SDG 15: Protect ecosystems, forests and biodiversity loss

My 'Take One Step' for this year is to try not to buy any new consumer items including clothes, household objects, books or other 'want' things in an effort to reduce my consumer footprint. This means shopping more at op shops and buying second hand. Cheers!

Australian Red-Tailed Black cockatoo is one of the species are going to extinct. In the result of there habitat. In Victoria, every year thousands of trees and especially Gum tree's are used by us to wipe our butts with regular toilet papers. Whereas recycled toilet papers are from 100% post-consumer waste (textbooks and office papers). Recycled toilet papers keep trees in the ground to absorb emissions created from other daily human activities and they protect soil from erosion and they keep our air clean. To help this little guy and the rest of his mate's change your toilet papers into a recycled toilet paper to save his home and make a healthier environment.

Over this past month I have committed to taking 2 days a week to go farmer’s market shopping for my grandparents and their elderly friends. They were previously customers of Coles Online as they are in poor health. My thought behind this initiative was that by taking the time to buy fresh and local for people who couldn’t would therefore increase the amount of local produce bought and subsequently decreasing the consequences which come from the convenience of store bought produce. Buying locally reduces transportation emissions and ingredients are more fresh so when bought directly there is less waste.

Throwing fruit and veg scraps away is fine because it will decompose right? WRONG! Food scraps thrown into landfill breakdown at such a slow rate they release enormous amounts of methane, which is roughly 20 times more damaging to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. My one step will be to start composting my scraps, feed my pet worms and keep the earth happy!

1. Reduce the purchase of plastic goods. 2. Reuse cloth/paper/plastic. 3. To buy only recyclable items.

I'd like to start taking a keep cup to uni, I always forget and before long, it's week 12! I read that Australians use 1 million disposable coffee cups each year. That's about 2,700,000 plastic-coated coffee cups thrown out every day! I am passionate about lowering this statistic, and 'if you want to make the world a better place, [you] gotta look at yourself and make a change'.

Recycling is fantastically popular but further than this, you can also take your soft plastics to the supermarket to recyle. I am also collecting food waste in a compost bucket to take to the community gardens composting bin. (photo: 3 weeks worth of soft plastic - reducing my consumption of foods in packaging and trying to source local and from bulk food stores)

I am going to continue with my plant based diet - for environmental and ethical reasons. As the animal agricultural industry is a main contributer to green house gas emissions alongside the dairy industry which requires a lot more water and grain growing than other milk alternatives. Aswell as this I am sourcing my food from local producers (organic) or my own vege garden. This cuts the transportation emissions aswell as the terrible chemicals used on monoculture non-organic crops which leads to desertification of soil.

Using more efficient means of energy to reduce carbon emission and other harmful greenhouse gases. I aim to move away from using fossil fuels such as petrol in cars or gas for electricity. I will ride my bike to uni and work to avoid using my car, as well as, eat more healthy plant based raw foods that require minimal cooking, electricity and resources to grow. Additionally, be more conscious of energy use including turning off unnecessary lights and power points, waking up with the sun to be more productive during natural light hours and being more organised and efficient with use. I want to half the amount of petrol I use weekly, and half the home electricity bill. We must all be aware of our ecological footprint and the way we live our lives as it significantly impacts the environment around us. It's making small changes like this that are not only beneficial for the environment, but also for our own bodies and mental health.

Sort out recyclable wastes and encourage kids to do so. Let them know the importance of this act and when refund is available for certain products like aluminium cans, then encourage them to volunteer and collect such products and use the raised funds to use for a good cause or contribute to charity. Also if interested: Get involved and join the grassroots movement here: http://victoria.greens.org.au/10c