The evidence is clear: the planet is facing dangerous levels of warming due to man-made emissions and the UK is now one of the most nature depleted countries in the world.
The scale of the nature and climate emergency can sometimes make us feel powerless, but the reality is that we can all take positive action as individuals and communities to tackle this crisis.
Thinking globally and acting locally has never been more needed.
This challenge is all about understanding your own environmental footprint and identifying what changes you can make to have the biggest impact. It might sometimes seem like small things, but it soon adds up.
Step 1: Your Footprint
We need to understand our starting point– what we’re doing right, what we could be doing more of, even what we might be doing wrong – so that we can determine what areas we should be focusing on and changing in order to bring about positive environmental benefits in your life.
This fun and easy to use tool from the WWF will help you to work out your environmental footprint. Quickly pop over to to take the quiz, jot down your results and then come back here for step 2:
Step 2: Get inspired
Next we’d like you to drill down a bit further to what you’re doing at home, and for you to make some positive pledges to live more sustainably. Please complete this excellent interactive survey made by Google, the California Academy of Sciences, and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
It uses American metrics (no English version yet, but we’ve asked them to adapt it for us) but it will still give you lots of insight into things you could do differently at home that would be of benefit to the planet, your green feel good factor, and to your pocket!
Take the survey and then pop back here for the final step.
Step 3: Change the world
(or at least your bit of it!)
It’s time to put on your detective cap and carry out a quick eco-spotcheck of your home.
We suggest you download the template below to do this and just focus on a few areas:
- your lounge or the living area you spend most time in
- your garden (if you have one)
- your main bathroom
- your kitchen
When doing the eco-spotcheck go into these spaces to help you think about how you use the locations, what times of day, how often and where you could possibly do things differently.
Then pick three pledges for ways to improve your own environmental footprint.
Make a note of your three pledges
You can simply note them down on a bit or paper or, if you'd like us to email you a copy, you can fill in the form below and hit submit.
What Groundwork is doing
Green Doctor
Groundwork’s Green Doctors are energy efficiency experts who visit people in their homes across the UK, helping vulnerable households to save money and stay warm and well. With 1 in 10 households in the UK experiencing fuel poverty, it’s a crucial lifeline for many residents.
Sustainability Consultants
Groundwork’s Sustainable Business Consultants provide expert sustainability advice to businesses, local authorities, community organisations and other groups across the UK.
Their expert advice helps organisations to lead the way on reducing their impact on the environment, be more efficient and to thrive.
