate change. Approximately half the dry weight of wood (the kind used in furniture and joinery) is carbon, absorbed from the atmosphere and stored for life by a growing tree. Other materials have higher embodied carbon than wood, too. Embodied carbon is simply the sum of all the emissions (usually from fossil fuels) caused during a product’s manufacture and transport to where it’s being used.

Energy efficient appliances are a must, too. “Don’t buy a three-star washing machine just because it’s a hundred bucks cheaper. Buy a five-star washing machine that’s a hundred bucks more expensive because that hundred dollars will be paid back to you over time in reduced electricity bills.”

Not that we assume you’d buy furniture or appliances brand new (what are you, the Pope?), but you can pick up some decently-priced stuff second-hand. And of course, don’t go getting rid of furniture just because it doesn’t have the Dr Matthews stamp of approval – making use of what you already have is usually the most environmentally savvy thing you can do.

Then, you can look at changing your behaviour. Keep the curtains closed during the day instead of turning on the aircon, hang out your clothes out to dry instead of chucking them in the dryer, switch your lightbulbs to LED.

And plant some trees!

“If you only have a balcony or a patio or a deck, put some trees out there in pots. Many different species will do fine in pots,” Dr Matthews says. “It’s going to provide all kinds of benefits for you personally, but will also provide benefits for the larger world in terms of converting CO2 into oxygen.”

Don’t Give Up Just Because You’re At Work Or Studying

Aside from hassling Amanda the Office Manager to buy an energy efficient kettle for the shared kitchen, there’s not much big picture stuff you can change at work.

You can, however, make your individual actions work harder. Fit your lamp with an LED bulb, take the stairs (“Taking elevators is enormously energy intensive,” Dr Matthews says). Don’t underestimate how much more environmentally friendly (and frugal) bringing your own lunch is, too.

Plus, your work probably has some sort of sustainability committee or officer whose job it is to make your workplace greener. Take advantage of those resources by putting forward some well-informed ideas.

One that Dr Matthews commonly suggests is called an ‘end-of-trip facility’. “Those are like changing rooms with showers and lockers and bike racks and things like that, so that people can actually have the option to cycle or walk to and from the office,” he says.

“End of trip facilities are very helpful in offices in terms of encouraging more active transport, which has a lower environmental footprint.”

Up The Feel-Good Wood Factor

Have you ever been in a park, the forest, a beach or even a garden and just kind of felt good? If you have (and who hasn’t?), you’ve felt the effects if biophilia, which descibes the connection people have with nature and natural materials.

But you don’t have to be outside in nature to gain the benefits of biophilia. A recent research report found that people with more exposure to wood in their workplaces reported higher feelings of wellbeing, taking fewer sick days and being more productive. If that’s not an incentive to add some wood to your work or study space to be kinder to the planet and yourself, we don’t know what is!

Don’t Go Too Hard At Once

So, we didn’t mention this one up top, lest it scared you off from reading. It’s ‘turning on the news and promptly screaming into your pillow’.

Environment stuff feels scary and overwhelming – enough to make us feel paralysed and unsure where, if ever, to begin.

With that in mind, one of the best things we can do for ourselves, and the planet, is to take the pressure off. “The truth of the matter is, we don’t need to make huge changes,” Dr Matthews says, acknowledging that money, time and access can be a huge barrier for a lot of people.

“It’s really about making smaller changes because good, small changes can add up to big results. It’s about choosing the things that will work for you and making changes that fit in your life… Over time, all of those small changes incrementally add up to beneficial outcomes.”

Basically: be kind to yourself and the planet, and log off immediately.

—

Find out why they call wood The Ultimate Renewable™ at makeitwood.org

Brought to you by Planet Ark’s Make it Wood.

—

(Lead image: Slava Keyzman / Unsplash)