Tomorrow, 22 April, is international Earth Day. For over 40 years, Earth Day has inspired and mobilised individuals and organisations worldwide to demonstrate their commitment to environmental protection and sustainability.
The Earth Day Network website has a great quiz that you can use to calculate your carbon footprint. There is a quiz developed specifically for South Africans. You may be a little stunned at your results.
This year, Earth Day’s theme is “A Billion Acts of Green”: The emphasis is on individuals (or companies) making a simple pledge to change the little things we do every day in order to reduce the size of the human carbon footprint.
Take a look at our Conservation & research blog category to get the lowdown on all the eco-friendly things we’ve been up to: From improving our Heritage Environmental Rating Programme score and selling water in bottles that are 100% renewable at Shoreline Café (which, by the way, is the first African restaurant to pursue Marine Stewardship Council certification – closely connected to our work with sustainable seafood choices), to assisting with the protection and release of wild loggerhead turtles and helping out a sunfish or two, the Two Oceans Aquarium prefers to be hands-on when it comes to lending a hand.
What’s your act of green?
Here are a few ideas to get you going:
- Commit to eating only sustainable seafood
- Ban the plastic bag from your home or office!
- Reduce, reuse, recycle
- Plant an indigenous tree
- Shower instead of taking a bath
- Limit your electricity consumption by switching off all appliances and lights when they’re not in use or necessary
See also
- Cape Town guilty of excessive greenhouse gas emissions! What are we doing to help change the trend?
- Eco-friendly business is our priority
- SAPPI Seal Platform finally a reality
