Whatever your circumstances there are going to be things you can do to help. We are all in different situations and so what we as individuals can do differs immensely from person to person. The following suggestions are amongst the easiest and most obvious. We plan, to add more detailed pages as time allows us.
Recycle if you cannot repair, re-use, re-purpose or sell/give to someone who needs. Even people who are bed ridden can request people who help to do this for them. We are using far too much of the planets resources. This is causing habitat destruction and pollution on such a scale that extinctions are happening at record levels. Living more efficiently not only reduces the number of mines, quarries and power stations that cause scars on the landscape, but allows us to enjoy more green fields and woodland. Re-using saves even more resources, better still if you identify practical ways to avoid the resource use in the first place.
Reduce plastic use. Plastic does not biodegrade easily, when it gets into the environment it has long term pollution problems. It entangles wildlife and gets ingested by many creatures either directly or through eating prey, sometime with fatal consequences.
Replace any non-energy efficient light bulbs This reduces the energy consumed and saves money, if used for an hour a day most pay for themselves within a year so not many people still use non-energy efficient bulbs. Reducing energy consumption reduces pollution and reduces greenhouse gasses. It also reduces the amount of resources that get diverted into energy production, for instance we then need less green fields turned over to solar panels and wind-farms and less electricity pylons.
Repair clothes if possible. It uses much less of the planets resources to repair than replace, which means we have more water and more food to go around. In a country such as ours where we can only feed half our population this worth remembering. Pollution is also reduced by repairing.
Better insulation and draft proofing. Has all the benefits of reduced energy use as for light bulbs above, plus your dwelling will be more comfortable, warmer in winter and cooler in summer.
Build new homes with modern standards of insulation and energy efficiency. It is much cheaper to build properly in the first place than retrofit insulation. If buying new make sure the builder does not skimp, most do. If not buying new make sure your MP is prepared to back improving regulations on energy efficiency and home insulation. Refusal to act will cause increased energy insecurity as we try to generate energy we should not need. An energy efficient house can use just a quarter of the energy of an efficient one.
Avoid food waste, if it cannot be avoided dispose of properly. Reduces food imports with associated high carbon cost. Reduces pollution from fertilisers and machinery used in food production and improves food security. Disposing of food waste in landfill causes methane emissions, methane being a greenhouse gas that warms the earth more than CO2.
Reduce meat consumption. Modern global meat production has expanded so much it has resulted in forests being destroyed, the land given over to the production of crops to feed animals, which are kept in too small an area to be able to graze their own food. This results in less biodiversity, more pollution, more greenhouse gasses and a reduction in the size of the human population supported. We can live, doctors advise, more healthily with less meat in our average British diet.
Use re-usable or recyclable material for present wraps. Even better if it can be indefinitely re-used, then you also avoid the recycling costs and associated pollution.
Use your vote for the environment.There are only so many changes you can make as an individual whilst staying part of our society. Many politicians are funded by or scared of big business. They need to know that you will only vote for politicians that are prepared to make the changes we need so that we can live in an environmentally friendly way and thereby pass to our children an inheritance that is worth leaving.
Promote active travel. Roads are one of the biggest causes of habitat loss. Motorised transport is so over used it prevents many from getting healthy amounts of exercise. Most are forced to use private transport because our infrastructure has developed over the past century to make it dangerous, impossible or incredibly inconvenient to use any other method. This causes substantial pollution, massive green house gas emissions and excess wind and solar farm development. Enabling active travel (including public transport) gives people the freedom to use whatever mode of transport is best, so improving health, reducing NHS costs, reducing pollution, reducing wind and solar farms development and reduces congestion on roads.
Avoid flying There are still no feasible green choices for airlines to use on a large scale. No true short or medium term solutions have emerged. Future technologies for greener flying are either just less polluting or too immature to be available any time soon. Minimising flying and definitely not increasing the amount you fly is essential to cut your carbon footprint. Resources are needed to make the energy we currently use sustainably. Increasing the amount of energy we need to generate is throwing away all that good work and endangers our ability to maintain current living standards.
Provide wildlife access to green spaces you have. All creatures need sufficient space to find the shelter and food they need and that space needs to adjoin on to the space of adjacent creatures of the same type. Letting wildlife in through gaps in fences, holes in walls or tunnels can open up more urban green areas, which become more effective the more gardens they can utilise. Even better to ensure there are some "wild" areas in your green space for wildlife to shelter and find food.
Litter picking. You can do this on your own or as part of a group. As well as making the place look less of a mess it prevents lots of nasties from the litter poisoning wildlife, the soil and ultimately, as the poison works up the food chain, you.