Sustainable South Hams undertake Carbon Literacy Training

On Friday 21st March, the Sustainable South Hams Team spent the day in beautiful Salcombe undertaking Carbon Literacy Training through Speak Carbon.

While we all have a firm understanding of the climate crisis, it was valuable to spend the day digging deep into the causes of climate change and how businesses and individuals can take steps to reduce their carbon footprints.

We covered the differences between carbon neutral vs net zero, and the benefits of a negative climate feedback loop. We also looked into climate tipping points and how a 0.5C difference can be catastrophic for some areas.

The local impacts of climate change can be seen through the topsoil erosion happening from fields when it rains, the increase in sea temperatures on the coasts and the change in the prevailing winds.

It is important for all businesses and individuals to first calculate their emissions and look at ways to reduce them by addressing things like food sources, travel options, and energy use. The next step is to offset any remaining emissions which you can do by donating to local tree planting projects.

As a working group, we have decided to look at our tech carbon footprint to see how we can reduce our emissions even further and then volunteer with local organisations to plant more trees.

Huge thanks to Speak Carbon for an interesting and informative day.