Environment Hobbies

AKA: Environmental Hobbies.

On how our lifestyle affects the environment, and how can hobbies help us lead a more sustainable life.

64% of the world’s people are believing in a climate emergency.
The Peoples’ Climate Vote | United Nations Development Programme

While most of us are aware and worried about the environmental crisis, not all of us are activists in our nature. Not all of us have the stamina that cause-fighting requires. But we should have in mind that the environmental crisis is caused largely by the polluting activities of individuals, and we are these individuals. So even if we don’t go out to demonstrate, we can adopt more sustainable activities.

‘Personal carbon footprint’ or ‘lifestyle carbon footprint’ is defined as ‘GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions directly emitted and indirectly induced from the final consumption of households, excluding those induced by government consumption and capital formation such as infrastructure.’
1.5-Degree Lifestyles: Targets and options for reducing lifestyle carbon footprints | Institute for Global Environmental Strategies

Some of the personal activities affecting greenhouse gas emissions are: travel and commuting, home energy and landscaping, diet, and demand reduction.

Our lifestyle is an important factor in the environmental impact of humans. People in richer countries vastly overshoot the Paris Agreement’s per capita carbon footprint target. Making environmental changes to our lifestyle can seem like a task or burden. However, through hobbies, we can find ways to align some of these changes with our passions and interests and make them enjoyable and personally beneficial.

Hobbies are activities we usually pursue for our own good, but there is no reason our good won’t coincide with the planet’s good. Through hobbies, we can learn about the environment (for example through foraging), learn to appreciate the environment (for example through birdwatching), and reduce our footprint on the environment (for example through cycling). Environmental hobbies can help us lead a greener, more sustainable lifestyle – which is also richer and more enjoyable.